Laws

The Internet has helped sex trafficking to flourish, but it has also provided a new batch of tools to fight the scourge, according to a Vanguard University professor. Sandy Morgan, director of the Costa Mesa university's Global Center for women and Justice, invites police and the public to learn about those tools at the annual Ensure Justice Conference this weekend. "Yes, cyberexploitation happens, and it's something we need to be better at preventing ... in the community," Morgan said.

In an effort to streamline its processes and make government more efficient, the Newport Beach City Council will kick off a year-long review of the city's laws at its meeting this week. At his state of the city address earlier this month, Mayor Keith Curry vowed to purge outdated or redundant rules in the municipal code as a kind of extension of last year's city charter review, which culminated in the passage of Measure EE. The ballot item made a series of edits to the charter - many of which proponents said were necessary to bring the 54-year-old document into the new century.

Citing concerns about resources wasted on the enforcement of an inconsistent patchwork of marijuana regulation, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) plans to introduce a bill that would require the federal government to mirror individual states' pot laws, a spokeswoman for the congressman said. "It's state-centric," said Communications Director Tara Setmayer. The crux of the legislation, she said, would still allow the Drug Enforcement Administration to enforce some states' total prohibitions of marijuana, but would stop raids on dispensaries operating according to local law — raids that Rohrabacher considers "overreaches of the federal government.

With one employee union contract set to expire in March, Costa Mesa has its first chance to implement some of the provisions of its Civic Openness in Negotiations, or COIN, ordinance, aimed at creating greater transparency in the city's dealings with its employees. Per a COIN requirement, the city on Friday released a financial analysis of its contract with members of the Costa Mesa City Employee Assn. The financial analysis, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger said, aims to break down in a legible way the real cost - dollar amounts, rather than jargon-heavy calculations - of each employee to the city.

Newport Beach residents opposed to fee increases on residential docks that span public waters said Tuesday that they made good on their pledge to sue the city. Stop the Dock Tax and the Newport Beach Dock Owners Assn. alleged in a statement that small-group discussions by City Council members assigned to a working group examining harbor fees were not legally noticed or conducted in public. The group said it filed suit in Orange County Superior Court, however, a copy of the complaint could not be immediately reviewed.

Re. "Commentary: No-bid contracts are insulting to ratepayers," (Jan. 23): Former Costa Mesa Sanitary District Director Jim Fitzpatrick recently wrote a commentary regarding his resignation from the district Board of Directors. As a current director, I feel the public has the right to know that there is more than one side to this complicated story. When an elected official is sworn into office, one of the admissions is that the elected official swears to defend the laws of the state of California.

A Costa Mesa city employee suspected of illegally tampering with campaign signs has been charged with misdemeanor vandalism, prosecutors said Wednesday. If convicted, Steven Charles White, 39, of Costa Mesa, faces a sentence ranging from probation to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine and restitution, the Orange County district attorney's office said in a news release. Prosecutors said White, a city maintenance worker at the time, on Oct. 20 removed and destroyed two campaign signs posted along Fair Drive.

When Caron Ory's father was diagnosed with diabetes and struggled to stop eating sugar, the trained dietitian told him not to worry. "I'll create something for you," she promised. Through two years of research, trial-and-error recipes and taste tests, Ory came up with Eco-BeeCo, a natural sugar alternative with a tad of freeze-dried honey that passed her requirements nutritionally and her father's culinary muster. But when Ory wanted to share her product outside family and friends, she ran into a hurdle.

The Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers has twice asked the school district to support tighter gun regulations, but district officials say there are no plans to address the topic while school-safety discussions continue in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shooting. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District began reevaluating its safety procedures the day of the Dec. 14 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and the teachers union has offered its recommendations at two school board meetings.

The press has not reported a significant aspect of the passage of the "dock tax" by the Newport Beach City Council. In City Manager Dave Kiff's report to the council, recommending passage of the dock tax, he stated: "Historically, the city has followed the lead of the state and not charged rent for residential piers located over Tidelands. However, in 2011 the governor signed into law SB 152, which required the State Lands Commission to begin charging rent for residential piers. Because the city is a trustee of the state in regards to Tidelands property, the city should comport its actions to that of the state and charge fair market value rent for the use of Tidelands by residential piers.