A few things to wrap-up the week:

• It's The New York Times' turn to quiz IHOP CEO Julia Stwart about her Glendale-based company's impending takeover of Applebee's. Who knew her nickname among the franchisees is "Velvet Hammer?"

• Burbank city leaders are anxiously monitoring the effort to rescue the Utah coal miners trapped after a mine collapse. The city -- along with Glendale, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Pasadena and Riverside -- owns a stake at a Utah coal powerplant that gets 5 percent of its fuel from said mine. Leader

• Two new executives at Burbank Unified School District -- Lori Ordway-Peck was appointed to the position of Assistant Superintendent, Business Services, and Kathy Granger was appointed to the position of Director, Human Resources Services. Ordway-Peck comes to the District from the Palmdale Unified School District where she has served as Deputy Superintendent. Granger comes to Burbank from the West Covina Unified School District, where she served most recently as middle school principal. via BUSD release.

• Santa Clarita realtor and blogger Linda Slocum left a review of a Garlic Jim's pizza pie from the chain's Valencia outlet in our comments box. The Washington-based chain is opening an outlet in Burbank.

Posted by Eugene Tong at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

A few bits of news of nominal interest:

• Two Vineland Boys members pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and murdering a witness and accepted terms of life in prison without parole. Jose "Peps" Ledesma, 24, and Javier "Coco" Covarrubius, 23, faced multiple charges stemming from the 2003 murder of 16-year-old Martha Puebla, who was going to testify against one of the gang members, and for dealing methamphetamine. Both men, who are from Sun Valley, pleaded guilty as jury selection for their trial got under way. They would have faced the death penalty if convicted. Daily News

  But it's not over yet -- besides David Garcia, who is facing state murder charges for the 2003 slaying of Burbank Police officer Matthew Pavelka, word this morning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Young (whose team got a commendation for the Vineland Boys prosecution) is Horicio Yepiz may yet see his day in court. He was in an institution after he was ruled incompetent to stand trial, but that could change with a compentency hearing Monday.

• Beeline service cutbacks for Glenoaks Canyon. News Press

Posted by Eugene Tong at 1:09 PM | Permalink |

Policy wonking and mad-cap violence:

• Amid concerns about a soft real estate market, the Glendale City Council on Tuesday finalized the details of a proposed fee on local development projects to finance parks and libraries. The draft Development Impact Fee ordinance -- considered a watered-down version by at least one councilman -- could return for approval later this month. Daily News

• As for bizzare crime -- a 61-year-old Tujunga man has been arrested for allegedly shooting three men and a women in a south Glendale apartment after an argument. Police arrested Valodia Balabekyan on suspicion of attempted murder at the South Belmont Street unit 7:45 a.m Tuesday. The victims were all related and were in staple condition. News Press

• Burbank City Council, where free speech is valued at the expense of time and meetings usually run well past 11 p.m, is once again talking about ways to streamline their meetings. One proposal would require a majority vote for a meeting go run past 11 p.m. What did they decide? We don't know since that meeting ran long and past the Leader's deadline.

• A milestone at Bob Hope Airport -- passenger traffic of 2.86 million for the first half of the year is 23 percent higher compared to the same period in 2001, before the air travel industry tanked after 9/11. Leader

Posted by Eugene Tong at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Finally a free morning to get our blog on...

• Along for the Ride columnist Sue Doyle rode out east early this week and visited some folks whose rides have more than 200,000 miles on the odometer

  GLENDALE - The upholstery on the driver's seat is in shreds. Masking tape patches a cracked taillight. And the odometer reads 223,626 miles.

  To some, it would definitely be time for a trade-in.

  But to Suren Rostonmyan, the 1986 Toyota pickup still has a lot of kick left. By staying on top of oil changes and continuing the TLC, he figures the reliable red truck could hit 300,000 miles without a hitch.

  Check out Suren's rig in the photo galleries to our right.

