CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune Pfc. James Stein (left) and Pfc. Herbert Hartfield toured the laundry room with Monique Ramirez, director of billeting for bachelor housing.

CAMP PENDLETON – Camp Pendleton officials yesterday unveiled a new barracks building, the first of 24 to be constructed on the base in the next two years for single Marines. The four-story, 170-room structure represents nothing less than an about-face by the Marine Corps on the issue of housing for unmarried troops, who make up about half of the service and spend more time fighting overseas than their married counterparts.

RANCHO PENASQUITOS – As a young woman trying to graduate from San Diego's firefighter academy in 1977, Lonnie Kitch thought she had come to the end of the road when she heard the fire chief's words: “There won't be a woman hanging on the back of a fire truck as long as I'm chief of this city.”

POWAY – A $20,000 private analysis of the Poway Fire Department's overtime issue has concluded that the city is saving money, not wasting it. The study, conducted by an outside consulting firm commissioned by the City Council in February, concludes the city's “usage of overtime is appropriate and within accepted best practices in the fire service, given how the city has chosen to staff its fire services.”

As a longtime traffic reporter for KFMB Channel 8, KSON-FM and other outlets, Jo Eager is used to riding in helicopters over San Diego. On Sunday, though, Eager had a far different view. She was in a harness dangling from San Diego Fire-Rescue's Copter 1 over Mission Trails Regional Park.

There's an old saying in the law – that representing yourself in court means you have a fool for a client. Don't tell that to Linda Evans. She not only represented herself, but did so at the appellate court level.