Socal

 Several former high school baseball standouts from Southern California made impressive debuts this weekend in the collegiate ranks. Former JSerra outfielder Clay Williamson went six for eight for Cal State Fullerton, helping the Titans win two of three games. Former Mater Dei catcher Jeremy Martinez had five hits for USC in a three-game sweep of Northwestern. Former Cypress shortstop David Fletcher went five for 13 for Loyola Marymount, which won two of three games against Utah Valley.

It was former high school standouts from Southern California who led USC to its seventh consecutive victory, a 10-0 win over UCLA, on Thursday night in the first game of a three-game Pac-12 series. Wyatt Strahan (Villa Park) threw eight shutout innings. Timmy Robinson (Huntington Beach Ocean View) hit a three-run home run. Vahn Bozoian (Chino Hills Ayala) had a three-run double. Jake Hernandez (Los Osos) had two hits and two RBIs.   Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com  

Hobie Alter, who died Saturday at the age of 80, was known as the Henry Ford of surfing. In 1958, he developed the mass-produced foam surfboard with a partner. He later popularized sailing by inventing a lightweight, high-performance catamaran. The impact of his innovation was big; it allowed people who couldn't lift heavy wood boards to surf, and it opened sailing up to those who could never afford yacht club dues.  OBITUARY: Hobie Alter shaped Southern California surf culture Alter once said he never wanted to work east of Pacific Coast Highway, and he got his wish.

SAN FRANCISCO - With venture capital funding reaching levels not seen since the days of the dot-com bubble, analysts say the question of whether the tech boom in Silicon Valley is on the verge of sputtering is getting harder to dismiss. Investors poured $9.5 billion into 951 U.S. start-ups during the first three months of 2014, according to the latest MoneyTree report released Friday. That's the biggest amount of investment since the second quarter of 2001, when the so-called dot-com boom was gasping its final, dying breaths.

It was former high school standouts from Southern California who led USC to its seventh consecutive victory, a 10-0 win over UCLA, on Thursday night in the first game of a three-game Pac-12 series. Wyatt Strahan (Villa Park) threw eight shutout innings. Timmy Robinson (Huntington Beach Ocean View) hit a three-run home run. Vahn Bozoian (Chino Hills Ayala) had a three-run double. Jake Hernandez (Los Osos) had two hits and two RBIs.   Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com  

High-diving seabirds known as blue-footed boobies   have been popping up all over Southern California and as far north as Marin County in recent weeks.  Bird-watchers are intrigued and delighted by the boobies,  which rarely venture north of Imperial County's Salton Sea, but some experts wonder what it might mean, environmentally. Members of the large bluish-gray species with a long serrated beak, absurdly short legs and bright blue webbed feet have been spotted more than 30 times recently.

Forget summer, forget fall. In L.A.'s home furnishings marketplace, the name of the season is change. As consumers fluff homes for the holidays, the rush of new stores and expansions is enough to daunt even the most devoted shopper. A sampling of the comings and goings: Bobby Berk Home: The company that describes itself as “California chic” opened its first store here last week after establishing its brand in New York, Atlanta and Miami. Berk, 31, said his space in the Helms Bakery complex is something of a test site for his just-released line of contemporary sofas, chairs, dressers and tables, all made in downtown L.A. Other names familiar to fans of modern design - Bend, Loll, Fermob - fill out the shop.

Former Taft guard Bryce Jones and former St. John Bosco center Darien Williams have committed to Iowa State. Jones played last season at UNLV and will be graduating and eligible immediately. Williams played at a junior college in Iowa.   Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com  

 Mira Costa and Corona del Mar are headed for Honolulu this weekend to represent Southern California in facing two of Hawaii's top volleyball programs in the Punahou Clash of the Titans tournament on Friday and Saturday. They will face Punahou, led by USC-bound Larry Tuileta and junior standout Micah Ma'a. The other team is Kamehameha-Hawaii, led by Evan Enriques, headed to Stanford. The games will be broadcast live at this link at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m (L.A. time) on Friday and the same times on Saturday.

Hotel Tonight is offering same-day hotel rooms for $99 on Black Friday in Southern California, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and other parts of the country. The deal could come in handy for shoppers who want to stay in the city or anyone ready to hit the road after Thanksgiving. The hotel booking mobile app recently announced it would start listing rooms at 9 a.m. instead of noon, a big boost for travelers (like me) who like to roll the dice and find a good last-minute deal.

