NEW LAW: It was not the centerpiece...

NEW LAW: It was not the centerpiece of Jack O’Connell’s legislative agenda. But the Ventura County assemblyman decided it was about time that the state of California free its horses to legally mate in public. . . . O’Connell’s bill purging 42 obsolete laws was signed recently by Gov. Pete Wilson. Lawmakers chuckled while axing laws that demanded damages for “seduction,” banned the selling of quicksilver and forbade dueling. “These laws belong in history,” O’Connell said.

NEW WAR: So much for the cease-fire in Ventura’s hospital war (B1). . . . A lawsuit announced Tuesday by Community Memorial Hospital is a costly new step in that private hospital’s assault on the county’s expanding hospital system. The suit was drafted by the Los Angeles office of an old-line New York law firm. “I’m sure they’re going to bill in the $300-per-hour range,” a top Los Angeles lawyer said.

NEW WIFE: Talk about courtroom twists. Prosecutors were stunned Tuesday when a key witness in the case against a former Newbury Park football star declared that she had married the defendant three weeks ago in Las Vegas (B4). . . . “It took me 15 seconds to collect my wits,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. James Grunert. . . . Leodes Van Buren is charged with shooting into a home occupied by the witness, Marcie James, and their 2-year-old daughter.

NEW TITLE: Even as Oxnard boxing phenom Fernando Vargas won the national junior lightweight title over the weekend, he cast an envious glance at his contemporaries at the Goodwill Games in Russia (C8). . . . Fernando is the reigning U.S. amateur champ at 132 pounds regardless of age. But he could not compete in St. Petersburg because he is only 16. . . . “I’m sitting there watching and I’m thinking, ‘Dang, if only I was 17.” . . . However, in winning Sunday, the boxer did qualify for the world junior championships in Istanbul in September, where he will face a talented Cuban. “I’m pretty sure I’m ready,” he said.