Santa Ana Ca

It's an image rarely seen in Little Saigon: the red flag of Vietnam. The last time the communist flag was displayed prominently in Orange County's Vietnamese enclave -- when a merchant displayed the banner -- it ignited 53 days of angry street protests. Today, an exhibit commissioned by a Vietnamese American arts group will open in Santa Ana, a display that purposely includes communist symbols, the flag of the fallen country of South Vietnam and artwork that has been banned in Vietnam.

For years, Orange County civic boosters have argued over where its "downtown" might be: Santa Ana's historic urban core? Costa Mesa's leafy arts complex? Anaheim's bustling Resort District? Now Santa Ana city officials are promoting a massive redevelopment plan they say should end the debate once and for all.

When property owners complained that an ambitious plan to revamp a 123-block stretch of downtown Santa Ana could jeopardize their livelihoods, the plan's map was quietly redrawn. And when the new map emerged last year, the redevelopment zone no longer included businesses owned by the families of Mayor Miguel Pulido and Councilman Vincent Sarmiento.

Recorded phone calls to voters that falsely imply the Santa Ana teachers union supports a ballot measure extending City Council term limits are "dirty tricks," the union president said Friday. In addition, the recording does not identify who is paying for the call, a violation of state law. Measure D, heavily funded by developers and businesses, would extend City Council members' terms from eight to 12 years.

By the time paramedics arrived, the patient was lying in a pool of her own blood, her pulse racing and her blood pressure dangerously low. The woman, identified only as Angela P. in records of the Medical Board of California, had gone to the Clinica Medica Para la Mujer de Hoy in Santa Ana in the summer of 2004 for an abortion. Dr.

Dwight Smith considers housing the homeless his mission in life. So when the local building industry offered to donate time and materials to renovate Isaiah House, the Catholic Worker-sponsored shelter he directs in Santa Ana, Smith jumped at the chance. Ten months later, however, the volunteer contractors -- hit hard by a mortgage meltdown and industry lull that have left many unemployed -- had to abandon the job.

A Santa Ana man who was freed from prison after more than a dozen Los Angeles Times columns raised doubts about the evidence was killed early Sunday after a fight erupted at a party and an unknown assailant ran him down with a car, police said. Arthur Paul Carmona, 26, served more than two years in custody after being convicted of two armed robberies on the basis of eyewitness testimony. A key witness later recanted her identification of him, and two jurors said they had doubts about his guilt.

Developer and philanthropist Donald Bren on Tuesday reached beyond the Orange County communities he helped build and define, announcing an $8.5-million donation to benefit after-school programs in Santa Ana and east Los Angeles County. The gift will bolster Santa Ana-based THINK Together, an after-school program that extends the school day for children who need extra coaching with classwork or homework help, often because their parents are working or lack English skills.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Sheila Marie Sikat turned to search the sea of faces in a crowded Santa Ana courtroom Friday. "I'm sorry," she whispered to a sister, locking eyes as they both wept.

As a respected Mexican diplomat for nearly six years, Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro spent hours each week listening to the problems of Orange County's poorest residents. Now, as a new consul takes the helm of the Mexican consulate in Santa Ana, Ortiz Haro finds himself telling his own tale of woe. Ortiz Haro, 47, a former elected official in Mexico City who had no previous diplomatic experience, was replaced last month in what Mexican officials described as a routine change of consular heads.