11 sent to hospitals after haz-mat alert in Buena Park

• October 13, 2023

Eleven people were hospitalized Friday morning, Oct. 13, following a hazardous-materials alert at a building in Buena Park.

Orange County Fire Authority firefighters responded just before 9:15 a.m. in the 6500 block of Caballero Boulevard, Fire Authority Capt. Thanh Nguyen said.

Firefighters got everyone out of the building and decontaminated people, Nguyen said.

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The 11 taken to area hospitals all appeared to be in “stable condition,” he said.

Firefighters were working to determine the origin of the leak and how to address it, Nguyen said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

​ Orange County Register 

Narcan, now available without a prescription, can still be hard to get

• October 13, 2023

Jackie Fortiér, LAist and Nicole Leonard, WHYY | (TNS) KFF Health News

Last month, drugstores and pharmacies nationwide began stocking and selling the country’s first over-the-counter version of naloxone, a medication that can stop a potentially fatal overdose from opioids. It’s sold as a nasal spray under the brand name Narcan.

Coming off a year with a record number of opioid-related overdose deaths in the United States — nearly 83,000 in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics — community health workers and addiction medicine experts were hopeful that the arrival of Narcan on retail shelves might make it easier for people to get the medication.

And, ultimately, prevent more fatal overdoses.

But it’s unclear whether the move will actually expand access to Narcan. Experts worry that its unpredictable retail price, sporadic availability on store shelves, or general consumer confusion about potentially having to ask a pharmacist to retrieve it will mean that fewer people than expected will purchase Narcan to have it at the ready when an overdose occurs.

“It’s not by any means a game changer,” said Shoshana Aronowitz, a family nurse practitioner and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing in Philadelphia. “I don’t think it’s a step in the wrong direction. I just think it’s a tiny, tiny baby step that does not deserve a round of applause.”

“We should not be under any illusion that this is going to meaningfully change things for a lot of people,” she said. “But we need to be moving in this direction. We just need to be doing it faster and with an understanding that this is just way overdue.”

The FDA approved over-the-counter marketing and sales of Narcan in March. Manufactured by Emergent BioSolutions, it started arriving in stores in early September, with a suggested retail price of $44.99 for a two-dose package with a three-year shelf life.

Enduring Barriers to Access

As an over-the-counter product, Narcan ideally would appear on store shelves in the same way as ibuprofen and cough medication.

But at several drugstore locations in Philadelphia, “over the counter” means it is stocked and sold from behind the pharmacy counter. That requires people to wait in line and ask a pharmacist to buy Narcan.

“Having to go talk to the pharmacist who may or may not know you, it’s not comfortable for people, and that’s a barrier that this is supposed to eliminate,” Aronowitz said. “It’s counterintuitive. It needs to just be on the shelf, and someone can take it.”

Keeping Narcan behind the counter will especially deter people who use drugs, said Lewis Nelson, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and director of the Division of Medical Toxicology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

“For those who don’t have substance use concerns, they might go in and just ask for the product and not be concerned about what the other person’s thinking,” he said. “But that’s a mental state that’s very hard for most of us to put ourselves into if we don’t live the life of somebody with the stigma and the marginalization that is so associated with substance use.”

Another potential barrier is related to affordability. Despite the suggested price of $44.99 for a two-dose pack, nothing is stopping individual pharmacies and other retailers from charging more. At least one drugstore in Philadelphia was selling it from behind the pharmacy counter for $72 a box.

“The higher the price, the fewer people who are going to splurge to have this with them in case somebody else needs it,” Nelson said.

That’s especially true for people with low incomes who are facing other daily financial challenges, Aronowitz said. Even $44.99 may be too steep for many consumers.

“That’s a lot of money to be spending on something if you need food today, if you have a headache and need ibuprofen today,” she said. “You think you’ll probably need naloxone, but it’s not a guarantee that you’ll need today, so why spend the money?”

Generic brands of naloxone are also available at most pharmacy stores, but consumers need a prescription from a medical professional.

Most states have also adopted some kind of standing order, which authorizes pharmacists to dispense naloxone immediately to someone even without an individual prescription.

For some consumers, purchasing naloxone via prescription could remain cheaper than buying it over the counter. Many private health insurers — and public programs like Medicaid and Medicare — cover the cost of these prescription sales.

State officials in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware confirmed to NPR and KFF Health News that their Medicaid programs, which offer health insurance to people with low incomes, will cover the cost of the new Narcan spray if a pharmacist puts the order through as a prescription.

