BRRR! WHEEEE! Polar winds brought the first...

BRRR! WHEEEE! Polar winds brought the first real nip of winter and the season’s coldest day to date. Light snow teased the area north of the Santa Clarita Valley, where 5-year-old Esteban Pallares, above, frolics in the unusual white stuff (B1). Forecasters say it will be warmer over the weekend.

AIR WAR: United Airlines is generating passengers with its new, low-fare shuttle service that flies out of Burbank and 10 other Western cities. But is it generating profits? United won’t say (D1). . . . And has it taken business away from Southwest, which has dominated Burbank traffic? Absolutely not, says Southwest’s station manager John Thomas. “What they’ve done is actually stimulate the market,” he says.

PHONE THERAPY: One of L.A.’s best-known shrinks is coming back to radio, and he’ll be doing it from Glendale. Psychiatrist David Viscott, who spent 13 years on KABC, will start a new weekday afternoon show Nov. 28 on KIEV-AM (870). . . . Viscott, who left the airwaves in 1993, says the new show will “have fewer ads, and I’ll be surrounding it with Beethoven.”

CYCLE COMMUTE: Frustrated with the freeways? Not interested in taking the train? Well, there may be another choice for commuters heading downtown--the bicycle. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may build a path along the L.A. River to connect the Sepulveda Basin to downtown (B5). . . . One roadblock, however, may be Metrolink. Taylor Yard, which houses the trains, borders the river.

DECATHLON: Forget about USC vs. UCLA--the most intense rivalry in town today might take place in the classroom. Fifty-five high school teams will try to dethrone defending champion Taft in the Los Angeles Unified Academic Decathlon (B1). . . . “You wouldn’t believe the psychological warfare that goes on,” says El Camino Real High coach David Roberson.