BRIEFLY POWER OUTAGE HITS ENCINO RESIDENTS.

ENCINO - About 500 customers were expected to be without power for more than four hours late Thursday after wires came down, probably due to the rainy weather, said Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Darlene Battle.

The outage occurred at 8:56 p.m. Thursday when the wires were reported down in the 16000 block of Morrison Street, Battle said.

Most of those affected were residential customers, she said.

Power was expected to be restored by about 1 a.m. today, Battle said.

- Daily News

'Happy Days' vet spared prison trip

A judge put former ``Happy Days'' actress Roz Kelly back on probation Thursday, even though she had violated it by hitting her ex-boyfriend on the head with a cane.

The woman who played Fonzie's girlfriend Pinky Tuscadero could have been given up to three years in prison.

She admitted she violated her three-year probation stemming from a 1998 noninjury shooting rampage. Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp said the 58-year-old actress showed poor judgment in taking in the homeless man she hit, and then becoming romantically involved with him, but that he also took advantage of her.

Schempp ordered Kelly to complete a 120-day jail stint, giving her credit for 98 days served.

- City News Service

Blast cuts power, injures workers

SANTA MONICA - An explosion and fire Thursday in an underground vault at an electrical substation in Santa Monica knocked out power to about 15,000 customers in the city and resulted in two minor injuries, officials said.

The problem developed about 5 a.m. near Lincoln Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, said Southern California Edison spokesman Paul Klein.

A fire official said two workers filling newspaper dispensers were cut by glass from a restaurant window that shattered in the blast. They were treated at the scene.

By 7 a.m., the fire was out. A short time later, electrical service was restored to about 5,000 customers, Klein said.

- City News Service

Lack of options allows aerosols

California air regulators loosened some of the tough restrictions on aerosol antiperspirants Thursday after a decade of research failed to turn up the environmentally safer alternative they were looking for.

Meeting in Santa Barbara, the Air Resources Board decided to scrap the last phase of its 1989 rules, which had called for the elimination of high-volatility hydrocarbons used as spray propellants by 1999.

Manufacturers, who had been operating under an extension, already comply with remaining regulations.

- Associated Press

PlayStation 2 theft suspect put in jail

TORRANCE - A teen-ager who allegedly stole a Sony PlayStation 2 on Thursday from a youth who had waited 16 hours in line to buy it ended up in jail a short time later, a Torrance police officer said.

A 16-year-old boy was carting his PlayStation 2 through the parking lot of a Best Buy at 3675 Pacific Coast Highway about 10:35 a.m. when the suspect ran up and snatched the prized player, said Sgt. Kevin Kreager.

Kreager said Michael Andrew Ruiz, 18, of San Pedro was pulled over a few minutes later on southbound PCH and still had the merchandise in the car. The PlayStation 2 was returned to the victim.

- City News Service