Costa Mesa High School student Matthew Morgan, left, listens as Principal Phil D'Agostino speaks of his outstanding achievements, including a 4.68 GPA, during the 33rd annual Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce Les Miller Outstanding Student Awards and Scholarship Recognition Breakfast. (DON LEACH)

Impressive. Incredible. Amazing. These are words to describe the scholars and student-athletes honored at the 33rd annual Les Miller Outstanding Student Awards presented by the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce on Friday morning at the Costa Mesa Hilton.

The words certainly fit Matthew Morgan. Those and one more: genius.

Matthew, 15, is set to graduate from Costa Mesa High two years early with a weighted 4.68 grade-point average. In the fall, he’ll attend California Institute of Technology to major in mathematics.

He said he was encouraged to move to higher grades when he was in the fourth grade at Killybrooke Elementary School. Three years later, he was tackling ninth-grade classes and those were too easy.

When reading off Matthew’s accomplishments, Principal Phil D’Agostino said Matthew missed three questions on his SAT practice test.

“He can levitate objects,” D’Agostino joked.

–Steve Virgen, @SteveVirgen, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading “Costa Mesa students shine at Les Miller event”

Chris Shawkey is applying to become the top cop in Des Moines, a suburb of about 29,000 located about 15 miles from Seattle.

He resigned from the Costa Mesa Police Department in 2011, telling the Daily Pilot at the time that he “never shied away from the difficult issues” and was “proud of the job [he did in his] four years at the department.”

Shawkey was placed on leave in November 2010 by then-City Manager Allan Roeder after allegations surfaced that he had expensed mileage to Arizona, where he used to live, and other states. There were also allegations of chronic absenteeism.

–Lauren Williams, @LAWilliams30, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading “Former Costa Mesa police chief up for new post”

Fitzpatrick dropped the planning post after the board said his involvement with both boards could one day prove incompatible.

But his peers on the board do not believe the potential for conflict disappeared with his resignation.

“Board member Fitzpatrick caused this by accepting the Planning Commission position after being advised by both the district counsel and the city’s attorney that there was this legal doctrine that could cause him to lose his office,” board President Bob Ooten wrote in an email. “The board believes that when Fitzpatrick accepted the Planning Commission office, he vacated the Sanitary District office. The board cannot change the legal result.”

–Joseph Serna, @JosephSerna, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading “Sanitary District continues effort to oust Fitzpatrick”

Guests take a look at the construction progress for the Newport Beach campus for Coastline Community College during a tour Wednesday. (SCOTT SMELTZER)

The crack of hammers and metallic buzzing of power tools echoed throughout the partially finished building at Coastline Community College’s new Newport Beach campus Wednesday.

Walking along an outdoor corridor complete with ocean views, officials took in the many unfinished rooms littered with equipment and electrical work hanging from the ceiling.

“What is right behind you is a typical classroom,” said John Weaver, who led the tour and is with C.W. Driver, the construction management company.

College and district officials donned hard hats to tour the $48-million campus at 1515 Monrovia Ave., which is expected to be completed in the fall and have classes starting in the spring.

“It will be wonderful that the college will now be out in the community,” said retired faculty member Sally Kurz, a Coastline Foundation board member. “So many students come from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.”

–Britney Barnes, @britneyjbarnes, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading “Construction continues for Coastline’s Newport campus”

Costa Mesa Sgt. Vic Bakkila, left, and senior Officer Larry Fettis find a pellet gun rifle, among other items, in a homeless encampment under the 405 Freeway near the Santa Ana River. (Don Leach)

A Costa Mesa homeless encampment adorned with animal rights posters and graffiti could shelter suspects connected to a recent spate of burglaries, police said Thursday.

Police discovered the elaborate encampment beneath a San Diego (405) Freeway underpass where the Santa Ana River meets Moon Park, 3377 California St.

Officers believe eight men have been living in the encampment for about two years, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Vic Bakkila.

Police came upon the camp after an officer saw a suspicious-looking man go under the overpass, according to Bakkila.

Authorities had increased patrols in the area because of a recent increase in burglaries.

In the encampment, police found a cache of bikes and watches, although where the items came from and whether they were stolen was immediately unknown. Police were working to determine whether the items were connected to the recent burglaries.

–Lauren Williams, @LAWilliams30, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading “Police break up homeless camp in Costa Mesa”

Gabrielle McClinton (Whatsername), center, is joined by other cast members of "American Idiot." (Photo by Doug Hamilton)

Punk band Green Day skyrocketed to fame in the 1990s, but is winning over an entirely new audience with its latest offering: a Broadway musical.

But their “American Idiot” is a far cry from “Camelot.” It’s a gritty, urban-inspired show that uses the same punk songs that made the band famous, and adds more than a smattering of simulated drug use, strong language and other adult situations.

