Man arrested after high-speed chase

A high-speed pursuit involving a reported white supremacist gang member started in Laguna Beach on Tuesday night and ended in Anaheim.

Darryl James Mason, 42, of Huntington Beach, failed to stop for police on the Corona del Mar (73) Freeway and led officers from multiple police departments and the California Highway Patrol through Irvine, the UC Irvine campus, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Santa Ana and ultimately Anaheim, where he was arrested for outstanding warrants and evading arrest, according to Laguna Beach police and CHP.

Laguna Beach police said they plan to add charges of terrorist threats and battery.

– Joanna Clay, @JoannaClay, Coastline Pilot

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Law professor’s death probed as possible suicide

A Chapman University law professor who died after falling from a building may have committed suicide, authorities said Monday.

Orange County Supervising Deputy Coroner Daniel Aikin said “preliminary findings” indicated that Mary Katherine Baird Darmer, 47, took her own life Friday. But an autopsy is still pending and “our investigations are not complete yet,” Aikin said. An official cause of death has not been determined, authorities said.

According to details released by the coroner’s office, Darmer fell from a parking garage in the 19700 block of MacArthur Boulevard in Irvine at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

– Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times

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Homes on the Market: Irvine

Address: 206 Garden Gate, Irvine 92620

Listed for: $499,000

Size: Two bedrooms, three bathrooms, 1,200 square feet

Lot size: 0.05 acre

Features: Built in 1999, the two-story home has hardwood floors, granite kitchen counters and high ceilings.

MLS ID: P799510

—Lauren Beale, Los Angeles Times

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Taco Bell to launch Doritos Locos Tacos on March 8 to boost sales

Taco Bell is launching its Doritos Locos Tacos on March 8 (Taco Bell)

Doritos Locos Tacos, Taco Bell’s potential saving grace delivered in a bright orange shell made of the snack chips, is arriving March 8 – and the chain is counting the seconds.

A clock on Taco Bell’s website is ticking down until the Doritos Locos Tacos launch. The company is sponsoring a Twitter contest to spark interest, promising to send a truck loaded with the tacos to the tweet with the most retweets.

– Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

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Tustin teacher’s aide arrested on suspicion of lewd acts with teen

Nicole Ethel McMillen, 41 (Courtesy Irvine Police Department)

A 41-year-old Irvine woman who works as a teacher’s aide in Tustin has been arrested on charges of having sexual contact with a teenage boy.

Nicole Ethel McMillen was arrested about 1 a.m. Sunday, one day after parents of the 14-year-old boy reported the relationship to police.

According to Irvine Police, McMillen had been having sexual contact with the teen over the past six weeks at her home in Irvine.

Police also said the sexual contact, as well as other inappropriate physical contact, occurred on several occasions.

Details about the crime were not released since the investigation is still on going.

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O.C. officials who received ethics warning letters listed

The 40 elected city officials from Orange County who received warning letters from the staff of the state’s ethics agency range from mayors who are veterans of public office to city council members still in their first term.

The letters from Fair Political Practices Commission enforcement chief Gary Winuk say the officials violated the state Political Reform Act when they voted with their city councils to approve their own appointments to boards and commissions that pay stipends, in some cases up to $5,000 a year.

“However, based on the fact that your decision did not affect your personal finances by a significant amount, and the fact that you do not have an enforcement history, we are closing this matter with a warning letter,” Winuk wrote.

– Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento, Los Angeles Times

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1-800-GET-THIN president’s suit against Times columnist dismissed

(Anne Cusack, Los Angeles Times )

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that accused a  Los Angeles Times columnist of illegally recording conversation with the president of the 1-800-GET-THIN marketing firm.

The company is known for its ubiquitous billboards plastered along Southland freeways, and its catchy jingle that pops up on the radio and television, which promotes shedding pounds via the Lap-Band weight-loss device.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Debre Katz Weintraub threw out the lawsuit that Robert Silverman, the marketing company’s president, had filed against Times columnist Michael Hiltzik.

“The plaintiff has not satisfied his burden of demonstrating that there is a probability he will prevail on his claims,” the judge said in her Jan. 31 ruling.

Silverman had accused Hiltzik of recording their telephone conversations without Silverman’s knowledge, which he maintained violated state law. The Times denied any wrongdoing.

– W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times

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Couple lose case over being labeled child abusers for cutting daughter’s hair

An Orange County civil jury on Wednesday rejected an Irvine couple’s claim that they were improperly placed on the state’s child abuse registry for punishing their adopted daughter by cutting her hair each time she got in trouble.

After their teenage daughter ran away and lied about her whereabouts in 2008, Bette McFetridge snipped locks off the girl’s hair as punishment with the approval of her husband, George McFetridge, an Orange County deputy district attorney.

A social worker found that it was “inconclusive” whether the hair cutting amounted to emotional abuse, but the McFetridges’ names appeared on the Child Abuse Central Index for 11 months as a result.

– Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times

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Group will perform animal license, vaccine check

Irvine Animal Care Center representatives will go door-to-door this month to check if residents’ animals are properly licensed and vaccinated, according to a news release.

Representatives will be able to assist residents in initiating or updating a license. City ordinances require dogs to be licensed annually and those older than 4 months must be vaccinated for rabies.

“Licensing your dog is an important component of responsible pet ownership,” Ron Edwards, Irvine Animal Care Center administrator, said in a prepared statement. “It helps protect the safety of our community and is the best way to facilitate prompt return of your pets in the event they become lost.”

– Sarah Peters, @speters01, Daily Pilot

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Dr. Jerome Tobis dies at 96; UCI professor, physician and researcher

Dr. Jerome Tobis, shown in a 1989 image, was a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at UC Irvine. (Gary Amrbose)

Dr. Jerome S. Tobis, a former professor and founding chairman of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at UC Irvine whose long career included a number of precedent-setting studies on physical therapy, cardiac rehabilitation and other subjects, has died. He was 96.

Tobis, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in July, died Feb. 3 at his home in Corona del Mar, said his daughter, Heather Tobis Booth.

As an emeritus research professor at UCI since 1986, Tobis continued teaching residents and medical students until last summer.

“It’s a rare individual that is able to continue with a career at 96 and over all those years have an absolutely impeccable reputation,” said Dr. Ralph V. Clayman, dean of the UC Irvine School of Medicine.

As part of his university service to the community, Tobis continued to see patients at Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa once a week until a week before his death. His most recent visits were in a wheelchair.

“Everybody was impressed with his longevity,” said Dr. Ronald B. Miller, a clinical professor of medicine emeritus at UC Irvine, “and he remained mentally astute and alert and competent.”

In 1970, Tobis joined the UCI medical school faculty as a professor and founding chairman of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

– Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times

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