Email Author MATT COKER

Awards

• 2011 - Southern California Journalism Awards/LA Press Club, published February 4, 2010

  "Douchebag Does Sundance"

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2012 Stories by MATT COKER

• Electrical Vault Blast Knocks Out Power to 2,000

  published Feb 14, 2012

  Southern California Edison crews have descended on Serrano Road and Ridge Route in Lake Forest, where an electrical vault explosion has knocked out power to 2,000 homes and two schools.Power has been More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  [UPDATED with Plug-In Memorial:] Doug Korthof, Enviro and Electric-Car Activist, Loses Battle with Lung Cancer

  published Feb 14, 2012

  UPDATE, FEB. 14, 2:31 P.M.: What a wonderful way to mark Valentine's Day: Adopt a Charger ("Accelerating the adoption of plug-in vehicles via fee-free electric car chargers") has established the Doug More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  5 Fun Valentine's Day Facts: Cheaters Edition

  published Feb 14, 2012

  It's hard enough planning a Valentine's Day for one lover, how about twor That's a challenge cheaters face every Feb. 14. Of course, the day is really a bitch for the person being stepped out on--shou More >>

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  [UPDATED with NRC Blasts Plant Workers:] Water Leak Shuts Down San Onofre Nuke Unit

  published Feb 14, 2012

  UPDATE, FEB. 14, 9:55 P.M.: Know how it's going to be weeks before toxicology reports are in on Whitney Houstonr Perhaps the same type of science-is-hard explanation accounts for the delay between Nov More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Atheists Unveil Valentine's Day-Tinged Billboard

  published Feb 14, 2012

  You don't really need an occasion for Backyard Skeptics to unveil a provocative billboard, but the Fountain Valley-based group of atheists and assorted non-believers does have a special Valentine's Da More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Celebrate Valentine's Day in OC by Getting "Married" to Same-Sex Partner Today

  published Feb 14, 2012

  It's Valentine's Day, and some folks feel couples should go to the Old Orange County Courthouse in downtown Santa Ana this afternoon to get married.That is, they should get hitched to their same-sex p More >>

• 2 Teens Held in 2010 Murder of Artists Village Bar Patron Jeffrey Lee Chung

  published Feb 13, 2012

  Police have made arrests in October 2010's murder of Jeffrey Lee Chung, an Irvine 23-year-old who was shot to death outside a bar in the Artists Village area of Santa Ana that civic leaders have tried More >>

• Huntington Beach Claims SoCal Edison Pockets Millions Set Aside for Street Light Repairs

  published Feb 13, 2012

  Huntington Beach is among eight Southern California cities that have formed the Coalition for Affordable Street Lights, which accuses Southern California Edison of pocketing millions in taxpayer money More >>

• Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc, Former Angels TV Broadcasters, are Kansas City-Bound

  published Feb 13, 2012

  We here at the Weekly--well, me--regularly harped about the old Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles TV broadcasting team. Play-by-play man Steve Physioc was too vanilla even for Orange County, and color man More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Ralph Espinoza, Juvenile Hall Officer Harassed by Co-Workers, Due $820,000 County Payout

  published Feb 13, 2012

  Orange County must pay a disabled juvenile hall corrections officer more than $820,000 for disability harassment that included co-workers offering $100 for photos of his deformed hand and blogging tha More >>

• Christopher Ryan Smith, Missing Man Said to be Murdered by Business Partner, Subject of Search That May Have Yielded Clues

  published Feb 13, 2012

  Orange County authorities say items found during the search for the body of Christopher Ryan Smith in southern San Diego County over the weekend may be evidence tied to the Laguna Beach 31-year-old's More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Octomom Nadya Suleman Trades Gloves for Pillow for Next Paid Fight

  published Feb 13, 2012

  To raise money during different points of her single motherhood of 14, Octomom Nadya Suleman has boxed fellow "celebrities," starred in a horror movie, passed a hat around bars, hosted an advice show More >>

