WEEK IN REVIEW

BUSINESS

Each high school with at least 50% of its students from Costa Mesa — including Newport Harbor High School — was allotted up to eight stands by City Hall. Estancia High School Principal Phil D’Agostino said the fireworks sales were one of the top moneymakers for student clubs every year.

“Almost every athletic and co-curricular group on campus benefits from fireworks sales,” D’Agostino said. “So we’re very grateful that the city of Costa Mesa celebrates the Fourth of July in this way.”

About 1,000 families regularly attend the breakfast, which diverts half of its proceeds to the AYSO and half to the Kiwanis Club. Newport Rib Co. co-owner Fran Ursini, a member of the club, said all the funds raised would go into scholarships and local youth activities.

“Everything that we make will go right back to the kids,” he said.

NEWPORT BEACHFormer mayor takes reins of senior center nonprofitFriends of Oasis, the nonprofit that supports Newport Beach’s Oasis Senior Center, inducted several new board members as well as a new president on Friday.

Evelyn Hart, recognized as the city’s Citizen of the Year last month, assumed the presidency, following Ed Romeo’s three-year tenure.

Jeff Gwin, Rosemary Hurley, Oakley Jordan, Ken Nottle, Don Spitz, Doris Sommers and John Whitney also joined the group’s board of directors.

“We have a wonderful, very talented and competent board, and I am looking forward to working with them,” Hart said.

COSTA MESACity Council rejects plan to directly elect mayorThe City Council early Wednesday rejected a proposal to let Costa Mesa voters decide whether to directly elect their mayor. Currently, residents vote for every two years for either two or three council members, and council members then choose among themselves who will be mayor.

Former Mayor Gary Monahan urged the council in June to place a measure on the February ballot that would give voters the choice of picking the mayor. Mayor Allan Mansoor agreed, saying an elected mayor could send a clearer message of the city’s goals.

But with Councilwoman Linda Dixon absent, the measure failed on a 2-2 vote, with Mansoor and Councilwoman Wendy Leece in favor and Councilman Eric Bever and Councilwoman Katrina Foley opposed. Several residents said they didn’t see any benefit to the change.

PUBLIC SAFETY59 are suspected of immigration violationFederal immigration officials said they flagged 59 people suspected of immigration violations in June at the Costa Mesa city jail. It was the highest monthly total since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent began working at the jail in December.

During the length of the program in Costa Mesa, a total of 321 people have been identified who may have violated immigration laws. Suspects are checked at the jail after being arrested and booked on suspicion of some other crime under the jurisdiction of city police.

The robber said he wanted to look at rings for a 10th anniversary gift and after he tried them on, he stuffed them in his pocket and indicated he had a weapon as he left the store, the store’s manager said. Witnesses told police the robber was a white man about 45 to 50 years old who is 5-foot-10 and has a stocky build and short black hair.

Costa Mesa police had to call in the Orange County Bomb Squad twice Wednesday to defuse explosives made with plastic bottles and gunpowder.

NEWSOld Glory Boat Parade worth the waitThousands braved gridlock on the 55 Freeway and Newport Boulevard and sizzling temperatures to admire the 56th annual Old Glory Boat Parade, sponsored by the American Legion Yacht Club, on the Fourth of July. This year’s theme was “Patriots of Liberty,” and while some may have hoped they could be liberated from the traffic jams leading to the Balboa Peninsula it was all worth it as they admired the gussied-up Independence Day-decorated boats.

Some parade-goers, though, like Newport Beach resident Alec Lang and his buddies, were prepared as they parked the cars a couple of miles from their destination and hopped on beach cruisers the rest of the way to the Newport Beach Fun Zone.

Costa Mesa youth groups cash in on fireworks salesOnly five cities in Orange County permit residents to buy and sell their own fireworks, and Costa Mesa is one of them — meaning that the days before the Fourth of July were a bonanza for local schools and youth-related nonprofits, the only groups in the city permitted to host fireworks stands. Orange Coast College, the American Youth Soccer Organization and a number of high school booster clubs were among those setting up booths around the city.