The Rev. Vazken Movsesian of the Glendale-based church group In His Shoes reports that the new movie "Darfur Now" has a passage featuring a postcard campaign the group did to stop the genocide in Darfur.

Last year, Movsesian went to Rwanda to chronicle the African country's 1994 genocide and to bring attention to mass killings in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Posted by Alex Dobuzinskis at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

The Forest Service reports today that it will be ending the temporary emergency closure that was put into effect for the Angeles National Forest on Oct. 23. The forest will be open again starting tomorrow (Thursday). The Angeles, along with the Los Padres, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests closed down temporarily because of the wildfires.

Some parts of the Angeles National Forest that were damaged by the Buckweed and Ranch fires will remain closed until rehabilitation efforts are complete. This includes the Rower Flat area for off-road vehicles and Drinkwater Flat. The fire danger level in the Angeles remains extreme.

The Cleveland National Forest will re-open on Saturday.

Posted by Alex Dobuzinskis at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Actor Lane Garrison was sent to the slammer today for a December 2006 crash that left an Armenian-American teen dead. Garrison, 27, was a star in the show "Prison Break," and now comes the inevitable punch line: He'll have three years and four months in prison to try to make life imitate art.
Garrison was driving his 2001 Land Rover when it hit a curb and struck a tree. Vahagn Setian, 17, of Beverly Hills was one of three teenage passengers in the car, and he was killed.
Here is a link to a page for the Vahagn Setian Charitable Foundation, which was created in his honor after his death. Vahagn played a wide variety of musical instruments, and the foundation is dedicated to supporting students in the performing arts.

Posted by Alex Dobuzinskis at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Well, the Tonight Show may be leaving town in a couple years, but all is not lost for fans of a good monologue. Sure, he's not as well known as Jay Leno, but Will Rogers can tell a good story. On Dec. 6, the veteran journalist will put on a one man show at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. All proceeds from the show will go to the Burbank Temporary Aid Center, a food bank for the poor.
In a press release on his Web site, Rogers explained why it's a charity show:
“Face it,” Rogers said. “A lot of people who might otherwise be interested would never buy a ticket if they thought there’s a chance the cash they’ve worked hard to amass through city redevelopment projects and rampant cronyism could ever make its way to me.”

Posted by Alex Dobuzinskis at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |