Year in Review: Newport Beach's Top Stories of 2011

It's been a busy year in Newport Beach, here, in our opinion, are 2011's headline-making news stories.

• Julie Allen, a 27-year-old Newport Beach resident and Corona del Mar graduate and athlete, was one of three people killed following a multiple-car accident on Jan. 15. According to police, Allen was driving a Ford Taurus eastbound on West Coast Highway near Riverside Avenue at an excessive rate of speed. The car crossed onto the other side of the road, hitting three vehicles before slamming into the passenger door of a Toyota Tacoma pickup. Allen, Christopher De la Cruz, 49, of Laguna Niguel and Linda Burnett, 69, of Santa Ana were pronounced dead at the scene.

• Newport Beach businessman and cyclist ,44, was killed on Feb. 21 while riding his bike on San Joaquin Hills Road near Spy Glass Hill Road. Prosecutors allege , 22, caused the fatal crash by texting on her cell phone while she was behind the wheel of her 2008 Volkswagen Jetta. Miller is charged with one felony count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated and faces up to 10 years in prison. She remains out of jail on $100,000 bail, but will return to court on Jan. 9.

• Newport-Mesa Unified School District Superintendent Jeffrey Hubbard pleaded not guilty in January to two felony counts of that stem from when he was superintendent of the Beverly Hills Unified School District. Hubbard, 54, was later indicted by a grand jury in Los Angeles on an additional felony charge of misappropriation of public funds.  He now faces three felony counts of misappropriation of public funds. Hubbard remains out of jail on his own recognizance. Hubbard took five months of voluntary paid leave to prepare for his defense and at N-MUSD in June. If convicted, Hubbard faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison. He will be back in court Jan. 6.

• At the beginning of May, Emily Ford, a Newport-Mesa Unified instructional aide, and her father were , according to police. Ford, 32, who had worked for Newport-Mesa Unified since 2007, was an instructional aide for the preschool program at Paularino Elementary in Costa Mesa. Russell Ford, 62, was a teacher and retired last year after working in the Santa Ana Unified School District for more than 30 years. Robert Allan Lehmann, 36, was charged with two felony counts of special-circumstances murder in the deaths of Emily and Russell Ford.

• For the past several months, the "I Heart Puppies" Store in Corona del Mar has been at the center of controversial allegations and protests. It all came to light in July, when the Companion Animal Protection Society - a nonprofit group - launched an investigation into the store after complaints from residents and assertions that the store gets its puppies from Midwest puppy mills. Since then, I Heart Puppies has been the subject of court hearings and several by the Animal Protection & Rescue League and other animal organizations. In October, a group of animal activists and residents gathered at City Hall to urge the Newport Beach City Council . Store owner Brooke Bradford has maintained she does not support puppy mills or those with a history of problems with USDA requirements. She told the City Council she is looking forward to working with them, should they require any documents for an investigation.

• Erika Lopez, 24, was missing for nearly one month before she was found on Sept. 19 wandering the streets of Irvine. According to the Help Find Erika Lopez Facebook page, someone saw Lopez's flier, noticed her and called police. The good samaritan stayed with Lopez until Lopez's brother, Anthony DeSousa and police arrived. Lopez was reported missing by a friend on Aug. 24 from the area of Sherrington Place and Irvine Avenue. Various sightings were reported following her disappearance and several members of the community helped pass out fliers in an effort to find her.

• In September, crews started cutting down eucalyptus trees in Newport Beach after was killed when a eucalyptus fell onto her car as she drove along a Costa Mesa street. The city quickly removed more than 100 eucalyptus trees from the Irvine Avenue median between Westcliff/17th Street and Dover Drive. Since then, arborists inspected another 250 trees citywide. In Corona del Mar in October, along Fourth Avenue. The latest trees to get the ax were located in the 2200 block of Holiday Road.

• Sloan Steven Briles, an Irvine dad, was charged over the summer with throwing his 7-year-old son off a sightseeing boat in Newport Harbor. Briles, 35, is facing charges of felony child abuse and endangerment and misdemeanor resisting a police officer. He is accused of being drunk and poking his 7-year-old son in the chest and slapping him in the face.
  Briles in September, and his defense attorney put in a . Earlier this month a judge . Briles is scheduled to appear at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on Jan. 9 for a pretrial hearing. Since the incident, Briles has professed his innocence, saying he and his son were roughhousing.

• On Nov. 6 a vandal the bronze statue of former President Ronald Reagan in Newport Beach, less than a month after at Bonita Canyon Sports Park. Dave Webb, the city’s deputy public works director, said the statue is currently being repaired but will be reinstalled on the existing granite base with additional security measures including a security camera. The city is offering a for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for damaging the sculpture.

• On Dec. 6, suffered head trauma, internal bleeding and brain swelling when she was plowed down in a crosswalk near Newport Harbor High School. Prosecutors charged Marnie Jo Lippincott, 38, with a felony charge of driving under the influence causing bodily injury, with a sentencing enhancement for causing brain injury and a misdemeanor charge of driving without a license. She pleaded not guilty to both counts last week, was released on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Feb. 17. If convicted, Lippincott faces eight years in prison. While Crystal remains in an induced coma, some of her family and friends have held to raise money for her medical bills. So far, their efforts have collected more than $5,000. In addition, a local business owner who has two kids that also attend Newport Harbor High donated $10,000. Anyone interested in donating can stop by a Bank of America branch and make a deposit into the Crystal Morales account.

What stories do you think were most memorable in 2011? Tell us in the comments.