OC’s Veterans Service Office – which helps local vets in crisis deal with hard-to-navigate federal benefit programs – is critically low on staffing. County officials say they are on track to fill key vacancies.
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 inNEWS
Elections Officials and DA Investigate Alleged “Fake” Vote Center in Westminster
The Orange County District Attorney and Registrar of Voters announced on Tuesday afternoon they were investigating an allegedly fraudulent vote center in Westminster, after the location was filmed and posted to social media that same day.
Posted inCountywide
Santana: Latinos in Santa Ana and Anaheim Confront a Day of The Dead Unlike Any Other
As the coronavirus ravaged through Orange County’s most working class neighborhoods this year, public officials largely shied away from acknowledging the dead at official meetings. They’ve also shied away from addressing the conditions that have fueled so much death, especially among Latinos, who make up nearly half of all OC Covid-19 cases and deaths. County officials now say that’s about to change.
Posted inCountywide
Santa Ana Unified High School District School Board Candidates Answer Resident Questions
Three challengers are taking on three incumbents to represent students, parents and teachers on one of California’s largest high school districts.
Posted inCountywide
Santana: Did Faulty Power Equipment Drive 90,000 OC Residents from Their Homes?
A SCE report filed Monday with state regulators says investigators are looking into a lashing wire at SCE electrical facilities near Santiago Canyon Road that may have contacted SCE’s overhead primary conductor, which may have resulted in the ignition of the fire.
Posted inCountywide
Santana: Amidst Record Voter Turnout, OC DA Probes His Own Party Over Ballot Harvesting
Republican Party officials are drawing fire over their approach to ballot harvesting, which they stand behind. Now, OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer is investigating his own party.
Posted inCountywide
Santana: Out of Work, Out of Time in Orange County
There’s nearly 200,000 people out of work across Orange County, about the same amount of local unemployment during the Great Recession of 2008. Who will look out for the county’s working poor?
Posted inCountywide
Santana: What If Anaheim Said No to Big Land Subsidies for Major League Baseball?
As the Angels’ development bid for the heart of Anaheim moves forward at a fastball pace, planning commissioners examine the process – without live public comment.
Posted inCountywide
Santana: Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 1,000 as OC Supervisors Keep Politicizing Public Health
The County of Orange this past month installed a new County Health Officer with limited background and also tasked him with running the county’s billion dollar Health Care Agency.
Posted inCountywide
Santana: Is Restaurant Enforcement or Education the Key to Orange County Reopening?
New numbers from the beleagured County Health Care Agency – showed nearly half of 2,000 restaurants inspected since June had a “COVID non-compliance rate of approximately 40%.”
