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Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Daily Pilot/TimesOC writers win several Orange County Press Club awards
Daily Pilot and TimesOC writers won several awards at the Orange County Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards gala held Wednesday night at Anaheim Hills Golf Club to honor the work county journalists did throughout 2024. Daily Pilot writer Sara Cardine won first place in the Best Public Affairs Story category for her look at an apartment complex on the west side of Costa Mesa that was due to be demolished after years of housing low-income tenants. 'I was thrilled to see my story on a topic local to the city of Costa Mesa considered alongside the coverage of wider reaching issues, handled by seasoned reporters who bring every resource to bear in telling important stories,' Cardine said. 'It's heartening to see this level of attention being paid to what's happening in Orange County.' Cardine also earned third place in the Best Investigative Story or Series category, after examining how the Rancho Santiago Community College District found $8 million of its own money that had been quietly held back by a third-party insurance vendor. That detailed look was part of a project she has been working on for more than two years. Gabriel San Román, who writes for TimesOC, earned a second-place award in Best Environmental News with his story on San Clemente's eroding beaches. He also earned a honorable mention nod in Best Beat Reporting for stories on a Disney labor dispute. Daily Pilot reporter Andrew Turner earned third place in Best Sports Story for his game story on Edison football winning its first state championship, capturing the CIF State Division 1-A title on a late touchdown pass from Sam Thomson to Jake Minter. Turner also earned honorable mention in Best Environmental News, as he wrote about a program in which Laguna Beach used grazing goats as part of its mitigation effort against wildfires. Sarah Mosqueda, who writes primarily for TimesOC, was working for the Los Angeles Times when she wrote about 10 of the best Caesar salads in Los Angeles. That article earned second place in the Best Round-Up or Best Of category. 'I'm incredibly proud of our team,' said Executive Editor Carol Cormaci. 'Their passion for storytelling, commitment to accuracy and deep sense of purpose come through in every article they write. The O.C. Press Club awards are a wonderful recognition of their work.' A full list of award winners is available on the organization's website.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Huntington Beach mayor again makes disparaging remark on hot microphone
Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns made a disparaging remark on a hot microphone Tuesday night, at the same meeting where the City Council said it would not repeat public comment restrictions that the American Civil Liberties Union alleged violated the Brown Act and speakers' 1st Amendment rights. Burns' remark was made after Wendy Rincon and her daughter Sydney made public comments. After groaning and calling for the next speaker following Sydney Rincon, the microphone picked up Burns muttering what sounded like 'Another f—ing cow' under his breath, although the last word could have been 'coward.' Burns did not respond to Daily Pilot requests for comment. About a year ago, he called then-minority council members Natalie Moser, Dan Kalmick and Rhonda Bolton 'pieces of s**t' after they walked off the dais in protest of an item that Burns had brought forward seeking to affirm the council's commitment to the U.S. Constitution, specifically the 1st and 2nd Amendments. Burns' comment Tuesday was not immediately heard by meeting attendees in the theater at the Central Library where the meeting was taking place, but it could be heard by people who were watching the livestream of the meeting online. 'You can hear it on the city's recording,' said Wendy Rincon, who was standing behind her daughter during her comments. 'He can't run from it ... Whether he's saying it about my daughter or the lady who spoke after her, it's kind of subjective. No matter what, he shouldn't be saying it, period. But considering that my cease and desist letter was on the agenda, I don't think it's a stretch to assume he was talking about my daughter and me by default.' The cease-and-desist letter referenced came from Jonathan Markovitz, a free expression and access to government staff attorney for the ACLU, on behalf of Rincon. It claimed that Burns violated the Brown Act, the U.S. Constitution and the state Constitution with his actions during the council's May 6 meeting. In the letter, Markovitz argued that the mayor should not be warning members of the public that they can't make crude gestures or use foul language when providing public comment. Additionally, he should not stop public speakers from addressing individual council members by name. Burns did both at the May 6 meeting, prompting clarification from Huntington Beach City Atty. Mike Vigliotta. '[Speakers] should just address the council, but to the extent they need to mention names, they can,' Vigliotta told Burns. Huntington Beach's code of ethics, adopted in 2016, states that all city elected or appointed officials should treat their fellow city officials, staff, commission members and the public 'with patience, courtesy, civility and respect, even when we disagree on what is best for the community and its citizens.' Sydney Rincon, 22, said she has also spoken at council meetings before. Her comments included noting that the 1st Amendment and 2nd Amendment give rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of press. She also commented on Burns wearing an American flag shirt to the meeting, stating that it violated the United States code regarding respect for the flag. 