DEMOLITION: First, we learn that the Santa...

DEMOLITION: First, we learn that the Santa Monica Freeway will reopen next week. Now comes word that demolition of the Northridge Meadows apartment complex, where 16 people died in the Jan. 17 quake, will begin May 2. Slowly but surely, life after the quake is moving on. . . . But the demolition will take longer than usual because layers of the building will be needed as evidence for suits filed by relatives.

DOING DONAHUE: The lights glared. The camera rolled. The spotlight was on Reseda High, where violence had intruded last year. Thursday, “The Phil Donahue Show” taped a segment about a campus group formed after a student was shot to death in a hallway. . . . The group tries to persuade students to break the code of silence if anyone brings a gun to school (B3).

CRAVINGS: The pregnant can’t have all the fun. We all get hankerings for that favorite food, above, whether it’s Polish sausage, strawberry rhubarb pie or any other delicacy (Valley Life! Page 8). But, unfortunately, we don’t always know where to get it, and get it fast. . . . No problem. The answer to your sudden urges may be at a restaurant near you.

BODY AND SOUL: Degen Keppler is not your ordinary workout trainer. This is a guy who used to do things to hurt his body, like being addicted to heroin. One night of partying 18 years ago cost him his right leg in an accident with a .44-caliber Magnum. . . . Well, that’s all in the past. These days, the drug-free Keppler works 12-hour days at a club in Agoura Hills. See Valley Life! Page 29.

THE ANSWER IS: Thanks to the Los Angeles Police Department, some Valley kids run with the law instead of from it. The program, called Jeopardy, keeps kids with a high risk of gang involvement out of trouble by turning them into runners (C8). “This program has changed my life and it has really changed me,” one youth said. . . . At last month’s L. A. Marathon, 38 of 39 Jeopardy runners finished the 26.2-mile course.