Apache suddenly rejects localhost

[Joel Hammer]

I have been using apache for several, years, recently upgraded to 1.3
or whatever (the most recent version.) All has been working fine.

I have one password protected directory with this configuration:

<Location /flags>
        Order Deny,Allow
        Deny from All
        Allow from 192.168. school trusted.org
        AuthType Basic
        AuthName "Sorry-Members only"
        AuthUserFile /etc/httpd/conf/secret.users
        require valid-user
</Location> 

This has worked fine for several years.  Suddenly, while logging onto
this page from the local host apache is running on, I was denied access
with this error in the log:

[client 127.0.0.1] client denied by server configuration: /home/httpd/html/flags

I fixed this problem by adding localhost to the Location
configuration. But, my obvious question, why now? Nothing had changed. I
was able to log onto this page all morning but suddenly this error
popped up.

Any insight appreciated,

Thanks,
Joel