April 19, 2021 Media Brief
Orange County
Voice of OC: Meet the nurses who have been battling on the front lines of COVID-19 in OC
Tasked with fighting an unprecedented virus – OC health care workers saw patients die alone, families suffer great losses and worried over infecting loved ones with a virus that doesn’t always show its symptoms. The Voice of OC has reached out to several health care professionals in the county to share their experiences following the one-year anniversary of the pandemic.
OC Register: With food trucks and music, Huntington Beach hosts celebration of diversity as antidote to hate
It was a day to build community and make an effort to meet and talk to each other after a challenging year, Councilwoman Natalie Moser told the audience. She struck upon the idea of holding the community picnic celebrating diversity when flyers began circulating earlier this month calling for a white nationalist rally at the Huntington Beach Pier.
Voice of OC: Improper recording of attorney-client prisoner calls goes unmentioned as jail phone contract is renewed
Revelations this past November that jail phone operator GTL improperly recorded yet more calls from April to December 2019 between OC inmates and defense attorneys – even after the county hired a company to make sure such calls aren’t recorded. County supervisors expressed no concern about the improper recording of attorney-client calls when the contract was recently extended.
Voice of OC: The national movement to replace District Attorneys arrives in OC
It’s shaping up to be a hard-fought battle for the future of Orange County’s justice system – with DA Todd Spitzer himself showing up to Hardin’s press conference when the challenger announced his campaign to unseat the DA.
OC Register: Westminster ends plan to remodel city hall
Council members Tai Do, Kimberly Ho and Carlos Manzo voted to ditch the project at the meeting on Wednesday, April 14. All three expressed concern last month over what they deemed “creative financing” to keep the renovation afloat.
Region
LA Times: L.A. plans nearly $1 billion in spending to address homelessness under Garcetti plan
Mayor Eric Garcetti is planning to spend nearly $1 billion to combat homelessness in the coming budget year, tapping huge new sources of state and federal aid and finally ramping up construction of homes for the unhoused.
Labor
CBS: New California law seeks to get laid-off hospitality employees back to work
State legislators say they are trying to help the throngs of laid-off workers in the hospitality industry by passing a new law that says larger hotels and resorts have to rehire their former staff first before hiring new employees.
Action Network: Build back better with unions – pass the PRO Act
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act last year, but anti-worker legislators in the Senate blocked it. Undeterred, working people fought to elect pro-worker lawmakers to the Senate, House, and White House. And we won
Publication Date: April 19, 2021