'It does not surprise me that he would respond so maliciously,' said Sydney Rincon, a recent graduate of San Francisco State with bachelor's degrees in cinema and political science, in an interview on Wednesday. 'I think what's important to recognize is that nowhere within my speech that I gave on Tuesday night did I address a personal opinion or a grievance of the council. I merely acknowledged the Constitution and our standing flag code. Even in that commentary, he spoke maliciously of me as a constituent and as a voter in this city.' The council voted unanimously 6-0-1, with Councilman Andrew Gruel absent, that while it was not admitting that Brown Act violations occurred, it would cease, desist from and not repeat the challenged past action. There was no discussion of the agenda item. Burns, Mayor Pro Tem Casey McKeon, Gracey Van Der Mark and now-state Senator Tony Strickland were voted into office in 2022. After Butch Twining, Don Kennedy and Chad Williams were elected last fall, they formed a self-proclaimed all-MAGA council. Wendy Rincon has long been critical of them. She gave the council the middle finger during her public comments at the March 4 meeting and said 'F— you,' critical of Burns limiting the time for public speakers to a single minute. 'After two years of being called a groomer, a pedophile, an indoctrinator, I had reached my limit,' she said following Tuesday night's meeting. 'You know how contentious the library [debate] has been ... and I lost my temper. I stand by it. It's not something that I would normally do, but I think that they kept ratcheting up the hate and the anger. It's like, what do they expect?' She said Wednesday she was considering filing a lawsuit against the city, and had sent an email to Markowitz seeking feedback. 'In this day and age, men just don't get to say that sort of thing,' she said of Burns' remark. 'I don't think that Pat has received that memo yet.'
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Turbulent times bring out O.C. protesters while sending others into hiding
Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 18. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county. Perhaps in part bolstered by the knowledge there were plenty of like-minded people willing to join them, legions of Orange County residents turned out Saturday afternoon to take part in the nationwide 'No Kings' protest, a coordinated act of defiance timed to coincide with the day the President Trump-ordered military parade was taking place in Washington, D.C. to mark the Army's 250th anniversary and his 79th birthday. Daily Pilot reporter Andrew Turner, the only staffer working Saturday, was dispatched to cover the protest in Laguna Beach. He seemed a little taken aback by the magnitude of the effort when he was greeted by throngs packed along the South Coast Highway sidewalk in the heart of downtown. 'This is no small gathering,' was the understated text he sent me on his arrival, as if he'd expected maybe 50-60 souls demonstrating. Instead, there were more than 2,000 protesters armed with signs expressing their displeasure with the current administration. Similarly, our contributing freelance writer/photographer Susan Hoffman, a Newport Beach resident, was wondering to herself how she could possibly provide us with an estimated crowd size she encountered when she ventured out to Coast Highway and Jamboree Road on our behalf. 'There were way too many to count,' she told me later. Both described the local demonstrations as peaceful, consistent with media reports from around the nation. Susan's text to me Saturday afternoon, just after she sent Andrew her contribution to fold into this account of the coordinated proves that he was writing for us: 'I have to say the [Newport Beach protesters] were extremely positive, kind, very nice to talk to... the kind you want to know better.' In Huntington Beach, where the crowd was likely much larger, given the fact Surf City has more than twice the number of residents as does Newport and about seven or eight times the number of Laguna, things became a bit more competitive, shall we say, as there was a counter-protest in support of the president, The Times reported. Also, according to Huntington Beach police, a felon with active arrest warrants who was carrying a loaded handgun was taken into custody during the event. He had allegedly threatened to knock someone out in the middle of the street at about 3:30 p.m., a few blocks from the pier. The gun was discovered as they were making the arrest. The day of protest, planned more than a month ahead last week's ICE raids in Los Angeles and Orange counties, may have drawn more people than it otherwise might have, those who were disturbed by the pace of the actions and reports of how they were carried out, the federalization of the National Guard and the decision to bring out a show of even more force in the form of Marines. Indeed, according to the photos we saw, plenty of the protest signs carried references to all of the above. We've been keeping an eye on ICE activity in Orange County. One incident, which also happened to be reported by Andrew Turner, took place just over a week ago at a car wash in Fountain Valley. According to the manager there, without showing a warrant or a list of people they were hunting for, uniformed individuals, their faces covered, just walked in at 9:30 a.m. on a Monday, rustled up seven of the nine workers on site and hauled them off. 