HIDING HISTORY: Nick Lopez is the unlikely...

HIDING HISTORY: Nick Lopez is the unlikely curator of a little-remembered cache of history, artifacts describing the critical role the high desert area of Mira Loma played in helping the Allies win World War II. . . . The collection of photos, booklets and other items stored at the Mira Loma jail in Lancaster details the community’s beginnings as a civilian-run flying school that produced an estimated 7,000 military pilots during the war years. Now that a county budget crisis threatens the collection, Lopez, a 50-year-old county sheriff’s sergeant at the jail, has taken the artifacts under his wing (B1).

DOUBLESPEAK: Jared White, an English-speaking 6-year-old from West Hills, is doing what Spanish-speaking children in Los Angeles have done for generations: He attends school in a foreign language. The program, which started last fall at Hamlin Street School, is a twist on old themes in bilingual education. Classes are conducted almost entirely in Spanish. The aim is not simply to integrate Spanish speakers into English-language schools, but to train English speakers in Spanish (B1).

BAD PLOT: If this were a movie, its sad ending would never sell. Johny Carpenter, a star of old low-budget Westerns, operated Heaven on Earth Ranch for handicapped children in Lake View Terrace for 23 years. In January, Carpenter and his mock Western town were evicted to make way for a possible housing development. Since then, Carpenter, 78, has been holed up in a North Hollywood apartment, waiting for a Good Samaritan to donate funds or land so he can reopen the ranch (B1).

STREET SMART: This week, the Street Smart Book of World Records and Amazing Oddities makes its debut, as our diarist of roadway derring-do recounts some of the body-twisting maneuvers drivers have performed at the wheel. Gasp at the image of a woman nursing her baby. . . . Thrill at the thought of the teeth-flossing driver! But remember, don’t try this at home (B1).