Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/county-government/page/2/)
With OC jails experiencing a novel coronavirus outbreak, County officials are beginning to early release about scores of prisoners early and workers are getting apprehensive. Meanwhile, a group of criminal defense attorneys are asking a federal judge to clear out the jails.
While bus drivers and operations employees directly employed by OCTA get to keep their jobs and even their pay as some stay home, bus drivers employed through two private contractors the agency gives money to have been laid off, and will see their benefits follow their jobs out the door.
In-person voting has been cancelled for a special recall election in Westminster. It’s still up in the air whether Santa Ana’s special recall election will follow suit.
Orange County officials found the first case of the novel coronavirus hitting their jails after a man tested positive among the scores of inmates currently locked up. Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes will address the virus case which came from the Men’s Central Jail at the 1:30 p.m. news conference today.
The new measures will result in less people in the jails, reads an administrative order from OC Superior Presiding Judge Kirk Nakamura, “thus alleviating some of the pressures for arraignments within 48 hours and preliminary hearings within 10 days.”
Nearly all of Orange County’s incumbent state legislators will be advancing to November, except for Republican Assemblymen Bill Brough and Tyler Diep.
Orange County’s health insurance plan for the elderly, poor and needy – called CalOptima – is quickly adapting services to a more remote model, in response to the spreading novel coronavirus, including allowing for three-month prescription refills and increased home services for its elderly members.
It’s the first round of cuts to bus service transportation officials have made responding to the public safety crisis, which has caused sharp drops in bus boardings for an agency that sees ridership fall year-by-year.
OC Court officials have partly backed off reopening courtrooms for hearings amid a higher court order to close for two weeks and public health orders for OC residents to stay at home, after scenes from the main courthouse in Santa Ana on Thursday drew outrage from attorneys and county officials.
Spitzer denounced what some attorneys decried as a serious public safety hazard at the main courthouse in Santa Ana today, but a day earlier he urged court staff and attorneys to remain calm and assured that measures were in place to protect attorneys and court staff.