Costa Mesa

Members of the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa police departments will head to the desert this weekend to participate in the 120-mile Baker to Vegas Relay. The will be among teams from 270 departments participating in the annual rite, which raises money for a police nonprofit. Newport Beach and Costa Mesa each plan to send 20 participants, but they'll also have some of their retired and non-sworn colleagues along for the trip to do support duties, like driving and being alternates.

Kids Potential, in partnership with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Orange County, is hosting its first-ever Spring Benefit from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday in Costa Mesa. The free event at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel, 686 Anton Blvd., aims to bring awareness about the Irvine-based nonprofit and its programs. Donations will be accepted. The benefit will feature cocktails, appetizers, speakers and networking. Speakers include: Gregory Koch and Kids Potential founder Shirin Ansari, who will both discuss "mindful parenting;" Paul Merage, founder and chief executive of Merage Foundations, who will speak on philanthropy; Gene Howard, chief executive of CASA Orange County; and Jean Mylen, a positive behavior consultant and former Irvine Unified School District principal.

"Oh, that was lovely. " "Wow! That was amazing!" They're two common laudatory phrases. Both designate different degrees of good. The Cleveland Orchestra's overall performance in Costa Mesa on Tuesday night received the former from me. It was an evening in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall of technically brilliant, yet subdued playing from an otherwise strikingly fine ensemble. The unified qualities by which the famed Ohio orchestra played are unmatched by most.

In an effort to pull up Paularino Elementary School's test scores, campus officials want to look at becoming the district's second magnet school. In her proposal to bring the K-6 Costa Mesa campus out of Program Improvement, Interim Principal Bonnie Swann said Paularino wants to become an arts magnet and already has several teachers who are strongly dedicated to the arts. "I think it's wonderful that they're the first school that got out of the box and came in with something different than [Response to Intervention]

ORANGE — With his backspins, big jumps off of the sides of the wooden ramps and attacks of large rails Wednesday night at Vans Skatepark, Huntington Beach sophomore skateboarder Chris Chavaria took home a shiny medal. Wearing a helmet, T-shirt and shorts, Chavaria rode his trusty skateboard to a narrow victory in the street finals of the National Scholastic Skateboarding League indoors at The Outlets at Orange. The 16-year-old from Garden Grove rode nearly all sides of a large course that included big ramps, rails, wooden boxes and several jumps.

Costa Mesa High has hired Tamiko Davila as its girls' soccer coach, the school announced Wednesday. Davila will be a walk-on coach. The Costa Mesa resident is no stranger to local soccer, as he is the director of soccer for the Newport Mesa Soccer Club. At Costa Mesa he will take over for Dan Johnston, who resigned in March after 20 seasons, citing health issues. "I'm real excited," said Davila, 34. "It's the first time that I'll be the high school coach of the community that I live in. There's a real sense of community and personal pride.

Paul Hadley doesn't pay attention to the miles logged on the odometer of his 1962 Jaguar Mark II. "It's the journey that matters," said the 74-year-old Costa Mesa resident. "It's not about the finish line. " Even if Hadley were counting, the vintage vehicle is a pure, strapping youngster when it comes to what's under the hood: a recently installed 2011 Corvette engine. "Basically, what I did was create a reliable Jaguar," Hadley said. "You could get in this thing and drive it to New York.

A Costa Mesa man charged with murdering his ex-wife and former father-in-law last year after losing custody of his daughter was bound over for trial after a preliminary hearing in Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach Wednesday. After hearing testimony from two Costa Mesa police officers, including an account of an apparent confession, Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey found that there was enough evidence to try Robert Lehmann, 37, on two counts of murder, each with three sentencing enhancements.

Costa Mesa will keep its Fire Department instead of contracting out with county. Just before midnight Tuesday with a 5-0 vote - nearly six hours into its regular meeting - the City Council motioned to rescind the layoff notices issued to 78 sworn and nine nonsworn firefighters. The move effectively canceled a proposal to use the services of the Orange County Fire Authority, which was expected to absorb most - but not all - of the Fire Department's employees. The firefighters comprise nearly 43% of the 203 city employees who have received layoff notices since March 2011, when the council began its outsourcing research and implementation.

All is fair in cake and war. Costa Mesa native and Estancia High School alumna Megan Faulkner Brown had a winning strategy when she battled on the popular reality TV show"Cupcake Wars. " The Utah resident's dark chocolate, brie, nut, cranberry and red wine cupcakes knocked out the competition in the April 8 episode of the Food Network show. "It turned out as this great combination of sweet and bitter," Brown said. For the episode, she was challenged to create a recipe using ingredients that a rock star might have in his dressing room.