Authorities

Federal officials have joined the investigation into a rash of tagging incidents involving Southwest Airlines passenger jets. According to an internal memo obtained by ABC15 in Phoenix, "These unauthorized markings typically appear as symbols or words tagged on the exterior of the aircraft. " A Southwest Airlines spokesperson confirmed to the station that markings are being written on the underbelly of 737s parked at the gate.  KTLA

The Los Angeles County coroner's office has officially deemed the death of a 15-year-old student Friday at Crescenta Valley High School a suicide. Authorities say it appears that Drew Ferraro got a running start before jumping from a three-story building during the lunch hour. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A Los Angeles County sherrif's official said Drew left behind a suicide note, but declined to divulge its contents, saying only that it did address his intent and reasoning.

A suspected prowler on the loose in La Cañada Flintridge matches similar reports logged in the area, including one in Montrose, authorities said this week. A man reportedly knocked at a woman's window in the middle of the night Wednesday in La Cañada, the third such incident in the area in the last two days, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Sgt. Debra Herman of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's station said that a resident in the 600 block of Chatham Place reported that around 1 a.m. Wednesday she heard knocking on her window, and then saw a tall, dark figure running away.

Authorities are looking for the driver of a minivan that struck a cyclist whose leg had to be amputated below the knee after he was dragged on the Zoo Drive on-ramp for 600 feet. In addition to amputation, the cyclist, Damian Kevitt, 36, of Los Angeles, suffered numerous broken bones and severe road rash on his chest and back, according to the California Highway Patrol. Kevitt was heading west on Zoo Drive toward the Golden State (5) Freeway on Sunday at about 11:35 a.m. when the motorist, stopped in heavy traffic, made a sudden left turn and struck the cyclist, the CHP said.

A small brush fire broke out at Brand Park Sunday, but firefighters were able to quickly stop the blaze, authorities said. Authorities received a call about the fire shortly after 2:30 p.m. Helicopters were brought in to extinguish the flames. The number of acres burned in the fire has not yet been determined.

Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Special Victims Bureau have arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly sexually molesting his 12-year-old stepdaughter, authorities said. According to information from sheriff's officials, the incident occurred about 10:15 a.m. Wednesday in the 28300 block of Willow Court in Saugus, an unincorporated area of the Santa Clarita Valley.  Investigators said in a news release that the child's mother returned home earlier than usual from work and went into her daughter's room to check on her. When she opened the door, she saw her husband on top of the girl, authorities said.

A 49-year-old man was hurt Tuesday morning when he fell 30-feet from a hydraulic lift outside an office building in Glendale, officials said. The man, who wasn't immediately identified, was conscious after the fall and taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, authorities said. At about 7 a.m., the man was inside the extended lift basket and trying to move it when he fell off and landed on the ground on the 1500 block of East Chevy Chase Drive. He reportedly complained to emergency responders of numbness in his legs.

Police say a blaze that ripped through an auto repair shop in Burbank early Saturday may not be related to rash of car fires that have swept through L.A. and portions of the San Fernando Valley. Officials are still investigating the cause of the blaze that was reported about 1 a.m. Saturday at the shop in the 2800 block of San Fernando Road, but firefighters said it appeared the blaze was intentionally set. Authorities, though, are treating it as a separate incident from the car fire that was set a short time later in the 2100 block of Rose Street.

A man was killed shortly after 12:30 p.m. Thursday when a vehicle slammed into a bakery in Glendale, injuring five others, police said. The man, who was not immediately identified, was trapped under the vehicle at the Oledina's Cake Factory in the 1100 block of East Broadway, where he was pronounced dead, Glendale police officials said. The man was apparently hit while getting a cup of coffee, authorities said. Five others were hurt in the crash, including one who was transported to a local hospital, according to Brandy Villanueva, a Glendale Fire Department spokeswoman.

Authorities are investigating a fire at A+A Graphics as arson, officials said. The store sustained $200,000 in damage Monday, as a fire raged through two buildings on its property, officials said. The fire began about 6:45 p.m. at the business in the 3800 block of Ocean View Boulevard. No one was inside the building at the time of the fire, Sgt. Stefanie Fredericks said. The fire was extinguished about 7:10 p.m. Officials are investigating the fire as arson because it appeared the blaze started in several places, said Battalion Chief Ernie Golphenee of Los Angeles County Fire Station 82. Janine Marnien

Federal investigators say one of  Medicare 's most wanted fugitives, who was convicted in a $20-million fraud case, may be hiding out in the Los Angeles area, the Los Angeles Times reported . Authorities say Nuritsa Grigoryan fled last month after being found guilty for her role at a Glendale clinic where she was accused of posing as a doctor and writing prescriptions for pricey anti-psychotic medications. Investigators with the  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services  say the clinic often recruited homeless patients, used their information to bill Medicare and Medi-Cal for the drugs, and then resold the medications, such as  Abilify , to rake in even more money.

