This Memorial Day, Voice of OC compiled a list of all 320 Orange County U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War. Read the full list and please remember their sacrifice for all of us.
Author Archives: Tracy Wood
Tracy Wood oversaw Voice of OC’s civics reporting, including county and city government, the Orange County Transportation Authority, CalOptima, Anaheim, Santa Ana and other community coverage.
Tracy was a government reporter, foreign correspondent in Asia, California investigative reporter and editor. She covered the California legislature and governor’s office for both United Press International and the Los Angeles Times. As a UPI reporter, she was one of the few women combat correspondents during the Vietnam War. She joined the Los Angeles Times in California where she was an investigative reporter for 17 years, covering political and government corruption. Later she became the Orange County Register’s Investigations Editor, leading the paper’s investigations team when it broke the story of former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona’s ties to Nationwide Auction Systems founder and former Assistant Sheriff Donald G. Haidl.
She won numerous awards for investigative reporting and in 2001 was named Los Angeles Print Journalist of the Year by Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalism association.
Wood and eight other women reporters from Vietnam co-authored “War Torn, Stories of War from the Women Reporters who Covered Vietnam” (2002 Random House). She was also part of the Los Angeles Times staff team that won the 1993 Pulitzer for coverage of the Rodney King riots. The Pulitzer was for spot news coverage for balanced, comprehensive, penetrating coverage under deadline pressure of the second, most destructive day of the Los Angeles riots.
Posted inEconomy, Government, News Briefs, Top Stories
A Year After Voters Created County Ethics Panel, Selection Begins
Each member of the Board of Suprvisors will select one of the ethics commissioners. How and why each supervisor decides who to select will not be public, but a majority of the full board will confirm the selections in an open meeting.
Posted inCountywide, Government, Investigative, Top Stories
Judge Grants Voice of OC Emails and Op-Ed on Spitzer Handcuffing Evangelist at Wahoo’s
Superior Court Judge Walter P. Schwarm Tuesday ordered the county to give Voice of OC emails between Supervisor Todd Spitzer and a former county information officer about Spitzer’s handcuffing an evangelist at a Wahoo’s restaurant.
Posted inGovernment, Top Stories
Sheriff May Change Policy That Led to Threatened Arrest of Reporter
The policy resulted in a Voice of OC reporter being threatened with arrest for trying to report on officers removing a homeless activist from the Board of Supervisors meeting room.
Posted inCountywide, News Briefs
State Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Officials’ Government Texts and Emails on Private Phones and Computers are Public Records
The 24-page opinion in the case of the City of San Jose vs. the Superior Court (Smith) also said “…there is no indication the Legislature meant to allow public officials to shield communications about official business simply by directing them through personal accounts.“
Posted inCountywide
State Supreme Court Set to Rule: Are Officials’ Private Texts, Emails About Government Business Public Records?
Are the emails and texts of California government officials who use personal cell phones, note pads or laptops to skirt the state’s public disclosure law still public records?
Posted inCountywide, Top Stories
Veterans’ Stories Told Through Their Mementos at Heroes Hall
The inaugural exhibit at Heroes Hall, the new veterans’ museum at the Orange County Fairgrounds, features items soldiers carried with them in combat.
Posted inCountywide, Government, Health & Wellness, News Briefs, Top Stories
Supervisor Do Wants to Lead CalOptima Board
Supervisor Andrew Do says he is in “an ideal position” to lead county’s $3.4 billion healthcare plan for the county’s low-income, disabled and elderly residents as it continues to deal with past problems and confronts the promised Obamacare repeal.
Posted inCountywide, Investigative, Top Stories
Judge Again Issues Rebuke to DA’s Office
Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Goethals said two former DA prosecutors, who are now judges, engaged in “serious misconduct” in a murder case. But he stopped short of barring the entire office as he did in the jailhouse snitch case.
Posted inCountywide, Government, Investigative, Top Stories
Judge Set to Decide Whether to Bar DA From Another Murder Case
Like in the jailhouse snitch case, Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals is being asked to remove District Attorney Tony Rackauckas’ office from a murder case due to allegations that prosecutors violated the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
