Costa Mesa

Telephone Cable Severed: Service was restored Thursday to about 250 telephone customers in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach whose phone lines were disconnected when a dredging barge accidentally cut a phone cable in Upper Newport Bay, a Pacific Bell spokesman said. Craig MacDonald, Orange County spokesman for the telephone company, said the cable was cut about 1 p.m. Wednesday as the barge was dredging a deeper trough for the lines under Upper Newport Bay. He said about 500 customers in southeastern Costa Mesa and the Balboa and Corona del Mar sections of Newport Beach initially lost service.