Local Orange County News

Three Firefighters Injured in Fire That Spread From Car to Homes in Orange Neighborhood

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 20:39:25 +0000

Three firefighters were injured in a fire that burned at least two houses Friday in an Orange neighborhood.

The fire was reported before 1 p.m. near Chapman Avenue and Earlham Street. It appeared to start with a car fire before flames spread to at least two houses and another building.

Details about a cause were not immediately available.

Three firefighters and a resident were hit by live power lines. Details about their conditions were not immediately available.

Firefighters battle spreading, 4-alarm house fire in Orange

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 14:05:41 +0000

Firefighters were battling a house fire in Orange Friday afternoon, April 30 that appeared to have spread to multiple buildings, according to authorities.

The blaze was reported at 211 S. Earlham Street at about just before 12:45 p.m., according to fire dispatchers. It was first graded as a two-alarm fire but then was upgraded to a 4-alarm one just before 2 p.m., meaning that several more fire units were called for backup.

There were reports of three firefighters and one civilian being shocked by downed electrical wires. but the the Orange City Fire Department did not immediately answer calls to confirm that.

This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.

Orange County’s Teachers of the Year talk about connecting with their students

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 18:26:52 +0000

Orange County educators who logged onto a Zoom call Thursday, April 29, thought they were dialing in to put some final touches on their application for the county’s teacher of the year award.

But instead, they entered a call surrounded by familiar faces and were surprised with the news they’d already been selected.

Villa Park high school teacher Ingred Shine reacts after being presented with the 2022 Orange County Teacher of the Year Honors. (Courtesy of Kevin Sullivan, Orange Unified School District)
Esencia School teacher Ann Berger with her students after she was announced as the 2021 CUSD Elementary School Teacher of the Year in March. (Photo by Steven Georges/CUSD Insider)
La Sierra High School teacher Sovantevy (Sovey) Long-Latteri was named one of the 2022 Orange County Teachers of the Year. (Courtesy Orange County Department of Education)
Otto A. Fischer School teacher Richard Berman was named one of the 2022 Orange County Teachers of the Year. (Courtesy Orange County Department of Education)
Fullerton College’s Jodi Balma was named one of the 2022 Orange County Teachers of the Year. (Courtesy Orange County Department of Education)
Gates Elementary School third-grade teacher Alondra Diaz chats with members of the Orange County Board of Education as she learns she is a Teacher of the Year during a surprise call on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lake Forest, CA. Diaz is one of six teachers to receive the annual honor rewarded by the Orange County Board of Education. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Ingred Shine, who teaches photography and art at Villa Park High School, is congratulated by her husband, Casey Shine, after being named one of six Orange County Teachers of the Year on Thursday. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange Unified School District.)
Gates Elementary School third-grade teacher Alondra Diaz tears up as she talks about the struggles she went through growing up during a surprise call where she was named a Teacher of the Year on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lake Forest, CA. Diaz is one of six teachers to receive the annual honor rewarded by the Orange County Board of Education. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Gates Elementary School third-grade teacher Alondra Diaz poses for pictures after being surprised with a call the Orange County Board of Education naming a Teacher of the Year during a surprise call on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lake Forest, CA. Diaz is one of six teachers to receive the annual honor rewarded by the Orange County Board of Education. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Esencia School teacher Ann Berger was named one of the 2022 Orange County Teachers of the Year. (Courtesy Orange County Department of Education)
Gates Elementary School third-grade teacher Alondra Diaz chats with members of the Orange County Board of Education as she learns she is a Teacher of the Year during a surprise call on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lake Forest, CA. Diaz is one of six teachers to receive the annual honor rewarded by the Orange County Board of Education. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Gates Elementary School third-grade teacher Alondra Diaz reacts as she learns she is a Teacher of the Year during a surprise call on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lake Forest, CA. Diaz is one of six teachers to receive the annual honor rewarded by the Orange County Board of Education. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Villa Park High School teacher Ingred Shine reacts after being presented with the 2022 Orange County Teacher of the Year Honors. (Courtesy of Kevin Sullivan, Orange Unified School District)
Gates Elementary School third-grade teacher Alondra Diaz chats Crystal Turner, superintendent of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, and members of the Orange County Board of Education, also on the call, surprise her with a Teacher of the Year award on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lake Forest, CA. Diaz is one of six teachers to receive the annual honor rewarded by the Orange County Board of Education. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Ralph A. Gates Elementary School teacher Alondra Diaz was named one of the 2022 Orange County Teachers of the Year. (Courtesy Orange County Department of Education)
Gates Elementary School third-grade teacher Alondra Diaz comments that her award is, “bigger than my head” as she chats with members of the Orange County Board of Education during a surprise call where she learned she is a Teacher of the Year on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lake Forest, CA. Diaz is one of six teachers to receive the annual honor rewarded by the Orange County Board of Education. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Gates Elementary School third-grade teacher Alondra Diaz poses for pictures after being surprised with a call the Orange County Board of Education naming a Teacher of the Year during a surprise call on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lake Forest, CA. Diaz is one of six teachers to receive the annual honor rewarded by the Orange County Board of Education. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Sovey Long-Latteri, a speci

Halal taco truck helps Orange County Muslims get vaccinated

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 00:14:53 +0000

When Rida Hamida approached a mosque with the idea of breaking Ramadan fast with a taco truck, she faced a tough sell. When it comes to the evening iftar — the dinner Muslims share after a day’s fasting in Ramadan — the Muslim population in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, is accustomed to traditional Arabic and South Asian biryani meals, with rice and meat kebabs.

But besides being immediately gratifying and accessible, Hamida thought, the taco would also bring Orange County’s Latino and Muslim communities together. So she made a proposal: She’d bring a taco truck to the mosque to serve halal tacos, while the mosque’s leader provided biryani. Then they’d see what the people would prefer.

“Everyone went to our taco truck,” said Hamida, executive director and founder of the group Latino & Muslim Unity.

More than three years later, Hamida’s # TacoTrucksatEveryMosque initiative has become a pipeline to address a host of social issues affecting marginalized communities in Southern California, from answering the U.S. census and voter registration to accessing the COVID-19 vaccination, she said.

Through Latino & Muslim Unity, Hamida, a Muslim of Palestinian descent, is working to help the area’s Muslims by bringing the vaccine directly to their mosques, where community leaders can assure the congregation that Ramadan fasting doesn’t preclude immunization during the holy month.

Questions linger about environmental impact of Poseidon water plant on Orange County coastline

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 22:26:47 +0000

Every year that it converts a bit of the Pacific Ocean into drinking water, the proposed Huntington Beach desalination plant would kill tiny marine life crucial to the sea’s food web.

Questions of how and when to offset that environmental harm remain unresolved in regulators’ ongoing review of Poseidon Water’s plans to build a $1-billion desalting plant on the Orange County coastline.

After a nearly nine-month pause, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board last week resumed consideration of the project, which has been clouded by complaints that it is benefiting from political interference by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.

The board reopened its Poseidon proceedings Friday with statements by three members who rejected opponents’ demands that they recuse themselves in the wake of February disclosures that they had been contacted by a high-ranking administration official during project hearings in the summer.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Orange County Reports Less than 100 New COVID-19 Cases

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 22:19:48 +0000

Orange County reported just 73 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday and five more fatalities, most of which date back to February, as hospitalization rates inched down.

The new cases pushed the county’s total to 253,737 since the pandemic began, while the death toll rose to 4,944.

The number of COVID-19 patients in county hospitals decreased from 128 Tuesday to 125, while the number of intensive care unit patients dropped from 27 to 24.

Orange County’s weekly averages for COVID-19 metrics, which are released on Tuesdays, kept it in the orange tier of the state’s economic reopening system, although it meets two of three categories for the least- restrictive yellow tier, according to most recent figures.

The county’s weekly averages for adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 residents improved from 2.8 last Tuesday to 2.6. The overall test positivity rate remained at 1.4%. The county’s Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hotspots in disadvantaged communities, increased from 1.7% to 1.9%.

The county’s positivity rates qualify for the yellow tier, but the case counts are still in the orange tier. A graduation into the yellow tier requires that the case rate must get below 2 per 100,000 people. A county must maintain metrics for a tier for two weeks before graduating to a less-restrictive level.

“One thing for concern is the number of people who are hospitalized now seem to be younger and that is across the state as well,” Dr. Clayton Chau, the county’s chief public health officer and director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, told the Board of Supervisors at their regular meeting Tuesday.

“That’s because we’ve done quite well in vaccinating our most vulnerable victims age 65 and older,” Chau said.

As of April 18, the county had vaccinated 80% of its residents in that age group, he said. Meanwhile, Supervisor Don Wagner rebutted a tweet suggesting that he subscribed to a debunked conspiracy theory at Tuesday’s board meeting that vaccines include some sort of ingredient used to track recipients. The out-of- context quote of Wagner asking Chau about the conspiracy theory suggested he believed in it when he was actually asking Chau to explain to the many residents who advanced the claim Tuesday that they are mistaken.

“It’s dishonest what they’re trying to say,” Wagner told City News Service. “It’s clear in context. We were going through all the things they were saying.” The claim that vaccines can be used to track recipients is “not anything to take seriously. The county government is not trying to invade anyone’s privacy or to microchip people or any of that… In context, it is very clear we were taking Dr. Chau through the disinformation to give him a chance to debunk it and to assure the public there’s nothing nefarious going on,” Wagner said.

Many of the speakers Tuesday continued to assail the concept of a “vaccine passport,” which is not the same as the vaccine verification system the county is adopting. “We’re trying to give our patients the proof they want that they’ve been vaccinated,” Wagner said.

Anyone who receives a vaccine at a county-run site can voluntarily opt in to a process that generates a QR code that will prove vaccination. If private businesses want to restrict access based on vaccinations they are free to do so, but the county has no intention of doing the same on public property, officials said.

“There is no tracking and tracing mechanism,” Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said. “There is no big government following them around. If they have a smart phone they’re already being tracked.”

“There are marketing companies out there that if you have a smart phone and GPS they can track you. If you have a car with a black box in it the insurance companies and the auto manufacturers can figure out where the vehicle was if it is stolen.”

The QR code also will not contain anything other than the name of the recipient and verification of vaccine receipt, Chau said. “There is no (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) information on it. It is just a matter of convenience,” Bartlett said.

Supervisor Katrina Foley and Board Chairman Andrew Do noted they received a letter from the Orange County Business Council supporting a vaccine verification program. The county, meanwhile, has dispensed 2.57 million doses of vaccines with 978,000 people considered fully vaccinated, Chau said. About 1.9 million people have received their first dose, Chau said. The county continues to test around the state average, Chau said.

coronavirus pandemic.

The end of both now appears to be within sight. On April 14, President Joe Biden said U.S. forces would leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11, ending 20 years of war. On April 23, the Biden administration said 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered in the United States, diminishing the toll of the deadly virus.

But amid it all, Solares’ work grinds on. As a hospice nurse, it’s his job to smooth the passage from life for people dying from COVID-19 and other causes, along with educating and comforting the families they leave behind.

Nurse Nathan Solares at Cadence Hospice in Orange, CA, on Thursday, April 15, 2021. Before he became a hospice nurse, Solares served eight years in the U.S. Navy, as a corpsman. He spent a year in Afghanistan, treating service members wounded in combat and Afghan civilians. He brings the steadiness and compassion he learned under fire to his hospice work. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Nurse Nathan Solares with colleagues at Cadence Hospice in Orange, CA, on Thursday, April 15, 2021. Before he became a hospice nurse, Solares served eight years in the U.S. Navy, as a corpsman. He spent a year in Afghanistan, treating service members wounded in combat and Afghan civilians. He brings the steadiness and compassion he learned under fire to his hospice work. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Nurse Nathan Solares, center, at Cadence Hospice with Clinical Manager Chantique Hohner, left, Executive Director Tracy Greenberg, and Karen Detarnowski, director of clinical services, right, in Orange, CA, on Thursday, April 15, 2021. Before he became a hospice nurse, Solares served eight years in the U.S. Navy, as a corpsman. He spent a year in Afghanistan, treating service members wounded in combat and Afghan civilians. He brings the steadiness and compassion he learned under fire to his hospice work. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Nurse Nathan Solares, third from left, with his military buddies in January 2013. Solares served eight years in the U.S. Navy, as a corpsman. His service included time in Afghanistan, treating service members wounded in combat and Afghan civilians, sometimes mass casualties. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Solares)
Nurse Nathan Solares served eight years in the U.S. Navy, as a corpsman. His service included time in Afghanistan, treating service members wounded in combat and Afghan civilians, sometimes mass casualties. In this photo from November 2012, he is cleaning a mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Solares)
Nurse Nathan Solares at Cadence Hospice in Orange, CA, on Thursday, April 15, 2021. Before he became a hospice nurse, Solares served eight years in the U.S. Navy, as a corpsman. He spent a year in Afghanistan, treating service members wounded in combat and Afghan civilians. He brings the steadiness and compassion he learned under fire to his hospice work. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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He seems made for it.

As a young corpsman, the U.S. Navy’s designation for medics, Solares handled military and civilian casualties while stationed at Kandahar Airfield, a NATO base in Afghanistan for international troops and Americans from all branches of the Armed Forces.

Today, Solares works the overnight shift for Cadence Hospice in Orange. His shifts typically run 4 p.m. to 8 a.m., with the latter half spent as “night runner,” meaning he’s on call to go to patients in crisis and handle family emergencies.

A licensed vocational nurse, Solares started working for the hospice service about a year ago, not long after COVID-19 started to take victims in skyrocketing numbers.

As he did in Afghanistan, Solares has served his hospice patients without fear. Only now, instead of desert-toned fatigues and a helmet, he suits up in layers of protective gear — face mask and gown — over nurse’s scrubs, including a blue-and-pink set the stocky Solares wears.

The father of two young boys shrugs off any notion of bravery. With the pandemic in full swing, he explained that when he started, there was an acute need for hospice nurses.

“I felt like someone has got to do it.”

Diving in

Solares volunteers to work with COVID-19 patients.

In hospice, nurses handle much of the hands-on work with the patients, carrying out physician’s orders for a few hours — or for a few months — before that patient’s death. At Cadence, a crew of 20 nurses see patients in a variety of settings; board and care homes, assisted living centers, skilled-nursing facilities — and patients’ homes.

If a patient has COVID-19, the nurse can be exposed.

“I always knew he was a very compassionate and amazing nurse,” said Solares’ supervisor, Chantique Hohner.

“The fact he was willing to go do that took me by surprise … (It) made me proud to be his supervisor.”

The urge to serve has motivated Solares since he was a kid. Family members, he said, influenced him.

Solares, born in Los Angeles before moving to Anaheim, is of Salvadoran and Guatemalan descent and once thought about becoming an immigration lawyer. Instead, his older brother inspired him to join the military. And his mother, a certified nursing assistant, made him think about nursing.

Initially, Solares wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps and join the Marine Corps. But military rules prevented the siblings from serving in the same branch, he said, so, Solares chose to be a Navy corpsman, knowing it would mean taking care of Marines as well as sailors.

He spent four years in ROTC while at Anaheim High and signed his Navy contract in his junior year, at 17. But he couldn’t serve until he turned 18.

“That was my motivation to graduate.”

He would spend eight years in the service, from July 2008 to July 2016. His year in Afghanistan ignited his passion to pursue nursing once he came back home. A tattoo on his right shin — the winged hospital corpsman insignia with the date 2012-2013 — memorializes that period of his life.

He volunteered for that deployment too.

Kandahar is in the southern part of Afghanistan, where the Navy first fired cruise missiles in October 2001 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. In the decades that have followed, Kandahar has been the site of intense encounters with the Taliban. As recently as early April, the Taliban targeted the air field in a rocket attack.

During his year in Afghanistan, Solares’ medical unit sometimes conducted forays “outside the wire” — beyond the protected air field — to teach Afghani soldiers about medical procedures that they could use to take care of their own. Other times, following bombings and other encounters, he treated U.S. service members, Afghani soldiers and the Taliban.

He saw a steady stream of locals who were injured by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or gunshots.

“Every day we were taking care of people — kids, adults, teens.”

There were incidents of mass casualties, too. He remembers an IED attack at the air field on Oct. 13, 2012, a birthday anniversary for the Navy. Three big vehicles rushed the gates and one got through. The explosion that followed initially injured more than 20 people — some who lost limbs, some who suffered shrapnel wounds and some who later died.

Solares was never injured, physically, in combat. But his knees are wrecked, he said, from his time in the service, and his back gives him trouble. He’s also struggled with nightmares and depression. And, he added, there was a lot of partying when he first came home.

Like many veterans, he initially hesitated to seek help through Veterans Affairs, but eventually did.

“I felt like, ‘I don’t need this. I can get over it on my own.’ Then I felt like I wasn’t able to. So, I reached out.’”

Veteran nurse

Health care has been a constant in Solares’ life, though at times it has different paths. His initial stateside assignment in the military was in Texas, where he handled records and assisted in care at a Navy dental clinic. He did similar work in California, three years later, when he was discharged. He eventually began thinking of a career and took college classes to become a licensed vocational nurse.

He’s worked with the Veterans Administration, handling patient charts for service members’ disability claims. He also worked at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, transporting patients, including auto accident survivors.

“That definitely reminded me of Afghanistan.”

In August, 2019, he graduated from Concorde Career Colleges and started working in home health care. He was hired by Cadence a year ago this month.

His personal life has had setbacks: The marriage to the mother of his first son fell apart. So did his relationship with the mother of his second child. Solares likes to say he is now “single as a Pringle.”

He lives alone in an apartment in Anaheim, but spends as much time as he can with his boys, 8 and 2, when he is not focused on his work as a hospice nurse or at his second, part-time job, providing health care services to people who can’t leave their homes. He even has a third side gig, drawing blood and overseeing doses for clinical trials.

He’ll listen to classical music to clear his mind. Beethoven is a favorite. He’ll re-watch favorite movies, “Gifted Hands” about the life of Ben Carson, or “Men of Honor,” starring Cuba Gooding Jr. in the real-life role of Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear, the Navy’s first African-American master diver.

Like other health care workers and first responders, Solares and his co-workers haven’t backed away from COVID-19, even though the exposure is scary.

About 15% of the people treated by Cadence are veterans. Mary Christie, the company’s community liaison, said Solares is particularly adept at working with those patients.

“He does connect with our military guys really fast.”

Last words

Even when patients are unresponsive, Solares will engage family members in discussing a loved one’s military service, aware that such acknowledgment can be a last salute to the patient and a comfort to their relatives.

No matter who the patient is, or what stage of dying they may be in, Solares encourages loved ones to share their favorite stories with the patients. Solares says the words often are understood, a response he can track by observing vital signs and subtle facial expressions. It’s true, he added, whether the loved one is in the room or speaking on FaceTime, through a phone Solares holds up to the patient.

But, sometimes, there is no relative, and no story; just Solares at their bedside as they die.

“I would just tell them ‘It’s OK, that they weren’t alone and that everyone loved them for who they were, and that they would be missed.” He added that he tells them “not to fight it.”

“We try to make them feel cared for,” he said.

To Solares, the work he’s done during the pandemic — and his role as a hospice nurse — isn’t so different from when he was in the Navy and he offered comfort to the wounded.

“They would look at you for hope and say, ‘Tell me I’m going to be OK.’”

But, sometimes, comfort meant telling someone it was OK to let go.

“Most of the time, you know when they’re ready. They would say, ‘I want to go home,’ to heaven, to make their peace.”

With COVID-19 patients, he said, the situation is often different. They aren’t talking. There’s no body language or facial expression that lets him know they were ready to go.

“They would breath really fast and then it would stop.”

The experience from the past year only reinforces his desire to keep working as a hospice nurse. He likes the pace of it; he likes the teamwork.

“At the end of the day,” Solares said, sounding very much like the military veteran he is, “you’ve got to be mission oriented.”

Some O.C. cities planning Fourth of July parades, festivities as decline in virus cases continues

Sun, 25 Apr 2021 18:23:22 +0000

Some cities in Orange County, including Huntington Beach and Dana Point, are in the planning stages for Fourth of July festivities.

Last year many event in O.C. were canceled or scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent shutdowns.

Gene Kang reports for the KTLA 5 Weekend Morning News on April 25, 2021.

Pickup pursued by deputies near Orange crashes into van, injures 2 people

Sun, 25 Apr 2021 12:47:57 +0000

Police and deputies chasing a driver who fled from a traffic stop in unincorporated Orange canceled their pursuit one minute before the suspect crashed into another vehicle in Santa Ana and badly injured two people on Saturday, April 24.

A white Nisan pickup truck took off when deputies attempted to stop its driver near East Katella Avenue and Wanda Road at 8:20 p.m. for an undisclosed code violation, Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Todd Russ said. Deputies and Orange police briefly chased after it, but terminated the pursuit at 8:24 p.m., OCSD spokeswoman Carrie Braun said.

The truck was headed south on Tustin Avenue when it ran a red light and struck a van that was headed east on Santa Clara Avenue at 8:25 p.m., Santa Ana Police said in a news release. Two occupants of the van were taken to a hospital with major injuries. Updates on their condition were not available Sunday morning.

The driver of the pickup also was treated for injuries suffered during the crash, then arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and evading arrest, Braun said. He was identified as Jose Gelacio Carreravasquez.

He was held in lieu of $100,000 bail Sunday, according to inmate records. The suspect is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, April 27.

Orange County Reports Small Uptick in COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Sat, 24 Apr 2021 20:36:42 +0000

Orange County reported 85 new cases of COVID-19 and six additional deaths Saturday, while the number of COVID patients in county hospitals increased by 14 over Friday’s total.

There are now 114 county residents in the hospital with the coronavirus, and 22 of those are in intensive care, an increase over the 15 ICU patients reported Friday, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Saturday’s numbers brought the county’s totals to 253,425 cases and 4,924 fatalities since the pandemic began.

The county has 30.4% of its ICU beds available and 74% of its ventilators.

Another 9,672 tests were reported Saturday for a total of 3,600,087.

County officials had expressed optimism on Friday, when the hospitalization total fell to 100.

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“That’s great,” Orange County CEO Frank Kim said of the hospitalization rates. “It really gives me hope. It really does.”

In another sign of the improving situation, Kim said he would recommend to the Orange County Board of Supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting that it is time for him to relinquish his authority to sign emergency contracts without board approval.

“There’s really no reason to have delegated authority anymore and I’ve asked the board to terminate that,” Kim said. “It’s a stable operation now and the contracts we needed have been implemented.”

Kim said it was an “awesome responsibility to spend taxpayer funds, but there should be public view of those types of transactions.”

More transparency and board approval of further COVID-19 expenditures “is the right thing to do,” he said.

Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Andrew Do said it was no longer necessary to have the chief executive handle coronavirus contracts with the same speed needed last year.

The emergency power was necessary so the county could be as “nimble” as required “with the situation that changed almost on a daily basis,” Do said. “If we have to wait two weeks for every board meeting or call special meetings every week, we’d never get things done. But now we know the flow. Now we know the staffing we need and things are falling into a system, a pattern that we can anticipate.”

In another sign of a return to normalcy, the county will soon shut down its vaccine distribution site at Disneyland, which is set to reopen on April 30.

“In many ways it’s a positive sign,” Do said. “Disneyland is getting back to business. It’s a good sign for the economy and the well-being of our economy.”

The appointments at Disnyeland will be moved to the Anaheim Convention Center. Kim said the county can still provide vaccinations for the disabled at the Orange County Fairgrounds and Soka University.

Do said Disneyland’s hosting of a vaccine site “showed that the community can come together and offer up whatever capacity they had in order to help the common cause to help defeat this virus in this pandemic.”

The supervisors on Tuesday are also expected to consider using $30 million from the most recent federal relief package to provide grants to local small businesses and nonprofits affected by the pandemic, Kim said. Some of the money will be for food assistance to the needy as well, Kim said.

So far in the county there have been 2,228,775 vaccine doses administered, Kim said.

Providence, the national nonprofit healthcare provider, partnered with Edwards Lifesciences, an Orange County-based medical technology company, and the cities of Irvine, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Tustin to open two mass vaccination clinics.

One opened Wednesday at the Edwards Lifesciences offices at 3009 Daimler St. in Santa Ana, and the other at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine will open on Monday as a drive-thru clinic.

Coronavirus daily case rates continue to decline, but not enough for Orange County to move into the least-restrictive yellow tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

According to numbers released Tuesday, the county’s weekly averages for adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 residents improved from 3 last Tuesday to 2.8. The overall positivity rate improved from 1.6% to 1.4%.

The county’s Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hotspots in disadvantaged communities, improved from 1.8% to 1.7%. The county’s positivity rates qualify for the least-restrictive yellow tier of the state system, but the case counts are still in the orange tier.

A graduation into the yellow tier requires that the case rate must get below 2 per 100,000 population.

COVID vaccinations to end at Disneyland next week

Sat, 24 Apr 2021 18:48:52 +0000

The mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Disneyland is set to close next week, officials announced Friday.

Vaccinations will end at the theme park on April 30, the same day Disneyland and Disney California Adventure reopen to he public following more than a yearlong closure.

Disneyland became Orange County's first COVID-19 mass vaccination site when the site opened in January, first as a walk-up service and then as a drive-thru.

On its first day, a few arrived to receive their shots at the theme park with Mickey Mouse ears on and Disney themed T-shirts, making for a stark image as the pandemic continued to force the closure of amusement parks statewide while officials raced to deliver vaccines.

Since then, several other locations in the county began vaccinating residents as supplies increased, including at the Anaheim Convention Center, Soka University, the O.C. Fair & Event Center, Santa Ana College, in addition to different mobile sites, pharmacies and health care providers.

“We’re not going away — we’re just balancing the changing needs of eligible patients with our staffing and vaccine allocations to ensure we can be as responsive as possible,” Orange County Health Officer Dr. Clayton Chau said in a statement.

The vaccination site at Disneyland will be where 233,000 vaccine doses were administered when it closes next week.

When it closes, the staff working there will be sent to other mass vaccination sites in the county to "bolster their operations," county officials said.

In anticipation of the closure, the county was only making second dose appointments available at the Disneyland drive-thru location. That was to make sure those who got their first dose at the theme park would be able to come back for their second dose at the same location.

“On behalf of the HCA and the County of Orange, our sincerest thanks to the Disneyland Resort for being the first organization to offer their time, talents and property to launch and sustain our first Super POD,” Chau said.

So far, more than 2.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Orange County, with more than 896,000 people fully vaccinated, according to state and county data.

Entangled baby whale struggling off O.C. coast sparks urgent multi-agency rescue effort

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 16:34:52 +0000

The plight of an entangled baby whale off Orange County has sparked an urgent multi-agency rescue effort, highlighting again the perils that ocean debris poses to marine mammals and other wildlife.