In California, a bill is headed to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk that would require health insurers — both public and private — to cover most of the cost of naloxone, and other FDA-approved opioid-overdose reversal drugs, in the nation’s most populous state. The bill would allow insurance plans to charge a maximum copay of $10 per package, and it would sunset in five years.

Aronowitz predicted that if cost deters people from buying over-the-counter Narcan, it will fall upon nonprofit organizations and so-called harm reduction programs, which already distribute naloxone for free, to continue efforts to distribute it to a larger population of people.

Health Departments Try to Do More

In Los Angeles County, health officials have launched a unique push to get Narcan into the hands of an overlooked demographic when it comes to the overdose epidemic: Latino immigrants.

The rate of fentanyl deaths among Latinos in L.A. County jumped by 748% in four years, according to the county Department of Public Health.

In 2016, 25 Latino residents died of fentanyl overdoses. By 2021, 551 Latinos had died. It’s unknown how many of those people were immigrants because country of origin isn’t a required data point in overdose reported data. Still, county health officials are proactively reaching out to immigrant communities with their harm reduction efforts.

While Mexico doesn’t report an opioid use epidemic as severe and deadly as the one in the U.S., overdoses in that country are increasing — particularly in border communities — and there’s a growing need for Narcan.

In Los Angeles, Martha Hernandez, a county community health worker, makes frequent visits to local consulates for Spanish-speaking nations, where she gives short, sharp demonstrations tailored to her audience, instructing them on how to effectively use Narcan.

“I go to five Latin consulates,” Hernandez explained during a recent visit to the city’s Mexican consulate near MacArthur Park. “I use myself as an example. A lot of us go to our hometown, Tijuana is the closest one, and we go and get medication, especially painkillers. [I tell them] ‘a lot of them have fentanyl in the medications’ and you’ll see their wide-open eyes, like ‘Whoa, that is true.’”

Narcan is highly restricted in Mexico, so immigrants are unlikely to know much about it. But in the U.S., Narcan’s new availability without a prescription, along with the ongoing surge in overdoses, has made consulates a new priority for enhanced outreach and training.

One common misconception Hernandez runs into surrounds Narcan’s packaging, which says “nasal spray” in large letters on the box.

“People do mistake the fact that it’s nasal [spray]; they think it’s for allergies,” she said. “That’s where you see the necessity of educating our community because a lot of people will say, ‘Oh I need it, I have allergies.’”

A Captive Audience

The main room of the Mexican consulate in L.A. feels like the lobby of a department of motor vehicles, with long waits amid rows of hard plastic chairs. On a recent morning, about 30 people sat waiting for their new Mexican passports or ID cards.

Hernandez walked in front of the assembled group, holding brightly colored public health brochures above her head.

“Simple words, colorful brochures, nice and easy. The way you approach them is the key to getting your message across,” she said.

She told the captive audience they’ll learn how to save someone from dying of an opioid overdose.

Hernandez told them Narcan is not a substitute for medical care, but it can quickly prevent an overdose from becoming fatal. And it’s so easy to use that the training can take as little as 10 minutes, she said.

It’s not always clear if someone is experiencing an overdose, but Hernandez told the group that they should still call 911 and administer Narcan.

“I tell them, ‘If I saw my mom on the floor, I would administer Narcan,’” Hernandez said. “Why? Because my mom will go to her sister’s house and say, ‘My neck …’ or ‘My knee hurts,’ and her sister will pop out a pain medicine [that she has]. A lot of us, being Latinos, will pop it into our mouth. How do I know what she put in her mouth?”

Fake prescription pills are partially fueling the country’s opioid crisis, especially in Western states. The share of overdose deaths involving counterfeit pills more than doubled comparing a three-month period in 2019 to the last quarter of 2021, and the percentage more than tripled in Western states, according to a new report from the CDC.

The report found those who died from overdoses with evidence of counterfeit pill use, compared with those without it, were more often younger, Hispanic, and had misused prescription drugs in the past.

Jose Magaña Lozano, 67, works in cement construction in L.A. and has lived in the U.S. for 30 years.

“I’ve only seen opioid overdoses on TV,” he said in Spanish. “Hopefully I never have to witness an overdose happen, but if in case I do see it happen, at least you know what to do, and at the very least you can help a little.”

But for younger generations who went to high school in the U.S., and who grew up during the raging opioid epidemic, the problem is all too familiar.

“I’ve actually learned it [Narcan] in high school because you’d be surprised, lots of people were doing drugs and overdosing,” said Luis Armas Ramirez, who was part of the group at the Mexican consulate in L.A.

“Latinos, we don’t really take it seriously like that, especially because it’s something very private,” he said.