 Southern California Edison Co. plans to lay off hundreds of employees as part of a management streamlining and outsourcing of some functions such as information technology. The number of workers affected by the cuts will be "in the high hundreds," said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), chairman of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. "It's pretty disappointing.... [The cuts] are not going to help" the California economy. Padilla was briefed by his committee consultants, who said they were told that the utility expected to cut 500 in-house employees and another 400 to 500 contract workers beginning this summer.

Former Taft guard Bryce Jones and former St. John Bosco center Darien Williams have committed to Iowa State. Jones played last season at UNLV and will be graduating and eligible immediately. Williams played at a junior college in Iowa.   Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com  

Was that an earthquake, or an ordinary sonic boom, that rattled Southern California on Wednesday afternoon - or was it the return of Aurora, the nation's long-rumored, never-confirmed, some-say-mythological super-secret, super-fast spy plane? Whew. Steady now, X-Files folks. First, here's what The Times reported : About 1 p.m. Wednesday, folks from Malibu to Orange County felt what many assumed was an earthquake. For example, Scott Conner, who lives in Malibu, said the shaking was so intense that it almost toppled one of his computer monitors.

 Mira Costa and Corona del Mar are headed for Honolulu this weekend to represent Southern California in facing two of Hawaii's top volleyball programs in the Punahou Clash of the Titans tournament on Friday and Saturday. They will face Punahou, led by USC-bound Larry Tuileta and junior standout Micah Ma'a. The other team is Kamehameha-Hawaii, led by Evan Enriques, headed to Stanford. The games will be broadcast live at this link at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m (L.A. time) on Friday and the same times on Saturday.

Ron Nichols, the former Los Angeles Department of Water and Power general manager who stepped down in January amid a series of controversies, has been hired by Southern California Edison. Through a statement, the utility company acknowledged the hiring and said Nichols would take on the role of senior vice president. He is scheduled to start next week. "Mr. Nichols' valuable experience in regulatory affairs speaks for itself and SCE is looking forward to having him join the company," the statement read.

As the found-footage horror genre reaches the please-lose-it-again point, "Alien Abduction" arrives to remind us how tedious the camping trip set-up has become as well. Taking the notorious "ghost lights" above North Carolina's Brown Mountain as its inspiration, the movie purports to be Air Force-leaked footage from an 11-year-old autistic boy's camcorder of how things went horribly wrong for his family on a weekend nature outing. (Considering some of the eye-level shots, he must be a very tall 11-year-old.)

Southern California-raised Sean Chen, at 24 the first American to make the finals of the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition since 1997, won the third place "crystal award" Sunday. As the 17-day competition ended at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, the six finalists played concertos accompanied by the Fort Worth Symphony led by Leonard Slatkin. Vadym Kholodenko, 26, of the Ukraine won the gold medal -- worth $50,000. Chen and the silver medalist, Beatrice Rana of Italy, each will get a $20,000 prize.

JetBlue's GoPack ticket offer is back with 10 one-way flights between Long Beach and San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento for $999 plus tax. Fliers may purchase GoPack bulk tickets until March 31 and must travel by June 17. Here's how it works: JetBlue provides promo codes that fliers can use as late as up to 90 minutes before takeoff to book a flight. And you can share the codes with friends and family members too. Blackout dates are April 11-28 for the intra-California flights.

From some classic Adirondack chairs in front of his colorful new office complex near Marina del Rey, commercial landlord Ned Fox can sit back and watch his property value go up. The developer who made his bones building skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles during the late 1980s and early 1990s today finds himself with a close-up view of the rapidly evolving planned community of Playa Vista and the young tech and entertainment workers transforming the...

Actor Colin Egglesfield was arrested in Arizona over the weekend on suspicion of  criminal damage and disorderly conduct after allegedly going a bit bonkers at the Tempe Festival of the Arts. Egglesfield, known for his work on TV series including "Rizzoli & Isles" and "The Client List" and in movies such as "Something Borrowed," was arrested in the early morning hours Saturday, according to Arizona's ABC15 . Police said in a report that the 41-year-old was spotted knocking over barriers set up to protect artwork, as well as flipping over a table and breaking several signs inside one festival tent, E!