AT PEACE ON SHORE: It cost her...

AT PEACE ON SHORE: It cost her about 35 jellyfish stings, but Los Alamitos endurance swimmer Lynne Cox completed her two-day “peace swim” across the Gulf of Aqaba symbolically linking Israel, Egypt and Jordan. For an encore, she was present at ceremonies in Jordan on Wednesday when President Clinton signed a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. “I started crying,” said Cox, 37. “It was all worth it.”

NO LOVE AFFAIR: Warren Beatty give a speech in Orange County? Did you really think he’d show? They did at the American Magazine Conference at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point. That is, until his agent called late Saturday night saying: Sorry. . . . Beatty, lately out touting his new movie, “Love Affair,” sent his regrets. Conference officials groaned hard, but came up with a speaker they liked for their Wednesday grand finale: Oliver Stone.

NEW CAUSE: Louise C. Cummings, former fund-raiser for the Newport Harbor Art Museum and South Coast Repertory, has taken on a new cause: AIDS. She’s the new fund-raiser for the AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County. . . . Says Cummings, whose title is director of development: “I took a pay cut to come here. At age 50 I wanted to do something that really makes a difference. This is the most important health issue of our time.”

HEALTHY ART: The arts world in Orange County is financially healthy, and even holding down prices for consumers, says a new report from the Business Committee for the Arts. A few facts from a 1991-93 survey released Wednesday: The economic impact of nonprofit arts groups hit a new two-year high of $348.5 million; average ticket prices remained stable, and paid admissions rose by 18%.