Armas was excited to receive a free box of Narcan while waiting for his travel documents.

“[Narcan] is, like, crazy expensive. I believe that things happen for a reason, so if I’m seeing it [Narcan] now, God’s timing is never wrong, I may see an overdose next week, you never know,” he said.

Hernandez gave three demonstrations at the Mexican consulate and gave out a total of 45 boxes of Narcan. The next day, she headed over to the Guatemalan consulate to teach more immigrants about the increased danger of opioid overdoses in America, and how they might help.

____

Gillian Moran-Pérez contributed Spanish translation assistance to this report.

This article is from a partnership that includes LAist, WHYY, NPR, and KFF Health News.

____

(KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.)

©2023 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Westminster attorney Jimmy Pham exits congressional race to enter state Assembly race

• October 13, 2023

Westminster attorney Jimmy Pham has dropped out of the race for California’s 45th congressional district, saying he’ll instead set his sights on a state Assembly race.

Pham, who was one of several candidates in the hunt to unseat Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, said he will enter the race for the 70th Assembly District seat currently held by Assemblymember Tri Ta, R-Westminster. Pham, who is of Vietnamese descent, declined to give further details on his plan at this time.

“While I appreciate the support I have received throughout this race from the community I love and the place where I call home, my heart lies in other service to move our communities forward with common sense ideals and a willingness to get things done,” he said in a news release. “I want to thank everyone who contributed or supported me and our campaign to bring effective and fresh leadership to Congress.”

The race for CA-45 has drawn several candidates, including Garden Grove Councilmember Kim Bernice Nguyen, Brea resident Aditya Pai, UC Irvine Law grad Cheyenne Hunt and attorney Derek Tran.

The district, which straddles Los Angeles and Orange counties, is home to Orange County’s Little Saigon, the largest Vietnamese enclave outside of Vietnam.

It is on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s target list of competitive Republican-held or open districts that the party’s campaign arm is expected to invest heavily in, and Democrats have a near 6% voter registration advantage over Republicans, according to the latest official state registration reports.

Last year, Steel defeated her Democratic challenger to win reelection by nearly 5%.

Pham, an immigration attorney who launched his congressional bid in June, is a Westminster resident who was born and raised in Orange County. He serves as vice chair for the city’s traffic commission and sits on the Vietnamese American Democratic Club board. He said in June he is committed to finding ways to redevelop older portions of the city and attract more tourists.

Pham, who considers himself a “moderate liberal,” also said Westminster needs more funding for public safety, first responders and the fire and police departments.

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​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland playtests cute droid trio in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge

• October 13, 2023

A cute trio of little buddy droids who travel as Jedi companions to dangerous locations across the Star Wars universe made a surprise visit to the remote village of Batuu at Disneyland for a bit of exploration and research.

Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Research conducted playtests of three BD unit droids on Thursday, Oct. 12 in the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge themed land at the Anaheim theme park.

New visitors were spotted in Batuu! Disney Imagineers hosted a 1-day playtest at @Disneyland with these droids in training, and we can’t wait to see where this exploration might go! #StarWarsGalaxysEdge #StarWars pic.twitter.com/BTVBfk0qAy

— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) October 13, 2023

The free-roaming droids walked in a single-file line like ducklings, greeted other static droids throughout Galaxy’s Edge and wowed visitors to Batuu, according to a WDW News Today video posted to YouTube.

A character meet-and-greet handler dressed in Batuuan attire asked the droids to conduct a “life form check” as the robots scanned Disneyland visitors with white lights attached to their heads and twitched their ear-like antennae. During the playtest, three operators holding touchscreen tablets controlled the droid trio from a few steps away.

The BD units were distinguished by their blue, green and orange trims and went by the names BlueBot, Greenie and Orange1.

The cute, little robots looked like the BD-1 droid from the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game.

The BD unit droid befriends and accompanies former Padawan Cal Kestis, the main protagonist of the game, who is on a quest to rebuild the fallen Jedi Order.

The Beedee droids, short for “buddy units,” were designed to function as companions that assist with research and exploration in remote and dangerous locations across the galaxy far, far away.

SEE ALSO: What’s the next Star Wars destination for Disneyland’s Star Tours?

Game designers created BD-1 as a cross between a twittering bird and a loyal dog, drawing inspiration from the personalities of Charles Schulz’s Woodstock and Snoopy, according to GameInformer.

The BD explorer droid has eyes for scanning and antennae that react to sounds and situations like a dog’s ears, according to GameInformer.

Beedee’s chirpy beeping voice was created by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt, who voiced R2-D2, according to GameInformer.

