Jim Tortolano

Garden Grove

Editor and Publisher at Orange County Tribune

Retired professor, journalist, novelist, historian

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orangecountytribune.com

Articles

Library decisions up to voters

3 weeks ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

By Jim TortolanoOrange County TribuneDecisions on two of the most politically controversial issues in recent Huntington Beach history will be rendered on Tuesday. That’ll be the last day the voters can cast their ballots on two voter-initiated measures. Measure A would eliminate the “community-parent review board” in the city’s library system, while Measure B would specify that management of the system would never be “privatized” without a vote of the public.
Voters will settle library issues

3 weeks ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

By Jim TortolanoOrange County TribuneDecisions on two of the most politically controversial issues in recent Huntington Beach history will be rendered on Tuesday. That’ll be the last day the voters can cast their ballots on two voter-initiated measures. Measure A would eliminate the “community-parent review board” in the city’s library system, while Measure B would specify that management of the system would never be “privatized” without a vote of the public.
Library resolutions approved

3 weeks ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

By Jim Tortolano Orange County Tribune After hours of public comments on both sides of the issues, the Huntington Beach City Council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution “affirming that the public library will not be sold and that books will not be banned.” The resolution that comes a week before the June 10 election on Measures A and B, voter-initiated initiatives which would eliminate the “parent-community review board” for books and require that privatization of the library system...
Relief is coming to a tangle of two very busy boulevards

1 month ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

By Jim TortolanoOrange County TribuneThe good news is relief is coming to the often-jammed intersection of Garden Grove and Harbor boulevards. On Tuesday night the City Council on an 7-0 vote approved a contract worth $6,678,330 to PALP Inc. for street widening and other improvements at that key intersection. The not-quite-as good news is that the extensive construction and demolition work will complicate traffic in that area for a while.
Now, it’s HBCC vs. the OVSD

1 month ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

Huntington Beach By Jim Tortolano/Orange County TribuneThe political struggle over the future of the Huntington Beach Library System continued on Tuesday when the city council took aim at the Ocean View School District Board of Trustees.
‘Thanks’ to fallen officers and all the police at ‘Call to Duty’

1 month ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

By Jim TortolanoOrange County TribuneFor the 38th time, the Garden Grove community gathered to commemorate the sacrifices of its police officers at the “Call to Duty” Memorial observance on Thursday in front of the police headquarters building. Honored for sacrificing their lives in public service were Sgt. Myron Trapp (1959), Officer Andy Reese (1979), Officer Donald Reed (1980), Officer Michael Rainford (1980), Master Officer Howard E. Dalles Jr. (1993) and Lt. John Reynolds (2021).
GG suspect is arrested on Riverside lewd conduct’ charge

1 month ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

Garden Grove By Jim TortolanoOrange County TribuneA Garden Grove man has been arrested for allegedly “engaging in lewd behavior” near a high school in Riverside. According to the Riverside Police Department, Francis Ledesma Castillo, 37, is charged with multiple offenses of annoying or molesting children and indecent exposure. Additionally, a search of his home resulted in finding several unregistered firearms, an illegally-manufactured AR-style rifle and armor-piercing ammunition.
89 townhomes for mall?

1 month ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

By Jim TortolanoOrange County TribuneA public hearing on a proposal to build 89 three-story for-sale townhouses on the grounds of the Westminster Mall will be held by the Westminster City Council when it meets on Wednesday.
Another setback for HB on housing federal lawsuit

2 months ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

By Jim TortolanoOrange County TribuneSurf City continues to be appealing, but the result isn’t pretty. A request for a new hearing on an appeal from an earlier federal district court ruling regarding California’s housing laws was rejected this week. At issue is a state law that would require that Huntington Beach zone for – but not necessarily build – over 13,000 new housing units.
Social host ordinance approved

2 months ago | orangecountytribune.com | Jim Tortolano

By Jim TortolanoOrange County TribuneNeighbors shooting off illegal fireworks and saying to police,”it’s not me, it’s my uncle”? There’s a new law coming to Stanton, a “social host” ordinance which makes the property owner legally responsible for fines and other punishments for igniting unlawful pyrotechnics, whether it be on the Fourth of July or any other time. The council approved the ordinance 5-0 at its meeting on Tuesday.