Cols 2-4: In the world of the rodeo, parents sign up their youngsters for 'mutton bustin',' where kids a few years out of diapers ride sheep like the big boys ride bulls. (with art) (SHEEP-RIDING, moving Friday.) Cols 5-6: In the final stages of the weeks-long negotiations over California's $26.3 billion budget gap, what to do about Proposition 98, the measure that guarantees public school funding, has emerged as among the last and toughest issues. (CALIF-PROP98, moving Friday.) Above the fold: Col 6: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor maneuvered through three days of often-antagonistic confirmation hearings by portraying herself as a legal mechanic who would stick to precedent and never 'make law,' but in doing so, she reveals almost nothing about the philosophy that would guide her on the Supreme Court. (SCOTUS-TIMES, moved.) Bottom of the page: Cols 2-3: Fox's seemingly unsinkable 'Family Guy' pulls off something even 'The Simpsons' couldn't, becoming the first animated show to be nominated in the Emmy Awards' main comedy category since 'The Flintstones' back in 1961. (EMMY-FAMILYGUY, moved.) Cols 4-6: Julius Shulman, whose luminous photographs of homes and buildings brought fame to a number of mid-20th century Modernist architects and made him a household name in the architectural world, dies at age 98. (SHULMAN-OBIT, 1stld, moved.) Sent: 11:20 p.m. EDT. For questions, call (213) 237-7832. 