Orange County

Orange County officials are issuing a warning that West Nile Virus is now present throughout the county. Thirteen birds collected recently in Orange County have tested positive for West Nile Virus, said officials with the Orange County Vector Control District. Nine American crows, two house finches, a hermit thrush and a black-headed grosbeak, all collected between May 1 and 9, were tested. The birds were reported in various areas of Orange County, from San Clemente to Huntington Beach and inland.

Unsure if Orange County is noir-challenged? ?Orange County Noir? explores the underbelly of Orange County locales with the noir treatment, complete with danger, cynical characters and the antithesis of Orange County pretty. The book, released in April, features Orange County and Southern California writers who take a hard-boiled look at Orange County. The collection of 14 short stories carries on in the tradition of the greats such as Raymond Chandler?s ?The Big Sleep,?

An autopsy revealed Mark Gibbs, the 51-year-old Tustin man who authorities said became lost from his diving group off Shaw's Cove in April, died from drowning. Investigators are also conducting a toxicology test to determine whether drugs or alcohol were in his system, but those results will not be available for another six weeks, said Daniel Aikin, Orange County supervising deputy coroner. Gibbs became separated from the group while diving on April 12. Diving classmates did a head count and determined Gibbs was missing.

Jeanina Esparza of Laguna Beach was honored as one of the most stylish people in Orange County at Orange Coast Magazine's third annual OC LOOK party benefitting the Dream Guide of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Fifteen of Orange County's most stylish were honored at a party Wednesday and were featured in the August issue of Orange Coast, which hits stands July 29.

Andrew Edwards A 16-month-old girl died Monday, one day after being checked in to South Coast Medical Center, and authorities suspect child abuse. The child's mother, Maria Guadalupe Bucio, 21, and her mother's boyfriend, 34-year-old Jose Manuel Corona are being held at Orange County Jail, police said. Bucio and Corona, Los Angeles residents, were arrested and charged with willful injury of a child. Authorities have not yet decided whether the pair will be charged with murder, Sgt. Darin Lenyi said.

Suzie Harrison Mass media has put the "OC" on the map of popular culture and turned Orange County into a scene to be seen -- but perception is often different from reality. Laguna Art Museum's upcoming exhibit, "The OsCene: Contemporary Art and Culture in OC," looks at things from a different point of view. The OsCene, which will open on Nov. 7, is a collective look at Orange County artists covering the spectrum from painting and sculpture, to video and film, sound and music, architecture, fashion and even tattoo art. "We wanted to open up an exhibit with a variety of artists out there," Laguna Art Museum chief curator Tyler Stallings said.

Employees of Gorjana & Griffin, a Laguna Beach-based jewelry and accessories company, loaded up donations of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County on Monday. The Gorjana and Griffin Foundation's Team Hunger gathered 10,857 pounds of food and nearly $2,000 in cash donations Saturday and Sunday for the food bank. "The team at Gorjana and Griffin believes in giving back to the community that has supported their growth over the years," a company statement said. "Following the success of our initial Holiday Food Drive in 2008, Team Hunger was created to strengthen our efforts to eliminate hunger in Orange County.

Cousins Mason Bennett and Kenton Durfee are skateboarders on a mission. Bennett, 23, from North Salt Lake City, and Durfee, 23, from Mesa, Ariz., are nearing the end of a 650-mile skateboarding trip along the California coast to raise money for the nonprofit Bridge of Love, which raises money for abandoned and orphaned children in Romania. The two started on longboard skateboards in Santa Rosa on April 29 and were set to be in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach on Wednesday.

An autopsy revealed Mark Gibbs, the 51-year-old Tustin man who authorities said became lost from his diving group off Shaw's Cove in April, died from drowning. Investigators are also conducting a toxicology test to determine whether drugs or alcohol were in his system, but those results will not be available for another six weeks, said Daniel Aikin, Orange County supervising deputy coroner. Gibbs became separated from the group while diving on April 12. Diving classmates did a head count and determined Gibbs was missing.

Ernie Schneider, the chief administrative officer of Orange County when it declared bankruptcy in 1994 because of its disastrous investment practices, died Saturday at his home in San Juan Capistrano. He was 66. His death, related to liver and kidney problems, was confirmed by former wife and current Laguna Beach City Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson. A longtime public servant, Schneider was the top appointed officer when Treasurer Robert L. Citron was discovered to have lost $1.64 billion in the value of the county's investment portfolio.

Jake Dalke and Cole Kesler will step onto the court one final time Saturday as high school teammates. The two seniors, key players in the Laguna Beach boys' basketball program, are among 15 players who make up the South roster for the 2013 Orange Coast Optimist Orange County North/South High School Basketball Games. The All-Star games, for senior players, will be played for the 48th time. The girls' game starts at 5 p.m., followed by the boys' game at 7 p.m., both at Concordia University in Irvine.

A red British telephone booth in downtown Laguna Beach is past its heyday. It's time for a makeover. Tuesday evening, the City Council voted unanimously in favor of just that, in the form of an Arts Commission-led temporary sculpture exhibition project. By approving the item on the meeting's consent calendar, the council backed the competition guidelines for the installation of rotating artwork on Forest Avenue. The K6-style telephone kiosk, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935, once housed a public telephone, but it was unplugged in the face of ubiquitous cell-phone coverage.

If you're shopping in Laguna Beach, don't expect to hear a grocery clerk ask you if you'd like a paper or plastic bag -- that second option is now illegal. Laguna Beach is the first city in Orange County to enact a plastic bag ban and joins a host of others such as Pasadena and Long Beach in prohibiting single-use plastic bags in store checkout lines. Los Angeles is in the process of phasing out plastic bags. As of Jan. 1, most retail stores in the beach city of about 22,000 are prohibited from providing customers with single-use plastic bags.

Employees of Gorjana & Griffin, a Laguna Beach-based jewelry and accessories company, loaded up donations of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County on Monday. The Gorjana and Griffin Foundation's Team Hunger gathered 10,857 pounds of food and nearly $2,000 in cash donations Saturday and Sunday for the food bank. "The team at Gorjana and Griffin believes in giving back to the community that has supported their growth over the years," a company statement said. "Following the success of our initial Holiday Food Drive in 2008, Team Hunger was created to strengthen our efforts to eliminate hunger in Orange County.

Laguna Beach police contend that crime statistics in a recent health study don't add up. The Healthy Places, Healthy People 2012 report pegs Laguna with one of the highest crime rates — 358 violent crimes reported in 2009 — out of 100,000 residents. Those figures aren't necessarily a true picture, Lt. Jason Kravetz said. Since Laguna Beach had a population of 24,017 in 2009, writers of the study had to multiply the number of violent crimes by four, he said. "I don't think this type of statistical analysis is an accurate portrayal of criminal activity in smaller communities," Kravetz wrote in an email.

In an event that drew water polo club teams from throughout Orange County and Riverside counties, Laguna Beach Water Polo Club placed four teams in the top 10 in their respective divisions at the USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics qualifying tournament (Southern Pacific Area). The girls' 14-and-Under team led the way by capturing first place in its division. The girls' 12U team was second in its division. The boys' 12U team finished fourth and the 10U team took seventh place.

The Orange County Women's Chorus will fill a Huntington Beach church Saturday evening with a medley of Asian sounds. The chorus' one-night performance titled "Eastern Portraits" at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church will span different cultures and musical generations from across Asia, ranging from Chinese folk songs to rocking dance numbers inspired by Bollywood films. "This will be a colorful, exciting, noisy concert, with a splendid reception afterward," said Eliza Rubenstein, OCWC's artistic director who also directs choral and vocal activities at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.