Newsletter: TimesOC: Garden Grove family wins battle with bureaucracy in effort to save mother

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 4. Here’s what’s been happening around O.C.

Top story

Garden Grove family wins battle with government bureaucracy in effort to save mother

Yvonne Murray recently got the call that could save her mother’s life. A relative in Vietnam, a perfect match for a stem cell transplant needed to combat Murray’s mother’s rare form of cancer, was cleared by the U.S. government to travel to the United States after her visa application was initially denied. TimesOC

Around the county

FAA to change JWA flight path over Newport Beach after noise complaints, city says

Relief could be coming soon for residents who live under departure flight paths from John Wayne Airport: The Federal Aviation Administration will again tweak its prescribed flight path for planes heading northwest in response to noise concerns. Daily Pilot

UC Irvine opens expansive food pantry as more students struggle with hunger

Thousands of struggling UC Irvine students got some major help when the university opened the largest food pantry in the 10-campus University of California system. Los Angeles Times

Public safety

Flutes at area schools may have been contaminated with semen

State and federal officials are investigating how batches of plastic flutes believed to be contaminated with semen were distributed this past spring to schools in Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley and elsewhere in Southern California. Health experts say exposure to the flutes likely posed little risk to students. Daily Pilot

Sports

Fullerton’s Ashley Sanford is a standout on the national hot rod racing scene

Ashley Sanford is moving up in the world: from 273 to 323 miles per hour. As a driver in the National Hot Rod Assn., the 23-year-old Fullerton resident recently made the jump from the top-alcohol class to top-fuel class, the sport’s highest level. TimesOC

Life & arts

OC Film Fiesta strives to entertain and inspire action

In these trying and politically charged times, a local, largely Latino-themed film festival aims to achieve something that could almost be considered unusual — it wants people to have fun. The eighth annual OC Film Fiesta starts Friday with the Orange County premiere of the documentary “Chavela” and continues on weekends through Oct. 15. TimesOC

Business & real estate

Anaheim Convention Center grows to exceed 1 million square feet of exhibit space

The Anaheim Convention Center, already among the biggest facilities in the nation, is adding 200,000 square feet to join only a handful of U.S. cities that can boast at least 1 million square feet of exhibit space. Los Angeles Times

O.C. real estate gets cutthroat reality treatment

Bravo, the cable network behind “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” has a new offering: “Real Estate Wars,” which pits two teams of O.C. agents against each other, with liberal doses of backstabbing and client-poaching. Los Angeles Times

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