PR Director Fired After Tweet:
Visit Newport Beach PR Director Jeff Soto was fired Monday after posting a controversial tweet following the fatal shooting at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, officials announced.
About three hours after the shooting, Soto tweeted “Heading out of town on a weekend getaway via #LAX? Avoid the chaos and make it a beach vacation here in #NewportBeach” out to the organization’s 13,000 followers.
Followers quickly responded calling the tweet “incredibly stupid” and in “poor taste.” Visit Newport Beach responded by saying they missed the update and were “focused on closure and hearing reports of ppl stuck.”
The tweet was quickly deleted.
On Monday, Gary Sherwin, CEO Visit Newport Beach, Inc., sent out an official statement, saying that he was “appalled and dismayed by the lack of empathy and judgment conveyed in this communication.”
Sherwin claimed the tweet was posted without knowing the full situation about what had happened at LAX.
The company’s core values include respect and integrity, Sherwin continued, and “this careless and regrettable tweet flies in the face of those values.”
“Our hearts go out to the victims of Friday’s airport shooting, their families, and all who have been affected by this attack,” Sherwin wrote.
Sage Hill School to Hold Public Science Lecture:
Gregory N. Washington, Ph.D, Dean of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, will present the second lecture in Sage Hill School’s 2013-14 Science Lecture Series on Thursday.
The lecture, titled “STEM – Why You Can’t Wait (No matter what you do),” will begin at 7 p.m. in the Black Box Theater. A reception with refreshments and a Sage faculty presentation will be held at 6 p.m.
The talk is a “glimpse into what the future will look like and why Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics will be the core part of it,” according to a announcement from the school.
Washington will also discuss some of the research being done at UCI.
Public should RSVP to events@sagehillschool.org with “Science” in the subject line.
ENC Receives $25k Donation:
The Environmental Nature Center received a $25,000 donation from Room & Board South Coast Plaza this week.
The funds will go toward the center’s environmental education programs.
“Room & Board has a long history of supporting community organizations. We are very proud that they’ve chosen us to be their local community partner,“ said ENC executive director, Bo Glover. “Room & Board is a good corporate citizen, committed to sustainability. They literally practice what we preach.”
The company uses natural materials from sustainable resources whenever possible, according to a announcement from the Environmental Nature Center. They also recycle and compost at their locations, while encouraging volunteerism and providing company-wide mass transit benefits.
The check was presented to ENC Thursday at the South Coast Plaza showroom during a Room & Board celebration for the limited release of Cameron Hughes’ Lot 500 Napa Sauvignon.
