The Lead

A fire-prevention bill written on behalf of Laguna Beach awaits the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown, who has until Sept. 30 to approve or veto the measure.

Sparks flew at the first City Council candidates’ debate when the subject of city employee pensions came up this past Monday, Aug. 26, at the Village Laguna forum in the council chambers. It was not a love match.

There’s life again at the village entrance, a highly visible and often-congested downtown corner where hundreds of people park their vehicles between a concrete flood channel and a chain-link fence.

An assist by elected officials helps the Plein Air Painters Assoc. near fundraising to match a public grant even as the organization plans for its next painting invitational next month.

Roger Shew, the popular jazz instructor in the Laguna Beach public schools, died eight months after his diagnosis with cancer.

Due to the high number of car crashes with utility poles at the Big Bend curve on Laguna Canyon Road, the city’s public works department is starting to remove the obstacles in a second round of construction that begins Tuesday, Sept. 6, the day after Labor Day, according to a city announcement. Outbound traffic will periodically shift to the middle lane at the Big Bend section of Laguna Canyon Road until 3 p.m. through Friday, Sept. 24.

Now, Shift Digital’s local employees can catch a few waves before work, and shower in the upstairs bath before heading down to the black and royal blue walled offices with polished concrete floors and rows of shiny white desks.

The Laguna Beach High School athletic field renovation is on schedule to finish a week before the first day of the new school year and will reopen to the public Wednesday, Aug. 31, school officials said this week.

By winning the Olympic water polo tournament in convincing fashion, the U.S. women’s team earned another gold medal, and as current world champions, have again proved themselves as a water polo powerhouse. In each game of the tournament, the U.S. won by at least four goals, thanks in part to the Fischer sisters.

Local voters will soon get used to hearing the words “Measure KK.” Proponents and opponents of the November ballot measure to open two medical marijuana dispensaries in Laguna Beach say they will make their points with anyone and everyone who will listen.

An interview with the Pageant of the Masters scriptwriter, Dan Duling, delves into how he shapes the long running summer show in Laguna Beach and its inclusion this season of work by some of Mexico's best known artists.

A gallery exhibit of street art by Artists Republic in Laguna Beach includes the showing of an original work by the elusive street artist Banksy.

“I feel this is a modern day miracle and through God's grace I am walking,” San Clemente mountain biker, Chris Hukill, said in a recent interview, four months after sustaining severe injuries in a 300-foot fall from a mountain bike trail in Laguna Beach.

The first debate sponsored by Village Laguna is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 29, in the City Council chambers at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave.

Though he stepped away from a formal leadership role he had long held with the Orange County Democratic Party in 2012, Barbaro now is devoting 20 hours a week to making “money calls” in support of the Democratic party’s presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.