STORIES TO WATCH IN 2009:

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a two-part series detailing the top 10 stories to keep an eye on in the coming year. Part 2 will run Friday.

Economy: conomy: This year saw plenty of city government cuts, but more could be on the horizon if the economy continues its long march down, and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District will likely feel the strain too.

State budget talks stalled for the holidays, but with an impending crisis predicted for February — when the government is expected to run out of cash unless some serious action is taken — it is unlikely that the school district will emerge unscathed.

Democrats and Republicans in Sacramento have not been able to agree on whether to raise taxes and fees, or where to make cuts, but virtually every plan that has come to the table has included cuts to school budgets.

Costa Mesa is relying on sales taxes from South Coast Plaza over the holidays for needed revenue, but it remains to be seen how well local retailers did. There are plenty of indicators nationally that consumer confidence is hitting rare lows.

It also looks like public employee salaries and benefits might be up for reconsideration as Costa Mesa City Council members have called for extensive information on contracts. Police, fire and staff salaries and benefits packages make up a large share of the city budget and Mayor Allan Mansoor has said that possible cuts must be explored.

Hawks couple’s murder trials: The horrific nature of the case garnered national headlines. A loving, retired Newport Beach couple looking to sell their yacht to spend more time with their grandchild in Arizona were killed, thrown overboard alive strapped to an anchor.

The man who did it — a former child actor who used his own wife and child to deceive the couple — orchestrated a complicated web of lies and forgeries to numerous people to get away with the crime. In September, Skylar Deleon was convicted of murdering Newport Beach couple Tom and Jackie Hawks aboard their yacht, the Well Deserved, and killing another man, Jon Jarvi, in an unrelated incident in the Mexican desert a year earlier.

Jurors recommended the death sentence for Deleon, who faces sentencing in late January. The trials for his three accused co-conspirators, Alonso Machain, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Myron Gardner, are all expected to conclude by summer. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kennedy, but not Machain, who testified against Deleon in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty in his case. A fifth person involved, Deleon’s ex-wife Jennifer Henderson, was sentenced to life without parole in 2007.

If news coverage of Deleon’s trial is any indication, look for at least a few hour-long TV news specials on the Hawkses’ story soon after all the trials conclude.

Benito Acosta’s civil lawsuit: With the criminal case against a Latino activist who was arrested at a 2006 Costa Mesa City Council meeting essentially dead, all eyes in 2009 will turn to his federal lawsuit against the city.

On Jan. 3, 2006, Benito Acosta, who also goes by the name Coyotl Tezcatlipoca, was arrested outside Council Chambers after he vehemently objected to legislation urging cooperation between police and federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws. Soon after, he sued the city with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union alleging that they violated his right to free speech, among other things.

Orange County prosecutors declined to press charges against Acosta for resisting arrest and disturbing the meeting, so Jones & Mayer law firm attorney Dan Peelman took up the case, representing the city. That case was thrown out after it came to light Peelman had not been properly sworn in as a city prosecutor, and several appeals to the county’s appellate court and the state court of appeals to restart it earlier this year proved fruitless. Costa Mesa will have no momentum from a criminal conviction to carry into its defense in the civil lawsuit in 2009.

The lawsuit, which has been whittled down to just three issues, will go to a jury trial in federal court in February. ACLU attorneys declined to say how much compensation the city could owe should Acosta win the case.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson trial: The public will likely see the conclusion to the case against famed Ultimate Fighting Championship martial artist Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in 2009.

Jackson, 30, of Irvine, is a former heavyweight champion in the UFC who lost his belt weeks before his arrest.

He gained headlines outside of the fighting world in July when police said he took his custom, lifted pickup truck on a tear through Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, hitting cars and narrowly missing pedestrians.

Authorities said Jackson hit at least two cars on the southbound 55 Freeway before pulling onto Newport Boulevard, where he weaved through traffic on a flat tire while talking on his cellphone.

When police tried to pull over Jackson, he continued on, driving on the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic before eventually stopping in Newport Beach, police said.

In interviews since his arrest, Jackson said he had gone days without food or sleep, and had consumed several energy drinks leading up to the incident. He said in a brief mental breakdown he believed that his friend was in danger and he was rushing to help him.

Jackson faces felony charges of evading police and misdemeanor charges of hit and run.

The case has not hindered his fighting career. He fought in UFC 92 Saturday and won.

UC Irvine’s new law school opens: The faculty have been hired. Students have sent in their applications. And in September, UCI opens what it hopes to be a world-class law school, headed by its founding dean, Erwin Chemerinsky.

While recent years saw controversy over the appointment of Chemerinsky for the renowned scholar’s sometimes outspoken liberal views, the school is now sharply focused on its grand opening.

Faculty have been spending the year to develop a curriculum for the incoming class, though only first-year classes need to be available that year.

Incoming students won’t have the benefit of a fully accredited school — that process takes three to five years, though the school will seek provisional status by the end of the second year, before anyone has to graduate.

One benefit the founding class will have is a host of scholarships, as fundraisers hope to raise enough to cover the tuition of every single founding student.