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.

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.

The Forest Service says that individuals and organizations with special use permits for sanctioned activities within the Angeles National Forest are exempt from the order. The closure affects all recreational facilities, roads and hiking trails.

County roads and state highways, such as the Angeles Crest Highway (Highway 2), will remain open to through traffic. Drivers are urged to be cautious.

As someone who just went hiking Saturday in the Angeles National Forest, taking a 10-hour trek to the Bridge to Nowhere, this is disconcerting news.

At one point I was racing at high speed in reverse up Hollywood Way, and at another (Beardsley) was driving for blocks at a time in the oncoming lanes of Hollywood Way after I’d avoided him with a “k-turn” just like those I’d seen performed for years on “The Rockford Files.”

Throughout the event I was on the line with a Burbank police dispatcher. The episode came to a close when we were finally descended upon by a phalanx of Burbank police motorcycle officers, patrol cars, unmarked detective vehicles and even the police helicopter.

Will Rogers' account makes the bit of backstory I turned up look pale in comparison, but you can click here to find out about Beardsley's slugging match with the KKK and his involvement with the late Irv Rubin.

Ellen DeGeneres made a heartfelt plea during the taping of her show in Burbank on Monday. She wants her dog back, or more specifically, she wants the dog that she gave away to her hairdresser to be returned to her. You see it's not the hairdresser who has it; the dog was taken away by a rescue agency called Mutts and Moms. Ellen cried real tears, according to the Associated Press story about her on-air plea. The whole thing involves a written contract between Ellen and the rescue agency, and Ellen says she didn't read the contract carefully enough. What's this? A Hollywood star getting ripped off by not reading a contract? How could it be?

The show airs today.

Glendale police Officer John Balian is back from Istanbul, Turkey, the land of his birth. The Armenian-American Police Department spokesman spent a breezy three week vacation in Turkey, driving around in a rented Fiat with his dad. Balian grew up speaking Turkish and Armenian, with a couple other languages mixed in there. With animosity against Turkey running high because of its continued denial of the Armenian Genocide, it's sometimes forgotten that Turkey is still home to a sizable Armenian population.

Balian was born in Turkey and spent the first 6 years of his life there, going to an Armenian school affiliated with a church. His early years were spent in a middle class suburb of Istanbul called Green Village, and his father worked as an auto parts wholesaler. He remembers that his grandmother lived in front of the Bosphorous, and he remembers going out in a wooden rowboat to fish.

Armenians in Turkey talk less about the genocide than Armenians living elsewhere, Balian said. Given the Turkish government's hostility to any discussion of the genocide, Armenians in Turkey tend to reserve their discussions about the genocide to conversations with friends. Economically and socially, Armenians have been able to thrive in Turkey. But there is still descrimination, especially in government employment.

"In Turkey, you can't even be a parking checker unless you're a Turk," Balian said.

While vacationing in Turkey, Balian was able to meet family members he had never seen before. He said his Turkish relatives are prospering, with one cousin having been featured in magazines for her work as an interior designer. And Turkey is becoming more modern and continuing to orient itself toward Europe, Balian said. On one street in a tony part of town, Balian counted eight Starbucks in a quarter mile stretch. People wear the latest styles, and the streets are not totally empty when the sun sets during Ramaddan. Balian would like to see Turkey be more open to the neighbor on its eastern border: Armenia.

"My (hope) is one day to see the borders of Armenia and Turkey open up, so both countries can prosper," he said.

Still, there are twice weekly flights between Yerevan, Armenia, and Istanbul, Turkey, and on a personal level citizens from the two countries are interacting, even if the two nations stand politically opposed.

Little known fact, but Providence Saint Joseph chief flak (and former Daily News staffer) Dan Boyle is an author who has just finished his second novel, "Housecleaning." The book was published by The Haworth Press and it concerns a gay scientist who is busily trying to unravel the secrets of the universe while caring for his dementia-suffering mother.

I haven't read the book, but that summary Dan provided me bears a striking resemblance to "Proof," the Pullitzer Prize winning play by David Auburn. In "Proof" the reclusive daughter of a brilliant but insane mathematician struggles to prove his theorum after his death, and after spending the best years of her life caring for him.

Still, it sounds like there are some big differences from "Proof." First of all, the dementia-suffering mother takes the reader back in time, and Boyle uses the device to write about the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington. Boyle, who grew up in Washington State, also weaves in descriptions of the Pacific Northwest and the Los Angeles area.

Reportedly, the nurses and orderlies at Providence responded to Boyle's book announcement by lining the hallways and shouting "Author! Author!" OK I made that up.

Anyway, the report went on for 5 minutes. Funny stuff.

The bipartisan measure currently has 226 cosponsors – more than a majority in the House and the most support an Armenian Genocide resolution has ever received. Both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer have voiced support for the resolution.

The committee vote "clears a major hurdle in moving this resolution forward, and I hope it will move swiftly to the House floor for a vote. America must speak candidly about the past not only to help heal the wounds of the survivors and the families of the victims, but to give the United States the moral authority it needs to take action against other genocides like that taking place today in Darfur," Schiff said.