The baby gray whale has a rope around its mouth and trailing in the water behind it. That’s prompted a team of ocean animal experts from Dana Point to Monterey to closely follow the whale, hoping to get close enough to extricate it.

As the calf grows, the rope could tighten around it, potentially tearing off skin or breaking limbs. The consequences could be deadly.

“Unfortunately, with most of these entanglements, if the whale can’t get it off and we can’t get it off,” said Justin Viezbicke, California Stranding Network coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, “they ultimately lead up to death.”

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Handcuffed Woman Punched in Face by Police Officer During Arrest, Fellow Officers Intervene

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 12:26:35 +0000

A Southern California police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave after striking a woman twice in the face while she was handcuffed during an arrest caught on video.

The cell phone video was captured on Locust Street Wednesday afternoon in the northern Orange County community of Westminster. The witness who recorded it said the woman, later identified as 34-year-old Ciomara Garcia, was already handcuffed.

“That’s what people don’t get, she was handcuffed,” said Sandy Armenta. “Everyone knows her from the neighborhood.”

Westminster police responded to the scene following a report that Garcia had allegedly assaulted another woman who was trying to rescue a dog running in the street. The police department said Garcia was handcuffed and showed signs of being under the influence.

Armenta said Garcia hit one of the officers in the lower thigh during the arrest and that is when the officer punched her in the face. Two other officers intervene to stop the situation.

The video does not show what happened before the struggled on the side of the street.

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A statement by the Westminster Police Department reads:

“While waiting for paramedics, Garcia was not compliant and she became combative with the officers. While trying to control Garcia, a WPD officer used force and struck Garcia two times in the face with his fist. Two WPD officers immediately intervened and deescalated the situation.”

“After careful review of the video and based on the totality of the circumstances, a Westminster police officer was immediately placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal affairs investigation.”

Armenta says it ended when the officers who intervened spoke to the officer who punched Garcia.

“They told him to scoot over there and he left the scene after that,” added Armenta.

Garcia was not injured, according to police. She was arrested and booked into Orange County Jail on a prior felony vandalism charge. The Orange County District Attorney now must determine if Garcia should face a number of charges, including assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.

The DA must also determine if the officer’s use of force should lead to criminal charges against him.

Orange County colleges, universities have mixed plans for graduations in person, more plan fall returns to campus

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 11:19:41 +0000

The thought of tuning into a virtual commencement ceremony, or walking across a stage in a near-empty arena, feels like a disappointing cap to a tough college experience for UC Irvine senior Ryan Clark.

After leaving campus a year ago because of the pandemic, Clark, a biological sciences major, has since been taking virtual classes from his home state of Pennsylvania. Hearing the university’s graduation ceremony would be a mostly virtual event, he questioned whether it was worth returning at all.

“It kind of feels like we’re just never going to go back to campus,” he said. “I spent three years there. A lot of sleepless nights and a lot of hard work, and it seems very anticlimactic.”

Some colleges and universities in Orange County, like UC Irvine, are planning to keep commencement ceremonies largely remote. Others are offering in-person, outdoor events with precautions in place.

But, as access to COVID-19 vaccines increase, many schools are starting to prepare for a full in-person return for the fall. This week the UC and CSU system announced vaccines would likely be required in the fall.

At UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Irvine Valley College and Orange Coast College, ceremonies will be virtual. UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton grads will have an opportunity to participate in stage walks in the days following the commencements.

Two guests will be allowed to accompany Cal State Fullerton students when they take their stride across stage, the school announced Thursday, April 22. The virtual ceremonies on June 11, and the stage walks that begin the next day, will recognize both 2020 and 2021 grads.

“Our commencement team has worked tirelessly, in line with changing health and safety guidelines, to ensure that we can bring you the most meaningful graduation experience possible,” a university message to student says. “As two of the most resilient graduating classes in our 64-year history, you and your friends and family have earned this special moment. We are proud (and excited!) to help make it happen.”

Kelly Carland, director of commencement and special events for student affairs at UC Irvine, said it had been difficult to plan for the possibility of an in-person ceremony, but it was important the university try to recognize the graduates on stage.

“With guidelines changing… it was hard to predict where we would be, and we wanted to play it safe and focus around that,” she said.

UCI’s walks, which will take place over a few days after the June 12 virtual commencement ceremony, will also include graduates who weren’t able to get a moment on stage last year.

Carland said students will sign up for a time slot, and the group of about 15 graduates in one reservation window will enter the venue together. Although family members and other guests won’t be allowed inside, she said she hopes the grads will coordinate with their friends to experience the moment together.

Because the procession will be continuous, “it could be potentially 30 to 45 grads inside cheering each other on as they cross the stage,” she said.

Some students have bristled over UCI’s plans, signing a petition that calls for an in-person event.

Ash Behrens, a business economics major who started the petition, said the stage walk moment is a “fairly mediocre” offering. After a difficult year taking virtual classes from his hometown in Maryland, Behrens said commencement “was really the only thing that people in my position were able to look forward to.”

The petition argues the university failed to come up with an alternative to offer graduation safely in person, like other schools that moved events to outdoors or split them up over multiple days.

At Concordia University Irvine, students were also asked to register for a time slot, during which they’ll participate in a “walk-through” commencement celebration on May 8, and make their strut across an indoor stage along their route. Every student is allo wed to bring a car-full of people who can go inside with them to take photos and cheer, said spokeswoman Ann Ashmon.

Because of pandemic guidelines that limit indoor gatherings based on households, three graduates and their families will be allowed in the indoor area at one time, she said.

“And then we take everybody outside for some more fun stuff,” she said.

That will include another photo opportunity under a balloon arch, to-go food and games, as well as “an opportunity to leave a note for a favorite professor, music playing, and faculty, staff and alumni along the route to congratulate students,” Ashmon said in an email.

Chapman University’s in-person graduations will take place over two weekends for the classes of 2020 and 2021: July 30 through Aug. 1 for last year’s graduates and Aug. 6 through 8 for 2021 seniors.

By holding the ceremonies a few months later than usual, the university hopes it will be “less risky” that they are forced to cancel, and it will give those who want to be vaccinated more time to do so, Sheryl Bourgeois, executive vice president and chief advancement officer, said in an email.

The school plans to hold multiple graduations on its outdoor sports field by degree, and sanitize between ceremonies. During the events, there will be added hand-washing stations and security enforcing masks, social distancing and ID verification, “as currently the state allows for only in-state attendance,” Bourgeois said.

Parents and students who were surveyed about graduation indicated an in-person event was strongly preferred, she said.

“While a virtual celebration was appreciated last year, it did little to fill the void of missing out on such an important milestone as graduating from college,” Bourgeois said. “With luck and continued improvement with the pandemic, our commencement plans will continue as planned.”

As more students and faculty become inoculated against COVID-19 in the coming months, more schools are planning for classes to return to more traditional, pre-pandemic levels in the fall.

Lawrence Brown, vice provost for academic administration at Chapman, said all classes are expected to be fully in person for the fall, “except for the small number that were already online classes before COVID, based on the assumption that COVID levels will be gone and we will be allowed to use the classrooms up to their normal capacities.”

UC Irvine is also planning to be back fully in person by the fall quarter, which starts later than most schools, said Michael Dennin, vice provost and dean of the undergraduate division.

Taking a phased approach, the transition will begin July 1, allowing faculty and staff to “make arrangements, such as for child care and other personal obligations,” UCI said in a news release.

The university is also creating contingency plans in case returning fully in-person isn’t possible due to health guideline changes or other factors, Dennin said.

“The plan is all done in the context of not where we are now in terms of health, but where everything is predicting us to be in terms of health,” Dennin said. “I think that’s been the biggest challenge in the process, is for all of us to kind of stay focused on that element.”

At Cal State Fullerton, operations are expected to be primarily in person in the fall, though the plans hinge on the ability for all students and employees to have access to the vaccine.

“That means we anticipate the majority of our classes will meet face-to-face, our on-campus housing will be closer to our usual capacity, and many, if not most, of our student services and campus facilities will transition back from virtual to in-person,” President Fram Virjee said in an announcement last month.

For some schools, plans haven’t yet taken shape.

Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa is planning for a “robust virtual offering” for both summer and fall, said spokesman Juan Gutierrez.

“We’re not going to be 100% capacity in the fall,” he said. “It takes a little while to, you know, move the ship around, even with the ‘go ahead.’”

Ashmon said Concordia will continue operating at 50% capacity until state and local guidance changes. The university was “delighted” by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s prediction announced earlier this month that California’s economy will likely reopen by June 15, “but we’re confident that is still going to come with some restrictions, so we’re just really waiting to see what those restrictions are going to be,” Ashmon said.

“Right now, whatever the guidance tells us we can do,” she said, “that’s what we do.”

Orange County's Hopeful COVID-19 Trends Continue

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 23:31:12 +0000

Orange County’s promising COVID-19 trends continued Thursday as only 69 new cases were reported and hospitalizations remained stable.

The cumulative case count rose to 253,275. The county also logged eight more COVID-19 fatalities, but one of those occurred in December as there are commonly lengthy delays in the accounting of the deaths. The overall death toll now stands at 4,910.

The number of COVID-19 patients in county hospitals remained at 110, the same as Wednesday, as the number of those in intensive care units decreased from 23 to 22. The county has 35.5% of its ICU beds available and 74% of its ventilators.

“The numbers are looking great in Orange County,” Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, told City News Service Wednesday.

Noymer analyzed data from states across the country on Wednesday and noted that while some be struggling with upswings in cases, that is not the case in California.

“We definitely don’t seem to be going the way of Michigan,” he said. “New Jersey’s not great, Rhode Island’s not great, but Michigan is far and away the only Michigan. I’m liking the numbers in Orange County today. California is doing the best of the lower 48.”

Noymer added, “I would really love to see those hospitalizations below 100 anytime soon.”

Meanwhile, Providence, the national nonprofit healthcare provider, partnered with Edwards Lifesciences, an Orange County-based medical technology company, and the cities of Irvine, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Tustin to open two mass vaccination clinics. One opened Wednesday at the Edwards Lifesciences offices at 3009 Daimler St. in Santa Ana, and the other at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine will open on Monday as a drive-thru clinic.

Noymer said it is probably time to turn over vaccinations to traditional healthcare providers like pharmacies.

“Just do it through Rite-Aid, CVS and Walgreens,” he said. “Just do it the way we do the flu vaccine, which works. The politicians have gotten their mileage out of the photo-op mega sites…It’s not what we really need.”

The pharmacies could do more vaccinations with more supply, Noymer said. “Mega sites are for the hyper motivated” vaccine seekers, he said.

Soon, the focus will need to turn to reaching the residents who are more resistant to vaccines, Noymer said. “The hard-core anti-vaxxers will pay a fine before they’re vaccinated,” he said. “I think there are some people who claim they won’t get it who are amenable to getting a shot.”

Coronavirus daily case rates continue to decline, but not enough for Orange County to move into the less-restrictive yellow tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. According to numbers released Tuesday, the county’s weekly averages for adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 residents improved from 3 last Tuesday to 2.8.

The overall positivity rate improved from 1.6% to 1.4%.

A graduation into the yellow tier requires that the case rate must get below 2 per 100,000 population. Another 10,511 COVID-19 tests were logged Thursday for a total of 3,578,578.

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The eight additional deaths logged Thursday raised the death toll in December to 931 and 1,509 in January.

Those were the deadliest months since the pandemic began, with fatalities fueled by holiday activities. The death toll so far in April is eight. The death toll for March stands at 170, and 573 for February.

O.C. Sheriff’s Dept. to investigate after video shows deputy saying ‘it’s stupid’ when called to enforce mask rules at Gelson’s

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 14:42:27 +0000

An Orange County sheriff’s deputy appeared to express sympathy for unmasked shoppers at a Gelson’s supermarket while also stating that the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd was a “dummy,” not a murderer, according to a video livestreamed on Facebook.

The deputy, who wore a name tag reading “P. Medeiros,” was maskless himself when he arrived at the supermarket in Dana Point on Tuesday in response to a call from employees about the unmasked group.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will begin a personnel investigation into the incident, said spokeswoman Carrie Braun.

“The opinions expressed by the deputy are his personal opinion, and are not representative of the opinions of the department or the sheriff,” Braun said in an email.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Corona man charged with hate crimes after allegedly punching Asian American couple

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 03:00:30 +0000

Orange County prosecutors have charged a man with hate crimes in connection with an attack on an elderly Korean couple walking in a park last weekend.

Michael Orlando Vivona, 26, faces two felony counts of elder abuse, two felony counts of hate crime battery and two felony hate crime enhancements, the Orange County district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

Vivona has pleaded not guilty to all counts and faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison, according to the district attorney’s office. It was not immediately clear who was representing Vivona.

A 78-year-old and 79-year-old Korean couple were taking their nightly walk at Grijalva Park in the city of Orange on Sunday when Vivona ran up to them and punched the husband in the face and the wife in the head, prosecutors said, knocking them both to the ground.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Orange County Not Yet Ready to Move Into Less Restrictive Yellow Tier

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 00:06:06 +0000

Orange County continued encouraging signs of declining COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations Wednesday as a major healthcare provider opened one of two new mass vaccination sites in the county.

“The numbers are looking great in Orange County,” Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, told City News Service.

The county reported just 53 new COVID-19 cases, upping the cumulative total to 253,206, and logged two deaths, one which occurred in January and the other in December, bringing the number or coronavirus fatalities in the region to 4,902.

The number of COVID patients in county hospitals fell from 127 on Tuesday to 110, and the number of those in intensive care units decreased from 25 to 23.

