Adam Schiff

At last week's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, delegates and office holders confronted a wide range of national and local concerns. Sitting in the hall every night was Rep. Adam Schiff, whose 29th Congressional District includes Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, and who said he found both clarity and inspiration in the major speeches he heard all week. In a post-convention interview, the congressman dissected the central messages that came out of Charlotte and contrasted them with the previous week's Republican gathering in Tampa, Florida.

Glendale Councilman Zareh Sinanyan apologized for the first time from the dais at a council meeting Tuesday night for posting racist, homophobic and vulgar comments several years ago on YouTube. “It truly does not matter to me if you're Armenian or Latino or Anglo or Korean. It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight. It doesn't matter if you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu,” Sinanyan said. “As my life experiences have shown, the only thing that matters to me is that I want to serve Glendale.” Last month, Sinanyan publicly confessed to making the comments , many of which were violent and centered around Armenia's geo-political enemies, to Glendale News-Press columnist Ron Kaye.

Adam Schiff I want to take this opportunity to thank the many people who contributed their time and talent to make the 27th Congressional District Arts Competition Exhibit and Spring Arts Forum on May 7 at The Alex Theatre such a success! I am indebted to my good friends at The Alex Theatre for their guidance, patience and expertise in our fourth annual arts festival. I also appreciate the assistance of our judges in the arts competition: Denise Nelson-Nash, Momo Nagano, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, Bonnie Burrow, Elisa Crystal and Eve Rappoport.

There should be a disclaimer printed with every column Adam Schiff gets printed in your newspaper: "Claims may negatively impact families more than they appear." I am specifically referring to Adam's claims made on health care. If you read between the lines in his recent letter on health care you will see dollar signs. It seems all Schiff sees are the dollar signs on every new check he receives from a personal injury lawyer out to make a buck on someone's misfortune.

Who is Adam Schiff trying to fool with "cooler burning" cigarettes? What's next Adam, bullets that don't fully kill people? Schiff's smoky cigarette bill fulfills the very definition of political nimble mindedness. I applaud the Glendale News-Press editors for bringing Schiff's "smoky" bill out so that readers can see it for what it is. I really wish that I could ass more humor to this outrageously ridiculous bill, but I think Schiff has pushed it to the limit with even bringing this bill up. The only explanation that comes to mind is that Adam Schiff will be known as "Adam Schiff: the man who made cigarettes safe to burn!"

Letter-writer John Queen seems to have the same habit of lying to the public as Adam Schiff. I'm black and I was there when James Rogan spoke. Rogan said that abortion had managed to do to the black family what the Klan wanted to do along, kill your babies. He was right, and all African-Americans should thank him for telling the truth and support him. It is time for the black community to wake up and stop letting the Democrats and Adam Schiff make fools of us. Vote Black, Free and Proud, Vote Rogan BILL WILLIAMSON Pasadena

State Sen. Adam Schiff's distortion of fact is growing more and more each day. Recently, I heard him remark about how much of an advocate for lower taxes he is. This is ridiculous language coming from a tax-and-spend left winger. Schiff has supported measure upon measure that would nullify Proposition 13. How can Schiff pretend to be a friend of homeowners, yet oppose Proposition 13? It is becoming more and more difficult for Schiff to hide his true colors.

It is very obvious that Will Rogers has a love affair with Adam Schiff after reading his front page article today ("Wallowing, but not the way Roe thinks," June 22). Perhaps, then, he will answer my continued question as to how Adam Schiff voted on the tax cut. Despite having my e-mail address, street address and phone number, Schiff refuses to answer my request as to how he voted. Also, I have twice requested the same information from the Glendale News-Press, which also has the same information on me, but again no answer.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and nearly a dozen other members of Congress this week asked for an update from the Department of Defense on sending surplus military aircraft to the U.S. Forest Service, aircraft that could assist in fighting wildfires. Congress had made the allocation for the transfer in its 2013 military spending plan after the Air Force indicated it was planning to get rid of the C-27J transport aircraft, which could be used as a support platform in fighting forest fires.

