IT’S HISTORY: Less than three years after...

IT’S HISTORY: Less than three years after the county’s Natural History Museum opened its Burbank branch, officials are pulling the museum from the Media City Center mall. County museum Director James L. Powell said the decision was “due to budget and staff constraints” (B1). Annual attendance had been as high as 70,000 visitors.

NO WAITING: A day after the move to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District gained strength, the Valley’s Parent Teacher Student Assn. went to work. The goal: to create a citywide panel to direct the breakup campaign. . . . “We can’t just look at the Valley,” said 31st District PTSA past president Cecelia Mansfield (B1).

WAVE OF FAME: Dubbed a “latter-day surfing Gepetto” by Longboard magazine, Scott Dunning (above) is carving out a name for himself in a workshop in landlocked Topanga Canyon. . . . Dunning produces wooden surfboards that sell for up to $1,500. His secret: combining aerospace materials with Old World craftsmanship. See Valley Life!, Page 8.

VALLEY VERSE: They are the young, angst-ridden poets. And they’re now appearing at Valley venues near you. . . . Coffeehouses from Burbank to Encino have become reading respites for many Valley poets. They share everything from freeway phobias to poetic pickup lines. For poets such as Arash Saedinia of West Hills, the motivation is simple: “If there’s an idea or an image or a poem in my head, I’m not going to rest until I get it out.” See Valley Life!, Page 3.

TEED OFF: Racer Kirk Miller didn’t lose his shirt when Saugus Speedway closed last week. He lost $1,500 in shirts. . . . The Alta Loma racer had printed up 144 shirts of his race team at Saugus, where he has gained a following during the past three years. Now he fears they will be gathering dust in his garage. “We don’t have that kind of following at the other racetracks,” said Miller, who plans to race elsewhere. “So I’m left holding the bag.”