« December 2011 | Main | February 2012 »
Friends of Steinmetz Senior Center will sponsor a trip to San Manuel Casino in San Bernardino on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
The cost is $15, but seniors will get a $10 player card. The bus will leave 8 a.m. and return at 5 p.m.
The center is at 1545 S. Stimson Ave. For information, call 626-934-7041.
Do you believe in angels? Mary Ting of Hacienda Heights does.
In fact, the kindergarten teacher has written two books about the heavenly creatures. The Los Molinos Elementary instructor has become something of a celebrity among her young students.
Her first book "Crossroads" is the story about a forbidden love between a young woman and her guardian angel, who is half mortal. They meet at a place between heaven and Earth called the crossroads.
Her teen novel was ranked as a top seller on Amazon.com. The romance can also be downloaded in Kindle and Nook formats.
Last weekend, the budding author held a book signing at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Fullerton. The former PTA president donated a portion of her sales to Los Molinos school.
Read more in Rich Irwin's story Angels.
The Lunar New Year celebration was somber at the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in Hacienda Heights on Monday. The monks paid homage to the Buddhas with a Thousand Buddhas Ceremony.
Special Dharma functions were held to pray for world peace, blessings and good luck in the new year.
The largest Buddhist temple in the Western Hemisphere was decorated with peace lanterns sponsored by many families. Families also lit candles and incense to honor their ancestors.
Read more in Rich Irwin's story Dragon.
A judge sentenced Manling Tsang Williams to death Thursday for smothering her two young children with a pillow and slashing her husband to death with a sword in the family's Rowland Heights home in 2007.
The 32-year-old woman sobbed and shook as Pomona Superior
Court Judge Robert Martinez handed down the sentence for the Aug. 7, 2007 murders of her husband, Neal Williams, 27, and their sons Devon, 7, and Ian, 3, at the family's condominium in the 18200 block of Camino Bello.
A jury convicted Manling Williams of three counts of first-degree murder in 2010, along with the special allegations of using weapons and lying in wait. After one jury was unable to agree on whether to sentence her to death or life imprisonment, a second penalty phase jury recommended last year that she be put to death.
Judge Martinez followed that recommendation.
Read more in Brian Day's story Death
Mariachi Divas founder Cindy Shea with her sons Alex Carballo, 10, and Anthony Jimenez, 2 months, in their Hacienda Heights backyard.
Cindy Shea is looking forward to a great year. The Hacienda Heights resident recently had her second son and she's planning her wedding.
The local musician also has been nominated for another Grammy. Cindy is the founder of the popular Mariachi Divas. The all-woman band won a Grammy in 2009 for best regional Mexican album. And they had been nominated for another one.
So it shouldn't be a surprise that Cindy's group received another nomination this year. But Cindy is still excited by great news. "It's like the Oscars," the enthusiastic trumpet player explained. "It's such an honor to be selected by your peers."
Read more in Rich Irwin's story Grammy.
A high-speed police pursuit of a motorcycle carrying a man and woman ended in a crash on the 60 Freeway late Tuesday, officials said.
Check out the KCAL video of last night's police chase in Hacienda Heights. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Station began chasing the motorcycle, which had been reported stolen, about 9:45 p.m., LAPD Officer Rosario Herrera said.
The high-speed pursuit continued for about half an hour until it reached the eastbound 60 Freeway at 7th Avenue, officials said. The motorcycle rear-ended a car and tumbled end-over-end, throwing both riders into the roadway.
The riders, a man and woman, were reportedly in police custody as they were being treated at a hospital for serious injuries.
Watch: KCAL video of crash.
A bubblologist will visit the Hacienda Heights Library on Tuesday, Jan. 24, from 7 to 8 p.m. They will demonstrate the science behind bubbles.
There will be shimmering waves of soap films, rainbow bubbles, big bubbles, small bubbles, square bubbles, triangle bubbles, bubbles within bubbles and giant bubbles.
The library is at 1850 Nogales St., Rowland Heights. For information, call 626-912-5348.
A bank robbery in Rowland Heights was the work of a serial robber connected to two other crimes dating back to July of last year, authorities said. The "Stretch Bandit" paid a visit to the Bank of the West, 19005 E. Colima Road, about 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 11, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
It was his second robbery at the same bank, which he also robbed on July 12 of last year, officials said. The same man is also suspected in a July 6, 2011 robbery at a U.S. Bank Branch on Hacienda Boulevard in Hacienda Heights, Eimiller said.
The FBI calls him the "Stretch Bandit" because of his physical description, FBI officials said. He stands about 6 feet 3 inches tall and is of thin build -- about 190 pounds. The bandit is 35 to 42 years old, and a white, 4-door Honda Accord with a tinted rear window and the first two license plate numbers of "3Z" has been spotted in connection with the crimes.
Sheriff's officials further described him as having blonde hair and blue eyes. The robbers passes tellers notes demanding cash and claiming that he has a gun, FBI officials said, though no weapons have been seen during the robberies.
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI's 24-hour line in Los Angeles at 310-477-6565.
PHOTOS courtesy of the FBI
I could barely make out the words uttered from the man seated several rows behind me at Walnut City Hall.
"Corporate welfare," I finally heard him say.
The two words were spoken just as Walnut City Councilman Tony Cartagena discussed a recent meeting with the Contract Cities Association on the topic of redevelopment.
The governor and the Legislature approved a measure wiping out all redevelopment agencies in the state. That means all 88 cities in Los Angeles County must end their redevelopment practices by Feb. 1 unless a bill by local state Sen. Ed Hernandez that gives cities until April gets approved.
Either way, the outcome is the same. Redevelopment will end. Period.
Read more in Steve Scauzillo's story: Redevelopment
Pathfinder Park is an electrifying place. Not because of the towering transmission lines that crisscross the park, nor because of a new community center coming in the new year.
