GETTING MAULED: Tuesday was a great day...

GETTING MAULED: Tuesday was a great day to watch TV for family and friends of Anne Mall, a 1991 graduate of Dana Hills High School in Dana Point. The former regional tennis champion was front and center on the USA cable network for her U.S. Open first-round match in New York (C3). . . . But her opponent might have had something to do with the TV time--she was up against top-seed Steffi Graf. Bad back and all, Graf won handily, 6-2, 6-1.

LEGAL BOOST: One problem facing the U.S. attorney’s office in Orange County: Not enough prosecutors to handle the growing caseload. But that’s changing: Atty. Gen. Janet Reno has authorized the hiring of 18 new federal prosecutors in the Los Angeles jurisdiction--with five of them heading to its Santa Ana office. . . . That will bring the total of federal prosecutors here up to 17. U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella in Los Angeles calls the move “long overdue.”

BATHROOM NOTE: TV’s irreverent comic Paula Poundstone pounds all political sides on occasion. In the latest issue of Mother Jones magazine, she reports on her visit to the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda. She found it a kick that the library plays “patriotic marching band music in the ladies’ room.” . . . Later she took in the 28-minute movie on Nixon’s career, where the late President gives a rousing speech about never giving up. Noted Poundstone: “I hadn’t felt that uplifted since I was in the ladies’ room.”

TOO MUCH TV? TV minister Paul Crouch has been feuding with the Federal Communications Commission for years. Now the FCC staff has given him something to really get angry about: It wants to levy a $500,000 fine against Crouch’s Tustin-based Trinity Broadcasting Network--second highest in FCC history--claiming Crouch bent the rules to buy more TV stations than permitted. . . . Trinity’s response: It will heatedly contest the recommendation.