Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) officials have busted an alleged Orange County Courthouse property auction conspiracy that involved fake high bids and kickbacks. According to DOJ records obtained by the Weekly, Sean Frankhouse–an auctioneer at Reliable Posting and Publishing (RPP) that sells foreclosed residential properties usually at local courthouses–used an accomplice to cheat honest bidders. …
The manager of a Lake Elsinore breeding facility for Rancho Santa Margarita-based Global Captive Breeders was sentenced Thursday to a jail work-release program, community service and probation, the fallout from an investigation that uncovered tens of thousands of dead or dying snakes and rodents. David Delgado, 30, of Rialto, and Global Captive Breeders' owner Mitchell …
Not to fall into that macho Hemingway bit, but I have to ask: Could it be that the effort it takes to do something that's difficult often results in that thing being done better than if it had been easy? William Friedkin's jungle-location triumph/boondoggle Sorcerer trumps today's event filmmaking with every mud puddle and pit …
Continue reading “Friedkin's Sorcerer Is as Good as You've Heard”
In February 2013, two Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) homicide detectives and a prosecutor activated a surreptitious recording device in a central courthouse room. They guided Amy Nguyen—who they hoped would be their star grand jury witness in an unsolved Mediterranean cruise-ship murder—to the location and demonstrated concern for her well-being with saccharine chit-chat. After …
Avant-garde painter Paul Sarkisian, best-known for his work at the revolutionary Ferus Gallery in 1960s Los Angeles, disliked the description of his work as photorealistic. His large-scale work wasn't him copying from photographs; many of the finer details in the work came wholly from his imagination. A painterly storyteller, the master was trapped between the …
Continue reading “'SARKISIAN & SARKISIAN': Like Father, Not Like Son”
School arts programs are always the first to get cut. It's a bit tragic the arts can be so dishonored that when a small battle is won to bring back what should already exist, the key players are nothing less than saints. Anaheim City School District (ACSD) is the sixth-largest elementary-school district in California. Its …
Santa Ana School Police Chief Hector Rodriguez finished his investigation into the rough arrest of a 14-year-old at Adams Park that made national headlines earlier this month after an onlooker videotaped the incident. And, surprise, surprise: the top cop thinks his officer didn't do anything wrong. “Unfortunately we had a subject who was vandalizing property, …
By: Ben Westhoff, Andrea Domanick and Kai Flanders A Coachella attendee named Kimchi Truong apparently overdosed on drugs and/or alcohol Saturday, collapsing at a show in the festival's taxi area. She received treatment at an aid station on the grounds, and was taken to JFK Memorial Hospital, before being transferred to Palm Springs' Desert Regional …
Continue reading “Woman Dies at Coachella After Apparent Overdose”
See the update at the end of this post on Robert Rizzo's state-court sentence and apology. ORIGINAL POST, APRIL 15, 6:37 A.M.: Former City of Bell chief administrator Robert Rizzo was sentenced Monday to 33 months in federal prison for tax evasion, as part of a plea deal that included Jabba the Corrupt admitting he …
Continue reading “Robert Rizzo Gets 12 Years in Prison and $8.8 Million Restitution Order: Update”
Anaheim's Bernie Cervantes Villegas held the barrel end of a BB rifle when police officers approached him in January 2012, complied with commands to raise his arms and was nevertheless shot five times and killed though he never pointed the weapon at cops or grabbed for the trigger. Officers “high-fived” each other after the shooting, …
At some point in your life, some one has probably asked: If you were stuck on an island and you only had one thing to eat, what would it be? I'm betting you answered something like “Mom's spaghetti,” or the obvious choice, pizza. I always went with cheeseburgers, but that's beside the point because it …
Continue reading “What The Hell Chia Seeds Are, And Why They're Great for You”
Followers of Rancho Santa Margarita lawyer/dentist/real estate saleslady/Queen of the Birfers/Pussy Riot reject Orly Taitz wonder if she was recently Silkwooded/Breitbarted/Michael Hastings-ed. The dark conspiracies were prompted by a truck rear-ending … oofah! … Taitz as she drove to an endorsement interview at the Los Angeles Times, which was humoring her run for California attorney …