The 818 Now

La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Laura Olhasso replaced her gavel for a shovel Thursday, planting a new tree in Glenola Park as part of the annual Arbor Day celebration.

Olhasso was joined by mayor pro tem Don Voss, Los Angeles County Deputy Forester Tamara Hanna, as well as a dozen community leaders, in planting the crape myrtle sapling, which will bloom in August.

La Cañada traditionally celebrates Arbor Day in April, but delayed the event by several months. The city had to get the tree planted before the end of the year in order to retain its status as a Tree City U.S.A.

“I think it is a really great way to celebrate,” Olhasso said.

VIDEO BY MEGAN O’NEIL

The Green was family among more than 100 volunteers who gathered Saturday to prepare commemorative florographs of organ donors for the Donate Life float, which will be entered into the Jan. 1 Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena.

The year 2010 marks 15 years since the Green’s oldest child, Nicholas, was shot while he slept in the back seat of his family’s rental car in Italy while on vacation, the victim of highway robbers.

VIDEO BY MICHAEL J. ARVIZU

Inventor Scott Comstock demonstrates the Yu Cycle.

It all started with an impromptu unicycle ride. La Cañada resident Scott Comstock and his son, Carter, were hanging out at Memorial Park when they spotted a man cruising on a single wheel. The two Comstocks asked to take a turn.

VIDEO BY MEGAN O’NEIL

The local ABC affiliate mentioned the Burbank Leader in its report about outgoing Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr. When journalistic outlets quote another newspaper or a competing station, it’s often because they were unable to get the information themselves. Essentially, ABC7 is acknowledging our exclusive. Pretty neat.

Chris Topolovich, Sgt. Neil Gunn’s brother-in-law, talks to the media following a Burbank City Council meeting on Tuesday.

Burbank City Councilman David Gordon on Tuesday called on his colleagues to direct the city manager to place Police Chief Tim Stehr on administrative leave amid an FBI investigation into police misconduct and a growing stack of lawsuits against the city.

Citing the recent public suicide of police Sgt. Neil Thomas Gunn, who was named in an FBI probe into police misconduct along with several other officers, Gordon said the City Council had a “moral and legal responsibility” to place Stehr on leave until the investigations were concluded.

Click here to read the full story.

With sirens ringing and horns blasting, a brigade of Glendale police officers and firefighters went to 12-year-old Patrick Aghaian’s North Glendale home Tuesday night to show support for one of their youngest fans.

Patrick received a stem cell transplant a year ago and  hasn’t been able to leave his home because of immune-system issues.

While he hasn’t gone outside his home, Patrick has watched his bustling neighborhood from his home window.

Of the groups, Patrick said he has most enjoyed watching Glendale police and fire at work.

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.”

Here’s a video of the protest.

Fitness guru Jack LaLanne Credit: Creative Commons

Get ready to fire up the power juicer and throw on some running shoes, because Tuesday is “Jack LaLanne Day” in Los Angeles County.

The county Board of Supervisors will honor the so-called “Godfather of Fitness” on his 95th birthday, giving a glorified shout-out to the man who gave us more than 30 years of fitness broadcasting, along with a series of books, videos, nutritional supplements and fitness equipment.

From LaLanne’s website:

Jack has gained worldwide recognition for his success as a chiropractor and bodybuilder, and for his incredible and prodigious acts of strength and endurance. Through his career, he has won numerous awards including the Horatio Alger Award from the Association of Distinguished Americans, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Hall of Fame.

The “Jack LaLanne Show” was the longest-running health and fitness show in history, airing from 1951 to 1985. The show began as a local program on San Francisco’s ABC television station KGO-TV and was eventually syndicated on the ABC network throughout the U.S., Canada and worldwide.

And check out this video of LaLanne doing fingertip push-ups.

Leave it to children to say what everyone’s thinking. Today in New Orleans, a fourth-grader asked President Obama why everyone hates him.

“One party feels like they need to poke you, keep you on your toes,” Obama said. “When things are tough, you’re gonna get some of the blame. I’m a tough guy. Are you a tough guy? You look pretty tough.”

The crowd was friendly and lapped it up. However this fourth-grader might be the target of Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity soon.

When he asked Obama why he’s hated, he added, “They’re supposed to love you.”

Indoctrination? I interview plenty of folks in Glendale who’d say yes.

Recent Crescenta Valley High graduate and three-time All-Area Softball Player of the Year Baillie Kirker is already making news, literally, as part of the University of Arizona softball team.

Click here for video.

Via YouTube (NaokiJK7) – Coverage of the Taste of Burbank event on Oct. 1, 2009

Via YouTube (willieworks)

From the Burbank Leader:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger swept through classrooms at John Burroughs High School Tuesday, the first in a public-awareness campaign on the dangers of swine flu and preventative measures that aim to quell the deadly virus.

Check back on BurbankLeader.com for updates.

Below is a YouTube video posted by cjbrother88, showing a montage of Los Angeles Times photos:

From the Los Angeles Times:

For reasons known only to the pop-culture gods, IKEA — the Swedish retailer of cheap, lingonberry-flavored furniture and other shinola — has suddenly become a ubiquitous presence in the ether. Example: in August, when the 2010 IKEA catalog came out, people went utterly bonkers because the designers had changed the print font from the familiar Futura to Verdana — an esoteric difference, to be sure.

The story rocketed to No. 2 on CNN.com’s most-read list, according to Mona Astra Liss, IKEA’s director of public relations. But for the passing of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the story might have gone to No. 1.

Read the full story here.

From the Glendale News-Press:

GLENDALE — Media from across the world packed into tents facing the entrance of Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park Thursday, beaming reports to Russia, Brazil and Japan in an effort to sate the voracious appetite for information about the slain pop star, whose lyrics needed no translation, they said.

“For me it’s a mixed experience,” said Jessica Maldonado, a reporter whose Univision dispatches on the life and times of Michael Jackson have informed the Spanish-language audience for years. “It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, to the smallest town in Mexico, he was the king of pop. With him, the language never mattered.”

Reporters throughout the day fanned out across the expansive campus and neighboring streets, eyeing the best places to catch the Jackson motorcade roll through the gates of Forest Lawn.

The exercise is nothing new to Henrique Valle, who paced the block between gathering footage for Brazil’s Rede TV!, as he said he’s done each of the last 70 days since Jackson died.

“His death is still fresh in our minds,” said Valle, between phone interviews with local radio stations. “In Brazil, just like he is here, he is king. Every little break in the story, every new piece of information, they want to hear it, see it.”

Read more at GlendaleNewsPress.com

– Christopher Cadelago

As of 7:30 p.m., assembled media and fans awaited the arrival of Michael Jackson’s family outside the gates of Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Glendale News-Press reporter Christopher Cadelago checks in with fans and public figures.

The scene outside of Forest Lawn Memorial Park, hours before the funeral.

Mega-fan Maria Ramirez expresses her gratitude to her fallen hero Michael Jackson.

Glendale Mayor Frank Quintero on the mass of international and local media gathered outside Forest Lawn.

Coverage from our own intrepid reporter, Veronica Rocha.