The lead contractor and project manager of Newport Beach’s Civic Center project has agreed to reimburse the city $365,000, more than a year after an audit identified $1.2 million in possible overbilling. The city and the company, Pasadena-based C.W. Driver, reached a settlement agreement Oct. 9....
After a yearlong debate about how to adjust trustee zone boundaries to make them more equal in population, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board on Tuesday unanimously approved a map labeled Map G, which critics contend was created with minimal public input. The boundary adjustment is...
The cities of Huntington Beach and Long Beach have crossed county lines in a bid to lure Amazon into building its planned second headquarters along the Southern California coast. On Wednesday, the cities proposed that one site in Huntington and two in Long Beach — a region they’re pitching as the...
More than $30,000 in prizes were awarded to artists who participated in the 19th annual Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational, which wrapped up Sunday. Thirty-five of the nation’s top plein air painters were invited by the Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn. to gather in Laguna Beach for the...
A 19-year-old woman was arrested early Friday after a brief pursuit by Costa Mesa police near South Coast Plaza, authorities said. Officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle parked in the 3400 block of Smalley Road at 12:51 a.m. When police arrived, they found a woman sleeping in the...
If you heard the roar of military jets flying over the area Friday afternoon, it was simply part of a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the world’s first supersonic flight. To mark the occasion, Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County launched two formation flights that were scheduled to pass...
Lisa Cosenza, a longtime former Daily Pilot and Los Angeles Times advertising executive, died in a shooting Thursday in Aliso Viejo, sheriff’s officials said Friday. She was 51. Cosenza’s longtime boyfriend, Doug Ferguson, 59, also was fatally wounded. Orange County sheriff’s deputies responded...
A 27-year-old man pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he molested a girl after breaking into her family’s Huntington Beach home last month, according to Orange County Superior Court records. Miguel Angel Pastrana of Huntington Beach is facing one count each of burglary and child molesting,...
Three men were arrested early Sunday in Newport Beach on suspicion of spray-painting graffiti on several buildings along a stretch of the Balboa Peninsula, police said. Newport Beach police officers who were investigating another incident near the boardwalk were flagged down at about 2:10 a.m....
Kelly Dodd of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” fame has sold her home in Corona Del Mar for $5 million, records show. The multi-level house, which had been listed for as much as $6.25 million, sits behind gates near Big Corona Beach with harbor and ocean views. Dodd and her estranged husband,...
The Hoag Hospital Foundation has announced two new philanthropic gifts that will establish endowed chairs for the Newport Beach facility. Margaret Larkin, who died this year and served on the foundation’s board, established an endowed chair in developmental therapeutics at the Hoag Family Cancer...
Newport Beach is claiming record-high visitation numbers, with 7.3 million people passing through town last year. The previous record was 7 million, according to the most recent Visitor Impact Study released this past week by Newport Beach & Co., the city’s tourism marketing agency. In other findings...
One of the founders of Wahoo’s Fish Taco, which started in Costa Mesa and is now based in Santa Ana, is investing in two new restaurant concepts that will take over the space formerly used by The Golden Truffle in Costa Mesa. According to the Orange County Register, Ed Lee said The Golden Truffle’s...
Ask Shahin Vosough about the “reinvented” Center Club Orange County and he likes to quote that famous line from Oldsmobile. “This is not your father’s club,” the general manager for Center Club says. That’s clear as you sit in the Encore Room. There’s nothing stuffy or even traditional about it....
A committee of sixth- through eighth-grade teachers in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District is evaluating possible pilot math programs that could replace Swun Math, which some parents say is filled with errors. By the end of the month, the committee is expected to choose two programs to try...
Newport-Mesa Unified School District teachers are receiving 2.5% salary increases this year and next in a new contract unanimously approved by the school board this week. Teachers will receive a raise retroactive to July and an additional increase in July 2018. The total amounts to a 5% hike. With...
He has written some of the most beloved music in the world, including “It’s a Small World” and the songs for “Mary Poppins,” “The Jungle Book” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Walt Disney, who hired him and his brother Robert as staff songwriters at Disney Studios, considered “Feed the Birds” one...
All sewer lines at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa will be inspected in coming weeks to make sure they are properly capped, according to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. That is in addition to more air-quality testing in the science wing that was approved last month by the board of...
You’re not applying yourself. You need to work harder. You’re stupid. As a child growing up in Fullerton, John Rodrigues heard the criticisms over and over in response to his poor performance in the classroom. He internalized the negative comments. At 16, he dropped out of high school. “I just...