MAKEUP WORK: To Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden...

MAKEUP WORK: To Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), it never made sense to punish someone for skipping school by suspending them. Monday, Umberg got a bill passed unanimously and sent on to the governor that gives school officials more power in dealing with truants and troublemakers. It lets them assign such students after-school grounds work, such as graffiti removal. . . . “Maybe they’ll start taking pride in their school,” Umberg suggests.

FLEECED: Glenn R. Miller of Costa Mesa has won a dubious distinction in Sacramento: State Sen. Bill Leonard’s (R-Big Bear) monthly Golden State Fleece award. Miller, who pleaded guilty, is the first employer snagged by the federal government for workers’ compensation fraud. . . . Prosecutors say Miller underpaid premiums at his two temporary employment agencies by underreporting the number of workers and misrepresenting the jobs they performed. “This is outrageous,” railed Leonard. Miller is to be sentenced July 29 to up to 20 years.

LESS RITZY: The new general manager of the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point, John Dravinski, doesn’t have to worry about guests thinking him too stuffy. . . . He has dropped the prices in the hotel’s dining room--two courses for the price of one--and has even dropped its “jacket and tie only” policy. Explains spokeswoman Christie Johnson: “This is California, not Boston. And for nearly $300 a room, you ought to be able to dress the way you want for dinner.”

OH, SISTER! Even good will has fallen on hard times in Seal Beach. The city, looking for any belt-tightening, has decided to save $430 by not renewing memberships in its sister-city organizations. That means an official adios to its sister city, Todos Santo, on Baja. But City Manager Jerry L. Bankston says Seal Beach residents won’t break their longstanding ties to the Mexican town: He expects toy drives and other exchange programs to continue on an unofficial level.