Niagara

USC Coach George Raveling has been an outspoken critic of the three-point shot since it became part of the entire college basketball structure this season. And it was the three-point basket that enabled Niagara to make a run at USC in the second half Thursday night after trailing, 34-18, at halftime.

NIAGARA FALLS, Canada - High-wire artist Nik Wallenda fulfilled his dream of walking over Niagara Falls on a wire Friday, defying predictions of naysayers who warned of everything from falcons to fierce winds toppling him as he made his way over the roaring water. As hundreds of thousands of people watched from the Canadian and U.S. sides of the falls, Wallenda gingerly walked through a thick, cold mist, becoming nearly invisible at times except for his bright red shirt and the glint of his balancing pole.

Garry Jordan, 26, a former Niagara basketball star, has been sentenced to 60 years in prison and fined $500,000 fine for selling PCP, an illegal drug.

NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA -- High-wire artist Nik Wallenda fulfilled his dream of walking across Niagara Falls on a tightrope Friday, navigating through thick spray, strong winds and some close encounters with birds to become the first to complete the walk -- albeit wearing a safety harness -- in more than 100 years. Wallenda began his walk from Terrapin Point on the U.S. side of the falls and emerged 34 minutes later through a cloud of mist on the Canadian side, to howls and cheers from hundreds of people who had lined the streets for hours.

--The brigantine Niagara had been restored three times in the past, but Pennsylvania didn't give up on the ship that carried Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry in the War of 1812. Exactly 175 years after Perry's fleet defeated the British on Lake Erie, the Niagara was launched again, thanks to a fourth restoration that cost $3.8 million in state and private money.

That last year's Venice Film Festival turned down "Boogie Nights" in favor of "Niagara Niagara" should help American audiences get over any lingering inferiority complex they might have regarding European cinema, or aesthetics--although it won't allay anyone's concerns about American independent pictures. Robin Tunney ("The Craft") won a best actress award from the festival, playing a lovely loser with Tourette's syndrome (an honor that seems a classic example of "Rain Man" syndrome).

"After taking over 20 pictures of Niagara Falls (both Horseshoe and American falls), I thought I'd aim a bit lower and take a picture of the Niagara River itself," writes North Hollywood reader Rosie Taravella, who snapped this shot in July at the border of New York and Ontario, Canada. "It had rained all day, but the sun broke through in the late afternoon, creating this beautiful rainbow effect."

Environmental chiefs from the United States and Canada today signed a declaration vowing efforts toward cutting the flow of toxic chemicals into the Niagara River by at least 50% within 10 years. Lee Thomas, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Canadian Environment Minister Tom McMillan, New York State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Henry Williams and Ontario Province Environment Minister Jim Bradley signed the accord at a Niagara symposium here.

Chilled Californians visiting Niagara Falls this winter can warm up inside an 80-degree tropical rain forest in a greenhouse, complete with butterflies. The 11,000-square-foot Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory opened this month at the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture in Ontario, Canada. About 2,000 tropical butterflies from several dozen species, including monarchs, flit about a 20-foot-high waterfall, Australian tree ferns, Everglade palms and other exotic plants.

NIAGARA: A History of the Falls by Pierre Burton, (Penguin Books, $14.95). Six months ago, I'd have smirked at the idea that Niagara Falls was anything but a tired icon for the most prosaic of travelers. I had glimpsed Niagara once from afar and written it off as the tamest of tourist traps, an over-hyped honeymoon destination. Then last summer I took a closer look. So when I spotted "Niagara," I snatched it up.

Two waterfalls, two miracle stories. On Monday, a man suspected of trying to kill himself by leaping into Niagara Falls has survived -- although he has suffered life-threatening injuries. Witnesses said they saw the man scale a retaining wall above Horseshoe Falls -- seen above -- at about 10:20 a.m. on Monday. They said they saw him "deliberately jump into the river waters," according to Niagara Parks Police Service. The unidentified man surfaced in lower Niagara River basin.

