BEAR HABITATS: Bears apparently have better things...

BEAR HABITATS: Bears apparently have better things to do than hang out near the San Fernando Valley, despite recent examples of the animals wandering into suburbia (B1). According to the state Department of Fish and Game, about 60 to 200 of California’s 20,000 bears live in the Angeles National Forest (above). . . . In the mid-’80s, the bear census dropped, partly because females had fewer cubs.

JAZZ LEGEND DIES: Renowned jazz guitarist Joe Pass, a longtime Valley resident, died of liver cancer at 65. Pass was gifted as a soloist and played as an accompanist for Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, among others. (A28).

MONEY TROUBLE: The Pet Rescue Assn. in Sun Valley has spent 15 years finding homes for animals nobody wanted anymore. Now, the association is the one that needs to be rescued. . . . Because of the quake, many people have priorities other than adding pets. “They’re thinking of fixing fences, fixing their houses,” said the association’s president (B3).

WORLD SERIES: Missouri is unranked, and unheralded. No matter. This is the College World Series, and no opponent can be overlooked. That’s surely to be the attitude of the third-ranked Cal State Northridge softball team, which squares off Thursday night against Missouri in the first round in Oklahoma City. . . . Last year, the Matadors finished fifth in the eight-team tournament.

MOVIE MAGIC: Eddie Murphy’s “Beverly Hills Cop III” finally opens this week. And although the film wasn’t shot there, action does take place at a fictional Valley theme park--WonderWorld. . . . But look at a map in the film, and you’ll see they put the park at the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in Encino, one of the first places to flood during a big storm. Nice going, Hollywood.

GOING GLOBAL: Lockheed Corp. makes its living in the air, of course. But the future of its airport management division is clearly overseas. The Calabasas company expects big business as airport development grows in South America, Asia and Eastern Europe. See Valley Business, Page 4.