Glendale Councilman Zareh Sinanyan apologized for the first time from the dais at a council meeting Tuesday night for posting racist, homophobic and vulgar comments several years ago on YouTube. “It truly does not matter to me if you're Armenian or Latino or Anglo or Korean. It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight. It doesn't matter if you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu,” Sinanyan said. “As my life experiences have shown, the only thing that matters to me is that I want to serve Glendale.” Last month, Sinanyan publicly confessed to making the comments , many of which were violent and centered around Armenia's geo-political enemies, to Glendale News-Press columnist Ron Kaye.

The Glendale Police Foundation recently donated a vital piece of DNA sterilization equipment to the Police Department's regional crime laboratory, officials said. The sterilizing hood will allow forensic specialists to work with DNA evidence without having to worry about contamination. Ultraviolet light inside in a hood, which is enclosed by Plexiglas, sterilizes evidence. The hood costs about $5,000, according to Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz. The Verdugo Regional Crime Laboratory will serve Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, allowing for faster processing of crime-scene evidence.

For the first time, a Turkish scholar addressed a crowd of more than 1,400 people at the city's annual event to commemorate the genocide of about 1.5 million people in 1915 by Ottoman Turks, a tragedy still denied by modern-day Turkey 98 years later. "The principle was not giving the Armenians not even a single inch," said Umit Kurt, a Turkish scholar at Clark University, as he discussed how the Ottoman Empire deported Armenians before the genocide began and sold their property. PHOTOS: Annual Armenian genocide commemoration at Alex Theatre Although initial laws regarding the abandoned property seem to require Armenians be reimbursed at a later date, that never came to fruition, Kurt said before the sold-out crowd at the Alex Theatre Wednesday evening.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), lead sponsor of the Armenian genocide resolution in Congress, delivered his remarks in Armenian on the House floor Wednesday as he honored the 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred in 1915 at the hands of Ottoman Turks. His remarks come the same day that President Obama once again did not use the word “genocide” in his annual statement about the tragic event. According to his office, in his Armenian address, Schiff said: “I speak to you from the floor of the House of Representatives in the language of your grandparents and your great-grandparents - the language they used to speak of their hopes, their dreams, their lives and their loves in the years before 1915...I speak to you in the language of sons who watched their fathers murdered.” On the 98th anniversary of the genocide, Schiff pointed out that not only were Armenians murdered, Armenian women were raped by the thousands.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) on Wednesday once again called on President Obama to officially recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915 - a request that for years has gone unfulfilled amid political pressure from a key NATO ally, Turkey.  The genocide of 1915 to 1918 claimed the lives of roughly 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, which became the modern republic of Turkey. Modern day Turkey disputes that genocide took place, claiming the victims were killed during the violent chaos of World War I and its aftermath.

The hoopla over hateful online comments that were attributed to - and never denied by - newly minted Councilman Zareh Sinanyan was revived at his first meeting Tuesday with the help of someone who knows a thing or two about the power and influence of the Internet. Last month, Sinanyan lost multiple high-profile endorsements - from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) to both Los Angeles mayoral candidates - when dozens of vulgar and threatening comments made under his name on YouTube, Facebook and other websites came to light.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) wants his colleagues in Congress to know that he is appalled by the failure of the Senate to pass a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would have mandated background checks for firearms buyers. “What happened this afternoon in the Senate is an appalling defeat for common sense and gun safety,” Schiff said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “Senate leaders must not give up the fight for universal background checks and other vital gun safety measures - gun violence victims and their families deserve a better vote and result than this.” Schiff is a former federal prosecutor who this session introduced legislation to increase penalties on so-called straw purchasers, who buy firearms with the intent to resell them, without a background check.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) on Tuesday echoed President Obama's vow to bring those responsible for the deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon to justice. Speaking about the tragedy for the second time in as many days, Obama said the nation's prayers go out to Boston. The two explosions on Monday killed three, including an 8-year-old boy, and wounded an estimated 176 people, the L.A. Times reported. More than 50 people - from Burbank to Pasadena and the communities in between - were signed up to run in the marathon.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) warned that a U.S. Department of the Interior recommendation that the San Gabriel Mountains be designated a national recreation area separate from the Santa Monica Mountains will create its own set of challenges. On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recommended adding the San Gabriel River watershed and most of the San Gabriel Mountains to the National Park Service as a component of the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area, the L.A. Times reported.