Top 10 must-sees along Route 66, from Santa Monica to Amarillo, Texas

• June 20, 2023

A road trip along Route 66 is an American culture touchstone. The highway that first connected Chicago and Los Angeles in the 1920s became larger than life thanks to the writing of John Steinbeck, the music of Nat King Cole and a certain snippet of lyrics by The Eagles. (You’ll have “standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona” stuck in your head now!)

RELATED: Route 66, America’s ‘Mother Road,’ readies for its centennial

Now, on the eve of the highway’s centennial, Country Living magazine took a look at the top 50 sights on this famous stretch of road. Their list ranges from natural wonders — hello, Grand Canyon — to kitschy glories, like a turquoise and hot pink diner in Kingman, Arizona. There are buildings topped with giant objects — a humongous milk bottle in Oklahoma City, for example. And objects that are art, like the installation commissioned by a Texas tycoon involving 10 graffiti-covered vintage Cadillacs.

Here’s a sampling from the big list. Find the full rundown at www.countryliving.com.

Ten must-sees on Route 66

1 The Wigwam Motel, San Bernardino, California, and Holbrook, Arizona

2 Painted Desert, Arizona

3 Mr. D’s Route 66 Diner, Kingman, Arizona

4 Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, Texas

5 Roy’s Motel and Cafe, Amboy

6 Historic Seligman Sundries

7 Grand Canyon, Arizona

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8 Meteor Crater and Barringer Space Museum, Winslow, Arizona

9 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica

10 Standin’ on the Corner Park, Winslow, Arizona

​ Orange County Register 

The biggest survey of homeless Californians in decades shows why so many are on the streets

• June 20, 2023

Losing income is the No. 1 reason Californians end up homeless – and the vast majority of them say a subsidy of as little as $300 a month could have kept them off the streets.

That’s according to a new study out of UC San Francisco that provides the most comprehensive look yet at California’s homeless crisis.

In the six months prior to becoming homeless, the Californians surveyed were making a median income of just $960 a month. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in California is nearly three times that, according to Zillow. And though survey participants listed a myriad of reasons why they lost their homes, more people cited a loss of, or reduction in, income than anything else.

The study’s authors say the findings highlight the idea that money, more than addiction, mental health, poor decisions or other factors, is the main cause of – and potential solution to – homelessness.

“I think it’s really important to note how desperately poor people are, and how much it is their poverty and the high housing costs that are leading to this crisis,” said Margot Kushel, a physician who directs the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, which conducted the study.

Already the study – which the authors say is the most representative homelessness survey conducted in the U.S. since the mid-1990s – has drawn attention from high places.

The initial idea for the survey came from California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly, Kushel said. Ghaly’s office has been involved along the way, though the state didn’t fund the research.

“As we drive toward addressing the health and housing needs of Californian’s experiencing homelessness, this study reinforces the importance of comprehensive and integrated supports,” Ghaly said in a news release. “California is taking bold steps to address unmet needs for physical and behavioral health services, to create a range of housing options that are safe and stable, and to meet people where they are at. We are grateful for the voices of those who participated in this study, as they will help guide our approach.”

The survey comes as local governments press Gov. Gavin Newsom to distribute ongoing funding to fight homelessness, arguing the one-time grants he has doled out so far don’t allow them to make lasting progress. Newsom has resisted that kind of multi-year commitment, although his administration has allocated nearly $21 billion toward homelessness and housing since he took office.

The UCSF team surveyed 3,198 unhoused adults throughout California between October 2021 and November 2022, and conducted in-depth interviews with 365 of those participants.

What drives California’s homeless crisis?

When asked why they left their last home, respondents cited conflict between roommates, not wanting to impose on the person or people they were living with, domestic violence, illness and breakups.

A loss of or reduction in income was the most common response, with 12% of people saying that’s what caused their homelessness. Just 4% blamed their own substance use or drinking.

All of those varied factors that led people to lose their homes often have underlying roots in economic instability, said Jennifer Wolch, a professor emerita at UC Berkeley specializing in homelessness.

“This lack of income and severe instability and housing precarity, it has spillover effects on people’s relationships, their use of alcohol and other kinds of problematic substances,” she said. “It impinges on their health status.”

