Virginia group will assess LA County’s fire alert and evacuation procedures

• February 8, 2025

A firm headed by the former leader of the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command has been selected by Los Angeles County officials to conduct an independent review of the evacuation and emergency alert procedures used during the response to January’s Palisades and Eaton fires.

The Virginia-based McChrystal Group, founded in 2011 by retired four-star Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is conducting a similar review of September’s Hurricane Helene, which caused extensive damage and left at least 105 people dead in North Carolina’s western Appalachian region.

“This is an essential step toward improving transparency,” Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger said following Friday’s announcement. “The McChrystal Group’s forthcoming structured, thorough, and objective assessment will help us better protect lives and property in the future. I’m eager to review their findings.”

Members of Congress who represent the Los Angeles area have also launched an investigation into the county’s emergency alert system, which sent at least two erroneous evacuation alerts while some people in the direct path of raging fires received late notifications, or none at all.

In a letter seeking more information from the county and its emergency alert contractor, Long Beach Congressman Robert Garcia said he wanted to determine whether “additional statutory requirements, guidance, or regulations” are needed to prevent future false alarms.

The planned McChrystal Group review comes in response to a Jan. 28 Board of Supervisors directive “to ensure the County and the public will ultimately have a clear understanding of all that was done to prevent the loss of life and property during the worst fire disaster in modern L.A. County history, and to determine what factors led to the tragic deaths of at least 29 of our County residents.”

County officials said work on the McChrystal review has already begun.

“The first progress report will be delivered within 90 days of the Board’s motion,” the announcement from the Office of County Counsel said. “All County departments, including the Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department, and the Office of Emergency Management, are committed to fully engaging in this extensive review, which will include gathering and validating the call histories of the fire, interviewing first responders who were on scene as well as incident commanders in the field and overseeing operations, searching and reviewing 911 records, and gathering information from many other relevant sources, including community members.”

​ Orange County Register 

Former Placentia Mayor Rhonda Shader running for California’s 34th Senate District

• February 8, 2025

After an unsuccessful bid for the seat in 2022, former Placentia Mayor Rhonda Shader is making another run for California’s 34th Senate District in 2026.

Shader, a Republican, said she’s running because she’s seen the impact of state laws on cities and residents and wants to play a role in shaping policy. A longtime North Orange County resident, Shader served on the Placentia City Council for eight years before terming out last year.

“I really feel that Sacramento is not representing north Orange County well,” she said. “I’m a business owner, and I feel strongly that our businesses are not being supported … by the regulations that are coming out of our government.”

That’s why Shader said she’s pledged to visit 100 businesses in 100 days across the 34th District, which includes the northern Orange County cities of Santa Ana, Anaheim, Placentia, Fullerton, Buena Park, La Habra and parts of Orange, and South Whittier in Los Angeles County.

“I’m going directly to them to find out where they need help, where things have hurt and to see if there are things that we can do to try to change that,” she said.

So far, Shader has visited about 20 businesses and said many have shared similar concerns about the “lack of thought” behind some regulations coming out of Sacramento. One example Shader pointed to is the $20 an-hour minimum wage requirement for fast food workers, which took effect last April.

“That’s affected what they have to charge for their food,” she said.

Shader said she has met with businesses across various industries, including cafes, restaurants, biodiesel providers, home health care companies and small manufacturers. Some business owners told her that their colleagues in the same industries have opted to leave the state in the last several years.

That’s not to say Shader opposes all regulation — she said she simply believes some have become too burdensome for business owners. She said she sees herself as a catalyst for change, working to find a balance between necessary laws and a business-friendly environment.

“I’m learning a lot from all these businesses, and I think by the time I get to the end of 100, I’m going to have a really good plan for small businesses,” she said.

So far, two other candidates have also said they are running for the 34th Senate District: former Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman and Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, D-Anaheim.

Shader entered politics in 2016 following a City Hall embezzlement scandal, where a finance services manager stole approximately $5 million in public funds.

