He’s not just an OC businessman anymore. Arte Moreno is now a local homeowner, too. The Angels owner, whose closest residence to Angel Stadium of Anaheim had been in La Jolla, recently purchased a home in Corona del Mar …
Does former GOP state Senate Leader Dick Ackerman wish he was back in the Legislature, tackling the budget crisis? “No.” Ackerman doesn’t see how California can get out of its financial mess. It’s so dire, Ackerman says, he has dropped his opposition to a proposed constitutional convention now favoring it as a Hail Mary pass. Irvine resident Ackerman, who was term-limited out last year, smiles when asked if he’s thinking of running for anything: Not “right now.” He’s doing government consulting and says he’s working on a major deal that he’s not quite ready to disclose. “I carry Linda’s bags now,” he adds, referring to his wife, a national committeewoman and state director of the Republican Party …
Municipal finance expert John Murphy of Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth in Newport Beach thinks “it will be some time” before there’s a state budget deal and the continuing impasse will further drive up the state’s borrowing costs. But he says he remains optimistic about the state’s future and continues to invest in bonds of California entities “with dedicated revenue streams” …
Former Freedom Communi-cations (OC Register) CEO Sam Wolge-muth reports he is “in fine shape” after heart surgery at Hoag: “Aidan Raney, their world-class heart surgeon, poked six holes in my chest and did a great job.” He’s now in the care of Mahnaz Behboodikhah, Hoag’s lead electro-physiologist. “She is superb.” He says getting all of the IV fluid out of his system was a task, although not as daunting as media companies trying to “flush out excess debt” …
Wolgemuth, who recruited Scott Flanders to the Freedom board in 2000, says he is “sorry” that Flanders gave up the CEO post for the same job at Playboy: “Freedom will be poorer for his departure” …
No summer concerts this year at Fashion Island. Irvine Company spokesman John Christensen says the reason is not cost-cutting,to the contrary, it’s because of construction related to the shopping center’s recently announced $100 million makeover …
More than a game: The art of “World of Warcraft,” the mega-hit video game by Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment, is featured through Oct. 4 at the Laguna Art Museum …
Birthdays: Tustin PR firm HKA (Hillary Kaye Associates) is turning 25. Tustin Ranch GC is 20. Knott’s Berry Farm’s chicken-dinner restaurant is 75 …
Retired OC Superior Court Judge Jim Gray was in Hawkinsville, Ga., for the first road show of his “Americans All,” a musical with a stay-in-school message. Previously performed at Irvine High, Gray’s play is being marketed by Heuer Publishing to high schools and community theaters around the country.
