January 10, 2022 Media Brief
Orange County
OC Register: Orange County ERs struggle to keep up as COVID-19 cases continue spiking
While hospital wards and intensive care units aren’t as slammed, staffing shortages and people jamming emergency rooms – some of whom are only seeking a COVID-19 test – have led to long wait times for ambulances dropping off patients.
Voice of OC: 2021 was the year of vacancies in OC governments
While residents usually call for a special election so they can choose who fills the seat, city leaders usually go the other way, choosing to appoint someone themselves rather than pay to send it back to the ballot.
Voice of OC: OC Clean power agency’s first year sees an executive resignation, transparency concerns
The agency is the county’s first community choice energy program, a system implemented throughout California that lets local governments buy and sell power with the goal of increasing the amount of renewable energy offered to residents and investing the profits in local programs.
OC Register: State grant is helping Yorba Linda step up fire prevention efforts
Using a new grant, Yorba Linda plans to spend the next four years working on an ambitious fire prevention program. CalFire awarded the city, in partnership with the Orange County Fire Authority, $866,610.
OC Register: Will COVID-19 plague us forever? Here’s what the experts say
“As long as any of your readers are alive, we’ll have some form of COVID,” said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist and demographer at UC Irvine, whose crystal ball on the pandemic has been unnervingly accurate.
OC Register: Pregnant with COVID, she survived a nightmare
The Seal Beach resident Amy Yamaguchi would become the first COVID-19 patient at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to undergo a double lung transplant. She also was one of the hospital’s first COVID patients to be placed on a life support machine often described by experts as a “Hail Mary.”
OC Register: Housing, hotels, entertainment part of two new proposals in Anaheim’s resort area
Between a project that would build the first new housing in Anaheim’s resort district in years and Disneyland’s long-term vision to further develop its property, big changes could be coming to the city’s resort area – but they may take as long as a decade or two.
Daily Pilot: Mesa Water poised to raise rates, add fee to property taxes to fund capital improvements
Mesa Water District is poised to consider a five-year basic rate increase ranging from 5% to 8% annually that would take effect next year, but a proposal to add a capital charge onto ratepayers’ property tax bills doesn’t sit well with some.
Labor
Labor 411: NLRB orders union election at Arizona Starbucks
“A U.S. labor official granted a request by Arizona workers at Starbucks Corp. to hold an election that could expand the new unionized foothold at the retail coffee chain, rejecting the company’s arguments against holding store-by-store votes.
California
Associated Press: Big surplus in hand, Gov. Newsom to reveal spending plan
This year, Governor Gavin Newsom has pledged to spend $300 million on boosting law enforcement efforts to combat retail theft and another $2.7 billion to spend on things like coronavirus testing and hospital staffing.
Publication Date: January 10, 2022
