CITY ROUNDUP:

Trash collection schedules will be changed for the holidays, according to Rainbow Disposal. No trash will be collected Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, both Tuesdays. Collection scheduled for those days, and for the rest of those weeks, will be pushed back one day; Friday collections will be Saturday, for example.

Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve trash collections, however, will be on their regular days.

After the holidays are over, Rainbow Disposal will collect discarded Christmas trees, recycle them, and grind them into mulch. To get rid of a tree, take off all decorations and the stand, and place it next to the trash carts on trash day. Do not block the carts or put the trees inside. Trees must be cut to six feet maximum to be collected.

Special Christmas Tree pickup will be free through Jan. 18; afterward, residents will have to schedule a special pickup directly with Rainbow Disposal.

For more information, call (714) 847-3581.

Police have holiday sobriety checkpoint

As this season often brings holiday drinking, Huntington Beach police plan to have a sobriety checkpoint Friday. Funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, the department will stop drivers in Huntington Beach from 9 p.m. Friday through 3 a.m. Saturday.

Police did not release the location of the checkpoint.

Surf City Nights on vacation until 2008

Community street fair and farmers’ market Surf City Nights had its last night of the year Tuesday, as the weekly event takes a short hiatus for the holidays. As the next two Tuesdays are Christmas and New Year’s Day, the festival returns Jan. 8.

Coordinator honored for self-sacrifice

State Sen. Tom Harman announced this week his district coordinator, Cynthia Determan, was elected by her Republican peers to receive the annual “Donald Award.”

The honor, named for Don Gilchrist, a former administrative assistant to State Sen. John Lewis, annually honors one Republican legislative staffer who puts others before them while working for an elected Republican in Orange County. Determan is the 11th recipient of the award.

“I am truly humbled to have received such recognition from my colleagues here in Orange County,” she said in a news release. “I have only been in Orange County for a short time, but in that time I have been warmly embraced by those throughout our community.”

Determan also thanked the senator for the opportunity to serve the 35th Senate District.