Featured Articles from the Daily Pilot

NEWPORT BEACH — Sitting on an oversized plush chair in baseball legend Chuck Finley's Newport Beach home, actress Tawny Kitaen seems to be in a much different place than she was eight years ago. A soccer goal is visible in the backyard, and her daughter's art covers the refrigerator in the family home. Her adopted dog, Woody, nuzzles Kitaen as she talks about a new off-camera passion: helping others. A volunteer at Kathy's House, a shelter for at-risk women in San Juan Capistrano, and a member of the board of directors at Testimony Life Resources, an alternative counseling center, Kitaen appears to be a far cry from her role as the eccentric star of "The Surreal Life," or the woman battling a dependency on prescription pills on "Celebrity Rehab.

A new Wild Rivers location is expected to open in May 2014 in Irvine with a 25-year lease. The Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the park's construction and operation at its July 30 meeting. The Irvine Co. did not renew its lease with Wild Rivers last October, leading the water park to close, according to the Los Angeles Times. Its last day was Sept. 25. The location, next to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, was open for 27 years. "We are pleased to be bringing apartments to the greater Irvine Spectrum area," said Irvine Co. spokeswoman Erin Freeman.

I worked on a story about Michael Milken many years ago, not long after the infamous junk-bond tycoon's release from prison. During the reporting phase, I observed him fulfilling his court-ordered community service by teaching a math clinic at a middle school in a low-income Los Angeles neighborhood. The clinic was not at all what I had expected. Milken, accompanied by his usual entourage, approached the job with the fervor of a motivational speaker. He knew the kids by name and took them through a series of math games, during which they used techniques they'd been taught to multiply and divide multiple-digit numbers quickly in their heads.

Newport Beach's city attorney said Monday that the city plans to ask a judge this week to close seven recovery homes found to be operating outside of the law. The proposal comes after an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that Morningside Recovery in Lido Village operates in violation of a city ordinance barring commercial recovery centers in residential areas. Morningside Chief Executive Mary Helen Beatificato did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

COSTA MESA - Signs outside the Rags to Riches store run by reality TV "mogul" Dave Hester have been defaced. Black letters across the red and white consignment store's sign read "davehesterfraud.com," and a sign announcing the store's move to Orange was pasted over with a sign reading "Newport con gallery has moved. For more information, go to davehesterfraud.com. " The website urges people not to do business with the TV star. Hester, who stars on A&E's " Storage Wars," ran the thrift store at 1941 Newport Blvd.

The California Supreme Court this week rejected a Jewish organization’s appeal against the estate of Joey Bishop, the late entertainer and member of the “Rat Pack.” But the legal battle over his fortune isn’t over yet, an attorney for the Newport Beach Chabad Center said Friday. The center filed several lawsuits and claims against Bishop’s estate, alleging that the entertainer’s advisors and live-in caretaker blocked his final wishes to have part of his estate go toward setting up a charity for special-needs children in Orange County.

A UC Irvine fraternity is trying to distance itself from a member-produced video featuring a man in blackface. But UCI's Black Student Union says it's an example of racial insensitivity that is common on campus. This month, members of Lambda Theta Delta, a historically Asian-American fraternity, filmed four students lip-syncing to the Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z song "Suit and Tie. " The fraternity member portraying Jay-Z wears blackface throughout. OC Weekly first reported on the incident.

No one was injured after a fire authorities suspect started in the garage of a Costa Mesa home Saturday, the Costa Mesa fire department said. Twenty-five firefighters kept the fire to the garage of the single-family home at 890 Joann Street. The blaze caused an estimated $20,000 in damage, according to a fire department press release. Fire investigators had not determined the fire's cause as of Saturday evening. Four engines and two trucks arrived at the one-story house at 11:19 a.m. Saturday, the release said.

After charging an Irvine tennis coach with eight felony counts of lewd acts with a child under 14, prosecutors are asking for more victims to come forward, the Orange County district attorney's office announced Monday. Prosecutors allege Jarrid Thomas Baldogo, 29, met his 12-year-old male victim at the tennis courts in Irvine's Santa Clara Park in November. Irvine police originally said the boy was 13. After being hired as the boy's private coach, Baldogo sexually assaulted him at least eight times in his car and apartment between December and May, prosecutors said.

Andrew Edwards The name is a tongue twister. The store is like a giant toy box. Gary and Diane Naumann opened the fourth branch of Toy Boat Toy Boat Toy Boat last Tuesday at Fashion Island. The store is filled with tricycles, dolls, trucks and pirate ships. "We carry just about everything -- we have Mattel; we have Hasbro; but we have a lot of specialty toys," Gary Naumann said. Some favorite toys at the store, the Naumanns said, are the bright plastic Bruder trucks that are stacked near the doorway.

Surf fishing is wide open all along the south coastline. Prime spots off Huntington Beach are kicking out barred perch, corbina and yellowfin croaker while the calmer surf line between the Newport and Balboa piers has been the beach to fish for perch, a fair number of corbina and halibut. The water temperature is holding in the low 70s and this is making fishing very comfortable during the early morning hours and on into the night time fishing period. Angler's Center in Newport Beach is always a good place to find out what's happening around Newport and a stop by the tackle shop last week to check on off shore fishing ended by setting up a fishing date with reel service manager, Ed Dillon of Newport Beach, to fish a good morning tide on Thursday.

A bat infected with rabies was found on the garage floor of a Costa Mesa home, according to authorities. A 15-year-old boy got the live bat in a box without touching it May 5 and later received treatment, the Costa Mesa Police Department said. Because the bat was found in a confined area in the 2300 block of Vanguard Way, the public wasn't exposed, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA). Orange County Animal Care was notified that day, and OCHCA officials said they were notified two days later.