Week In Review

PUBLIC SAFETY

MySpace video showed girls’ beating, police say

Two Newport Harbor High School freshman were arrested after a video posted on MySpace and YouTube allegedly showed the teens punching and kicking a younger girl in a public park, authorities said. Police arrested the two girls after a parent contacted the school about the video. The footage showed a large group either observing or taking part in the attack, law enforcement officials said. Schoolmates of the victim said their friend returned to school with a black eye, bruises and patches of her hair torn out. The fight happened after the younger girl posted derogatory comments on MySpace about the other two girls, a school official said.

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BUSINESS

Wyndham wants renovations to accommodate showgoers

The general manager of the Wyndham Orange County announced a plan to renovate the hotel’s lobby and registration area this spring to accommodate guests attending shows at South Coast Repertory and the Orange County Performing Artscenter.

Manager Tom Smalley said the new area would feature added seating, flat-screen televisions that show performing arts-themed DVDs and an eclectic small-plates menu that changed seasonally. In recent years, popular shows at the venues have brought substantial crowds to the Wyndham, which is a few minutes’ walk away.

Smalley said he hoped to have the project finished by the end of spring, although no start date has been set.

“The challenge is to find construction folks who will work from 11 at night to 7 in the morning, so it doesn’t interfere with customers,” he said.

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?Dick Greene, nutrition services coordinator for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, said school lunch prices increased this year and might again in 2008-09 as food prices nationwide continued to skyrocket.

Across Newport-Mesa, residents and business owners reported feeling the impact of grocery bills escalating. Shannon Santos, the executive director of the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, said she expected to get more food from donations in the future. Others said they had amended their grocery lists to include more affordable items.

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COSTA MESA

Group presents adoption event for guinea pigs

Orange County Cavy Haven, a Costa Mesa-based organization founded in 2003 that rescues and finds homes for abandoned guinea pigs, hosted an adoption event this week at Centinela Feed in Costa Mesa.