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Government offices will be closed and services canceled Monday in observance of Memorial Day. All post offices will be closed, and there will be no collection or delivery of postal items. FedEx and UPS stores will also be closed. The Department of Motor Vehicles offices will be closed, as will banks and courts. All public libraries will be closed. The Orange County public libraries will also be using the holiday to conduct maintenance on its online catalog, so service may be spotty.

Two companies with offices in Newport Beach purporting themselves to be loan modification services are facing legal action from the office of the attorney general as part of a crackdown on mortgage relief scams. The Federal Trade Commission is targeting 178 companies nationwide and 14 in California including Home Relief Services LLC and RMR Group Loss Mitigation LLC, who both have offices in Newport Beach and have allegedly swindled thousands of homeowners seeking mortgage relief out of thousands of dollars each.

WEATHER Like clouds? Good news! See Page A2 FILM FESTIVAL A film is screening today for those who can't wait till April. See Page A3 SPORTS Four boys', three girls' teams will represent Newport-Mesa in CIF basketball playoffs. See Page A5 HOLIDAY SCHEDULE PRESIDENTS DAY CLOSURES Monday, Feb. 16 -- Beaches Open Police departments Open City offices Closed County offices Closed Superior courts Closed Post offices Closed DMV offices Closed Schools (through Feb. 23)

A Newport Beach architectural firm has designed one of the first new buildings under construction at the Los Angeles Air Force Base. Robbins Jorgensen Christopher designed the 34,000-square-foot, $5.1-million fitness center that will feature two enclosed racquetball courts, a weight room featuring free weights and machines, an exercise room, aerobics studio, gymnasium with retractable bleachers, health education center...

Costa Mesa police facilities should be back to normal today after remodeling had moved officers to alternative sites Thursday. Offices were vacated for a remodel that has lasted three days, disrupting phones, computers and Internet service for police. Calls were often forwarded to off-site locations; only the front desk was open at the station. Large blankets of paper could be seen blocking the interior of the offices much of the day Wednesday and Thursday, separating access from remodel work.

Here are a few of the items the commission will consider tonight. GRANNY-UNIT ADJUSTMENT The Planning Commission will consider changing the Santa Ana Heights Specific Plan to give planning director Patricia Temple authority to approve second units, known as granny units. Temple already has the authority over granny units for the rest of the city. But the Santa Ana Heights Specific Plan gives that authority to the commission. Planning staff members recommend making the Santa Ana Heights plan match the rest of the city.

Edge Electronics Inc. celebrated the one-year anniversary of its West Coast Divisional Sales Office on Feb. 7 in Newport Beach. The office is at 1101 Dove St. and is led by Gloria Chavez, the second woman to head an Edge Electronics regional sales office. The Plato, Texas-based Alcatel USA, the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunications products, mentors Edge. Edge offers products that include audio and video equipment, crystals, connectors, amplifiers, memory products, transformers and other circuits.

With the help of the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa communities, the chiropractic office of Jake Pivaroff and neighboring offices have collected and sent over 200 pounds of goods to an Orange County Army National Guard unit. Pivaroff, a Vietnam War veteran, said his offices have collected seven crates of socks, stationary, pens and pencils, which will arrive at their destination by Tuesday." Troops from the unit will head to Kosovo after the first of the year.

Dexus Property Group, an Australian company with offices in Newport Beach, said Thursday that it had bought the massive headquarters of furniture retailer Living Spaces in La Mirada for $26.25 million. Living Spaces uses the 278,000-square-foot building as a warehouse and retail sales center for its line of furniture and other home items. It is one of seven stores operated by the regional company and also houses the company's executive offices. Dexus didn't reveal the name of the seller, but real estate data provider CoStar Group identified the previous owner as LBA Realty of Irvine.

June Casagrande CORONA DEL MAR -- Dyson & Dyson real estate, a top name in Newport Beach home sales, will soon become a Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage office. The two companies have announced they will merge seven of Dyson's Southern California offices into residential Coldwell Bankers, creating a separate company based in San Diego. Bob Dyson, co-founder and co-owner with his wife, Loraine, will serve as president of the new company. The new entity will be named Coldwell Banker Dyson and Dyson.

