After criticism from the Voice of OC and other journalist organizations, Santa Ana officials are walking back a policy that restricts where photojournalists can capture public meetings.
Author Archives: Hosam Elattar
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC/ Report For America reporter covering Anaheim & North Orange County, food insecurity, housing & homelessness, the Arab & Muslim American community and education.
Elattar started at Voice of OC as an intern in January, 2020 and has covered local food banks’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic, School board debates on how to teach history, the decades long push by Arab American business owners to recognize Little Arabia and a corruption scandal at Anaheim City Hall.
He has won several awards from the OC Press Club including Best News Story, Best Political Story and Best Religion Story.
Elattar is Egyptian American and has lived in Botswana, Nepal, Uganda, The Dominican Republic and India.
Posted inGovernment
Huntington Beach Disregards California’s Sanctuary Laws, Directs Police to Work With ICE
Surf City council members unanimously voted to authorize the police department to work with federal immigration officials by honoring ICE detainers.
Posted inCountywide
An Incomplete Picture: Tackling Hate Crimes in Orange County
Ahead of Martin Luther King Day, county officials rolled back power from a commission that is supposed to promote tolerance and quietly released the latest OC annual hate crime report.
Posted inAnaheim
Anaheim Officials Won’t Have to Disclose Impromptu Private Meetings a Year After Reforms
Officials are loosening disclosure requirements on unscheduled private meetings with lobbyists and business interests in a transparency reform measure that was implemented last year in the aftermath of the Anaheim corruption scandal.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Will Motels Become Orange County’s New Winter Shelter?
OC Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento is using $200,000 in discretionary dollars and teaming up with a nonprofit to help shelter homeless families at motels across his district during the winter.
Posted inEducation
Former Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares Dies
Al Mijares, who retired as Orange County’s Superintendent of Schools last year, died Thursday after a battle with cancer.
Posted inAnaheim
Is Anaheim About to Gut a New Transparency Measure?
City council members are expected tonight to make changes to their public calendar policy to explicitly not require city council members to disclose unscheduled meetings related to city business in the wake of a corruption scandal.
Posted inLaguna Beach
Laguna Beach School Board Looks For Interim Superintendent Amid Transparency Concerns
Laguna Beach School Board leaders picked one of the district’s assistant superintendents to fill in as they look for an interim replacement for the role after transparency concerns began swirling.
Posted inLaguna Beach
Transparency Concerns Swirl Around Laguna Beach School District
Concerns are being raised that a new board majority violated open meeting laws in the process of hiring a new superintendent. The newly elected majority denies those claims and said they need to move fast to fill a leadership void.
Posted inFullerton
Fullerton Officials Gear Up For Over 13,000 New Homes Across the City
Fullerton officials approved a state mandated plan to zone for over 13,000 homes weeks before a looming deadline that if missed could result in a loss of state funding, fines and local control.