SEE ALSO: The biggest winners in the Disneyland Magic Key settlement aren’t annual passholders

The key to the life-like movements is the robots’ ability to imitate artist-animated keyframe motions, according to Disney Research Associate Lab Director Moritz Bacher.

“That’s the secret sauce,” Bacher said on a Disney Parks video.

The robots can do a happy dance, glare with red-eyed anger and replicate other human emotions, according to Bacher.

“They walk over uneven terrain,” Bacher said on a Disney Parks video. “They can still balance. They are really robust.”

SEE ALSO: Why Disneyland raised ticket prices while Disney World didn’t

The robotic character prototypes developed by Disney Research walk with unique gaits and traits that combine procedural animation, modular hardware and reinforcement learning, according to News Nation reporter Scott Gustin.

A Disney Research video shows the BD droids getting bumped without falling, having fabric pulled from underneath their feet and walking over uneven forested terrain.

Disney Research recently unveiled the new robotic character prototype “that combines procedural animation, modular hardware, and reinforcement learning to be able to design and program a walking character capable of these unique gaits and traits.” pic.twitter.com/w18U8R9oXP

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) October 12, 2023

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The droid playtest adds a level of interactivity to Galaxy’s Edge that was promised by Imagineering when the Star Wars themed land first debuted in 2019.

When will visitors see the BD droids again in Batuu? Disneyland hasn’t said, but stay tuned.

“We’re really excited to see the guest reaction to these and where it might go in the future,” Executive R&D Imagineer Joel Perry said in the Disney Parks video.

​ Orange County Register 

After Israel’s ‘Pearl Harbor,’ nothing less than victory against Hamas is demanded

• October 13, 2023

Hamas’s massive surprise attack by land, sea and air has been likened to Israel’s “Pearl Harbor” moment. How could this have happened, anguished Israelis are asking, given the country’s outstanding military strength? 

The evident failures of military preparedness and intelligence are stunning. But there’s another, overlooked failure that runs deeper — the failure to acknowledge Hamas’s actual nature and goals, and to act accordingly. 

By its own statement, Hamas exists to end Israel’s existence. The Islamic totalitarian group rose to prominence and gained a loyal following precisely because of its uncompromising, brutal dedication to wiping Israel off the map. No “peace process” is possible with such an enemy — only a decisive victory that eliminates Hamas. 

Many have denounced Israel for its heavy-handed military responses to past Hamas attacks. But in fact Israel’s responses, reinforced by U.S. and international pressure, were insufficiently assertive. 

Israel failed to heed a crucial lesson of history, which I discuss in “What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli Palestinian Conflict.” The lesson is that wars end when one side is deterred, permanently, from taking up arms; when it is rendered non-threatening; when its morale is shattered. 

What does that look like? It’s the day when followers of the Palestinian cause give up on their desire to liquidate Israel, when they put down their knives and suicide belts and rocket launchers, when they accommodate themselves to Israel’s continued existence. That means not simply a destroying Hamas’s rocket launchers, not simply capturing or killing its top leadership, not simply uprooting its militant infrastructure, while leaving a remnant to nurse the hope of winning the next round. It means a profound mind-shift. It means forcing the enemy to give up on its militant goals. 

Despite being militarily superior, however, Israel chose not to defeat Hamas, but only to degrade its capabilities. Repeatedly. The October 7 war is in part a result of this tragic pattern. 

When Hamas seized control of the Gaza strip in 2005-6, it was well-positioned to pursue its jihad against Israel. Hamas trained fighters, many of them teens, and amassed weapons. Using tunnels to bypass Israeli border controls on the passage of goods in and out of Gaza, they smuggled in weapons and rockets. Adopting a well-practiced technique, pioneered by the so-called moderate Palestinian factions years before, the Islamists concealed their arsenal in densely populated neighborhoods, particularly inside mosques and schools. What began as sporadic rocket attacks from Gaza climaxed into a full-scale war. From 2007 to 2008, more than 5,700 rockets had been fired at Israeli neighborhoods and towns.  

To quell such attacks, Israel deployed air and ground forces in Operation Cast Lead, or what became known as the Gaza War of 2008–09. Israel’s retaliation sought to “mow the grass,” weakening the Islamists militarily, not uprooting them. 

By 2012, the Islamists rearmed and renewed their attacks, triggering another, briefer war. Israel again chose not to defeat them.

Then in 2014, amid continuing rocket and mortar attacks, Israel retaliated with air strikes and ground forces. During that 50-day war, Hamas and its allies fired more than 4,500 rockets and mortars — many of them longer-range missiles, putting most of the country within range. 

