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Long Beach Poly head football coach Raul Lara presents a decal to the Wilson High football team to remember Melody Ross on Thursday, November 6, 2009. The WIlson and Poly teams will wear the stickers on their helmets. Ross was shot and killed last Friday after Wilson played Poly.

Artist Patrick Vogel, center, and Kris Kunard, guide a stainless steal representation of a DC-8 vertical stabilizer on to its concrete base at the entrance to Douglas Park in Long Beach, Calif. on November 5, 2009. The business park is located at the former home of McDonnell Douglas Aircraft. Each of the six structures are almost 24 feet tall and weigh 400 pounds each. Three were installed today and the rest will be installed over the next few days. See more pictures>>

Vanareth Ross, left, and Chantha Ross, parents of shooting victim Melody Ross, hold a pictures of their daughter during a press conference where Long Beach (Calif.) police announce they have arrested a suspect Tuesday, November 4, 2009, in Long Beach, Calif. Melody Ross was shot after a the homecoming football game Friday night. At 10 p.m. Friday, police responded to a call reporting gunshots at Ximeno Avenue and 10th Street. When officers arrived, they found three wounded people. Ross had been hit in the torso. Two men, one 18 and the other 20, suffered from non-life-threatening wounds. The three victims were taken to a hospital, where Ross died. The 20-year-old was treated and released, and the 18-year-old is recovering in the hospital. See pictures from the press conference>>

Chantha Ross, left, and Vanareth Ross, parents of shooting victim Melody Ross, thank students and faculty during a candle light vigil at Wilson High School on Tuesday, November 4, 2009, in Long Beach, Calif. Melody Ross was shot after a the homecoming football game last Friday night. At 10 p.m. Friday, police responded to a call reporting gunshots at Ximeno Avenue and 10th Street. When officers arrived, they found three wounded people. Ross had been hit in the torso. Two men, one 18 and the other 20, suffered from non-life-threatening wounds. The three victims were taken to a hospital, where Ross died. The 20-year-old was treated and released, and the 18-year-old is recovering in the hospital. See more pictures of the candlelight vigil>>

Apparently, if you want to talk to the Long Beach City Council you have to push the red 'botton'

Banning High Social Studies teacher Matt Seanlon brought some of his students to join a protester during the Long Beach (Calif.) City Council meeting Tuesday, November 3, 2009. The protesters are asking councilmembers to protest the settlement between the Long Beach port and the American Trucking Association (a deal signed last week that extracts Long Beach from a federal court case scheduled for December). The contingent will also delived a letter protesting the port's decision to City Council. See more pictures>>

The Lakewood sheriff station is haunted... well, at least it was today. The L.A. County Sheriffs that work at the station turned the cells in to a haunted prison for the public. The inmates were transfered to the Cerritos station for the day.

I'm not really sure what Maria Shriver is doing here... but none the less. she did a pretty good job hosting the Minerva Awards. See more pictures here>>

On a clear day, standing atop Signal HIll, Calif., you can see Downtown Los Angeles... even at night.

Eli Rodriguez (4105) passes Jason Gutierrez (1322) during the 25th. Long Beach (Calif.) International City Bank Marathon on Sunday, October 11, 2009. Gutierrez led the race until mile 23.5. See more pictures>>

This time-lapse video of the start of the 2009 Long Beach Marathon is made from 510 images shot over 32 minutes from the top floor of the Arco Towers.

Comic book wrtier Stan Lee cuts the ribbon to open Comic Con at the Long Beach (Calif.) Convention Center on October 2, 2009. Lee created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and many others. See more pictures>>

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Long Beach (Calif.) Mayor Bob Foster listen as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks in the Port of Long Beach on Thursday, October 1, 2009.
Gov. Schwarzenegger joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to announce the awarding of over $26.5 million in clean-air grants for Southern California as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The money is soposed to help California speed its efforts to promote clean vehicles and green job growth - this funding will be used to retrofit and replace diesel engines in construction vehicles, cargo handling equipment, school buses, heavy-duty trucks and locomotives in the Southern California air basin, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. See more pictures>>

A floral display depicting a car and and trees along the north side of the San Diego (405) Freeway near Orange Ave. was completed toady in Long Beach, Calif.
The display is part of the California Department of Transportation's Enhanced Landscape Planting Demonstration Project (ELP). The program modeled after the Caltrans Adopt-A-Highway Program provides the opportunity for sponsors to install and maintain highly detailed and themed plantings of drought tolerant shrubs, ground cover and annual and perennial flowers on up to one-half acre along highway roadsides.

ELP sponsors are required to maintain a minimum of three acres of the existing landscape around the floral display at no cost to Caltrans. This display is sponsored by Toyota as are six are locations in Los Angeles County.

Other spots are;
• Westbound Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) Lincoln Avenue off-ramp, just south of the gore point, in the city of Santa Monica.

•Eastbound Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) National Boulevard/Overland Drive on-ramp right shoulder.

•Eastbound Foothill Freeway (I-210) Marengo Avenue/Los Robles Avenue on-ramp right shoulder, in the city of Pasadena.

•Westbound Ventura Freeway (US 101) just south of the Louise Avenue bridge in the city of Los Angeles.

•Westbound Pomona Freeway (SR-60) just west of the Lorena Street bridge in the city of Los Angeles.

QUEEN MARY -- C-17 manager Jean Chamberlain speaks to the Rotary Club Wednesday, September 30, 2009, aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif. She talked about the Senate debate on funding of the C-17 program, which supports some 5,000 workers at the plant in Long Beach and another 25,000 at supplier companies across the globe.

A hole in the street where a water main broke at the corner of Stevely Ave. and Bacarro St, in Long Beach, Calif. on September 30, 2009. he pipe broke at 3:55 in the morning flooding the street. No property was damaged. According to Matt Vehh, acting director of Govt. Affairs at the Water Department, Twenty-one homes are currently without water service, but it should be restored later today.

The pipe was 8 inch cast iron and installed in 1954.

Veeh said, "The water department has a very aggressive cast iron pipe replacement program." They have replaced 2400 linear feet of cast iron pipe his year. Also, they have had a record low number of water main breaks this year - only 26. Their year for keeping track of breaks ends today. Last year there were 29 breaks.

Fala Toailoa outside his Long Beach, Calif. home on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. Toailoa has several relatives were killed and others who are missing after a magnitude 8.0 earthquake near American Samoa caused a tsunami. see more photos>>

Ron Sok puts pins a map showing where certian demographics are in a 'hard to count' area during the Cambodian Complete Count committee's regular meeting in Long Beach, Calif. on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. The committee's is trying to come up with a slogan, among other things. Poverty numbers were revealed showing Long Beach has a poverty rate of 21.3 percent among Asian residents. See more pictures>>

Just thought I'd share the massacre in my backyard - hope PETA isn't made at me... actually, I hope they are!

The inaugural Latin American Parade headed south on Pine Avenue today, but for me, the focus was where the parade started - the former home of the Press-Telegram. The building, at the corner of Sixth and Pine, was a real newspaper building. It was dirty, there were presses and the only toilet in the newsroom was for men. The PT's parent company sold it, and almost the entire block, in 2006. The plan was to turn the unofficially historic building in to lofts. That plan stalled, but not before workers had time to destroy the interior of the building. If you want to see pictures of the parade, click here>>

The picture above is now history, it is a postmark from the last day that parcels sent from Long Beach were stamped "Long Beach". As of September 8, 2009 letters sent from the city no longer bear its name. All mail from zips starting with 906, 907 or 908 are being sent to Orange County and will be stamped "Santa Ana". Postal customers can request a special hand stamp if they must have the LBC on their letters.

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good. Today was one of those days. I was driving south on Cherry Ave. when I saw thick, black smoke. Thinking it was coming from the oil wells west of Cherry Ave in Signal Hill I parked my car on Burnett Street and looked down the hill. I saw the smoke was two-block below me. I ran down the hill, jump a small stucco fence, scraped my arm, and arrived at the fully-engulfed building before the fire department. See the pictures>>

This sign, and others like it, line the south side of the 5700 blcok of Parkcrest Street. The notices, requesting that visitors park elsewhere, feature a city logo and a Parks and Rec logo. According to 5th. District councilwoman Gerri Shipske
it's not an official sign and it is illegal to post things on trees and utility poles.

Michelle Rangel, left, and Susana Soto pick weeds at Heartwell Park. The pair are part of a the 5TH. District Beautification Project. See more pictures>>

Youngsters play in a water fountain at the Town Center Plaza in Bellflower, Calif. According to accuweather.com, the high in Bellflower was 104 degrees today. See more pictures>>

Firefighter Brad Hartwell, from Station 17, looks for hot spots in the brush near the onramp to the northbound Interstate 405 (San Diego) Freeway at Lakewood Blvd. The fire, in a homeless encampment, was reported about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday. See more pictures of the clean-up>>

The new show NCIS: Los Angeles was filming, and exploding, the end of the Peninsula today. The location manager didn't want me around, so I had to shoot from a few blocks away. Last October CSI: Miami was exploding things in Long Beach too, if you want to see what an explosion looks like when the crew gives you access, click here>>

Chayanne Alarcon, left, rests her head on the shoulder of Lorissa Benavidez, during a vigil for her brother, Jacob Benavidez, in Long Beach, Calif. on August 20, 2009. Jacob Benavidez, 15, was killed Tuesday morning in a walk-by shooting. Benavidez was on a stoop talking to a friend at about 12:30 a.m. when a single gunman approached and killed him with a volley of shots to the torso. See more pictures>>

Shayla Muse, 4 months, the daughter of 17-year-old shooting victim Jonathan Muse, at his grave on the year anniversary of his death at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cypress, Calif. on August 20, 2009. The killer is still at large. See more pictures>>

A familiar face at the entrance to city hall, sergeant Dan Tellez keeps an eye on the entrance most days. Police Chief Anthony Batts trained under Tellez for six months when he was a rookie cop. The city of Oakland announced that Batts will be assuming the top-cop job in the bay area city in September.

Bob Medina, one of the Long Beach School District's two glaizers, carries a piece of glass to the roof of Stanford Middle School. Medina and Mike Brand are replacing broken skylights before the start of the school year. See more photos>>

Boys and Girls Club member Breana Sanchez holds on to her new backpack in Long Beach, Calif. on August 13, 2009. Six hundred backpacks full of school supplies donated by employees of Fluor Corporation were given to children at the club. The workers pitched in $5000 and got Office Depot in Norwalk, Calif. to discount the school supplies. See more photos>>

Maureen Young, a resident of His Nesting Place, listens as Phil Hester, director of parks and recreation, discusses putting cameras on top of their building to watch the surrounding area. The home for single mothers has been besieged with graffiti and drug dealing neighbors.

A worker from Sully-Miller breaks up concrete at the site of the future Wrigley Village Community Garden in the 2000 block of Pacific Ave. in Long Beach, Calif. The garden's plan includes 23 raised plots, a kids garden and an orchard.

The Chevy Volt, well, at least the guts of it, is on display at Plug-in 2009 at the Long Beach Convention Center. The plug-in car goes 40 miles on a charge - but when the battery dies a gas generator starts making electricity for the engine giving it an effective 230 MPG. GM says it has a range of 300 miles.