In 2022, she ran against incumbent Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, but lost in the general election, receiving 41.2% of the vote to Umberg’s 58.8%. Umberg is set to term out in 2026.

Democrats hold a registration advantage in the district. As of the latest voter registration data from the secretary of state in late October, 46.75% of registered voters are Democrats, 24.02% are Republicans and 23.26% have no party preference.

In addition to affordability and supporting small businesses, Shader said homelessness is a key issue for her. In the 34th District, Santa Ana and Anaheim have consistently recorded some of the highest homelessness rates in Orange County.

Homelessness is an epidemic in California, with billions of dollars spent each year with no sign of progress, Shader said.

“I think a lot of it is accountability. We’ve thrown a lot of money at it — and it does take money because we’re helping people … that have really serious needs,” she said.

Shader said she’s unsure yet about cutting homelessness funding but said she supports requiring organizations that receive it to demonstrate measurable success.

​ Orange County Register 

Susan Shelley: The state’s fake market in renewables

• February 8, 2025

Want to see a magic trick? Watch this:

“During 40 of the last 48 days, clean energy exceeded grid demand consumed at a point during the day; compared to only seven days all of last year.”

Did you see it? Reality vanished in front of your eyes. Look again.

The statement appeared in a news release sent out by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office last May. Thanks to some verbal sleight-of-hand, your eye sees what appears to be great progress toward “the state’s ambitious goal of 100% clean electricity by 2045.” From seven days in a year to 40 out of 48!

Here’s how the trick is done. It only happened “at a point during the day.”

To illustrate: on Thursday at 1:35 in the afternoon, data from the operator of California’s grid (CAISO.com) showed that renewable energy was providing 57% of the electricity needed by the state. Are we more than halfway to our target of 100% “clean” electricity?

Only if you live in a place where it’s never summer and it’s never night. Eight hours later, at 9:35 p.m., renewables were producing less than 19% of the state’s electricity needs. Natural gas, hydro and nuclear energy accounted for about 37%, 10% and 9%, respectively. Another 15% of the electricity used in California was imported on transmission lines from other states. Batteries were good for 10%, but only until midnight when they run out.

So it doesn’t matter at all how many days the state reaches 100% “clean” electricity “at a point during the day,” because the rest of the day and night we need natural gas, hydro, nuclear and imported electricity, or else the power’s going to go out.

Believers will say things such as “we’ve made great progress with renewables,” but this is just more magical thinking. Let’s bring up the house lights and see reality.

The first sign that you’ve been tricked is the fake market for renewable energy. California has imposed mandates on utilities to buy electricity generated by solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and biogas. Abracadabra! Demand has been created.

Now, to create supply, government subsidies and tax advantages materialize out of the money in your wallet. This magic created the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System on five square miles of the Mojave Desert near the Nevada border.

After the 2008 financial meltdown, the Obama administration was looking for “shovel-ready” projects to shower with federal stimulus cash. Apparently somebody looked in a drawer and found the abandoned plans for Ivanpah.

Outdated by the time it opened, the facility was comprised of hundreds of thousands of giant mirrors installed in circles around three spiky towers topped with capsules. The mirrors reflected the sun into the capsules, causing liquid inside to boil and send up steam that rotated turbines, generating electricity. To keep the liquid warm at night, Ivanpah burned natural gas.

In 2015 the solar plant was cited by the California Air Resources Board for emitting greenhouse gases without a permit.

Ivanpah was a creation of government force. It was propped up with your tax dollars — $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees and $600 million in federal tax credits. And because California forced utilities to buy renewables, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison signed expensive contracts for Ivanpah’s power and passed the cost to their customers.

Now, however, much like the unlucky birds that flew through the air above the mirrors, Ivanpah is toast.

PG&E recently announced that it reached a deal with Ivanpah’s owners to get out of its contract. SCE says it’s having similar discussions. The $1.6 billion federal loan hasn’t been paid off yet, so we can guess that your tax dollars have vanished into thin air.