The story told by one survey participant, identified as Carlos, shows how someone can gradually descend into homelessness. He had to stop working after falling off a ladder and injuring his spine, but wasn’t eligible for workers’ compensation because he had been paid in cash. Unable to afford his rent, he moved out of his apartment and rented a room in a new place. He soon left due to conflicts with his roommates. He then briefly lived with his sister’s family, until they faced COVID-related job loss and he moved out to avoid becoming a burden. He lived in his truck until it was towed due to unpaid parking tickets. Now, he lives in an encampment in a park.

Most of the homeless Californians surveyed said a relatively small amount of cash would have saved them from the street. Seventy percent said a monthly rental subsidy of $300-$500 would have kept them from becoming homeless, while 82% believed a one-time payment of between $5,000 and $10,000 would have worked.

Jennifer Loving, CEO of Santa Clara County nonprofit Destination: Home, hopes the study’s findings will help debunk what she says is a common myth that people are homeless because of their individual failings, rather than because rents are outpacing wages. She’d like to see California’s leaders take notice.

“Hopefully it will inform a statewide strategy,” she said, “because we need a statewide strategy to be able to manage how we are addressing homelessness.”

Another California homeless myth

Another myth the study attempts to dispel is that most homeless people flock to California cities because of warm weather, liberal policies and generous services. In reality, 90% of the people surveyed said they were last housed in California, and 75% live in the same county as where they lost their housing.

That’s important to remember, Wolch said, because it’s easy to disregard unhoused people who we think “aren’t from here” and haven’t paid taxes here.

“People who are homeless are your neighbors,” she said. “People who are homeless live in the same city that you do and they possibly have lived there longer than you have.”

The survey painted a bleak picture of the traumas and tragedies that made survey participants more vulnerable to ending up on the street. People reported growing up in depressed communities with few job opportunities, where they experienced exploitation and discrimination. Nearly three-quarters said they had experienced physical violence during their lives, and one-quarter had experienced sexual violence.

One in three people surveyed attempted suicide at some point.

Mental health and addiction also were a common undercurrent in the lives of many of the unhoused people surveyed, which is to be expected in a population that has suffered so much trauma, according to the researchers. Two-thirds of people reported experiencing mental health symptoms – including depression, anxiety or hallucinations – in the past 30 days. Homelessness and all it entails, including lack of sleep, violence and difficulty accessing medication, exacerbated their symptoms, many people said.

About one-third of people reported using drugs three or more times a week – mostly methamphetamines. And 1 in 5 people who reported regular drug or heavy alcohol use said they wanted addiction treatment but couldn’t get it.

Jail to homelessness pipeline

The study also emphasizes the relationship between incarceration and homelessness, said Alex Visotzky, senior California Policy Fellow for the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

More than three-quarters of people surveyed had been incarcerated at some point during their life. And in the six months before becoming homeless, 43% were in jail or prison, or were on probation or parole. The vast majority of those who had been incarcerated received no help signing up for housing, healthcare or benefits upon release.

“That drove home for me this point: Incarceration, homelessness and then subsequent criminalization are fueling a really vicious cycle for marginalized people, especially Black and Latino Californians, that’s both causing and prolonging homelessness,” Visotzky said.

‘We don’t have enough housing for poor folks’

To solve the homelessness crisis, the main problem California needs to address is the lack of housing that’s affordable for extremely low-income residents, according to the researchers. The state has just 24 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income households, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Among the solutions the researchers proposed: expanding vouchers that use federal, state and local dollars to subsidize people’s rent. They also suggested piloting shared housing programs where multiple households live together and split costs, while also providing funds to help people remain with or move in with family or friends.

Kushel hopes the study helps drive public support for these ideas, which in turn will spur politicians to act.

“I hope that it really focuses our efforts on housing, which is the only way out of homelessness,” Kushel said. “It’s almost so obvious it’s hard to speak about. We don’t have enough housing for poor folks.”

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​ Orange County Register 

‘A very attractive hazard’: Melatonin, THC, CBD gummies are far from harmless

• June 20, 2023

Gummies, those sugary bears, worms or button-sized candies, seem harmless — but they are far from it.

Florida’s Poison Control Centers are fielding an escalation of calls from people who have become seriously ill from overdoses of melatonin, THC and CBD gummies. Emergency department visits in Florida are rising, too. Reactions include nausea, vomiting, extreme lethargy, tremors, confusion and even trouble breathing.

