CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM: It’s good news, but an...

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM: It’s good news, but an unexpected rise in January’s single-family home sales, above, has left Valley Realtors optimistic and cautious (D7A). . . . “We want to be a little guarded,” said Jim Link, executive vice president of the San Fernando Valley Assn. of Realtors. “We did have some false starts before. But I can tell you, Realtors I’ve talked to feel activity in the marketplace now is definitely stronger than it has been in some time.”

JAILBREAK: Following the arrest last week of a burglar who escaped from the Antelope Valley Courthouse on Jan. 26, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich is calling for increased security at the Lancaster facility. . . . “The potential for a life-threatening incident must be addressed immediately,” Antonovich said. . . . Steven Dobbins, 26, slipped out of handcuffs and escaped in a nearby car. His father, Rex, was arrested as an accessory.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: He entered the world in a small log cabin near what is now Hodgenville, Ky. On Monday, 187 years later, Abraham Lincoln came to Chatsworth. Well, not Lincoln, exactly, but a 35-year-old actor named John Werriner, who visited Ernest Lawrence Middle School as the United States’ 16th president (B1). . . . “It’s like talking to the real person,” said Sasha Gastelum, 13. . . . Abraham was the second of three children born to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln.

BELATED BIRTHDAY: When Dave Mann turned 33 in August, his parents gave him $200 in cash. The next day, the gift disappeared. “I thought I lost it,” Mann recalled. . . . Enter Carolyn Gaza, a recent transplant from Washington, D.C., who runs a cleaning service in Encino. A few weeks after she started tidying Mann’s Monrovia home in January, Gaza found the missing money under a lamp. . . . “I find a lot of things all the time,” she said. “I’m very honest about it.” . . . Honesty pays: Mann gave her a $50 tip.