City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County
The County of Orange Community Services Department and the City of Santa Ana invite you to a community forum to learn more about plans to enhance services for the homeless. A new multi-service center/emergency shelter is being considered for development in the vicinity of McFadden Ave and Grand Ave in Santa Ana. Continue reading
Orange County Health Care Agency
For Immediate Release: June 25, 2014
Contact: Nicole Stanfield, nstanfield@ochca.com, (714) 834-2178
‘Take the Test, Take Control’
National HIV Testing Day
(Santa Ana) – June 27 marks National HIV Testing Day, which helps promote testing and early diagnosis of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. There are 6,215 individuals living with HIV disease in Orange County with over 250 people being diagnosed with HIV each year. There are an additional estimated 1,364 people living in Orange County who have HIV and don’t know it – many of whom will develop AIDS before realizing they are HIV infected.
Of the 131 AIDS cases diagnosed in 2013, 42.0% (55) were concurrently diagnosed with HIV, indicating that the individual was living with HIV for a long time before the diagnosis. On average, individuals who are concurrently diagnosed are estimated to have been living with HIV for more than 10 years. Many of these people had been to a medical setting like an emergency room, a community health center, or their doctor, but were not tested for HIV. Continue reading
Neighbors, community and business leaders are all asking one question: Did Santa Ana Councilman Roman Reyna, who is now running for Mayor, actually graduate from Santa Ana High School and if he did, why has he apparently refused to release his High School transcript? Santa Ana is the second largest city in Orange County and it serves as the County seat. Doesn’t Santa Ana deserve to have a Mayor that at least has a verifiable secondary education?
Roman claims to be working towards a bachelor’s degree in Youth Development from Springfield College in Los Angeles, and may some day actually get a piece of paper that says “graduate” but that still does not ease the minds of constituents who want to know if he actually has a high school degree and did he pass even the simplest high school classes? Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rusty Kennedy 714-567-7465
Civil Rights History Exhibit Opens on day of the Signing of the Civil Rights Act 50 Years Ago
OC Human Relations Assembles Historic Displays
OC Civil Rights History Exhibit Opening on July 2, 2014, which is the 50th Anniversary of the day that President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the US Civil Rights Act into law. This bi-partisan bill set the basic standard, the consensus, the unifying vision of the United States that all people have a right to live free from discrimination based on the color of their skin, their religion or other aspects of their being. Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 24, 2014
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Joel Zlotnik (714) 560-5713; Eric Carpenter (714) 560-5697
Summer Kicks Off with Added Metrolink Weekend Service, Chance to Win Prizes with New Promotion
91 Line will add two round trips on Saturdays and Sundays starting July 5; Seven Summer Treasures promotion runs through Sept. 1
ORANGE – Summer is upon us and the Orange County Transportation Authority and Metrolink are offering two reasons to hop aboard a Metrolink train this season with added service and a new promotion.
New weekend Metrolink service between Riverside, Orange County and Los Angeles begins July 5. Continue reading
The City of Santa Ana’s Parks and Recreation Agency is hosting their annual July 4th At Centennial Park on Fri, July 4, from 4:00 pm – 9:30 pm at 3000 W Edinger Ave, Centennial Park, in Santa Ana.
Enjoy family style fun and a spectacular fireworks show on Friday, July 4th at Centennial Park. The fireworks show will begin at 9pm. Bring a picnic basket or enjoy the various food vendors throughout the park. Admission is free and guests are encouraged to arrive early to find a spot in the park.
Mirna Velasquez, a candidate this year for Santa Ana’s City Council, in Ward 2, is hosting a campaign event on Wednesday, June 25, 2013, from 6 to 8 pm, at Original Mike’s, at 100 S. Main St., in Santa Ana.
Velasquez is challenging longtime Council incumbent Michele Martinez, who has admitted in the past to selling drugs when she was a teenager growing up in Santa Ana. Martinez ran for the 69th Assembly District in 2012, coming in almost last with just 16% of the vote, according to Smart Voter. Martinez spent over $200K for those results, according to the CA Secretary of State. Click here to see which special interests donated to her campaign.
Here is Mirna’s bio, from her website: Continue reading
Picture from the Santa Ana CopWatch Facebook page
Santa Ana residents apparently got pretty riled up over Mexico’s World Cup victory against the Croatians. According to the Santa Ana CopWatch Facebook page at least 30 Santa Ana Police Department cars showed up at Bristol and McFadden and started closing up streets in reaction to the spontaneous victory celebration.
The fan reaction reportedly included marching up and down Bristol Street and cruising. The latter, in particular, is frowned upon by the SAPD. Continue reading
City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County
SANTA ANA, CA ( June 23, 2014) – The City of Santa Ana Public Library is committed to being an educational beacon in our local community, promoting literacy and providing a fun and safe gathering place for adults and families. Essential parts of this commitment are the library’s exciting reading based programs for children, tweens, and for the 4th consecutive year, adults.
