Coast Highway

YOUR WEEKEND TODAY: The Laguna Beach Rotary Club meets at noon at Aliso Creek Inn & Lodge, 31106 S. Coast Hwy. Anyone interested in attending should contact Rick Lang at (949) 315-9136 or langphoto@verizon.net. Lunch is served and the cost is $19. For more information about Rotary, visit http://www.lagunabeachrotary.com. SATURDAY: Join 1st Zero Trash Laguna and help pick up trash on streets and beaches from 10 a.m. to noon. Various locations. For more information, email Chip McDermott, chip@zerotrash.

Laguna Beach police still could not answer late Tuesday afternoon why officers shot a driver suspected of causing a traffic collision hours earlier at South Coast Highway at St. Anns Drive. The reason for the shooting, the driver’s name and the names of the officers involved in the shooting had not been released as of 2:30 p.m. The man, who, police believe, was in his 20s, was reported in critical condition at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, where he was taken after the 7:55 a.m. collision.

Caltrans suspended the Pacific Coast Highway resurfacing project in Laguna Beach until the weather warms up in early March. The project was supposed to be finished before the holidays, hopefully in November, Caltrans spokeswoman Tracy Lavelle told the City Council at the July 21 meeting. ?Don?t be here in December,? Mayor Pro Tem Toni Iseman advised. ?Our businesses will go crazy.? The holidays are the merchants? second biggest season. Lavelle assured the council that Caltrans was mindful of the impacts of the project on the city.

Laguna Beach police are trying to find a wrong-way hit-and-run driver who allegedly struck an off-duty Orange County Firefighter at 12:55 a.m. Saturday at Brooks Street and South Coast Highway, Lt. Jason Kravetz said. Witnesses told officers that the victim was crossing South Coast Highway, in a marked crosswalk, when a vehicle traveling southbound in a northbound lane struck him. The victim, Luke Perisin, 38, of Dana Point, was thrown about 50 feet before landing in the roadway.

Laguna Beach will welcome the holiday season tonight during Hospitality Night in downtown Laguna Beach. Santa will arrive at City Hall on Forest Avenue at 6 p.m. after making his rounds in Laguna Beach via the Coast Highway. He’ll help the mayor light the City Hall pepper tree and then head down to his hut to greet children and hear their wishes. Shops on Forest Avenue will be open until 9 p.m. as merry-makers fill the street, which will be blocked to traffic for the evening.

It’s that time of year again — merriment, fairies, reindeer and maybe an elf or two will be part of the mix on Hospitality Night on Dec. 4 in downtown Laguna Beach. Santa himself will swoop down on Forest Avenue at 6 p.m. after making a grand tour of Laguna Beach via the Coast Highway, and help light the City Hall pepper tree to kick off the holiday season. Shopkeepers on Forest Avenue will keep their doors open until 9 p.m. as revelers fill the street, which will be blocked to traffic for the evening.

Two people were seriously injured Thursday afternoon in a head-on collision on North Coast Highway near Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach. Traffic was tied up through the evening rush hour due to the incident, which closed northbound highway lanes from about 4 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Newport Beach resident Mark Barker was driving southbound on North Coast Highway, and according to witnesses, hit a guard rail on the west shoulder before crossing over into...