The increase in gummy overdoses is triggered by availability, new habits formed during the pandemic and inconsistent dosage issues.

Gummies are easy to get and increasingly popular. In Florida, melatonin gummies are sold in grocery stores, drugstores and vitamin shops, while CBD gummies are available in convenience stores and smoke shops and THC products are sold in dispensaries (with a doctor’s recommendation).

However, the supplement industry, which includes melatonin, is not strictly regulated, so the dosage on the label may not be consistent with what’s in the bottle or bag.

Melatonin overdoses are up

A 2023 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at 25 brands of over-the-counter melatonin gummy bears and found that 88% had a dosage inconsistent with their labeling. Some were lower and some were as much as 3½  times higher than the labeled dose.

That should give Floridians pause, especially with the increasing use of melatonin triggered by sleep-disrupting stress and anxiety during the pandemic. The Sleep Foundation found an increasing number of parents are giving melatonin to children to help them fall asleep, unaware of the risks.

“You don’t know what you are getting,” said Dr. Heidi Cohen, with Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood. “They say a milligram amount, but you don’t know if that is what is in there. Too many milligrams can make you excessively sleepy and it can even be toxic for children. There have been deaths tied to melatonin overdosing.”

So far in 2023, Florida’s Poison Control Centers have tracked 996 calls about melatonin-related illness, with 75% of these being for children ages 5 or younger. This accounts for a slight increase in pediatric cases (2.6%)  from the previous year,  said Wendy Blair Stephan, Health Education Coordinator for the Florida Poison Information Center.  Stephan said Florida’s Poison Control Centers also have logged another 47 cases of exposure to “melatonin combined with other substances.”

Nationally,  a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found over the last 10 years, more than 4,000 kids were hospitalized from melatonin overdoses; five children required ventilation and two died.

“My first question is why is the child not sleeping without an aid … what is the problem?” Cohen asked. “That problem needs to be addressed with your pediatrician. You should not be just haphazardly medicating children to sleep,”

THC gummies are sending children to the Emergency Room in Florida.

Marijuana gummies are the most dangerous

Just as popular and even more problematic are gummies with Cannabidiol (CBD) and  Tetrahydrocannabinol  (THC) gummies, which are edible formulations of hemp and marijuana.

Calls to Florida’s Poison Control Centers about edible formulations of marijuana (containing THC) from Florida have risen consistently year over year since 2018 as availability increases. So far this year, Florida’s Poison Control Centers have received 226 calls about exposures to these edible formulations of marijuana with 36% having occurred in children 5 or younger.

Buyer beware: CBD products could be this century’s snake oil

Doctors say marijuana gummies are problematic for both adults and children.

For adults, edibles can take up to two hours to take effect, so a common mistake is for someone to get impatient for the high to kick in and take more,  then overdo it. Overdose symptoms include rapid heartbeat, trouble breathing and delirium. For some people, the gummy ingredients could interact with other medications.  “Everyone reacts differently,” said West Boca Hospital emergency room doctor Charles Jeanpierre.  “People do not usually die from too much cannabis, but they can get very sick and require hospital care.”

Across the country, children are mistaking marijuana gummies for candy, and gobbling down too many. Because of the potency packed into some THC gummies, a small child who ingests them can be getting a fivefold overdose, pediatricians say.

While too many vitamin and melatonin gummies can have harmful effects in children in rare cases, those symptoms are generally mild compared to the serious systemic effects being seen in the ERs with THC in little ones, says Stephan at the Florida Poison Information Center-Miami.

“I think it’s concerning,” she said.

“In 2023, we’re seeing a 12% increase in cases of 0 to 5-year-olds, and 30% in the 6- to 12-year-old age group compared to last year,” she said. “This suggests that parents and grandparents still don’t realize that these products pose a very attractive hazard.”

More than 7,000 confirmed cases of kids younger than 6 eating pot edibles were reported to the nation’s poison control centers over a recent five-year period. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued a warning to parents after learning of increasing cases of elementary-aged children coming into the hospital after consuming what they thought was candy.

Colorful CBD gummies are enticing to children who are gobbling them up and landing in the ER.

