Burbank Glendale Pasadena Airport

Ben Godar The Transportation Security Administration is planning to bolster its staff at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport by hiring part-time baggage screeners. The airport is one of 34 nationwide that is adding part-time personnel to work during peak travel times, TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said. While it has not been determined how many screeners will be hired to work in Burbank, Melendez said the part-timers will balance out the layoffs of full-time employees in late April.

Ben Godar BURBANK-- The "Connie" has returned to the area. A scale model of the Lockheed Constellation, one of the nation's earliest commuter airplanes, is hanging on display over the main entrance to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. The model is the second in a series of vintage airplanes that are scheduled to be displayed at the airport, spokesman Victor Gill said. It joins a model of a P-38 Lightning, and officials plan to add a replica SR-71 Blackbird and a F-117A Nighthawk.

Ben Godar Police acting on an anonymous tip Monday closed a runway at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, along with a nearby street and a section of railroad track while they searched a truck for explosives. The threat turned out to be a hoax related to a labor dispute. CHP officials received word Saturday from an anonymous caller that a truck carrying explosives from Texas would arrive at the airport sometime Monday morning, police said. About 3 a.m. Monday, a security guard for a movie equipment storage lot near the airport noticed the truck parked near the corner of San Fernando Boulevard and Clybourn Avenue and called Airport Police.

Ben Godar Although tickets no longer will be issued to pedestrians who use a disputed street crossing at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, airport officials say they might revoke the security clearances of employees who cross there. The crossing leads from Terminal B to Star Park, a privately owned lot that opened in January. Airport officials removed a crosswalk from the area and put up no-crossing signs, and airport police issued about 120 citations to pedestrians.

Airport stops issuing pedestrian tickets BURBANK -- Police at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport are no longer issuing citations to pedestrians who cross an access road toward a privately-owned parking lot. Officers stopped issuing the citations Tuesday after a judge on Monday threw out three such citations because he said the airport did not have the authority to erect the sign restricting crossing at the ...

Ben Godar The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport did not have the authority to restrict pedestrian access from a privately owned parking lot and issue citations to violators, a judge ruled Monday. The case was brought before Burbank Superior Court by two Southwest Airlines employees and one traveler who received $90 tickets for crossing the airport access road to an area near Star Park. After the private lot opened in January, airport officials removed a crosswalk leading from the lot to Terminal B, erected signs saying it is illegal for pedestrians to cross and issued citations to 120 people for doing so. Al Augustini, who represents Star Park owner Zelman Development Co., represented the defendants.

Darleene Barrientos A federal jury decided Friday that Glendale Police Officer Kim Lawrence did not violate the civil rights of a woman when Lawrence searched her at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport in 2001. The jury was the second one for the case, after the first jury deadlocked on a verdict and a mistrial was declared, city attorney Ann Maurer said. The second trial started Wednesday. The jury was asked to determine whether Lawrence violated the constitutional rights of Cherie Craft, a Boston-based child and family services consultant, when Lawrence stopped her because she "fit the profile" of someone who could be carrying drugs.

Ben Godar With the number of officers on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Police force continuing to rise, Security Director Mike Post believes the facility will be able to stop contracting for outside officers by the end of the year. The airport currently contracts with the Burbank and Glendale police departments for officers to fill its ranks. Authorized to employ as many as 34 officers, Post said the airport has 22 officers. When he was hired to oversee airport security in December 2001, only 12 officers were on the force.

Laura Sturza The Federal Aviation Authority will withhold more than $10 million in pending grants from the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport until it has completed its review of the Airport Authority's proposal to settle $46 million in previous grants to purchase land for a new terminal. "We haven't yet processed the Burbank airport's funds for this year, which is about $10 million, because we are still reviewing the issue of the return of the money for the terminal that hasn't been built," FAA Western-Pacific Region spokesman Donn Walker said.

Laura Sturza The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport has approved a $48-million budget for the coming fiscal year, but will need to once again dip into its reserves to complete several pending projects. The Airport Authority voted Monday to spend $2 million from its reserve fund to pay for three projects that risked indefinite postponement, including the construction of a $1.4-million parking lot. The airport will also spend $400,000 to replace the 16-year-old chairs in the airport's waiting areas.