PUT TO THE TEST: It was 42...

PUT TO THE TEST: It was 42 years ago that Laguna Beach Unified’s Supt. Paul M. Possemato took his last math test. But he took the latest Scholastic Aptitude Test to help figure out the best way to prepare students for the college entrance exams (A1). New results show the district’s students averaged 502 on math, well above the state average. . . . And Possemato? He scored 620: Better than the students, but below all 10 math teachers from the district who took the test, too. Possemato: “I learned that there’s more than one way to do a math problem.”

BARGAIN BOATING: President Clinton is usually making somebody unhappy. But he scored with Orange County’s jet set when his budget plan included repeal of a 10% luxury tax on yacht sales. . . . The Southern California Marine Assn., based in Orange, reports that local yacht sales dropped 70% last year. “We faced a taxpayer revolt,” says Barry Lieberman, its president, who also sells yachts. “This repeal could be the shot in the arm our industry needs.”

FLOOD OF FANS: Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham’s gigs this week at the Brea Improv mark the local debut of his newest puppet sidekick, Bubba (OC LIVE!, Page 3). . . . Dunham spotlighted the hayseed Southerner at a recent stop in Kansas City, Mo., during the height of the floods. He was delighted that a thousand people came to see him, despite the troubles in the region. But that didn’t stop Dunham from making a flood joke: “Bubba said his house floated away--tires and all.”

THE LATE SHOW: So what happened after the Huntington Beach City Council tackled its late-meeting problem? Monday’s session ended at 12:45 a.m. But Mayor Grace Winchell is determined to stop the post-midnight meetings. . . . She’s cut public speakers’ time from three minutes to two. And on Aug. 30, she’s going to start the meetings at 4:30 p.m. instead of the usual 7 p.m. She points out that the sessions are shown on TV: “Residents should still be up to watch.”