• Convictions in the 2004 beating death of 17-year-old William Maldonado -- a jury yesterday found William Torres, 24, Pedro Pena, 25, and Fredy Gudiel, 21 guilty of second-degree murder with a gang enhancement. Maldonado was riding his bike to his sister's house when the trio attacked him with baseball bats. Daily News

• Angry residents near Glendale High lashed out at the Glendale City Council last night about broken sprinkers and In-n-Out wrappers littered in their 'hood. They blame the campus' stadium, which holds too many events for their liking. News Press

  What do you guys think? Do they have to live with it since they did move next to a high school ? or do we blame the city and the school district? Me -- I blame society.

• Target at the Galleria -- "We're a normal Target." Good. News Press

  *The CurbedLA crowd marvels at the tri-level Vermaports inside the new Target store.

• The Times catches-up with the Burbank 7-Eleven turned Kwik-E-Mart. Since making the switch as part of a month-long marketing campaign for the Simpsons Movie, business has shot up 300 percent, and hot dog sales jumped from 800 to 3,000 a week.

• And finally, ain't no party like a Burbank party in which a couple of possibly uninvited guests blasted a few holes in the ceiling during a wedding reception Saturday night at Castaway restaurant. No injuries, no arrests and few are talking. Leader

Posted by Eugene Tong at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

A balanced meal to start your week.

• They've snuffed out cigarettes in Calabasas, Santa Monica, Burbank and Beverly Hills — and now a group of local residents has started pressing for a public smoking ban in Glendale. Advocates behind the "No Butts Glendale" campaign have been pushing the City Council since June to consider outlawing smoking in parks, lines and within 25 feet of sidewalks and business entrances. Daily News
  See their online petition here.

• Glendale-based IHOP (that's International House of Pancakes, for those not hip with the lingo) announced today it has entered into a deal to acquire Applebee's International Inc., operator of Applebee's restaurants, for $25.50 per share in cash, or about $2.1 billion. The all-cash transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2007, is subject the usual shareholders and regulatory approvals, of course.

• Lawyers in the Grand View Memorial Park civil suit will be doing some discovery Tuesday. News Press

• The Pasadena Star-News paid their repsects at slain Glendale College cheer captain Brittani Idom's memorial.
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

A smorgasboard.

• A 24-year-old woman was killed in Glendale last night by a hit-and-run driver. The woman was hit by the car about 9:40 last night on Glendale Avenue near Windsor Road, said Glendale police Sgt. Dennis Smith. The victim was walking west across Glendale Avenue, about 50 feet south of Windsor Road, accompanied by another woman, when she was struck by a black Mercedes-Benz. Daily News CBS2 (video)

• The Times profiles Burbank's Autobooks-Aerobooks, which has been in business since 1951. It's collection of books, models and memorabillia for gearheads has drawn a celebrity clientele including Nicholas Case, Tim Allen and Jay Leno.

• Since gunfire errupted at Brand Park a couple weeks ago, frightened residents have been stroming the Glendale City Council pushing for more police patrols, security cameras and removal of the basketball hoops there, which they say draw unsavory elements. News Press

• Here's a tale involving unsuspecting travellers flying to Vegas from Burbank on Southwest, and rock god Tommy Lee. E! Online
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

All-Star Tuesday.

• Glendale story of the day -- Brittani Idom had just finished her first year at Glendale College and was captain of the cheerleading squad there. But the life and promise held by this 18-year-old was severed last week in a senseless shooting. Daily News

• Grand View case moves another inch -- a judge yesterday allowed the city of Glendale to clean-up dried growth and other hazards, paving the way for the twice-a-month visiting hours to resume, though we're not sure when. News Press

• Glendale Water & Power wants to test drill for water near Dunsmore Elementary School to tap into the Verdugo groundwater basin. News Press

• Meanwhile in Burbank, theives are targeting fire hydrants for their bronze caps, which are fetching good prices, with metals and other building materials in high demand worldwide. "A phenomenon of three-dollars-a-pound scrap," Burbank Water and Power General Manager Ron Davis said.

