BURN CENTRAL: No matter how it happens,...

BURN CENTRAL: No matter how it happens, the best place to go for a serious burn injury is the Sherman Oaks Hospital. Today’s Valley Briefing (B2) examines how the hospital’s famed burn center, the only one in the Valley, treats victims. . . . The greatest number of burns (above) result from contact with flames.

HOUSING SURPLUS: The 1990s California real-estate bust didn’t spare Cal State Northridge, which is grappling with a $2.4-million deficit this year in its student housing program (B1) . . . And the Jan. 17 earthquake that rocked CSUN’s campus has only compounded the school’s housing glut. “No one would even deny we’re in a predicament,” said Ronald Kopita, CSUN’s vice president for student affairs.

HIGH ROAD TO CHINA? City officials from Lancaster are heading far from home in what they say is a bid to attract new businesses to a proposed industrial park and marketplace (B18) . . . But some residents are saying that the prospect of an all-expenses-paid trip to China, Taiwan and Hong Hong has clouded local politicians’ priorities.

NOT ENOUGH: Although Cal State Northridge senior quarterback J.J. O’Laughlin completed 25 of 46 passes for a career-high 358 yards, his last pass was intercepted at midfield in the final minute as Southwest Texas State held on for a 28-23 victory (C16). . . . Special-teams play did little to help the Matador cause. Two errant Northridge punt snaps led to Bobcat scores.

PRISONERS OF WAR: At the age of 9, John Shelton didn’t realize that the capture of his father during an Air Force mission over Laos would turn the entire family into prisoners as well. . . . For 29 years, the mystery surrounding his POW father’s fate has haunted Shelton, and kept him and his siblings in emotional shackles. But freedom for the family may now be in sight (B1).

Burn Victims

The Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital conducted 958 surgeries from February, 1993, until January, 1994. The ranking of how Burn Center victims are injured: 1. Flame 2. Scald (liquid) 3. Contact (Iron, etc.) 4. Chemical 5. Electrical Source: The Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital