Blackout

Flights in and out of Southern California — including Los Angeles, Ontario and Bob Hope international airports — were delayed, canceled or diverted on Tuesday evening after a power outage caused communications to go down at the air traffic control center located in Palmdale. The 5:30 p.m. blackout at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center was due to a car accident that happened in Palmdale an hour earlier. "The incident began with a random event — a traffic accident damaged a Southern California Edison power pole, which caused a brief voltage fluctuation but did not interrupt service to the Federal Aviation Administration facility," said Christine McLeod, regional manager of public affairs for SCE. "The FAA's automated, emergency back-up power system detected the voltage fluctuation and activated."

Brand Library still closed Brand Library and Art Center, closed since Friday because of a weather-related blackout, is not scheduled to reopen today, as previously announced, city officials said late Wednesday. The library, 1601 W. Mountain St., is still experiencing electrical problems and is expected to reopen Friday, officials said. Patrons should call 548-2051 for updates. Returns will be accepted at the front door of the library from 1 to 5 p.m. today.

Well, folks, the City Council just passed a "welcome to the burglar" ordinance in Glendale. It seems the city wants to darken their way, making it easier for [burglars] to perform their work. After all, they have to make a living, too! This ordinance is outrageous! I always thought that if I caused a problem to my neighbor, he or she would tell me and we could work it out together without restrictions that may put me in jail. I leave a porch light on and a light on in my dark, secluded backyard at night -- I don't like burglars.

Heavy winds blew through Glendale at speeds reaching 40 mph Thursday. Those strong, northerly winds are expected to last another 48 hours, said Bruce Rockwell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The winds are caused by a high-pressure system over the Los Angeles Basin. "This is one of those weird times when we are hotter than Las Vegas," Rockwell said. "But it's just a wind storm, nothing else." Glendale Police and Fire departments reported no wind-related incidents or damage Thursday.

As I watch the way people are having to cope from the results of Hurricane Sandy, particularly the power outages, it occurs to me that we in our city of Glendale will undoubtedly suffer from power outages that will leave the city totally in the black when the Big One hits. When the 1994 Northridge quake hit, we had a gas turbine generator that could start up and run without any outside power for its auxiliaries. Several years later this generator was sold and removed, and is now providing backup emergency power in South Africa.

Tim Willert DOWNTOWN GLENDALE -- A defective cable is being blamed for a power outage that left 700 mostly residential customers without electricity for several hours, officials said. The power went out at 9:07 p.m. Wednesday, and affected a 10-block area bordered by Lexington Drive to the north, Broadway to the south, Howard Street to the east and Brand Boulevard to the west, said Bill Hall, Electrical Services Administrator for Glendale Water and Power.

GLENDALE ? Three outages left approximately 16,650 Glendale Water and Power customers without electricity over the weekend, a city official said. The first incident occurred at 2:47 p.m. Saturday when a large crow caused a short circuit just outside the Glorietta substation, Glendale Public Information Officer Ritch Wells said. The short left 13,000 residences without power in an area north of Glendale Community College. "The wingspan of the crow was so big that it touched two different electrical entities, causing a big short on a 69,000-volt power line," Wells said.

While the day after Thanksgiving has always been a high volume shopping event, it's only in recent years that the term “Black Friday” has been used to describe it.  Am I the only one who feels the moniker sounds negative? Describing any day with the adjective “black” conjures up bad connotations. For example, Black Tuesday is the day the stock market crashed in October 1929.  That day was one of the worst in this country's history, so why would we want to assign another day of the week with the same modifier?

Peter Fuertes ST. FRANCIS HIGH -- After his team's 2-1 victory over Notre Dame High Monday night in a Mission, St. Francis High boys' soccer Coach Glen Appels hit his sentiments right on target. "We almost had two power outages here tonight," he said. Not only were the Mission League-leading Golden Knights (17-3-3 overall, 7-1 in league) tested by Notre Dame, they also had to keep in match shape because, due to a blown fuse, the lights went out 45 minutes into the match into a scoreless tie. The blackout almost seemed to act as a blessing and a curse for St. Francis, the third-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division IV. A minute before the outage occured, Notre Dame's Chris Chantland almost broke the scoreless tie when his shot evaded St. Francis goalkeeper Raul Calderon, but went off the right post.

Jackson Bell and Josh Kleinbaum An underground power cable exploded Tuesday evening knocking out power at nine polling places for more than an hour, although the municipal election was not interrupted, city officials said. The cable, at Geneva Street and Glenoaks Boulevard, caused three power substations -- Brandview, Freemont and Howard -- to shut down at 5:15 p.m., leaving 16,000 Glendale Water and Power customers without electricity, city spokesman Ritch Wells said.