'They don't ask any questions,' the car wash manager said. 'They only grab, grab, grab the guys, take them to the van. They don't give you a chance to speak. They don't have a chance to say, 'Oh, let me see [if] I got my papers.' … They only grab the guys and take them. No questions. It's not fair.' Also last week, rumors spread that ICE agents were questioning workers and guests at Disneyland. Reporter Gabriel San Román looked into that for this story that appeared in Sunday's Daily Pilot/TimesOC. Officials with the amusement park and the city discounted those rumors. However, he reported, 'the city acknowledged cellphone videos of an SUV pursuing a man two miles down the street [from Disneyland] at Pearson Park the following morning was credible evidence of federal immigration enforcement.' Pearson Park, the reporter noted, is in a Latino neighborhood, which suggests racial profiling. He interviewed Anaheim Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava, who told him she 'saw the Pearson Park video on Instagram, got dressed and headed out to vet the claim. She spoke to a young Latino who recounted how federal agents dressed in black with their faces covered approached him and another man at the park.' 'They asked him for identification,' Rubalcava told San Román. 'When he told them he was born in the U.S., they told him 'prove it.'' Lucky for him, he had his Social Security card on him. San Román reports that Orange County Rapid Response Network's hotline has been receiving tips of ICE activities. 'Sandra De Anda, the group's network coordinator, emphasizes a 'salute' method for its team of volunteer ICE watchers to assess the 'size, action, location, uniform, time and equipment' details of a raid in confirming it,' according to his report. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that immigrant-owned Mexican supermarket chains and food merchants, noticing customers' fears of being targeted by ICE agents, are standing up for them. That includes the popular Northgate, a company that had its very beginnings in Anaheim in 1980, as well as Vallarta Supermarkets. 'We're really afraid of what's happening, and just being able to at least give [customers] a smile,' Lizette Gomez, Vallarta's director of marketing, told the Times reporter about the chain's efforts to qualm fears. 'As long as we're there to at least give them some sort of hope — that it's really dark right now, but it'll hopefully be good at the end.' • The Zinn Education Project's #TeachTruth campaign made its way to the Laguna Beach farmers market on June 7 (the fifth annual organized Teach Truth Day of Action), according to this article by my colleague Andrew Turner. To explain the reason behind the campaign, the Project's website says, '...across the country, legislatures, the president, and corporate power are pushing laws and policies to criminalize teaching honestly about U.S. history and to restrict students' ability to ask questions and engage in critical thinking.' To counter such actions, people are asked to set up booths at public spaces to educate others 'about the chilling effect of these laws and how they threaten any chance of an informed and engaged democracy.' In Laguna, the reporter spoke to Heather Hanson, a European history teacher at Laguna Beach High whose informational table also offered farmers market patrons a look at some of the books that have been banned, including George Orwell's 'Animal Farm,' J.D. Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye,' and Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse-Five.' • Speaking of reading, library-related Measures A and B on the June 10 ballot put before Huntington Beach voters both passed. People in favor of bringing to a halt the City Council's intentions to set up a 21-member review board to approve children's books for the public library, Measure A, prevailed on a vote of 34,758 to 24,760. The second measure, which would require both the Huntington Beach City Council and a majority of Surf City voters to approve any outsourcing of library operations, won, 36,002 to 23,466. • Also included in the June 10 election was the race to fill a seat on the Newport-Mesa Unified school board that pitted the woman who had been appointed to the board on a 4-2 vote in January, Kirstin Walsh, against Andrea McElroy, whose supporters were behind a petition drive that overturned Walsh's appointment and forced an election. McElroy's GOP-backed campaign was successful; according to the county registrar she garnered 2,815 of the votes to Walsh's tally of 2,423. Anyone interested in watching YouTube video of the January meeting when McElroy, Walsh and one other candidate were interviewed can find it here. • The countdown has begun for this year's Orange County Fair, which gets underway July 18. Just in time for the big event, the OC Fair & Event Center's board has named a successor to the retiring Michele Richards, who served as CEO. James Canfield, who was most recently the general manager of an Alabama convention complex, will step into Richards' shoes on July 1. Canfield has held similar roles in Palm Springs, Pasadena and Long Beach. • Disbarred Newport Beach attorney Michael Avenatti, who gained fame representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her litigation against President Donald Trump, was sentenced Thursday to 95 months in federal prison for stealing millions of dollars from his former clients. It was a re-sentencing