EDUCATION Researcher accused of misspending grant money...

EDUCATION

Researcher accused of misspending grant money

A cancer researcher may have misspent more than $2 million in

grant funds to pay for software development rather than cancer

research, according to a report released this week.

In January, auditors started investigating how Division of

Epidemiology chief Hoda Anton-Culver was using federal and state

grants for research. Their preliminary report from the college’s

Internal Audit Services, released Tuesday, found that about $2.3

million went to fund a software program similar to one the state

started using this month.

* Our Lady Queen of Angels students got a look into the past with

a visit from longtime Newport Beach residents.

The speakers and a through-the-ages slide show of the Eastbluff

area were part of an assembly celebrating Corona del Mar’s

centennial. The students learned that rolling fields filled with

cattle and wildlife used to sit where modern-day homes and shopping

centers do.

POLITICS

A nuclear hot campaign issue for congressional candidate

UC Irvine international business professor and Democratic

Congressional candidate John Graham said on Monday a small nuclear

reactor on campus is not well guarded and could be a target for

terrorist attacks. The reactor’s supervisor, George Miller, said that

Graham’s concerns are unfounded.

Rep. Chris Cox, the Republican Graham is seeking to unseat,

responded Wednesday in a letter that said he plans to review the

security of the facility. Cox is chairman of the House Homeland

Security Committee.

GOVERNMENT

Fighting against the humanity of it

Outraged against the repercussions a low-income housing project

could cause in their College Park neighborhood, opponents convinced

the Costa Mesa Planning Commission to reject a Habitat for Humanity

project behind Harbor Center.

The residents were concerned it would be too dense, would worsen

an already overcrowded parking situation, reduce property values and

increase irritating noise from Home Depot since the project would

require an opening in the sound wall that separates the store from

their homes. It will now be up to the City Council to consider the

project.

* In Newport Beach, city leaders decided not to consider an

agreement, known as a memorandum of understanding, covering some

terms of a lease between the city and Sutherland Talla Hospitality

for the Marinapark hotel project. The council, the two lawyers that

drafted the understanding and opponents of the project felt the

understanding was too vague and didn’t shed light on the nagging

question of who developer Stephen Sutherland’s financial partners

would be for the hotel he wants to develop on the Balboa Peninsula

harbor-front site. The council will instead receive and file a terms

sheet at its next meeting which will cover its financial expectations

for a lease for the hotel project.

* Officials said last week a project to overhaul the Santa Ana

River will pump river sand offshore rather than spreading it on the

beach in West Newport. Residents had vehemently protested the

on-shore disposal plan because they feared the sand could contain

bacteria and trash and would alter wave patterns.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is heading the $4.5

million project, will dredge the river and pump the sand to a spot

offshore north of 56th Street. Work is awaiting the arrival of

special dredging equipment, which is expected within three weeks.