PET PAY: Just about everything is getting...

PET PAY: Just about everything is getting more expensive these days--even getting married. . . . The recession-plagued County Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on a proposal to up the marriage license fee from $58 to $62.50. It’s even worse if you want to get married and get your dog or cat back from the county animal shelter. The animal bail-out fee jumps from $25 to $30.

GATES TAX: Sheriff Brad Gates has been haunting the Capitol hallways in Sacramento trying to win a better budget break for law enforcement. . . . And he’s been uttering an unusual word for an Orange County official: taxes. Gates and other sheriffs want the state’s half-cent sales tax--set to expire at month’s end--extended for a year. . . . Negotiators will need to move fast. If a final state budget isn’t hammered out, Gates says he’ll have to send out layoff notices to 300 department employees by the end of the week.

BERRY TASTY? Two Orange County cities have been immortalized in agricultural history. Six new strawberry varieties released for commercial growing by the University of California have among their names: the Anaheim and Laguna strawberries (D1). The new berry types were developed at UC’s Irvine field station and named by its longtime director, Victor Voth, 72, who retired this year. . . . He hopes they do a little better than the last berry named after an Orange County city. The Irvine berries never became a hit, and only rarely can be found in any stores.

HIGH-TECH ART: At the public reception at Anaheim Arena, video artist Nam June Paik’s 13-foot-tall video arch in the main lobby, with its 106 colorful, flashing TV screens, drew almost as much attention as the seating area. You can see more of the New York artist’s work. The Newport Harbor Art Museum is running a four-piece exhibition of Paik pieces, all with his trademark multiple images.