Bottom Line: Breaking up the Los Angeles...

Bottom Line: Breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District is just one in a host of proposals by reformers who want to improve education. And increasingly, those clamoring for better schools are coming from the ranks of business, columnist James Flanigan reports (D1). . . . School systems, he says, act like bloated corporations before the age of downsizing.

Transplant Update: A 9-year-old Palmdale boy who received a transplant of a portion of his father’s liver is in good condition at UCLA Medical Center. His father, Paul Anders is recovering too. . . . The boy, also named Paul, is still groggy after Friday’s surgery, but the new liver is beginning to work. His dad said: “He looks good. His skin and eyes are back to normal.”

So Call Us: Valley telephone customers will no longer have to endure the unremitting shame of inclusion in a phone book dubbed “Northwestern Area.” The new name for the White Pages, “San Fernando Valley, including Glendale and Burbank,” is meant to reduce confusion and aid marketing of the book, said Pacific Bell’s Nancy Swasey. . . . The new book sports a picture of CSUN’s quake-damaged Oviatt Library. It shows, says Swasey, “that we have bounced back.”

Valley Day: Is the mayor trying to tell us something? Richard Riordan plans to attend five public events in the Valley today. . . . When Tom Bradley was mayor, a day spent giving speeches and cutting ribbons in a community was called an “area day.” Riordan’s staff has not come up with a similar label but notes that--with rising gas prices--it pays to spend a lot of time in one area.