Jim Martin

A 51-year-old man who allegedly wielded a pistol outside a Laguna Niguel bar died early Wednesday from head injuries that he suffered when a bouncer tried to disarm him by using a pool cue. James Leslie Martin, of Costa Mesa, was pronounced dead at 12:30 a.m. at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. Martin was struck twice with a pool cue as he wrestled with a bar patron for the .357 handgun, authorities said.

Landini Brothers is an old-fashioned Italian joint that lacks the sleek aesthetic of the power lunch spots in Washington, and makes no apologies for it. The walls are stone, the ceilings are low and a sign behind the bar declares: "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy. " But it's one of the best places to catch top Republican operatives in action, thanks to one attribute the trendy eateries near the White House cannot claim: proximity to the GOP's political hub. Within several blocks of the restaurant's King Street location are more than two dozen Republican media, polling and public relations firms.

CNN headquarters in Atlanta sent a TV crew to Ventura last week for a piece on Call of the Wind, a unique pager designed by Jim Martin of Ventura. Although an air date is not yet set, CNN will probably show the clip sometime this month on "Future World," which runs at 12:30 p.m. Sundays. Call of the Wind alerts wind surfers to favorable wind conditions so they can hit the water and never miss a wind-surfing opportunity.

The Big West Conference has invited the Cal State Northridge softball team to join as an affiliate member beginning in 1997, but the Northridge baseball team was not considered. This will be the last season for both teams in the Western Athletic Conference. WAC officials decided in the fall that the conference would have only full-time members in 1997. Northridge's baseball team will probably compete as an independent in 1997.

AOL Time Warner Inc. announced a licensing pact with Nokia Corp., marking the media conglomerate's first foray into micro-browsers, which provide wireless Internet access. Terms were not disclosed. The newly merged AOL Time Warner also said it may repurchase as much as $5 billion of its shares over the next two years because it thinks the stock is undervalued.

UC San Diego scored three runs in the second inning and beat Cal State Stanislaus 3-2 in the second game of a college baseball double-header Saturday afternoon. CSS won the first game 6-3. Mike Corsetti and David Stanovich had run-scoring singles for UCSD. The other run came in on an error. Mark Sloan pitched a complete game for the Tritons and improved his record to 4-3. Tim Corvello (2-4) took the loss.

In a landmark test flight Friday, two kite-shaped unmanned jets took off from Edwards Air Force Base and flew to 25,000 feet to begin a simulated bombing run, Boeing Co. executives said. The flight marked the first time that an aircraft solely controlled by its own onboard computers took off and attacked ground targets, Boeing and aerospace analysts said. "We've demonstrated the autonomous attack capability" of unmanned aircraft, said Jim Martin, Boeing's test director for the X-45A aircraft.

Lou Kent hit a bases-loaded single that drove in the tying and winning runs Friday as Grand Canyon College beat visiting UC San Diego, 6-5, in nonconference college baseball action. The Tritons (22-21-1) had rallied from a 4-0 deficit to take a 5-4 lead after 7 1/2 innings. Jim Martin hit a three-run home run to cap UCSD's five-run uprising in the top of the eighth.

Lava flowing from the Kilauea Volcano toward the ocean Tuesday destroyed a 700-year-old temple that had been used as a place of human sacrifice. Lava had begun inching toward the Wahaula Heiau, one of the state's oldest temples, over the weekend. By early Monday, the red-orange lava had covered a five-foot outer wall, and it eventually engulfed the temple, leaving only the top of its walls visible.