• And a laser light show is no fireworks at the Starlight Bowl Fourth of July Spectacular Leader
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Back in action...

• Burbank story of the day -- A chat with Tim Stehr, soon-to-be chief of the Burbank Police Department. He started out as a cadet right here, and now he's about to be running the place.

• Glendale Police has been busy -- they arrested Kevin Cunningham, 22, whose runaway fireworks lit-up an apartment building on Chevy Chase Dr. Then on Thursday, they arrested two men on suspicion of attempted murder for a shooting in Brand Park a couple weeks ago.

• If you only get your news from these Internets, the biggest news to come out of Burbank last week was the conversion of the 7-Eleven on Verdugo and Olive into a Kwik-E-Mart -- part of a big fantasy-intrusion-into-the-real-world marketing campaign for the upcoming Simpsons movie.

• Lisa Burks over at valleynews.com tries to make sense of the Grand View executor Tom Trimble's cemetery bail-out plan.
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

i-blog.

• The Armenian National Committee takes its share of credit in the LA Times Managing Editor Doug Frantz's resignation, pegging it as fallout from his spiking that Armenian Genocide story back in April. But so far, no actual reason from the Times newsroom, other than word Frantz is heading back to Istanbul to head Middle East coverage for the Wall Street Journal.

• Meanwhile, if you're still keeping score, this year's version of the Armenian Genocide recognition bill making its way through the House now has 218 co-sponsors -- a majoirty -- screams Rep. Adam Schiff in a release this morning.

  "In gaining 218 cosponsors today, we have demonstrated that a majority of the House strongly supports recognizing the facts of the Armenian Genocide,” said Congressman Adam Schiff. “While there are still survivors left, we feel a great sense of urgency in calling attention to the attempted murder of an entire people. Our failure to acknowledge these dark chapters of history prevents us from taking more effective action against ongoing genocides, like Darfur.”

  “The Affirmation of the U.S. Record on the Armenian Genocide” resolution (H. Res. 106) calls on the President to "ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding" of the 'Armenian Genocide' and to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.”

• It's new to me: The Falcon, Crescenta Valley High's school paper.

• The line was out the door and into the back parking structure at the Glendale Galleria this morning as about 150 people line-up for the iPhone, Apple's new must-have gadget....we'll have photos as soon as i upload...
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Free ride/ Take it easy.

A pox of thefts and rip-offs for Glendale's cornucopia of BMWs, according to the News Press

Finally, some news...

• The Glendale City Council approved a trash fee hike -- an extra $1.11 for residents to offset fuel costs. It's a 7 percent increase to $16.95 from $15.85. News Press

• The Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission is looking at potential ethnic tensions between Armenian and Latino students at Glendale High, after a student brawl last month. Some attributed inter-group tensions as a cause of the fight, though police disagreed. News Press
  Earlier: Law and order in Glendale

• For you entertainment techies -- Joost threw a party for Hollywood execs in North Hollywood, though this tech columnist thought it closer to Burbank than Tinseltown.

Posted by Eugene Tong at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads...

• A Glendale motel clerk was bind and gagged in an early Monday robbery, according to police, and the perb got away with $250. News Press

• The Leader checks out helicopter traffic patrols police are operating over Burbank and Glendale.

• Burbank is now contemplating replacing the cancelled Fourth of July fireworks show at the Starlight Bowl with a LASER show! City leaders cancelled the event last month due to high brush fire danger. LASER is an acronym -- light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Today's theme: Gluttony...

• An Washington-based pizza franchise is moving into Burbank and other locales in Daily News-land (that being Simi Valley, Stevenson Ranch and Valencia), according to CurbedLA. Never had a Garlic Jim's pie, but if anyone out there has and cares to share, leave a comment below!

• Meanwhile, Daily News restaurant critic Larry Lipson stops by the year-old Porto's Burbank. Excerpt:

  Last year, Porto's came to neighboring Burbank's Magnolia Park and took off right away. It's a mega hit. Tasty, refreshing, quickly served fare at very reasonable prices. And no tips.

