WEEK IN REVIEW

PUBLIC SAFETY

A week after Newport Beach masseur Steven Wesley Lovell was charged with sexually assaulting a client, authorities reported that more women alleged that he attacked them.

Lovell, who owns the massage business Care of the Body, 215 Riverside Ave., pleaded guilty in 1999 to three counts of misdemeanor sexual battery.

 Costa Mesa police fielded a report that a customer was held up at about 9 a.m. Monday outside a credit union. Costa Mesa police arrested Anthony Maldonado, 25, of Huntington Beach, on suspicion of armed robbery and possession of stolen property, but they could not immediately say if he was the suspect in Monday’s holdup.

 Former NBA star Dennis Rodman — and part-time Newport Beach resident — again courted controversy as a woman accused the Worm of slapping her on the behind in a Dana Point bar. Rodman’s manager, Darren Prince of Prince Marketing Group, fired back at the allegations accusing the woman of punching the all-star rebounder in the chest and asking him to expose himself.

 Funeral services were held Friday for Corona del Mar graduate Allan Oakley Hunter III, or “Trey” as his friends called him. A freshman at New York University, 18-year-old Hunter jumped from his high-rise dorm building in an apparent suicide Sept. 22.

 Newport-Mesa fared well in an FBI report on crime. The report showed no major changes in violent crime in Costa Mesa in 2006. In Newport Beach, crime rates also remained much the same with violent crime increasing slightly and property crime dipping a bit.

 NEWS

More than 35,000 people from across the region participated in last Sunday’s 2007 Komen Orange County Race for the Cure at Fashion Island to raise money for breast-cancer education, medical care and research. Although funds are still being raised the event is on track to raise a record $3 million this year, organizers said.

 BUSINESS

The Costa Mesa Planning Commission approved an expansion plan Monday for the Wyndham Orange County hotel in Costa Mesa, bringing the hotel a step closer to what would be its largest renovation in history.

The Wyndham’s plan, which now needs to pass the City Council, entails renovating the lobby and guest rooms, putting in a spa and adding a 23-story residential tower next door. The hotel would be closed for more than a year while the work takes place.

Tom Smalley, the hotel’s general manager and president of the Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau, said he eagerly anticipated the remodeling.

The City Council is expected to rule on the matter in November.

 The first-ever Orange County Head to Toe Women’s Expo kicked off Friday morning at the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center, as vendors set up booths with products targeted specifically for women consumers.

Mary Kay Cosmetics, the Marriott Hotel and the Healthy Gourmet were among those packing Building 10 of the fairgrounds and offering demonstrations and free products to passersby.

 EDUCATION

Orange Coast College’s attempt to sell off Rabbit Island in British Columbia has been delayed. The deal was supposed to close early September, but escrow was set to close Oct. 12 after the island’s buyer was “having trouble arranging all the financing,” said Doug Bennett, executive director of the OCC Foundation.

 As UC Irvine students returned to campus for the first day of classes, many knew the controversy surrounding Erwin Chemerinsky’s hiring as the founding dean of UCI’s law school, which is set to open in 2009. Earlier this month before school started, Chancellor Michael Drake found himself at the center of a storm of criticism for hiring, firing and finally rehiring Chemerinsky who said he was initially rejected because Drake figured the liberal professor was too politically controversial.

 POLITICS

Newport Beach Brewing Co. executives are threatening to sue the city after officials changed the restaurant’s operating conditions. City leaders cracked down after Cannery Village residents complained about noise, vandalism and some unruly patrons relieving themselves in the business’ parking lot.

 When Newport Beach Councilman Keith Curry realized he didn’t have the votes on the City Council, he withdrew his proposal to let voters decide city employee pension increases if it boosts city expenses.

City officials have acknowledged unfunded pension costs. In 2005 it reportedly stood at $61 million. But the city is financially strong and has record-high reserves to cover it.

Curry said the city should address the problem now rather than wait for a crisis.

But Councilwoman Nancy Gardner countered that residents have told her that voters elect council members to make those decisions.

Costa Mesa began its prosecution of Benito Acosta on misdemeanor code violations for allegedly disrupting a City Council meeting as officials debated a controversial plan to train police to enforce immigration laws.

American Civil Liberties Union attorneys representing Acosta are portraying him to the jury of 11 women and one man as a victim of a “political prosecution” whose 1st Amendment rights were violated during the January 2006 City Council meeting.

Mayor Allan Mansoor spent hours on the stand Thursday testifying about how he ran the meeting. The defense worked to show that Mansoor favored supporters at the meeting.

Mansoor acknowledged his honorary membership with the Minuteman Project, but stressed that he’s not an active participant in its activities.