The county has 36.2% of its ICU beds available and 74% of its ventilators.

Noymer analyzed data from states across the country on Wednesday and noted that while some many be struggling with upswings in cases, that is not the case in California.

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Noymer added, “I would really love to see those hospitalizations below 100 anytime soon.”

One opened Wednesday at the Edwards Lifesciences offices at 3009 Daimler St. in Santa Ana, and the other at the Orange County Great Park in irvine will open on Monday as a drive-thru clinic.

Noymer said it is probably time to turn over vaccinations to traditional healthcare providers like pharmacies.

The pharmacies could do more vaccinations with more supply, Noymer said.

“Mega sites are for the hyper motivated” vaccine seekers, he said.
Soon, the focus will need to turn to reaching the residents who are
more resistant to vaccines, Noymer said.

“The hard-core anti-vaxxers will pay a fine before they’re vaccinated,” he aid. “I think there are some people who claim they won’t get it who are amenable to getting a shot.”

Coronavirus daily case rates continue to decline, but not enough for Orange County to move into the less-restrictive yellow tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

A graduation into the yellow tier requires that the case rate must get below 2 per 100,000 population.

Another 13,473 COVID-19 tests were logged Wednesday for a total of 3,568,067.

The two additional deaths logged Wednesday raised the death toll in December to 930 and 1,508 in January. Those were the deadliest months since the pandemic began, with fatalities fueled by holiday activities.

The death toll so far in April is seven. The death toll for March stands at 169, and 569 for February.

After Prosecutors' Request, Police Back Down From Plan to Release Orange Shooting Video

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 18:13:23 +0000

The man suspected of shooting and killing four people at an Orange office complex last month and one of the wounded victims remain hospitalized, police said at a Wednesday news conference that was expected to include the release of responding officers’ body-worm camera video.

Police had planned to release video Wednesday that is part of the investigation into the March 31 shooting that left four people dead, including a 9-year-old boy. The video, part of a critical incident debrief, includes 911 calls and video from cameras worn by the first responding officers. But before the scheduled news conference, Orange police said prosecutors asked that they not release the video because of potential impacts on the criminal investigation.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer sent a letter earlier in the day asking police not to release the nine-minute video they had prepared, which included portions of 911 calls and footage in which gunshots are heard.

“While new laws require your department to release videos after the incident occurs, there are exceptions when there is an on-going criminal prosecution,” Spitzer wrote. “Releasing the video could have a negative impact on the prosecution of this case and the future decisions about this case.”

The man accused in the shooting rampage was charged with murder and attempted murder. He remains hospitalized after being shot and wounded.

Authorities have said they will investigate whether the injury was self-inflicted or caused by officers’ gunfire.

The suspect allegedly used a bike cable lock to lock gates to the building from the inside before opening fire, police said.

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The suspected shooter, from nearby Fullerton, was staying at a motel in the neighboring city of Anaheim and used a rented car to arrive at the office building on Lincoln Avenue. He chained the front and rear gates to the complex with bicycle cable locks and was spotted on security video wearing a bandana over his face, brandishing a semiautomatic handgun and hauling a backpack that contained pepper spray, handcuffs and ammunition, police said.

He targeted Unified Homes, a mobile home brokerage business, authorities said.

The preliminary motive is believed to be related to a business and personal relationship between the suspect and victims, investigators said.

Authorities identified the people killed in the attack as Luis Tovar, 50, who owned Unified Homes; Leticia Solis Guzman, 58; and Jenevieve Raygoza, 28, and her brother, Matthew Farias, 9.

The 9-year-old boy was found cradled in the arms of a wounded woman later identified as Blanca Tomayo, the mother of Matthew and Raygoza. She remains hospitalized, police said Wednesday.

Top ranking Ramen & Tsukemen Tao has opened in Orange

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 13:09:14 +0000

Ramen & Tsukemen Tao — ranked second on Brad A. Johnson’s top 10 Japanese ramen restaurants in Orange County in 2020 — has opened a second O.C. location in Orange.

Japanese Chef Toshimasa Sano worked at the Tsujita Ramen in Tokyo for 10 years before coming to Southern California where critics embraced him; he was dubbed “the king of tonkotsu ramen in Los Angeles” by the late food writer Jonathan Gold.

Ramen & Tsukemen Tao has opened a second O.C. location in Orange. (Courtesy of Ramen & Tsukemen Tao)
Ramen & Tsukemen Tao has opened a second O.C. location in Orange. (Courtesy of Ramen & Tsukemen Tao)
Ramen & Tsukemen Tao has opened a second O.C. location in Orange. Seen here, Spicy White Miso Ramen. (Courtesy of Ramen & Tsukemen Tao)

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Sano opened a shop in Buena Park in 2019, bringing his renowned white miso ramen and other dishes, including red miso ramen, tonkotsu ramen and tsukemen dipping noodles. Signature items range from $4.25-$14.50.

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He’s eager to introduce his cuisine to another part of Orange County, he said in an announcement about his new 42-seat restaurant.

“Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning made by fermenting soybeans with salt and koji mold. It’s full of probiotics and linked to a variety of health benefits, including a stronger immune system,” Sano said. “I hope to serve this umami-packed miso-based ramen to residents of the City of Orange.”

At either restaurant, diners can customize the bowls with toppings such as soft-boiled eggs, marinated bamboo shoots, green onions, roasted pork, nori and vegetables. Pork buns and white rice can be served alongside.

At the Orange location the menu has been expanded to include more non-ramen and appetizer dishes such as three types of rice bowls, four types of buns and curry rice. Starters include Chicken Karaage (Japanese fried chicken), seaweed salad and tofu salad. There is also a “Kids Plate.”

Sano has responded to customer requests to add Savory Chicken Ramen made with chicken broth, vegetarian ramen with miso broth and eggless noodles for vegan diners.

Find it: 2143 N. Tustin St., Ste. 1, Orange, 657-223-9736, ramentao.net.

Open: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.

Man who attacked elderly couple at Orange park is charged with hate crimes

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 12:20:33 +0000

A 26-year-old man who attacked a Korean American couple as they walked at Grijalva Park in Orange was charged Tuesday, April 20 with hate crimes.

Michael Orlando Vivona faces felony hate crime and elder abuse charges for each of the victims, a 79-year-old man and 80-year-old woman, court records show.

On Sunday, Vivona went up to the victims in the park and punched them each in the face, knocking them down, Orange police said. After the assault, park-goers surrounded Vivona and held him in place until officers arrived to arrest him.

After being interviewed by police, investigators concluded Vivona’s attack was racially motivated. He faces sentence enhancements for the hate crimes, a criminal complaint shows.

“He’s got some sort of fixation on the Asian community,” Orange police Sgt. Phil McMullin said.

Vivona was also identified as being the man who threatened U.S. Olympian Sakura Kokumai, who is Japanese American, during another encounter earlier this month. He wore the same clothes in both incidents.

During that April 1 run-in, Kokumai was working out at the same park when Vivona verbally harassed her. She posted videos of the rant on her Instagram page, which incited anger as another instance of attacks toward the Asian community.

Kokumai did not initially file a police report but later did. McMullin said Monday that after Vivona’s arrest, investigators concluded his threats toward her were also racially motivated.

Prosecutors have not filed charges related to Kokumai’s encounter with Vivona, saying that it is still under investigation, said Kimberly Edds, spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Burglar Pleads Guilty After Downloading Porn During Break-in, Leaving Semen on Laptop

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 03:49:10 +0000

A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday and was immediately sentenced to more than six years in prison for breaking into the residence of three female college students in the city of Orange, helping himself to refreshments and using a laptop computer belonging to one of the residents to download porn and commit a sex act.

Jonathan Jose Ruiz of Orange accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary Pohlson, who sentenced the defendant to six years and eight months behind bars. Orange County Deputy District Attorney Evelyn Vasquez objected to the plea deal.

Ruiz was given credit for 511 days behind bars, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to single felony counts each of burglary and vandalism.

When he was arrested in 2018, police said the defendant broke into the home on the evening of Oct. 4, 2018, went through the residents’ underwear and then left his semen on the computer, after downloading pornographic images and viewing them online, said Sgt. Phil McMullin of the Orange Police Department.

Ruiz also helped himself to some milk and cookies, according to McMullin.

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Police sent the evidence from the computer to a lab, and prosecutors used a new method to identify the suspect more quickly than usual, McMullin said.

When he was arrested, he was in possession of two pairs of underwear belonging to the victims, among other items, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The defendant’s DNA was in the system due to his conviction for vandalizing bathrooms at El Modena High School in Orange with graffiti in 2017, according to court records. He pleaded guilty Oct. 23, 2017, to misdemeanor counts of vandalism and possession of graffiti devices and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service — specifically graffiti removal.

Man who attacks Korean American couple in Orange had harassed Japanese American Olympian, police say

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 18:36:39 +0000

A 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of committing a hate crime after Orange police say he punched an elderly Korean American couple over the weekend and harassed an Olympic athlete who is Japanese American in the same park earlier this month.

Just before 7:40 p.m. Sunday, April 18, the couple was walking at Grijalva Park, off of Prospect and Spring streets, when a man came up to them and punched each in the face, knocking them down.

Police said Michael Orlando Vivona was unprovoked and didn’t speak during the attack on the 80-year-old woman and the 79-year-old man.

Paramedics treated the victims at the Orange park, and they said they could just walk back home on their own, Sgt. Phil McMullin said. Police offered them a ride home, but they declined the offer.

Vivona was quickly taken into custody on suspicion of elder abuse and a hate crime.

“People at the park surrounded him and held him until officers got there,” McMullin said. “People knew about the incident from before.”

That incident occurred on April 1 when Sakura Kokumai, a karate champion set to represent the United States in the Olympic Games this summer, was working out at Grijalva.

A man, since identified by police as Vivona, aggressively yelled at her. Kokumai took out her cell phone to record the rant and later shared it to her Instagram page – where it drew the ire of many, especially in a time when it appears the number of attacks against the Asian community has increased.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sakura Kokumai (@sakurakokumaikarate)

In the video, the man can be heard yelling the word “Chinese” and saying, “You’re a loser. Go home, you stupid (expletive). … I’ll (expletive) you up.”

Hawaiian-born Kokumai is Japanese American. She is a highly decorated athlete and been named to the U.S. team for the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.

Though Kokumai did not initially file a police report, she did later, McMullin said.

Police believe both incidents were hate crimes, the sergeant said. The District Attorney’s Office will determine whether to file charges.

“(Vivona) made statements to indicate that the attacks were racially motivated,” McMullin said. “He’s got some sort of fixation on the Asian community.”

Vivona was wearing the same clothes in both incidents, police said, adding that he appears to be a transient living out of his car; his last recorded home city is Corona. He was not known to police in Orange, McMullin said.

The suspect was being held in lieu of $65,000 bail, jail records show.

Experts and activists have said anti-Chinese rhetoric rising from the COVID-19 pandemic plays a large part in the apparent uptick of attacks on the Asian community. Former President Donald Trump called the coronavirus “the Chinese virus.”

Last month, the Orange County Board of Supervisors passed resolutions condemning anti-Asian racism.

More than just the man bothered Kokumai.

“Yes, what happened was horrible, but I don’t know which was worse, a stranger yelling and threatening to hurt me for no reason or people around me who witnessed everything and not doing a thing,” she said in her post.

Sunday evening, that wasn’t the case, as witnesses who police say were familiar with that incident stepped up to help.

Warm, windy conditions bring record heat, increased fire danger to Southern California

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 17:07:34 +0000

Elevated fire conditions remain a concern across Southern California Monday, one day after hot and dry conditions led to three new record temperatures for the day being tied or set.

Afternoon highs for Monday are expected to climb mostly into the 80s and 90s in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures along the coast will be cooler as an onshore flow returns Monday.

Three daily record high temperatures were reached across the Southland on Sunday however.

It was quite a hot day across many areas in SoCal, with 4 of our climate sites breaking or tying records! LAX, Camarillo, and our office in Oxnard all broke records and Santa Barbara Airport tied theirs. Check out the graphic for the details! #CAwx #LAheat #isthissummer pic.twitter.com/b1cFnD19ld
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) April 19, 2021

Camarillo Airport (89), Oxnard (86), and LAX (87) all set new records, while Santa Barbara Airport (79) tied their high set in 2016.

Low humidities combined with continuing above average temperatures have fire officials concerned about the possibility of wildfires igniting Monday.

Strike teams have been placed around the Southland in hopes of responding quickly to any fires that may start.

Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesperson Trevor Winton said fire season doesn't just occur in summer and fall anymore.

“The truth is we’re getting small starts every day,” Winton said. “The fire season really does come on fast and all it takes is one wind event and a couple hot days and all of a sudden those fuels are ready to go,” he said.

Officials are asking everyone to use caution with any potential source of spark or flame, such as using weed whackers with a metal blade, driving in tall grass and tossing cigarette butts.

Also, remember to drink enough water to stay hydrated and never leave children or pets in the car.

Cooler temperatures are expected to arrive beginning Tuesday. There is even a small chance of light showers on Thursday.

Celebrating milestones, celebrating service, celebrating community … Bravo!

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 14:40:52 +0000

Family Zooms in for Orange resident’s 100th birthday

Marion Hunt, a resident of Oakmont of Orange Traditions Memory Care, recently celebrated her 100th birthday with a small group of family and others toasting her on Zoom.