for Avenatti, who in 2022 been given 14 years, a ruling that was overturned by an appellate court. Avenatti was seeking 78 months, with 39 of those months having already been served. • More than 100 fire personnel battled a blaze on the 3500 block of Cadillac Avenue in Costa Mesa that was reported at 5:15 p.m. Sunday and left a structure that houses three businesses so heavily damaged it was red-tagged to prevent people from entering it. • After someone reported a leaf blower had been stolen from a gardener's truck, Huntington Beach police chased down and arrested a wanted felon, a 27-year-old Florida man, and his accomplice in the alleged theft on Friday. The search forced a shelter-in-place order at Dwyer Middle and Smith Elementary schools. • Carl and Alice Obert, 98 and 96-years-old, respectively, celebrated a remarkable 77 years of marriage earlier this month with cupcakes and Champagne. According to the Daily Pilot story about this milestone event in their lives, experts estimate that only about 1,000 couples in the United States at any given time have been married 75 years or longer. The Oberts, wed on June 5, 1948, still live in the Huntington Beach home they purchased in 1963. • The eclectic L.A.-based band Ozomatli, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with a '30 Revolutions' tour, will be playing a free concert at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Thursday at 6 p.m. to kick off the OC Parks Summer Concert Series. The band will return to Orange County on Aug. 3 for an OC Fair show at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, along with X and Los Lobos. • Lions Park and Luke Davis Field in Costa Mesa will again be the venue for the 79th annual Fish Fry and Carnival put on by the Costa Mesa Newport Harbor Lions Club that starts the evening of Friday, June 27 and runs through Sunday, June 29. Guests can enjoy fish and chip dinners, carnival rides and games, blues and rock bands, a beer and wine garden, vendor booths and more. Admission is free; fish dinners are $15. Hours are 5 to 10 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Until next Wednesday,Carol We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
Los Angeles Times
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Ozomatli, celebrating 30th anniversary, returns to Fountain Valley
Los Angeles-based band Ozomatli is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and those in Orange County have not one, but two chances to see the eclectic, multi-genre act perform. Ozomatli will be playing a free concert at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Thursday at 6 p.m., kicking off the OC Parks Summer Concert Series. Ulises Bella, who plays saxophone and provides vocals, is one of six founding members that is still at it three decades later. 'It's a trip,' Bella said in an interview with the Daily Pilot. 'When we were younger, when we were kids, none of us thought that this was going to last that long. When you're younger, you're thinking maybe the band would last a couple of years, maybe it would last 10 years. Now we're at 30, and it's incredible. It's a testament to the chemistry of the members of the band, and our commitment to the music and to ourselves as a group.' The band will return to Orange County on Aug. 3 for an OC Fair show at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, along with X and Los Lobos. The shows are part of Ozomatli's '30 Revolutions' tour. A hometown anniversary show was scheduled for Saturday night at the California Plaza in downtown L.A., but Bella said it has been postponed due to the curfew and ICE raids in the city. Bella said Ozomatli, a band whose origins are steeped in activism, instead plans to perform at 'No Kings' demonstrations planned for Saturday. 'That's going to be Plan B,' he said. 'I think [the raids are] pure political theater. The worst kind, too, because the people who are suffering are working class people.' Three decades in, Ozomatli also still features founding members Asdru Sierra on vocals and trumpet, Raul Pacheco on vocals and guitars, Wil-Dog Abers on bass, Jiro Yamaguchi on percussion and Justin Poree on vocals and percussion. The group has won three Grammy Awards, including a Latin Grammy, and is unique in the way it blends Latin, hip-hop, reggae, funk music and more. 'All of us grew up with all kinds of different music growing up, and it's this blend of those different kinds of music that make up the gumbo of what Ozomatli's sound is,' Bella said. 'I will say that the scope of the influences from where we've started to where we are now has grown over the years. We used L.A. as our foundation, and traveling around the country, you go to places like Chicago and New Orleans, cities with very important musical traditions, [Washington] D.C., New York. 'Then we go all around the world, and we're able to soak up some of those obscure references and obscure music styles,' Bella said. 'It's expanded our whole musical horizon.' Admission and parking are both free for Thursday's show at Mile Square Park, with attendees welcome to save their spot on the grass for the concert and enjoy food trucks and concessions starting at 5 p.m. The concert, which will take place by the north lake near Freedom Hall, starts at 6 p.m. The OC Parks Summer Concert Series continues back at Mile Square Park on June 26 with Doin' Time, a Sublime cover band. More free concerts are scheduled throughout the summer at Mason and Irvine regional parks in Irvine, Craig Regional Park in Fullerton and Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point.
