Thanks to an outpouring of reader support, we exceeded our $75,000 fundraising goal this year and our newsroom enters 2019 on a solid fiscal footing, with renewed vigor to keep Orange County informed and alert on the key issues impacting quality of life from the public dais this next year.
Tag: Norberto Santana Jr.
Santana: The Best of 2018
The Blue Wave Election and Homelessness led the list of top stories for the Voice of OC team in 2018 along with a host of scrappy, daily enterprise reporting scoops uncovering fraud, waste and abuse across Orange County. Readers can really help spur this kind of reporting this week – as all contributions before Dec. 31 get doubled by a national foundation effort to bolster local nonprofit news.
Santana: Voice of OC Donors Help Young Journalists Fuel Change
Our donors create real impact not only in Orange Country but across the nation, helping pioneer a solid training model for apprentice journalists focused on daily coverage and investigative scoops about fraud, waste and abuse within local civic institutions. Consider joining them and have your donation matched through the end of the year.
Santana: OC Democrats Could Face Toughest Election on Their Own Turf
After Orange County’s blue wave this past November, local Democrats face a tough choice in a January election for chair of the local Democratic Party with union leader Ada Briceño running against longtime local elected official Beth Krom. The big question rumbling around OC office hallways and holiday parties is whether the face of the party needs to better match the base?
Santana: Anaheim Skirts Police Accountability
Following harassment of a Voice of OC reporter earlier this year, Anaheim’s Police Chief Jorge Cisneros has apologized for the “impact” of the action. Yet due to a state law that shields discussion of police blunders, there’s little that Anaheim’s top cop can say to the public about how missteps are handled. That should say a lot about the future of police relations and funding in California.
Santana: Welcome to Purple County
On Election Day, President Trump drove unprecedented voter turnout in Orange County, nearly 65 percent of registered voters visited the polls. That hasn’t been seen during a midterm election in Orange County since the 1970s. The results don’t bode well for the GOP but there’s a deeper message here for incumbents: Engage the public or peril.
Santana: Veterans Make Elections Possible
As we come out of the election season, and go into another month of tight, tense counts at the local registrar of voters office, Veterans Day offers a chance to stop and reflect on our freedoms as well as those who have sacrificed to ensure our way of life. Today, Orange County’s state fairgrounds in Costa Mesa hosts the annual commemoration where people can visit the Hero’s Hall museum as well as the walk of honor featuring plaques that tell the stories of more than three-dozen war heroes from Orange County.
Santana: Could Rivalry Among Vietnamese American, Republican Elected Officials Throw Central OC to Dems?
While congressional races have dominated the media landscape this year, one race in Central Orange County, the 34th State Senate, is more competitive than usual but under the radar. Could rivalries among Vietnamese American Republicans shift the balance of power in Sacramento?
Santana: Fight Fake News, Fund Local News
Starting today, through the end of the year, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation leads a coalition of national foundations spurring local community members to invest in nonprofit newsrooms, launching News Match – where the foundation coalition matches local donations to nonprofit newsrooms.
Santana: Confronting Corporate Cronyism in Anaheim
Mayor Tom Tait earlier this year hoped for a happy ending to the Disney film called Anaheim after resort executives turned back public subsidies saying they favored a cleaner public dialogue. Yet recent campaign finance documents show PACS tied to resort and hotel interests are back playing a nasty brand of political hardball in the race to elect Anaheim’s next mayor.