Marion Hunt, a resident of Orange, recently celebrated her 100th birthday. An early gift of a COVID-19 vaccine made the occasion better. (Courtesy of the family)
Marion Hunt is pictured here circa 1940. Hunt, originally from Britt, Iowa, was named “Miss Britt” when she was 19. (Courtesy of the family)

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Hunt, who was born in Britt, Iowa, has lived in Southern California for more than 75 years. Her inspiring life story includes being named “Miss Britt” when she was 19, raising four children, teaching preschool and fostering a lifelong passion for the arts.

She met her second husband when they were both performers at Lakewood Community Theater, and on Saturday nights, the family played charades or read lines from plays. Always one for a good beat, Hunt was one of few women of her generation who played the drums.

According to daughter Tracy, Hunt had a knack for connecting with people and touching their lives. In the late 1940s and ’50s, for instance, Hunt and her husband would visit local hospitals and perform a two-person play to lift the spirits of iron lung patients.

“My mom always had a great energy and enthusiasm for life that was rooted in her faith,” Tracy said. “We are grateful to be able to celebrate this milestone birthday with her and toast to a life well lived.”

St. Catherine’s Academy obstacle course promotes social, emotional and physical health

St. Catherine’s Academy (SCA) in Anaheim has been open for full-time in-person instruction since August. That means boys in kindergarten through eighth grade have had a chance to tackle the academy’s legendary obstacle course, which builds motor skills, coordination, teamwork, problem-solving skills, sensory exploration, strength and endurance.

Staff Sgt. May, military director at St. Catherine’s Academy in Anaheim, teaches fifth grade cadet Ramiro Nunez how to use the rope course. The ropes are part of the academy’s obstacle course, which helps students build strength and increase self-confidence and problem-solving skills. (Courtesy of St. Catherine’s Academy)
Capt. Ramos and Staff Sgt. May, military directors at St. Catherine’s Academy in Anaheim, have fun teaching cadet Kyle Zangger proper usage of the obstacle course. (Courtesy of St. Catherine’s Academy)
Cadet Aidan Perez trains with Capt. Ramos and Staff Sgt. May on the bucket ropes at St. Catherine’s Academy. (Courtesy of St. Catherine’s Academy)

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As an all-boys Catholic school with a military tradition, St. Catherine’s Academy has always emphasized physical activity, and its obstacle course has been the perfect addition to its campus.

The course was made possible more than a decade ago by sponsorships from Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor and former Major League baseball player Matt Treanor. After 10 years, SCA received a generous sponsorship from SCA board members Peter Ganahl and Mr. and Mrs. Levecke to upgrade the course.

Mission Viejo gets special donation to help pets

Mission Viejo is now better prepared to help pets in case of a disaster.

AKC Reunite, the largest not-for-profit pet identification and recovery service provider in the United States, donated an AKC Pet Disaster Relief trailer to the city. This life-saving equipment can be transported to any local disaster scene where help is needed in sheltering pets.

The city of Mission Viejo recently received an AKC Pet Disaster Relief trailer. The trailer helps to create a safe, temporary homebase for at least 65 pets during the first 72 hours after a disaster is declared.(Courtesy of AKC Reunite)

“The Mission Viejo trailer is our 9st AKC Pet Disaster Relief trailer donation. The trailer will provide crucial resources to help the city of Mission Viejo Animal Services team quickly set up emergency sheltering and care for pets displaced by natural or civil disasters,” said Tom Sharp, CEO of AKC Reunite.

The equipment in the AKC Pet Disaster Relief trailers helps to create a safe, temporary homebase for at least 65 pets during the first 72 hours after a disaster is declared.

The trailers house and deliver essential animal care items such as crates and carriers, AKC Reunite microchips and an AKC Reunite universal microchip scanner, bowls, collars and leashes, as well as fans, lighting and a generator, cleaning supplies and maintenance items. These supplies can be used as co-location shelters, where people can evacuate with their pets, as well as emergency animal shelters for displaced animals.

— Submitted by AKC Reunite

Local veteran celebrates 100th birthday

World War II Army veteran Melvin Askanas recently celebrated his 100th birthday with drive-by festivities and a visit from the mayor of La Habra, local police officers and firefighters.

World War II Army veteran Melvin Askanas recently celebrated his 100th birthday. (Courtesy of Paula Askanas)
Melvin Askanas holds a certificate of recognition from the city of La Habra. As a serviceman, Askanas traveled from New York to Europe aboard the Queen Mary and served in Normandy, France. (Courtesy of Paula Askanas)
World War II Army veteran Melvin Askanas is honored by La Habra police officers. After serving in the military, Askanas opened a pet shop in Montebello, which he ran for more than 30 years. (Courtesy of Paula Askanas)
“Not everyone looks this good at 100.” That’s certainly true for World War II Army veteran Melvin Askanas. (Courtesy of Paula Askanas)

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Askanas was born and raised in New York. As a serviceman, he traveled from New York to Europe aboard the Queen Mary and served in Normandy, France. He and his battalion supplied equipment to U.S. troops on Utah Beach on D-Day.

After he was discharged, Askanas moved to Hollywood, where he met his wife, the late Arleen. They moved to Montebello, where they had one daughter, Laurie, and opened a pet shop, which he ran for more than 30 years.

Talkative and charismatic, Askanas is well-known and loved in the community.

— Submitted by Paula Askanas

Local teen published in New York Times

Christian Lee, a student at Whittier Christian High School in La Habra, is now a New York Times published photographer.

A photograph by Christian Lee, a student at Whittier Christian High School in La Habra, was featured in The New York Times’ Coming of Age section. (Courtesy of Christian Lee)
Whittier Christian High student Christian Lee photographed his friend in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The New York Times had asked teens about challenges during the pandemic and received more than 5,500 entries. (Photo by Christian Lee)

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Lee was chosen as one of 35 featured teenagers in The New York Times Coming of Age section. The Times asked the teens about challenges during the pandemic and received more than 5,500 entries.

“Being a Featured Winner in The New York Times Coming of Age Contest is the greatest honor of my entire career,” Lee said in an email. “Having my photography published digitally and in print serves as a strong source of personal encouragement. The recognition inspires me to create more work and to fully realize the importance of art in creating social change.”

Milestone celebration for WWII veteran

Anaheim resident and World War II veteran Kenneth Conrad Cooper had a milestone day in March: He became a centenarian and received a congressional proclamation from Navy personnel.

World War II Navy veteran Kenneth Conrad Cooper recently celebrated his 100th birthday. (Courtesy photo)
shopmainplacemall.com/events/.

Address: 2800 N. Main St., Santa Ana

EDD grant for legal clinic

Goodwill of Orange County has received a $400,000 grant from California’s Employment Development Department. The nonprofit said it will use the money to fund programs at the Tierney Center for Veteran Services.

The Veterans Employment-Related Assistance Program awarded a total of $4.9 million for 11 organizations in 13 counties that will help veterans find jobs.

Goodwill said the money will be used for programs that help veterans find work including career counseling, training, credentialing, apprenticeships, on-the-job training and job placement help.

Law firm expands to OC

Blank Rome, a law firm based in Philadelphia, is forming an Orange County office and has hired partner Sharon R. Klein to serve as chair of the Privacy, Security & Data Protection practice. Previoulsy she was at Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders.

Blank Rome, a law firm based in Philadelphia, is forming an Orange County office and so far has added three attorneys to the firm’s Corporate, M&A and Securities group.

Partner Sharon R. Klein will serve as chair of the Privacy, Security & Data Protection practice. She is joined by partner Alex C. Nisenbaum and associate Karen H. Shin.

The company is still on the hunt for office space. The trio of attorneys joined Blank Rome from Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders where Klein led compliance for the Cybersecurity, Information Governance and Privacy practice group.

360 Clinic expands

Westminster-based 360 Clinic has a new partnership with the U.S. Navy, expanding its COVID-19 testing services to San Diego and Bremerton, Wash. The company is Orange County’s health care partner for the convention center testing.

Board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon Bao-Thy Grant created Orange-based Bao Tea, a company behind an all-in-one tooth brush and tongue scraper. The BPA-free device costs $14.95 and has a toothbrush holder for $8.95. (Courtesy of Bao Tea)

Surgeon invents combo toothbrush

A new oral care company in Orange has launched an all-in-one toothbrush and tongue cleaner.

Board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon Bao-Thy Grant founded Bao Tea to create products with an eye on users’ oral health. The BPA-free toothbrush and tongue cleaner come with nylon bristles on one end and a four-tiered tongue cleaner on the other.

The device costs $14.95 and has a toothbrush holder for $8.95. Both are available at baotea.com and on Amazon.

Fertility clinic opens in NB

Harvard and Yale alumna Dr. Sanaz Ghazal has opened Rise Fertility in Newport Beach. She also has offices in Mission Viejo.

Rise Fertility has opened its first location in Newport Beach.

The clinic, which offers a host of fertility treatments, was founded by Harvard and Yale alumna Dr. Sanaz Ghazal. Rise also has a location in Mission Viejo.

Address: 3333 W. Coast Highway, Ste 300, Newport Beach.

On the move

Dr. Dipti Itchhaporia at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian has been appointed as the American College of Cardiology president for 2021- 2022. She will lead the more than 54,000-member organization, which has a mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health.

Walter Yenkosky, director of operations for Orange County Music and Dance, a nonprofit performing arts school in Irvine, has been promoted to chief operating officer. Previously he was at Northwest Alliance of Consultants in Minnesota.

On board

Henry J. Maier, president and CEO of FedEx Ground, will be appointed to Irvine-based CalAmp’s board of directors, effective June 1. Maier has been responsible for the strategic direction and performance of FedEx Ground, a $22.7 billion subsidiary of FedEx Corp., since 2013. CalAmp is a software tech firm that is known for creating the LoJack system used in vehicles. Other products include Tracker, Here Comes The Bus and Bus Guardian.

Mara James, founder and CEO of the Extraordinary Lives Foundation, was recently appointed to the Orange County Behavioral Health Advisory Board. The Laguna Niguel resident brings experience as a nonprofit professional in children’s mental health. In her role on the advisory board, she’ll work on a committee for Student Mental Health, focused on students struggling emotionally due to the pandemic, and the pandemic’s impact on children and youth through the county and OC Department of Education collaborations.

Research investment

CureDuchenne Ventures, the investment arm of the Newport Beach-based nonprofit CureDuchenne, has invested an undisclosed amount of money with Entrada Therapeutics.

The Boston-based Entrada Therapeutics recently announced a total of $116 million in financing from investors, including CureDuchenne Ventures.

The money will go toward helping drug development to fight the rare and deadly form of muscular dystrophy.

PFLAG Newport Beach will be awarding up to four scholarships to graduating Class of 2021 LGBTQIA seniors. Each scholarship, in the amount of $500, will be given to recipients who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or straight ally and who will be continuing in higher education.

LGBTQIA scholarships

PFLAG Newport Beach will be awarding up to four scholarships to graduating Class of 2021 LGBTQIA seniors. Each scholarship, in the amount of $500, will be given to recipients who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or straight ally and who will be continuing in higher education.

Applicants must currently have a minimum 2.0 GPA and be a resident of Orange County.

Applications must be received by email no later than May 15, 2021. Scholarships will be announced June 1, and recipients will be invited to an award ceremony June 17.

Apply online at bit.ly/32hW3xk

The awards are made possible by donations from Orange County residents Carrie Freitas and Braunwyn Windham-Burke.

Status Update is compiled from press releases by contributing writer Karen Levin and edited by Business Editor Samantha Gowen. Submit items and high-resolution photos to sgowen@scng.com. Allow at least one week for publication. Items are edited for length and clarity.

Driver arrested on suspicion of DUI after deadly 6-car crash in Corona

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 23:22:25 +0000

The driver of a minivan was arrested on suspicion of DUI for allegedly causing a six-vehicle crash on a Southern California freeway that left a woman dead, authorities said.

Dispatchers received reports Saturday evening of a Ford Windstar speeding erratically in eastbound lanes of State Route 91 in Corona, at times exceeding 90 mph, said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Dean Corey.

Minutes later the van slammed into the back of a Chrysler Voyager, initiating a chain-reaction crash, Corey said.

A woman in the Voyager, 71-year-old Joan McKee, was killed, the Orange County Register reported Sunday. A man in the Voyager was hospitalized with serious injuries.

The driver suspected of causing the crash and one other person suffered minor injuries, Corey said. The DUI suspect was identified as Adrian Antonio, 41, of Fontana. He was arrested Saturday evening following his release from a hospital. It wasn't known Sunday if he has an attorney.

Orange County Reports 79 New Cases of COVID-19, Five Deaths

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 23:13:01 +0000

Orange County reported 79 new cases of COVID-19 and five additional deaths Sunday, while coronavirus hospitalizations in the county decreased.

Sunday’s numbers brought the county’s totals to 252,963 cases and 4,896 fatalities since the pandemic began, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

The number of COVID-19 patients in county hospitals dropped from 134 on Saturday to 124, while the number of those in intensive care dropped from 25 to 23.

The county has 35.2% of its ICU beds available and 74% of its ventilators.

Another 8,032 COVID-19 tests were logged Sunday for a total of 3,542,407.

As of Thursday, the county’s average daily rate of new COVID-19 cases was 2.9 per 100,000 residents, and the overall positivity rate was 1.5%. The positivity rate in underprivileged communities in the health equity category was 1.6%, Orange County CEO Frank Kim said.

“In terms of positivity rates, there isn’t a significant disparity,” Kim said.

Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, said the county’s trends continue to offer good news. “Hospitalizations are still holding steady, but not going up appreciably,” Noymer said Thursday. The county is pumping more shots in arms as the eligibility has widened to anyone 16 and older, Kim said.