But you’re also paying for subsidized energy projects as a utility customer. Want to see another trick? Electricity rates shall levitate!

Residential average rates charged by San Diego Gas & Electric rose 83% in the 10 years from January 2014 to October 2024. Southern California Edison rates were up 86%. PG&E rates climbed an ear-popping 118%. The increases are far above the rate of inflation, which was 34% for the same period.

These figures come from the Public Advocate’s Office of the California Public Utilities Commission, which also reports that nearly 20% of the customers of these three utilities, more than 2.2 million households, are behind on their electricity bills by an average of $821.

Magical thinking isn’t free.

The use of government subsidies and government force to create a fake “market” leads to terrible outcomes. In the real market, smart investors competing for opportunities will happily fund a promising technology. If investors aren’t interested, that should be taken as a sign that government shouldn’t spend your money on it.

But in California, investor rejection was taken as a sign to create “central procurement” for offshore wind energy. Assembly Bill 1373 authorizes a state agency to buy electricity from offshore wind projects and sell it to utilities, which can pass the cost straight through to customers.

Here’s a trick you’ve seen before: a new study in the journal Renewable Energy found that last year, for a few months in late winter and early spring, renewables met 100% of the state’s electricity demand for “up to” 10 hours on 98 days.

What’s the plan for the rest of the hours and months? Supposedly, lots of industrial-size facilities filled with stacked batteries.

On Jan. 16, a battery storage facility in Moss Landing, near Monterey, had its third fire, exploding in flames that burned for four days under a cloud of toxic gases. Now there are high levels of heavy metals in the soil and water, endangering a sensitive ecosystem and alarming residents.

A similar facility is planned for San Juan Capistrano, and Gov. Newsom has already signed a law (AB 205 in 2022) to override local opposition.

Batteries only last four hours. The truth is, California relies on oil and gas for heat, electricity and transportation.

Magic is an illusion, not an energy policy.

Write [email protected] and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley

​ Orange County Register 

No. 1 UCLA women working to ‘protect special’ in historic season

• February 8, 2025

Actress and comedian Leslie Jones excitedly embraced UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close during her postgame radio interview Wednesday night.

“You just killed it, baby, yes!” the former “Saturday Night Live” star shouted, beaming the entire time, before joining the team in the locker room.

Moments earlier, the No. 1 Bruins had beaten No. 8 Ohio State 65-52 in a gritty game that tested them mentally and physically. The hard-earned win was a historic one – it made for the longest winning streak in program history.

The Bruins (22-0, 10-0 Big Ten) remain the only unbeaten college women’s basketball team in the nation and the attention is pouring in, whether in the form of individual milestones, media coverage or celebrity support.

Close has spoken about standing on the shoulders of those who came before them, and now UCLA is carrying its own weight at center stage.

“It’s elevating the expectations of this program,” Close told reporters after the Ohio State game. “We get to experience special. That’s what we talk about – protecting this and understanding what a privilege this is to be a part of this journey.”

UCLA heads to Oregon (16-7, 7-5) this weekend for a Sunday afternoon game before returning to L.A. to play USC at Galen Center. After that, only five games are left on the regular-season schedule before the Big Ten Conference Tournament.

The message from the team throughout the season is that they’re not concerned with rankings, even though they’ve been the No. 1 team for a Big Ten record-setting 11 weeks.

“(Assistant coach) Tasha (Brown) did such a great job, not only in the scout but before the game,” Close said. “She talked about how much will you have to work to protect ‘special’ and that it’s not easy. No one’s just going to allow you to waltz in there.”

The Buckeyes certainly made sure of that Wednesday night, trapping and pressing and making UCLA work for every point. Cotie McMahan tied the game at 44 in the fourth quarter, forcing UCLA to go on a 19-1 run in order to survive.

“We needed a game like that,” Close said. “Chaos, disappointment, we look tired at times and we had to find a way to buckle down and do it with toughness and rebounding and defense. And that’s exactly what happened in the fourth quarter.”

