Boards

A critic of the region's air-quality agency is questioning the academic credentials of a board member empowered to vote on the fate of the fire rings in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach. Clark E. Parker, who sits on the South Coast Air Quality Management District board, lists two doctorates in his online biography on the agency website. Parker, who was appointed in June by the state Senate Rules Committee, is referred to as "Dr. Parker" throughout the document. But the listed doctorates are from so-called diploma mills that provide degrees in exchange for payment, contends epidemiologist Jim Enstrom, a researcher who has criticized the science behind some of AQMD's regulations.

Huntington Beach resident Shane Allen owns his own swimming pool maintenance business, but he's also enrolled in the welding program at Orange Coast College. "I'm looking for a better opportunity to support my family," said Shane Allen, 40, a father of three. Allen was among more than 2,000 applicants who attended Wednesday's Orange Coast College job fair. Organizers said applicants looking for internships, apprenticeships and blue-collar, managerial and part-time work may have a better shot at finding those opportunities in an improving economy than they did in 2012.

COSTA MESA — The Newport-Mesa school board plans to meet in closed session at 6:30 p.m. Monday to discuss two felony counts filed this week against Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard. The charges, filed by the Los Angeles County district attorney, concern Hubbard's performance in his previous job as superintendent of the Beverly Hills Unified School District. Decisions on the matter could range from administrative suspension to "business as usual," Newport-Mesa Board of Education President Karen Yelsey said.

Newport Harbor High School alumni unveiled a piece of school history Wednesday, dropping the curtain on a new record board. The $3,600 monument chronicles track and field achievements from decades past to the present and is continually updated by alumnus Brian Theriot. In 2009, the original track and field record board was taken down to make way for construction. Theriot decided it was time to update the records and convert them all from yards to meters. "Then [the board]

The school board on Tuesday is scheduled to vote on allowing its architects to draft designs for two theaters and two middle school "enclaves" at Costa Mesa and Corona del Mar high schools. The projects are expected to be financed through Measure F funds, which allows the school district to buy bonds for school projects, said Paul Reed, district deputy superintendent and chief business officer. Estimates of project costs are not available yet, he said. The middle school enclaves will separate seventh- and eighth-graders who now attend the high schools, Reed said.

Tom Lehman, the current money-list leader on the Champions Tour, is one of five golfing greats who have committed to this year's Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club. Hale Irwin, the Champions Tour winningest player and the Classic's only two-time champ, along with fellow World Golf Hall of Famers Nick Price and Lee Trevino are intent on playing in the 17th annual Toshiba Classic, as is former U.S. Ryder Cup team captain (2008) Paul Azinger. The Toshiba Classic takes place March 7 through 13, with tournament play the final three days.

If Fred Couples is to become the Toshiba Classic's first repeat winner, he'll have to do it against an elite field. Bernhard Langer and Jay Haas, who each have won a Classic title, have committed to this year's 16th annual tournament March 7 through 13 at the Newport Beach Country Club. Langer, the Champions Tour Player of the Year and Arnold Palmer Award winner (Champions Tour money list title) each of the past three seasons, and Haas, the 2006 and 2007 Champions Tour Player of the Year and Arnold Palmer Award winner, are joined by World Golf Hall of Famers Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw who have given early commitments.

Four directors of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District unanimously voted Thursday night to pursue litigation against Director Jim Fitzpatrick, contending that his prior simultaneous service on the district and the city's Planning Commission were incompatible and that he should be removed from his district seat. The move came after Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Deputy Attorney General Daniel G. Stone issued an opinion this week giving the district the authority to pursue the lawsuit.

Jim Fitzpatrick resigned from the Costa Mesa Sanitary District on Monday, saying he no longer wanted to defend himself in a lawsuit over a perceived conflict of interest. His colleagues had contended that his prior concurrent service on the Sanitary District's board and the Costa Mesa Planning Commission from December 2010 to May 2012 was incompatible. They accepted Fitzpatrick's resignation letter during a special meeting at the district's West 19th Street headquarters, where they also announced that they would be dropping their conflict-of-interest lawsuit as a result.