Foothill

A flash flood warning has been issued for La Crescenta, La Canada Flintridge and the surrounding foothills as potential for rain at 1 inch or more per hour until 4:45 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Residents who live near the Station fire burn area were warned to be especially careful for possible flash flooding and mud flows. Small hail has already been reported in La Canada. -- Jason Wells, Times Community News Follow Jason Wells on Google+ and on Twitter: @JasonBretWells

LOS ANGELES — When all was said and done, it was the blowout everyone expected. But at the onset, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy's soccer team was struggling to find its finishing touch until a pair of fortuitous goals by Katie Johnson and Tera Trujillo found their way into the back of the net. "I think the first goal got the momentum going for us," said Johnson, who played a part in three goals during the Tologs' 5-1 win over visiting...

A black bear spotted several items over the last few weeks has returned to a La Crescenta neighborhood, and some people say they're starting to worry that the community isn't safe. Elva Sherman is the latest resident to spot the bear, just feet from her front door, reported KTLA-TV reported. She heard her dog barking incessantly at about 10 p.m. Tuesday night. "This big fuzzy bear just is walking like this... just happily walking down the street," Sherman said, describing what she saw next.

MONTROSE ? If it can receive good pitching and cut down on the fielding miscues, then the Foothill 9- and 10-year-old All-Star Softball program might be on its ways to a championship. Foothill managed to apply those two facets of the game to keep its season alive Monday night with an 8-6 victory against Tujunga in the championship contest of the Tri-Cities Little League District 16 All-Star Tournament at Montrose Park. Foothill will meet Tujunga at 5 p.m. today in the tournament?

Saro Sarkisian NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- After Foothill catcher Chad Nacapoy blasted a grand slam in the top of the first inning, it seemed another Little League District 16 Major Baseball All-Star game blowout was at hand. But Jewel City, made up of 11- and 12-year-olds, battled back to take the lead, but Foothill proved too strong in the end, winning the second-chance bracket game Monday at Montrose Park, 12-8. Foothill will play Vaquero at 7:30 p.m. today at Babe Herman field in a second-chance bracket final.

GLENDALE — A mountain lion was spotted early Tuesday in the foothill neighborhood above north Brand Boulevard, officials said, prompting warnings to residents and hikers to keep their wits about them, especially in the hillside areas. Residents reported seeing the mountain lion just after 1 a.m. Tuesday roaming the area of Cielito Drive and Deermont Road, said Hillary Gatlin, Pasadena Humane Society’s community resource assistant. But the mountain lion didn’t stick around, and may have been long gone when the society’s animal control officers arrived, she said.

LA CRESCENTA — Even as attention has turned to the dangers posed by a wet winter on the barren hillsides of the Angeles National Forest, foothill residents say they’re continuing to grapple with a sooty menace — ash. Particulate leftovers from the largest fire in Los Angeles County history has continued to fall in foothill neighborhoods, stirring concerns among some residents about the effects of the ash on their homes and...

Hamlet Nalbandyan JURUPA VALLEY -- The Foothill-Tujunga 11-and-12-year-old major softball team almost had a terrible case of deja vu Thursday. Facing what is becoming a familiar foe in Grand Terrace in the championship game of the Little League Division 3 All-Star Tournament, the District 16 and Section 1 champion blew a big lead before regrouping to pull out a 7-5 victory at Harvey Field in Jurupa Valley. The win forced a second game late Thursday night.

Some of Los Angeles County's top public officials urged residents to spend more time enjoying local natural areas during Saturday's annual Arbor Day celebration in La Crescenta. More than 100 people gathered at Two Strike Park on Rosemont Avenue for a program celebrating the various wooded open-space areas in the foothills and efforts to care for them. "We are in the paradise part of the County of Los Angeles right here, with these fabulous trees," said keynote speaker Sheriff Lee Baca, who encouraged locals to develop "an athletic mind and body" by taking time out of busy schedules to walk, jog or run under bountiful canopies.

