Week in review

NEWPORT BEACH

Films with local connections set for film festivalNewport-Mesa filmmakers will leave their mark on this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival, set to begin April 19.

Longtime Balboa Island vacationer Phoebe Shackeroff has documented the life and death of Rupert, the black swan who amused and harassed visitors to Newport Harbor for almost 20 years.

Getting their start in the entertainment industry tap dancing on the streets of Newport Beach, Emmy-winning director and producer team Kip and Kern Konwiser will present “Shanghai Kiss,” a romantic comedy drama.

Locals will also offer a number of documentaries, centering on the history surfing (“Chasing the Lotus”), an Antarctic cruise (“Islands”), middle-school elections (“The Third Monday in October”), an exchange of Bangladeshi and American high school students (“Believing in Bangladesh”) and enthusiastic “Star Wars” fans (“The Last Line”), and Costa Mesa company Volcom will present an animated short, “Dawn of the Stone Age.”

For film schedules and to buy tickets, go to www.newportbeachfilmfest.com.

Huntington Beach residents Timmy Turner and Kristian McCue, along with Newport Beach movie distributor Stefan Jeremias will host a screening of the award-winning “The Tsunami Diaries,” a film Turner and McCue made in Indonesia shortly after the devastating tsunami ravaged the islands.

With the help of other big names in the surf community, the guys took off to Indonesia with goats, chickens and loads of supplies. They visited five to seven villages hit by the tsunami, but fortunately the places they went had no fatalities, but the tsunami had taken everything material from them.

Tickets for Tuesday’s screening at Huntington Beach High School cost $10 and are available at the Sugar Shack and at the door.

BUSINESS

Newport Beach company to renovate Anaheim hotelNewport Beach-based Makar Properties announced last week its plan to renovate its newest hotel acquisition, the Hilton Anaheim Hotel.

The company bought the hotel — the largest by room count in Orange County — for an undisclosed amount, according to Makar.

The hotel, next to the Anaheim Convention Center, has 107,000-square-feet of meeting space, 14,000-square-feet of retail space and a 25,000-square-foot health club, among other amenities.

Makar is a real estate development company that acquires and develops hotels, golf courses, and office and residential properties. It has $1 billion in assets, according to a news release.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian was lauded as one of the country’s safest hospitals with its receipt of the Distinguished Hospital Award for patient safety by an independent healthcare ratings company.

The award put the Newport Beach hospital in the top 5% of hospitals surveyed. HealthGrades surveyed 5,000 hospitals and Hoag was one of 242 to be so honored.

According to HealthGrades, if all hospitals were able to have safety ratings like Hoag and other top-performing hospitals, about $1.74 billion could have been saved from 2003 to 2005 in the country.

Corona del Mar grad Jed Weinstein will host celebrities, sports stars and Wall Street traders at his third Box NYC event in Manhattan April 26, but his networking skills started at home.

Weinstein, who graduated from the school in 1994, stressed the importance of building and maintaining relationships in business and chocks his success up to the ones he’s built.

PUBLIC SAFETY

American Legion honors public safety employeesThe American Legion Post 291 honored seven Newport-Mesa men Thursday at its annual Law and Order Night.

Each year the American Legion honors police officers, lifeguards, marine officers and firefighters for their work in the community. Both Newport Beach and Costa Mesa nominate one person in those categories as employee of the year.

Tim Vasin was named as the Costa Mesa firefighter of the year, joined by Newport Beach Fire Capt. Jeff Boyles, who was named firefighter of the year for his city.

Newport Beach Police Officer Damon Psares was named Newport police officer of the year, Sgt. Don Holford was named Costa Mesa police supervisor of the year and Julian Trevino was named the city’s officer of the year. Marine Safety Officer Jon Mitchell and seasonal lifeguard Jeff Kikawa were also honored Thursday.

Costa Mesa Fire Capt. Herb Ohde was given a service award by the Legion.

Drug Enforcement Agency officers are investigating two people arrested after federal authorities found gallons of GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, among other drugs in a Newport Beach apartment Wednesday as a result of a raid.Three gallons of liquid GHB were found in the apartment. The drug is sometimes used in committing date rape, authorities said, and is naturally produced in small amounts by the human central nervous system.

Authorities found small amounts of other drugs in the apartment in the 800 block of West 15th Street, according to a news release.

WEEK IN REVIEW

EDUCATION

Newport-Mesa teachers picket for higher wagesNewport-Mesa teachers continued their public campaign for higher salaries, picketing for the second week in a row outside Corona del Mar High School on Thursday evening. Around three dozen teachers gathered in front of the school during the annual open house for parents.

The teachers, most of whom dressed in black, waved signs to drivers and got a steady stream of honks. Some of the picket signs displayed the district’s phone number and urged people to call and support the teachers.

“It’s just to tell the parents, ‘Get behind us and ride the district,’ ” said Corona del Mar teacher Mary Christensen.

Newport-Mesa teachers got a 2% raise in their contract for this year, but when the district offered them an additional 1% increase, the union held out for more. Union President Jim Rogers said the teachers wanted a bigger raise this year to keep pace with other districts around Orange County.

“Not all districts settle at the same time, so it’s constantly going to be a moving target,” he said. “But we feel it’s better that we structure an agreement that’s up-front, rather than finding that we’ve fallen to the bottom again and pushing for another big raise.”

It was an encouraging week for cows and chickens in the school district, as Newport Harbor High School became the first campus to install vegan food in the cafeteria on Monday. The cooks fried up 12 vegan burgers — containing no meat, eggs or milk — and sold them out within minutes. The next day, the kitchen prepared twice as many.

By the end of the month, district officials said, they intended to bring vegan items to every secondary school in Newport-Mesa. Some student clubs, including one at Newport Harbor and one at Corona del Mar High, already encourage a diet without animal products.