South Florida emergency room doctors see the problem firsthand

“We are seeing the kids come in intoxicated, confused, unable to respond to questions, and there’s a risk of when kids come in like this that they can stop breathing,” said Cohen at Joe DiMaggio.. “We run tests and urine screenings and find THC.”

Jeanpierre, medical director of the pediatric ER at West Boca Medical Center, regularly sees children who have gotten into their parents’ gummies.

The ones who take THC gummies tend to have the most severe symptoms, he said. They come to the ER with nausea, vomiting, dizziness, difficulty breathing, and even an increase in heart rate. “We give them support treatment such as oxygen, anti-nausea medication, IV fluids or medication to drop the blood pressure.”

Jeanpierre said only the children who ingest large amounts of THC are sick enough to be admitted to the ICU.

His advice for parents: if your child eats too many gummies or if you notice your child acting strangely, call poison control. In South Florida that number is 800-222-1222.

Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

Darker Waves Festival: Tears For Fears, New Order, The B-52s are coming to Huntington Beach

• June 20, 2023

The inaugural Darker Waves Festival is bringing together big-name new wave rock groups for a single-day concert event at Huntington City Beach on Saturday, Nov. 18.

The fest will feature over 30 acts performing across three stages including headliners Tears For Fears and New Order. Other acts will include The B-52s, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Human League, OMD, Violent Femmes, She Wants Revenge, Devo, Soft Cell, The Psychedelic Furs, The Cardigans, Molchat Doma, X, The English Beat, Crosses, T.S.O.L., Death in Vegas and more.

Fans can now register for the festival SMS list to receive an access code for pre-sale access that will begin at 10 a.m. Friday, June 23 at DarkerWavesFest.com.

The remaining tickets following the pre-sale will be available to the general public at 2 p.m. Friday, June 23. Tickets will have a layaway payment plan starting at $19.99 down for general admission and VIP options.

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Echo & the Bunnymen recently appeared at the ’80s-fueled Cruel World Festival held at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in May. Although severe weather conditions cut that festival day short, the English rock band was able to shine bright on stage and served up hits “The Cutter” and “The Killing Moon.”

Headliners Tears For Fears is also out on the road and stopping at The Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 2 for the Tipping Point Tour Part II in conjunction with its latest record of the same title, its first album in more than 17 years.

​ Orange County Register 

Here’s what James Cameron has said about diving to the Titanic wreckage

• June 20, 2023

James Cameron isn’t just one of Hollywood’s most successful directors ever, he’s also a lover of deep sea exploration.

Those paths have crossed in two of his biggest hits, “Avatar” and “Titanic.”

While Cameron has not publicly commented on the current search for the Titanic tour OceanGate submersible with five people on board, he has personally made 33 dives to the wreckage site.

See the latest news on the missing Titanic-bound submersible: Only 40 hours of oxygen left for missing Titanic-bound submersible | SETI Institute trustee, billionaire explorer, famed French diver among 5 on board the missing sub

CNN has reached out to representatives of Cameron for comment.

Here’s what the director has said in the past about the deep sea exploration.

His motivation for making ‘Titanic’

Cameron told Playboy in 2009 that it wasn’t a love story aboard the doomed Titanic that inspired him to make his hit 1997 film.

“I made ‘Titanic’ because I wanted to dive to the shipwreck, not because I particularly wanted to make the movie,” he told the publication.

“The Titanic was the Mount Everest of shipwrecks, and as a diver I wanted to do it right,” he said. “When I learned some other guys had dived to the Titanic to make an IMAX movie, I said, ‘I’ll make a Hollywood movie to pay for an expedition and do the same thing.” I loved that first taste, and I wanted more.”

Cameron sees his filmmaking and sea exploration as connected.

“I think the through-line there is storytelling,” the director told NPR in 2012. “I think it’s the explorer’s job to go and be at the remote edge of human experience and then come back and tell that story.”

Growing up fascinated

Cameron told National Geographic that while he grew up in Ontario, Canada, hundreds of miles from the ocean, as a youngster he remembers “watching with amazement” sea explorer Jacques Cousteau’s specials.

In his youth, Cameron took a trip to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, where he saw an exhibit of an underwater habitat designed by Joe MacInnis that prompted him to write a letter to MacInnis.

To a then 14-year-old Cameron’s surprise, MacInnis responded.