  What originally was primarily a bakery where there were a few tables available for a pastry nosh and a cup of coffee had turned into a hugely successful, quasi-self-service cafe.

  See the rest of the review here.

  Also, Sharon Kaplan over at our reawakened Table Talk food blog praises Porto's potato ball!

• Don't forget to check out our link to Chowhound's good eats in Burbank/Glendale thread to our right...
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) |

A Hilton gets an associate into trouble, and other items of note...

Continue reading "The Occasional News Briefing" »

Posted by Eugene Tong at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

I'm still on vacation -- but here are a few items that, if there's any justice in this world, ought to receive more eyeballs...

• Driving around Burbank at night could be hazardous to your vehicles with these kids on the loose -- here's some YouTube video of cars getting ambushed by youths with water balloons. Their kill zones include the Burbank Town Center and near Olive and San Fernando in downtown. As for the video, it's a compilation of several shorter ones that have been making the rounds online since last summer. Note foul language -- view at your own risk.
  
  

• Everyone loves it when cameras pan pimp rides -- here's the Armenian-American version, with some fancy HYE rides flashing the tri-color on local streets during April's genocide commemoration, all set to a kickin' beat.

• via RyanBomar: First arrival for this (SkyBus) airline on 3/28/07 at 10:47AM for a proving run from Columbus, OH (CMH) to BUR. Extremely windy day with a visual Runway 33 arrival as a United 737-300 holds short. Registration is N521VA because the plane belongs to Virgin America and is leased to SkyBus.

  
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Hey, it counts as an update...

Continue reading "This Week in Government Press Releases" »

Posted by Eugene Tong at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

I'm off for two weeks and updates will be infrequent -- there'll probably be a few news summaries, depending on the strength of the free wireless signal I'm currently mooching off...

Posted by Eugene Tong at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

All aboard...

• Glendale story of the day -- I visited EnVironmental Motors, one of the Valley's only car dealers dedicated to electric cars, scooters and other green alternative transports. Taryn Sokolow, the head of the venture, is the daughter of Colonial Honda owner Kent Sokolow, and she's motivated by Al Gore's movie to help drivers reduce their carbon footprint..

  Check out some ECARS photos to the right, under our new PHOTO GALLERY feature. Then watch video of the test drive below.

• In other transport news, the travel site Jaunted.com liveblogged the launch of Skybus -- AKA that airline that takes you to Columbus from Burbank for $10 a leg. Loads of photos and video from inside the cabin on this trip from Portsmouth , NH to Columbus, Ohio. Marvel at the new plane smell and the muscular calfs of flight attendants!

• Meanwhile, the Glendale City Council have disembarked from their trip to the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Vegas. News Press
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

To make up for my occasional absence (sometimes reporting means leaving the office), this here blog will be rolling out some new features I hope could keep things fresh -- beginning with the Breaking News feed to our right.

Only top headlines from dailynews.com for now, while I tweak the widget to gather news SOOOO local, it'll leave you wondering, WHY?

Play with it, subscribe to it, put it on your cell phones! More to come...

Posted by Eugene Tong at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

With the blog a one-man show now, posts may not be as frequent as I would like given the demands of my day job. Let's see how it works out...

• Record high gas prices thoughout California. Daily News Here's the News Press' Glendale-centric version.

• If driving's too expensive, try flying! Skybus, that Columbus, Ohio-based startup airline with the $10 seats, is taking off the tarmac this morning with flights bound for Burbank's Bob Hope Airport, Kansas City, Mo., and Portsmouth, NH. All flights include a stop in Columbus, which means it's not a bad deal if you're flying west to east. WBNS-10 Central Ohio

• Meanwhile, expect airline delays this summer. Times

• Local Chromium 6 clean-up hinges on a $2 million grant application with the state Department of Health Services. News Press

• New Daily News Crime blog. It's a crime

• City of Burbank has issued its first tobacco sales license. Amayak Tarkhanyan, owner of "A to Z Service Station," 2005 N. Glenoaks Blvd. was the first person to sign-up, according to a city release. The City Council unanimously approved the ordinance in March 2007, which requires all Burbank tobacco dealers to comply by July 1.

