Top Stories

Brewco Gets New Owners, Possible Revamping after Summer

Newport Brewing Company is in a beautiful spot, but it is oftentimes unseen from the street.  As entertainment businesses have been in a down-flux on the peninsula, BrewCo was hit particularly hard, just as the owner was setting himself up to retire. But just because he was retiring doesn’t mean the business is going to vanish!  On Monday morning, operators …

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Fentanyl Lab Bust by Balboa Pier, Massive Law Enforcement Presence

Hazmat Bust photo by Shawn Dewane

At about 1pm yesterday, Newport Beach police, Costa Mesa police, and federal agents– both in uniform and undercover– backed by Hazmat teams raided an apartment-turned-drug-lab near Great Mex on Balboa Peninsula for Fentanyl production.  Fentanyl is a powerful opioid that ranks somewhere between 50 to 100 times deadlier than heroin, depending on the batch. Residents reported a wide array of enforcement groups, including at least 6 …

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Old McDonalds Had a Crony Deal, E-I-E-I-O

Old McDonalds being torn down, photo by Buddy Feenstra

Today, destruction began on the old McDonalds property on Balboa Peninsula which was sold to the city of Newport Beach at a cost of over $4,000,000.00 to the taxpayers.  If you don’t think that’s excessive, take into consideration that just one year prior, it sold to “friends of the city” for less than $2,000,000.00. Why did the city buy this property?  …

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Rocket Launch Thursday @ 7:19pm

UPDATE: This flight has been delayed, with the next tenative time being at 10:19 a.m on Friday, according to https://www.space.com/32286-space-calendar.html  This will not be nearly the show that a 7:19pm launch would give– but it should be fun to watch, either way! Remember the SpaceX launch last year that created the picture seen above?  On Thursday, March 29 at 7:19:49pm, a Falcon …

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Dave Kiff Retires, and the Rumor Mills Hit Overdrive

I first met City Manager Dave Kiff back in 2013 when I originally considered running for office (at that time, I decided against it).  Our first meeting left me with a negative impression of him because he lied to my face.  However, in that first meeting, he also told me that he was going to begin winding down for retirement.  He continued to …

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Tick Tock: Newport is Insolvent; Broke in 7 years

As we had covered back in 2016, the ticking timebomb of unfunded pension liabilities– then, 9 years in the future– is just 7 years away.  Now, the OCRegister is finally taking notice.  State Senator John Moorlach penned this article, and if you remember he was the then-accountant who predicted the County Crisis many years ago, but was laughably dismissed then, just as …

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DUI Checks on St Patricks Day

The Newport Beach Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting DUI Saturation Patrols for the St. Patricks Day Weekend, from Friday at 6pm through Sunday at 6pm throughout the city of Newport Beach– so be prepared for traffic delays. DUI Saturation Patrols are claimed to reduce drunk driving mostly by deterrent, but also serve to actively arrest those who are driving …

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Don’t Forget: “Spring Forward” on Sunday!

Daylight Saving Spring Forward

Remember that Sunday morning we set our clocks FORWARD by one hour, so that 2am-2:59am never even happens that day, and one minute after 1:59am turns into 3:00am Daylight savings was invented to save on energy costs, particularly in old factories.  By slightly adjusting the clock to account for the changes in the sunrise and sunset times, employers were able to save money …

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Council Binge-Spends Over $8m in Construction Costs for a Single Building

Last Tuesday, the Newport Council voted to $8.3m of taxpayer money in construction costs for a single building, made to house a library and firestation in CdM which are both already built and functioning.  The fire station is being rebuilt because fire trucks have grown in size over the last 50 years and can no longer fit in the parking structure, …

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Beach Cleanup: Sunday March 11th

Next Sunday, Dory Deli will be doing a beach cleanup event near the Newport Pier next to Tower 22.  The original beach Dory Deli cleanup started shortly after their opening, and was on Jan 9th back in 2016, and they all have seen great success. In addition to the normal littering kooks that frequent the beaches, as the winter rains wash trash down …

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