Former Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff Foster “Gene” Johns was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Laguna Niguel City Council—the second vacancy this year—during a June 14 council meeting. Johns will be sworn in on June 20. He worked with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for over 31 years and has lived in…

The Laguna Niguel City Council voted unanimously on April 18 to appoint a new councilor to the seat vacated by Mayor Pro Tem Rischi Paul Sharma earlier this month. Sharma resigned without explanation on April 6. The council’s vote comes after city officials indicated a special election for the seat this November would cost $100,000….

Laguna Niguel Mayor Sandy Rains resigned as the city’s mayor Feb. 27, but will continue to serve as a councilor. Mayor Pro Tem Rischi Paul Sharma is temporarily serving in her place until the five-member city council selects a successor on March 7. The move comes after controversy erupted over a Feb. 21 council meeting…

The Ziggurat building in Laguna Niguel is up for auction including nearly 100 acres surrounding it, but the iconic pyramid-shaped structure will be preserved, according to federal authorities. The owner of the land, the United States General Services Administration, will begin accepting bid requests March 7 at 9 a.m. There is a minimum starting bid…

When the Coastal fire of May 11 blazed over 200 acres of Laguna Niguel, Javad Mokhbery received a text from a local city councilman saying his neighborhood was on fire. Mokhbery, who is running for a seat on the Laguna Niguel City Council in the upcoming Nov. 8 election, quickly left his office in the…

Stephanie Oddo is a former councilwoman in Florida, with a background in public relations as well as web consulting for high-profile agencies such as NASA, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Now, she’s running for a seat on the Laguna Niguel City Council in the upcoming Nov. 8 election. “I’ve had…

Ray Gennawey, a Laguna Niguel resident for 37 years, was only 9 when he spoke before city hall for the very first time. “I asked the city council to install lights so that the little leaguers can play baseball at night, and we can get more games in and more playtime … And we got…

Around the time Melissa Caldwell began serving as the president of the PTA of her daughter’s elementary school, she was told the school was closing because there weren’t enough students. Caldwell, who is running for a seat on the Laguna Niguel City Council in the upcoming Nov. 8 election, said after talking to Capistrano Unified…

Laguna Niguel resident Stephanie Winstead seeks one of the two open seats for city council in the upcoming Nov. 8 election. Her opponents are Melissa Caldwell, Ray Gennawey, Javad Mokhbery, Stephanie Oddo, and Jeff von Waldburg. Winstead has been active in the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce, the city’s investment banking and audit committee as…