The ladies of the Oakmont League decided to have fun at their recent dinner meeting. The venue, the Beckham Grill in Pasadena, was only a hop, skip and a jump from Glendale. The group is commemorating 75 years of service in Glendale and the surrounding communities. Each event seems more celebratory than the last one. This one was strictly entertainment. In her encore appearance, former "Harlettes" star, Frannie McCartney strutted and pranced her way through several musical numbers.

The artistic talents of three high school students will gain plenty of exposure in the coming months as their winning banner designs will be enlarged and hung from the Bob Hope Airport terminal tower. Senior Daniel Lee from Crescenta Valley High, freshman Angus Crosby from Burbank High School and sophomore Chance Woods from Pasadena High School each placed first in their school districts for the airport's 2014 Tower Banner Student Art Contest, and will have 16-by-25-foot versions of their designs on display on a three-month rotation.

The city's Housing Authority will receive $3.5 million as part of a settlement stemming from its lawsuit against Advanced Development Investment Inc. , the affordable housing developer that allegedly bilked Glendale out of millions of dollars. The agreement reached between the city and PNC Multifamily Capital, a national bank and investor, ends any conflict regarding the Metropolitan, Glendale and Vassar City Lights housing projects, which it controlled, City Atty. Mike Garcia said.

For the first time in four years, the overall crime rate increased slightly in Glendale last year, with a spike in the number of property offenses. While violent crimes - which include homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults - remained low last year, property crimes jumped and pushed up the overall crime rate by 3%, from 3,283 incidents in 2012 to 3,383 last year. Still, police expected violent crimes to stay down, which is in line with a nationwide reduction, Glendale Police Chief Robert Castro said Wednesday at a Community Police Partnership Advisory Committee meeting.

Kalman Aron was 21 when he was freed after being held in several Nazi camps for four years, still determined to live his life after losing most of his family during the Holocaust. On Thursday, Susan Beilby Magee, a family friend of Aron's told his story to Glendale High students and shared his paintings featured in a book she published, “Into the Light: The Healing Art of Kalman Aron.” In 1941, the Nazis invaded Latvia, and killed Aron's parents, who had supported Aron's art since he was a boy growing up in Riga, Latvia, drawing since age 3. From the ages of 17 through 21, Aron spent time in seven slave labor and concentration camps in Riga, the Baltic Forest, Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia.

An author with local ties will be at Once Upon a Time bookstore this weekend to sign and read from a new book he co-wrote, “Glitter Girl,” which tells the story of two girls who have been friends since preschool and now find their friendship at a crossroads. Eighth-grade student Kat Connors serves as a main character in the book, a popular girl with a widely read blog on fashion and style. She faces a conflict when a cosmetic company called Glitter Girl approaches her, looking to feature their products on her blog.

When James and Lynnette Hamada of north Glendale found the lifeless body of their beloved 85-pound black Labrador retriever named Bubba in their hillside neighborhood, they feared that the culprit could be a mountain lion. The attack apparently happened about 3 a.m. Friday, Dec. 27, on Rimcrest Drive, near Canonwood Drive, said Bubba's owners, James and Lynnette Hamada. They found Bubba on Saturday afternoon in a neighbor's side yard with a dead rabbit lying on their dog's lifeless body.

Nichole Berklas and her family had an abundance of books, but exchanged few words with their North Glendale neighbors until they built a Little Free Library in front of their Mountain Avenue home. Resembling an oversized mailbox in the shape of a house, their Little Free Library holds about two dozen books and invites passersby to take home a good read or leave one for another to enjoy. The Berklas' book-sharing kiosk was the first of its kind in Glendale when it went up about a year ago, but is now part of a growing national network of Little Free Libraries soon to spread throughout the city.

Authorities are looking for a 44-year-old man who they say is responsible for a series of commercial robberies throughout the Los Angeles region, including one in Glendale. A felony arrest warrant has been issued for Joseph Fred Clark, who authorities believe committed several robberies in October in Carson, Harbor City, Torrance, North Hollywood and Glendale, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He reportedly used a handgun to commit some of the robberies. At 9:28 a.m. on Oct. 15, Clark entered CK Food Store in the 500 block of South Verdugo Road in Glendale and asked the clerk for coins in exchange for a dollar bill, Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot said.