Featured Articles from the Glendale News-Press

Qualifying to Saturday's CIF Southern Section Track and Field Divisional Championships at Mt. San Antonio College required the local entrants who earned such advancement to turn in very good results at last weekend's divisional prelims all over Southern California. This weekend, however, the bar will be raised from very good to exceptional. Of course, that's to be expected as divisional championships and CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet berths are on the line with the trip to Cerritos College available for the top 12 finishers in the 800-meter, 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs and top nine in every other event.

Beneath a starry sky, Sosé Thomassian and Allen Yekikian held each other on their wedding night, arms looped around hips, eyes locked, for more than 20 minutes so the photographer could capture what would become their favorite wedding photo. Back at the wedding reception in a lakeside Armenian town, the photographer showed off the shot and the crowd cooed. The couple got their wedding, but there will be no first anniversary. About eight months after the wedding, on May 10, Thomassian and Yekikian died in a head-on car crash while on a weekend getaway in Georgia, Armenia's neighbor to the north.

The real estate market in Glendale ticked upward again last month after a brief stall in March, reflecting an ongoing limited number of homes for sale and a multitude of potential buyers, according to the latest real estate report. The median price of a single-family home nudged up 2.4% compared to April 2012, from $625,000 to $640,000, according to statistics compiled by Realtor Keith Sorem with Keller Williams Realty in Glendale. The median price of a condominium increased more dramatically, rising 19.5%, from $266,000 a year ago to $318,000 last month.

A 22-year-old Hollywood woman convicted earlier this month of selling bogus Disneyland tickets was arrested again this weekend after she allegedly punched a loss prevention worker who caught her stealing beauty cream from the Sephora at the Americana at Brand. The lost prevention worker was watching security cameras about 5:25 p.m. Sunday when she spotted Alisa Yenokyan allegedly put five beauty cream products inside her purse, according to Glendale police. Yenokyan exited the store, but was quickly confronted by the worker, who requested the merchandise be returned, police said.

Eight motorists were arrested Saturday on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol during a saturation patrol operation, police said. Officers from Glendale police's DUI Enforcement Team stopped 30 vehicles and oversaw 12 field sobriety tests during the patrol, which was from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Of the 30 vehicles stopped, officers arrested seven motorists for alleged drunk driving and one driver for being under the influence of drugs, police said. They also made a felony drug arrest.

Those tending the flame of those who perished in the Armenian Genocide had a bit of a mixed bag this week. In happy news, Glendale Unified and its teachers' union agreed to make April 24 - the day that commemorates the horror - an official day off. This agreement makes a lot of sense for all involved. Students of Armenian descent have skipped going to class on that day for years, and as public school funding is significantly based on attendance, making the day a holiday of sorts is an elegant end-around of this problem.

GLENDALE — A 28-year-old Glendale man pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he struck and killed a 61-year-old prominent Glendale doctor who was walking to a patient's home on a house call, officials said. Prosecutors charged Edmond Grigoryan, who also goes by Vardan Hakobyan, with one felony count of gross vehicular manslaughter while he was allegedly driving under the influence of a controlled substance and hit Jacob Orphali on Oct. 12 in Glendale, according to a criminal complaint.

Development continues to spread into Glendale's neglected southern section as a third large mixed-use building along the San Fernando Road corridor received initial approval from city officials this week. On Tuesday, the city council unanimously approved a preliminary design for The Link, a five-story apartment building with 142 units and 16,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. It will be constructed on a roughly one-acre lot on the northwest corner of Central Avenue and San Fernando Road.

A man who apparently jumped to his death Wednesday morning from an overpass of the Glendale (2) Freeway near Chevy Chase Canyon, snarling the morning commute, left a suicide note, police said. The Glendale man, whose identity had not been released Wednesday afternoon pending notification of his family, jumped before 6 a.m. from the northbound overpass, landing on to Chevy Chase Drive, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. A witness seated inside his parked car under the overpass heard screams just before seeing the man in his 30s fall, Lorenz said.

The City Council on Tuesday begrudgingly approved a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the motorist who struck cyclist Damian Kevitt near Griffith Park, maiming him to the point where he lost part of his right leg. Council members approved the reward despite many contending the money would be better spent on traffic safety issues within the city. But Kevitt's mother, Michele Kirkland, said on Wednesday that the reward will help to renew interest in her son's case.

Police plan to step up enforcement activities Friday against motorists using their cell phones while driving. The plan follows last month's distracted-driving crackdown in which more than 400 citations were issued. Officers assigned to the enforcement operation, which is being funded through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, will be focused that day on looking only for distracted drivers, Glendale Police Sgt. Harout Bouzikian said. In April, officers cited 425 motorists for holding their cell phones while behind the wheel, he said.

Two Florida men were arrested this week on suspicion of possessing a half-kilogram of cocaine after they were stopped for talking on a handheld cellphone while driving, officials said. The men - Herwood Barrington Walters, 25, and Courtney Lalor, 28 - were taken into custody about 9:18 p.m. Tuesday on North Central Avenue and Glenoaks Boulevard on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale, according to Glendale police reports. The pair provided officers with few clues about why they were in Glendale, but police believe “they were probably trying to sell the cocaine,” Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

A reputed gang member was arrested Monday on suspicion of drug sales after police found several baggies of methamphetamine and digital scales inside his bedroom, officials said. Paul Escoto, 46, who claimed to belong to a Northeast Los Angeles gang, was taken into custody about 2:16 p.m. in the 3400 block of Emerald Isle Drive in connection with transporting and possessing methamphetamine for sale, according to Glendale police. Officers conducting a burglary surveillance operation stopped Escoto after witnessing several traffic violations, police said.

The following were taken from daily booking reports from the Glendale Police Department. AREA 1 300 block of West Colorado Street Michael Reeder, 43, was arrested Dec. 19 on suspicion of possessing marijuana, bringing a controlled substance into jail, petty theft and a warrant for failing to appear in court or pay a fine. East Harvard Street and South Louise Street Christopher Johns, 18, was arrested Dec. 19 on suspicion of battery.