• Fourth of July brought 450,000 visitors out to Malibu for the holiday weekend, attracted by good weather and four free firework shows. Firework shows were shot off from barges anchored off Malibu Colony Road, Broad Beach Road, Paradise Cove and the 21600 block of PCH.
• The fame of the annual Point Dume Fourth of July parade has spread, and the streets were lined with locals and visitors who came to see the assortment of decorated golf carts without any major incidents. The fire department breathed a sigh of relief as no rogue fireworks set off fires in the very dry brush.
• Malibu High School (MHS) appointed its new principal, Dr. Brandon Gallagher, who previously served as a school principal in Hawaii and Santa Paula, California. Patrick Miller, a former MHS Spanish teacher and assistant principal at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas, was appointed principal of Malibu Middle School.
• A 40-year-old Simi Valley woman survived two days trapped in her car, which accidentally went off the road on a hairpin curve in Latigo Canyon. Fortunately, a Latigo Canyon couple was taking an early morning walk with their dogs when the wife noticed the car, 50 to 75 feet below where it had settled, in an area dead to cellphone service.
• A 28-year-old Sun Valley man drowned at Zuma Beach in what lifeguards described as rough water conditions. On the day of the drowning, there were 78 rescues at Zuma Beach alone.
• After more than 40 years, The Artifac Tree, a long time fixture in Malibu, privately serving as a combination thrift shop and social agency, closed its doors after losing its lease. They are currently looking for a new location to reopen.
• Louis T. Busch — a well loved and respected man whose family was a long time anchor of the Malibu real estate scene — passed away at the age of 90.
