Machines

. . . CORRECTION: A Feb. 24 article on A5 titled ?Streamline voting? mistakenly reported the number of votes, or ballots, cast in the last election. It was 25,500. . . . . . . . . . GLENDALE ? Machines that would expedite vote-by-mail verification were demonstrated to about a dozen city employees and election consultants Tuesday at City Hall. The presentation was the latest sign of Glendale?s foray into electronic voting, and one way the city could count ballots faster, cut costs and unclog bottlenecks in the city clerk?

Detectives from the Glendale police financial crimes unit arrested three suspects July 24 in connection with card skimming crimes. Meher Abolian, 21, Tiffany Conant, 20, and Rane Melkom, 22, were arrested after detectives saw them attaching and later collecting a card skimmer they had installed on a Glendale Washington Mutual Bank automated teller machine (ATM) access door. A skimmer is a small electronic device that can be attached to an ATM or its access door. As a customer slides his or her bank card through what they think is the bank’s identification system, the magnetic strip from the back of the bank, ATM or credit card is read by the skimmer.

LA CRESCENTA — A La Cañada Flintridge man and woman are due in Pasadena Superior Court today to face theft charges for stealing about $100,000 worth in computers, sports equipment, video surveillance and teaching tools from local schools, including Glendale and Crescenta Valley high schools. Prosecutors charged Martha McRae, 44, and Mark Wallace, 40, on Wednesday with 10 counts of receiving stolen property and two counts of possession of a controlled substance, said Sandi Gibbons, a Los Angeles County district attorney’s office spokeswoman.

San Fernando Road will rumble with the sound of more than 13,000 bikes revving up for the 23rd annual Love Ride Sunday, a one-day motorcycle event that will raise funds for 23 charitable organizations. "It's just so much fun," said Deana May, a motorcycle enthusiast since she was 12. "There's barbecue, concerts and so many people. It's just a great experience." May has been to more than seven Love Rides and plans to attend Sunday's ride, which will feature performances from the Black Crowes, Edgar Winter and the Fryed Brothers.

CITY HALL — City officials say they'll be getting more for their vending-machine money over the next decade. The City Council unanimously approved plans on Tuesday for a contract with CC Vending for all vending services on city property. The contract, which partners CC Vending and Coca-Cola with the city, could bring in about $500,000 in revenue over the next 10 years, Deputy City Manager Yasmin Beers said. Currently vending machines on city property bring in a couple hundred dollars, she said.

LOS ANGELES — One-armed machines on wheels faced off Friday in a robotics competition that was the culmination of six weeks of ingenious engineering for two Glendale schools. "I think if you look beyond just building a robot, it's the whole experience," Crescenta Valley High School student Ara Kourchians, 17, said of his experience in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — Los Angeles regional robotics competition. "The robotics shop just becomes your home."

GLENDALE ? School officials are testing an old adage with a 21st Century twist: You can a lead students to water, but can you make them drink? Spurred by federal legislation, Glendale Unified School District officials have been converting the sodas and snacks offered in vending machines on campuses to healthier choices like bottled water, sports drinks and dehydrated fruit rolls. The hope is that the new offerings will help students deal with the sweeping epidemic of childhood obesity and other health issues, board member Greg Krikorian said.

PASADENA — Aspiring engineers circled around Ara Kourchians, 17, as he talked about folded space and worm holes — the mechanics behind Chaos Theory. "And there's a parallel universe in the trash can and our quantum realities collide … ," Ara explained. No, he was not lecturing on theoretical physics. Chaos Theory is a machine that he and classmates of Crescenta Valley High School's robotics class built for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's ninth-annual Invention Challenge.

AIRPORT DISTRICT — Bob Hope Airport is one step closer to building a new baggage-inspection facility. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority unanimously approved design plans Monday clearing the way for the airport to move forward on the facility that would house a new baggage-screening machine and conveyor system — pending the Burbank City Council’s approval. “This is a work order for a set of construction drawings,” airport spokesman Victor Gill said.