
Yusra Farzan
Local news in Orange County has my heart: All those long meetings — city council, school boards, power authorities, housing commissions, planning departments — play a huge role in our everyday lives. So I take the time to synthesize how decisions in Orange County’s 34 cities affect your electricity bill, how your taxes are funding the next big project and the resources available at your child's school.
Even though I got my break in entertainment reporting, the pieces I am most proud of spotlight everyday people: teachers in Orange County, the duo who started a school for Ukrainian refugees, the women behind Ramadan markets and the teenager who invented a cancer-detecting toothbrush.
Ask me about the small liquor store in Garden Grove that also carries Sri Lankan snacks, the best places to get Arab food in Anaheim and why the drive to Laguna Beach is worth it for those warm, summer days.
I grew up in the Middle East, but I am of Sri Lankan descent. I used to live in Irvine, and I still have one foot in O.C. But now I also call Rancho Palos Verdes home — it’s also why I am so invested in covering the land movement here.
-
McDonnell worked at the department for decades before becoming L.A. County’s sheriff for one term.
-
Residents affected by the landslide are also now eligible for a $10,000 financial grant to help address damage and lack of utilities.
-
Residents have been forced to decide whether to move or stay as an unrelenting landside forces power and gas shutoffs.
-
Fire officials say the truck was moved on Friday to a lot on Terminal Island where it can continue to burn.
-
Pay raises for city councilmembers. Rent control. Noncitizen voting rights. These are just a few of the topics being tackled by the Santa Ana City Council.
-
The moves comes months after LAist uncovered more than $13 million in public funds directed by Do to Viet America Society without him disclosing that his daughter worked as a leader there.
-
The new votes come a week after the board removed Do from his committee assignments.
-
The city was accused of failing to prevent bullying and harassment to surfers not affiliated with a local group often described as a surf gang.
-
Who is Andrew Do? Why is his 23-year-old daughter involved? What does a county supervisor even do? We explain the saga playing out in O.C.
-
Students involved in campus protest filed a lawsuit against university alleging harsher punishments.