Delegation

TAMPA, Fla. -- California is not expected to play much of a role in the presidential election for Republicans. The Golden State has voted for the Democratic candidate in every election since 1992. Perhaps because of this, the GOP delegation to the Republican National Convention was relegated to the back of the forum hall. -- Dan Evans, Times Community News E-mail: dan.evans@latimes.com Twitter: @EditorDanEvans

TAMPA, Fla. - Florida Gov. Rick Scott is asking delegates and other attendees to watch themselves as Tropical Storm Isaac approaches, a warning that may potentially affect the California Republican delegation. The state delegation, including members from the Glendale-Burbank-Pasadena area, are at the Tradewinds Resort in St. Pete Beach, directly on the Gulf Coast. Party officials called off the vast majority of scheduled events at the convention Monday due to concerns about the storm.

A delegation from a Chinese utility that serves more than 230 million customers visited Glendale on Tuesday to learn more about the city's smart grid. Representatives for the China Southern Power Grid Co. were particularly interested in learning how Glendale Water & Power simultaneously installed electric and water smart meters, which provide consumption data in near real-time to the customer and utility. Glendale Water & Power General Manager described the visit in a statement released Tuesday as "quite an honor," especially given the size of the Chinese utility, which operates power networks in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan province, according to the city.

Ryan Carter A local legislator will be part of a House of Representatives delegation visiting Iraq later this month. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale), who sits on the House Committee on Foreign Relations, will be one of about 12 representatives who will visit the war-battered country. The trip will include visits to Baghdad and Mosul, north of the capital. The lawmakers will stay there about a week. "The trip will give me and other members of the delegation a real firsthand impression of what the conditions are like in Iraq and what our soldiers are facing, both with morale and with assessments from commanders on the ground," Schiff said.

Tlaquepaque and Glendale have enjoyed a sister-city relationship for nearly three decades.GLENDALE -- The thing that most impressed city officials from Tlaquepaque, Mexico, on their recent trip to Glendale was the 21 fire trucks and engines serving their sister city. After all, their own community has a single fire engine for all 800,000 inhabitants. A group of 19 from Tlaquepaque, a city in the central Mexican state of Jalisco about 25 minutes south of Guadalajara, visited Glendale for five days, getting tours of City Hall, Glendale Police Department and the Grayson Power Plant before leaving on Monday.

Karen S. Kim GLENDALE -- Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) has been selected to join a legislative delegation lobbying on behalf of the state in Washington D.C. The delegation will meet with members of Congress and Cabinet to discuss a number of issues, including terrorism, defense, education, health and welfare. Frommer, who was selected by Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Culver City), will meet with Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, U.S. Health and Human Services Department Secretary Tommy Thomson and Gov. Tom Ridge of the Office of Homeland Security.

A Disney theme park in Chao Hu, China? It might happen someday. And if it does, Glendale — as the home of Disney’s theme park creative division — will become a more familiar city to those living half a world away. Looking for investment opportunities, a delegation from Chao Hu met with Glendale city officials Wednesday. Chao Hu, located in the eastern part of China, is next to Lake Chao, the fifth largest fresh-water lake in China — a natural resource that officials there are using to their economic advantage.

Music comes to La Canada Flintridge The city of La Canada Flintridge, in conjunction with the La Canada Valley Sun, will host light rock band PCH at the second installment of the Music in the Park concert series from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the La Canada Flintridge Memorial Park. Music in the Park concerts are held every Sunday throughout the summer and feature bands performing a variety of musical genres. Families are welcome to bring picnic meals to the park.

Josh Kleinbaum Between celebrations and sightseeing, an 18-member delegation of Glendale officials and business leaders is busy laying the groundwork for a long-lasting relationship with Ghapan, its sister city in Armenia. "We are in the process of assessing the needs of Ghapan and determining how the sister-city relationship can be mutually beneficial for Glendale and Ghapan," Councilman Rafi Manoukian said. "I am confident that this relationship will be productive and rewarding and will last for many years to come."

Josh Kleinbaum City Manager Jim Starbird does not know much about his upcoming trip to Armenia. He knows when he is leaving -- Oct. 2. He knows when he is coming back -- Oct. 11. But other details on the trip, well, Starbird will find out. "I don't even know who's going," Starbird said. "People are coming up to me on the street and saying, 'I'm going to Armenia with you.'" Starbird is one of 18 delegates to take the nine-day trip to Armenia, with stops scheduled in the country's capital of Yerevan, as well as Karabagh and Ghapan, Glendale's sister city.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- With hundreds of delegates and alternates in attendance, the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention takes up a big piece of real estate inside Time Warner Cable Arena. Sitting enthusiastically among them Wednesday night was delegate Juliet Minassian of Glendale, attending her first political convention. “The convention is very educational,” said Minassian, who came to Glendale from Iran about 15 years ago. “You can learn very much, and I have been thrilled to see all these people in here.

