TAX DEADLINE: Time is rapidly running out...

TAX DEADLINE: Time is rapidly running out for homeowners to defer their property taxes or seek lower assessments because of quake damage. You have until March 17 to pick up the proper forms at the county assessor’s office on 6640 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys, or call (213) 974-7394. . . . Already, 10,000 forms have been filed, with the final figure expected to reach 100,000.

GRAFFITI WAR: Many people say Santa Clarita is a pretty conservative place, and they might be right. But not when it comes to fighting graffiti. . . . The city has started selling T-shirts depicting two wolves urinating on a rock next to two youths spray-painting graffiti on a wall. The caption reads: “What’s the diff?” (B20)

RICH PITCHER: Poor Jack McDowell. He asked the Chicago White Sox for $6.5 million, but an arbitrator ruled this week that he isn’t worth a penny more than $5.3 million. Wonder how he’ll pay the bills now. . . . Still, before you start a collection, you should know that McDowell, above, a graduate of Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, will make more than any ex-Valley baseball player has in one season.

QUAKE QUIPS: We must be moving beyond the quake because now even some folks at Cal State Northridge are starting to poke fun at their troubles. The basketball gym has already been dubbed The Epicenter, and there’s talk of changing the team name from the Matadors to the Quakes (C10). . . . But why stop there? Why not have fans shake the wooden bleachers by stomping their feet?

NEW JESUS: His mother was not a virgin, he never claimed to be divine and he was born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem. That’s only a sample from the new studies by Bible scholars painting a less glamorous portrait of Jesus. And not everyone is happy about it (E1). . . . Said Michael Barrett, a CSUN librarian, who attended a North Hollywood class that re-examined the interpretation of Jesus: “It’s about finding your own spirituality.”