Featured Articles from the Glendale News-Press

Authorities are looking for help with identifying an alleged carjacker who is responsible for more than a dozen thefts and robberies in Glendale, Burbank and the Los Angeles region. The man, who police have dubbed the “Opportunistic bandit,” allegedly started targeting lone women April 14, physically assaulting them before taking their purses and sometimes their vehicles, Los Angeles Police Department detectives said at a press conference on Tuesday. “Intimidation is a big part of this,” said Glendale Police Sgt. Jeff Newton, who is working on the robbery investigation.

A Glendale High School student who was arrested this week after he allegedly grabbed a 42-year-old woman's crotch told police he was accused of the same crime at another school campus, according to police. The student, Ryan Navarrete, 18, of Los Angeles was arrested Monday on suspicion of sexual battery after he allegedly assaulted the Santa Clarita woman as she walked on Brand Boulevard in downtown Glendale. Navarrete denied grabbing the woman, but told officers he was accused of “doing the same thing at Crescenta Valley High School and has had to transfer to Glendale High due to the allegations,” according to police reports.

One moment, Mourad Halabi and his daughter were unloading groceries from the trunk of their Lexus. The next, there was a crash, bang, flash and an airplane next to their front yard. “I was shocked. The noise was very loud,” Halabi said Tuesday morning as utility crews worked to replace three power poles taken down by the single-engine Cessna when it crash-landed at about 8:30 p.m. on Monday. The plane came to rest upside-down in a front yard of the house next door to Halabi in the 1200 block of Glenwood Road.

Fifty-seven townhomes priced between $231,700 and $315,500 - about 30% below the median price for the local market - are now available for first-time home buyers. The affordable housing development on the 300 block of West Doran Street is set to finish construction in two weeks, but 27 eligible homebuyers have already been pre-approved for loans and could snap up some of the homes, according to a report by developer Heritage Housing Partners. “This is a rather exciting time for us,” said City Manager Scott Ochoa as he presented an update on the Doran Gardens project to the City Council Tuesday.

I n 1974, Judy Weber's son, Tobin, was dealing with autism so severe that it would manifest itself as destructive behavior. "He faced state hospitalization," she said. At the time, Weber was serving on a committee serving autistic children within the Los Angeles Unified School District. Tobin was living at UCLA, where researchers were using him as a subject for early autism research. When UCLA was close to completing their research, Weber became frustrated when she found that no school would take Tobin due to the severity of his autism.

Glendale is one of five California communities to be selected by a state agency to partner in efforts to reduce hospital readmissions. The communities also will study ways to improve patient transitions from hospitals or nursing facilities to home. “They are positioned for success,” said Gina Fleming, clinical project manager for Health Services Advisory Group of California, which selected the communities. The other four communities will be announced soon, she added. The state agency will provide technical assistance to the communities to find the causes of readmissions and identify appropriate ways to improve care transitions, Fleming said.

The scientific and technical accomplishments of the Armenians are impressive, given the fact that Armenians have not had a free country to call their own until 1991. In the United States, Armenians-Americans made important contributions in medicine and the sciences. In medicine, Raymond Darmadian developed the first MRI machine. Michel Ter-Pogossian co-invented positron emission tomography scanning, which is used for functional brain imaging and cancer detection. Dr. J.W. Kebabian and Dr. George Aghajanian both did pioneering research that has allowed for the development for more effective antipsychotics drugs.

Over the past 13 seasons, Todd Frost saw the Flintridge Prep girls' basketball team become one of the area's top programs. As an assistant for 10 seasons and head coach for the past three, the Rebels enjoyed a terrific stretch in which they won seven Prep League championships in a row from 2002-08, earned a trip to the CIF Southern Section Division IV-A final in 2007 and had a slew of players achieve All-Area, All-CIF and all-league honors....

When a state championship was still yet to cross her mind, Grace Zamudio needed a reason to run. A four-year distance runner at Hart High, Zamudio had put plenty of her time and effort into track, but after burning the candle at both ends balancing school and sports, Zamudio says she was simply burned out. "In high school I did think about quitting my junior year and my senior year because it was lot of stress having to deal with school along...

The challenges facing the youth of La Crescenta fueled prayers by local leaders and clergy who spoke on their behalf at the first ever Crescenta Valley Town Council Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday. More than 250 people gathered at Holy Redeemer's Healy Hall, where Chap Clark - a professor of youth, family and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary - addressed the stress and loneliness felt by so many of today's teens. In 2001 and 2002, Clark worked as a daily substitute teacher at Crescenta Valley High School where his three children attended and he observed how teens felt about their lives.

A 34-year-old man was charged Tuesday with battery after he attacked an officer who tried to detain him as he ran around in his underwear in South Glendale and tried to grab a group of teens, police said. Matthew Smail faces one count each of battery and resisting an officer for the Friday incident, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Witnesses reported seeing Smail at about 8 a.m. wearing only his underwear while running around aimlessly on the 800 block of South Glendale Avenue yelling at people in the area, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

The prospect that Verdugo Hills Hospital will soon merge with a larger healthcare provider has area business people concerned about the next chapter for the 40-year-old facility. Verdugo Hills officials acknowledged Wednesday that changing economics have spurred them into talks with larger providers about a merger or strategic alliance for the hospital on the border of Glendale and La Cañada Flintridge. Spokeswoman Celine Petrossian declined to name potential partners. But some Glendale business people believe that USC Health Sciences is a suitor.

Glendale school board member Greg Krikorian, who is challenging Mike Gatto for the 43rd Assembly District seat in November, ramped up his campaign at a recent anti-genocide rally by appealing to the Armenian American vote with a fiery speech that has since been posted online. In his address to the crowd, Krikorian spoke in terms that appeared to limit his appeal to Armenian voters - a strategy used many times by candidates before him with limited success - by saying it was time to elect someone who “speaks for us” and that “one of our own represents our community.” In his speech outside Glendale Community College, which was posted on YouTube , Krikorian also pledges “to be the voice of American Armenians and to be the voice of Glendale - to be in touch with you.” Krikorian said he tailored his comments - which at times became excited and touched on the international geo-political trials of Armenia - for his audience at the candlelight vigil commemorating the Armenian genocide of 1915.

The Glendale City Council this week greenlighted two expansive signs at the new high-end Five Star Cinema in the former Mann 10 Theatre complex in the Exchange, but concern was raised about how the entertainment complex will compete with another movie venue planned nearby. A new Laemmle Theatre complex is planned for the northwest corner of Maryland and Wilson avenues, a stone's throw from Five Star Cinema. Both theaters plan to screen foreign films. “Would you and the Laemmle Theatre cannibalize the type of film-goers that would come to see a foreign film?