Laguna Niguel

South Orange County has a new option when it comes to giving homes a much-needed sprucing up. Fresh Coat Painters of Laguna Niguel has expanded its California operations, and its new franchise will serve the communities of Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente and more. The business will be run by Jennifer Elliott, who said opening a painting business was "right up my alley," according to a news release. "… I dabbled in real estate and home staging," Elliot said in a statement.

LAGUNA NIGUEL — The Urban Land Institute (ULI) presented at Tuesday's City Council meeting some recommendations for a town center "hub," which included ideas regarding nightlife, housing and restaurants. The county and city sponsored the nonprofit's investigation into how best to develop the property, which currently holds City Hall, the library, the former South County Courthouse site and half a million square feet of unused land. A master plan was previously developed in 2008, back when the county planned to expand the courthouse.

McKayla Maroney is the daughter of a former Purdue quarterback, Michael Maroney. She is 5 feet 2 and gets her size from her mother, Erin, not her 6-foot-2 dad. But McKayla has some athletic talent from her father. The 15-year-old from Laguna Niguel will compete for the U.S. at the 2011 world gymnastics championships in Tokyo from Friday to Oct. 16. It is the competition where the top eight teams will earn spots at the 2012 London Olympics and where international judges will get a sense of who will be most competitive for the Games next summer.

Laguna Niguel resident Cheri McFarland is one of the 150-word life stories being considered for an upcoming issue of Reader's Digest magazine, according to a news release. She is currently a top 100 public vote contender. Her story, "Badge of Hope," focuses on battling cancer at a treatment center in Mexico. The project "Your Life...The Reader's Digest Version" celebrates the launch of the new book, "Life... The Reader's Digest Version," which is also the first of a new series.

Angel Stadium of Anaheim welcomed local Boy Scouts on Sept. 23, including two from Laguna Niguel who served as part of the Color Guard for the night. Eagle Scout Ryan Pugh, 16, from Troop 772 and Venturer Elaine Haralson, 19, from Venture Crew 265 joined other Scouts from around Orange County who were chosen to serve as bat boy, throw out the first pitch and say the sacred words: "Play ball!" The Angels played the Oakland A's. —Kelly Parker

The Beach Pit BBQ in Laguna Niguel has announced that it's closing its doors after more than year. "We are closing the Beach Pit BBQ Laguna Niguel because our concept didn't work up there," owner Tim DeCinces said in a statement. "We wanted to create more of an express type model in a smaller footprint that was just about the food. Unfortunately, when we first opened the food wasn't that great and we had a hard time getting the process right. " DeCinces said that the local arrival of Chipotle and Five Guys Burgers & Fries made it more difficult for the concept to be successful, and company has decided to leave the area.

Laguna Niguel will soon be the location of Fresh & Easy Express, a new concept by the grocery store. Brendan Wonnacott, spokesperson for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, said there is no time frame yet and he could not confirm an opening date. However, he said that Laguna Niguel will be one of the first cities to debut the new store. "We'd like to get it opened as quickly as possible," he said. The express store is a smaller concept that the company is trying at five Southern California locations, three in Los Angeles and another in Seal Beach.

Two Laguna Niguel residents will attempt to make their way to the finish line on the 19th season of "The Amazing Race," which premieres at 8 p.m. Sept. 25 on CBS. Domestic partners and flight attendants Ron Zeitz, 44, and Bill Smith, 49, are excited to compete. "We wanted to be on the show for a long time," Zeitz said in an online video posted on CBS.com. The couple joked that they've watched the show for the last 10 years from their Laguna Niguel living room, glasses of wine in hand.

What a shame to lose columnists James Pribram and Catharine Cooper! I frequently pick up the Coastline Pilot when I am in Laguna Beach because I love its local flavor as described by Pribram and Cooper — much as I used to pick up the San Francisco Chronicle, not for the news, but to savor Herb Caen. My love of Baja California began with Jack Smith's columns in the Los Angeles Times (followed by Cooper's stories of her vacations there) and led to many wonderful Baja trips of my own. A day or two after picking up a copy of the Aug. 26 Coastline Pilot at Coyote Grill and reading the farewell columns by Pribram and Cooper, I opened my L.A. Times to find a Coastline Pilot tucked inside for the first time.

An ordinance for enforcement against barking dogs and a ban on red light cameras have hit the Laguna Niguel City Council's radar, City Manager Tim Casey said. Mission Viejo Animal Services is contracted out to both Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo. However, while it has the authority to impose citations for barking dogs in Mission Viejo and Aliso Viejo, it does not yet in Laguna Niguel. Casey said multiple residents have inquired as to why Laguna Niguel handles issues with barking dogs differently.