Gabriela Jaquez shot 5 for 6 for 11 points in the fourth quarter and Lauren Betts, a Lisa Leslie Center of the Year finalist, fought for touches in the paint to finish with 19 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks. It was her 12th double-double of the season.

“These games are fun when they’re close games,” Jaquez said. “And this might have been one of the first games where it got close. It was tied, but those games are fun and prepare us for March and tournament play. We need to experience other teams going on the runs and tying the games.”

Oregon could be a more manageable task. The Ducks are coming off back-to-back losses to Michigan and Maryland and were outscored 159-109 across the two games. They shot just 16% in the first quarter against the Terrapins.

Ducks coach Kelly Graves said after the loss that shuffling the starting lineup could be an option moving forward. Starting guard Peyton Scott, who averages 10 points per game, scored only four against Maryland.

“We’ve got to prepare ourselves,” Graves told reporters. “That’s two in a row where we haven’t looked good. The defense let us down. I’m not worried about UCLA, I’ve gotta worry about the Ducks and get our heads right.”

No. 1 UCLA (22-0, 10-0) at OREGON (16-7, 7-5)

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon

TV: B1G+

​ Orange County Register 

Agustina Vergara Cid: Trump whitewashes the Maduro regime

• February 8, 2025

Amid its crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has decided to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of about 600,000 Venezuelans. TPS is a special immigration protection that the U.S. government offers to people from certain countries who can’t safely return home due to, among other reasons, a dangerous political environment such as Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship. It provides legal status to its beneficiaries and puts them through thorough vetting procedures to ensure recipients don’t pose any sort of threat to the country.

But this move goes far beyond immigration policy, and it whitewashes Maduro’s socialist dictatorship.

The Biden administration had designated Venezuelans as eligible for TPS in 2021 based on the dire conditions created by Maduro’s dictatorship. That designation was later renewed, including by petition of then-Senator and now Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In 2022, Rubio wrote to then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas explaining the horrific conditions that Venezuelans were facing in their home country, and requesting that Mayorkas extend the protection for Venezuelans on U.S. soil. “Failure to do so would result in a very real death sentence for countless Venezuelans who have fled their country,” wrote Rubio.

At the time, Rubio echoed Donald Trump’s earlier words about the brutality of Maduro’s government and the appropriateness of protecting Venezuelans on U.S. soil. On Jan. 19, 2021, Trump issued a memorandum ordering the deferral of removal actions against Venezuelans who were present in America, and ordered that work permits be issued to them. President Trump explained then that “through force and fraud, the Maduro regime is responsible for the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere in recent memory” and that millions of Venezuelans had been forced to flee the regime.

Trump and Rubio were right back then: the Maduro regime is a brutal dictatorship that’s hostile to human life. But the recent actions of the administration point to a sudden change of heart.

In order to end TPS for a specific country, the Department of Homeland Security has to evaluate whether the conditions that triggered the TPS designation have ceased. In the case of Venezuela, that evaluation would entail verifying that the dictatorship is either over or that conditions have notably improved, enough to make it safe for TPS beneficiaries to return (note that exiles are, by definition, people who oppose the regime they’re fleeing).

In a notice published in the Federal Register on Feb. 5, the Department of Homeland Security formally terminated TPS for Venezuelans. It argued that with the help of the Department of State, it found that, while some of the conditions that led to the TPS designation of Venezuela “may continue,” “there are notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned to their home country.” (It then states that, even if they hadn’t improved, it’s not in the “national interest” to allow Venezuelans to remain in the U.S., conflating TPS holders with gang members.)

It bears repeating: the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Department of State, considers that the conditions under the Maduro socialist dictatorship have improved in the last few years, and has formally stated so.

Such conditions have certainly not improved. Even the UN, which is known for providing moral cover for authoritarians, calls the situation in Venezuela “one of the most acute human rights crises in recent history” in a 2024 report. The Department of State itself issued a travel advisory about Venezuela in September of last year, which reads: “Do not travel to Venezuela due to the high risk of wrongful detentions, terrorism, kidnapping, the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure.”