“He actually sent me back the address of his contact at … the Plexiglas manufacturer… . I contacted them, and they sent me a sample of Plexiglas,” Cameron recalled. “And at that point, I had the window [for the underwater habitat]. I just had to build the rest of it! That was important. That creates the sense of it being possible.”

Going past Titanic depths

Cameron has made dozens of deep sea dives since filming “Titanic.” In 2012, he dived to the Mariana Trench, considered one of the deepest spots in the Earth’s oceans at almost seven miles below the surface.

He did it in a 24-foot submersible vehicle he designed called the Deepsea Challenger.

Cameron took cameras to document the entire trek in the western Pacific. In a National Geographic video and essay, he described the experience that began with an early morning descent.

“I took off like a shot, fastest I’ve ever seen. The surface just receded,” he said in the video. “It just went away. I’m looking at the depth gauge and I’m at a thousand feet in the first like couple of minutes. Than it’s two thousand, then three thousand. The sub’s just going like a bat out of hell.”

Quickly, he said, he went past Titanic depth. When he got to 27,000 feet, which was the deepest Cameron said he had ever dived before, there were still nine thousand feet to go to the ocean floor.

As he continued to dive, Cameron said he reflected on the seven years it took to make the trek happen and was enjoying the solitude when his wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, who played Lizzy Calvert in “Titanic,” got on the communication system from the surface.

“Here I am in the most remote place on planet Earth that’s taken all this time and energy and technology to reach and I feel like the most solitary human being on the planet, completely cut off from humanity, no chance of rescue in a place no human eyes have ever seen,” Cameron said. “And my wife calls me. Which of course was very sweet.”

“I call it bearing witness. I get to bear witness to a miracle that’s down there all the time,” Cameron told 60 Minutes Australia in 2018 of his deep sea explorations. “This is not just some, you know rich guy ego thing. This is about, you’ve got so much time on this planet, so much life, so much breath in your body. You have to do something. If you should be fortunate enough to make some money and have some capital, some working capital, why not put it into your dream.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Taxpayers finance political stunts by California, Florida and Texas governors

• June 20, 2023

The cross-country game of oneupmanship between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Republican governors of Florida and Texas is becoming more intense with every passing week.

The latest move from Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’ Greg Abbott is to send planes and buses full of Latin American migrants to California cities.

Newsom – backed by Attorney General Rob Bonta – has threatened legal or even criminal action for what they described as virtual kidnappings.

“I know one was on the basis of all the interviews and all the facts that are now in evidence,” Newsom said on NBC’s “Today” show after a plane brought immigrants to Sacramento. “Now we have to prove it.

“They’re human beings used as pawns for a guy’s political advancement. That’s pretty sad and pathetic,” Newsom continued. “This is California – fourth- or fifth-largest economy on planet Earth. We mean business. And so Ron DeSantis should know that.”

Bonta has fired off demands to Florida for details about the decision to send the migrants to California, and tweeted, “State-sanctioned kidnapping is immoral.”

DeSantis and Abbott contend that those sent to California agreed to being transported and their actions illustrate the Biden administration’s lack of action on border security.

“Texas border towns are overwhelmed & overrun because of Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott tweeted. “Texas buses migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities like LA to provide relief to our border communities. We will continue this effort until Biden secures the border.”

Predictably, the episode triggered another round of vitriol.

After Newsom denounced DeSantis, a presidential hopeful, again during a Fox News interview last week, DeSantis unloaded on Newsom during a bill-signing ceremony last week saying he “has a real serious fixation on the state of Florida. I think it’s just bizarre that he does that. What I would tell him is – you know what, stop pussyfooting around. Are you going to throw your hat into the ring and challenge Joe (Biden)?”

“Are you going to get in and do it, or are you going to sit on the sidelines and chirp?” DeSantis continued. “So why don’t you throw your hat into the ring, and then we’ll go ahead and talk about what’s happening.”

Florida and Texas taxpayers are financing the planes and buses that ferry migrants to California, and a little-noticed order by a federal judge revealed that one Newsom gesture is costing Californians more than a half-million dollars.

After Texas enacted a law to authorize private lawsuits against anyone who aborted a fetus with a detectable heartbeat, and made it virtually impossible to defend such a suit, Newsom persuaded the California Legislature to pass a copycat measure affecting manufacturers of banned firearms.

