NO SURPRISE: School bond issues, requiring a...

NO SURPRISE: School bond issues, requiring a two-thirds mandate, have proven tough to pass. So it figured Burbank’s $100-million bond referendum to upgrade public schools would fail--despite a majority of voters approving it. About 90% of local bond issues in the state have failed. The last success locally was the Saugus Union School District in June, 1993. . . But Burbank officials say they’ll try again (B1).

NAIL BITER: Think your vote doesn’t count? In Santa Clarita on Tuesday there were 10,452 ballots cast, and when all the counting was done only eight votes separated City Council incumbent Jill Klajic and challenger H. Clyde Smyth (B1). . . . The final outcome depends on the 175 absentee and 25 provisional ballots yet to be verified and counted.

SAVIORS: They work without pay, collecting only gratitude. And they certainly deserve plenty of that. They are Mennonites (above), a Christian denomination. In three months since the quake, they have helped rebuild about 80 quake-damaged Valley dwellings (B1). . . . There are about 200,000 Mennonites in the United States, including four congregations in the Valley.

DYNAMIC DOUGH: Batman can obviously do a lot more than fight crime. The caped crusader can also generate cash. So far, the Batman ride, which opened March 26, has done big wonders for Six Flags Magic Mountain, near Valencia. . . . “We open a new ride every year,” said a park spokeswoman, “and this compares to Viper, which opened in 1990.” In all, about 350,000 have taken the ride.

INSURANCE: More bad news for quake victims. Many complain they can’t cash insurance checks because they were made out to mortgage lenders as well. . . . There had been hope that Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi would rectify that problem. But faced with the threat of a lawsuit, he decided Wednesday not to order checks to be written to policy holders only (D3).