“We did almost 16,000 vaccinations yesterday,” Kim said. “We’re taking 16,000 to 17,000 appointments a day, so that’s up a couple of thousand.” Kim said staff at the vaccination sites have been trained to make sure anyone who is underage has a parent or legal guardian with them. A letter from a parent will not be accepted, he said.

Noymer said it will likely be a few weeks before it is easy to get an appointment for an inoculation. “I have Twitter followers saying they can’t get appointments,” Noymer said. “To some extent, you have to be somewhat tenacious if you want a vaccination within the next few weeks. Just because we’re going wide doesn’t mean you weren’t going to have go through some rigamarole.” Noymer added, “People are just going to need to be patient and keep trying.” As more people get vaccinated the appointments will open up, Noymer said.

“It will come to the point and, quite frankly sooner than later, when anyone can get a shot anytime where they can and basically walk into any retail pharmacy and get a shot,” he said. “If things were going to take a turn for the worse those tests would blindside us with positives, and that hasn’t happened, so that’s good news,” Noymer said.

Noymer said he wouldn’t second-guess the federal officials who put a pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of six cases of potentially dangerous blood clots among millions of vaccinations.

“One thing a lot of people don’t realize is just how high the bar is for these vaccines,” Noymer said.

“One-in-a-million blood clots might actually be enough to knock it off the market.” So far, the county has dispensed nearly 2 million doses of vaccine, Kim said.

County-run vaccination sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as usual, but on Thursdays, the OC Fair and Event Center site will be open from noon to 8 p.m., Kim said.

The Santa Ana College vaccination site also offers noon to 8 p.m. hours on Mondays, he added. If the night hours are popular officials will consider adding more evening hours in the future, Kim said.

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California Mass Shooting Suspect Was Barred From Buying Guns

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 00:23:45 +0000

The man accused of going on a shooting rampage at a Southern California business, killing four people, should not have been allowed to buy or own guns because of a California law that prohibits people from purchasing weapons for 10 years after being convicted of a crime.

Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez was convicted of battery in 2015, which should have kept him from possessing or buying guns or ammo at stores that conduct background checks. While it’s unclear how Gaxiola, 44, acquired the weapons used in the March 31 shooting, the tragedy raises concerns over California’s ability to enforce strict gun control laws, the Sacramento Bee reported on Friday.

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Police say Gaxiola had targeted Unified Homes, the mobile home brokerage company in Orange, and had personal and business relationships with the victims. His estranged wife had worked in the business for more than 10 years as a broker assistant.

The shooting occurred nearly six years after Gaxiola pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery, which should have put him on the list prohibiting him from owning firearms for the next 10 years. The list is used during the state’s gun and ammunition background check process.

Two weeks after the mass shooting, police learned Gaxiola was not on the “Prohibited Persons List,” though he might still have been blocked from buying a gun during a standard background check, Orange Police Lt. Jennifer Amat said.

Detectives were still working on tracing the Glock semi-automatic handgun and ammunition, she said.

It’s rare that a background check misses a prohibited person, or that a dealer would decide to still sell to a banned customer, said Steve Lindley, a former California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms chief who now works as a program manager at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Even with all the stopgaps in a “very, very good system,” Lindley said, people still acquire guns illegally.

“Unfortunately, where you have strict gun laws, there will always be a market for illegal firearms,” Lindley said. “Because people want to get them one way or another.”

California in 2016 became the first and only state in the nation to establish the Armed and Prohibited Persons System for tracking firearm owners who fall into a prohibited category based on their criminal histories or their risk to themselves or others.

The system is intended to prevent gun violence by blocking those deemed too risky to own a firearm from possessing a gun or buying one. Pulling records from several databases, the system is supposed to alert authorities when someone who once legally purchased a firearm is placed on the prohibited persons list.

Agents with the Department of Justice, which manages the state’s background check system, will then track a prohibited person to confiscate their weapons and ammunition. The agency says it lacks the staff to clear a backlog in cases — a problem officials noted became more pronounced because of staffing shortages caused by the pandemic.

Without knowing more about how Gaxiola got his handgun and ammunition, there are “missing pieces to the story that are critical,” to understanding whether he obtained it because of an institutional failure, said Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine physician at UC Davis Medical Center, where he is the director of the Violence Prevention Research Program.

Gaxiola, 44, was charged with four murder counts and three attempted murder counts for firing at two officers who shot and wounded him when he fired at them with his handgun, and for critically wounding a woman. She was the mother of a 9-year-old boy who died in her arms.

Gaxiola’s arraignment has been repeatedly postponed because he remains hospitalized and unable to communicate with his court-appointed attorneys.

Man accused of shooting rampage in Orange was barred from buying gun in California

Sat, 17 Apr 2021 22:50:07 +0000

Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez was convicted of battery in 2015, which should have kept him from possessing or buying guns or ammo at stores that conduct background checks. While it's unclear how Gaxiola, 44, acquired the weapons used in the March 31 shooting, the tragedy raises concerns over California's ability to enforce strict gun control laws, the Sacramento Bee reported on Friday,

Detectives were still working on tracing the Glock semi-automatic handgun and ammunition, she said.

It's rare that a background check misses a prohibited person, or that a dealer would decide to still sell to a banned customer, said Steve Lindley, a former California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms chief who now works as a program manager at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Even with all the stopgaps in a “very, very good system,” Lindley said, people still acquire guns illegally.

“Unfortunately, where you have strict gun laws, there will always be a market for illegal firearms,” Lindley said. “Because people want to get them one way or another.”

Gaxiola's arraignment has been repeatedly postponed because he remains hospitalized and unable to communicate with his court-appointed attorneys.

Orange County Continues Positive COVID-19 Trends

Sat, 17 Apr 2021 22:00:42 +0000

Orange County reported 80 new cases of COVID-19 and five additional deaths Saturday, while coronavirus hospitalizations remained steady.

Saturday’s numbers brought the county’s totals to 252,884 cases and 4,891 fatalities since the pandemic began, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

The number of COVID patients in county hospitals dropped from 135 on Friday to 134, while the number of those in intensive care dropped from 29 to 25. The county has 35.5% of its ICU beds available and 72% of its ventilators.

Another 12,627 COVID-19 tests were logged Saturday for a total of 3,534,375.

As of Thursday, the county’s average daily rate of new COVID cases was 2.9 per 100,000 residents, and the overall positivity rate was 1.5%. The positivity rate in underprivileged communities in the health equity category was 1.6%, Orange County CEO Frank Kim said.

“In terms of positivity rates, there isn’t a significant disparity,” Kim said.

Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, said the county’s trends continue to offer good news.

“Hospitalizations are still holding steady, but not going up appreciably,” Noymer said Thursday.

The county is pumping more shots in arms as the eligibility has widened to anyone 16 and older, Kim said. “We did almost 16,000 vaccinations yesterday,” Kim said. “We’re taking 16,000 to 17,000 appointments a day, so that’s up a couple of thousand.”

Kim said staff at the vaccination sites have been trained to make sure anyone who is underage has a parent or legal guardian with them. A letter from a parent will not be accepted, he said.

Noymer added, “People are just going to need to be patient and keep trying.” As more people get vaccinated the appointments will open up, Noymer said. “It will come to the point and, quite frankly sooner than later, when anyone can get a shot anytime where they can and basically walk into any retail pharmacy and get a shot,” he said. “If things were going to take a turn for the worse those tests would blindside us with positives, and that hasn’t happened, so that’s good news,” Noymer said.

Noymer said he wouldn’t second-guess the federal officials who put a pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of six cases of potentially dangerous blood clots among millions of vaccinations.

‘One thing a lot of people don’t realize is just how high the bar is for these vaccines,” Noymer said. “One-in-a-million blood clots might actually be enough to knock it off the market.”

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Orange County won't require COVID-19 vaccine 'passport' following backlash

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 00:06:41 +0000

When Orange County announced last week that it would be starting a vaccine “passport” pilot program this month, it caused uproar among some residents who believe it would encroach on their freedom.

The announcement came amid a national conversation over potential government-issued vaccine passports, which the state and federal government aren’t requiring.

About 200 residents showed up to speak at an Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday to voice their opposition to the county’s program. Orange County Health Care Agency Director Clayton Chau and the supervisors sought to allay their concerns before the public comment period.

Chau said the county isn’t requiring a vaccine passport, but the agency is planning to offer a digital vaccination record for residents who request it. The record will likely be in the form of a scannable QR code in the Othena app, which the county has used for scheduling coronavirus testing and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Orange County Officials Prepare for Expansion of Vaccine Eligibility

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 22:18:22 +0000

Orange County officials Wednesday were ramping up for Thursday’s first day of full access to COVID-19 vaccines for anyone aged 16 and older who wants one.

For now, county officials will not have to boost staffing at its vaccination sites, Orange County CEO Frank Kim said.

“We don’t have to go too much higher because our dose allocation doesn’t change and we’re still scheduling the same 15,000 or so a day,” Kim said. “So, I don’t think from a staffing level it’s any more significant.” But when there is a significant increase in vaccine allocations then there will be a correspondent boost in staffing, Kim said.

So far, the county has dispensed nearly 2 million doses of vaccine, Kim said. The county-run vaccination sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as usual, but on Thursdays the OC Fair and Event Center site will be open from noon to 8 p.m., Kim said.

“I would encourage people to look for the option of same-day appointments,” he said. “We are offering them where available tomorrow, so tomorrow could be your lucky day and you can get in there and knock out that appointment quickly.”

The pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine likely won’t lead to a substantial impact on vaccinations, Kim said. “It has an impact to the extent we have less vaccine doses overall,” Kim said. “But it wasn’t the bulk of the vaccines we distributed so in that way I don’t think it has a long-term impact.”

County officials have not seen any favoritism among residents toward any of the vaccines, Kim said. “We thought there might be some hesitancy among some Orange County residents,” Kim said. “But when you make an appointment you know which vaccine platform you’re getting…and we had a very even response that Orange County residents did not have any particular preference. They were all equally popular.”

Kim also noted that it appears vaccine hesitancy is on the decline, judging from surveys experts have been doing.

As of Wednesday, the county’s case rate per 100,000 residents was at 2.9 and the overall positivity rate was at 1.5%. The positivity rate among the disadvantaged communities in the health equity category was down to 1.6%, Kim said.

According to the weekly update from the state, issued on Tuesdays, the county’s test positivity rate remained at 1.6%, while the adjusted case rate per 100,000 people on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag remained at 3.

The county’s Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hotspots in disadvantaged communities, improved from 2.1% to 1.8%. The county’s positivity rates qualify for the least-restrictive yellow tier of the state’s four-tier system for reopening the economy, but the case counts are still in the orange tier.

A graduation into the yellow tier requires that the case rate must get below 2 per 100,000 population. The county also reported just 89 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday and 13 additional deaths.

California COVID-19 Vaccinations

The map tracks the number of doses administered by a recipient’s county of residence according to the The California Department of Public Health.

Source: The statewide totals for doses administered reflect Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Otherwise we used data from the California Department of Public Health.
Amy O’Kruk/NBC

The cumulative case count now stands at 252,627 and the death toll increased to 4,862.

With Wednesday’s fatalities, the death toll for March rose to 158.

On Wednesday, for the first time a fatality was reported for April, which occurred on April 1, but COVID-19 fatalities are often staggered or delayed in reporting for a variety of reasons.

The death toll for February increased to 562. The death toll for January, the deadliest month in the pandemic, remained at 1,493.

Coronavirus hospitalizations increased from 115 on Tuesday to 122 on Wednesday with the number of intensive care unit patients decreasing from 31 to 30.

The county has 35.8% of its ICU beds available, and 70% of its ventilators. Another 13,143 tests were reported Wednesday, upping the cumulative total to 3,494,789. The county is conducting 297.6 tests per 100,000 people on a 7-day average with a 7-day lag.

The county announced it will close its large testing sites at the OC Fair & Event Center and Anaheim Convention Center on April 30. Kim said demand at the testing sites has dropped off in favor of the at-home mail kits.

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Arrest Made After High-Speed Chase Ends in Mission Viejo

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 01:43:01 +0000

A driver of a truck was arrested after a high-speed chase on freeways in Orange County on Tuesday evening.

The chase ended when the truck spun out in an intersection after getting off a freeway in Mission Viejo.

Review of Cold Case Rape Kits Leads to Conviction in Orange County

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 12:53:21 +0000

Orange County prosecutors Monday reported a conviction in a cold-case kidnapping from 1993, thanks to work done to clear out a backlog of rape kits.

Michael Ray Armijo, 52, was sentenced to 24 years to life in prison on March 11, according to court records. He was convicted at trial Feb. 18 of two felony counts of kidnapping to commit robbery with sentencing enhancements for the use of a gun.

The county received a $1.86 million grant to inventory thousands of kits taken after sexual assaults to identify which ones need to be tested, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Out of 6,350 kits, 3,704 were determined to be untested and 1,692 were eligible for examination by the Orange County Crime Lab, officials said.

One of those sexual assault kits led investigators to Armijo, who pretended to be a police officer on April 5, 1993, and forced a man and his date to drive from the woman’s home in Stanton, where the couple had parked, to another place in the city, where he ordered the man out of the car and then raped the woman, the District Attorney’s Office said.

After raping the woman he took their credit cards and driver’s licenses and threatened to kill them if they went to the police, prosecutors said.

Orange County Considers Vaccination Verification System

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 05:24:47 +0000

Orange County supervisors are set on Tuesday to discuss providing verification to COVID-19 vaccine recipients, but want to steer clear of taking positions on whether businesses should show a preference for the vaccinated.

