Hoag Hospital

Atalie Mitchell Loses State Nursing License for Stealing Drugs from Patients, Using Post-Rehab

The state's nursing board has revoked the license of a Mission Viejo woman who admitted stealing pain medications from Hoag Hospital patients. Atalie Mitchell's undoing began on April 4, 2009, when a visitor to the Newport Beach hospital found a bloody needle cap in a women's restroom. Later, a nurs ... More >>

Santa Ana, Garden Grove Hold Sobriety Stops Tonight; Distracted Drivers Targeted Across OC

Some recent sobriety checkpoints in Orange County netted no or very few DUI arrests despite thousands of cars passing through them. Interpret that as you will--they're working or they're unnecessary--not that it matters what you think as more stops are coming, starting tonight in Santa Ana and Gar ... More >>

[UPDATE: Kid Arrested!] Pot Story of the Year: Kid Takes Pot Brownie to School!

*See bottom of this post for an update.Original Post, March 13, 8:27 a.m.: Sooner or later it had to happen: a kid gets his hands on a brownie, and not realizing it is laced with marijuana, he takes it to school and shares it with a bunch of his friends, all of whom become dizzy and sick to their st ... More >>

Don Haidl, The Man Who Ratted Out Dirty OC Sheriff Mike Carona, Is Dead

Don Haidl--a wealthy car auction owner and corrupt Orange County assistant sheriff--loved to drink booze, chain smoke cigarettes, hurl nasty cuss words, surround himself with obedient thugs and wear the expression of a gruff codger.But Haidl, who reportedly died from natural causes late Tuesday nigh ... More >>

[UPDATE, W/ NEW PLEA FOR DONATIONS] Zeke Kendall, 19-Year-Old OCC Student, Needs Help For Heart Transplant

Updated, with new info on the bottom...ORIGINAL POST, NOV. 30, 5:14 P.M. "I'm not the type of person to reach out to the public for help," Amber Weiser told me, her soft voice dropping to hold back tears, "but I just don't know what to do." Weiser's brother was rushed to the emergency room on Nov. ... More >>

Zeke Kendall, 19-Year-Old OCC Student, Needs Help For Heart Transplant

"I'm not the type of person to reach out to the public for help," Amber Weiser told me, her soft voice dropping to hold back tears, "but I just don't know what to do."Weiser's brother was rushed to the ER on Nov. 9th on what started out as a pretty normal day. Zeke Kendall, a 19-year-old Orange Coas ... More >>

Went to a Crime Scene and a Lap Dance Broke Out: 7 Examples of OC Strip Club Mayhem

Daniel Vidal Santana pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping, assault producing great bodily injury, two counts of sexual assault and auto theft for an early morning crime wave that included beating up a stripper he met at an Anaheim Club. As the Stanton resident awaits an Oct. 26 Superior Court senten ... More >>

Robot Doctors Infiltrate OC Hospitals, Just Like the Mayans Said They Would

If you thought your doctor had cold hands when he or she asked you to turn and cough, wait until RP-VITA gets you in its grasp.Developed by the makers of the Roomba, the Remote Presence Virtual Independent Telemedicine Assistant that just got a test drive at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach does for ... More >>

[UPDATED with Unrated Release:] Bully Anti-Bullying Documentary Opens Friday

​UPDATE, MARCH 26, 3:50 P.M.: After failing by one vote to get the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to change the rating of Bully from an R to a more-appropriate PG-13, the controversial anti-bullying documentary will be released in theaters Friday with no rating at all, distributor th ... More >>

Luke Cheung: Newport Beach Doctor Must Pay For Fatal Error, Appellate Court Rules

Dr. Cheung​A California Court of Appeal has upheld a jury decision against a Newport Beach doctor whose botched interpretation of a computerized tomography (CT) scan led to the unnecessary death of an 85-year-old woman at Hoag Hospital in 2009.The 16-page ruling decision announced Jan. 4, the thre ... More >>

William Griffith Dies in Rip Currents Off Surf City; High Surf Advisory This Week

​The coast has been under a high surf advisory since 7 a.m. today, but a rip current already claimed the life of a man in Huntington Beach.William Griffith, 26, was swept out to sea late Monday afternoon when he tried to save a friend fighting the rip currents. Griffith's body was recovered by res ... More >>

Cafe Lotus Lives La Vie Vietnamese in Newport

With great French and Vietnamese offerings, this place is better-suited for Little Saigon than the Hoag Hospital crowd

[UPDATED] Brinda Sue McCoy in Deep Doodoo and Lucky to Be Alive: Wife of Oceanside Police Chief and Former Cypress Mayor Accused of Shooting at Cops

​UPDATE, JAN. 31, 4:47 P.M.: Don't know how we missed this one last week, but 47-year-old Brinda Sue McCoy pleaded not guilty in a Santa Ana courtroom Wednesday to firing one of her husband's guns at police officers who were trying to talk her out of suicide during a three-hour standoff in the cou ... More >>