They had built a network of tunnels designed for smuggling weapons in — and for launching armed raids on Israeli neighborhoods. The aim of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge was to halt the rockets, impair the Islamists’ military infrastructure (launching sites, munitions factories, arms warehouses), and destroy the tunnel network. That’s it. 

In 2021, when Islamists fired rockets into Israel, what was the response? Another round of diminishing Hamas’s capabilities, leaving it and other Islamists to rebuild their arsenal. 

Witness the unprecedented attack launched on October 7. 

And all the while, Israel continued to provide electricity and water to the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip. It also occasionally relaxed the so-called blockade around that enclave, designed to prevent the Islamists from acquiring cash and weapons to fight on. Talk about empowering your own destroyers. 

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Why hasn’t Israel used its superior military power to defeat Hamas? A major factor is that Israel’s leaders themselves lack the moral confidence to act resolutely to protect the individual rights of their citizens. Evidence of this can be seen in Israel’s continual bowing to pressure from Washington and the UN to “de-escalate” and to show “restraint.” This is rooted in the moral idea that one must turn the other cheek, that it’s wrong to pursue one’s self-interest, that a powerful, wealthy victim must appease a less-powerful, have-not aggressor. 

Hamas’s savagery has ignited worldwide outrage, at least for the moment, and perhaps this time, the war will unfold differently. Israelis are resolved to fight back. 

Ending the pre-October 7 pattern requires a rethinking of the moral assumptions that have prevented Israel from fully defending the lives and freedom of its population.   What Israeli leaders need now is the independent, self-confident recognition that it’s morally right to seek the defeat of Hamas, regardless of the foreseeable criticism and calls for “restraint.” 

In its retaliation, Israel should seek nothing less than victory over its enemy. 

Elan Journo, a senior fellow and vice president at the Ayn Rand Institute, is the author of “What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”

​ Orange County Register 

How many people die from gun shots in Orange County? It’s a mystery

• October 13, 2023

Orange County health officials track and publicize almost all manner of death, counting up the number of people who perish every year of everything from heart disease and cancer to COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s.

A big exception is guns.

While most public health departments in Southern California treat firearm injuries like other causes of death – tabulating the numbers and telling the public how many people in their community die as a result of gunshots, intentional or otherwise – such data has not been listed on public websites run by the Orange County Health Care Agency since the middle of the last decade.

Even over the past three years, as gun purchases and gun homicide and suicide rates have spiked nationally, and at least three mass shootings have taken place in Orange County, the local health department has released no data that researchers or the general public might use to compare local gun death rates to the rest of the country.

The one mention of “firearms” on county public health websites is as a cause of suicide, and even in that case guns are listed only as part of a combined category, “firearms and explosives.” That makes it impossible to track the exact number of people, locally, who choose to use a gun to end their life.

Current and former county officials insist that’s not intentional. They say there is no overt effort to hide or obscure public data about firearm deaths because such numbers might be politically sensitive.

“In my experience, none of the supervisors or anybody ever told me you’re not to report on (gun deaths),” said Dr. Clayton Chau, who led the Orange County Health Care Agency during most of the pandemic before stepping down earlier this year to take a job in the private sector.

“But, yes, it’s true that the public numbers on (gun deaths) aren’t easily available.”

Lack of local public data doesn’t mean the information doesn’t exist. State and federal health experts track gun deaths in every county in the country, and recent numbers suggest Orange County is below the California average of 7.9 gun deaths for every 100,000 people.

But the county’s exact gun death rate hasn’t been publicized, and it’s unclear if local gun deaths are more or less common. It’s also unknown if a recent national trend – a historic spike in childhood mortality in the three years since firearms supplanted auto accidents as the No. 1 killer of kids – is playing out locally.

Experts say not going public with health information is bad for public health.

“Understanding and tracking the data is important, and publicizing it is everything,” said Marizen Ramirez, a public health professor and epidemiologist at UC Irvine who studies the role that violence plays in public health.

Ramirez compared gun data to auto accident data. Just as it’s important to know how many people die each year in auto accidents – in part so the information can be used to calibrate everything from auto insurance rates to freeway speed limits – she said publicizing gun death numbers can help society weigh the broader costs, in lives and dollars, of gun ubiquity.

“It isn’t about demonizing guns,” Ramirez said. “I have friends who have guns, I know of epidemiologists who own guns.

“But understanding the cost those guns actually have for all of us can’t be measured unless we have public data about them. And death data is part of that.”