Let me remind you about some basic facts of the Maduro regime. Maduro has implemented a full-on dictatorship that has perpetuated him in power. As recently as last year, elections were held that “elected” Maduro for his third term. It’s widely known that the elections were plagued with fraud, and the U.S. doesn’t even recognize Maduro as the legitimate president.

Just as recently as January of this year, Maduro has shown the world his willingness to detain dissenters, with the apprehension of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. The Maduro regime has oppressed, harassed and even executed political dissenters. By ending TPS, the U.S. would likely send thousands of peaceful Venezuelans back to face such a fate.

Much more can be said about the brutality of Maduro’s regime, and the horrific conditions in which Venezuelans live and the lack of freedom cannot be overstated. But the administration seems to have forgotten about these facts, and it’s whitewashing Maduro’s regime by officially declaring there’s been an “improvement” that makes it safe enough to send many of his dissenters back to him—and by negotiating with Maduro on how to do so.

The whitewashing of the Maduro regime is not new. As I’ve written in this column before, the Biden administration did the same when it turned to Venezuela for oil in 2022. What I said then remains true now: America lacks a pro-American foreign policy that will forcefully condemn authoritarian regimes instead of propping them up in various ways.

Marco Rubio recently called the Maduro regime an “enemy of humanity.” However, the actions of the administration and what it’s officially stated regarding TPS points in a different direction. What it points to is yet another unprincipled foreign policy, one that is willing to whitewash and negotiate with brutal dictators. This approach to Venezuela (started by Biden in 2022) may be the beginning of an immoral resumption of relations with the regime.

Ending TPS for Venezuelans props up the Maduro regime, on top of putting at risk of deportation hundreds of thousands of peaceful, hard-working Venezuelans who might end up being sent back to the horror they escaped. Americans should be outraged at that injustice, and at what this says about the U.S.’s approach to the Maduro regime.

Agustina Vergara Cid is an associate fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute.

​ Orange County Register 

Ducks players get cooking in annual Dux in Tux event

• February 8, 2025

Ducks players broke out their formalwear and went to work as sous chefs Thursday, Feb. 6, at the team’s 24th annual Dux in Tux event at the Honda Center.

The players teamed up with chefs from 30 Orange County restaurants to prepare meals for and serve approximately 450 guests at the fundraiser for the Anaheim Ducks Foundation.

Along with the current players, Ducks Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne – whose Selanne Steak Tavern had a table – was in attendance.

​ Orange County Register 

Larry Wilson: I, Donald Trump, will drop an atomic bomb on Canada

• February 8, 2025

I, Donald John Trump, will drop an atomic bomb on you, Canada, unless you reduce the price of automatic transmissions for use in our great American automobiles immediately.

Unless, of course, you, Canada — the Great White North as we used to call it, and boy, howdy, does that moniker sound better and better every day — are already the 51st of the great United States of America by the time I have decided to drop an atomic bomb on you.

Because even I, Donald John Trump — I know; what’s with the John? If my dotty immigrant mother were around, I could bug her about that — would not drop an atomic bomb, much less a hydrogen bomb, on a sacred state of the formerly greatest country in the world that is by the minute getting great again.

That is the problem, isn’t it, for those of us — and that would be me — who like round numbers. Fifty-one states? Doesn’t sound kosher.  We’d either have to get rid of one — and yes I am looking at you, California — or add one.

And, no, Puerto Rico, I am not looking at you.

Greenland? Now you’re talking.

Plus your Panama, your Gaza, all kinds of states we could be adding. Sixty states? Why not. MORE on that in a minute.

Don’t you just love it, MAGA fans, when I press the all-caps thingy on my phone for emphasis?

You do.

Know who taught me that?

I bet you do. It’s Natalie Harp, who the lamestream press nastily calls The Human Printer, just because she happens to follow my golf cart in another golf cart and when I need something on paper, prints it, because who can read it otherwise on some telephone.

