BRIEFLY : Arts: Getty Trust to Help Mend Cal Arts’ Quake Damage

The J. Paul Getty Trust in Malibu has pledged $2 million to help the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia recover from damage sustained in the Jan. 17 earthquake.

“Cal Arts is recognized internationally as a leading educational institution devoted to the arts and has flourished under the leadership of its president, Steven Levine,” said Harold M. Williams, president and chief executive officer of the trust. “It is vital that it be made whole again as soon as possible.”

The price tag for repairing the damage is estimated at $12 million to $15 million. The institute hopes to have its campus fully repaired by September. While most of the campus remains structurally intact, extensive damage to mechanical systems has forced the institute to find temporary, off-site classroom space for its 1,000 students of art, dance, film/video, music and theater.

The Getty Trust is a private foundation dedicated to the visual arts and humanities.

Entertainment: Hollywood Walk of Fame Star to Pat Sajak

“Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last week.

Sajak and co-star Vanna White have become virtual television icons in America over the years.

The show’s format is simple: Contestants attempt to complete common phrases one letter at a time, after spinning a wheel marked with various dollar amounts.

Sajak, a onetime Army deejay in Vietnam, got his professional start in radio in Chicago and his first TV gig as a weatherman in Nashville. He said he looks forward to the day his 3-year-old son will walk past the star and think of him.

“I appreciate this more than you can know,” Sajak said.

Government: Assemblywoman Wants Simpler Air-Quality Rules

Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) has prepared legislation aimed at helping businesses overcome two problems that she says can complicate their dealings with air-quality agencies.

The first problem, Bowen says, is that businesses sometimes want to install new equipment that does not increase air pollution--and may even reduce it--but cannot do so because air-quality rules have not yet been developed for the technology.

The second, she says, is that some companies are unable to comply with certain air-quality rules because the equipment they need for doing so has not been developed.

In both cases, Bowen’s legislation would help businesses because it would allow agencies such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District to grant a single variance to all companies faced with these problems.

Currently, such businesses must apply for variances individually.

Bowen said that in one instance, a Southern California manufacturer developed a new way to clean paint spray guns that reduced air emissions.

“While the manufacturer was granted a variance to make the product, any company that wanted to buy it and use it had to go before the (AQMD) hearing board to ask for a variance,” she said. “That’s crazy, not to mention time-consuming.”