Travelers

Travelers departing Bob Hope Airport Tuesday expressed little concern about heightened Transportation Security Administration measures as they departed just before the busiest travel day of the year. “Nope. They are keeping me safe,” Ellen Cowie of Tujunga said as she walked toward TSA officials at Terminal A. “I’ve been scanned before, and it did not bother me one bit.” Some passengers were asked to step aside for a manual pat down, the most controversial of the measures that TSA instituted Nov. 1. But the airport does not have a full-body scanner, airport spokesman Victor Gill said.

Despite the rising cost of gasoline and the tragedy in the Gulf states, travelers aren't allowing their holiday plans to be swayed. Officials at the Bob Hope Airport are expecting this Labor Day weekend to be one of the busiest ever, reflecting on what has already been a busy summer season, airport spokesman Victor Gill said. "It's probably going to be busier [this weekend] in the sense that this year we've experienced a busier summer than any other year," he said.

Ryan Carter An orange alert, long lines, long waits and fear will not stop April Sullivan from getting to Arizona this holiday season. She's getting married Friday. "If there are any terrorists on my plane, I will be very [ticked]," she said as she waited for her Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix on Tuesday in the terminal at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. Sullivan and many travelers took to the skies this week despite security concerns. "That freaked me out a bit," Sullivan said of the code orange alert issued Sunday by the federal government, warning of a heightened terrorist threat.

Darleene Barrientos Ten days in Israel were a whirlwind of fellowship, spiritual renewal and political education for 18 members of the Temple Sinai of Glendale's congregation. The 18 travelers, including three teenage girls and a teenage boy, returned to Glendale a week ago, talking enthusiastically about their pilgrimage to Israel and how it enlightened and renewed them. Rabbi Jonathan Biatch introduced the idea for the trip in 2002 at a temple group meeting.

Gretchen Hoffman They cruise older residential areas in construction trucks and SUVs, eyes peeled for senior citizens watering flowers or picking up a newspaper. Their spiel is predictable, like the two men who told an 88-year-old woman June 6 that they needed to repair a mistake their cousin made while fixing her roof in the 1200 block of East Acacia Avenue. They asked if two women and two children waiting in the van could use her bathroom and she welcomed them inside, but while she showed one of the "repairmen" the roof, they stole $1,400 in cash and $1,300 in jewelry.

BURBANK — Professional travelers know to avoid airports, bus stations, train stations or freeways during Thanksgiving. Planes, trains or automobiles, it’s bedlam. But not this year. While Thanksgiving travel was expected to be up across the nation from last year, travelers arriving at Bob Hope Airport said their holiday jaunts were easy, security lines no problem, and congestion on the runways obsolete. “This was one of the easiest trips ever,” said Burbank resident Jeremy Guskin.

Tim Willert Travelers catching flights at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport on Tuesday were hardly inconvenienced by a new federal directive to screen all checked luggage. Brent and Sandie Monahan and their three children waited just five minutes while federal employees screened their bags before catching an Alaska Airlines flight back home to Silverlake, Wash. "There's no more delay than normal," Monahan said. "It seems to be going smoother than last year."

Tightened security didn't keep a delegation of Las Vegas showgirls, circus performers and comedian Carrot Top from landing at the Million Air Terminal at the Bob Hope Airport on Thursday. "The biggest day of airport security this year and this is what gets to come through!" quipped the comedian, escorted by four sequined, bikini-clad dancers and two masked acrobats turning summersaults on the tarmac. The display of glitz ushered in a first-of-its-kind concierge station, where Las Vegas-bound travelers can make restaurant reservations, book show tickets and schedule other activities before they leave the airport, said Howard Lefkowitz, president of Vegas.

BURBANK ? Bob Hope Airport travelers in need of a cellphone battery boost will soon have an easy option. The airport has approved a contract with Minnesota-based Smarte Carte Inc., to install cellphone chargers in the terminals in the next few weeks, airport spokesman Victor Gill said. The Charge Carte service will allow travelers to charge their cellphones in 30 minutes for a $3 fee, said Tammi Phippen, marketing manager for Smarte Carte. A completely dead phone would be about half-charged in that 30 minutes, she said.

Our special thanks to Chamber Secretary Jane Kane of Dilbeck GMAC Realtors who opened her home to the members for the monthly networking event named the "June Bloom" mixer. A great time was had by all who attended and especially by those who won the many drawing prizes. The Chamber holds monthly mixers the first Wednesday of each month for its members as well as the public giving both an opportunity to make contacts in a relaxed social setting. A complete list of times and dates are on the website.

