NEW STATUS: It has not been a...

NEW STATUS: It has not been a good two months for employees at county’s pest control agency, which combats vermin, insects and other public health threats. . . . First the agency was stunned by 13,000 letters from residents irate over a modest fee hike, then the discovery of the hantavirus in Orange County sent employees scrambling to calm public fears. Matters got worse last week when a window at the Garden Grove agency was shot out. “I liked it better when no one knew who we were,” said vector ecologist Jim Webb.

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EXCITED: All three Pointer Sisters, the first pop singers to perform at San Francisco’s Opera House, are expected as opera patrons tonight for Gounod’s “Faust” in Costa Mesa. Sitting up front with Opera Pacific general director David DiChiera, they were invited by Faust himself. . . . Tenor Vinson Cole, who has the title role tonight at the Performing Arts Center, asked them when they met at a Rams game, says opera spokesman Tim Dunn.

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SHAKE-UP: The Angels’ front office wasn’t big enough for the both of them, so Dan O’Brien is out, and Whitey Herzog is solely in charge of baseball operations for the club. (C1) O’Brien, 64, was fired from his senior vice president post Friday in a move to streamline personnel decision-making. . . . “This was not a blame on any individual or individuals,” said club President Richard Brown, “but the blame is on our system, because it wasn’t working.”

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SMOOTH LANDIN: Each year local train buffs plan for this weekend, when the Landin family garage on 20645 Santiago Canyon Road in Orange becomes the Glen Landin Railroad Museum, hosting hundreds of county visitors. Landin, 22, has stuffed the small building with model trains, historic photographs, artifacts and books. . . Last year about 1,000 people attended his sixth annual open house, a number he expects to double this year starting at 10 a.m. today and Sunday. His goal: to work for Amtrak.