Protest

NORTH GLENDALE — More than 50 Glendale Unified teachers and community members took part in a candlelight vigil outside school board President Greg Krikorian's home Wednesday evening to protest dozens of possible layoffs. The demonstration was the latest salvo in a union campaign to pressure school board members to withdraw all 77 teacher pink slips before the final layoff process begins this summer. It also brought the politics of the district's cost-cutting efforts to Krikorian's doorstep, a move that caused some dissension within the ranks of the Glendale Teachers Assn.

An activist who helped expand the Occupy Wall Street movement to Los Angeles is setting his sights on new territory: Pasadena's iconic Rose Parade. “Everything is not coming up roses,” said Peter Thottam, an Occupy L.A. organizer who has launched OccupytheRoseParade.org to call for an economic justice rally at the Jan. 2, 2012, celebration. The Rose Parade is expected to draw nearly a million spectators to Pasadena streets as well as tens of millions of TV viewers around the world.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Teamsters Local 399 will stage a large rally outside the Burbank headquarters of Original Productions on Monday morning in support of crew members from the TV series "1000 Ways to Die. " "This is about healthcare, this is about safety and dignity in the workplace, and it's part of the IA's ongoing campaign to support workers in the all genres of TV," said Mike Miller, director of...

Cars honked Tuesday night as a handful of people stood near City Hall protesting Glendale's circus elephant-themed float for the Tournament of Roses Parade. The protest, organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal's Los Angeles chapter, comes after Glendale City Council members received emails from across the country from people concerned about the float, which features a circus elephant as part of a carriage. The council approved the float last week, but construction had already begun after the design was green-lighted by the Glendale Rose Float Assn.

If you're outside in Los Angeles and you see what looks like a message in the clouds, you haven't lost your mind. A Los Angeles artist is taking his craft, and his message, to the skies. Saber, a longtime graffiti artist in Los Angeles, is up in an airplane skywriting. He's sharing his creations on Twitter along the way. His messages include “End Mural Moratorium” and “Art Is Not A Crime,” as well as “OBEY,” an homage to artist Shepard Fairey and his Obey Giant campaign.

Josh Kleinbaum If Glendale is going to have a Town Center anytime soon, the City Council will need a unanimous vote to implement necessary zoning changes. General Growth Properties, owners of the Glendale Galleria, and Robinsons-May, the Galleria's anchor tenant, filed a protest against the changes at a City Council meeting Tuesday night, a move that is expected to trigger a seldom-used city charter provision that requires a unanimous vote. Councilman Frank Quintero opposes Caruso's proposal and is expected to vote against the changes, which could delay the project by at least six months.

DOWNTOWN — Police arrested seven protesters at the California headquarters of health insurer CIGNA Corporation on Wednesday after they refused to leave the lobby of the Glendale building while chanting slogans like “Patients, not profits. Medicare for all.” The group of insurance-industry critics was part of a larger demonstration in front of the building on Brand Boulevard, where dozens of protesters paced the sidewalk waving signs and denouncing private insurers as focusing on their bottom lines at the expense of offering complete care for the sick.

Flags, bullhorns and shouting protesters flanked Burbank's new day labor center on Saturday, for the first time bringing a controversy that has raged across Southern California to the fledgling center and to the Home Depot store that helped finance it. The protest, organized by Save Our State founder Joe Turner, was staged to bring attention to a phenomenon the group feels is supporting illegal immigration. A group of about 100 counter-protesters met the Save Our State members, however, hoping to drown out the organization's message with one of their own. "Immigrants should have the same rights to work and feed their families as anyone else," said Burbank resident Malena Hinze.

ANI AMIRKHANIAN My friends and I marched on Hollywood Boulevard on Sunday morning to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. It was, by all measures, a spectacle for the eyes and a display of cultural pride and patriotism. Allow me to describe the scene as best I can. Armenians young and old walked and chanted "Shame on Turkey," "1915 Never Again" and "Turkey run, Turkey hide, Turkey's guilty of genocide." Youth carried flags and signs of protest with statements that read "90 years of denial."