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At the time, Newsom acknowledged that it was a stunt designed to highlight the absurdity of the Texas law rather than a serious expression of policy.

The Texas law has survived legal challenges so far, but the California law was quickly voided by federal Judge Roger Benitez as unconstitutional because it would have required defendants to pay the costs of litigation even if they won.

Newsom, who had been sharply critical of Benitez for previous gun rights decisions, praised the judge’s rejection of the law he had championed, saying, “I want to thank Judge Benitez. We have been saying all along that Texas’ anti-abortion law is outrageous. Judge Benitez just confirmed it is also unconstitutional.”

Later, Benitez awarded the gun rights groups which had challenged the California law almost $557,000 in attorney fees – money they can use to pursue many other challenges to  California gun controls.

Taxpayers, not Newsom, are paying the price for his stunt.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Ana gets 1st of 376 new low-income Orange County apartments

• June 20, 2023

Developer National Core’s Legacy Square in Santa Ana kicks off a series of five, new low-income rental complexes bringing 376 units of affordable housing to Orange County by the end of 2024. (Courtesy: National Core)

Lots of people argue about how to create affordable housing in Orange County. Some people actually build it.

Take Legacy Square in downtown Santa Ana. The four-story apartment complex kicks off a series of five, new low-income rental projects from developer National CORE that will bring 376 units of affordable housing to Orange County by the end of 2024. The builder from Rancho Cucamonga is holding a grand opening on Wednesday, June 21, for the Santa Ana project with 92 new affordable rental residences – including 33 units dedicated to supporting the homeless.

Legacy Square, at Santa Ana Boulevard and French Street, will be followed by similar efforts by National CORE that includes two partnerships with local Episcopal churches for low-income senior households.

In Placentia, 64 units at Santa Angelina – with the help of Church of the Blessed Sacrament – includes 21 units designated for helping homeless. Plans call for an opening by year’s end.

And in Buena Park, 65 units at Orchard View Gardens with St. Joseph’s Church includes eight units for the homeless. It breaks ground in July with completion expected by fall 2024.

National CORE is also building 70 units at Mountain View in Lake Forest for low-income families, eight for homeless. It’s almost complete with a fall 2023 opening planned. And Anaheim will get 85 units at Miraflores for low-income families, eight for homeless. It’s expected to open in mid-2024.

Small deals add up. National CORE owns 9,684 units at 103 developments in California, Texas and Florida – the nation’s 10th largest nonprofit portfolio of affordable housing. And last year, it was the No. 3 nonprofit developer, starting 760 affordable units and completing 101.

Projects like Legacy Square build momentum for all affordable housing, says Michael Ruane, National CORE’s president. Once the public sees more high-quality projects, resistance to low-income residences declines.

“These 300 units will help get the next 1,000 built,” he says.

Rent’s burden

Yes, these five projects are a tiny slice of Orange County’s rental supply that’s home for 445,000 families, by the Census Bureau’s count.

But low-income renters are clobbered by housing costs. Note that to qualify for Legacy Square, a two-person household can’t make more than $65,000 – 60% of typical local earnings.

Think about Census stats that track households “burdened” by rent – folks paying 30%-plus of income toward housing costs.

My trusty spreadsheet tells me that in Orange County, 95% of 141,000 renting households earning less than $50,000 a year were housing-cost burdened in 2021. Compare that financially stressed flock to the 38% of the 304,000 renters making above $50,000 who were “burden” by housing expenses.

Statewide, 90% of California renters earning less than $50,000 are housing burdened vs. 33% of renters making more. And nationally? It’s 79% of renters earning less than $50,000 are burdened vs. 20% of those making more.

Ruane reminds us that low-income projects “are for workers. It’s not a shelter. These are people who have incomes.”

Tough juggle

The Santa Ana endeavor was “one of the the most complicated deals we’ve done,” Ruane says.

How do you get a deal on land when for-profit developers gobble up most buildable parcels? To create Legacy Square, National CORE partnered with Santa Ana Methodist Church to use the church’s under-utilized property for the project. The developer rents the land from the church.

And government aid is often required, too. Part of Legacy Square’s financial juggle includes a $25 million grant from the state government’s Department of Housing and Community Development and Strategic Growth Council.

