Week in review

EDUCATION

School board votes in changes at three schoolsOn Tuesday, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board voted unanimously to make changes at Pomona Elementary School, Wilson Elementary School and TeWinkle Middle School, which are facing sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The schools are the first in Newport-Mesa to take corrective action under the Bush administration’s education law.

Hundreds of students, administrators, city leaders and others gathered on the Estancia field to dedicate the stadium, which is expected to be complete next spring. Hubbard, Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley and Mayor Allan Mansoor were among those digging shovels into the ground — along with Jim Scott, the founder of the nonprofit fundraising group Costa Mesa United, who has been wheelchair-bound since a stroke last year.

In recent years, tension has flared several times between the Muslim Student Union and Jewish student groups, most notably last year when Muslims protested the showing of Danish cartoons that ridiculed the prophet Muhammad. A number of Muslim students also denounced a January lecture by pro-Israel historian Daniel Pipes.

Hillel Executive Director Jeffrey Rips said he hoped to have the task force interview Muslim students over the coming months. Marya Bangee, the spokeswoman for the Muslim Student Union, said she would be willing to participate, but only if she knew the task force’s agenda.

BUSINESS

Telecom industry calls for overlay in 714 areaThe telecommunications industry will offer the California Public Utilities Commission its formal recommendation advising the agency to adopt an overlay option for the 714 area code.

The North American Numbering Plan Administration will file the recommendation on behalf of the industry. The utilities commission anticipates a shortage of 714 phone numbers by the end of 2008 and hopes to have a relief plan in place by the end of this year.

If the overlay option is adopted, residents will have to dial a 1 plus the area code and phone number for all calls, even within the 714 area code. New cellphone and telephone users will receive a 657 area code.

The utilities commission is still accepting public comments. For more information or to comment, go to www.cpuc.ca.gov/714areacode .

COSTA MESA

Council stalls on youthin-government programCity Council members spent two hours picking apart a proposed youth-in-government program, but three of the five members said they can’t support the program the way it was set up. The program was created over the last year and officially began in December, but the controversy arose in January when Mayor Allan Mansoor called it up for review.

Mansoor said the program hadn’t been properly approved by the council and that he wanted to have more say on what students would learn. So the council discussed it at a Tuesday study session but only resolved that Mansoor and council members Eric Bever and Wendy Leece did not support the program’s inclusion of a youth council that would discuss city issues and report to the council.

The program is effectively dead unless a council member draws up an alternative proposal and puts it on the agenda.

NEWPORT BEACH

Plan to build city hall near library may get 2nd chanceThe plan to build city hall on a park site next to the Newport Beach Central Library may come back from the dead after Councilman Don Webb asked on Tuesday that any progress on the park be halted until a city hall site is chosen.

The council has twice opted not to put a city hall on the Avocado Avenue park parcel, but some in the community still think it’s the best spot for city hall.

Soffer bought the Blue Beet in the 1960s and went on to open Sid’s Steakhouse on Old Newport Boulevard later.

He was known for his fights with city governments over building code violations he had said should not have been on the books. He became a fugitive when he fled to Las Vegas to avoid being arrested for the building code violations.

He died there Jan. 30 after battling leukemia and diabetes. Soffer was 74.

WEEK OUT

PUBLIC SAFETY

Bird deaths puzzle local animal care workersAnimal care workers reported finding about 50 sea and shore birds, either dead or suffering seizures, in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach around the Santa Ana River mouth since Feb. 4. It wasn’t clear what was killing the birds, according to Huntington’s Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, but officials have nearly ruled out domoic acid, a toxin produced by algae.

Test results that came back Thursday showed only one of four birds tested may have been poisoned by domoic acid. Other results were expected this week.

A slim, medium-height man wearing a dark cap walked into the Rite Aid at 2300 Harbor Blvd. at 4:45 p.m. Feb. 11. He handed the clerk a threatening note, showed him a handgun tucked into his waistband and received “a substantial amount” of the drug, according to Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Bob Ciszek. The suspect drove off in a black Chevy Suburban with loud exhaust, Ciszek said.

Witnesses to two other incidents described a similar robber at other Rite Aid pharmacies in Costa Mesa, police said. Police have no clear surveillance images of the robber, police said.

Huntington Beach Police Det. Jim Allard said this week that he believes two robberies in his city may have a connection to the Costa Mesa crimes. Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call Costa Mesa Det. Dana Potts at (714) 754-5363.