COMMUNITY NEWS FIVE YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS RAISE $3,000 FOR HOSPITAL.

The Kling Street Kids, five Toluca Lake youngsters who work to raise funds for children's charities, have donated $3,001.04 to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

The youngsters, Callie and Cady Stark, Libby and Grady Meier, and Khoe Tyner sold coffee, doughnuts and handmade ornaments outside their Kling Street homes on the two days before Christmas to raise the money.

In 2002, the kids donated $550 they raised to Make A Wish Foundation. In 2003, they donated $2,065.47 to Childrens Hospital.

In addition, Cady Stark's Girl Scout troop will also donate 156 boxes of cookies to the hospital in coming weeks.

Sean Chen, 16, of Oak Park, a pianist and junior at Oak Park High School, won the classical instrumental category at this year's 17th annual Spotlight Awards.

Andrew Modlin, 17, of Sherman Oaks was runner-up in the photography category.

The awards, presented April 16 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, honored 12 young performing artists and four top visual artists from the region.

More than 1,000 students initially auditioned or submitted artwork for the awards. Winners received $6,000 and runners-up, $3,000.

Thirteen Costco employees who rushed to the scene of a Metrolink derailment in Glendale in January were honored this past week at the Courageous Citizens Awards Ceremony.

District Attorney Steve Cooley honored the workers, who, armed with fire extinguishers, put out flames that threatened to ignite diesel fuel and rescued injured people from the wreckage.

Eleven people were killed and hundreds of others were injured in the derailment.

``They acted with courage - even risking their lives - to save others and to pursue justice. For that, we applaud our honorees, for they are truly heroes in our midst,'' the county's top prosecutor said during a ceremony sponsored by the Rotary Club of Los Angeles.

Others honored were Catharine Beck, who helped usher a neighbor's children to safety before the neighbor was shot to death in Altadena, and Jimmie L. Tyler, 24, of Los Angeles, who jumped in to protect a mentally handicapped member of a cleaning crew during a takeover robbery at a Hawthorne restaurant.

The District Attorney's Office created the Courageous Citizen Award in 1985 to commend those who have acted at considerable personal risk to help a victim of crime, assist in a suspect's capture or testify in the face of extraordinary pressures.

A magazine editor, an attorney and an astronaut will be honored May 14 by California State University, Northridge, at its 2005 Distinguished Alumni Awards.

The awards recipients are Bon Appetit Editor in Chief Barbara Fairchild, journalism, 1972; trial attorney Larry Feldman, business, 1966; and former astronaut Scott Horowitz, engineering, 1978.

``The positive imprint of Cal State Northridge is visible in virtually every walk of life,'' said CSUN President Jolene Kester in a statement. ``This year's honorees are a case in point; they have brought creativity and courage to widely varying fields, and honor to our university.''

Tickets to the event are $90. For more information, call [phone].