Los Angeles Times
04-06-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
‘Either there will be safer streets in Newport Beach or I'll be dead,' says father of young DUI victim
Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 4. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county. On the last Sunday of May there was a somber assemblage near the Balboa Fun Zone to mark the first anniversary of the death of a 14-year-old girl mowed down in a DUI crash on the evening of Saturday, May 25, 2024. Rosenda Elizabeth Smiley, 'Rose' to all who knew her, had been enjoying a day in Newport Beach with friends after making the trip there that Memorial Day weekend from her dad's home, about 20 miles away from Big Bear Lake. They were in a crosswalk about a block from the Fun Zone when a dark sedan knocked Rose down. By the time first responders made it to her side she had succumbed to her injuries. Joseph Alcazar, 30, of Fontana, the man behind the wheel of the car, remained at the scene, where he was interviewed by police officers and arrested. Four days later he was charged with second-degree murder and two counts of driving under the influence and causing injuries, along with a misdemeanor count of child abuse and endangerment, the latter charge filed because Alcazar's own 8-year-old daughter was in his car that night, the Daily Pilot reported. His blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash was .16, prosecutors alleged in the complaint, twice the legal limit. In no time, a makeshift memorial filled with flowers took shape on a curb near where Rose's death occurred, and a vigil was organized to mourn yet another innocent victim of a DUI crash. The teen's mother and father — Glori Smiley and Fillmore Smiley — though divorced, were united not only in their grief, but also in their determination to stop such accidents from ever happening again in Newport Beach. With the support of Glori and his partner Lori, Fillmore Smiley has been lobbying city officials to install elevated and blinking crosswalks at some of Newport's heavily trafficked intersections and possibly implementing portions of a 'Vision Zero' policy adopted in Sweden 30 years ago that cut traffic-related deaths in half, reporters Sara Cardine and Eric Licas related in this Daily Pilot story about the anniversary vigil. He's not yet been successful with those pleas, he said. Smiley, a recovering addict himself with 21 years of sobriety who earned his doctorate and counsels others battling addition, is also asking Southland pols to introduce into the state Legislature 'Rosenda's Law.' It's a proposed bill that would impose tougher penalties for repeat DUI offenders and even passengers who knowingly get in a car with a drunk driver. According to The Pilot, Rosenda's Law 'suggests treatment for initial offenders and mandatory drug court for a second DUI. A third conviction would incur a 16-month minimum sentence and a fourth offense would call for five to 10 years. Anything after that would come with a life sentence.' The passengers who willingly climbed into a vehicle driven by someone under the influence could be charged with a misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge that would be erased after a series of educational classes, Smiley explained. Few legislators he's spoken to have wanted to take on introducing the proposed law, except for Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale). On May 27, the state Assembly declared May 25, 2025 'Rosenda's Day,' via a resolution introduced by Lackey. Smiley traveled to Sacramento for the occasion. 'In the past year, Rose's family members and friends, clad in pink T-shirts, bearing a rose and a picture of the teen with the words 'JusticeForRose,' have packed every courtroom hearing ahead of Alcazar's impending trial for murder, felony DUI and child endangerment,' according to the story. Smiley has also formed the group 'Rosenda's Gift' to help the families of other victims secure remembrances such as memorial plaques and benches, tributes he considers 'cathartic.' As to striking out — so far, anyway — with Newport Beach officials in his lobbying efforts for pedestrians to be made safer from the threat of DUI drivers, Smiley is determined to keep going. 'If I can't get Newport Beach to work with me and do the right thing, maybe I can do something at the state level and get some things implemented,' Smiley told The Pilot. 'I'm going to keep at it — either there will be safer streets in Newport Beach or I'll be dead.' • Much to the surprise of Mayor Pat Burns and others in the know about Huntington Beach's stand with President Trump against illegal immigration, Surf City was the only Orange County municipality on this list of sanctuary cities that was released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security, accusing them of 'defying federal immigration law.' Curiously Santa Ana, an actual sanctuary city, did not. The list was taken down sometime Sunday, the Daily Pilot reports. Burns called the city's inclusion on it either a misprint or a serious mistake and notified the DHS of its error. National Sheriffs' Assn. President Sheriff Kieran Donahue called the list 'arbitrary' and created without any input, criteria of compliance or method of objecting to the designation, The Pilot reported. Before the list was removed from the DHS website, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem defended it Sunday morning on a Fox News program. 