WEEK IN REVIEW

PUBLIC SAFETY

MySpace video showed girls’ beating, police say

Two Newport Harbor High School freshman were arrested after a video posted on MySpace and YouTube allegedly showed the teens punching and kicking a younger girl in a public park, authorities said. Police arrested the two girls after a parent contacted the school about the video. The footage showed a large group either observing or taking part in the attack, law enforcement officials said. Schoolmates of the victim said their friend returned to school with a black eye, bruises and patches of her hair torn out. The fight happened after the younger girl posted derogatory comments on MySpace about the other two girls, a school official said.

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BUSINESS

Wyndham wants renovations to accommodate showgoers

The general manager of the Wyndham Orange County announced a plan to renovate the hotel’s lobby and registration area this spring to accommodate guests attending shows at South Coast Repertory and the Orange County Performing Artscenter.

Manager Tom Smalley said the new area would feature added seating, flat-screen televisions that show performing arts-themed DVDs and an eclectic small-plates menu that changed seasonally. In recent years, popular shows at the venues have brought substantial crowds to the Wyndham, which is a few minutes’ walk away.

Smalley said he hoped to have the project finished by the end of spring, although no start date has been set.

“The challenge is to find construction folks who will work from 11 at night to 7 in the morning, so it doesn’t interfere with customers,” he said.

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?Dick Greene, nutrition services coordinator for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, said school lunch prices increased this year and might again in 2008-09 as food prices nationwide continued to skyrocket.

Across Newport-Mesa, residents and business owners reported feeling the impact of grocery bills escalating. Shannon Santos, the executive director of the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, said she expected to get more food from donations in the future. Others said they had amended their grocery lists to include more affordable items.

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COSTA MESA

Group presents adoption event for guinea pigs

Orange County Cavy Haven, a Costa Mesa-based organization founded in 2003 that rescues and finds homes for abandoned guinea pigs, hosted an adoption event this week at Centinela Feed in Costa Mesa.

Dana Hoglind, the county’s Cavy Haven’s activities director, said educating the public about the need for adoption of these animals, and then providing information on how to care for them is the group’s biggest focus.

The message they want to get across is, “Guinea pig adoption is the better option.” Better than buying them from a pet store, Hoglind said, when so many guinea pigs are euthanized at shelters before they can be rescued.

If you’re interested in adopting a guinea pig visit the Cavy Haven website at www.cavyhaven.org.

Bike trail proposal fails before council’s 3-2 vote

The City Council greenlighted one park project while shelving another at its meeting Tuesday night.

A plan proposed by Councilwoman Katrina Foley that would convert the Paularino/Delhi county flood channels into a multipurpose bike trail in the city was considered for rehearing by the council, though the board declined her request with a 3-2 vote.

Council members Wendy Leece, Mayor Eric Bever and Allan Mansoor balked at the cost of the project, and took the complaints of property-owners bordering the flood channel into consideration.

The council also tentatively examined locations in Pinkley, Vista, Estancia and Shiffer parks as locations for small-scale skateboard parks. The locations were selected from a list of sites proposed by city staff.

The council decided to consider building multiple, smaller parks throughout the city after voting against a plan to install a larger facility at Lion’s Park last year. Jim Gray, the president of ABC Board Supply, said he was hesitantly pleased by the move.

“We walked out of there happy; it’s moving forward,” he said. “They approved moving forward to look at some park sites and do some preliminary sketches, but that’s when the heat of the battle really happens.”

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NEWPORT BEACH

Group demands more lighted parks for kids’ soccer games

A new coalition of local parents and soccer organizations, called Soccer Families 4 Newport Fields, wants Newport Beach to turn its latest park project — Sunset Ridge Park, at Superior Avenue and West Coast Highway — into an active sports park with more soccer fields. The group also wants to work with city and school officials to develop more new soccer fields throughout Newport. More children in Newport play soccer than all youth sports combined, the group claims, and soccer’s popularity requires more field space.

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POLITICS

Harman, senator trade barbs over his bills killed by Dems

State Sen. Tom Harman suffered blows to his legislative agenda this week, with Democrats killing no less than three of his proposed bills before they reached the Senate floor.

Bills aimed at restricting punitive damages awarded in civil suits, expediting the state’s death penalty appeals process, and requiring state-issued IDs at voting polls were stymied.

Harman shot back at those who folded his agenda — calling the Senate Elections Committee “hostile” and alleging Judiciary Committee Democrats were in the pockets of the trial lawyer lobby. At least one lawmaker lashed back.

“Sen. Harman is an honorable man, but he has never brought forth evidence that punitive damages have been awarded in many cases,” state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles) said. “He simply asserts it, and when I say he doesn’t have sufficient evidence, he says that someone is having undue influence over me. I really resent that.”

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EDUCATION

Principals review student test scores, plans to boost them

Newport-Mesa school district principals met with the school board twice this week to review their schools’ state and federal test scores and their plans to improve them. More noticeable for some of the school board members was the long-term educational plan for students. Officials said the detailed test scores for each child in combination with communication between teachers and schools ensured educators were teaching the “whole child.”