Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/author/nsantana/)
Norberto Santana, Jr. is an award-winning investigative reporter with nearly two decades reporting experience, most recently engaging Orange County government institutions and decision makers as the founding publisher of the nonprofit digital newsroom, Voice of OC. As publisher, Santana oversees all newsroom, engagement and fundraising operations and also writes a weekly Opinion column about Orange County government. In 2017 and 2018, the Orange County Press Club recognized Santana as Orange County’s best columnist. Before founding Voice of OC in 2009, Santana was a lead investigative reporter for the Orange County Register from 2004-2009, focusing on county government. He’s spent nearly two decades just focusing on local governments across Southern California, previously as a staff writer with outlets such as the San Diego Union Tribune and the San Bernardino County Sun. Santana began his journalistic career in the early 1990s as an apprentice reporter with Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C. covering daily floor action in the U.S. Congress and followed that up with a stint covering the territorial Senate for the U.S. Virgin Islands Daily News. In addition to his experience as a journalist, the Southern California native has a master’s in Latin American Studies, has worked as an elections analyst on National Endowment for Democracy programs across Latin America and was one of the founders of CubaNet.org, a website featuring the work of dissident journalists inside Cuba that has operated since 1995. Languages spoken: English and Spanish Areas of expertise: Orange County, southern California, investigations, politics, elections, government transparency, Congress, Latin America, local government, civic education and reporting education.
Pencil in the John Wayne Airport naming battle onto the list of potential races that could tell us a lot about the new Orange County come this fall.
Since Coronavirus broke out, county supervisors have spent most of their time on the public dais reacting to public health restrictions like mask orders or closures of beaches.
Orange County’s Public Health Officer Nicole Quick abruptly resigned on Monday night after several intense weeks defending a mask order that quickly became controversial.
Many OC mayors want direct access to a $75 million county bailout fund set up for cities. A majority of county supervisors want a central administrator to distribute the funds instead of just directing monies to local city halls for a local business grant program. Biggest unanswered question is in what areas, sectors to invest the money.
Orange County Republicans come out swinging against California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s singling out of Orange County for bad beach behavior and an ensuing beach ban with OC GOP Chairman Fred Whitaker calling him “King Gavin: and calling for more localized health care decision making. Local Democratic Party Chief Ada Briceño backs Newsom’s closure effort and blames Republican-led local bodies like the board of supervisors for being behind on public health and forcing the governor to take action to protect public safety. Meanwhile, Orange County’s coastal cities scramble to figure out whether to fight or help enforce the governor’s initiative.
Orange County’s newly-appointed Health Care Agency Director Clayton Chau – a well known clinician and public health executive known for his mental health expertise with immigrant communities – was fined by state authorities back in 2014 for failing to disclose lucrative drug company speaking fees from AstraZeneca and other pharmaceutical companies from 2009 to 2012 while he was worked as a top psychiatrist at HCA.
A day after announcing the rollout of Orange County’s ambitious new Covid-19 testing regime for the entire county, Deputy Health Care Agency Director David Souleles abruptly announced his resignation and retirement. Health Care Agency Director Richard sanchez left his post in March to head county’s health insurance plan for the poor and elderly, CalOptima. County officials continue interviewing for a new head of the health department in the midst of the pandemic.
Orange County Supervisors today are expected to start talking about the process of reopening local businesses. What will the new normal look like?
While OC Health Care officials have been scrambling daily for weeks to find more N95 protective facemasks for a variety of first responders, doctors and nurses, in February HCA procurement executives listed as government surplus more than 100,00 of the cloth masks, possibly selling them for as little as $1 a piece.
Whether it’s finding out about the readiness of hospitals or figuring out how many testing kits exist or asking about what cities’ residents are testing positive for the virus, the answer most often from the County of Orange in the past few weeks is we can’t say.