Briefly in the news

-- Paul Clinton

The Orange County Health Care Agency has closed a strip of beach in

West Newport due to a sewage spill.

The agency announced the closure at 2 p.m. Thursday, after about 1,000

gallons of raw sewage spilled because of a power failure at a Costa Mesa

pump station.

The shoreline stretching from the Santa Ana River to Highland Street

will be closed to swimmers and surfers until bacteria counts return to an

acceptable level.

The spill also led to a closure at Huntington State Beach, from the

Santa Ana River to Talbert Channel.

The spill occurred Thursday morning when an electrical line failed at

a pump station near Canyon and Wilson streets in Costa Mesa.