CROWDED ICE: Skategate spells Greatgate for at...

CROWDED ICE: Skategate spells Greatgate for at least one Valley ice rink. Attendance for skating sessions, which goes up during every Winter Olympics, is even larger because of the Harding-Kerrigan controversy. . . . The Iceoplex in Van Nuys has turned away hundreds in recent days. “Unfortunately, Tonya and Nancy has been a negative thing,” said an Iceoplex official, “but it’s been great business.”

METRO STOP: Today might be decision day for where the Metro Rail stop in Universal City winds up. MCA wants the station, currently on Lankershim, closer to its CityWalk attraction, while the county argues the move would be too costly and time-consuming. . . . Both sides hope to present a compromise today before the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. (B1)

LOST BOY: Let’s give Kennedy High’s Jeff Taylor, 14, the benefit of the doubt. He can’t help it that he’s been out of school for five weeks because the quake did so much damage (above). On his first day back Tuesday, looking for his temporary classroom, Jeff showed he’s been away too long. “(Someone) told me that way was south, so I figured that the other way was north.”. . . He wasn’t the only one confused. (B1)

JACK OF CLUBS? Either a Los Angeles man is seriously mistaken or we have figured out what Jack Nicholson is doing when not acting or attending Laker games. . . . Robert Scott Blank has filed a lawsuit claiming Nicholson got out of his Mercedes at a Studio City intersection earlier this month and struck Blank’s Mercedes several times with a metal pipe or golf club. (B1)

COME HOME: The city of Santa Clarita has something to ask residents who fled their earthquake-damaged mobile homes: Where are you? . . . The city wants to let them know that FEMA has agreed to pay for placing many structures back on their supports. One problem: Officials can’t find residents to offer the help. (B7)