Two local softball teams will participate in the CIF Southern Section playoffs after the CIF office unveiled its playoff pairings Monday. Crescenta Valley High and Holy Family will have little time to prepare for their postseason contests, as both the Falcons and Gaels will take part in wild-card games Tuesday. Crescenta Valley (14-10-1) will make the short trip to Pasadena to face La Salle (12-12-1) in a Division III contest at 3:15 p.m. Holy Family (6-14) will host Frazier Mountain (14-7)

For a second season in a row, the Hoover High boys' tennis team finds itself in the CIF Southern Section playoffs and the Tornadoes find themselves with a daunting task. Hoover is set to face Harvard-Westlake, the third seed in the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs, in the first round on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Elsewhere in Division I, Crescenta Valley will host Redondo Union in Tuesday's wild-card round, while Flintridge Prep, in Division II, will travel to face Walnut in a Division II wild-card matchup.

In reaching the CIF Southern Section Division I-A semifinal game for the second straight season, Crescenta Valley High boys' basketball Coach Shawn Zargarian reflected on his team's latest accomplishment. Having lost 80% of last season's starting lineup, it appeared to be a tall order for the Falcons to make another deep playoff run. “I was telling the players that I couldn't be more proud in terms of how far they have come,” Zargarian said. “We lost a lot of solid players, but there's just something special about this team and what they've been able to get done this year.

Having left a string of lopsided Pacific League wins and impressive nonleague triumphs over highly-ranked foes in its wake, Crescenta Valley High's girls' water polo team was expected to be the No. 1 seed when Sunday's CIF playoff pairings were announced and the Falcons were just that. The Falcons will host a wild-card entry in Wednesday's first round, while Glendale, the third-place finisher out of the Pacific League, will travel to face fourth-seeded Redlands East Valley. Buoyed by a balanced squad that's offense has been equally impressive as its defense, the Falcons are led by the likes of Shannon Hovanesian, Elissa Arnold, Katie Benson and Breana Lawton.

While making its first foray past the opening round of the CIF Southern Section Northeast Division playoffs in nearly a decade, the Flintridge Prep football team isn't heading into Friday's second-round tilt with Mission Prep with a just-happy-to-be-here attitude. The Rebels are decided underdogs to the top-seeded Royals, but aren't conceding anything as they tune up to take a shot at Goliath at 7:30 p.m. at La Cañada High. “We know they're obviously ranked No. 1, but we're really not looking at the records much,” Rebels linebacker Chadd Cosse said.

For the first time in his brief head coaching career, Flintridge Prep's Antonio Harrison found himself at the CIF Southern Section offices for the release of the football playoff pairings. For only the second time in his 12 years as St. Francis' head coach, Jim Bonds and his Golden Knights looked as if they wouldn't find themselves in the postseason. But on Sunday, Harrison realized him and his Rebels were right where they wanted to be, while Bonds and his Golden Knights were pleasantly surprised to find themselves right where they're used to being - in the playoffs.

I've read all the articles in your paper bemoaning and attempting to explain the declining numbers of passengers using Burbank Airport. Some officials have blamed the cost of parking, and others have talked about the unattractive terminal and the departure of American Airlines as reasons for declining ridership. While all these factors probably have some merit, I have yet to see in the News-Press the one and only factor that determines which airport we choose: Flying into Burbank costs more!

Bruce Willis must really like projects that muck with time or at least involve confrontations between past and present: from his first major feature, “Sunset” (old guy vs. young guy, real West vs. more modern myths of the West) through “Lucky Number Slevin” with its deceitful layers of narrative, to (obviously) “Pulp Fiction.” One might even (in a stretch) include his voice-over for “Look Who's Talking,” whose central joke was derived from the clash between Willis' adult voice and the adorable moppet it represented.

Jewel Price of the Glendale Sunrise Rotary Club has been selected to lead the club's Group Study Exchange to Japan this fall. Among the seven candidates, officials said, Price has exhibited outstanding leadership, exceptional organizational skills and abundant international experiences. Price is the dean of students at Glendale Community College and has been a Rotarian for the past 13 years, during which time she served as president in 2008-09 and District 5260 Assistant Governor in 2009-11.

When Dr. Bruce Ascough pulls up to a Red Cross hospital in Mexico, there usually are dozens of people with deformities and other ailments lined up to see him and other doctors, hoping they can change their lives for the better and emerge from a life of being treated like outcasts. Ascough, a plastic surgeon at Verdugo Hills Hospital, has been going to Mexico for nearly 30 years, three times a year, volunteering to help repair cleft palates, cleft lips and other deformities in children and adults.