NEW DUKE: UC Irvine is losing its...

NEW DUKE: UC Irvine is losing its most well-known Program in Writing instructor, “Schindler’s List” author Thomas M. Keneally. He returns in July to his native Australia. But the university has a notable replacement, novelist and essayist Geoffrey Wolff. His most widely acclaimed book is “The Duke of Deception,” about his con man father. . . . Wolff, 57, is eager to work with students who share “a mutual passion for the honorable mission of making things from words.”

HOW BUSY CAN IT GET? It was busier than usual this week at the county’s Brookhurst Street social services center in Garden Grove, where residents apply for welfare and medical benefits. That’s because the Westminster Avenue center in the city has just closed, part of the bankruptcy-forced cutbacks. . . . But it’s only getting worse. Today, the Costa Mesa center closes, and soon the two in Anaheim will shut down, leaving only three assistance centers. . . . “It’s not something we want,” says Financial Assistance Director Angelo Doti. “But what can we do?”

ROCKIN’ BABIES: The name-- stroller-skating-- was a natural. You push your baby’s stroller as you roller-skate. A group of moms meet weekly at the Holiday Skate Center in Orange to stroller-skate to the music. . . . Diane Walden of Yorba Linda says it’s safe, and her 2-year-old Kaylie loves it: “It’s a real smooth ride.”. . . . What, no dads? Explains Walden: “There was one dad. But he was a little bit of a kamikaze. He wiped out, and his kid just went drifting off.”

SPIKE IT: That high-speed chase from Pasadena to Corona this week came to an end when police laid down a track of spikes that blew out the car’s tires. In Orange County, the California Highway Patrol and Huntington Beach already employ “stinger spikes” for such chases. This week, Tustin officials decided to buy two sets, at $500 each. . . . Says Mayor Jim Potts, who believes the spikes can cut down on high-speed chases, and reduce the city’s liability if someone gets injured: “It’s well worth the money.”