TEMBLOR TIMEOUT: Southern California recorded 3,818 aftershocks...

TEMBLOR TIMEOUT: Southern California recorded 3,818 aftershocks in the first three months of 1995, scientists say (B10). . . . Sound like plenty? It’s a 70% drop from the same period a year ago, when 10,915 aftershocks from four major earthquake sequences shook the region. In the San Fernando Valley, aftershocks of the 6.7 Northridge quake fell to just 399--significantly down from 1994’s quarterly average.

BOOT CAMP: Are you a weightlifter? If so, you might consider trading in your cross-training shoes for steel-toed work boots. Tom Munizza of the Powerhouse Gym in Chatsworth says people doing squats with heavy weights “need the extra support that boots provide.” . . . These and other fashion tips in Valley Life, Page 26.

JUICED: The Cranberries, the wildly popular Irish rock band, are a sensation although no one can exactly say why. . . . “I cannot explain the reasons I am compelled to clap and sing along,” said Robert Longoria, 23, of San Antonio. “It just happens.” Lead singer Dolores O’Riordan, above, and the band perform tonight at a sold-out Universal Amphitheatre. Details in Valley Life, Page 3.

CUSTER’S LAST LETTER: Quartz Hill High School Principal Susan Custer has stopped using the stationery that bears her school’s crest. The reason? It includes the red and blue flag of the Confederacy. These and other Southern symbols have spawned protests in the Antelope Valley. “In case you haven’t heard, the South lost the war,” the NAACP’s Lynda Thompson Taylor told the school board (B1).

GET A GRIP: Rock climbers love Chatsworth’s Stony Point Park, but they’re incensed that a film crew was allowed to paint over two graffiti-scarred boulders. Seems that the paint has filled in the nooks and crannies needed by climbers (B1). . . . The city has promised to carefully restore the rocks after filming ends for Steven Seagal’s latest action movie: “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.”