LA Laker superstar and OC resident Kobe Bryant

An inquisitive federal judge in Orange County today left a temporary restraining order intact for at least two more days in the dispute over whether an auction house working for the mother of Kobe Bryant is legally entitled to sell nearly 1,000 pieces of personal memorabilia of the NBA superstar's youth.

Because part of the legal battle is being fought in New Jersey and a ruling about jurisdiction is expected there later this week, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford said he will wait to determine his next move in the Los Angeles Lakers' case.

But Guilford also wondered aloud if the now infamous mother-son courthouse battles were merely a ploy to increase media and public attention to the auction as a sneaky way to boost potential profits.

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LP Hastings

Who you gonna call?

Our news story this week told the saga of Jason Troia, Long Beach City College's (LBCC) student trustee who has declared war on the school's board over what he claims are financial irregularities in its decision to cut 11 vocational programs. After the release of the print story, Mark Taylor, the director of college advancement, public affairs and governmental relations at LBCC sent the Weekly a letter, which we'd print in the dead-tree edition if we still had a letters section. But since we don't, the letter is published here in its entirety--and just like we used to do in the dead-tree edition, we're allowing Troia to rebut Taylor. To the tape!

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See the update at the end of this post about Kyva Roberson being found safe and healthy this morning on the campus of Costa Mesa High School.

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 7, 1:42 P.M.: Irvine Police are looking for a 12-year-old boy who is believed to have run away from home after being disciplined at school Monday.

The call came in about Kyva Roberson around 10 last night and officers and detectives worked through the night to find him.

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See Update Nos. 1 and 2 at the end of this post on the jury finding the wife guilty.

A verdict has been reached in the trial of Catherine Kieu Becker, the Garden Grove wife accused of dosing her husband's tofu dinner, tying his arms and legs to bed posts, slicing off his penis, throwing the member into the garbage disposal and turning it on. Surgeons were unable to reattach it.

City News Service reports the jury reached a decision a short time ago today.

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Jason Troia

Jason Troia is the Long Beach City College administration's worst nightmare. "I just really like doing research," the student trustee says with a little laugh that accompanies most stories when he talks about LBCC. Troia began poring over reams of documents he's compiled in the months since hearing that 11 of the school's vocational programs had been cut due to budget problems: Auto Body, Aviation, Audio Production, Interior Design, Welding, Automotive Technology, Real Estate, Photography, Air Conditioning/Refrigeration/Heating, Diesel Mechanics, and Carpentry. These are programs that have an incredibly high success rate compared to other non-vocational programs at LBCC--and programs the trustees axed with little regret.

"If there's anywhere that really needs trade programs - it's Long Beach," Troia says, "It's always been a blue collar town, and the jobs are here."

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Sometimes, the stories write themselves, and that's the case this afternoon. Earlier today, a Metrolink train hit someone between Fullerton and Buena Park. How do I know?

Because Metrolink told me so on its Twitter feed. And Metrolink just told me that the lines "are open with restricted speed due to police activity. Updates to follow regarding time of train delays."

All hail this brave new world of journalism!

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Hunt fought a corrupt system and won

Former Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) Lt. Bill Hunt, who was targeted for harassment and career sabotage in 2006 by then-Sheriff Mike Carona and his goons, has won a litigation settlement of nearly $1.96 million, according to county records.

Hunt--who served the city of San Clemente as its popular police chief in his OCSD role and bravely but unsuccessfully challenged Carona in an election as unfit to continue serving as sheriff after a series of embarrassing corruption scandals--must also be reinstated in the department at his former rank. The re-hiring move is a formality, however. Hunt, who nowadays runs his own in-demand Orange County private investigations company, gets his government job back for pension reasons and must retire after one day, according to records.

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See Update Nos. 1 and 2 at the end of this post about the weird substance found in a mysterious envelope turning out to be sand.

ORIGINAL POST, APRIL 22, 10:15 A.M.: Huntington Beach City Hall is currently closed to the public due to a suspicious package delivered via the mail
today to the Fire Department on the fifth floor, according to police.

"All the
staff from City Hall have been evacuated and Haz-Mat units along with Orange County Sheriff's Bomb Squad are responding to evaluate the package," reads a Huntington Beach Police Facebook post.

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Orange County is on "heightened alert" due to today's Boston explosions that have killed at least two and injured nearly two dozen people, according to Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. "Although the tragic incident in Boston, Massachusetts this afternoon appears to be isolated, the Orange County Sheriff's Department is on heightened alert," says Hutchens in a prepared statement. "Our deputies will have an increased presence at local sporting/entertainment venues and other large gathering places."

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Kyndall Jack, who was the second hiker rescued after days in the wild following an Easter Sunday hike, is still confined to a wheelchair, but at a just-concluded press conference before heading home from UCI Medical Center in Orange, the Costa Mesa 18-year-old was smiling and upbeat as she recalled the ordeal. That is, what she could recall because she's forgotten more than she remembers. Then there were the bizarre dreams, like believing a python was eating her.

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