January 25, 2021

Orange County

Voice of OC: State lifts Coronavirus shutdown allowing a few more OC Business to reopen

That means nail salons, barber shops, campgrounds and outdoor dining at restaurants can reopen again. Hotels can also begin taking non-essential travel reservations again. State officials quietly lifted the regional order through a Monday news release.

 

Voice of OC: OC supervisors spent more COVID response money on Sheriff staff than health workers

After months of pushing from Voice of OC under the state’s Public Records Act, County of Orange officials this month released a summary of payouts from CARES Act funds to county agencies as well as individual vendors.

 

Voice of OC: DA charges 10 suspects, including murderers, for stealing COVID unemployment benefits

Saturday’s total included 14 skilled nursing facility residents, 10 assisted living facility residents and 54 residents not living in a facility. The death toll in the county due to the coronavirus disease now sits at 2,625.

 

Daily Pilot: Orange County reports 78 new COVID-19 deaths as second vaccine super site opens

Newport-Mesa Unified School District is moving ahead with its plan to reopen middle and high school campuses on Monday.

 

OC Register: ‘On the cusp of great things’: Dozens of other COVID vaccines working their way to public

COVID-19 has existed for barely more than a year, but 64 vaccines are in clinical development and another 173 in preclinical development worldwide nonetheless, according to the World Health Organization. Dozens of hopefuls are in clinical trials in the U.S., including several by California researchers.

 

California

OC Register: California’s new bubble: Must overpriced homes crash?

The past year’s surprisingly strong home prices in a pandemic-tattered economy were unnerving. It was a surge propelled primarily by historically low mortgage rates that helped balloon house hunters’ urge for larger living spaces due to revamped coronavirus lifestyles.

 

Nation

OC Register: Watchdog looks into whether Justice Department officials tried to overturn election

The Justice Department watchdog investigation follows a report in The New York Times that a former assistant attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, had been discussing a plan with then-President Donald Trump to oust the acting attorney general and try to challenge the results of the 2020 race by falsely saying there had been widespread election fraud

 

Publication Date: January 25, 2021