Yes, that nasty National Review refers to her as a mere flatterer, because of the nice things she says about me on OANN. Just because she happens to be hot, and blonde, it calls her “a nursemaid, spoon-feeding an elder only the pudding flavors he prefers.”

BUT I DIGRESS!

Because I need to talk with you, Canada, about the atomic bomb, which will soon be winging its way toward you, either in the bay of a very, very large B-52H Stratofortress, which, yes, is made by Boeing, but never mind that, or in the nose or wherever they put them of a very nasty intercontinental ballistic missile, I’m not telling you which, because that is part of The Art of the Deal — keep ‘em guessing.

Do I have to talk about the price of transmissions to the French-named guy up in Ottawa or wherever, the guy whose dad did the Canada job too, only he was bald, and yet he still kept getting the hotties? Or aren’t they getting a new guy, so maybe I should talk to him.

Or, maybe, you know, I should just drop the Big One — “Boom goes London, boom, Paree, more room for you and more room for me,” as the fella sang — and then we can talk? I’ve got a direct line to King-O-Matic, “Canada’s largest supplier of transmission and drivetrain components,” so maybe I should just get on the horn to them and we can talk turkey before the mushroom cloud.

Because I can tell you who I’m not talking to — that Claudia Sheinbaum, down Mexico way. Know what her gig was before politics? SHE WAS A ‘CLIMATE SCIENTIST’ IN BERKELEY! Fake news, all the way. You see the way she pulls her hair back in some kind of tight bun?

But I don’t digress. Because after I bomb the living daylights out of our supposed good neighbors, you know what I really want to conversicate about here? You bet your bottom shekel you do. Gaza, the Riviera of the Mediterranean, baby!

I realize that the other Riviera, the so-called real one, in France, also happens to be on the Mediterranean. But the Froggies basking topless on those hard pebbles are gonna be just another hoax once the world gets a gander at what Trump can do in the Strip! You think I took this job again just to hobnob with world leaders and let Elon run amok in the fields of USAID? Trump was born to develop, and an opportunity such as this one is a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Bibi has already almost flattened the place anyway. Just move out the 2.2 million so-called Palestinians — sorry, not sorry, Michigan voters!

Hey — you know what really levels a place, so ideal for resort development? An atomic bomb.

Larry Wilson is on the Southern California News Group editorial board. [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

CalOptima rescinds support of senior health center because of fraud concerns with ‘affiliate’

• February 8, 2025

CalOptima Health, Orange County’s insurance plan for low-income residents, has rescinded its support of a new senior health center in Westminster, sending the multimillion-dollar project into limbo.

The CalOptima board of directors on Thursday, Feb. 6, pulled its 2023 endorsement of 360 PACE based on allegations of health care fraud against what staff members called an “affiliate,” 360 Health, which conducted mass COVID testing for the county.

The endorsement is needed to secure state and federal approval of the center, which is 95% complete in Westminster’s Little Saigon at a cost of more than $5 million. It was scheduled to open in July.

The board, however, left the door open to re-endorse the project after its staff looks into the allegations.

“Due diligence is the direction we need to go,” said board Chair Isabel Becerra. The vote was unanimous by the 11-member board, with Director Jose Mayorga absent.

CalOptima Chief Operating Officer Yunkyung Kim said in an interview Friday that staff will report back to the board in 30 days.

“This is the first time we have rescinded a letter of support. We did not make that decision lightly because we do understand PACE is a valuable program for older adults,” Kim said.

Facility much needed

Vietnam refugee Hahn Le, 70, on Thursday told the board that 360 PACE is much needed in the community.

“We have longed for a place like 360 PACE, a center where we can come together, find comfort,” Le said. “A place where we can find and regain a spirit of belonging, where we can heal.”

Stuart Pfeifer, a spokesperson for 360 PACE attorney Eliot Krieger, said the group is hopeful that CalOptima directors will renew their support.

