Auction items are going, going and soon to be gone

Saturday's auction at Laguna Art Museum will have plenty of happy and aggresive bidders.

The Laguna Art Museum is counting down the hours to Saturday night’s “Art Auction 2012: California Art Lounge,” the museum’s annual benefit auction to raise funds for its educational and exhibit programming.

For this year’s auction, the Laguna Beach museum is partnering with more than 20 art galleries, including local ones, to auction off 106 art pieces by contemporary California artists working in many different genres.

Twenty-five of the 106 artists live in Laguna Beach. Eighty-five of the pieces will be sold off via a silent auction, which is already underway and closes for bids on Saturday night.

The remaining 21 pieces will be sold at a live auction in the museum’s Steele Gallery later on. It will follow the closing of silent auctions in four of the other galleries at 7:30, 7:40, 7:50 and 8 p.m. Saturday, said Sarah Strozza, the museum’s special events director. An after-party will follow at 9 p.m.

–Imran Vittachi, @ImranVittachi, Coastline Pilot

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St. Louis restaurant drops Albert Pujols’ name, but statue stays

Albert Pujols. ( Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times)

The owners of the Pujols 5 Westport Grill in St. Louis, named after former Cardinals star and new Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, are dropping the slugger’s name from the restaurant, but a larger-than-life-sized bronze statue of Pujols pointing to the heavens will remain in front of the establishment.

The statue, which is 10 feet high and weighs 1,100 pounds and was unveiled in November, was a gift to the Pujols Family Foundation from an anonymous donor, and the land it sits on is owned by the surrounding Westport Plaza complex, not the restaurant.

Todd Perry, chief executive of the Pujols Family Foundation, said there were no plans to remove the statue in response to the restaurant name change or Pujols’ decision to leave the Cardinals to sign a 10-year, $240-million deal with the Angels in December.

– Mike DiGiovanna, Sports Now, Los Angeles Times

…Continue reading St. Louis restaurant drops Albert Pujols’ name, but statue stays

Reports link Taco Bells to 2011 multi-state salmonella outbreak

For days, the speculation has been rampant: Which Mexican food chain – only identified as “Restaurant Chain A” by federal investigators earlier this month — was linked to a large salmonella outbreak late last year?

This week, Food Safety News named Irvine-based Taco Bell as the chain in question.

In October and November, at least 68 diners were sickened across 10 states, including 16 in Oklahoma and 43 in Texas. The spate of illnesses eventually petered out and was reported by the Centers for Disease Control on Jan. 19.

But the agency stayed mum on the origin of the salmonella bacteria, saying only that the majority of victims had reported eating at 18 separate locations of “a Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain” in the Midwest.

– Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

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CHP responds to two crashes on 405 at Euclid

Multiple people were sent to the hospital after two separate vehicles crashes on the San Diego (405) Freeway on Thursday morning, according to California Highway Patrol.

The first crash occurred at 8:57 a.m. on the northbound lanes at Euclid Street when an SUV struck the center divider, partially blocking the left lane. There were no known injuries, according to CHP.

A second crash occurred at 9:12 a.m. at the same location, involving two taxi vans, with possible injuries.

Costa Mesa Fire crews responded and were still at the scene as of 10:15 a.m. Thursday.

It is not known if the two crashes were related.

— Sarah Peters, @speters01, Daily Pilot

Ducks hit speed bump in 6-2 loss to Stars

Amazing how a few  weeks of hard work and well-deserved momentum  can be undercut by, say, 69 seconds of bad hockey.

Or two sloppy shifts. And all that heavy lifting goes for naught.

That is exactly what happened to the Ducks on Wednesday night in a rapid-fire first-period meltdown at Honda Center.  Dallas defeated the Ducks, 6-2, scoring three goals in a span of 3 minutes 54 seconds and two goals in 69 seconds.

That turned into a 3-1 lead for the Stars after one period. Though the Ducks flickered back to life, briefly, holding the deficit to two goals by the end of two periods. Still, in the end, their opening-period lapse proved costly.

– Lisa Dillman, Los Angeles Times

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Dog stolen in home invasion robbery reunited with family

Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino brought the dog home. (KTLA-TV)

Police are looking for an armed home invasion robber who terrorized a grandfather in Orange County, before stealing some electronics and the family’s dog.

It happened Wednesday morning at a home in the 10400 block of Brookhurst Street, near Cerritos Avenue, in an unincorporated area of the county.

The 59-year-old victim, who spoke to KTLA, said he saw a man come into his backyard and try to steal his cockatoos.

…Continue reading Dog stolen in home invasion robbery reunited with family

Fire map meeting scheduled for Feb. 9 at OASIS

The Newport Beach Fire Department will host a meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at the OASIS Senior Center to answer questions about the proposed adoption of Cal Fire’s Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps.

About 5,000 Newport Beach homes fall within the state’s Very High Fire Hazard Severity Map Zone, which includes homes along Buck Gully and Morning Canyon and stretches from Orchid down to Crystal Cove with most of Newport Coast also is included. If the maps are adopted, homeowners would face more intense scrutiny of fire hazards such as location of woodpiles, tree species, where trees are and how many trees are clustered together as well as buffer zones for firefighters to access blazes. New construction also would face stricter regulation, and homeowners would have to disclose to future buyers that their houses fall within the Very High Fire Hazard area.

– Amy Senk, @coronadelmartdy, Corona del Mar Today

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Obama coming to Corona del Mar

President Obama addresses a crowd at a townhall meeting at the Orange County Fairgrounds in 2009. (Daily Pilot File Photo)

President Obama plans to fundraise in Newport Beach this month during a swing through Southern California.

A Corona del Mar couple recently announced they will host a breakfast for the president Feb. 16, with proceeds benefiting Obama’s reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

While Newport is better known as a Republican Party fundraising bastion, Obama raised more than $1 million here in a 2008 campaign stop at the Balboa Bay Club. Local Democrats say they expect another strong showing.

– Mike Reicher, @mreicher, Daily Pilot

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Brothers arrested with cache of weapons, including AK-47

(Courtesy Santa Ana Police Department)

Two brothers were arrested in Santa Ana Tuesday, after detectives serving a search warrant at their home found a large cache of weapons and ammunition, including an AK-47.

The suspects, 32-year-old Esteban Muniz and 24-year-old Jose Muniz, were booked at the Santa Ana City Jail.

Police say three juveniles between the ages of 10 and 16 also lived at the home in the 200 block of Chantilly Street.

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Should California bite the bullet on high-speed rail?

An artist's rendering of a proposed California high speed rail station is shown. (California High-Speed Rail Authority)

By Steve Lopez

If and when California’s high-speed train is built, how fast would it have to go, and how much cheaper would a ticket have to cost, for you to give up flying?

I went to Union Station this week, as well as the Burbank airport, to ask travelers those very questions. And I’d like to hear from you too.

But let me set things up first.

Every time I consider booking a flight from Burbank to Oakland, I think about whether I’d prefer to drive instead. Usually, I go with the one-hour flight, and if there are no delays, I’m always grateful I didn’t make the six-hour drive up Interstate 5. But if traffic to the airport is rough, security is a headache and the flight is delayed, I sometimes end up wishing I’d driven.

…Continue reading Should California bite the bullet on high-speed rail?