PUBLIC SAFETY Powerboat returning from Catalina runs...

PUBLIC SAFETY

Powerboat returning from Catalina runs aground at Crystal Cove

A Laguna Beach man’s 57-foot powerboat ran aground on the rocks at

Crystal Cove State Park early Monday after the owner fell asleep

while the craft was on autopilot, officials said.

Mark Anton and a woman were aboard the boat, which left Catalina

Island around midnight, bound for Newport Beach, officials said.

By 4 p.m. Monday, a salvage company had removed the boat from the

rocks and had towed it into Newport Harbor.

* A Newport Beach teenager had second-degree burns on her arm

after escaping her burning Newport Beach home, along with a friend

and her grandmother, early Thursday in the 2000 block of Yacht

Mischief.

Sandra Wilkinson, 17, may have saved her friend’s life when she

awoke to see flames shooting from a wooden dresser adjacent to the

bed where the girls were sleeping.

By the time Wilkinson woke her friend, Jackie Kesterson, 17,

Kesterson had second-degree burns on her arm.

The fire department was investigating the cause of the blaze,

which resulted in $150,000 in damage to the home where Kesterson

lives with her grandparents.

BUSINESS

Macy’s Women’s Store at Fashion Island to close

Federated Department Stores, Inc. announced Tuesday that the

company plans to sell the Macy’s Women’s Store at Fashion Island in

Newport Beach. The Cincinnati-based department store chain revealed

it would shed the store when it announced the completion of its

merger with the St. Louis-based May Department Stores Co.

The Irvine Co. spokeswoman said the Robinsons-May store at Fashion

Island is slated to become a full-service Macy’s store. Federated,

which owns Macy’s, acquired the Robinsons-May brand through the

merger. The Irvine Co. has yet to find a new tenant for the Macy’s

Women’s Store space.

EDUCATION

UCI suspends fraternity after Cal Poly Pomona pledge dies

UC Irvine suspended its Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity following

the death of a pledge Tuesday. Cal Poly Pomona student Kenny Luong,

19, died of injuries sustained during a weekend football game with

UCI members of the fraternity. Irvine police are investigating

whether the game, reportedly played without protective gear at a park

in Irvine, constituted hazing.

Due to the suspension, Lambda Phi Epsilon will be barred from

registering as an organization at UCI for the fall quarter. The

university has only suspended a fraternity once before. In 2002, the

Delta Sigma Chapter of Beta Theta Pi was put on hold for two years

after a hazing complaint.

* The Newport-Mesa Unified School District, like nearly every

district in California, received a mixed message Wednesday when the

state and federal governments released their annual progress reports.

According to the state Academic Performance Index, which judges

schools on their growth from the previous year, Newport-Mesa did

well, with all but one of its sites improving from 2003-04 marks.

However, the federal adequate yearly progress report, issued under

the No Child Left Behind Act, cited more than one-third of

Newport-Mesa sites as falling short of standards. The federal system

rates schools according to fixed requirements -- this year, 23% of

students had to test proficient or above in English, 23.7% in

mathematics -- and many Newport-Mesa schools that lifted their marks

from last year still came up short.

District officials, however, were pleased with the individual

schools’ progress. Five Newport-Mesa campuses -- Killybrooke,

Paularino and Pomona elementary schools, Ensign Intermediate School

and Corona del Mar High School -- made API gains of 50 points or

more.

NEWPORT BEACH

Robert Gardner, veteran, judge and writer, dies at 93

Longtime Corona del Mar resident and former Orange County Superior

Court Judge Robert Gardner died Aug. 27. He was 93. Gardner was a

prolific writer and a Daily Pilot columnist. He penned two books, and

he was well-known in legal circles for his court opinions.

Gardner also served in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II,

and was a justice on the Fourth District Court of Appeal. Friends

remembered that he always loved his work, that he wasn’t afraid to

challenge others’ opinions, and that he enjoyed spending time at the

beach and in the water.

POLITICS

Election season gets into the sling of things

The unexpected election season got into full swing Monday when

supporters of state Sen. John Campbell began airing radio and TV ads

criticizing former Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer, Campbell’s leading

opponent in the race to fill the 48th District Congressional seat.

Campbell and Brewer are two of 10 Republicans -- among a total of 17

candidates -- vying to succeed former Rep. Chris Cox, who left to

become chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. A special

primary will be held Oct. 4.

The anti-Brewer ads were sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based

Club for Growth, which has endorsed Campbell. Brewer on Tuesday

launched her own TV ads featuring Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has

supported her.

On Wednesday, state Democratic Party delegates voted to endorse

Newport Beach attorney Steve Young as their party’s candidate. He

beat out three other Democrats for the endorsement but must still

best them at the polls to move on to the Dec. 6 general election.

* Early voting may be offered Sept. 25 to 29 at 10 locations in

the 48th Congressional District, including Temple Bat Yahm in Newport

Beach, the Orange County Registrar of Voters said Wednesday. Early

voting was scheduled to accommodate Jewish voters who can’t cast

ballots on Oct. 4 because it is Rosh Hashana, one of the religion’s

holiest days.

County officials from the registrar’s office and the board of

supervisors apologized to the Jewish community for choosing a Jewish

holiday for the election. State legislators are considering a bill

that would allow the governor to move the election to Oct. 11 or

another date.

o7”Even though some of our schools did well on their API, they

haven’t been able to scramble up the ladder to that high target.”f7

-- Peggy Anatol, Newport-Mesa’s director of assessment, on the

different results between California test scores and federal

guidelines

o7”It’s a good feeling to have the freedom to help other people.

If I were in their situation, I would hope people would help me

too.”f7

-- Billy Jack Ray, of Costa Mesa, who is in Virginia helping

coordinate relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina

o7”We have been counted as irrelevant in the press. I’m planning

on winning this race.”f7

-- Steve Young, a Newport Beach lawyer, who got the endorsement of

the state Democratic Party in the race to replace Chris Cox

o7”We don’t have a new retailer figured out for this store

yet.”f7

-- Jennifer Hieger, Irvine Co. spokeswoman, following news that

the Macy’s Women’s Store at Fashion Island will close as part of the

Federated Department Stores Inc. merger with May Department Stores

Co.

o7”It’s hard to find our school. It’s been one of the best-kept

secrets in town for a long time.” f7

-- Bob Nanney, principal of Orange Coast Middle College High

School, on improvements being made to make the school a little easier

to find

o7”Seventeen and 18, we made it interesting. We tested ourselves

on 17 and 18, and the team really came through.”f7

-- Bob Lovejoy, director of golf at Big Canyon Country Club, the

team that won this year’s Jones Cup

o7”I’m actually thinking we’re going to have to carpool, me and

my wife. It’s tough to survive if you don’t.”f7

-- Gordon Jones, a manager at a Chevron station, pointing out that

rising gas prices are affecting him too