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Teamsters Local 399 will stage a large rally outside the Burbank headquarters of Original Productions on Monday morning in support of crew members from the TV series "1000 Ways to Die. " "This is about healthcare, this is about safety and dignity in the workplace, and it's part of the IA's ongoing campaign to support workers in the all genres of TV," said Mike Miller, director of...

More than 1,000 Occupy the Rose Parade protesters peacefully marched down Colorado Boulevard at the tail of the Rose Parade, carrying posters and a float to display their message of economic inequality. The demonstration was part protest, part street theater, complete with costumed characters portraying billionaires, a 200-foot-long banner of the U.S. Constitution and a giant human float, “Occupy Octopus,” that was intended to represent Wall Street's hold on the United States.

It's time to apply a little Gary logic to a few issues around town. I see a couple of former Pacific BMW employees got busted for allegedly taking a sports car off the lot for a joyride around Glendale. If I were judge and jury on that case, I'd sentence the two wannabe NASCAR drivers to three years of driving Glendale's float in the Tournament of Roses Parade. I can't imagine anything more painful for these two than to be strapped into an elephant with a lawnmower engine and forced to drive 2 mph at the crack of dawn on New Year's Day. Of course, since they are Glendale drivers, and statistically among the worst in the country, parade officials might be concerned that they could crash the float into a curb or hit a tuba player.

About 30 protesters on Saturday called on the Getty Museum to return seven ornate pages from a sacred, medieval-era Armenian book considered to be a national treasure. The protesters gathered outside the gates of the museum Saturday holding signs that read "Shame on Getty" and  “Our history is not for sale" as Armenian church officials attempt to secure the pages, which they say were illegally obtained by the museum nearly two decades ago. “It is a piece of culture taken away from us. It is a piece of our identity.

California's largest provider of workers' compensation insurance plans to lay off more than 500 employees in Glendale next year - part of an overall strategy to cut up to 1,800 jobs statewide. The government-controlled State Compensation Insurance Fund had planned to reduce expenses through negotiated concessions, consolidating offices and relocating thousands of workers, but officials said a drop in premiums paid by client companies forced the more drastic action. The agency has already closed its Burbank claims-processing office at 2400 W. Empire Blvd., moving most of the 200 jobs to Fresno and Redding, but even some of those employees could lose their jobs.

An activist who helped expand the Occupy Wall Street movement to Los Angeles is setting his sights on new territory: Pasadena's iconic Rose Parade. “Everything is not coming up roses,” said Peter Thottam, an Occupy L.A. organizer who has launched OccupytheRoseParade.org to call for an economic justice rally at the Jan. 2, 2012, celebration. The Rose Parade is expected to draw nearly a million spectators to Pasadena streets as well as tens of millions of TV viewers around the world.

Dozens of people protested big banks and corporations at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Lake Avenue Wednesday afternoon as part of the growing ' Occupy Wall Street ' movement. There were 80 to 90 protesters at the height of the event, holding up signs with slogans such as “I pay more taxes than Bank of America .” “I've been reading about 'Occupy Wall Street' and feel supportive of the movement,” said Kat Castaneda, 35. “I'm unemployed and this touches me on a very personal level.” Continue reading > > -- Adolfo Flores , Times Community News Photo: Protestors congregated on Lake Ave. and Colorado Blvd.

“Wishing for my Natural Life” and “Step Away from Animal Abuse” - these were just some of the stronger animal rights-tinged suggestions submitted for renaming Glendale's controversial elephant-themed Tournament of Roses Parade float. After months of controversy that included protests by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals over Glendale's float design, which features an elephant pulling a carriage, the City Council agreed to solicit the public for names that might highlight a more benign interpretation.

San Marino Police Department apologized to residents in a statement Thursday for not doing more to stop a protest outside Wells Fargo CFO Tim Sloan's San Marino home Wednesday night, accodring to San Marino Patch . About one hundred protesters were on Sloan's lawn Wednesday night for a non-violent but lively protest. Officers said they were busy handling other matters during the protest, including reports of smoke coming out of a manhole cover that turned out to be unfounded.