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Interesting timing, the Lakers playing the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday after Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi recently posited that Kevin Durant had passed Kobe Bryant as the NBA's second-best player behind LeBron James .… Apparently no fan of the Lakers star, Taibbi also called Bryant a "demented three-faced narcissist." … Three-faced narcissists must have trouble with mirrors.… Just when everybody seemed ready to bury him, Ron Artest was at his struttin', stealin', swaggerin' best Wednesday.

It's baaaaaack! Bumped out of the lead in 1998, Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. is back in the No. 1 spot on The Times' 1999 survey of residential building in Southern California. K&B, which completed its purchase of Lewis Homes last year and is now the nation's largest builder, reported sales volume of $890 million on sales of 3,618 single-family homes in the Southland. Lennar/Greystone, which topped the '98 survey, ranks No.

Proving once again that golf is indeed a quirky game, a slightly roundish, middle-aged (by golf standards) son of a car dealer beat the best player in the world (by popular opinion) in a sudden-death playoff in the Nissan Open. Go figure. Billy Mayfair can't hit the ball as far as Tiger Woods, he can't wear as many swooshes and he can't pump his fist after willing putts into the hole nearly as well as Woods.

Commercial jets flying to and from El Toro Marine base last month blasted some south Orange County areas with noise and went almost unheard in others, according to a county report released Monday. Much of the information duplicates sound levels recorded by observers and airport foes during the demonstration of large jets that are expected to use a new international airport being planned at El Toro after 2005.

Azusa Unified 100% Precincts Reporting 3 Elected Votes % Eunice Harrington * 1,023 24.2 Inez Z. Gutierrez * 973 23.0 Rosemary Garcia * 942 22.3 Louis A. Zamora 767 18.1 William D. Bradway 526 12.4 Baldwin Park Unified 100% Precincts Reporting 2 Elected Votes % Robert C. Gair * 1,334 35.9 Robert Viramontes * 1,323 35.6 Anthony J. Bejarano 1,063 28.6 Bassett Unified 100% Precincts Reporting 3 Elected Votes % Anna A. Aguilar 410 19.8 Robert J. Fuentes 380 18.3 Hector Varela * 353 17.0 Brenda J.

Despite new restrictions on political contributions, Sen. Ruben Ayala (D-Chino) and Assemblyman Charles Bader (R-Pomona) already have collected more than a quarter of a million dollars each for their face-off in 1990. Neither will say how much they hope to raise for next year's state Senate election. But Bader said that some recent Senate candidates have spent up to $2 million.

In an unguarded moment during their presidential primary battle, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts dismissed the notion that Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina represented Democrats' best hope for a strong showing in the South this November. "He can't win his own state," Kerry told an aide. Now, those words in February are ancient history for Kerry.

Bob Hiegert had just begun to discuss the future of the Cal State Northridge football program when "La Bamba" began blaring over the public-address system at a Matador baseball game. The tune was written years ago by Ritchie Valens, who attended San Fernando High. Effervescent local. Made a name for himself. Knew the area. Topped the charts. Related to kids in their own language. Perhaps the sort of football coach the Northridge athletic director might like to find.