PRESIDENTIAL: When President Clinton honors UCLA’s championship...

PRESIDENTIAL: When President Clinton honors UCLA’s championship basketball team in a White House Rose Garden ceremony today, Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs will be there. . . . Wachs, who attended UCLA and was once student body president, hosted the championship team at a City Hall ceremony in April. Apparently somebody in the White House took note and called Wachs’ office to invite him to the presidential festivities. “He was quite honored,” said Greg Nelson, a Wachs spokesman.

TOGETHER AGAIN: It’s a country music lover’s feast. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Together they are the Highwaymen, a famed quartet that comes together once every five years. . . . Says Nelson: “This is a vacation for me.” The group performs Sunday at the Universal Amphitheatre. Details in Valley Life, page 3.

MARILYN REDUX: Stamp collectors and the curious stood in long lines at post offices nationwide Thursday to purchase the new Marilyn Monroe stamp, above. Even though it portrays a less sensuous Monroe, stamp collectors still love it. . . . Postal officials said the stamp’s first-day sales might even beat out the 1992 Elvis Presley stamp, which brought in $33 million (B1).

NEW ATTITUDE: Even before last year’s earthquake devastated the Northridge Fashion Center, the owners of the mall thought its design was a little too ‘70s. The corridors were too dark, the storefronts too bland. When the mall reopens July 17, shoppers will stroll through skylighted corridors with fountains, bright storefronts . . . and a number of pricier stores. Details in Valley Life, page 9.

STELLAR SPELLER: Jeannette F. Garcia of Woodland Hills made it all the way to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. (A22), but Thursday the 13-year-old was eliminated. . . . She was stumped by the word ebullition .