POPULAR U: Hungry to learn, 1,400 students...

POPULAR U: Hungry to learn, 1,400 students now attend classes at Cal State Northridge’s Ventura Campus. That’s a 3% jump from last year. . . . The satellite campus boosts interest as it expands into new fields. This spring, the campus will offer a bachelor’s degree in accounting. That makes a total of 28 undergraduate majors, minors and other programs. Says campus director Joyce M. Kennedy: “We are barreling ahead with more classes and student services.”

HOME ADVANTAGE: Call them geographically incorrect. . . . That’s what some Oxnard parents think about schoolteachers who live outside the city limits (B1). An advisory group report accuses out-of-towners of leaving early to beat rush-hour traffic and lacking commitment to kids and community. . . . The report has stirred quite a reaction from others, who call the accusation insulting to dedicated teachers. Says Oxnard school board Trustee James Suter: “What a slap in the face!”

GOING ONCE: It’s been a busy year for Mary Steenburgen. She married Ted Danson and stars in the movie “Powder,” which opens today. . . . Yet the Ojai resident always has time for her favorite local charity: AIDS Care and the Christopher House. Mary and Ted will co-host a celebrity auction Nov. 19 in Camarillo. “This is a cause very close to Mary’s heart,” organizer Ron Halleran says. The $100 reserved seats are almost gone, he said, but $50 tickets are still plentiful. Info: 482-0089.

BOTTLED WATERGATE: Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) got snagged in a time-honored game practiced in the nation’s capital: pounce on anything that appears hypocritical. The Physicians for Social Responsibility fingered Gallegly and other lawmakers who voted against five bills to toughen drinking-water standards but spend tax dollars to supply bottled water for their offices. Gallegly makes no apologies: “I don’t really feel that you have to defend spending a dollar a day when 90% of the businesses I know provide drinking water.”