  The license costs $200 a year with a $35 application fee, and officials believe it would assist in preventing children under 18 from buying smokes. If a retailer is caught selling tobacco products to under-aged children, then this can lead to either a suspension or revocation of this newly established license which grants the privilege of selling tobacco products. Call the Burbank License and Code Service Division at (818) 238-5280 for more info.
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Not much in the way of material this morning, but I'm working on a few things...

Meanwhile, Barry Allen of Vanguard had this thought: If the latest $255,000 grant from the state office of Homeland Security for Glendale to replace expired nerve agent and antidote kits only covers 10,000 victims of a biological incident and 1,000 for a chemical one, who decides who lives and who dies?

Happy Friday!

Posted by Eugene Tong at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

A couple of items of relative interest...

• More on that 13-year-old busted for bringing an airsoft gun to Toll Middle School Friday and causing a lockdown -- he won't be charged with a felony anything, just obstructing or delaying an investigation, but he might be expelled. News Press

• GUSD board member Greg Krikorian says the district should get paid for letting the city of Glendale use their facilities like swimming pools and fields, according to the News Press. You may remember a few months ago, Krikorian, who ran for City Council and lost, pushed for greater cooperation with the city regarding facilities...hmmmm...

• KABC 7 takes a look beyond the check-in conveyor belts at Bob Hope Airport, and finds four honking Explosive Detection machines.
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Top o' the morning...

• Burbank city revenue for 2007-08 is slated to grow 9 percent, they're also spending more due tohigher staff and benefits costs. Leader

• Burbank Unified School District is installing a $50,000 emergency phone notification system to reach about 11,000 households. Leader

• Blame the horses? A Hampton Inn still under construction on Glenoaks Blvd. near Burbank Airport "has had a sign up saying 'coming, Fall, 2006' for ages." It makes to the list of "What's that gonna be?" projects at Curbed LA.

• Lisa Burks wonders what happened to the late Grand View Memorial Park owner Marsha Howard's dogs at valleynews.com

  

  Have you seen Meeka and Ivory?

  These two gentle American Eskimo dogs, left unattended, got out of the Grand View Memorial Park residence last November during the removal of their owner Marsha Howard's body, and they remain missing.

  "Marsha loved animals. Her dogs were her family, her kids," says Betty Haskell, who was Marsha's friend and is currently the fiancé of Marsha's brother, Tom Trimble.

  Then there's Bear, a black Labrador Retriever-Chow mix, who was left locked inside the home that same evening, hiding under Marsha's bed, says Betty. Sadly, Bear was picked up days later after authorities received calls about her barking, taken to the Pasadena Humane Society and eventually destroyed.

  
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Cha-Cha-Changes...

• Daily News Burbank story of the day from your humble narrator-- GloZell Green has seen Leno as part of the live audience for 177 times -- and counting, and she blogs about it here.

• The News Press follows Friday's lockdown at Toll Middle School, Hoover High and Keppel Elementary with a story on charges filed against the 13-year-old Toll 7th grader who brought the airsoft gun to campus and started the scare. Two other kids were charged for misleading police. Of course, it also milks a Virginia Tech mention.

  I'm more interested in the YouTube videos from the scene that're making their way online. Here's one from outside Hoover High:

  and this one, from the inside...

• And today we bid farewell to Jason Kandel, my partner in crime in the blogosphere, who is now working breaking news-online over at our mothership, dailynews.com. I wouldn't have started this wee blog without his backing, and he kept it interesting with fresh ideas and cool community items when things got too bogged down around here with boring ol' news. Good luck, dude!
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Internet Explorer ate my post! Let's start over...

