BRIEFLY : LAUSD WILL HEAR RESPONSES TO REPORT.

Los Angeles school board members agreed Tuesday to allow 16 additional people to address the board on a report it passed July 20 concerning the pollution-plagued Belmont Learning Center project.

The board decision was the product of intense negotiations with the local teachers union, which had threatened to file a lawsuit against the district for failing to notify the public of the report's content before voting on the matter.

The report called for the district to spend $2.2 million to secure the site, hire a Belmont project manager, and create an advisory commission to evaluate the troubled construction project.

Anyone who wishes to address the board at the Aug. 10 public meeting should contact the board secretary.

-Daily News

Town Hall meeting to be on area code

VAN NUYS - State Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, and state Public Utilities Commissioner Carl Wood will host a town-hall meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday on the planned 818 area code overlay for the San Fernando Valley, a spokesman said.

The public meeting will take place in the auditorium of the Van Nuys State Office Building, 6150 Van Nuys Blvd.

-Daily News

L.A. County to take new tack on fraud

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday not to carry out a grand jury recommendation for an outside individual or firm to oversee measures to curtail welfare fraud.

Instead, the county Auditor-Controller's Office will work with the new grand jury to oversee the implementation and completion of the recommendations made by last year's grand jury in its final report in June.

-Daily News

Getty commissions artists for show

Eleven Los Angeles artists have been commissioned by the J. Paul Getty Museum to produce art works in response to the Getty's collections, which will be presented in a major exhibition opening in February.

The artists selected to participate in the exhibition are: John Baldessari, Uta Barth, Sharon Ellis, Judy Fiskin, Martin Kersels, John M. Miller, Ruben Ortiz-Torres, Lari Pittman, Stephen Prina, Alison Saar and Adrian Saxe.

The exhibition, ``Departures: 11 Artists at the Getty,'' will be organized by guest curator Lisa Lyons and held in the Getty Special Exhibitions Pavilion from Feb. 29 through May 7.

-Daily News

No structures burn in fire near freeway

STUDIO CITY - A grass fire in Studio City Tuesday slowed traffic on the Ventura (101) Freeway, but no one was injured and no structures were burned.

The blaze on the west side of the freeway, just east of Woodman Avenue, was reported about 3:20 p.m. It was under control 20 minutes later, said Jim Wells of the city fire department.

-City News Service