News

Excerpted from the California Health Report

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett

Excerpted from the Daily Pilot

By Lily Nguyen

Orange County officials announced Friday $7 million in state funding has been secured to support county mental health initiatives — namely, Be Well OC, which provides mental health support to residents and runs the first mental health and wellness campus countywide.

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About $5 million will be allocated toward the construction of an additional Irvine campus and the remaining $2 million will be put toward a data integration system that officials are currently building.

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Excerpted from the Orange County Register

By Theresa Walker

A group of state and local officials gathered at the Be Well OC mental health services hub in Orange on Friday, Aug. 19, to applaud the on-site programs that began operating in January and celebrate an infusion of $5 million in state funds to help build a second campus.

Excerpted from the Daily Pilot

By Sara Cardine

Costa Mesa’s Lions Park, a once-thriving Westside community hub that suffered from years of neglect, is undergoing a local renaissance as the city completes a series of building projects designed to reinvigorate a neighborhood that has historically lacked crucial amenities.

Excerpted from the Daily Pilot

By Lily Nguyen

Conservationists are now at the $72-million mark of their $97-million goal to acquire Banning Ranch, a 384-acre property at the mouth of the Santa Ana River, and turn the oil field into a public park.

The Trust for Public Land announced Monday that state legislators allocated $8 million to be put toward the purchase of the property. Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) said in a Facebook post that she was “thrilled” to have secured the allocation in this year’s upcoming state budget.

Excerpted from Laguna Beach Independent 

By Daniel Langhorne

Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC) was named Wednesday by the State Legislature as the 2021 California Nonprofit of the Year for Assembly District 74.

The Laguna Canyon-based nonprofit is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Since its founding, the nonprofit has rescued more than 10,000 animals including seals, sea lions, dolphins, and sea turtles on the Orange County coastline.

Excerpted from Voice of OC

By Omar Sanchez

More than 5,000 candles were lit Friday night vigil in the first memorial sponsored by county government to residents who died from Coronavirus.

Cutouts of doves imprinted with the message “Forever loved forever missed” were placed around the lake behind the Costa Mesa Avenue of the Arts Hotel in the 7:30 p.m. gathering with more than 50 attendees. 

Excerpted from KCRA3

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —The assembly passed bills on Wednesday addressing reform of the state's troubled Employment Development Department.

Assembly Bill 110 would require that EDD cross-reference records of those incarcerated with the unemployment records and applications.

After a KCRA 3 investigation revealed the rampant fraud being perpetrated against the state's unemployment department, district attorneys across the state started their own investigation.

Excerpted from CalMatters

By Cheryl Wilson

Seniors want care choices and services keeping them in their homes and policymakers are waking up to that fact. The Program for All-Inclusive Care — a California creation — accomplishes this by combining medical and home care, transportation, and other services. 

Excerpted from NBC7

By Alexis Rivas

“When I found out these ghost guns are not subject to California’s gun violence restraining orders,” said Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (74th District - Orange County). “I was shocked, and I knew something had to be done to close this dangerous loophole”

Petrie-Norris worked with Friedman to author State Bill 1057, which classifies ghost gun parts as weapons that could be seized through a GVRO.

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