GOLDEN BIRDS: They can’t fly, but they...

GOLDEN BIRDS: They can’t fly, but they lay huge eggs and run 40 m.p.h. Another thing about ostriches: they’re worth a lot--$1,500 for the distinctively pocked hide, plus a bonus for the increasingly popular low-cholesterol meat. Detectives learned this stuff cracking an alleged ostrich-stealing case in Sunland, recovering seven little chicks (B1) . . . Little for ostriches. At over 4 feet tall, they’re barely half grown.

CHEAPER THRILLS: Although governments at all levels, pleading poverty, are wringing every dime from users of public facilities, county supervisors have decided there are limits. They exempted a Van Nuys civic group from a $500 fee to use Castaic Lake. The fee was blocking a dozen blind youths from their annual water-skiing adventure (B4) . . . Other nonprofit groups are lining up for the same waiver.

MINOR ROMANCE: The Class-A California baseball league--six of its 10 teams located within three hours of the San Fernando Valley by car--is headed for a record attendance year (C1), led by the new Rancho Cucamonga franchise. Above, John Howard returns balls batted out of the San Bernardino park in return for free tickets.

WALLS OF JUSTICE: From this court, nobody goes to prison. Not because of rampant leniency, but because they’re already there. A Superior Court went to work Tuesday inside the new state prison in Lancaster, handling inmates charged with committing crimes on the prison grounds. See Street Beat (B2). . . . Those found guilty don’t have to go anywhere. But then, those found innocent aren’t going anywhere either.

DESERT BLOOMS: The economy limps, the aerospace industry staggers. No matter to the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. Even under these conditions northern L.A. County’s population still booms, helped by relatively low housing prices, down to $117,000 in Lancaster, compared to $204,000 countywide. See Valley Briefing, Page B5.