BUSINESS First Cut hair salon opens at...

BUSINESS

First Cut hair salon

opens at Fashion Island

A state-of-the-art children’s salon made a splash at Fashion

Island Wednesday, as First Cut opened for the first day of business.

Salon owners Lance and Leora Fogel were still putting the

finishing touches on the salon, but were seeing a surprising number

of customers. In the first hour, after the 10 a.m. opening, stylists

had already handled six customers.

Children can bounce around in rocket-ship barber chairs, watch

DVDs of their favorite programs and play video games to take their

minds off the haircut.

On Thursday, Emulex Corp., the No. 1 supplier of host bus adapter

data storage devices, reported breakeven earnings for the quarter

ending March 31. The company reported 22 cents per share, or $18.7

million, in revenue, which beat Wall Street expectations.

The company also said it would pay out $39.5 million to settle a

2001 class-action lawsuit filed by investors. The company’s insurance

provider has agreed to pay 32%, leaving the final $16.7 million to be

recorded as an after-tax charge in the earnings. Emulex did not

acknowledge any wrongdoing, saying it settled the suit to “put the

expense and distraction of this litigation behind us.”

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

paul.clinton@latimes.com.

EDUCATION

Roy’s Restaurant cooks up lesson for 10 students

Giving 10 culinary students from Newport Harbor High School a

taste of what’s really cooking in the kitchen, chefs from Roy’s

Restaurant in Newport Beach turned their kitchen into a classroom on

Monday by giving the students a chance to use the skills they’ve

learned in the classroom and get to learn a few more. Roy’s chefs

gave each of the students real-life lessons about the culinary arts.

Along with hours of practice, endless reviews of game tapes and

crafting of new plays, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board

of Trustees voted Tuesday that coaches must also emphasize

sportsmanship, ethics and character building in accordance with the

Victory With Honor program.

Coming to the end of its trial run, the program, only partially

implemented at the beginning of the 2002-03 school year, has reached

its final developmental stage -- certifying a training staff at each

school. The board agreed to moved ahead with the final stages of

training and fully adopt the program for the 2003-04 school year.

Harbor View Elementary School in Corona del Mar held three

screenings of their 15-minute film that shows support for children in

military families. Students from each grade participated in the

making of the film, which school officials hope to send to different

schools across the nation.

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at christine.carrillo@latimes.com.

COSTA MESA

City Council seat hopefuls narrowed to two candidates

It took the four remaining City Council members two and a half

hours to narrow down hopefuls for the vacant seat from 26 to two.

When it was all said and done, only Eric Bever, a Westside improver,

and Mike Scheafer, president of the Costa Mesa-Newport Harbor Lions

Club, remained. After acting Mayor Chris Steel jokingly suggested

flipping a coin, the council decided to continue the process to its

next meeting on May 5. If it can’t break the deadlock by May 15, the

process to replace former Mayor Karen Robinson will become a special

election, which cannot be held until November.

“Praise the Lord” will only be heard indoors now that the council

has permanently prohibited Trinity Christian Center, the world’s

largest TV ministry, from broadcasting outside on a regular basis.

The council decided to decide on the issue even though the Planning

Commission had recommended waiting nine months to see if Trinity

could comply with an operations management plan it is required to

create. Trinity can still apply for special event permits to

broadcast outside a few times a year.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.

NEWPORT BEACH

Newport to Ensenada

race kicks off

The Tommy Bahama Newport to Ensenada race began Friday under

partly sunny skies, though the clouds headed east for the most part.

Several people stood on Ocean Boulevard with binoculars to watch

hundreds of sailboats take their positions for the Newport to

Ensenada race.

A $400,000 traffic signal was installed and turned on in front of

Sage Hill School on Newport Coast Drive on Tuesday. The signal was

the first public improvement that the city of Newport Beach has made

in Newport Coast. The area was annexed to the city in January 2002.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.