NEW YORK -- High-wire artist Nik Wallenda finally made it official Wednesday: His controversial walk over Niagara Falls will take place June 15, nearly a year after New York state lawmakers passed legislation to permit the performance as a way of injecting tourist dollars into the region's moribund economy. Wallenda made his announcement at a news conference -- where else? -- on the edge of Niagara Falls, which straddles the United States and Canada. Because the proposal needed approval of officials on both sides of the border, it seemed at times in danger of collapse.

There is no shortage of legends surrounding the cat that went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Some say it survived, proving the barrel was sturdy enough to carry humans down the falls. Some say it died. Some say it rode shotgun with Annie Edson Taylor when she became the first person to survive a barrel roll over the falls in 1901. Photos: Niagara Falls, then and now Mark DiFrancesco of Niagara Falls' Daredevil Museum offers another twist on the tale. "Legend has it the cat was black going over the falls but came out of the barrel white" from fright, he said, straight-faced, as Independence Day visitors eyed the museum's yellowed newspaper clippings, old photographs, bashed-up barrels, tattered life vests and a dented jet ski. That the legend of the cat lives on 110 years later says something about Niagara Falls' passion for its daredevil past, which seemed as dead as its economy until state lawmakers latched onto the idea of using that death-defying spirit to try to boost the city's finances.

The images were grainy, the lines obscured — as if they were photos taken by a surveillance camera. The backdrop appeared to be a giant boombox, but maybe it was just speakers on scaffolding. Lights added halo glares but didn't illuminate. A V-shaped podium sat center stage. Only the telltale rounded mouse ears behind this gizmo station identified the shots: No, not leaked drawings of the latest Disneyland attraction or a Takashi Murakami art project, but mockups of the stage set for the Coachella performance of Canadian geeky beat king deadmau5, who will headline the Sahara Tent Friday night.

An unexpectedly powerful rainstorm unleashed a torrent of mud that inundated more than 40 houses Saturday, leaving La Cañada Flintridge's northernmost neighborhood awash in boulders, dented cars and broken homes. The force of the mudflow appeared to catch residents and officials off guard, as the forecast initially called for a light to moderate rainstorm. No evacuations had been ordered Thursday or Friday, when the rain began to fall. But before dawn on Saturday, an intense band of rain cells formed over the mountains burned in the massive Station fire.

"Venus" Melanie Chrismer I like this book because it is about my favorite planet. Venus is the second planet from the sun and has no moons. Venus is named after the Roman god of love and beauty. Reviewed by Eli, 6, John Muir Elementary Santa Monica -- "The Hunt for Pirate Gold" Irene Schultz The Woodlanders are hunting for gold using a treasure map. Meanwhile, some crooks are trying to find diamonds. The Woodlanders go to Florida. When they catch the crooks, one of them has the diamonds.

--What will Barbie doll say for this holiday event? Soap-opera actor Shawn Thompson was arrested for endangering a doll--he threw a Ken doll over Niagara Falls in a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket. Thompson, 27, who plays Simon on "The Guiding Light," was filming a segment for "Switchback," his satirical Canadian television show, when he tossed the doll--named Kendini for the trip--over the Horseshoe Falls.

"The Bank" is open for business and, for a change, Loyola Marymount basketball Coach Paul Westhead will have a full deck to work with when the Lions play host to Niagara on Saturday, then head east for a three-game road trip in the winter wonderlands of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Lions' big man, Hank (the Bank) Gathers, will return to the lineup after sitting out two weeks for medical tests after he fainted in a game Dec. 9. Gathers, averaging 28.5 points and 13.

GINGER STRAND has a great subject in Niagara Falls and some provocative and convincing ideas about her topic's significance. Unfortunately, her synthesis of the two -- "Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power and Lies" -- incorporates just about every authorial tic and self-absorbed mannerism that afflicts far too much American nonfiction these days.