SAYONARA: The predicted attrition continues at 20th...

SAYONARA: The predicted attrition continues at 20th Century Insurance in the wake of its decision to stop offering new earthquake policies. . . . About 3,000 policyholders failed to renew in June, double the usual rate, said Rick Dinon, senior vice president of the Woodland Hills insurer. The company made the change after absorbing substantial claims from the Jan. 17 quake.

BENCH PRESS: The bus stops here in the battle against AIDS. Starting Aug. 5, the Valley HIV / AIDS Clinic in Van Nuys will circulate bus stop bench ads with information about prevention and treatment for AIDS (B3). . . . “HIV is taking over in the Valley every day,” said Ana Vargas, client outreach coordinator at the clinic. “It’s hitting hard in the Latino populations.”

ON THE WAY UP: Disney’s earnings aren’t the only thing rising for the company these days (D3). Motorists on the Ventura Freeway near the Buena Vista Street exit can see Disney’s new animation building going up. Its most distinctive feature: the structure (above) shaped like the sorcerer’s hat worn by Mickey Mouse in “Fantasia.” . . . The complex, designed by Robert A. M. Stern, will house 625 employees this fall.

AGAINST FREEDOM: Good instinct, bad idea. That’s how David Gurnick, head of the San Fernando Valley Bar Assn., sums up Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s proposal to ban witnesses in big cases from selling their stories before the trial ends. . . . “While I deplore the media buying the stories,” he said, “this law would have such a stifling effect on speech, it could well violate the First Amendment.”

NEW ANGEL: Sure, the Angels play in Anaheim, but maybe it’s time to call them the Valley Angels. No, they are not moving, but for the second time in five days, a local player made his first Major League start with them. . . . He’s left fielder Garret Anderson, who attended Kennedy High in Granada Hills. The Angels lost 11-3 (C2), but Anderson got two hits.