NO-CHAIN GANG: Alabama is reinstating the prison...

NO-CHAIN GANG: Alabama is reinstating the prison chain gang (A5), but we’re not likely to see that in Castaic any time soon--jailbreak or no jailbreak--sheriff’s officials say. . . . “First of all, we’re a jail and not a prison,” said Jake Katz of the county’s custody division, noting that many Pitchess inmates are awaiting trial.

STUDENT ART: Students from the Valley’s continuation high schools are displaying their artwork this week for the public and a panel of judges at the downtown Arco Plaza. . . . “These students come to us with hardly any positive educational experiences,” said Cynthia Gladstone, principal of Independence High School in Van Nuys. “By participating in the art show, there’s a public acclamation for something positive they’ve done.”

PERFECT! Dale Shuger and Jennifer Koo, above, who each scored a perfect 1600 on the Scholastic Assessment Test (B1), are not the first Valley teens to hit the high mark. . . . Cleve Cheng, a former Van Nuys High student, maxed out on the college entrance exam in 1991. Now a junior at Stanford majoring in computer science and philosophy, Cleve offered this to his younger cohorts: “They have a lot of options now. They should explore them and make sure they are doing what they want to do.”

CARE DISPUTE: Protesters shouted and picketed outside the Sherman Oaks-based Golden State Health Centers on Tuesday. . . . Members of the San Francisco group California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform contend that the center’s 15 nursing homes are substandard. The company denies it (B1).

RESIGNATION: President Brian Bowman of the Burbank Airport Authority unexpectedly quit his post Tuesday, citing personal reasons. . . . But at a meeting Tuesday, the nine-year veteran said he was anticipating difficulties with a new, anti-expansion council majority (B1).