'Some of the cities have pushed back,' she said. 'They think because they don't have one law or another on the books that they don't qualify, but they do qualify. They are giving sanctuary to criminals.' • The coastal rail linking Orange and San Diego counties is expected to resume service next month after closing in April when the California Coastal Commission approved emergency construction because sections of the rail were reported to be unstable. Service from Dana Point in south Orange County to Oceanside in San Diego County — is set to resume June 7, the Los Angeles Times reports. • Civic leaders turned out last week to cheer the wrecking ball when Anaheim demolished yet another seedy motel along Beach Boulevard, the former Rainbow Inn, to make way for much-needed town homes and affordable housing units. 'We want to clean up this area in west Anaheim,' Rep. Lou Correa said at a press conference in front of the motel, according to this TimesOC story on the demolition. 'This is what good government is all about. It's about listening to our locals, to our constituents, responding to their needs and moving forward.' • Some 4,000 people attended the California Democratic Party annual conclave at the Anaheim Convention Center over the weekend. Speakers on Saturday included possible 2028 presidential hopefuls Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. • Dismayed that his fellow state legislators are not taking up his battle to allow licensed manicurists to work as self-employed contractors without taking a rigorous test now required by law — even though licensed barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians and electrologists can continue the practice without it — Republican Assemblyman Tri Ta announced Monday he was filing a federal discrimination lawsuit. Ta noted that 82% of manicurists in California are Vietnamese, with 85% of those being women. 'This lawsuit seeks only one thing — to make sure that all professionals in the beauty industry are treated equally and to eliminate the obvious discrimination against the Vietnamese community,' the complaint reads. • The Mission Viejo City Council last week moved forward with the adoption of an updated state map that identifies homes in 'very high' or 'high' wildfire hazard zones. The approval was made with some reluctance, according to TimesOC, as residents raised the specter of how much their already-high homeowners insurance would be raised as a result. 'Mission Viejo is one of 16 Orange County cities with very high wildfire hazard areas,' reporter Gabriel San Román explains. 'Adoption of the Cal Fire map is mandatory and cities do not have the authority to change the risk designations, though they can offer feedback to scale an area's hazards upward.' • A 657-unit mixed-use development to be built on the former site of a Boomers family amusement center in Fountain Valley is on the table. If it gains all the necessary approvals, the Magnolia street project will help the city meet its state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment, under which Fountain Valley must add 4,839 residential units by 2029. • Orange Coast College students in the aquarium science program on Friday released 200 tagged white seabass into the ocean at Bayside Beach, near the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol Division office. The college coordinated with the nonprofit Get Inspired, which works with O.C. schools to nurture white seabass, green abalone, Pismo clams and other species before releasing them into the ocean. Before Friday's release, students spent a few months caring for the fish on campus, said Mary Blasius, instructor and aquarium coordinator for the Orange Coast College Dennis Kelly Aquarium. • In hopes of reducing air pollution, the Buena Park City Council plans to hold a study session where it will learn about the possibility of banning delivery trucks from idling while making their rounds. The session was proposed by Councilmember Susan Sonne, according to this TimesOC article. 'Pollution is certainly a big concern here, because in my district, there's a number of commercial areas that back up against homes,' she said. 