Last week OC180NEWS, West Orange County’s local daily online news source, experienced its highest traffic volume since beginning publication nearly two years ago. With more than 83,000 pages viewed in a single week, OC180NEWS’s exclusive and original West OC news reporting is experiencing record growth.

The war erupted Wednesday between Imane Boudlal, 26, Anaheim, a hostess at Storyteller's Restaurant in Disneyland, and Disney's long standing and well known appearance requirements for all staff in public view. This morning, Boudlal tried to go to work again wearing her headscarf, and once again, she went home without working.

A motorcyclist suffered fatal injuries as a result of a solo vehicle collision with the center median at the intersection of Katella Avenue and Siboney Street on August 6, 2010. The accident occurred at approximately 9:20 pm and a Los Alamitos police officer witnessed the accident while conducting an unrelated traffic stop in the area.

On Monday the Seal Beach City Council heard from the Bridgeport residents anxiously awaiting cleanup of the BP/ARCO gas leak in their neighborhood. Yesterday the New York Times published an article which quoted U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, of California, whose committee is investigating the Deepwater Horizon accident. The NY Times reported “BP cut corner after corner to save a million dollars here and a few hours there,” Mr. Waxman said. “And now the whole Gulf Coast is paying the price.”

In a case representing potential direct conflict with Orange County Sheriff’s Department policy on concealed weapons permits, the United States Supreme Court held on Monday that the Second Amendment's right to "keep and bear arms" applies equally to the 50 states as it does to the federal government. Neither Orange County officials or California’s Attorney General are moving to change a decades old policy which  conflicts with this week’s high court ruling.

You don’t have to look across the country to find complaints with BP/ARCO pollution clean up—we have it right here in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Old Town Seal Beach. At the community meeting yesterday, it sounded like a microcosm of what is happening in the Gulf. Complete with angry and frustrated residents, seemingly continuing delays, and governmental officials somewhat impotent to make it happen right away, Bridgeport Seal Beach could have been any small town along the gulf coast.

With funding now approved, Caltrans is preparing to issue contracts for a major freeway project which will significantly affect the local traffic patterns. Dubbed the “West County Connector Project”, the construction will connect and enlarge the carpool lanes from I405, I605, and the 22 freeways. While this project will undoubtedly improve this hub of congestion for those motorists transiting our communities, local drivers will not see much benefit and will face major congestion during the construction.

As late as last week, the annual Fourth of July fireworks show at the Joint Forces Training Base was on the verge of cancellation. In fact, at the Los Alamitos City council meeting last month, the city cancelled the show unless residents donated the $15,000 needed to cover the city’s costs of the event. Last week, the donations were few and far between and it looked as if the show would not go on. In stepped local philanthropist Kenneth M Brandyberry, of Rossmoor.

The California Science Center unveiled a new permanent exhibition wing, Ecosystems, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week. The major expansion nearly doubles the volume of exhibition space at the Science Center and features an unprecedented blend of live animals, and hands-on science exhibits in 11 immersive environments - unique among science centers in the United States.

Last week, Seal Beach Life Guard Chief Joe Bailey made his annual sting ray presentation at the City Council meeting. That routine presentation happened to coincide with an uptick in the numbers of sting ray injuries both in Seal Beach and in San Diego. As a result, Seal Beach, dubbed by some pundits as the Sting Ray Capitol of the World, got a lot of press attention last week. We asked Chief Bailey about beach safety and if the sting ray action was unusual.

If you happened to notice the sound of a larger than normal plane over West Orange County around 2:40 PM Wednesday, that would have been a Russian made Antonov 124 taking off from Long Beach Airport. Don’t worry, the Russians aren’t invading, it was a cargo operation.

The competitive bid process for awarding a new trash hauling contract for the City of Los Alamitos, which ended with a contract award on Monday, was very contentious, but they are saving substantially over what residents of Rossmoor will pay without the benefit of a competitive bid contract.

With a broken water main and higher than expected moisture in the ground, the repaving project is temporarily halted and normal trash pick up is disrupted. The city issued the following statement:

The pollution from underground gas tanks at the ARCO station in the Bridgeport section of Seal Beach is nothing new (see our related story below). It was first discovered in the 1980’s. But, now the plume of underground pollution is spreading beyond the area of the station at 490 Pacific Coast Highway, Seal Beach. The local residents want the station demolished and the contaminated soil dug up and hauled away, but ARCO is not moving fast enough for the residents, so they picketed the station last Saturday.

After enduring the now infamous “floods and fumes” of the last several months, Seal Beach’s Bridgeport residents must wait a little longer to hear when, and by which methods, the ARCO gas leak will be cleaned up. The Director of Orange County’s Division of Environmental Health, Richard Sanchez, told www.OC180NEWS.com “We’re hoping to get the CAP {corrective action plan} finalized, so they can start the work, some time—May—June, in that area.”

The City of Los Alamitos celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend. There will be a parade, live music, and a Carnival. The City is offering 50% discounted carnival tickets until 4:00 PM Friday. The carnival starts at 5:00 PM.