WEEK IN REVIEW

BUSINESS

Store owner settles with landlords, will leave location

Waterfront Furnishings, a boutique store in South Coast Home Furnishings Centre that has butted heads with management, reached an out-of-court settlement Thursday with the shopping center’s attorneys and agreed to move out at the end of January.

Don Logan, co-owner of Waterfront Furnishings, subpoenaed almost every other business owner in the complex to testify for him before his trial was set to begin last week. Shortly after moving into the center in August, Logan accused management of failing to promote the center adequately.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Mother, her four 4-year-olds injured in roll-over crash

Quadruplets walked away from a roll-over collision Tuesday after a brown moving truck allegedly ran a red light, striking the van driven by the mother on Bear Street at the 405 onramp.

The children, 4, suffered cuts and bruises, as did the mother, and were treated at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana for their injuries.

 The body of a man who committed suicide was found on the Waterline of 16th Street and West Oceanfront in Newport Beach Thursday, police said.

Andrew Russell, 20, of Santa Ana, was found with a single gunshot wound to the head, and a shotgun next to him on the beach near a home his family owned, police said.

 A man found nearly naked in actor Nicolas Cage’s home was sentenced to probation and rehabilitation Thursday.

Robert Furo, 45, of San Pedro was allegedly abusing prescription drugs when he was found in Cage’s Newport home in October. Cage recently sold the mansion for $35 million.

Furo will spend 30 days in a hospitalized lockdown before entering into a sober living rehabilitation home in Tustin for up to five months.

NEWPORT BEACH

Ordinance to require rehab homes to get use permits

The City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance Tuesday that would require most rehab homes to get use permits to remain open and subject the homes to a public hearing process to gain approval.

The new rules could go into effect as early as February.

City officials rejected the request of many Balboa Peninsula residents to keep rehab homes from operating within 1,000 feet of each other.

Rep. wants city to own channel so it can be cleaned

U.S. Rep. John Campbell plans to draw up federal legislation this spring that would give Newport Beach control of lower Newport Harbor.

City officials want the federal government to give them about $12 million for taking over responsibility of the waterway, he said.

The lower harbor is under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps Of Engineers, because it contains a federal navigation channel, but the channel is viewed by the Corps as more of a recreational area than a vital waterway.

The city views the potential jurisdiction swap as a way to secure funding to continue a much-needed dredging of the harbor, or a way to make a fair swap with the Corps in exchange for completing the dredging, Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau said.

COSTA MESA

City rejected on request for Banning Ranch influence

The agency that decides Orange County annexations recently denied Costa Mesa’s request for a sphere of influence in the largely undeveloped Banning Ranch area. Costa Mesa and Newport hope to someday annex pieces of the area’s more than 400 acres along the Santa Ana River and West Coast Highway.

The Orange County Local Agency Forming Committee’s denial Tuesday further weakens the city’s flagging hopes for annexation. Meanwhile, Newport Beach is unwilling to give up any of the influence it has over the area and already has plans to develop housing in parts of Banning Ranch included as part of the city’s housing element.

 Greenpeace, one of the world’s most famous environmental protection groups, has opened its first Orange County location on Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa. The tiny office next door to the Comfort Inn opened in October with little fanfare, but staff members devote most of their energy to canvassing in public. Five or more days a week, employees venture around Orange County in groups to sign up new members and add signatures to petitions.

The Orange County headquarters is one of three Greenpeace locations in Southern California, joining others in Los Angeles and San Diego, and only 11 nationwide.

POLITICS

Governor assesses state finances; reactions vary

Local lawmakers said they approved of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s commitment to cutting state spending, made as he unveiled his budget proposal Thursday at a Sacramento news conference. But opinions differed on his approach.

Schwarzenegger proposed cutting about 10% of the state budget across the board during to make up for the state’s $14.5-billion deficit.

EDUCATION

Parents, district contend on quality of kids’ education

A group of parents calling themselves the Mesa Verde Education Committee blitzed Newport-Mesa Unified School board members with complaints about Adams Elementary School. The parents claimed the district encourages inter-district transfers to Adams and that most of those students are learning English as a second language.

School officials disagreed and pointed out Adams has 20 interdistrict transfers. They also emphasized that Adams’ standardized test scores have gone up.

ENTERTAINMENT

MTV show star, crew films at Z Gallerie in South Coast

Skateboarding phenomenon Ryan Sheckler, star of the MTV show, “The Life of Ryan,” was shopping for furniture for the new home he is buying at Z Gallerie in South Coast Plaza Thursday, while the MTV cameras were rolling for a future episode of the teen’s reality show.

Sheckler’s second season on “The Life of Ryan” will follow him as he leaves home, begins to focus more on his skating career and lives with Casey and Mitch, two of his friends.