HEADS UP: California flooding has raised prices...

HEADS UP: California flooding has raised prices for lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower across the country, the Department of Agriculture reports. . . . We’re paying, too. At the Sherman Way Farm in Reseda, owner Jay Lee said: “The lettuce price keeps going up to almost $1 a pound. That’s more expensive than chicken.�

COWBOYS . . .: Hankerin’ for some cowpoke poetry? Well, tickets are sold out to hear the buckaroo bards at Santa Clarita’s second annual Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival, which opens today. But don’t fret, pardner. . . . Times staff writer Patricia Ward Biederman spotlights this new style of cowboy poetry on Page 3 of Valley Life!

. . . AND NATIVE AMERICANS: For more Western color, try sampling a Native American powwow. With drum singers and colorful dancers like Aaron Neskahi, above, the intertribal events attract outsiders and Native American descendants. And more local venues are popping up on the powwow circuit, including two in April in the Antelope Valley. Valley Life!, Page 9.

GONE SOUR: First, the city of Los Angeles spent $250,000 to train Valley street vendors to ply their trade with the proper health permits. Now the training is over. But if the vendors try to hit the streets, authorities will fine them . . . because city officials have not yet legalized street vending (B1).

UNIVERSAL APPEAL: A Motown reunion and a return engagement of “Jesus Christ Superstar� highlight Universal Amphitheatre’s 1995 season (F15). . . . Other performances will feature Ray Charles, Foreigner, Reba McEntire, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom Jones, Donna Summer, Cheap Trick and Juan Gabriel. Individual show tickets go on sale Sunday.

TONIGHT: Former Cal State Northridge standout Greg Shockey fulfills a dream when he dons an Angels uniform at Anaheim Stadium for the Freeway Series with the Dodgers (C10). The former Orange County resident doesn’t mind that he’s not a real Angel. Only a small crowd is expected, even though tickets for the game are selling at half the usual price.