• The Daily News looks at crime organized and otherwise -- first with a series from Troy Anderson and Jason Kandel on Eurasian mob activity in the valley. The Sunday story is an overview of the problem and the scams, while Jason follows today with a tale of how a Ukrainian family used Medicare fraud as a shortcut to the American Dream.

  Oppressed in their native Ukraine, Konstantin and Mayya Grigoryan came to the United States a dozen years ago in search of the American dream.

  They didn't speak English, struggled to pay the bills and relied on family and friends to make ends meet. Eventually they found jobs and began to acquire wealth, opening a restaurant, starting a string of medical clinics and finally buying a $661,500 home in a gated community in Altadena.

  But this American dream was built on a crooked foundation, authorities say. Indicted by a federal grand jury in 2004, the couple was convicted of leading a Russian-Armenian organized crime ring that paid kickbacks to doctors, recruiters and patients and defrauded the U.S. government out of $20 million over five years.

• Also, DN's Tony Castro profiles Timothy McGhee, an Atwater Village gang member who is standing trial this week for two murders, seven attempted murders and five shootings. He writes:

  His spiral notebook of rap lyrics depicts McGhee as a 21st century American psychopath, devoid of conscience, who used the Atwater Village area as an urban killing field.

  In the words of Andy Teague, the now-retired LAPD detective who tracked him, "It's his high, and he does it for kicks."

  "Here I come last chance to run," McGhee writes in one set of lyrics. "Killer with a gun out to have some fun/ In my dreams I hear screams/ Pleasure I feel is so obscene."

  McGhee, after all, is believed to have killed one young man - 16-year-old Ryan "Huero" Gonzales in 2000 - simply because he thought Atwater Village wasn't big enough for two people with the same nickname.

  It is the kind of violent rampage for which McGhee came to be called in his neighborhood "the Monster of Atwater." Some cops even compared his murderous nature to that of Charles Manson.

• Meanwhile, Sunday's Armenian Parliamentary elections were deemed fair, according to international election monitors. The Life in Armenia blog has posts about observing the balloting and the day after.

• For those still following the Times spiking an Armenian Genocide story fracas, here's an account of a recent meeting between Times executives and members of the ANCA, California Courier Publisher Harut Sassounian and others. via Asbarez

• And finally, one of Glendale's blingy-est residents, rapper The Game, was arrested late Friday after LAPD searched his home in the hills for three hours. He was booked for making criminal threats, then bailed out for $50,000 Saturday morning. Here's YouTube video of KABC7's report, with The Game himself mugging for the cameras.
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Fruit topping with your museli...

• The Armenian National Committee of America got some love from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa after the mayor received a package from the Turkish Consul General of Los Angeles, reports Asbarez.

  In the Mayor’s letter, he states that “[T]he Turkish Consul General of Los Angeles recently sent me, as gifts, two books denying the Armenian Genocide. [The Turkish Consul General] also sent a letter protesting my support of House Resolution 106 and my request to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring the Resolution to a vote as soon as possible.

  “I would like to donate the books to the [ANCA] so that your organization can study them and ensure that any attempts to diminish the gravity of the Armenian Genocide are met with factual retorts."

• Glendale Police honors its finest at an award ceremony. Officer Joe Allen of the vice/narcotics detail was named officer of the year for his work and for mentoring other officers. News Press

• And finally in today's boy band news -- former 'N Sync star Lance Bass turned gas pump attendant in Burbank Thursday morning as Star 98.7's morning intern. He apparently lost a bet when boybandmate Joey Fatone had a mediocre showing.
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Been out of touch due to Griffith Park Fire -- we'll try to get back to our regularly scheduled program in the next few days. Meanwhile, a few tidbits...

• Here's video of an afternoon with an LA County Fire Department inmate hand crew, working the slopes Wednesday along Vista Del Valle Dr. in Griffith Park.

• JetBlue is looking at a route expansion, including Burbank. Bloomberg via AZCentral.com

• Funeral service for Roxanne Toof Paul, a single mother of two young boys who was killed by her stalker in a home invasion last Friday is scheduled tomorrow.

