NEW LEAF: Longtime environmental writer Steve Churm,...

NEW LEAF: Longtime environmental writer Steve Churm, who owns the Orange County Metropolitan business magazine, has ruffled feathers with a column opposing gnatcatcher protections. . . . “Protecting the (songbird) would set back seriously the dreams of thousands of Southern Californians who want to own their own home,” Churm wrote, admitting, “I have changed since becoming a business owner.” Churm says reaction has been all negative. . . . One reader called him “pond scum.”