December 14, 2021 Media Brief
Orange County
Voice of OC: Mask mandate returns to Orange County Wednesday
Beginning Wednesday, all Orange County residents will again have to wear masks when going to indoor public places as the Omicron COVID-19 variant is raising concerns from public health experts, with some saying it will fuel a winter surge.
OC Register: OC supervisor expects ‘whole lot of noncompliance’ with mask mandate
Complaints about mask mandates have come up often at county supervisors’ meetings, and early in the pandemic, the previous county health officer’s abrupt resignation was due in part to backlash over her local mask requirement.
Voice of OC: Irvine to choose default rates for residents under OC’s new clean energy agency
The entire discussion centers around the county’s new community choice energy program, a system that lets local governments purchase power for their residents and sell it to them using the electrical company’s infrastructure.
Voice of OC: Will Poseidon’s HB desal plant take state money away from low-income housing?
The Poseidon Water company has asked for $1.1 billion from a pool of state money to help finance a controversial desalination plant proposed for Huntington Beach. It’s a prospect which critics argue could take those limited state dollars away from other projects that also qualify for the money but need it more.
OC Register: Powerful storm begins dumping rain, snow on Southern California
As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 14, the heaviest rain had been absorbed in the San Fernando Valley and L.A. County mountains and foothills, with some areas already seeing upwards of three inches of rainfall.
Labor
OC Register: Strike among sanitation workers enters new week, limited trash being collected
A strike by sanitation workers that has impacted trash collection in much of north and northwest Orange County is heading into a new week, and at least one city is considering a local emergency declaration to help get services back up.
Associated Press: Americans say inflation is eating away any wage increases
Two-thirds say their household costs have risen since the pandemic, compared with only about a quarter who say their incomes have increased, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Nation
Associated Press: UN weather agency affirms 2020 Arctic heat record in Siberia
The World Meteorological Organization said the temperature “more befitting the Mediterranean than the Arctic” was registered on June 20, 2020, during a heat wave that swept across Siberia and stretched north of the Arctic Circle.
Publication Date: December 14, 2021