Editor's note: This story contains graphic material that some readers may find offensive. * SANTA ANA - A formerLos Angeles County Sheriff's Departmentdeputy tortured his then-wife and her lover in an Irvine office after learning of their affair, a prosecutor argued Monday. Robert Avery McClain, 38, of Irvine stands accused in Orange County Superior Court of eight felonies, including aggravated mayhem, torture, rape and sodomy in connection with the Sept.

Angels right fielder Torii Hunter got a surprise visit at his Newport Coast home Wednesday not from an overzealous fan, but from police. The Angels star said on his verified Twitter account that he was in his house when the alarm went off, and within 20 minutes he was visited by Newport Beach police. Hunter wrote that when he went outside, police drew their guns. "The cops that were here today had there guns drawn but pointed downward in for safety [sic]," Hunter tweeted.

A hazardous materials team was dispatched to an Irvine office building Friday morning after a white substance was found in an envelope, authorities said. The building at 15750 Alton Parkway was evacuated after the Orange County Fire Authority's hazmat team arrived at 10:05 a.m., according to police and fire authorities. After several tests, the hazmat team declared the substance harmless at 12:03 p.m., and the evacuation was lifted, according to OCFA Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion.

A Costa Mesa police officer who made the most DUI arrests countywide in 2011 was honored last week by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Officer Kha Bao made 432 DUI arrests last year. He was one of five Costa Mesa officers honored with a Century Award from MADD at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda on Thursday, according to the Costa Mesa Police Department. Bao is the first CMPD officer to have been the county's top DUI-arresting officer. Also honored were Costa Mesa officers Jose Torres, Oscar Reyes, Crystal Rodriguez and Jared Shurley, who, including Bao, made a combined 859 DUI arrests last year, police said.

Arson investigators examined evidence from a fire and acts of vandalism at a Costa Mesa dental office, police said Tuesday. Employees returned to work after a five-day hiatus last month to discover paint covering the business' name on a window and mail that had been burned, according to Costa Mesa Police Department. Police first reported the arson. Costa Mesa Fire Department officials determined an accelerant of some kind was used to help the fire spread. The investigation is ongoing.

If a suspect were to take off on foot in a 26.2-mile pursuit, Paul Sarris would likely be able to catch him. The 34-year-old patrol officer for the Newport Beach Police Department won the Surf City USA Marathon in Huntington Beach, beating last year's winner by nearly five minutes at  2:30:09 in his first-ever marathon-length race. Update: This adds Paul Sarris' time. Sarris, an Aliso Viejo resident and nine-year veteran of the Newport force, competed for the University of Iowa.

A cadre of emergency responders raced to Newport Center for a fire reported in a high-rise office building Saturday morning, but it turned out to be a minor blaze without injuries or major property damage. The fire, reported at about 8:00 a.m., did not spread beyond a computer server room on the 13th floor of 610 Newport Center Drive, according to a news release from the Newport Beach Fire Department. Light smoke seeped onto the 12th floor Apparently, the fire started in an air conditioning unit and caused about $3,000 in damage.

The Costa Mesa Police Department earlier this month switched to a new schedule that officials say will give the city coverage at times it needs the most. FOR THE RECORD: Police staffing: An earlier version did not make clear the actual number of sworn police officers in the Costa Mesa Police Department. The correct number is 131. But one outside expert who has studied police shifts cautioned that fatigue can be an issue for officers assigned to longer days.

COSTA MESA - Solving the city's homeless problem requires the cooperation of other Orange County cities and a mixture of short- and long-term solutions, the Costa Mesa Homeless Task force concluded in its final report. The challenge is for the city to determine which homeless people are from Costa Mesa and which ones were drawn here by social-service programs and parks, committee members concluded. City Council members have said they want to help Costa Mesans who have fallen on hard times but do not have the resources to help those from other cities.

LOS ANGELES - A former Beverly Hills Unified School District human resources official testified Friday that then-Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard became angry when she put in writing his directive to give another employee a raise without required school board approval. JudyAnn Allen-Mendez testified in Los Angeles County Superior Court that Hubbard did not follow proper procedure in 2005 when he directed her to give subordinate Nora Roque a $20,000 raise. "The job description, and the job itself and the pay, needed to be approved by the board first," the former assistant superintendent of HR told the court.