TAMPA, Fla. -- California is not expected to play much of a role in the presidential election for Republicans. The Golden State has voted for the Democratic candidate in every election since 1992. Perhaps because of this, the GOP delegation to the Republican National Convention was relegated to the back of the forum hall. -- Dan Evans, Times Community News E-mail: dan.evans@latimes.com Twitter: @EditorDanEvans

As part of its coverage of the Republican National Convention, Times Community News met with members of the GOP delegation from the 27th and 28th Congressional Districts - the areas that serve our coverage cities. Next up: Stephen Larson, a former federal judge from Riverside. Larson, who has seven children, received some media attention in 2009 when he resigned from the federal bench, saying the $169,300 salary was not enough for him to support his family. What city do you live in, and what do you do for a living?

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. -- Times Community News caught up with John Cushman III at the Tradewinds resort, where the California GOP delegation is staying. Cushman, who lives in Pasadena, is chairman of a multinational real estate firm. What city do you live in, and what do you do for a living? I live in Pasadena, in the Granite Park residences. I am the chairman of the board of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., the largest private commercial real estate services firm in the world with 246 offices in 61 countries on six continents.

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - With almost all official convention business canceled for the day, California delegates used their free 24 hours to relax, sleep in, see the sites and take in some of the unofficial programming offered by Republican supporters. Delores Chavez Harmes, an alternate delegate from San Diego, mixed work and play - she attended a breakfast speech by New Jersey Gov.  Chris Christie  and a screening of the conservative film “2016: Obama's America.” But she also stopped for a neon-green crème de menthe cocktail in  the lobby of the Tradewinds resort and planned to head to the historic pink Don CeSar Hotel down the road.

TAMPA, Fla. -- As part of the coverage for the Republican National Convention, Times Community News conducted interviews with the GOP delegates from the 27th and 28th Congressional districts. First up: Dr. Greggory DeVore, a fetal medicine specialist from La Cañada Flintridge. What city do you live in, and what do you do for a living? I live in La Cañada. I am a physician specializing in maternal-fetal medicine. I am a consultant to obstetricians and evaluate unborn children with ultrasound.

TAMPA, Fla. - Noting concerns about Tropical Storm Isaac, Republican officials announced late Saturday they would be severely curtaining the scheduled Monday programming - a decision that left at least one local delegate with mixed feelings. La Cañada physician Greggory DeVore, who specializes in fetal ultrasound, said he was disappointed that he would not be able to see Monday's keynote speaker, Ann Romney, and hoped she would be rescheduled. In fact, officials announced that Romney, the wife of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, would speak Tuesday evening.  In any event, DeVore said a shorter convention schedule might not necessarily be a bad thing.

TAMPA, Fla. - Florida Gov. Rick Scott is asking delegates and other attendees to watch themselves as Tropical Storm Isaac approaches, a warning that may potentially affect the California Republican delegation. The state delegation, including members from the Glendale-Burbank-Pasadena area, are at the Tradewinds Resort in St. Pete Beach, directly on the Gulf Coast. Party officials called off the vast majority of scheduled events at the convention Monday due to concerns about the storm.

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - California delegates who have gathered here for the  Republican National Convention   were unfazed by the cancellation of Monday's events, saying that safety must be the first priority. “So it's official, official-official. They're canceling Monday,” an aide announced Saturday as she read from her  iPad  in the lobby of the Tradewinds Island Resort, where California's delegation is staying during the convention. “I'm fine with that, whatever they decide,” said Diane McGlinchey, an alternate delegate from Huntington Beach.

A delegation from a Chinese utility that serves more than 230 million customers visited Glendale on Tuesday to learn more about the city's smart grid. Representatives for the China Southern Power Grid Co. were particularly interested in learning how Glendale Water & Power simultaneously installed electric and water smart meters, which provide consumption data in near real-time to the customer and utility. Glendale Water & Power General Manager described the visit in a statement released Tuesday as "quite an honor," especially given the size of the Chinese utility, which operates power networks in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan province, according to the city.