The popular park in Rowland Heights is a bustling place. Four senior groups call the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation facility home.
The small center is also headquarters for the county's tennis programs in the San Gabriel Valley. In fact, the expanding program began at Pathfinder's three courts.
Read more in Rich Irwin's story Pathfinder.
A man escaped with about $1,000 after using a note to rob a bank branch Wednesday, authorities said.
The crime was reported about 10:30 a.m. at the Bank of the West, 19005 Colima Road, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Joe Chavez said.
The robber handed a teller a note demanding cash and was last seen fleeing north from the bank on foot, officials said.
He was described as a white man in his mid-30s, with blond hair and blue eyes, about 6 feet 3 inches tall and 185 pounds, wearing a tan jacket over a blue hooded sweat shirt, Chavez said. He was unshaven.
The Sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau, as well as the FBI, were assisting in the investigation.
The spring session of the Rowland Adult and Community Education begins Jan. 23. Registration for the community education fee-based classes has begun.
Registration for English as a Second Language or Citizenship classes takes place in the classroom on the first day.
Asian cooking workshops will include: Thai Cooking Made Easy, Sushi Made Easy, Chinese Dim Sum Made Easy Japanese Cooking Made Easy and Fancy Sushi Made Easy.
Other classes are Basic Drawing for Beginners, Line Dancing, International Folkdance, How to Become a Mystery Shopper and Other Fun Ways to Earn Extra Money, and Public Speaking.
In partnership with Boston Reed College, Rowland is offering Clinical Medical Assistant, Pharmacy Technician, Veterinary Assistant, Electronic Health Records System Technologist and Billing and Coding Specialist.
For more information, call 626-965-5975 or visit the office at 2100 Lerona Ave., Rowland Heights.
Because insurance claims will only pay for a portion of the cost of last year's fire, the parish of St. John Vianney Church is holding a golf tournament to help raise the difference.
Golfers can register for the charity tournament online at the church's Facebook page, Rebuild SJV-Golf. The church is also seeking additional sponsors for the event.
The Rebuild St. John Vianney Church golf tournament will take place March 26 at the Friendly Hills Country Club in Whittier.
Sponsorship levels vary from $125 to $10,000. The chuch needs to raise about $6 million to rebuild.
The church sanctuary and part of the priest's quarters of the popular Hacienda Heights church were burned in an arson fire on April 16, 2011.
In Jay Chen's 2011 Year-In-Review, he mentioned various milestones from 2011 for the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District. These included a failed recall attempt against him, a HLPUSD board member, and his free college application seminars.
But what he did not mention may be more important:
The changing of the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. School will start three weeks earlier and end three weeks earlier. The change was controversial and may be trend-setting.
Here's a section from our story which ran in December:
The Hacienda La Puente Unified School District board voted 4-1 Thursday night to start the next school year on Aug. 7, three weeks earlier than usual. It is the first local school district to adopt an early start calendar for the entire PreK-12 population.
School will let out May 21, 2013, instead of in late June. A similar calendar was adopted for the 2013-14 school year.
Some may call that decision of the San Gabriel Valley's largest school district one that affects the most people -- parents and children. It affect thousands of families in La Puente and Hacienda Heights, who will have to adjust summer vacations. It could also lead to other districts doing the same thing.
Quite a milestone.
In an afternoon caucus meeting Wednesday, Senate Republicans unanimously elected Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, to succeed Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, as Senate leader.
A release from Huff's office crowed about the news - "Unanimous vote puts Huff in Control" - after the senator indicated last week his expectation there would be enough votes to support his bid.
"I'd like to thank my Senate Republican colleagues for their unwavering support and look forward to working with Majority Leader Darrell Steinberg and the Governor on the state budget and other issues facing California," Huff said in a statement.
"The Governor has indicated that he will work with Republicans when possible, and Senate Republicans are open to compromise and crafting true, bipartisan solutions," Huff said, hinting at but not elaborating on an answer to the question on everyone's mind: what will this mean for budget gridlock?
They may only be 3 feet tall, but these guys and gals can really dunk. Doughnuts, cookies, Twinkies. They still have a ways to go to dunk a basketball, but at least they'll learn to have fun on the courts in the new tiny tikes basketball league in Hacienda Heights.
"My son played tiny tikes basketball in another league and he had so much fun, I thought we should try it here," explained Louie Guerrero, recreation director at Steinmetz Park.
So the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation is signing up boys and girls 3 to 6 years old. Practice will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 6 p.m., beginning Jan. 10. Games will be played from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, starting Jan. 21.
Esther Casillas de Capacete celebrated her 103rd birthday in Hacienda Heights on New Year's Day.
Surrounded by her extended family, Esther celebrated her life alongside her nine children, 50 grandchildren, 102 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren.
Born in 1909 in Jalisco, Mexico, Esther immigrated to the United States at age 64, after the passing of her husband, and became an American citizen at age 87.
The Hacienda Heights Woman's Club invites women of all ages to join the group.
They meet the first Thursday of every month.
Meetings begin at 11 a.m. followed by a luncheon in the clubhouse at 1917 S. La Mesita Drive in Hacienda Heights.
For information, call membership chair Diana Wood at 626-330-5228 or Sigi Williams at 626-333-1774.
Seniors at the Steinmetz Senior Center are starting the new year by helping the homeless. They've been collecting cash to buy clothing and toiletries for the less fortunate.
"Steve Barba came up with the idea to help the homeless in the winter shelters at local churches," said Irma Ochoa, co-chair of the fundraiser.
Ochoa was pleasantly surprised by the support of the seniors.
"I wasn't sure how the seniors would take it, but they began donating $5, $10, $20 for our project," she explained. "We raised almost $300 in three weeks."