'There's also a noise consideration, and I've had residents who've reported large commercial trucks that have idled, not just for a few minutes, but for hours in the middle of the night.' • Costa Mesa police on Tuesday were searching for leads in a homicide case, with the suspect still at large, after a 20-year-old woman who was found shot on a Lukup Lane sidewalk Monday night died from her injuries. The victim was identified as Monserrat Colorado, of Huntington Beach. • Four male suspects from Riverside, including one juvenile, were arrested Sunday night after a man was shot during an altercation near a bar at Oceanfront and 23rd Street on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. • Orange County Superior Court Judge Judge Gary Paer began hearing the case early this week of 45-year-old Nolan Pascal Pillay, who was charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances in the deaths of his mother and brother on Jan. 31, 2017 at their Irvine home. On Tuesday, Pillay, who on Monday waived the right to a jury, was ruled insane when the crime occurred by Paer and is facing an indefinite commitment to a state mental hospital. • A 14-year-old armed with flare gun who allegedly shot and killed a 29-year-old man in Huntington Beach on the night May 23 was taken into custody, according to police. The victim, who died later at a hospital, was identified by the Orange County Coroner Division as Jose Manuel Nares of Huntington Beach. Police are seeking security camera footage and additional information. • The trial started last week in the murder case against Antonio Calizto Navarrete, a 45-year-old convicted drunk driver accused of killing Isadora Stabel, 20, on Aug. 22, 2020 in Irvine. Calitzto Navareete is charged with second-degree murder, hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury and driving under the influence of alcohol in excess of the legal limit of .08% causing injury, all felonies. • Having put in a lot of work after losing 15-3 its first game of the season to Woodbridge, the Estancia High School baseball team on Saturday captured its second CIF championship. Senior Jake Humphries, the only remaining player from the program's first CIF title team in 2022, hit a bases-loaded triple to deep right field in the bottom of the seventh inning to score three and help Estancia earn a 4-3 victory over Pasadena Marshall. • For the first time in three long decades, the Marina High School softball team is basking in the glow of having won the CIF title. Avi Valbuena and Eva Mazzotti each drove in four runs, as Marina beat Westlake 8-1 on Friday at Deanna Manning Stadium. • Four Newport Harbor High School Sailors made a splash when they helped Team USA Cadet win women's water polo gold at the recent Pan Am Aquatics Championship in Medellin, Colombia. • Someone who purchased a Powerball lottery ticket at a supermarket in Orange for the May 28 drawing is $1.23-million richer, according to California Lottery officials, having picked five of the six winning numbers. The entire jackpot in the very next Powerball draw, held Saturday night, is worth $204.5 million and is going to someone who purchased the lucky ticket at a 7-Eleven in Arleta, a San Fernando Valley neighborhood. • Watermark Laguna Niguel senior living community recently debuted a unique exhibit titled 'Feeling Our Age,' featuring portraits of older women 60 years or older painted by artist Kathleen Cosgrove. What makes the project especially compelling is that each one of those artworks is accompanied by a personal essay written by the portrait's subject sharing her own experience while aging. • Byblos Cafe served Mediterranean cuisine and was a favorite in the Orange Circle for 36 years when its owners, Adel and Zalfa Mahshi, decided they were ready to retire and hand the business over to their son, Tim. There was one obstacle: Tim Mahshi fell ill. So the couple spoke to a regular customer and the owner of a neighboring restaurant, JT Reed of Bosscat Kitchen and he offered to become a partner, to collaborate and mentor Tim Mahshi so the family could keep it. The two new partners transformed Byblos Cafe into the quick service Baba G, which recently opened its doors. My colleague Sarah Mosqueda tells the whole story in this feature article. • Bowers Museum has opened its latest exhibit, 'World of the Terracotta Warriors: New Archaeological Discoveries in Shaanxi in the 21st Century.' The museum is the first in North America to host the new traveling exhibit, which features more than 110 recently unearthed treasures, according to this TimesOC story. It will be on view through Oct. 16. Bowers Museum is located at 2002 N. Main St. Santa Ana. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For tickets visit • 'Feed me!' The annual announcement of this event always brings to my mind the musical 'Little Shop of Horrors' and its man-eating plant, Audrey II: The day of the Carnivorous Plant Show and Sale at Sherman Library & Gardens is almost upon us. Presented by the Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, the judged show will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 14. The Sherman is located at 2647 East Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. Admission is $5. • Orange County Museum of Art on June 21 will open 'California Biennial 2025: Desperate, Scared, But Social,' a new exhibit featuring artworks that span generations, from early works from established California artists to contemporary collaborations between artists and their children. The exhibit took its title from the 1995 album by Orange County riot grrrl band Emily's Sassy Lime. OCMA is located at 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is free. Until next Wednesday,Carol We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
