Orange County

Deirdre Newman After she left the Daily Pilot, former Features Editor Jennifer K Mahal's passion for the arts never waned. Next month, she will be reunited with her love for the arts as the new publicist for the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Mahal will replace Angela Dickson, who had a baby in November. Mahal has been working at Envision Group, an Internet marketing and consulting firm in Torrance, for more than a year. Her experience as features editor for more than two years will be valuable in her new position, she said.

Lolita Harper The city's teens sniff cocaine, steal alcohol, smoke marijuana, dance half naked, leave their underage friends passed out on the sidewalk, fight and have casual sex in threesomes in the bathroom while their parents have affairs and embezzle millions of dollars. Or at least that's what the creators of the new Fox network show "The O.C." would have you believe. The highly anticipated teen drama made its debut Tuesday night, telling the tale of a down-on-his-luck kid who gets busted for stealing a car and winds up living with his public defender in Newport Beach.

Submitted by Rochelle Segobia Known for bringing a taste of the Wine Country to the heart of Orange County, The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar raised $25,000 during its inaugural “Sunday in the Vineyard” fundraiser, which featured a wine tasting with more than 100 wines, many of which are considered unique and rare finds from boutique wineries spanning the globe. In addition, the event, which benefited the Marconi Foundation for Kids and the Child Guidance Center, included a live cooking station with The Winery’s Executive Chef and Partner, Yvon Goetz.

Drawing people in with her crystal blue eyes and sparkling smile, four-year-old Audrey Presby of Costa Mesa is a princess at heart. She loves to sing and dance, and get dressed up in her princess dresses, as well as playing dolls and having tea parties. This summer when Audrey walked into her “Princess Class,” offered by the city of Newport Beach Dept of Parks and Recreation, the other girls saw her as Tinkerbell, or Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty. All they talked about was their dresses and accessories, how many Cinderellas there were, and which dress they wanted to wear the next week.

Parents: don't reach for that frozen dinner yet, or send the kids off to school with the always-easy sandwich, soda and bag of chips. Girls Inc. of Orange County is teaching girls about healthful lifestyle choices, such as what to pack for lunch. From nutritional education and physical fitness to positive body image, the eight-week program is aimed at stemming obesity among young girls in Orange County. The 16-session Fit Girls and Family program inspires girls to take healthful recipes home to the family cook.

Sibling rivalries are expected and, to a degree, beneficial, but when it comes to tourism in Orange County cities, the message Wednesday was all about working together. "Of course we'll keep working individually too — I still want to keep my job," Gary Sherwin, president and chief executive of Visit Newport Beach Inc., joked while speaking at the fourth annual Tourism Conference at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa. Overall, speakers at the event organized by the Orange County Tourism Council encouraged the audience — and each other — to work together to develop "The OC" as a global brand and destination for international visitors.

Newport Beach City negotiates pension change for guards A new contract for the Newport Beach city lifeguards was approved by a unanimous City Council vote Tuesday night. Among the key provisions in the contract are a 3.5% increase in pension program contribution by employees and additional funds for the guards' education and tuition reimbursement. The 3.5% diverted from lifeguard salaries, effective from Feb. 27, is expected to contribute $90,000 of the average $6 million the city pays annually to the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, said City Manager David Kiff.

"Orange County Noir" explores the underbelly of Orange County locales with the noir treatment complete with danger, cynical characters and the antithesis of Orange County pretty. The book, released in April, features Orange County and Southern California writers who take a hard-boiled look at Orange County. The collection of 14 short stories carries on in the tradition of the greats such as Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep," Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" and James M. Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice."

Los Angeles-based healthy salads and sandwiches eatery Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop will expand into Orange County with the April opening of a Costa Mesa location. Greenleaf opens April 30 on East 17th Street, between Orange and Santa Ana avenues, in a 4,200-square-foot space reflective of the restaurant-meets-farmstand atmosphere signature to its Beverly Hills and Century City locations, according to a news release. Developers submitted plans for the project, which is the largest of the Greenleaf locations, to city planners in May, according to Daily Pilot archives . The restaurant will open at 8 a.m. daily and offer breakfast, lunch and dinner items consisting of a variety of salads, wraps and sandwiches.

At a ceremony in Sacramento on Monday, Assemblyman Don Wagner (R-Irvine) honored a Newport Beach resident with his district's Woman of the Year award for her philanthropy in Orange County. Melinda "Mindy" Stearns, an Emmy-nominated actress, began her career as an entertainment reporter for television programs including "Entertainment Tonight," KTLA's "Morning News" and "News At 10. " In the past decade, she has shifted trajectory from the television industry, focusing her efforts and influence on improving her local community.