BUCKLE UP: The new bicycle helmet law...

BUCKLE UP: The new bicycle helmet law for youngsters takes effect today. But that doesn’t mean your child will be cited for forgetting. “We’re going to educate the public first,” says Fountain Valley police Lt. Robert Mosley. “We’re going to have a six-month grace period where we’ll just be issuing warnings.” . . . Some local police departments will be spreading the word through flyers and programs at schools. But Mosley warns: “Kids need to follow the law.”

SMOKING MONEY: If you must smoke, the state of California is at least going to make it more expensive for you. The state tax on cigarettes goes up today, two cents per pack--making it 37 cents. Will this deter smokers? Some Orange County vendors doubt it. Says a spokesman for a Circle K in Anaheim: “Right now we charge $2.30 a pack, including tax. But it wouldn’t matter if we charged $2.50 or $2.80. It never stops someone who has to smoke.” The tax boost is expected to raise an added $39 million a year for breast cancer research.

HUSKER PARTY: Not all Cornhuskers will be at the Orange Bowl in Miami for the Nebraska-Florida State game. The University of Nebraska men’s and women’s swim teams are training at Corona del Mar High School for a Wednesday match with UCLA. Assistant Coach Kelly Long Nordell, a former Newport Harbor High swim star, is hosting all 47 of them at her parents’ Newport Beach house tonight to watch the bowl game. “Nebraska does love its football,” she says. “But we’ve got some pretty good swimmers too.”

WILL TRAVEL: UC Irvine Extension is bringing English-as-a-second-language training straight to the workplace, like office-delivered pizza. The Extension program has several courses, including Speech Improvement and English Grammar Review, that it will be teaching next year at business sites. . . . Says spokeswoman Loan Vo: “Orange County is becoming more diverse, and for foreign-born professionals working here, language training can be the key to advancement.”