OC Restaurants Offer Special Heart-Healthy Menus in February

​Hearts will be everywhere in February, but Hoag Hospital (whose cafeteria we reviewed) and the Newport Beach Restaurant Association want to bring to focus to the beating, blood-pumping variety. In honor of American Heart Month, the health-care provider has partnered with OC restaurants to develop ... More >>

'OC Can You Play?' to Stash Pianos Everywhere

​​If you've stumbled across any random pianos recently, you may have wondered why there are 20 randomly placed around Orange County. The Pacific Symphony is promoting its "OC Can You Play?" project and dispersing the pianos everywhere from Costa Mesa to Brea to Mission Viejo. The instruments wer ... More >>

Punk-Rock Hard-Knock Lifer

[Best of OC 2010] Duane Peters' 10 OC Survival Tips

Passings: Shirley Muckenthaler, Harriet Wieder

TheMuck.orgShirley Zoeter Muckenthaler​Two women strongly tied to Orange County history have passed away.Shirley Zoeter Muckenthaler, whose husband's family built the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton and who was involved in charitable work in her own right, died at her home Jan. 3 after a ... More >>

[UPDATED WITH CONVICTION] Pendleton Marine Faces Murder Charge for Alleged Drunken Driving Death

​What happens when just before being released from duty at Camp Pendleton for the weekend, you allegedly: participate in a mandatory safety briefing that covers the dangers of drunken driving, including the tidbit that should you get behind the wheel while drunk, you'll likely kill someone; go on ... More >>

New Home Found for Marlo Bartels' Disputed Fountain Sculpture

On the move. The struggle to save a crazy-colorful fountain sculpture created by the internationally recognized Marlo Bartels has been resolved, according to the Laguna Beach artist's wife. The whimsical-but-functional fountain was unveiled in the Irvine Regional Hospital lobby upon the ... More >>

"Art" Stands in the Way of Demolition at Irvine Hospital

The fountain of disputeInternationally recognized Laguna Beach artist Marlo Bartels creates whimsical-but-functional sculptures that grace parks, museums and even the inside of people's homes. The city of Burbank commissioned him to make "Early Burbank," a 10x10 foot tile mural. Two undulating mosai ... More >>

Rising Radio Star Leyla Fatima Is a Patron Saint for Parents of Drug Addicts

Stripper in Cop-Lap Dance Scandal Back in Jail

The OC Register's Larry Wellborn has an interesting story on the paper's website today about Lisa Piho, the former Mr. J's topless dancer who was at the center of a bizarre scandal involving the strip club and the cops a few years back. Piho, a former girlfriend of one of the nightclub's managers, f ... More >>

Babies, Porn Stars and Mixed-Martial Artists

New York Post Page 6 columnist Richard Johnson reports today that retired porn star Jenna Jameson is having “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz's love child. Well, at least we think it's Tito's. Pity the fool who is the father if it is not. By the by, our image of Ortiz was shot by former W ... More >>

Fewer OC Hospitals Are Allowing Midwife-Assisted Births, And Moms-to-Be Aren't Taking It Lying Down

Smiley Coyotl

When is a prosecutor not a prosecutor? The answer spared a Santa Ana activist/punk rocker from criminal charges

Roll Player

Charles Monson works the system to help fellow quadriplegics get the high-tech wheelchairs they need

Girl On Film

Lawsuit alleges mystery snuff film shows police informants death

Silk Stalkings

Woman imprisoned for terrorizing ex-lovers and threatening their girlfriends is now free

Stupid Sells

Shear Madness gets by on charm, belly laughs

Last Dance

Retired cop says death of Mr. Js informant was too much of a coincidence

Diary of a Mad County

I didn't get what I wanted for Christmas, and now you're gonna pay!

A Perfect Crime

If police informant Andrea Nelson was murdered, prosecutors say they cant prove it

REQUIEM FOR A DREAMGIRL

A Tale of Sex, Drugs, Dirty Copsand a Girl Who Knew Too Much

Code Red at Western Med

If you drive, you should care about the future of one of OCs last trauma wards

Carona Makeover

Another day, another jail beating in OC

a Clockwork Orange

Best of OC 2004: Part 3

Juke Making Me Crazy!

Cruising Huntington for someone to say hi to

So Good, Youll Wish You Were Sick

Hoag Hospital food is Newport Beach class at cafeteria prices

Keep Puffing

Cigarettes may cause cancer, but they promote health care for OCs poor

As American as Apple Pie Shot

Holidays behind the bar

The Year in Bits: January- June

Year in Review

Year in Review

Club Fed

A brief history of two bad ideas

VU All Over Again

Health Care Costs Still Rising

The Eternal Verities

Its summer, and watching the Angels will cost you $118

Cesar Salud

Guilty Pleasures

1819-1900