MALL GROWTH: Attention, shop-aholics: the Valencia Town...

MALL GROWTH: Attention, shop-aholics: the Valencia Town Center is about to double in size. Its developer, Newhall Land and Farming Co., is looking for more department stores to anchor additional store corridors. The mall features 110 stores and is expected to grow to about 200 within two or three years. (B14)

MONEY TALKS: Heidi Armer of Woodland Hills swears she wasn’t stealing an idea from Caltrans when she offered the contractor working on her quake-damaged home an incentive to finish early . . . If he finished the job in three weeks, she promised him a $500 bonus, four weeks and he’d get $250 extra. “What contractors are doing right now is spreading themselves so thin,” Armer said. And if he finished late? He agreed to forfeit $250 for the first week--$500 if he ran two weeks over schedule.

QUAKE U.: The earthquake threw many of them out of their beds. They suffered damaged labs, portable toilets and classes in trailers. But they endured, and beginning today, CSUN’s most shaken-up batch of graduates ever will get their diplomas. Above, university library dean Susan Curzon leads a procession at the campus on Sunday. (B1)

DOWNTOWN REBOUND?: As local merchants will tell you, the downtown areas of Reseda and Canoga Park could use some sprucing up. And last weekend, local business people got together with urban planners to brainstorm cheap but effective ways to restore Sherman Way between the two communities. Among the ideas: planting trees, patrolling parking lots at night to prevent trash dumping, and creating special shopping districts. (B1)

GORILLA GRUB: Like anyone else, the gorillas at the Los Angeles Zoo like their food fresh. Especially geraniums, broccoli or sweet potatoes on the vine. And how do they get such goodies? Courtesy of Ginny Oeland and the other gorilla groupies who tend the so-called Gorilla Gardens at Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino. (B5)