Though they haven’t made the information public, Chau and others said the county’s Health Agency routinely tracks gun-related fatalities. Officials use data from the county coroner to monitor gun-related homicides, suicides, accidents and officer-involved shootings.

And a new report looking at several years of local gun deaths – the first since 2014 – has been awaiting formal approval for publication from county County Executive Officer Frank Kim for several months.

“I don’t know why it hasn’t come out,” said Chau, who left the county in June and now works for National Healthcare & Housing Advisors, a company that works with public agencies and hospitals to provide health care and shelter options for people struggling with homelessness.

“I know (Kim’s office) needs to talk with different supervisors.”

When asked if it would take months to produce a report about Alzheimer’s disease deaths or cancer deaths, Chau said, “probably not.”

Kim, who didn’t offer detailed comment on the record, confirmed that the report exists and said the county won’t issue any report until it has been “thoroughly vetted” for accuracy.

In the past, Orange County health officials have researched gun deaths and publicized their findings.

In 2014, the county issued a report called “Firearm-Related Injuries and Death in Orange County (2009-2011).” In addition to tracking negative gun outcomes in the county, and in each city, over the three-year window, that report also highlighted at least some of the financial burden that gun violence – in the form of paying for shooting-related injuries – placed on local taxpayers.

“Charges associated with these 300 firearm-related hospitalizations averaged $158,541 per admission and a length of stay of eight days. During the three-year time period of 2009 to 2011, the sum total charges amounted to about $48 million or an average of about $16 million per year,” health officials wrote. An accompanying table showed that about half (51%) of those expenses were covered by Medi-Cal or other government insurance programs, while private insurers picked up about a quarter (23%).

Another report from the same era tracked deaths of people age 17 and younger during a five-year period starting in 2007, and it also included data about gun deaths. During those years  29 children in Orange County died in gun-related homicides and seven died in gun-related suicides.

Since then it’s likely – though, again, unknown because of a lack of information – that guns have killed more children in Orange County. A report from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that the national firearm death rate for children 17 and younger jumped 41.6% from 2018 through 2021, and that 6 in 10 of those deaths were homicides.

The report found that Black teenage boys living in southern states were more likely than any other demographic group to be victims of gun violence, with death rates roughly 11 times higher than children living in comparatively low gun death-rate states like California.

Over time, experts say, such detailed public health findings can be used to slow violence and save lives.

“Sometimes data shows us what we already know. But if we’re looking to prevent gun deaths, to keep our community safer, we have to identify basic data to be on the same page and tackle the same problem,” said Katherine Williamson, a pediatrician from south Orange County who is associated with Children’s Hospital of Orange County and a member of the local chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“The idea that data about gun deaths isn’t available to the public is disappointing,” she said. “Particularly when you’re talking about children.”

County Supervisor Katrina Foley agreed. She said she wasn’t aware that gun data wasn’t included on the Health Agency’s website, but will work to find out why and work with county officials to fix what she said is “a problem.”

“It’s not something we’ve discussed, to be honest.”

Still, when pressed why an agency that can tabulate and publicize the number of local deaths from fentanyl (555 last year), or heart disease (5,114 in 2021), or COVID-19 (3,466 in 2021), can’t offer matching data for firearm injuries – which, based on other public trend lines is one of the 10 leading causes of death in the county – Foley demurred.

“I don’t know,” she said. “But I think it’s important to figure out why we’ve stopped and how to start again.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Bruce Rollinson among group selected for CIF Southern Section Hall of Fame

• October 13, 2023

Former Mater Dei football coach Bruce Rollinson is among the 13 people selected to the 39th class of inductees for the CIF Southern Section Hall of Fame.

The CIF-SS office announced Friday that Rollinson and Orange County high school sports figures Jim Brumm, Rocky Ciarelli, Tony Ciarelli, Dan Glenn, Jeff Gordon, Gary Meek and Bill Seckington are the Orange County high school sports figures who are among the latest inductees who will be honored at a luncheon at The Grand Convention Center in Long Beach on Oct. 18.

Rollinson coached Mater Dei football to eight CIF-SS championships, four state championships and five national titles. He coached two players, Matt Leinart (USC) and Bryce Young (Alabama), who went on to win the Heisman Trophy.

Foothill head coach Jim Brumm talks to his team during a non-league boys water polo game against Newport Harbor at Foothill High in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019. Newport Harbor defeated Foothill 14-8. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Brumm coached water polo and swimming at Foothill and Huntington Beach. His teams won seven boys water polo CIF-SS championships and eight CIF-SS boys swimming championships. Brumm led his water polo teams to 600 wins in his 40 years of coaching.

