Ponzi scheme operator with Newport victims pleads guilty

A 68-year-old Orange man has been sentenced to 18 years in state prison for bilking $2.6 million from investors in a Ponzi and real estate fraud scheme, including elderly Newport Beach area residents.

Joseph Anthony Veltre pleaded guilty to a court offer to 112 felony counts, including 60 counts of grand theft, 17 counts of elder financial exploitation by a non-caregiver, 17 counts of residential burglary, 13 counts of forgery, three counts of recording false documents, one count of commercial burglary, one count of identity theft, and white collar crime sentencing enhancements for loss of more than $500,000, the Orange County district attorney’s office said Tuesday in a news release. Apart from the prison sentencing, Veltre was ordered to pay $2.64 million in restitution.

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Iran’s former prince to speak in Newport Beach Tuesday night

Reza Pahlavi II

From The Daily Pilot:

Reza Pahlavi II, the former Crown Prince of Iran and son of the late Shah of Iran, is scheduled to give a speech in Newport Beach Tuesday evening about democracy, human rights and political developments in his native Iran. The event at the Fairmont Newport Beach hotel is being hosted by the World Affairs Council of Orange County. … Continue Reading

State Supreme Court grants petition to hear St. James Anglican Church case

From the Daily Pilot

The California Supreme Court will hear a Newport Beach Anglican church’s case in its long-running property battle in the courts with the Episcopal Church.

St. James Anglican Church had petitioned the state Supreme Court for a review of the case after losing an appeal before the California Court of Appeal’s Fourth Appellate District, Third Division. The Supreme Court granted the St. James request on Wednesday, according to online court records.

The Court of Appeal had ruled that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is St. James’ owner, not the congregation that split from the diocese six years ago when it allowed gay bishops to serve in the Episcopal Church.

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Carnegie Hall honors Segerstom

Henry T. Segerstrom, left, receives his Carnegie Medal of Excellence award from presenter Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy's. (Photo by Lamar Sulaka)

Henry T. Segerstrom, the man who built South Coast Plaza and who donated land on which the Orange County Performing Arts Center now stands, was honored in New York on Monday night with Carnegie Hall’s Medal of Excellence. Segerstrom is only the fourth person to receive the medal, which recognises leadership in arts philanthropy, from the New York performing arts institution. He picked up the medal at a gala dinner in his honor at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Art exhibit on science of stem cells opens this weekend

From The Daily Pilot

By Sarah Peters

Leslie Davis is exploring new territory in science, but she doesn’t work in a lab.

Opening Saturday at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana is “Regeneration,” a multi-artist exhibit celebrating advances in stem-cell research. Davis is the exhibit’s curator and featured artist.

The exhibit is dedicated to the newly opened Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UC Irvine. The research lab is named after Bill Gross, co-founder of Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co., and his wife. The Grosses donated $10 million to the project. The state-of-the-art facility opened May 14 and houses more than 60 researchers specializing in stem cell and regenerative medicine.

Each stained-glass and metal sculpture created by Davis represents a different researcher and their contributions to the field of science and medicine, she said.

“Researchers are the real unsung heroes,” Davis said. “They work their whole lives for that one breakthrough that will change the lives of millions of people, and most of them will never get the recognition that they deserve.”

… Continue Reading: Art Exhibit of science of stem cells opens this weekend

Chapman experts give mixed economic forecast

From the Daily Pilot

By Sarah Peters

The economy will continue to show signs of recovery with a modest increase in home values through 2011 despite continued increases in joblessness, and Orange County could lose as many as 18,000 more jobs this year, Chapman University experts said Thursday.

At their economic forecast update in Costa Mesa, professional econometric analysts Jim Doti and Esmael Adibi predicted a 3.2% jump in U.S. gross domestic product through 2011, up from -2.4 % in 2009.

“When a recession is in place, there is a momentum and very little that can stop that downward force,” said Doti, the Chapman University president. “The same could be said of recovery where there are positive forces. There is a lot of room in recovery and we believe that the positive forces will carry us through 2011.”

Addressing a breakfast audience of 700 at the Costa Mesa Hilton, Doti and Adibi gave their economic forecast for mid-2010 through 2011, and they validated their predictions for last year.

The economists predicted an increase in consumer spending; however job losses would be around 18,000 this year in Orange County.

“There is this mentality of ‘I survived,’” Abibi said, “That mentality brings out consumers with a pent up need to satisfy their spending.”

Abibi advised not to focus on the unemployment rate because in actuality, a modest increase in unemployment is a natural trend in recovery.

What happens, he explained, is that the labor force shrinks when the economy is bad because discouraged workers leave the work force and go back to school. When the economy begins to stabilize, those same workers begin looking for jobs, causing an increase in unemployment and sending a false signal that the recovery is weakening.

The good news, however, is that Orange County will see 21,000 new jobs by the end of 2011, Abibi said.

Newport couple loses beach battle

From the Daily Pilot

By Sarah Peters

For nearly 10 years, George and Sharlee McNamee have waged a legal battle against the state on their very own turf.

Now, it appears that the Corona del Mar couple has finally lost the case against the California Coastal Commission, which pitted questions about rights of private property owners versus the public’s right to beach access.

Last week, the California Supreme Court turned down the McNamees’ petition to review a lower court’s decision in the drawn-out dispute over a picnic area owned by them next to Corona del Mar State Beach.

… Continue Reading: Newport couple loses beach battle

Hi, neighbor…

A bobcat as pictured Tuesday near Janice Hess's house in Newport Beach (PHOTO: Courtesy of Janice Hess)

From the Daily Pilot

Janice Hess, a resident of Newport Beach’s Dover Shores neighborhood, snapped this picture of a bobcat roaming near her house on Holiday Road on Tuesday afternoon. The bobcat is presumed to be a pregnant one known as “Babe,” which has been seen in the neighborhood in recent days.

Hess took several photos of the animal after she and her 6- and 7-year-old children spotted the wild cat sitting on their fence as they were leaving the house around 4:30 p.m. Hess said she used a Nikon B40X SLR camera with a zoom lens to photograph the bobcat, as it strolled down her driveway and crossed the street to a neighbor’s yard.

On Wednesday, a dog was reported to have chased “Babe” up a tree behind a house one door down from Hess’s residence.

“I wasn’t afraid of her because I had read a report saying that she wouldn’t attack you,” said Hess, adding, however, that she did fret a bit for the safety of the family’s cat and chihuahua.

City Council to meet in special session to discuss OC Fairgrounds proposal

The Costa Mesa City Council will meet in special session Wednesday to weigh a city proposal to purchase the Orange County Fairgrounds.

City officials say that Costa Mesa is now in exclusive talks with the state in a bid to acquire the fairgrounds. The deadline for the city to submit a proposal is April 19 – next Monday.

The council is to consider the proposal as a regular item listed on the meeting’s agenda. That item will follow public comment and closed session portions, according to the agenda. The meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa.

Whitman O.C. campaign office opening in Costa Mesa

Meg Whitman