EDUCATION Teens get a lesson in lessening...

EDUCATION

Teens get a lesson in lessening hate, violence

Newport sports agent and philanthropist Leigh Steinberg led the

second annual Leadership Institute for Teens last week at Soka

University in Aliso Viejo. High school students from all over Orange

County, including a number from Newport-Mesa, joined in workshops and

group projects about how to promote peace in the world.

Steinberg told the story of how he first came to understand hate:

As a child, he came upon a group of boys laughing at a book full of

pictures of Holocaust victims. Steinberg told the crowd that he

realized some of the people in the pictures could be his relatives.

* Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials expressed relief

-- moderately, at least -- over the state budget that the Legislature

accepted earlier this month. The budget frees Newport-Mesa from

having to spend $1.3 million on teacher retirement costs and $750,000

on county mental-health services, although most of the funds would

have come out of the district’s reserve. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

signed the budget Monday.

* Monday, UC Irvine announced that its private donations have

doubled over the last three years. In 2004-05, the campus raised

$70.8 million from donors, its second-highest total in history. A $30

million gift to the Graduate School of Management from Hot Pockets

founder Paul Merage was the largest donation of the year.