“American Idiot,” which arrives in Costa Mesa on May 29, follows the lives of three disaffected suburban youths: Johnny, Will and Tunny.

The country’s residents are riveted by their television sets, and the boys want a way out. Johnny and Tunny move to the big city, where Tunny soon is brainwashed by an Army recruitment ad, shipped off to war, and wounded. Johnny, in the meantime, discovers heroin — and love. Passive-aggressive Will stays at home to support his pregnant girlfriend, but takes his solace in beer and pot.

The musical is based in part on Green Day’s 2004 “American Idiot” studio album, and more specifically with the song that became “Homecoming.”

The three band members spent a day in the studio creating solo 30-second songs, which later merged and connected into the song, and inspired a full concept album akin toThe Who’s”Tommy” orAndrew Lloyd Webber’s”Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Michael Mayer, the director of the wildly successful modern musical “Spring Awakening,” heard the album and approached the band about adapting it for the stage. It had a successful run on Broadway before being launched as a nationwide touring production.

–Candice Baker, Special to the Daily Pilot

…Continue reading “‘American Idiot’ musical to hit Segerstrom Center for the Arts”

“Of course, we’ll keep working individually too — I still want to keep my job,” Gary Sherwin, president and chief executive of Visit Newport Beach Inc., joked while speaking at the fourth annual Tourism Conference, organized by the Orange County Tourism Council (OCTC) at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa.

Overall, speakers encouraged the audience — and each other — to work together to develop “The OC” as a global brand and destination for international visitors.

“We’re talking about this wonderful shared asset called Orange County,” Sherwin said to the audience. “When you hear ‘The OC’ anywhere in the world, you know what they’re talking about — they’re talking about us. And we take a lot of pride in that.”

Panelist Judith Bijlani, president and chief executive of the Laguna Beach Visitors and Conference Bureau, pointed to the county’s miles of beaches, many art museums and galleries, and shopping as several of the key components making up “part of the OC experience,” a tagline she encouraged local businesses to adopt.

–Sarah Peters, @SPeters01, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading “Tourism conference: O.C. cities should work together”

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor speaks at a Surf City Tea-sponosored forum at the Huntington Beach Central Library on Monday. (SCOTT SMELTZER)

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) told a conservative group Monday that he believes his Republican opponent in the June 5 primary will bow down to unions and special-interest groups in Sacramento.

During a Surf City Tea-sponsored forum in the Huntington Beach Central Library, Mansoor said Newport Beach Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, who is running against him in the 74th Assembly District race, supports unions and raising taxes.

“That’s a clear difference between me and my opponent, who calls herself Republican,” he said.

Daigle said Tuesday that there is no basis to Mansoor’s claims.

“There’s nothing in my record of public service that suggests I’m a tax-raiser,” she said. “I would say that together with my colleagues, we’ve gotten more pension reform [in Newport Beach] than Allan [did when he was on the Costa Mesa council].

“Several of the employee groups are now paying their full share of their employee pension, and we’re in the process of working with police and fire, and we anticipate reaching an agreement by the end of the month.”

–Mona Shadia, @MonaShadia, HB Independent

…Continue reading “Mansoor accuses opponent of willingness to work with unions”

He could have been there for two or three days, authorities said.

About 3:15 p.m., a gardener went to the man’s house in the 2600 block of Riverside Drive to do some work when he found the man apparently dead in his Toyota minivan.

Orange County Sheriff’s deputies said that the man appears to have died from health-related issues, and his death was not considered suspicious. All the windows in the van were up, and authorities could not immediately say how the dog died.

The man’s father had last been seen him alive two or three days ago, authorities said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Hazardous Materials team initially responded to the scene but was later called off.

The man’s identity was not immediately available. The coroner was responding to the scene.

— Joseph Serna, @JosephSerna, Daily Pilot

Eat Chow has opened a second location on 62nd Street in West Newport, pictured here. (Don Leach)

A popular Eastside Costa Mesa restaurant has expanded into Newport Beach with a menu geared toward the grab-and-go surf crowd.

Eat Chow’s new location — described by owner Brian McReynolds as “modern Californian cuisine, like a gastropub with Mexican food” — on 62nd Street in West Newport is having an invite-only, grand-opening party Thursday to celebrate. The restaurant is Eat Chow’s second, the first being at Newport Boulevard and 18th Street, which opened about four years ago.

A soft opening in Newport was held April 23. So far, the response has been positive, McReynolds said.

“We’re keeping the same menu as Eat Chow One, but we’re slowly incorporating more beach food and hand-held food,” he said. “More tacos, more sandwiches, and for breakfast, more grab-and-go items for surfers and people in the community.”

–Sarah Peters, @SPeters01, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading “Eat Chow expands to West Newport”