Water

A  UCLA  freshman water polo player who hails from Hoover High School in Glendale was arrested on suspicion of rape after a female student reported the alleged assault to campus police, university officials said Monday. Hakop Jack Kaplanyan, a red shirt freshman who plays the attacker position on the team, is out on $200,000 bail after being taken to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Inmate Reception Center downtown. Kaplanyan was arrested Wednesday in connection with the alleged attack.

A preliminary Los Angeles County civil grand jury report unsealed this week criticizes Glendale for using its utility as a "piggy bank" to cover budgetary shortfalls and heralds a more thorough review in the months ahead. The report, which was released Monday, comes a week before the April 2 election, when voters will decide whether to approve Measure B, a city ballot measure that would change how the city collects tens of millions of dollars from the electricity fund of Glendale Water & Power.

All those mornings of getting up early for practice, followed by three additional hours of practice after school might have seemed overwhelming at first for Gabriel Isacson. If the goalkeeper for the Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team wanted positive results and the challenge of vying for a CIF Southern Section Division V championship, the practice sessions would be paramount for her to succeed. "Our practices were a lot harder," said Isacson, a senior who was named All-CIF Southern Section Division V Player of the Year after helping lead the Falcons to the program's first CIF championship.

Kudos to those four members of the Glendale City Council who approved another five-story hotel to be constructed on the corner of Brand and Colorado. Result: More toilets to flush, therefore the water rates must be increased. Nice going, guys. Bill James La Crescenta

A new water feature at Glendale Adventist Medical Center was blessed by Archbishop Hovan DerDerian of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America on Thursday. Most of the funding for the new water feature came from J.R. Abbott Construction, which built the hospital's west tower, completed in 2007. PHOTOS: 'Living Waters' waterfall dedication at Glendale Adventist The feature, called “Living Waters,” creates a calming, comforting and healing environment and is designed to help patients and visitors during stressful times, according to hospital officials.

Faced with widespread public opposition, Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday sent a proposed parcel fee to combat storm water pollution back to the drawing board. The proposed fee would be levied on all property owners within the county's flood control district, raising an estimated $290 million a year to help cities and the county deal with widespread water quality issues stemming from polluted storm water and urban runoff and the need to comply with new state regulations, the L.A. Times reported . But it faced strong opposition, including from local school districts, which for the first time would be taxed for the program.

It didn't matter which one of his players Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo Coach Brent Danna was talking about, he couldn't help but feel there was an echo. “You can ask me about any one of the girls and I am going to have a bunch of things to say and a lot of it overlaps because they all just played so well and had such great tools,” said Danna, as he found himself repeating qualities about his six players that were voted onto the All-Pacific League girls' water polo team.

Several bond-rating agencies this week warned that without an increase in electric rates this year, Glendale Water & Power could face a downgrade due to its weak financial performance. The warnings come weeks before a City Council election in which three seats are up for grabs and several candidates have publicly balked at the idea of increasing rates. Meanwhile, the top fundraisers in the race so far - challenger Zareh Sinanyan and incumbents Laura Friedman and Ara Najarian - say the warnings from Fitch Ratings, Moody's Investment Service and Standard & Poor's wouldn't be the only factor they would consider in deciding whether to raise rates.

IRVINE - Prior to this week, it could have been argued that despite all the success generated by the Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team, fairly or unfairly, the Falcons may have most been known as the program that couldn't finish. After all, four consecutive Pacific League titles combined with several 20-plus win seasons translated into area domination for sure, but also failed to produce one trip to the CIF Southern Section finals. Those thoughts that dominated a week's worth of emotion appeared to be washed away after the top-seeded Falcons' 10-5 victory versus second-seeded Riverside Poly in Saturday's CIF Southern Section Division V championship at Irvine's William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center.