• What We Learned, Feb. 4-10

  published Feb 10, 2012

  It's a week worth of bite-size Orange County news and what it all taught us.FEB. 4: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange reveals on its website that it is accepting from parishoners new names for Crys More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  [UPDATED with Cop Union Response:] Jennifer Tamara McClain, Sheriff's Deputy at Men's Jail, Accused of Sex Acts with Inmate

  published Feb 10, 2012

  UPDATE, FEB. 10, 3:31 P.M.: The president of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, which represents nearly 2,500 active and retired deputies and district attorney investigators, issued a More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  [UPDATED with Fairview Checkpoint:] Beach Blvd. & Stanton Ave. DUI Stop Tonight

  published Feb 10, 2012

  UPDATE, FEB. 10, 2:10 P.M.: The Santa Ana Police Department is also holding a DUI/unlicensed driver checkpoint near the 400 block of North Fairview Street from 7:30 p.m. Saturday through 1:30 a.m. Sun More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Narcisco Romanes Blando: Ugly Police Mugshot Poser Accused of Touching Patients Sexually

  published Feb 10, 2012

  Prosecutors of today's ugly mug poser, Narcisco Romanes Blando, put it best: "There was no medical reason or necessity for the defendant to touch the victim's vagina." Not unless the physician's assi More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  John Tran Nguyen, Ex-Basketball Coach, Accused of Unlawful Sex with 14 y.o. Student

  published Feb 10, 2012

  Authorities are reaching out to the public for possible victims of John Tran Nguyen, a 21-year-old  former high school basketball coach who is facing criminal counts for allegedly having been inv More >>

• Harry Welch, State Champ Santa Margarita High Head Football Coach, Must Go: LA Times

  published Feb 10, 2012

  Santa Margarita High School's football team is coming off a state championship, having won the CIF Division I bowl game on Dec. 16, and all the state's largest newspaper wants is head coach Harry Welc More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Denis Yoshio Cruz Ramirez Earns Immigration Hold for craigslist Ad Hawking Stolen Bike

  published Feb 10, 2012

  A fellow checking the craigslist want ads could not take his eyes off a black 21-speed Fuji Road Bike on sale for $280. That's because he was convinced it was his black 21-speed Fuji Road Bike, valued More >>

• Are You Ready for Some Angels Baseballr

  published Feb 09, 2012

  If those buzzing past Warner Avenue at the 55 freeway in Santa Ana are not psyched about the upcoming Angel baseball season, they are: 1) Blind.b) Stupid.tres) Doyer fans (or the same as b).See why af More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Ozro Robert Lee Guilty of Breaking into Home, Jerking Off in Front of Grandma and Little Girls But NOT of Punching Grammy's Woo-Woo

  published Feb 09, 2012

  A jury found a 45-year-old Santa Ana man guilty today of breaking into a Garden Grove home last spring, dropping his paints, whipping out his schlong and stroking it in front of a grandmother and her More >>

• Newport Beach Council Asked to Ban Beach Fire Rings ... and I Couldn't Be Happier

  published Feb 09, 2012

  A divided Newport Beach Park, Beaches and Recreation Commission voted 4-3 Tuesday night to ban and remove fire rings from city beaches. A ban advocate told the panel exposure to smoke from the 60 ring More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Rodney Alcala Can Be Extradited to New York: Judge

  published Feb 09, 2012

  A judge in Northern California has ruled Rodney Alcala, the serial killer sitting on Death Row for killing a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl and four women in Los Angeles County in the 1970s, can be More >>

• PETA Loses Whale of a Slave Suit But Still Crows

  published Feb 09, 2012

  A federal judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that argued five orcas should be freed from SeaWorld under the anti-slavery 13th Amendment t More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Fred Karger Makes Home State's GOP Ballot

  published Feb 09, 2012

  Many California gays (and non-gays) celebrated this week's federal appellate court ruling upholding a district court decision that found Prop. 8 violates the U.S. Constitution.Those waving rainbow-col More >>