MORE KIDS: More kids are going to...

MORE KIDS: More kids are going to L.A. public schools this year, and the Valley’s got them. . . . A report that will be presented at Monday’s board meeting shows enrollment up 12,638 or 1.99% over last year. It’s the first jump in two years. Board member Julie Korenstein’s Valley district reports the biggest increase--4.22%. Why more kids? Officials suggest quake recovery and fading anxiety over Proposition 187.

FER SURE: Like, remember that dude Frank Zappa? OK? The guy who took Val-speak national. OK? Like, he wrote that way awesome song “Valley Girl”? It was, like, about mall rats and their lingo. Now, like, he’s dead, OK? Bummer. And guess where a statue of this dude will be? Like, Lithuania, dude. Vilnius, Lithuania. I’m sure! Like, who goes to the Vilnius Galleria?

ARMCHAIR SHOPPER: One way to avoid malls this time of the year--and who wouldn’t want to--is catalog shopping. While retailers are only having a so-so season, it’s a boom year for mail order. . . . One reason: Catalog companies, such as L.L. Bean, where “pickers” fill orders, above, now deliver gifts as late as Dec. 22. They have holiday sales too. See Business, D1

WITNESS: Is the Valley ready for Kato Kaelin semi-exposed? We’ll find out Thursday when he comes to Tower Books in Sherman Oaks. It’s the first stop on a tour to promote a Playgirl magazine spread. No, he did not bare all for his art. But a press release did say Kato “has traveled a long way in his search for stardom.” Bundy to Rockingham to Toledo, home of his fan club.

FIRING LINE: LAPD Lt. Tony Alba, watch commander at the West Valley Division, started a new job this week as chief police spokesman. . . . Quite a challenge, given the LAPD’s image problems. The 27-year veteran wants to leave the department “in as good a shape as it was when I got here.”