The California High Speed Rail Authority has had a rough ride lately, with enthusiastic proponent, former Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, resigning from the board and opposition mounting to its planned bullet train that would eventually connect San Francisco and Sacramento to San Diego. But while that government-funded north-south line is losing steam, a privately backed east-west bullet train along I-15 connecting Las Vegas with the High Desert town of Victorville is gaining some speed. Last month the Federal Railroad Administration issued its environmental-impact “record of decision” on the DesertXpress, clearing the way for engineering to begin. Legal and political challenges still loom and the train’s ownership, led by Las Vegas resort developer Tony Marnell, is seeking a federal loan to cover most of the $6 billion in construction costs. But Newport Beach businessman Buck Johns, a project consultant who has been pitching the “Sin City Express” for 23 years, says this is the big break: “We will be under construction next year, generating 88,000 jobs.” Nobody ever accused Buck of lacking enthusiasm …
The project has Johns, a GOP activist and Lincoln Club director, cozying up with Obama administration officials and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. Says Johns of Reid: “If he delivers I won’t give him (campaign) money but I’ll quit saying bad things about him” …
Allergan’s government affairs director Ed Reno is moving his base of operation from the company’s Irvine HQ to Washington, D.C. That puts him closer to the action on healthcare reform and other regulatory matters of importance to the drugmaker. Reno, wife Jennie and two-year-old son Eddie are moving into a historic brownstone in Georgetown but will keep their home in Newport Beach’s Dover Shores as a second residence. And Reno says he’ll still be in OC about 10 days a month …
Whiz kid: Devin Valenciano, 18, completed a record 16 AP courses at Dana Hills High, scored 2370 out of 2400 on the SAT and is headed to Harvard, where he’ll major in electrical engineering and computer science. He also plays keyboard and is lead singer in his band, Electric Throwback …
“Inside OC” launches its eighth season this week on PBS SoCal (KOCE-TV) …
The Polaris VII student team won the UCI Merage School’s annual MBA investment competition, returning 37.5% for the year, roughly double the gain of the S&P 500. The five members each get a $6,762 scholarship from contest sponsor Chuck Martin of Newport Beach hedge fund Mont Pelerin Capital …
Chuck’s golf partner Twyla Martin got a hole-in-one on the 135-yard eighth hole at The Bridges in Rancho Santa Fe …
The Forum for Corporate Directors gets the inside story of February’s $6.8 billion buyout of Brea-based medical company Beckman Coulter by Danaher Corp. when it has breakfast Aug. 16 at the Pacific Club with former Beckman Chairman Glenn Schafer, former General Counsel Arnold Pinkston and Goldman Sachs’ James Katzman. Latham & Watkins partner Cary Hyden will moderate. Info at www.fcdoc.org.