“We were encouraged that the board said this was not a final decision,” Pfeifer said. “We look forward to working with CalOptima on their investigation. We are confident that, once they understand the facts, they will reinstate their letter of support.”

Speaking before the CalOptima board on Thursday, Krieger said 360 PACE was not an affiliate of 360 Clinic, the operating name for 360 Health.

However, Kim said 360 PACE’s application package for a letter of support said it was affiliated with 360 Health in multiple places. They “self-identified,” she said.

CalOptima released to the Orange County Register the application papers — as well as letters of support sent by local government officials, medical services and community groups — which refer to 360 PACE’s affiliation with 360 Health.

The operations plan submitted by 360 PACE identifies the company as a “subsidiary” of 360 Health, touting 360 Health’s experience providing COVID tests to more than 400,000 Orange County residents.

Pfeifer said, “At the time that it applied for CalOptima’s support, 360 Clinic was owned by several entities. Some of the minority owners of some of the entities that owned 360 Clinic also have ownership interest in 360 PACE. … That said, 360 Clinic is not an affiliate of 360 PACE. 360 Clinic has effectively been out of business for four years.”

The 360 PACE center would follow the state model as a “program of all-inclusive care for the elderly.” That model provides health and other services aimed at keeping senior citizens at home rather than at a nursing facility. There are at least two other CalOptima-endorsed PACE centers in Anaheim and Santa Ana, as well as one run by CalOptima, which opened in 2013 in Garden Grove.

PACE programs are funded by Medicare and Medicaid dollars and must be approved by the state Department of Health Care Services and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Whistleblower lawsuit

CalOptima’s concern over 360 PACE was sparked by a whistleblower lawsuit filed in May 2024 that alleged 360 Clinic schemed to illegally solicit kickbacks from doctors and defraud federal health programs.

The suit alleges that 360 Clinic double-billed government agencies for the tests and plotted to get kickbacks from physicians for referrals.

The litigation by former employee Laura Garcia also accuses 360 Clinic officials of conspiring to send patients to medical services either owned by the firm or by relatives of company officials, a violation of federal and state regulations against physician self-referrals.

Pfeifer responded that Garcia’s allegations were “meritless.”

“Ms. Garcia spent one month at 360 Clinic — half that time in employee orientation and training — before her position was eliminated when the company made the decision to shut down,” he said.

The COVID testing company was formed in 2020 at the height of the pandemic by Vince Tien, who ran a family-owned home nursing and hospice business, and Gary Nguyen, along with David Ngo, according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges they worked with Dr. Linh Nguyen, who had been doing COVID-19 testing in Arizona.

According to federal court records, Linh Nguyen pleaded guilty in March 2024 to health care fraud related to his practice in Arizona and was sentenced to 24 months in prison. He cheated health care benefit programs, such as Medicare and Blue Shield, of $3.7 million from 2016 to 2021, according to his plea agreement.

Pfeifer noted Linh Nguyen separated from 360 Clinic after his indictment.

Allegations against 360 Clinic

Garcia alleged in her lawsuit she was laid off to keep her from reporting that 360 Clinic was:

• Falsely reporting to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration that patients had been asked if they had private insurance or the means to pay for the tests.
• Intentionally reporting that initial COVID tests results were either “misplaced” or “false,” bringing  the patients back for retests that were not needed and could be billed again.
• Staffing the test sites with family members or people who had a business relationship with the executives in order to promote the schemes.

360 Clinic also is being audited by the county, which is looking at all of its pandemic contracts. That scrutiny comes after former Supervisor Andrew Do pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting more than $550,000 in bribes to funnel $10 million in pandemic money to the nonprofit Viet America Society.

The money was supposed to be used to feed shuttered seniors and build a Vietnam War memorial, but only $1.4 million was actually spent on meals and the memorial was not completed. According to Do’s plea agreement, some of the money to Viet America Society also went to his two adult daughters.

​ Orange County Register