• Birthday wishes to the Simpson Quadruplets, who are turning 2. Ella Marie, Emma Grace, Hayley Rose and Jordan Andrew were born in May of 2005 right before Mother’s Day, and were the first quadruplets ever delivered at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center's 63-year history.

• FInally, Glendale has a new Planning Director -- only he's been on the job for a good four months already. Here's the release:
  

Continue reading "Late Update -- May 10, 2007" »

Posted by Eugene Tong at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

• Atwater Village Newbie posts a great photo of the brush fire in Griffith Park.
  Atwater Village Newbie

• Here's a view of the brush fire from Atwater Village.
  Friends of Atwater Village

• Red flag warnings remain in effect today.
  Daily News

• Ongoing brush fire coverage ... 817 acres burned ...
  Daily News

• Both the Burbank Leader and the Glendale News-Press seemed to be silent on the brush fires, but the News-Press did cover a fire in Glendale that left four people without a home.
  Glendale News-Press

• A registered sex offender is in custody in connection with an assault on a 14-year-old boy.
  News-Press

• The newly reorganized Burbank City Council talks traffic, development, and the environment at a recent meeting.
  Burbank Leader

• Grand View Memorial Park will be open for Mother's Day.
  valleynews.com
  

Posted by Jason Kandel at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Here's a peak behind the firelines at Griffith Park during today's brush fire. Possibly started by an arsonist, the blaze has charred more than 200 acres of thick, tinder-dry brush.

Daily News coverage so far...including a photo gallery.

Posted by Eugene Tong at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) |

There's a brush fire burning up the Hollywood Hills, threatening the Los Angeles Zoo, in case you haven't checked your favorite news Web site lately. Here's a photo from citizen journalist Lisa Burks, who, during a break from work at Yahoo! in Burbank, snapped a shot with her cellphone camera. I would encourage everyone else out there who passes by the smoke to take shots (carefully, please) and we'll post them here. Thanks to Burks for the shot. We'll keep you posted on the condition of the fire. Our own intrepid Eugene Tong is in the thick of the smoke now shooting video, surely to be posted here shortly. Stay tuned.

Posted by Jason Kandel at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Good morning ...

• Eugene Tong follows up on the murder-suicide in Burbank.
  Daily News

• An apartment complex in Montrose that has been trying to evict tenants is cited for safety violations by the Glendale Fire Department.
  Glendale News-Press

• Glendale Community College does a follow-up story on the march on the Turkish Embassy two weeks ago to push that country's government to recognize the Armenian genocide.
  El Vaquero

• Grand View Memorial Park cemetery in Glendale may be open on Mother's Day this Sunday, Lisa Burks writes at valleynews.com.

• Atwater Village Newbie immortalizes Glendale in song.
  Atwater Village Newbie

• Atwater Village News posts an article from the Griffith Park News in 1936 about a school open house that featured a musical accompaniment and a reasonably priced spaghetti dinner.
  Atwater Village News blog
  

Posted by Jason Kandel at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Save early, save often...

• Burbank Police nabbed one driver at their Cinco de Mayo DUI checkpoint at Glenoaks and Orange Grove. Here are the stats from the 7:30 p.m. - 1:30 a.m. operation:

  · 1334 vehicles passed through the checkpoint
  · 1280 drivers were screened for driver sobriety
  · One driver were arrested for driving under the influence
  · Two misdemeanor citations were issued for driver license violations
  · One citation was issued for possession of an opened alcoholic container
  · Fifteen citations were issued for driving infractions
  · Three citations was issued for equipment violations
  · One vehicle was impounded from a driver with a suspended license

• LAist poster Zach Behrens takes the bus from Sherman Oaks to Bob Hope Airport. It took 45 minutes.

• Burbank LIbrary Blog plugs a workshop tonight on the "Warning Signs of Teenage Drug Abuse".Mary Alice O'Connor Family Resource Center, 7 p.m.- 8 p..m., 401 N. Buena Vista Street.
  

Posted by Eugene Tong at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |