GAG ORDER DROPPED: Photos and videotapes of...

GAG ORDER DROPPED: Photos and videotapes of the crumbling Northridge Meadows apartment complex and its original building plans will be open to public review as its owners drop their fight to block such scrutiny. A judge ordered that the Reseda Boulevard complex be preserved as evidence through a controlled demolition, no date for which has been set. (B1)

UP, UP AND AWAY: A Newhall man has come up with a good way to get rid of some of that post-quake stress we’ve all been feeling. For weeks, he’s been collecting thousands of letters from adults and children. Today, he’ll launch them into the sky under a 10-foot helium balloon. . . . Said one psychologist: “It’s never absolutely forgotten, but this definitely is a release.” (B20)

NO SOFTIES: Male athletes get most of the attention, but CSUN’s best team lately has been, without a doubt, women’s softball. Last year, the Matadors (above) went to the Women’s College World Series, and this season, they’re well on their way toward a return visit. . . . On Friday, they swept a doubleheader against Southern Utah. (C16)

SOME CELEBRATION: Bobby Hughes, a catcher in the Milwaukee Brewer organization, turned 23 last Thursday, and it was almost his last birthday. After playing a spring exhibition game in Arizona, Hughes passed out in his hotel room from heat exhaustion. . . . Fortunately, his roommate was there to call for assistance. “I was lucky I didn’t hit my head or anything,” said Hughes, who attended Notre Dame High School. (C16)

SETTLERS: The West Bank mosque massacre last month didn’t do much to move the peace process along. But Phil Blazer, publisher of the monthly Jewish News in Studio City, says the tragedy does show the need to let settlers in the occupied territories take part in negotiations. . . . “They have a stake in what happens there,” Blazer said.