Newsletter: TimesOC: Fearing deportation, Asian immigrants seek U.S. citizenship

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 27. Here’s what’s been happening around O.C.

Top story

Fearing deportation, Asian immigrants seek U.S. citizenship

About 400 Asian-born legal permanent residents sought citizenship this year through a series of clinics hosted by Asian Americans Advancing Justice Orange County. The effort included 15 workshops offering free legal services and guidance through the citizenship application process in English, Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Khmer, Chinese and Spanish. The Orange County policy coordinator for the civil rights group said concerns about White House immigration policies were a top issue for clients. TimesOC

Around the county

Huntington Beach hires outside firm to review Police Department

Amid mounting tension between Huntington Beach’s police chief and police unions, city officials have hired an independent consultant to study operations at the Police Department. Daily Pilot

Politics

The GOP tax plan passed. Now Democrats have another big issue to use in the midterms

Democrats are hoping Orange County Republicans will have to answer in next year’s midterm elections for their support of the unpopular effort to abolish the Affordable Care Act, backed by all 14 California Republicans in May, and now, the sweeping tax overhaul that passed with support from 12 of them. Los Angeles Times

Newport Beach beats City Hall critic’s defamation case

A Newport Beach activist lost his defamation case against the city because the statement in question — that he owed more than $600 in public records copying fees — was a protected form of free speech. Daily Pilot

Courts

Club 33 members sue Disneyland, saying they were booted for speaking out on harassment

An Arizona couple who joined Club 33 in 2012 sued the theme park in Orange County Superior Court, saying Disneyland revoked their membership because they had been speaking out about bullying and harassment of other members at the club. Los Angeles Times

Food

Sariñana’s Tamale Factory churns out thousands of traditional treats

Sariñana’s Tamale Factory in Santa Ana is an 80-year-old, pocket-sized restaurant. For five generations, descendants of the original owners — Juan and Felipa Sariñana, who immigrated here in 1921 — have spent December working long hours in the structure’s industrial kitchen, kneading, spreading, rolling and steaming thousands of tamales for customers who have made the family’s chile-soaked versions part of their own holiday traditions. TimesOC

Life & arts

Salute to Vienna will ring in the New Year

Salute to Vienna mirrors the performance that has taken place in Austria’s capital every year since 1939. It has become a popular concert, always featuring the music of the Strauss family — Johann Strauss I and II, Joseph and Eduard Strauss. TimesOC

Obituary

Dominic Luong, first Vietnamese American bishop in U.S., dies at 77

In 1975, when refugees from Vietnam began arriving in America by the thousands, Dominic Luong saw his future. The freshly ordained priest left the seminary in Buffalo, N.Y., where he was teaching biology and working as a hospital chaplain, and headed to New Orleans — a port of arrival for many forced to flee their homeland after the fall of Saigon. Los Angeles Times

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