EDUCATION Local students post high marks on...

EDUCATION

Local students post high marks on standardized tests

For mid-August, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District had a

busy week. On Monday, the state announced results for this year’s

standardized test scores and high school exit exam, and Newport-Mesa

bested state averages on both. Seventy-six percent of the district’s

students passed the English and the math sections of the exit exam;

the state average was 65% for English and 63% for math.

Newport-Mesa saw an above-average percentage of students score as

proficient or advanced on the standardized tests; the federal No

Child Left Behind Act mandates that by 2014, all students score at

these levels. The district’s English and math scores improved

substantially from the year before, with only high school science

marks taking a dip.

Peggy Anatol, Newport-Mesa’s director of assessment, attributed

the fall to a higher number of students taking science classes last

year.

NEWPORT BEACH

Group wants residents to vote on city hall project

City residents could end up voting on a roughly $41.5-million

civic center and any future public projects that require the city to

borrow money if a group of residents gets an initiative on the

ballot. Newporters for Responsible Government on Thursday filed a

notice with the city clerk that it plans to collect signatures to

place the initiative in an upcoming election.

The ballot initiative would require a majority of city voters to

approve any form of borrowing to pay for a public project. Currently,

at least two-thirds of voters must approve a project if the city will

sell bonds to pay for it, but other financing methods aren’t covered

by the city charter. The City Council is planning to pay for the

civic center -- which includes a city hall, a fire station and a

parking garage -- using certificates of participation, which are

similar to bonds but are repaid from the general fund and don’t cause

residents’ taxes to go up.

POLITICS

Special election for House seat set for Oct. 4

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Aug. 15 scheduled the special

election to replace former Rep. Chris Cox. Candidates have until

Monday to file papers to run in an Oct. 4 primary to fill the 48th

Congressional District seat. If no candidate wins more than 50% of

the votes, a general election will be held Dec. 6 for the top

vote-getters from each party.

By Friday, 19 contenders had taken out candidacy papers and six

had actually filed the papers. Eleven of the potential candidates are

Republicans, as was Cox, who held the seat from 1988 until he left

office Aug. 2 to become chairman of the Securities and Exchange

Commission.

RELIGION

Judge dismisses diocese’s suit against St. James Church

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles said it plans to appeal an

Orange County Superior Court judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit

against St. James Church’s congregation; the suit claimed that the

Newport Beach breakaway church’s property and assets belong to the

national church.

Judge David Velasquez issued a tentative ruling Aug. 11 and

confirmed his decision Monday. He ruled that efforts by the national

church to retain the property of the seceding St. James was an

attempt to tread on the congregation’s freedom of speech.

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles filed suit against St. James

in September 2004 after the Newport Beach church and two other

Southern California congregations broke away from the diocese and the

Episcopal Church of the United States. The action was in protest of

what they called the national church’s liberal positions.

After leaving the national church, St. James affiliated with the

Diocese of Luwero in the Anglican province of Uganda, Africa.

The Los Angeles diocese’s lawsuit alleged that St. James’ property

belongs to the national church, not to the Via Lido congregation.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Judge orders suspects to stand trial in murder case

In the conclusion of a two-day preliminary hearing Tuesday, an

Orange County Superior Court judge ruled that two men and one woman

will stand trial for the murder of Tom and Jackie Hawks, a Newport

Beach couple missing since November.

The bulk of testimony came from Newport Beach Police Det. Evan

Sailor, who recounted the details of the alleged murders based on

information from Alonso Machain, 21, of Pico Rivera. Machain

confessed to police that he was aboard the Hawkses’ 55-foot cabin

cruiser, Well Deserved, and that he participated in the Nov. 15

murders along with Skylar Deleon and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, both of

Long Beach, Sailor testified.

A third murder charge was filed against Deleon late Thursday.

Deleon is accused of the 2003 murder of Anaheim resident John Jarvi,

45, who was found with his throat slashed in Mexico. Deleon’s cousin,

Michael W. Lewis, 24, of Arizona, and Deleon’s wife, Jennifer

Henderson-Deleon, 24, are charged with accessory to that murder.

Five people have been charged with the Hawkses’ murders. Kennedy,

40, Deleon, 26, and Henderson-Deleon, 24, were in court Tuesday.

Machain and Myron Gardner, 42, have been granted a separate hearing,

scheduled for Oct. 7. Each of the five faces two counts of murder,

with special circumstances, whichmake the defendants eligible for the

death penalty if convicted.