“We’re going to start referring to it as a verification,” Orange County CEO Frank Kim said. “We’re not taking a position on whether businesses should restrict access to those who are vaccinated.”

County officials want to get away from referring to verification as a “passport,” Kim said.

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“We are a health provider in this instance,” Kim said. “It’s just like if you get your vaccine through a local hospital. If you would like verification of the vaccine allocation we’re required to give it to you.”

But, Kim added, “It’s getting confused with we’re supporting some kind of restrictive process. We’re just trying to figure out a way that if you request verification we’ll assist you in doing so in as easily a way as possible.”

The Board of Supervisors will consider adding $3.8 million to its contract with Composite Apps Inc., the developer of the Othena app, to provide a variety of new services, including digital proof of an inoculation at a county-run site, Kim said.

Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, said that makes sense.

“Americans, by and large, chafe at the idea of showing papers,” Noymer said. “We kind of recoil at this, so it’s smart to not use the word `passport,’ but at the same time some of the same people who chafe at the idea of passports want this verification, so it’s a smart move on their part.”

Noymer wondered how the verification would be different from the card issued to any vaccine recipient, whether the inoculation came from a public site or through a private healthcare provider.

“But I don’t see the wrongness of having a backup because some people are going to lose those vaccine cards at the beach,” Noymer said.

Kim said the digital verification is meant to provide an extra layer of proof because some cards are being forged.

As for whether some businesses will require customers to be vaccinated, Noymer said they do so “at their own peril.”

“If they’re going to lose 45% of their customers, watch them change back quicker than you can say Huntington Beach,” Noymer said.

Businesses can deny service to anyone — short of a protected class as spelled out by the law — and “customers are free to get pissed off about it,” Noymer said. “It will be interesting to see how it plays out.”

Noymer said the issue of getting vaccinated has become politicized, which further complicates the issue.

“There is a political divide, which is so unfortunate,” Noymer said. “I am a public health professor and I advise people to get vaccinated.”

“I don’t care what your politics are. I’m not here to talk about politics, and I’ve been equally critical in different facets of both administrations that have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic, but I am totally non-partisan. I don’t regard it as a partisan issue, but it is, and it has become quite a drag.”

Orange County on Monday reported 120 new COVID-19 cases, but did not log any new deaths. The cumulative case count now stands at 252,436 and the death toll remained at 4,839.

The death toll for March stands at 146 as of Monday. There have been no fatalities reported in April, but COVID-19 fatalities are often staggered or delayed in reporting for a variety of reasons.

For February, the death toll stands at 560. Both months stand in contrast to a holiday-fueled rise in cases when 1,493 COVID-19-related fatalities were reported in January, the deadliest month in the pandemic by far, and 927 in December, the second deadliest month.

Hospitalizations declined from 124 on Sunday to 120 on Monday with the number of intensive care unit patients increasing from 25 to 29.

The county has 33.9% of its ICU beds available, and 70% of its ventilators.

The county’s statistics have stabilized over the past few weeks despite relaxed restrictions.

“If I look at the actual infection data and test positivity data week over week we’re in a steady decline, which is all I care about,” Kim said.

The positivity rate on Monday was at 1.6%, and at 1.8% in the “health equity” category for ZIP codes, the hardest hit by the pandemic, Kim said.

“I think overall it’s more of the same, other than the fact that we’ve plateaued across the board in terms of our metrics,” Kim said. “The only thing that will improve it is the continued vaccinations, and that will be relatively slow.”

The county averaged 14,500 inoculations a day over the weekend, Kim said.

“So we’re scheduling around 15,000 a day now,” Kim said.

County officials are ramping up for a rise in demand on Thursday when anyone 16 and older can be vaccinated, Kim said. Those under 18 must get parental permission, he added.

“We should see a bump in demand,” Kim said.

The county’s no-show rate at its vaccination sites has ranged from 2% to 6%, which health professionals say is a relatively low rate, Kim said. It’s possible by the end of this week that at least half of the state will be at least partially vaccinated, Kim said.

Another 6,288 tests were reported Monday, upping the cumulative total to 3,471,291.

The county announced it will close its large testing sites at the OC Fair & Event Center and Anaheim Convention Center on April 30. Kim said demand at the testing sites have dropped off in favor of the at-home mail kits.

A graduation into the least restrictive yellow tier of the state’s four-tier system for reopening the economy by this week is unlikely because the case rate must get below 2 per 100,000 population, Kim said.

County officials, however, are nervous about a decline in vaccine allocations next week due to contamination of Johnson & Johnson vaccines in a Baltimore plant.

The decline in vaccine allocations is expected as the state is preparing to open up vaccine access to everyone 16 and older this week.

The county has administered 1.8 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to residents, Kim said. It is testing 301.5 per 100,000 residents on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag.

Anaheim elementary schools welcome back students for in-person learning

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 15:04:22 +0000

Anaheim elementary schools on Monday began welcoming back students for hybrid in-person learning.

The reopenings at one of Orange County’s largest school districts came after the county moved into the less-restrictive orange tier of the state's color-coded, four-phase reopening blueprint.

Half of the students from pre-kindergarten to second grade return to their campuses for four hours Mondays and Wednesdays, with the other half attending on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They'll continue with online learning the rest of the time.

Ellina Abovian reports for the KTLA 5 Morning News on April 12, 2021.

COVID-19 vaccination site opens for transgender community in Orange County

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 04:10:47 +0000

A mobile COVID-19 vaccination pod has opened in Orange County to ensure those in the transgender and gender-nonconforming community get protected against the coronavirus.

Alianza Translatinx, a Santa Ana-based transgender-led organization, is working to inoculate trans people with the COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with the O.C. Health Care Agency.

Roughly 250 people from the transgender community received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine when the mobile clinic opened Sunday.

Organizers say it’s crucial for people in the transgender community to access the vaccine from affirming spaces, since they often experience discrimination in the health care system.

“For the transgender community, there's a lot more hesitation because of all the discrimination that we go through and all the barriers that we encounter,” said Khloe Rios-Wyatt, executive director of Alianza Translatinx. “As a transgender woman, I can tell you that going into a clinic, it's already very difficult, challenging and scary.”

Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the O.C. Health Care Agency, said he hopes the site can serve as an example for other local governments to work with their transgender communities.

"We realized that early on there's the issue of vaccine hesitancy, especially in a community that historically been marginalized and so we want to ensure that people in the trans community have access to the vaccine," Chau said.

Orange County COVID Hospitalizations Inch Down; Patients in ICU Drop to 25

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 21:54:49 +0000

Orange County reported 196 new cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths Sunday.

The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals inched down from 125 Saturday to 124, with the number of intensive care unit patients falling from 33 to 25, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. The county has 35.1% of its ICU beds available, and 71% of its ventilators.

Sunday’s numbers brought the county’s totals to 252,316 cases and 4,839 fatalities since the pandemic began.

Another 8,622 tests were reported Sunday, upping the cumulative total to 3,465,003.

“My staff is basically telling me that when the case rates are this low, it could be difficult to continue to make the same level of progress week after week,” Orange County CEO Frank Kim told City News Service on Friday.

“We’ve been flat on case rates for seven or eight days now so it’s hard to predict.”

The positivity rate in the health equity category, which measures the rate in underprivileged communities hardest hit by the pandemic, continues a downward trend, Kim said.

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“The good news is our health equity test positivity rate continues to decline,” Kim said.

The overall positivity rate has remained flat at 1.6% over the past five days, but on Friday the health equity rate had dropped to 1.9%.

“That indicates we have closed the gap between the testing positivity in our most hard-hit communities,” Kim said. “Some of that could be attributed to the hard work staff is doing with mobile clinics.”

The only real way to drive down the case rates will be vaccinating more residents, he said.

County officials, however, are nervous about a decline in vaccine allocations next week due to contamination of Johnson & Johnson vaccines in a Baltimore plant. The decline in vaccine allocations is expected as the state is preparing to open up vaccine access to everyone 16 and older this week.

“I’m a little bit worried about it because we’re expecting to see a bump in demand and we hoped that would coincide with an increase in doses,” Kim said.

The weekly update from the state, issued on Tuesdays, showed the county’s test positivity rate improved from 1.7% to 1.6%, while the adjusted case rate per 100,000 people on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag increased from 2.8 to 3.

The county’s Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hotspots in disadvantaged communities, improved from 2.6% to 2.1%. The county’s positivity rates qualify for the least restrictive yellow tier of the state’s four-tier system for reopening the economy, but the case counts are still in the orange tier.

The county has administered 1.8 million COVID vaccine doses to residents, Kim said. It is testing 301.5 per 100,000 residents on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag.

Demand for tests at the county’s super sites in Anaheim and Costa Mesa have dwindled as residents now opt more for mail-order tests, Kim said Thursday.

“I do believe we’re going to change that model” of testing, he said last week, “by breaking it back down and getting away from the super site concept and having smaller testing kiosks in higher-traffic areas of the county.”

Officials are working to prepare for a surge of vaccine seekers when eligibility expands to everyone aged 16 and older on Thursday, Kim said.

The county’s recent move into the orange tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy allowed restrictions to be eased on a variety of business sectors. Retail stores now do not have to limit attendance at all, and churches, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums were allowed to expand from 25% to 50% of capacity.

Restaurants were given permission to expand indoor dining to 50% and wineries to offer indoor service at 25%, while bars that don’t serve food got the green light to reopen outdoors. Gyms and fitness centers were cleared to expand to 25% of capacity, and family entertainment centers can offer indoor attractions such as bowling.

Orange County Reports Slight Increase in COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 00:01:51 +0000

Orange County reported 422 new cases of COVID-19 and five additional Saturday, along with an increase in the number of county residents hospitalized with the virus.

The 422 new cases is a significant jump from recent days, but health officials say the total includes 348 backlogged positive reports from a private lab for cases that occurred in December and January. Since these are older cases, they will not affect Orange County’s weekly case rate.

The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals rose from 114 on Friday to 125, with the number of intensive care unit patients increasing from 32 to 33, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. The county has 35.2% of its ICU beds available, and 72% of its ventilators.

Saturday’s numbers brought the county’s totals to 252,120 cases and 4,831 fatalities since the pandemic began.

Another 15,183 tests were reported Saturday, upping the cumulative total to 3,456,381.

“We’ve been flat on case rates for seven or eight days now so it’s hard to predict.”

The positivity rate in the health equity category, which measures the rate in underprivileged communities hardest hit by the pandemic, continues a downward trend, Kim said.

“The good news is our health equity test positivity rate continues to decline,” Kim said.

The overall positivity rate has remained flat at 1.6% over the past five days, but on Friday the health equity rate had dropped to 1.9%.

A graduation into the least restrictive yellow tier of the state’s four-tier system for reopening the economy by next week is unlikely because the case rate must get below 2 per 100,000 population, Kim said.

The only real way to drive down the case rates will be vaccinating more residents, he said.

“I’m a little bit worried about it because we’re expecting to see a bump in demand and we hoped that would coincide with an increase in doses,” Kim said.

The county has administered 1.8 million COVID vaccine doses to residents, Kim said. It is testing 301.5 per 100,000 residents on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag.

Demand for tests at the county’s super sites in Anaheim and Costa Mesa have dwindled as residents now opt more for mail-order tests, Kim said Thursday.

The county received 105,000 doses of vaccine this week. Officials are working to prepare for a surge of vaccine seekers when eligibility expands to everyone aged 16 and older on Thursday, Kim said.

The county’s move into the orange tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy last week allowed restrictions to be eased on a variety of business sectors. Retail stores now do not have to limit attendance at all, and churches, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums were allowed to expand from 25% to 50% of capacity.

Orange County to test digital COVID vaccine passports

Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:43:39 +0000

Orange County will launch a pilot program to test out digital COVID-19 vaccine passports, health officials announced this week.

"The Digital Passport enables individuals to participate safety and with peace of mind in activities that involve interactions with other people, including travel, attractions, conferences/meetings, concerts, sports, school and more," Orange County Health Care Agency officials said on Twitter.

Few details were available on how the digital passport would work to verify COVID-19 immunization status.

County health officer, Dr. Clayton Chau, told the O.C. Register that Orange County could easily update its vaccine appointment scheduling website, Othena, so that people who used it to get vaccinated could show anyone proof of their vaccination.

Othena is being used for vaccine appointments at the county's mass inoculation sites, including Disneyland, the O.C. Fairgrounds and Soka University.

So far, 598,838 people are fully vaccinated in Orange County and another 589,230 people have only received one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, according to county data.

Orange County's announcement comes after California state officials unveiled plans to allow private events with more people together if all guests are tested or show proof of full vaccination starting April 15.

Orange County is currently in the orange tier of the state's color-coded, four-tier reopening blueprint. If the region stays in that tier by April 15, it will mean that residents can have private events like wedding receptions or conferences with up to 300 guests outdoors or 150 indoors if everyone shows proof of full vaccination, according to state guidelines.

California Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón said last week the state doesn't have plans to create vaccination passports, but will follow the federal government’s lead.

"If they don't move fast enough, we will come up with technical standards that will be expected — really focusing on making sure that privacy is protected and that equity is is protected," Aragón said.

In this undated photo, provided by NY Governor's Press Office on Saturday March 27, 2021, is the new "Excelsior Pass" app, a digital pass that people can download to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. (NY Governor's Press Office via AP, File)

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the federal government will not require Americans to have vaccine passports.