One such activity is our 2014 Summer Reading Program, themed “Paws to Read.” This is an excellent way to promote reading and lifelong learning for people of all ages. For children and tweens, participation in a vacation reading program strengthens their reading literacy skills and helps prevent them from falling behind academically. For adults, their participation serves as a positive example to children and family members, testifying to the importance of reading. It also fosters and promotes each adult’s lifelong learning. Continue reading
Photo by Santa Ana CopWatch
The Orange County District Attorney’s office (OCDA) filed for a preliminary gang injunction on Santa Ana’s Townsend Neighborhood earlier this month and Santa Ana police served notices to those named in it just last week, according to the OC Weekly.
However Santa Ana Police Department Police Chief Carlos Rojas had promised at a meeting of the Santa Ana City Council’s Public Safety Committee that he would discuss any proposed gang injunctions with the affected community before taking any action. He clearly lied.
The boundaries of the new gang injunction’s “safety zone” are: West First Street, South Raitt Street, West McFadden Avenue and South Sullivan Street. Continue reading
FBI
Washington, D.C.
June 23, 2014
FBI National Press Office, (202) 324-3691
168 Juveniles Recovered in Nationwide Operation Targeting Commercial Child Sex Trafficking
During the past week, the FBI; its local, state, and federal law enforcement partners; and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) conducted Operation Cross Country VIII, a week-long enforcement action to address commercial child sex trafficking throughout the United States. This operation included enforcement actions in 106 cities across 54 FBI field divisions nationwide and resulted in 168 recoveries of children who were being victimized through prostitution. Additionally, 281 pimps were arrested on state and federal charges.
“Targeting and harming America’s children through commercial sex trafficking is a heinous crime, with serious consequences,” said FBI Director James B. Comey. “Every child deserves to be safe and sound. Through targeted measures like Operation Cross Country, we can end the cycle of victimization.” Continue reading
Shuntele Andrews, a retired teacher who is running for the Santa Ana School Board this year, is holding a campaign Meet and Greet Fundraiser on Sunday, June 29, 2014, from 11 am to 1 pm, at 1721 N. Baker St., in Santa Ana. The event is hosted by Ben Vazquez, a Valley High School Teacher.
Attending the event will cost $50 per person or you can be a sponsor for $1,000 (Gold Sponsor), $500 (Silver Sponsor), or $250 (Bronze Sponsor). Continue reading
With the promise of a grass-roots campaign, Councilman Roman A. Reyna has announced he is running for mayor to unseat Miguel Pulido, who he said has grown out of touch with the city’s needs, according to the O.C. Register.
It is true that Pulido is a bit out of sorts nowadays. He has no allies on the Santa Ana City Council. The Council took away all of his appointments. And the Governor, his friend Jerry Brown, got rid of redevelopment, a tool Pulido used many times over the years to reshape the City.
But is Reyna really an improvement over Pulido? I don’t think so. He is running because he has two years left on his Council term, so he can lose the mayoral race and remain on the City Council. But so can Councilman Vince Sarmiento. So why isn’t Sarmiento running for Mayor instead? Continue reading
XXXXX XXXX, from the Young Square Neighborhood, took her dog out for a run on Saturday night, June 21, 2014, when she noticed that there was a male and female Hispanic couple in front of her. Little did XXXX know that the couple was soon going to come under fire in what turned out to be a horrifying drive-by shooting in normally tranquil north Santa Ana.
The man was walking his bicycle while his female companion walked next to him. XXXX was behind them, in front of the Lake Park Mobile Homes, closer to Linwood. They were about 50 feet ahead of her, heading toward Cambridge. All of a sudden a medium-sized dark car with several people in it approached from the other direction (westbound on Fairhaven). When the people in the car saw the couple they slowed down and made a U-Turn to pull up next to them and slowed way down. The guy with the bike raised his hand like he knew them and in response they immediately opened fire with what XXXX thought was a 9mm handgun. They shot off 5 rounds before their car pulled away. Continue reading
Corinthian Colleges Inc., a vast education company, based in Santa Ana, that gets $1.4 billion a year in federal aid for 72,000 students – including thousands enrolled at its for-profit Everest, Heald and WyoTech colleges in California – said Thursday that it may be forced to shut down in the wake of a federal investigation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Plagued by complaints that it had falsified student job placement rates, Corinthian Colleges Inc. disclosed Thursday that the Education Department had heightened its financial scrutiny of the company. And it warned that the sanctions may jeopardize cash flow crucial to keeping the company afloat, according to the Los Angeles Times. Continue reading