January 16, 2018

Orange County

Billionaire Tom Steyer pledges to mobilize Orange County millennials for 2018 elections

“If you think about the federal government, we’re clearly not going to get a Democratic government in 2018,” said Steyer. “It’s going to be pretty hard to flip the Senate. So when you think about changing Washington, D.C. in a meaningful way, the highest likelihood is the House.”

 

OC Register: Fountain Valley City Councilman Mark McCurdy resigns from office

It is unclear whether the city will appoint someone to fill the position on an interim basis, stage a special election or leave the post vacant until the general election in November.

 

OC Register: 7 ways Orange County’s housing shortage hit house hunters

A limited supply of homes to buy, especially at the market’s more affordable price ranges, has pushed up prices and slowed the homebuying pace.

 

OC Register: Is Southern California feeling crowded? Population figures say yes as region grows at fastest pace since 2014

Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties as of July 1 had added a combined 128,552 residents to 18.03 million, according to new data from the state Department of Finance.

 

Labor

Frontline: Meet female janitors learning to fight back – literally – against sexual abuse

As they work, they are often alone or isolated in empty buildings, vulnerable to sexual violence. Among those who have faced assault, many are afraid to come forward out of fear that they’ll be fired or deported.

 

Daily Pilot: Newport-Mesa teachers union reflects on 50 years of solidarity

Former Newport Heights Elementary sixth-grade teacher Bob Kelly joined the union in 1972. He recalled distributing fliers to his colleagues’ mailboxes before work and encouraging them to join their cause.

 

Labor 411: Employees who build iPhones describe inhumane working conditions

In the Chinese industrial city of Suqian, about six hours’ drive from Shanghai, workers stand for up to 10 hours a day in hot workshops slicing and blasting iPhone casings for Apple Inc., handling noxious chemicals sometimes without proper gloves or masks.

 

Nation

Washington Post: U.S. Chamber of Commerce to push Trump, Congress to raise the gas tax to fund infrastructure

Chamber President Thomas J. Donohue said his organization wants “to put our oar in the water” and acknowledged that it would be “a tough vote” to raise the gas tax for the first time since 1993. But he argued that support has been building in the business community and elsewhere.

Publication Date: January 16, 2018