Mayor Bob Foster rubs his eyes as he listens to the exhaustive questioning of Police Chief Anthony Batts during a workshop for the city's 2010 budget in the city council chambers. See more pictures>>

Christian Jefferson helps Lenny Arkinstall, not pictured, build a green house at Marine Stadium. Jefferson works under the city's Youth Employment Program which puts at-risk students to work for private employers. Arkinstall is in the process of taking clipping of plants from the Green Belt before it is destroyed for a drain project. See more pictures>>

His name might be Hercules... and he might be wearing a Superman shirt, but Josue Hercules is not quite faster then a speeding bullet. He is, apparently, strong enough to survive a gunshot wound to the head he got from stray bullet during a gang fight in front of his family's Long Beach home. The bullet, which entered through his neck and lodged behind his forehead, miraculously did not seem to cause any permanent damage.See more pictures>>

Jack Dejarnett, 8, cheers on his boat as it joins others during a race in the Colorado Lagoon on August 7, 2009, in Long Beach, Calif. Thirty youngsters built their own boats in during the summer-long Model Boat Shop program. See more pictures>>

Long Beach firefighters rescued two window washers from this scaffolding at 300 Oceangate, home of the Press-Telegram. No one was injured. I got to the scene after the workers were rescued, but my fellow photojournalist Steven Georges was able to photograph the actual rescue. Click here to see his pictures>>

While cruising through the city of Compton looking for pictures for our annual Way We Live magazine I ran across this mural. While there are other portrait city hall, including Kennedy, Thrugood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr., Obama gets top billing on the side of the building that faces Alameda Street.

Adrien Clark, 17, left, and Peter Ek, 20, help clean a garden at Birney Elementary School on August 6, 2009. The pair, along with others, have been spending the summer dirtying their hands working on a variety of projects for the Wrigley Association, including neighborhood cleanups, the creation of a community garden and other jobs. This is a paid job. See more photos>>

The drivers of a pickup truck stand in the intersection of Alamitos Ave. and 10th. Street after hitting a Long Beach (Calif.) paramedic vehicle on August 5, 2009. No one was injured.

FROM THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WEB SITE: "Rescue 2 was traveling West bound on 10th Street transporting a patient to a local hospital from a prior medical response, when it was struck by a pick up truck traveling at a high rate of speed, as reported by witnesses...The single male driver of the truck was transported to a local hospital in mild distress for the treatment of unspecific injuries. One of the Paramedics on Rescue 2, who was treating the patient in the back of the Rescue, received injuries, including symptoms of back pain."

Jose Siminig, left, Jose Loza, mural conservator, center, and Leo Salgado work on a mural on the side of a trafic signal control box at the corner of Santa Fe Ave. and Pacific Coast Highway. The City of Long Beach's proposed FY '10 budget will, "Eliminate the Mural Arts Project" except for $10,000 to maintain murals that have already been painted. Leo Salgado and Jose Siminig helped design this artwork. See more pictures>>

Long Beach budget sat on a wall... Long Beach budget had a great fall... And all the kings horses and all the kings men tried to but her back together again. At least it seemed like all the kings men were in the conference room in the 13th. floor of city hall as Mayor Bob Foster, Police Chief Anthony Batts and Pat West, city manager, and a host of others released the annual city bugdet. See more pictures | Read the story

Model Amanda Fields models an embellished dress with a quilt jacket during a fashion show at the International Quilt Festival See more pictures>>

Rev. Pedro Villarroya, left, joins Bishop Alexander Salazar as he blesses new St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop at the former site of Al Greenwood's Bedspread Kingdom on the Pacific Coast Highway. See more pictures>>

Racers paddle their outrigger canoes through Marine Stadium in Long Beach, Calif. on July 18, 2009. Clubs and individuals in 36 classes competed in six-person, two-person and individual outrigger canoes, rowing on a 500-meter straightaway course. See more pictures>>

The Long Beach city hall has not been transported to the Mojave desert, and no, it's not the setting for a futuristic movie where global warming has overtaken our seaside city - it's a view of 333 Ocean from what used to be a lush green park on the roof of the main branch of the Long Beach Public Library. Besides leaking, the library is seismically unfit due to the weight on the roof. The city plans to remove 10 million pounds of dirt in the closed park in the hopes that it will relieve some stress on the top of the structure.
See more photos>>