Rocky Ciarelli’s 37 years coaching boys and girls volleyball at Edison, Huntington Beach and Newport Harbor produced more than 600 wins and 18 league championships, three CIF-SS boys championships and one girls CIF-SS title, one boys CIF Southern California Regional boys volleyball championship and one CIF State girls volleyball championship.

Tony Ciarelli coached six CIF State champions and 18 CIF-SS champions in the throwing events (shot put and discus) at Edison, Huntington Beach and Newport Harbor. He also was an outstanding assistant coach at Newport Harbor football.

Glenn coached boys and girls volleyball for 35 years at Edison, Newport Harbor and University. His Newport Harbor girls teams won seven CIF-SS championships and five CIF State titles. He also coached three CIF-SS boys volleyball championship teams at Newport Harbor.

Sunny Hills head coach Jeff Gordon during a Freeway League girls soccer game against La Habra at Sunny Hills High in Fullerton on Thursday, January 20, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Gordon coached soccer at Sunny Hills to 19 Freeway League championships and three CIF-SS championships. He was the National High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2007.

Meek coached Esperanza football to three CIF-SS champions during his 17 seasons there. His record with the Aztecs is 144-50-4.

Seckington coached Huntington Beach golf teams to 404 wins and 19 Sunset League championships in his 26 seasons. His teams won three CIF Southern California Regional titles.

Among the CIF-SS Distinguished Service honorees are Bill Prichard, who played water polo at Newport Harbor and wrote “The History of CIF-SS Water Polo 1912-2020,” former CIF-SS commissioner Rob Wigod who was the baseball coach and athletic director at Los Alamitos and former CIF-SS assistant commissioner Rainer Wulf, who coached the Trabuco Hill boys basketball team to a CIF-SS championship.

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What is a credit card hardship program?

• October 13, 2023

Erik J. Martin | Bankrate.com (TNS)

Finding it increasingly difficult to pay your credit card bills due to some bad luck? Have you overcharged beyond your ability to repay your debt? Worried that your credit rating may be severely damaged if you don’t do something soon?

Thankfully, there are options. One of them is to participate in a credit card hardship program, which is a structured offering designed to assist consumers facing personal and financial adversity and help them avoid defaulting on their credit cards.

Read on to learn about how credit card hardship programs work, their eligibility requirements, the advantages and disadvantages of participating, the steps involved in the process and alternative options to consider.

Credit card hardship programs explained

A credit card hardship program is a financial arrangement offered by credit card-issuing banks and lenders through which you negotiate to make smaller or more manageable payments on your outstanding debt.

Often, through these arrangements, lenders or banks agree to temporarily reduce or eliminate interest charges, lower your payments, waive late fees and extend payment due dates. You may even be allowed to temporarily suspend payments altogether under certain conditions. Any of these measures can make it easier to pay back what you owe during a difficult period.

Consider that the average credit card interest rate today is a record-high 20.71% and that many credit cards charge costly late fees. This double-whammy makes it tough for many financially challenged borrowers to get out of their cycle of increasing debt — especially if they’ve experienced a serious setback like an illness, divorce or job loss.

Modifications permitted under a credit card hardship program can lead to substantial savings, potentially amounting to thousands of dollars saved in interest and fees. However, credit card hardship programs won’t last forever; they often expire after three to 12 months.

Good candidates and qualification requirements

Anyone unable to pay their credit card bills as a result of hardship may qualify for a credit card hardship program.

“These programs are designed to provide relief to individuals facing genuine hardships, such as a sudden job loss or serious loss of income, medical emergency or other unforeseen event that’s caused a significant drop in income or an increase in expenses,” said Venture Smarter CEO Jon Morgan.

Other hardships that qualify for this type of program include suffering a serious and costly illness or injury, a divorce, a family emergency or a natural disaster.

“The requirements for qualifying for a credit card hardship program will vary from issuer to issuer,” personal finance expert Andrew Lokenauth with TheFinanceNewsletter.com, notes. “Some common eligibility requirements include being current on your payments for at least six months, having a good credit history and being able to prove you are experiencing financial hardship.”

“Many institutions also require that the consumer meet with a credit counselor or complete a debt management program to qualify,” says Laura Sterling, vice president of Marketing for Georgia’s Own Credit Union.

Pros of a credit card hardship program

A credit card hardship arrangement has its benefits and drawbacks, each of which is worth exploring carefully.

“On the plus side, you may be allowed to pause or lower your payments. Your interest rate may be temporarily reduced. You’ll likely be allowed to make lower monthly payments without being charged late fees. And you could avoid seriously damaging your credit,” says Lokenauth. “Most importantly, it will provide extra time to help you get back on your feet financially.”

