LONELY SIEGE: Single mother Viviana Guerra is...

LONELY SIEGE: Single mother Viviana Guerra is the only resident of a tough North Hollywood neighborhood willing to testify in court against the gang that controls her block. . . . That makes her the target of thugs, a heroine to police, and a figure in a court case against a gang member accused of threatening her (B1).

PALATABLE TAX: Reaffirming conventional wisdom, Saugus voters passed a $10.2-million general obligation bond for elementary school construction. Analysts say voters prefer such bonds, which pass about half the time in Los Angeles County, because the money goes toward highly visible items like buildings. Parcel taxes, rejected 87% of the time, go for supplies or programs. . . . And bond issues don’t have the word “tax” in their title (B20).

ACHIEVEMENT: After four seasons at the University of California in which he distinguished himself as one of the nation’s top running backs, Russell White, once a football standout at Crespi High School in Encino, received a degree in social welfare (C12). . . . It was a major achievement for White, who stayed in school to get his degree.

THUMBS DOWN: Moliere’s “The Misanthrope” is a first effort by a troupe under a Tony Award-winning director at the LimeLight Playhouse in North Hollywood (F2). But it has a problem, says critic Sylvie Drake: bad acting. . . . At the Burbank Little Theatre, meanwhile, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Tell Me on a Sunday” also has problems: The musical is slender, even by Lloyd Webber standards, and the production Spartan (F3).

WRONG STUFF: The original NASA Mercury program, hurling heroic spacemen into orbit in tiny capsules, was a national obsession in the JFK years. Columnist Scott Harris discusses the Heroic Age with Gordon Cooper (B1). . . . “The Right Stuff” film got things wrong, Cooper says--especially branding Gus Grissom a screw-up.