- Teen’s Suicide Attempt Prompts Warning Over Pandemic’s Mental Health Dangers
On Christmas night, a 14-year-old girl walked away from her family’s Orange County home and headed toward a bridge. When she arrived, she leaped from the 50-foot structure, shattering two back bones in an attempted suicide brought on by some inner demons she’s been fighting since the start of the pandemic. Sydney R., of Huntington Beach, is among […]
- Students in LA School District Must Get COVID-19 Vaccine to Return to Classrooms
The 600,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will have to be vaccinated for COVID-19 before returning to classrooms, school district officials said. In a pre-recorded briefing first reported by the Los Angeles Times, LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said the COVID-19 vaccine mandate would be “no different than students who are vaccinated […]
- Local Hospitals Postpone Elective Surgeries During COVID-19 Surge
Some Orange County hospitals have suspended elective surgeries as they struggle to keep pace with an ongoing pandemic that continues to push the boundaries of health care capacity. Local health officials made the call to postpone nonessential procedures following a state health order that sought to more effectively prioritize patient care. The California Department of […]
- Bar Owner Faces One Year in Jail For Defying COVID-19 Rules
A bar owner and manager’s criminal citation for allegedly defying the state-mandated curfew calls into question the limits of voluntary compliance enforcement. Although the Orange County Sheriff’s Department has said it won’t enforce state-level COVID-19 related orders, some cities are ticketing offenders. Costa Mesa is among the cities issuing fines to non-compliant residents and businesses. […]
- University of California—Irvine Medical Center Erects Mobile Field Hospitals
ORANGE, Calif.—The University of California—Irvine (UCI) Medical Center opened a network of field hospital rooms Dec. 29 in the center’s parking lot due to Orange County’s spike in COVID-19 cases. The field units, which are made up of tent-like materials, are licensed to treat up to 40 patients outside the main hospital. There were 22 […]
- Many Profit Off Worsening Homeless Situation in LA, Says Community Group
Commentary Consultants, architects, construction companies, and others profit from planning and building new housing for the homeless, says Soledad Ursua, who serves on the Venice Neighborhood Council in Los Angeles. “I see it as just a big racket where everybody has their hand in the pot. It turns out that the homeless are just big […]
- Chapman Professor Retires Following Capitol Controversy
ORANGE (CNS)—A Chapman University law professor who has drawn criticism for assisting President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the presidential election result and speaking at a rally for Trump before last week’s insurrection at the Capitol agreed today to a settlement with the university to retire. John Eastman did not immediately respond to the news […]
- LA Coroner’s Office Looks to Refridgerated Trailers to Accomodate Surge
Los Angeles medical officials are preparing to use refrigerated trailers to house a potential need for surge storage during the ongoing CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic. “In preparation for the pandemic, [we] installed refrigerated storage units in the beginning of April 2020. The units have remained largely unused until recently,” Los Angeles County Department […]
- Recall Newsom Campaign Receives More than 20,000 Signatures in Single Day
The campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom received more than 20,000 direct-mail petition signatures in a single day, and organizers say the barrage of mail is an indication the initiative is working. Inside the office of Anne Hyde, Rescue California’s campaign manager and finance director, volunteers on Jan. 4 opened and sorted thousands of envelopes […]
- Orange County Supervisor Doug Chaffee Talks Hopes for the New Year
As many others do, Orange County Supervisor Doug Chaffee longs for a better world in 2021—sort of like the one he was living in before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. “I’m dreaming that our resort areas get open and recover, and the tourism that comes with it,” Chaffee told The Epoch Times during an end-of-year […]
- New Round of Small Business Grants Rolls Out in Irvine
The City of Irvine received more than $722,000 from the County of Orange to help small businesses affected by COVID-19, city officials announced Jan. 19. However, at least one councilmember said that even though the money will be helpful, it’s not enough. “The grant money is critical to our small businesses, especially our retail and restaurants, which have been deeply […]
- Orange County Sheriff’s Department Names New Undersheriff
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes has a new right-hand man. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department said Jan. 13 that it named veteran officer Jeff Hallock as its new undersheriff. Orange County Undersheriff Jeff Hallock.(Courtesy of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department) “Undersheriff Hallock is a consummate leader who serves with integrity and approaches any assignment he […]
- Orange County Reports 4,204 New Cases of COVID-19, 43 More Deaths
SANTA ANA (CNS)—Orange County reported 4,204 new cases of COVID-19 and 43 additional deaths Jan. 9, bringing to county’s totals to 185,481 cases and 2,041 fatalities. The number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus decreased from a record 2,259 Jan. 8 to 2,221, with intensive care unit patients climbing from 514 to a record high […]
- LA County Orders Ambulance Crews Not to Transport Patients With ‘Little Chance of Survival’
Los Angeles ambulance crew members have been instructed not to transport patients with “little chance of survival” to local hospitals as ICUs near capacity across the county. In a directive (pdf) issued by the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency Monday, ambulance workers were also told to conserve the use of oxygen in the […]
- Stay-at-Home Orders Extend for Southern California, San Joaquin Valley
California’s health department announced that stay-at-home orders for Southern California and San Joaquin Valley and are being extended indefinitely amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Tough restrictions imposed earlier this month on social and economic life were extended in densely populated Southern California—home to more than half of the state’s 40 million people—based on data showing intensive […]
- Laguna Beach Teens Create Care Packages for the Homeless
When high school students Zoey and Jake Cutter in Laguna Beach, California, asked their mother what she wanted for Christmas, they got an unexpected answer: She suggested they start a project to help others for the holidays. “I said that would be the biggest Christmas present I would ever have,” their mother, Stefanie Shelly, told […]
- More Orange County Entertainment Centers Tapped to Host Vaccine Super Sites
SANTA ANA (CNS)—Orange County supervisors have reached a deal to host a second super site for vaccines at Knott’s Berry Farm, shortly after confirming Disneyland would be used as its first super site. Officials are also working on setting up a vaccination site at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, said Supervisor Doug Chaffee. […]
- Santa Ana School Bus Driver Charged With Assaulting Two Girls
SANTA ANA (CNS)—Felony charges were filed today against a 39-year-old school bus driver in Santa Ana who’s accused of sexually assaulting two young girls over a period of several years, starting when they were seven and eight years old. Nery Rodriguez Gonzalez of Upland is facing two counts each of continuous sexual abuse of a […]
- Head-On Crash Kills 7 Children, 2 Adults in Central California
FRESNO, Calif. —Seven children and two adult drivers were killed in a head-on collision in Central California on New Year’s Day, authorities said. The children, who were between 6 and 15 years old, were members of two related families traveling in a 2007 Ford that collided around 8 p.m. Friday with a Dodge vehicle on […]
- Laguna Beach Couple Petitions Court to Keep Seawall
A Laguna Beach couple is appealing a court order to remove a seawall from its beachfront property and pay a $1 million fine. The latest ruling, in which a panel of three judges in an appellate court unanimously upheld an earlier order by the California Coastal Commission that required the couple to take down the […]