Other advantages include the opportunity to avoid default or bankruptcy and reduced financial stress.

To illustrate the benefits of a credit card hardship program, imagine you have a credit card with a $5,000 balance and an interest rate of 20%. You’ve lost your job and can no longer afford the minimum monthly payment of $200.

“With a hardship program, let’s say the bank agrees to reduce your interest rate to 5% and lower your monthly payment to $100. Over the next 12 months, you pay a total of $1,200 instead of $2,400, making it more manageable while you search for a new job,” says Morgan.

As another example, assume you face unexpected medical expenses of $3,000, which you charge to your credit card. The card assesses an interest rate of 18%, but after entering into a hardship program with the card issuer, your interest rate is lowered to 8%.

“Here, you can potentially save $300 in interest charges over the course of the year,” Morgan adds.

Disadvantages of a credit card hardship program

On the other hand, being in a credit card hardship program may have a temporary negative impact on your credit scores, as participation in these types of programs — as well as any missed payments —can still be reported to the three credit bureaus.

Additional disadvantages include the following:

•Your credit card account may be frozen while you’re enrolled, which means you won’t be able to use the card. While this may be helpful from a financial perspective, it can make life more difficult if you’re still relying on access to the card’s credit.

•Card issuers can continue charging interest during your program participation. As a result, the balance on your card may keep rising.

•The plan may extend your borrowing terms and increase the total interest you’ll pay.

•You may be obligated to set up automatic payments from your bank account to ensure the credit card gets paid. Doing so could create additional hardship if you’re already juggling making payments as funds become available.

Where you can find a credit card hardship program

To inquire about and enroll in a credit card hardship program, contact your credit card and ask if they offer one.

“Many major credit card issuers — including Chase, Citibank, Bank of America and American Express — offer these programs,” Morgan continues.

Just be aware that you’ll have to initiate the conversation.

“Credit card issuers do not advertise credit card hardship programs, even if they do provide them. So if you have a hardship, it’s best to reach out to your issuer directly to see what assistance they offer,” advises Sterling.

Once you’ve reached out to your lender, prepare to take the following steps:

•Document your hardship. Prepare, gather and submit documentation that proves your financial difficulties. This may include items such as a job termination letter, costly bills triggered by a natural disaster, medical bills or other income statements.

•Negotiate and agree to the terms. “Discuss the available options with your bank, including reduced interest rates, waived fees, lower monthly payments or a temporary suspension of payments,” says Morgan. Note that you may be required to sign a program contract to enroll.

•Complete the program according to the rules. Make your new monthly payments on time, stick to the agreed-upon terms and comply with any program requirements. Be aware of when the program expires, too.

Alternatives to a credit card hardship program

Entering into a credit card hardship program isn’t your only choice. Instead, check out these additional options:

•Apply for a balance transfer credit card. This type of card may be able to help you pay off your debt by enabling you to transfer your existing card balances to a new credit card with a 0% intro APR period for a set period of time (typically 12-21 months). This can save big money you’d otherwise spend on interest alone.

•Explore a debt consolidation loan. “Here, the payments may be more manageable if you can consolidate multiple high-rate loans into one lower-rate loan,” suggests Sterling.

•Pursue credit counseling. “Seek advice from a certified credit counselor with a nonprofit organization that can help you create a budget and explore debt management options,” Morgan says.

•Investigate debt settlement. “With this option, you negotiate with your creditors to settle your debt for less than you owe, but it can be a risky option because it may damage your credit,” Lokenauth says.

•Consider bankruptcy as a last resort. “While it has significant long-term consequences, bankruptcy may be necessary for those with overwhelming debt and no other viable options,” adds Morgan.

The bottom line

Mounting credit card debt can leave you feeling overwhelmed and anxious. But if you can demonstrate a true financial hardship, you can lift the weight of worry to some degree by working with your credit card issuer to repay what you owe on more preferred terms and with fewer penalties and charges.

“Just be sure to do your research and explore all your available options before you enter into a credit card hardship program,” Lokenauth recommends. “Also, read the fine print carefully and make sure you understand all the terms before signing or committing to anything.”

Key takeaways

•A credit card hardship program may allow you to pause or make smaller payments on your credit card debt with more preferred terms and waived fees.

•Many credit card issuers offer credit card hardship programs you may qualify for.

•Other options to consider include balance transfer cards, debt consolidation loans, credit counseling, debt settlements or — as a last resort — bankruptcy.

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(Visit Bankrate online at bankrate.com.)

©2023 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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