Some $10 million of that grant went to local community improvements, including a small park and transit upgrades. Legacy Square is next door the Santa Ana’s emerging light-rail service.

And filling Legacy Square with tenants isn’t easy. Not because of demand: there’s a long waiting list. But because National CORE and partners must verify financial qualifications of folks lucky enough to win a lottery to get a shot at these housing bargains.

“We are not done,” Ruane says. “We are working on the next pipeline .. It’s  rewarding to celebrate the five coming .. but there’s more to come.”

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]

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​ Orange County Register 

As oxygen dwindles, search for missing Titanic-bound submersible goes underwater

• June 20, 2023

By John Gittelsohn, Angus Whitley and Guillermo Molero

The search for a diving vessel that was headed to the wreck of the Titanic has shifted underwater after air efforts failed to find the craft, which has five people onboard and about 40 hours of oxygen left.

The US Coast Guard and the Canadian Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have been conducting surface search missions overhead in the North Atlantic since Monday afternoon. OceanGate Expeditions, the operator of the mission, is leading underwater search efforts because of its knowledge of the site, Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said.

“There is a full-court press effort to get equipment on scene as quickly as we can,” US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said at a news briefing in Boston Tuesday.

The Titan submersible vessel was designed to have an oxygen supply of as much as 96 hours in case of an emergency, according to the Coast Guard. Frederick said the 40-hour estimate of breathable oxygen remaining is based on that number.

France has dispatched a research vessel, the Atalante, equipped with an underwater robot that can reach as deep as 4,000 meters (13,123 feet). French pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet is reported by several newspapers to be aboard the Titan, a 6.7-meter-long craft made of carbon fiber and titanium.

See more on the missing underwater craft: SETI Institute trustee, billionaire explorer, famed French diver among 5 on board the missing sub

“The idea and our wish is for the ship to arrive as soon as possible, which should be Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time,” Herve Berville, French secretary of state in charge of the sea, told BFMTV, a French CNN affiliate.

The US Transportation Command is sending three C-17 transport jets from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, carrying commercial equipment considered useful for the search, according to a command spokesman. The New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing is assisting the Coast Guard, Governor Kathy Hochul said.

The Coast Guard received a call Sunday from the submersible’s command ship, the Polar Prince, saying it lost contact with the vessel about 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, according to Lt. Samantha Corcoran, a Coast Guard spokesperson in Boston. A C-130 plane with radar capability was dispatched to search the area Sunday, and was joined Monday by a Canadian P-8 Poseidon, an aircraft designed for anti-submarine warfare. “We’re focused on the search and hoping to safely locate all five individuals,” Corcoran said.

OceanGate Expeditions said in a statement it was “exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.”

The Titan carries a pilot and four crew to a maximum depth of 4,000 meters and can monitor their health in real time. The system provides “early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface,” according to OceanGate’s website.

Among those also missing is Hamish Harding, chairman of Action Aviation, according to Mark Butler, managing director of the Dubai-based aircraft brokerage. In a Twitter post Sunday, the company said “the sub had a successful launch and Hamish is currently diving.”

Two other members of the crew, Engro Corp. Vice Chairman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, are from one of Pakistan’s most prominent business families. A statement from the Dawood family said there was little information about what had happened.

According to several newspapers including the Australian, Stockton Rush, founder and chief executive officer of OceanGate is also on board. The company didn’t reply to an email seeking to confirm those details.

Harding posted on social media two days ago that the area was experiencing its worst weather in 40 years.

“A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow,” he wrote. “This mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.”

The guests pay $250,000, according to the New York Times, which first reported the rescue operation.

OceanGate says it offers 10-day expeditions to the Titanic site, providing “qualified explorers” the opportunity to join as mission specialists, surveying the wreckage and documenting the sunken vessel’s condition, as well as flora and fauna inhabiting the wreck site. The fees underwrite their training and the participation of the science team exploring the ship that sank in 1912 on its maiden transatlantic voyage after hitting an iceberg.

Everett, Washington-based OceanGate ran expeditions to explore the wreck in 2021 and 2022, according to its website. A photo of a submersible and the Titanic dive operations was posted on its Twitter feed on June 1.

– With assistance from Faseeh Mangi and Tony Capaccio

​ Orange County Register