Jay Brockman

In the midst of a major crackdown on California's medical marijuana movement, where most city officials are either working with the federal government to eradicate storefront dispensaries or directing police to raid these clubs, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is taking another tack.

He's not only speaking up in defense of dispensaries, but is actually urging jurors in an ongoing federal trial of a dispensary owner charged with selling marijuana to reject the prosecution on the grounds that medical marijuana is legal under state law.

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Lisa Guerrero, the centerfold-worthy "hardest-working sports reporter" per the Los Angeles Times who now does ambush reporting for the syndicated Inside Edition program, recently confronted representatives John Campbell (R-Irvine) and Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

Each was asked to justify high office rents taxpayers shell out to their respective Orange County landlords, who are also big campaign contributors.

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See the update at the end of this post about Baback "Bobby" Azadgilani turning himself in to police and allegations of past harassment.

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 17, 11:56 A.M.: Have you seen this fellow to the right?

Laguna Beach police suspect him of raping a woman in her home last month.

Officers have tried to arrest Babak "Bobby'' Azadgilani, 26, at his Laguna Niguel home and business, but he appears to be in hiding, according to Captain Jason Kravetz, the department spokesman.

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Rumsfeld can't get any Code Pink love

Former Republican Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has his fans and his enemies--and then there are the energetic members of Code Pink, the self-described "women-initiated grassroots peace-and-social-justice movement working to end U.S.-funded wars and occupations."

Code Pink doesn't want Rumsfeld to forget that as an architect of the Iraq invasion to pursue Saddam Hussein after Osama bin Laden orchestrated the 9-11 terrorist attacks from Afghanistan, he promised the diversion into Iraq would last no more than "six weeks."

That monumental screw-up helps to fuel Code Pink members to chase Rumsfeld around the country when he makes public appearances, and last night in Yorba Linda was no different.

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See Update No. 2 at the end of this post about the charges against Kwang Choi "K.C." Joy and the motive offered by the district attorney. Update No. 1 on the next page concerns allegations of past violence in Tennessee by the murder suspect.

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 20, NOON: Kwang "K.C." Joy, who is currently being held in lieu of $1 million bail, is due to be arraigned Tuesday for the murder of the 54-year-old's roommate of one and a half years, Maribel Manriquez Ramos.

Questioned by police and the media in the days after the 36-year-old U.S. Army veteran and Cal State Fullerton criminology student went missing, Joy had described Ramos as his best friend and the only family he had.

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See the update at the end of this post about a UC official claiming the two-day strike of patient care workers will cost $20 million, the union countering with examples of UC waste and deficiencies, and UCI Medical Center saying 70 surgeries have been rescheduled due to the work stoppage.

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 20, 10:32 A.M.: Today, a Sacramento County judge will decide how many patient care workers can participate in strikes against the University of California's five medical centers.

Tomorrow, expect to see picketers outside UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange.

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A Costa Mesa man who is the nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley faces trial in the Windy City for manslaughter. Richard Vanecko, 38, allegedly punched a Mount Prospect man in the face outside a Chicago bar during the early morning hours of April 25, 2004. The man fell backward, hit his head hard on the pavement and died from brain injuries 11 days later.

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Last week, we reported the conclusion of a bizarre lawsuit filed by one Carla "Kaya" Lewis, the sister of TapouT co-founder Charles "Mask" Lewis, regarding her deceased brother's ashes. Now comes word that Kaya is facing her own lawsuit because of the lawsuit she just won.

According to papers filed in Orange County Superior Court, Kaya hired Irvine-based private investigator firm Luna Quest to work on her behalf for the lawsuit she filed against TapouT over her brother. Luna Quest head Kenneth Luna, Sr. is now claiming breach of contract, fraudulent concealment, and five other charges in alleging that Kaya didn't tell his firm she had earned a large settlement.

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This coming Thursday, make sure to pick up the dead-tree edition of your favorite infernal rag--scratch that. EVERY Thursday, make sure to pick up the dead-tree edition of your favorite infernal rag--but this one in particular will be a special one, as it's devoted to Arrested Development, the greatest thing EVER to come out of Orange County.

All the hipsters that love the show sometimes forget its OC roots, and that's what the cover story will deal with--and that was the subject of my KCRW-FM 89.9 commentary yesterday.

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Nancy Reagan escorted by Secret Service Agent Bui before his downfall

A federal judge in Orange County this week punished a Vietnam War refugee--who eventually became an accomplished U.S. Secret Service (USSS) special agent assigned to protect former First Lady Nancy Reagan--for operating a bank-fraud scheme.

U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter sentenced Richard Kyle Bui to one day of incarceration in the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons, deemed it already served and ordered the convicted swindler to undergo supervised probation for two years after paying a $100 fine.

Bui, who faced as much as a lenient six months in federal prison given his quick guilty plea, had previously lost his job as a result of his crime.

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