For the second time during the pandemic, top OC Health Care agency executives — this time overseeing data collection and release, along with homelessness efforts — have abruptly left, prompting questions about the agency’s direction and contracting practices.
Author Archives: Norberto Santana Jr.
Norberto Santana, Jr. is an experienced investigative reporter, serving as founding publisher and editor-in-chief for Voice of OC, overseeing newsroom, engagement and fundraising operations.
He’s also an award-winning columnist, focusing his efforts on First Amendment issues and local government, being recognized multiple years by the Orange County Press Club as the region’s best columnist.
The LA Press Club has named him a Journalist of the Year (2018) and the Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has recognized him as a “Distinguished Journalist.” The California Chicano News Media Association has honored him with a lifetime achievement award and the national News Leaders Association has recognized him for his commitment to diverse staffing and coverage.
Santana is a pioneer in the field of nonprofit news having served on the board of directors for the national trade group for nonprofit newsrooms, the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). He also has served on boards of the national nonprofit advocating investigative journalism, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the California First Amendment advocacy group, CalAware.
In addition to journalism, Santana also teaches public affairs and investigative journalism as an adjunct faculty professor at Chapman University.
Before founding Voice of OC in 2009, Santana was a lead investigative reporter for the Orange County Register, focusing on county government. He spent nearly two decades covering local governments across Southern California, previously as a staff writer at the San Diego Union Tribune and San Bernardino County Sun.
Santana began his journalistic career 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.
Languages spoken: English and Spanish
Posted inNorberto Santana Jr.
Santana: Watching Orange County Supervisors Hot Wire the Public Health Department
Questions are rising about an OC Health Care Agency gag order stopping their doctors from updating Orange County residents about the pandemic.
Posted inNorberto Santana Jr.
Santana: How Vaccinated is Your Orange County Neighborhood?
After engaging with Voice of OC, Orange County’s Health Care Agency is putting out more COVID-related statistics, with experts working to make them more usable.
Posted inCountywide
Santana: Orange County Residents Need Real Time Data to Effectively Confront Covid
Following the Voice of OC Town Hall on Covid, County of Orange officials are starting to share more of the Covid data they are collecting. That’s the best way to help residents protect themselves.
Posted inNorberto Santana Jr.
Santana: Should OC Homeowners’ Park Taxes Fund Free Police Patrols For Newport Bay?
Should homeowners across Orange County’s most park-poor areas spend a portion of their special park-related property taxes to fund free police patrols for Newport Harbor?
Posted inNorberto Santana Jr.
Santana: Confronting Orange County’s Third COVID Surge
County supervisors keep trashing a rare chance to engage the public on guarding their own quality of life. Tonight, the Voice of OC newsroom hosts a virtual Town Hall, acknowledging people are tense and need information to make key decisions.
Posted inNorberto Santana Jr.
Santana: Who’s Really Running Anaheim’s Stadium Deal With Angels?
This week, Anaheim City Manager Jim Vanderpool and City Attorney Rob Fabela took tough questions about why city council members weren’t informed earlier this year when state officials advised them the recent stadium sale potentially violates state law.
Posted inNorberto Santana Jr.
Santana: So Cal Cuban Americans Demonstrate on Local Streets, Ask Biden to Check Repressive Wave in Cuba
With Cubans hitting the streets of Havana last week in unprecedented numbers to protest 62 years of communism, Cuban Americans across the U.S. have also hit the streets, with demonstrations across So Cal this last week and this coming week calling on President Biden to stay tough, get creative in checking Cuba’s regime as it openly represses protesters.
Posted inNorberto Santana Jr.
Santana: Sacramento Readies Bail Out for Embattled County Supervisors in Places Like San Bernardino, Orange County
San Bernardino voters decided last November to revolutionize local politics, creating a one-term limit for county politicians and limiting their pay to $60,000 annually. Now, legislation in Sacramento seeks to prevent that from ever happening again in places like Orange County.
Posted inNorberto Santana Jr.
Santana: Orange County’s Own Coup Just Failed. What Can Residents Do Before Politicians Strike Again?
OC residents barely avoided a coup or sorts last week when Sacramento beat back a brazen attempt by OC supervisors to extend their own terms, potentially for decades.
