Tuesdays

Anyone who has booked a last-minute flight knows you pay more when you wait. But you also pay more if you book too early. What's too early? What's too late? Pity the poor fare geek trying to hit that elusive sweet spot. Discount travel site Cheapair.com has crunched a year's worth of booking data and found some answers to these and other eternal travel questions, including: - Best time to book a domestic flight? Seven weeks in advance. - Best time to book an international flight?

The one thing at which the Kings had been so skilled during their run to the Stanley Cup last year and this current postseason was not letting the opposition's best player beat them. And that's what was unique about Game 4 against the San Jose Sharks. Sharks center Joe Thornton caught a wave Tuesday night and brought his teammates along for the ride, leading San Jose to a 2-1 victory against the Kings at HP Pavilion. The Western Conference semifinal series is tied 2-2, with Game 5 Thursday night at Staples Center.

Speed Read is moving to Tuesdays.

With any luck, the campaign for mayor of Los Angeles will end Tuesday in a decisive victory for one candidate or the other. Then the winner can begin the task of building an administration and filling the ranks of commission appointments that will form the city's leadership core for the next four - or possibly eight - years. But this is a close race, and many residents have voted by mail or will cast ballots provisionally or by other means rather than simply going to a polling place and inking the ballot.

Tom Plate's column, which normally runs on Tuesdays, will appear on Wednesday.

Investment features on Tuesdays no longer appear under the Wall Street, California name. Instead, investment and personal finance articles in Business appear under the Your Money name on Tuesdays and throughout the week. Some features may be discontinued in favor of other news and features aimed at helping readers with their financial affairs.

Fairplex Park, located at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona, opens 13 weeks of harness racing tonight at 7:30, which will be first post time throughout the 67-night run. There will be 10 races each night Tuesdays through Thursdays, and 11 races on Friday and Saturday nights.

La Vida Restaurant & Lounge Where: 1448 N. Gower St., Los Angeles When: Lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays; dinner, 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 5 to 11 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays. Price: Appetizers $9 to $16; entrees $19 to $30; lunch specials $15. Contact: (323) 962-0800; www.lavidahollywood.com

I am very upset that "Growing Pains" has been moved to Wednesdays. We are out every Wednesday and now we won't be able to watch my favorite show along with "Who's the Boss?" Please return "Growing Pains" to Tuesdays where it belongs. Corey Corrina, Torrance

Gateway Japan Where: The Torrance Art Museum, 3320 Civic Center Drive North, Torrance When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays. Through April 30. Admission: Free Contact: (310) 618-6340. http://www.torranceartmuseum.com

SAN JOSE - Neatly framed but almost forgotten, a front page from the San Jose Mercury News sits against the wall in a room above the Sharks' practice rink. The newspaper photograph depicts a coach and two players, and the headline is bold: "Contenders for the Cup. " The players are goaltender Arturs Irbe and forward Sergei Makarov and the coach is Kevin Constantine. The year was 1994 and the eighth-seeded Sharks, in only their third season, were the darlings of the NHL for upsetting the No. 1 Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the No. 2 Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games.

A two-year campaign that has drawn record spending will see either the first woman or the first Jew elected as Los Angeles mayor. But despite those milestones, candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti sped around the city Sunday trying to avoid another distinction: drawing the lowest turnout for an open mayoral seat in modern history. The two candidates reached out to voters in churches, at a pizza parlor and in a bowling alley on a long day of campaigning - their last extended opportunity to connect directly to voters before Tuesday's election.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Proponents of fluoridating Portland's water supply had no trouble getting the local Urban League on board. Here in the biggest city in the country that still doesn't treat its water to prevent tooth decay, studies show that low-income children and kids of color have been hit hardest by untreated cavities. "Do we really want our children to be suffering from something we could prevent? Why would we not want to be involved?" said Jerome Brooks, an Urban League advocacy contractor who has helped marshal the civil rights group behind a fluoridation measure on Tuesday's municipal ballot.

No, wait, don't turn the page. Yes, I'll admit it. This is yet another column on Tuesday's election in Los Angeles, the race half the city doesn't care about and the other half hasn't heard about, but DO NOT turn the page. OK, I'll give you $5 to read this. All right, make it $10. Would you stay with me for $20 if I promise Randy Newman's going to make a cameo? Sure, you've got your reasons for tuning out. Some of you think Wendy Garcetti and Eric Greuel are the same person, so it doesn't matter which of them is the next mayor.

Eric Garcetti's lead in the Los Angeles mayor's race has narrowed to seven percentage points, but his strength among conservatives has blocked rival Wendy Greuel from securing a San Fernando Valley base that is vital to her chances, according to a new USC Price/Los Angeles Times poll. As the candidates and their partisans swarmed across the city in advance of Tuesday's runoff election, Garcetti, a city councilman from Silver Lake, held a 48% to 41% lead, the survey found. Voters in the Valley and every other key region of Los Angeles favored him over Greuel, the city controller.

San Jose Sharks forward Raffi Torres was suspended for the remainder of his team's Western Conference semifinal playoff series against the Kings - a ban of up to six games - for what the NHL judged was an illegal hit to the head of Kings center Jarret Stoll on Tuesday. The decision was announced Thursday by Brendan Shanahan, the league's director of player safety, after a hearing in New York that was attended by Torres. Stoll, one of the Kings' primary penalty-killing forwards and a valued third-line center, probably sustained a concussion from the hit, which occurred near the end of the second period of the Kings' 2-0 victory in the series opener.

Arthritis sufferers can learn mild exercises and relaxation techniques at several free classes throughout Orange County as part of an Arthritis Foundation program called Joint Efforts. The classes, offered mostly in the south county area, will begin in early September. They may be joined at any time by simply being present at class time.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - At a harborside reception overlooking Ft. Sumter, where the Civil War began, Mark Sanford batted away a TV reporter's question about the latest insult to his comeback campaign: an unwanted endorsement from pornographer Larry Flynt. Hours earlier, the former governor had been asked about a billboard message on a South Carolina interstate from a marital infidelity website. Under a blowup of a grinning Sanford, the site advised him to use its online service to find his next "running mate.

ST. LOUIS - From being overwhelmed by the Blues' frenzied forechecking at the start to losing on a stunning misplay by Jonathan Quick at the end, the Kings know they must improve in several areas to leave Scottrade Center on Thursday with a split of the first two games of their opening-round playoff series. Speaking after an optional practice Wednesday, the morning after the team's 2-1 overtime loss at St. Louis, Coach Darryl Sutter was clear about who must step up. Asked how the Kings can counter the Blues' energetic fourth line of Chris Porter, Ryan Reaves and Adam Cracknell, Sutter was blunt: "Some of the boys that play on our fourth line have to play like big boys.