A BIG DEAL: As a young girl,...

A BIG DEAL: As a young girl, Sarah Deal used to ride her bicycle to a nearby airport and dream about being a pilot. Now she is one--but not just any pilot. 1st Lt. Deal, 26, has become the first woman in the Marine Corps to complete helicopter training for combat pilots. She trained for 53 flight hours at the Marine Corps air station in Tustin. . . . “I feel great,” says Deal, who will now fly the Marines’ premiere Super Stallion troop carrier helicopter. . . . Deal is well respected by her instructors and peers. One tiny problem that may follow her: One crew chief sergeant kept forgetting and calling her “Sir.”

LOOKING UP: This alone may depress you, but today is National Depression Screening Day (B5). It’s no joke, however, to mental health officials. The UC Irvine Medical Center will offer free mental health screening tests twice today at its Neuropsychiatric Center in Orange (714-456-7000). Irvine Valley College will offer a similar test at its Student Services Center (714-559-3277). . . . Reason: Fewer than half the 17 million Americans who suffer from depression each year seek treatment.

WIDE RESEARCH: You can expect Prof. Anne Cox at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo to talk about women of the world in her women’s studies classes. . . . Cox recently spent an 18-month sabbatical in Central America and South America studying feminist causes there--then returned to jet to China for the recent World Conference on Women. . . . Says Cox: “It’s been quite an experience. I’ve learned from women from all over the world. It may surprise some, but there is a women’s movement in Latin America.”

A REEL SOLUTION: Local anglers and the Bolsa Chica Foundation hope to increase the dwindling population of white sea bass in Huntington Harbour by building a juvenile sea bass growing pen in the water. . . . They have formed a preservation group to raise money for the project, collecting $10,000 so far. . . . Says group President Bob Hetzler: “White sea bass are a good fighting fish and a popular eating fish. They’re a big fish: white meat, very tender and tasty.”