Flower Shop

Fire officials estimate damages from the blaze are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- A major fire at a strip mall early Thursday morning gutted at least one business, closed several others and caused an estimated $750,000 in damages, fire officials said. The fire at the shopping center at 459 W. Broadway Ave. near Pacific Avenue started at about 1 a.m. Thursday, Glendale Fire Capt. Carlos Guerrero said, after officials received a call from someone at the Chevron gas station across the street.

Darleene Barrientos In a tape played to the jury in the Glendale Police sexual-harassment trial, one of the plaintiffs in the case admitted lying about her whereabouts to dispatch and to socializing with fellow officers when she was supposed to be working. "Having this much time to look back, I think I was an idiot," said Renae Kerner, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, in the 2001 taped interview with Lt. Jonathon Perkins. The interview was part of the Police Department's investigation into reports of officers sleeping while on duty.

A black Lincoln Navigator hurtled into a flower shop in the 200 block of North Verdugo Road early Wednesday evening. The owner of the shop was toward the back of the store when the sport-utility vehicle crashed diagonally into GG Flowers. The male driver of the SUV was not injured, said Sgt. Rodney Brooks of the Glendale Police Department. Whether he would be arrested or cited is pending the traffic bureau's investigation, he said. A photography shop and hair salon adjoining the flower shop also suffered structural damage.

Gary Moskowitz Mary Tracy's second-grade classroom at Balboa Elementary School was a bit unkempt Tuesday, but starting your own community can get messy sometimes. Tracy's students are learning about teamwork, planning and cleanup this week as they define what a community needs. Students used cardboard, construction paper, glue, magic markers, crayons, scissors and colored pencils to create a miniature model of what their community would look like.

Linda LaZar Astronauts and movie stars were my heroes as a child. I saw them as brave and amazing. Those are impressive occupations, but now my admiration seems to reach toward the direction of business people and entrepreneurs -- people who dare to take a chance and journey outside the box, against the odds. I especially admire those who begin their journey without a dollar to their name. Armen Markosian, owner of Fantasy Flowers & Gifts, started his journey outside the box in 1993, when he arrived in Glendale at 24 unable to speak a word of English.