Murder Case

Authorities have arrested a former NFL player and a woman who prosecutors said plotted to kill a Newport Beach father and businessman in 1994 for access to his beachfront home and $1-million life-insurance policy. Andrew Naposki, 42, was arrested outside his home in Greenwich, Conn., and Packard McNeal, 43, of Ladera Ranch, was arrested on suspicion of murder for financial gain in connection with the fatal shooting of Bill McLaughlin inside his Newport Beach home. New evidence prompted authorities to re-open the cold murder case, officials said.

"We're ready to bring the scows out and bring the dredgers out and start work, and you can't do that with half a million [dollars]." -- Dave Kiff, Newport Beach assistant city manager, on dredging the Back Bay. So far the city has nailed down only $500,000 of the estimated $24.5 million needed. "We tried to get balloons that said: 'It's a Boy,' but they were out. We want to be as embarrassing as possible." -- Danielle Lyons, 19, who was at Newport Harbor High School's graduation, cheering on friend Bryan White.

The murder trial of a Newport Beach man accused of robbing and killing a liquor store owner in 2007 should begin early next month, officials from the Orange County district attorney’s office said Monday. Weston Scott Kruger, 31, is accused of killing Sportsman Liquor Store owner Hao “Tony” Quang Huynh in July 2007. Sportsman Liquor Store is on Newport Boulevard near 28th Street in Newport Beach. Police said Kruger went into the store to buy cigarettes and, while there, hid a pornographic magazine in his shorts.

An Orange County Superior Court judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the murder case against a Costa Mesa man accused of killing a woman in a car crash on Valentine's Day 2010. Gustavo Adrian Vega, 23, was ready for trial Wednesday morning at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana when the judge tossed out the case because two defense witnesses failed to show up. At about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 14, 2010, Vega, a former Orange Coast College student, allegedly ran a red light while driving drunk on Sunflower Avenue near South Coast Plaza and barreled into a car in which Cara Lee, 20, was riding.

The trial of a Costa Mesa man accused in a double murder case has been fast-tracked, prosecutors said Thursday. Daniel Patrick Wozniak, 28, is scheduled to be arraigned in a Santa Ana courtroom Friday on charges that he killed his neighbor, Samuel Herr, and Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, both Orange Coast College students, in May 2010, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Prosecutors allege Wozniak killed Herr, who lived in his apartment building in Costa Mesa, in order to steal money from his bank account.

The Newport Beach Police Department on Thursday honored its staff for devotion and heroism in the field and the Orange County district attorney's office for closing an unsolved murder case. At the annual Police Appreciation Breakfast, the top honor, the Chief Citation, went to Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy, D.A. investigators Susan Frazier and Larry Montgomery, and paralegal Dena Basham. The prosecutorial team worked with police to convict former NFL linebacker Eric Naposki and his girlfriend Nanette Packard of killing Newport businessman William McLaughlin in 1994.

A listing of special events to entertain you through the weekend and beyond. TODAY Scamper with a mouse. Kevin Henkes' storybook character Lilly the Mouse will visit story time at Borders Books, Music and Cafe at 1 p.m. at 3333 Bear St., Costa Mesa. Regular story times are 10 a.m. Wednesdays and 10:15 a.m. Fridays. Free. (714) 279-8933. SUNDAY Hear her hit high notes. Soprano Renee Fleming will perform at the Orange County Performing Arts Center at 2 p.m. as part of the Center's Voices in Song Series.

Hoag rated among top 5% of hospitals Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is among the top 5% of hospitals nationwide, according to independent healthcare rating company HealthGrades. Hoag — one of 266 that received the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence — was chosen from among nearly 5,000 hospitals in the nation that are not operated by the federal government, according to a Hoag news release. The study used Medicare data to track in-hospital complications and deaths, ranking hospitals based on how well their patients recovered compared to how patients' risk factors predicted they would fare.

Newport ordinance may indeed affect change I don't know if it will do the trick by changing the procedures of what happens when people don't obey the law on noise pollution ("Newport officials have last word in noise issue," Wednesday), but I think it's fair. If someone has a party, I think they should be accountable for the noise that they make. The rest of us only have one or two parties a year, and we usually tell our neighbors and invite them. If we make a lot of noise, and the police have to come out because we're bothering the neighborhood, then we should quiet down a little bit. So, I think that this is a fair change.