A bill by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Sliver Lake) that would allow solo drivers to use carpool lanes during non-peak hours on the Ventura (134) Freeway in Glendale and Burbank has been amended to possibly include other local freeways. Gatto's bill, AB 405, passed its first hurdle Monday after it was approved by the Assembly Transportation Committee on a 15-1 vote. It was originally drafted to only apply to the section of the 134 Freeway, but was amended to include other roads in Los Angeles County that are deemed appropriate by the California Department of Transportation, including the Foothill (210)

A gun-wielding man robbed a cashier at a Vons grocery store on Foothill Boulevard of a few hundreds of dollars Friday, police said. The man reportedly approached a cashier about 7:30 p.m. inside the store in the 3200 block of Foothill Boulevard, revealed a black handgun in his waistband and demanded money, according to Glendale police. The cashier quickly removed the cash register's tray and handed it to the man, who placed it in a plastic bag before leaving the store, possibly heading west on Foothill, police said.

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.

A flash flood warning has been issued for La Crescenta, La Canada Flintridge and the surrounding foothills as potential for rain at 1 inch or more per hour until 4:45 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Residents who live near the Station fire burn area were warned to be especially careful for possible flash flooding and mud flows. Small hail has already been reported in La Canada. -- Jason Wells, Times Community News Follow Jason Wells on Google+ and on Twitter: @JasonBretWells

State fish and game officials on Monday said the 200-pound black bear that caused a ruckus in La Crescenta Sunday after forcing authorities to temporarily shut down the Foothill (210) Freeway is nowhere near a “Meatball situation” - and they want to keep it that way. “Meatball,” of course, is the much larger 400-pound ursine that captured the hearts of the public after returning several times to the foothills above Glendale - driven by a taste for trash and thrown-out food.

One day after suffering a loss in which nothing came easy, the members of the Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Star softball team seemingly got whatever they wanted when they wanted it in defeating Montana, 10-1, in Saturday's loser's bracket elimination game of the Western Regional Junior All-Star Softball Tournament Friday at Arthur Pack Regional Park in Tucson. Jordan Lousararian, who took the loss in the circle when CVFH suffered its first setback of the tournament, 10-6, to Alaska on Friday, was the offensive hero of the game Saturday, going three for five with two triples and driving in a team-high four runs.

Dave Ritchie had to take a picture of the Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Star softball team jerseys when he first saw them. He had never seen both leagues represented on one jersey before. No one had. In Ritchie's 15 years as the District 16 volunteer administrator he'd often attempted to convince CV and Foothill league coaches to join forces, but the idea was never received warmly because of the rivalry between the two leagues. "The coolest thing for me is seeing Crescenta Valley-Foothill across their jerseys," Ritchie said.

WESTCHESTER - For the past two years, Will Thayer has had his Crescenta Valley All-Stars softball teams come painfully close to a division championship, only to come up short each time. Last season, the Foothill Major All-Stars also came up short in their Southern California State Championships tournament bid to a familiar Westchester Del Rey squad. While Thursday's Southern California Division III championship game at Kent D. Mace Field couldn't have gotten any closer, a division celebration was finally to be had for the consolidated Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Stars squad.

WESTCHESTER - There was something common and something rare in the Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Star softball team's victory over Victorville that advanced it to the championship round of the Southern California Division III Tournament. What was familiar to the CVFH fans was their team's offense, which not only stayed hot with 14 hits, but took an early lead as it usually has over the past two weeks in the 9-0 victory at Kent D. Mace Field in Westchester. The rare occurrence for CVFH was the shutout from pitcher Jordan Lousararian, who stayed in for all seven innings instead of being subbed out after four innings for reliever Adela Alatraca, which CVFH's coaching staff has routinely done during his team's run. "They couldn't figure her out so I figured I'm going to ride this horse," Coach Will Thayer said of his decision to stick with Lousararian.