"The government is not now, nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential," she said in a Tuesday media briefing. "There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential. "

Orange County wouldn't be the first U.S. jurisdiction to try digital passports to verify immunization status.

New York State is using Excelsior Pass, a vaccine passport that is optional for residents to use. It's being touted as "a tool to support reopening New York’s economy and accelerating the return to pre-pandemic activities."

With vaccinations underway and economies reopening, the idea of using digital vaccine passports is being brought up more frequently.

But it has also generated controversy over whether it's government overreach and raised concerns about if requiring them would create inequities since not everyone has access to a smart phone.

They're also drawing opposition from GOP lawmakers.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week issued an executive order saying no governmental entity can issue a vaccine passport, and businesses in that state can’t require them, the Associated Press reported.

Firefighters Honor Boy, 11, Who Calmly Called 911 When Mom Had Medical Emergency

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 05:36:50 +0000

The Orange County Fire Department recognized three children who demonstrated great courage and composure during two emergencies.

Travis Navarro, 11, was one of those honored Thursday morning for the bravery he showed on January 26 when his mother, Rina Sandoval, suffered an episode of epilepsy.

In Navarro’s 911 call, he is heard saying “my mom just had an epileptic episode and I don’t know what to do.”

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The little boy remained calm and followed the instructions of the 911 operator.

“I had told him that if something happens, he has to call 911 and stay calm, and that’s exactly what he did. I’m very proud of him,” Sandoval said.

And it was because of the calm way that the young hero maintained during the situation that he received recognition from Brian Fennesy, the Orange County Fire Chief.

Authorities say it is a good idea to practice with children how to make an emergency call.

“It is very important when they dial 911 to know the address and phone number where you are dialing,” said Samantha Maria Soto, Orange County 911 central dispatcher supervisor.

Thursday’s ceremony also recognized sisters Stephanie and Ashley Roa.

In 2019, 17-year-old sister Stephanie and 15-year-old Ashley took a Fire Department Girls Empowerment course that included how to provide first aid.

Less than a year later, in September 2020, they put the training into practice while driving with their father on the 710 Freeway in Long Beach when they witnessed a terrible accident in which two passengers were ejected from the vehicle.

“The people were seriously injured and needed help,” said Ashley Roa, who received a certificate for her heroism.

The Roa sisters were able to control the bleeding, provide first aid, and prevent the victims from going into shock.

“We just did what we thought was the right thing to do,” Stephanie Roa said.

This story first appeared on NBCLA’s sister station, Telemundo 52. Haz clic aquí para leer esta historia en español. Ver más de Telemundo 52:

1 of 3 inmates who escaped from O.C. jail, kidnapped cab driver convicted

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 03:07:17 +0000

One of three Orange County inmates accused of escaping a Santa Ana jail and kidnapping a taxi driver in 2016, has been convicted, officials announced Thursday.

Bac Tien Duong, 48, was convicted by a jury of one felony count each of escape by a prisoner and of kidnapping, the O.C. District Attorney's Office said in a news release. The jury failed to reach a verdict on one felony count of the taking of a vehicle.

Duong faces a maximum sentence of eight years and eight months in state prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 14. He is meanwhile also awaiting trial for the other charges that resulted in his imprisonment in the first place.

Duong is accused of escaping from the Orange County Men’s Central Jail on Jan. 22, 2016, along with inmates Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu.

The three men carried out a months-long effort to cut through jail vents to access plumbing tunnels and climb onto the building's roof, officials said. They allegedly used sheets as a makeshift rope to to rappel down the side of the multistory facility.

Later that day, Duong called an unlicensed taxi service that he found in a Vietnamese-language periodical, and 72-year-old Long Ma arrived to drive the three escapees to various points in Orange County and Rosemead, the DA's office said. Duong allegedly held the cab driver at gunpoint various times as he drove them around.

Meanwhile, the three escaped inmates were the targets of a statewide manhunt that lasted more than a week.

Over the next few days, the three escapees and the abducted cab driver drove to different locations around California and ended up across the state in San Jose, staying at motels.

Ma and Duong drove back to Southern California on Jan. 29, 2016, after Nayeri and Duong had a physical fight over whether the taxi driver should be killed and his body buried.

Duong arranged to turn himself in at a Santa Ana auto shop, where police took him into custody. After dropping him off there, Ma drove away and called the Sheriff's Department.

The following day, Nayeri and Tieu were captured in San Francisco after a man recognized them from media reports. O.C. officials gave the man, Matthew Hay-Chapman, a $100,000 reward for providing the information that led to their capture.

Nayeri and Tieu are still awaiting trial on the jail escape.

When Duong escaped from jail, he was facing charges for attempted murder with a 25-life gun-use enhancement, assault with a firearm, first-degree burglary, and discharging a firearm at an inhabited dwelling, according to the DA's office. His trial for those charges is still pending.

Tieu was facing a retrial on murder and attempted murder charges for a 2011 shooting outside an Orange County pool hall.

Nayeri had been sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole, along with another seven years to life for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner. After the commission of those crimes in October 2012, Nayeri fled to Iran, before traveling to the Czech Republic where he was arrested and extradited to the United States.

The men used a cell phone camera to film their escape, and the footage was released by an attorney for Nayeri in 2017.

Woman Training for Olympics Becomes Target of Anti-Asian Rant at Orange County Park

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 02:12:27 +0000

An Asian American woman training for the Olympics’ karate competition says she was threatened by a man yelling racial slurs at an Orange County Park, and is sharing the recorded video of the incident in order to spread awareness about growing harassment against Asian Americans.

Sakura Kokumai, 28, is the first American to qualify for the Olympics in karate, and is training for the summer games in Tokyo.

She said she’s still in shock over what happened at Grijalva Park in the city of Orange last week.

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“Nobody likes to be yelled at by a complete stranger,” she said.

In a video she shared on Instagram, you can see a stranger berating her and threatening her as she worked out.

“Go home, stupid,” can be heard. “I’ll (bleep) you up – I’ll (bleep) your husband up or boyfriend or whoever you’re talking to on the phone.”

She responds with, “I haven’t done anything.”

“When somebody is just yelling at you that aggressively you do get your guard up a little bit – you do get worried,” Kokumai said.

Kokumai is Japanese American, but she says the man yelled something about her being Chinese as he drove away.

“The only two words I picked up were ‘Chinese’ and ‘sashimi’ which have no connection at all,” she said.

In an online summit with other Olympic athletes, U.S. gymnast Yul Moldauer revealed he too has been the victim of racial harassment.

“Last month I was driving and a lady cut me off. She yelled at me, ‘go back to China.’ For me my job is to represent this country so I take a lot of pride into it,” Moldauer said.

The man in the Instagram video has not been identified and Kokumai wasn’t hurt.

She says while it’s heartbreaking to see a rise in attacks on Asian Americans, she hopes sharing her story will bring awareness.

“We all belong here and we don’t have to be afraid when we go out. But I encourage people to look out for one another,” she said.

‘I Got In!' Repeat That 4 Times for This Orange County Student Accepted Into Multiple Ivy League Schools

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 21:09:57 +0000

Congrats, Stephany Gutierrez!

The Southern California student captured the moment on video when she and her very proud family learned she was accepted to not three, but four ivy league universities.

“I got in!” she can be heard saying of her acceptance to Columbia University before the squeals of joy begin. But the celebrating wouldn’t stop there.

The Santa Ana High School student was accepted into Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth and Harvard.

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Her acceptance into Harvard elicited the biggest celebration of all.

“Are you ready for this?!We are PROUD to announce our 3rd SAINT from this school year who has been accepted to HARVARD University!” the high school said, celebrating her big win.

In the video, as Gutierrez reads off acceptances to each school, she can be heard sharing the news with her parents, who are equally as thrilled.

“Congratulations to Stephany Gutierrez for such an amazing accomplishment!” Santa Ana High School said in an Instagram post.

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Former O.C. resident charged with 15 counts of wire fraud for alleged $14M boiler room scheme

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 02:07:35 +0000

A former Southern California man was charged Wednesday with running a “boiler room" scheme that bilked more than 100 investors out of $14 million.

Ronald Shane Flynn, who once lived in Orange County, was indicted by a federal grand jury on 15 counts of wire fraud, the county district attorney's office said in a statement.

Flynn, 57, is believed to have left the United States more than a decade ago, according to the District Attorney's office, which declined to comment on where he might be living.

Flynn ran Vuuzle Media Corp., which claimed to be a streaming media and entertainment business with offices in New York, Las Vegas and worldwide.

Prosecutors alleged that beginning in September 2016, the company offered what it claimed was an opportunity to invest in the business before its initial public stock offering, prosecutors said.

Although he was barred from offering securities in California and also in Ohio, Flynn ran the scheme while operating from the Philippines, Dubai and elsewhere, according to the indictment.

Flynn fielded a “boiler room" of salespeople, mainly based in the Philippines, that used high-pressure tactics to solicit about $14 million from investors, according to the indictment and a January lawsuit filed in New Jersey by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the indictment, Vuuzle never made a profit, Flynn never paid dividends to investors, and he never intended to take the business public.

Only a small percentage of the funds actually went toward the streaming business, authorities said.

Instead, according to the SEC lawsuit, about $5.5 million was used to pay commissions and expenses for the recruitment effort while Flynn used nearly $5 million to finance a luxury lifestyle that included buying jewelry and paying for resort stays and nightclub visits.

If convicted of the criminal charges, Flynn could face a sentence of up to 300 years in federal prison.

O.C. woman says she spent $2,000 on flooring, store sent her wrong product

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 05:47:11 +0000

An Orange County woman says she saved up for months to make upgrades to her home, and when she started on the first project, things didn't go as planned. Cristina Abdala spent more than $2,000 on flooring, and when it arrived, it wasn't what she ordered and the store owner won't take it back.

Kacey Montoya reports for the KTLA 5 News at 10 on April 5, 2021.

Family, loved ones of Orange shooting victims hold vigil Easter Sunday

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 00:14:50 +0000

A vigil is being held Sunday evening to honor the victims in last week’s mass shooting in Orange, which claimed the lives of three adults and a child, and left a woman hospitalized.

Family members of the victims said that the vigil will be held at 7 p.m. outside the office building on 202 W. Lincoln Ave. where the horrific attack took place.

The incident happened on Wednesday, when a gunman entered the office building to specifically target a business owned by 50-year-old Luis Tovar, called Unified Homes, a real estate company that sells manufactured homes.

The gunman, 44-year-old Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, then opened fire, killing Tovar; Tovar's daughter, Genevieve Raygoza, 28; Matthew Farias, 9; and company employee Leticia Solis Guzman, 58.

The boy's mother, Blanca Ismeralda Tamayo, who is also Raygoza’s mother, was wounded and remains in critical condition. She also worked at Unified Homes. When police arrived, they found Tamayo’s arms wrapped around her young son, according to the Tovar family.

When police arrived minutes later, they found the gates to the courtyard had been locked with a bicycle cable lock and they were unable to get in.

Gaxiola allegedly shot at the two officers, who returned fire and wounded the suspect.

Officers had to use bolt cutters to gain access to the courtyard and found the four victims.

Authorities revealed that Gaxiola, of Fullerton, had “both personal and business connections” to all the adult victims. He had two children with a former employee of Unified Homes, the Tovar family told the Los Angeles Times.

Gaxiola is facing four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

He has also been charged with felony enhancements of the personal discharge of a firearm causing death, one felony enhancement of the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury, one felony enhancement of premeditation, one felony enhancement of the personal use of a firearm and one felony enhancement of the personal discharge of a firearm.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help raise money for the victims’ families.

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St. Catherine’s Academy obstacle course promotes social, emotional and physical health

Mission Viejo gets special donation to help pets

Local veteran celebrates 100th birthday

Local teen published in New York Times

Milestone celebration for WWII veteran

EDD grant for legal clinic

Law firm expands to OC

360 Clinic expands

Surgeon invents combo toothbrush

Fertility clinic opens in NB

On the move

On board

Research investment

LGBTQIA scholarships

Driver arrested on suspicion of DUI after deadly 6-car crash in Corona

Orange County Reports 79 New Cases of COVID-19, Five Deaths

California Mass Shooting Suspect Was Barred From Buying Guns

Man accused of shooting rampage in Orange was barred from buying gun in California

Orange County Continues Positive COVID-19 Trends

Orange County won't require COVID-19 vaccine 'passport' following backlash

Orange County Officials Prepare for Expansion of Vaccine Eligibility

Henry explores Strawberry Farms Golf Club

Arrest Made After High-Speed Chase Ends in Mission Viejo

Review of Cold Case Rape Kits Leads to Conviction in Orange County

Orange County Considers Vaccination Verification System

Anaheim elementary schools welcome back students for in-person learning

COVID-19 vaccination site opens for transgender community in Orange County

Orange County COVID Hospitalizations Inch Down; Patients in ICU Drop to 25

Orange County Reports Slight Increase in COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Orange County to test digital COVID vaccine passports

Firefighters Honor Boy, 11, Who Calmly Called 911 When Mom Had Medical Emergency

1 of 3 inmates who escaped from O.C. jail, kidnapped cab driver convicted

Woman Training for Olympics Becomes Target of Anti-Asian Rant at Orange County Park

‘I Got In!' Repeat That 4 Times for This Orange County Student Accepted Into Multiple Ivy League Schools

Former O.C. resident charged with 15 counts of wire fraud for alleged $14M boiler room scheme

O.C. woman says she spent $2,000 on flooring, store sent her wrong product

Family, loved ones of Orange shooting victims hold vigil Easter Sunday