TAX BREAK: Taxpayers will have an extra...

TAX BREAK: Taxpayers will have an extra two days to file income tax returns this year. And many of us need it. . . . Because it falls on a weekend, the deadline for filing without a penalty is bumped from Saturday, April 15, to midnight Monday, April 17. . . . At this time last year, only 58% of L.A. County taxpayers had filed, the IRS says. A guide to last-minute tax tips is on D3.

SAFETY FIRST: Better let her pick it out, fella. . . . Women are more concerned about safety equipment than men when buying a new car or truck, according to a new survey by a Glendale-based firm. The Dohring Co., which surveyed 1,253 consumers nationwide, found that men were more than twice as likely than women to consider anti-lock brakes, air bags and traction control as “not at all important” in buying a vehicle.

JAILHOUSE ROCK? Studio City guitarist Eddie Van Halen, above, has been charged with a misdemeanor for carrying a loaded handgun into Burbank Airport. He faces a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine, six months in jail or both. . . . But his fans have only one question: How will Eddie’s April 21 arraignment impact the band’s current tour? “It doesn’t affect the tour,” said Richard Hirsch, Van Halen’s attorney. “I can appear (in court) on his behalf.”

MS. BOSS: The number of women-owned businesses jumped 18% from 1991 to 1994, bringing the number of such firms nationwide to 7.7 million (D1). But Nancy Hoffman isn’t surprised. . . . “If you had told me five years ago, I would have been surprised,” said Hoffman, the first female vice president in the 83-year-old history of the Mid Valley Chamber of Commerce. But now, she said, women business owners “are challenging what has always been the status quo.”