Featured Articles from the Burbank Leader

In the first full month since American Airlines pulled out of Bob Hope Airport, parking revenues at the airfield fell by 8.6% in March, officials reported this week. While the drop is steeper than what the airport has seen in recent months, airport Executive Director Dan Feger said there are signs of a turnaround. “I'm going to make a guardedly optimist statement,” he told airport commissioners on Monday. “I think that we are starting the recovery in place here at this airport.” Preliminary parking-revenue numbers for April are showing improvement, Feger said, projecting a less severe drop of 3%. And parking appears to be increasing during the first two weeks of May, Feger said, citing reports from airport's parking operator, Standard Parking.

Authorities continue to search for an FBI agent who was last seen at his Burbank home Thursday, when he was thought to be despondent and possibly suicidal. Stephen Ivens, 35, a Los Angeles-based agent specializing in national security, left on foot from his home in the 1700 block of Scott Road, his family told police Friday morning. On Saturday, a 40-member search-and-rescue team from theLos Angeles County Sheriff's Departmentjoined about a dozen Burbank police officers and 100 FBI agents in the search for him, officials said.

Police are looking for a missing 35-year-old Burbank man who is possibly suicidal. Stephen Ivens was last seen by family members Thursday night and was reported missing Friday morning from his home in the 1700 block of Scott Road, according to Burbank police. Ivens is an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Los Angeles division, according to police. A Burbank police investigation revealed that he may be suicidal. A handgun was also reported unaccounted for in his home.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury on Monday rejected a lawsuit filed by a female Burbank police officer who claims she faced discrimination because of her pregnancy , and then retaliation when she complained, a city official said. The verdict came days after a judge threw out portions of the original lawsuit filed by Officer Cindy Guillen, including that she faced harassment based on her ethnicity and gender. Her attorney, Solomon Gresen, had sought up to $500,000 for pain and suffering, and $30,000 for lost wages due a lost assignment, but on Monday, the jury sided with the city, which painted Guillen in court as someone who holds grudges and was capitalizing on the Police Department's recent legal woes.

CITY CENTER — A Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigation into an alleged assault by a member of the Burbank Police Department will be turned over to county prosecutors by month’s end, authorities said Friday. The county sheriff’s probe was initiated by Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr in April, spokesman Steve Whitmore said. News of the probe comes after court documents revealed that the FBI investigation into the department has zeroed in on allegations of excessive force by officers.

Hundreds of people gathered early Thursday for the 37th annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast in the Rancho neighborhood under the themes of encouraging youth, coming together to better the community and having faith in one's abilities to help others. Mayor Dave Golonski said everyone faces challenges, and that while Burbank isn't perfect, residents pull together to make things happen. City officials, school leaders and faith-based groups gathered to hear guest speaker Jay Schroeder - a former NFL quarterback who played for the Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Raiders and others - touch on the theme of having faith and using your God-given abilities to help others.

Burbank police officials say they believe three men were involved in a brawl at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center Friday that left one man bloodied and beaten. A woman and her boyfriend were visiting her mother in the hospital about 6:45 p.m. Friday when her three brothers arrived and allegedly attacked her boyfriend, Sgt. Darin Ryburn said. The brothers told the man to leave and when he didn't, they attacked. Police declined to release their identities. “One of the suspects pulled out an object and began hitting the boyfriend on the head, and then all three men began striking him in the face with their fists,” Ryburn said.

BURBANK -- One hundred years ago, a single city marshal employed by the county was all the township of Burbank required to maintain law and order. Still, it wasn't long before the demand for law enforcement grew. In fact, during the second decade of the century -- with about 1,000 people living in town -- two marshals were killed in the line of duty in a span of six years. In November 1914, City Marshal Luther Colson was shot while clearing a hobo camp at the Southern Pacific railroad tracks near Victory Place.

Four men have been arrested on suspicion of illegally possessing firearms after Burbank police responded to reports of gunshots Thursday morning that sparked a brief neighborhood evacuation. Those arrested on Thursday include: Burbank resident Armen Galstyan, 52; Artak Grigoryan, 37, and Vigen Manukyan, 27, both of Glendale; and Armen Mouradian, 23, of Los Angeles. Galstyan was also arrested on suspicion of identity theft. Police responded to reports of shots fired at a home in the 1800 block of Keeler Street at 6:50 a.m. Thursday.

Burbank police are searching for a man who broke into a woman's home, brandished a handgun and forced her into a closet. The woman was eventually able to escape the closet and flee to a neighbor's house in the 1100 block of Maple Street and call police at 11:45 p.m., according to report of the incident, which occurred May 4. No injuries were reported. When police arrived, there did not appear to be anything missing from the home. The man was described as being 25- to 29-years-old, 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, with a shaved head and brown eyes.

Three local residents have filed a lawsuit against the city to stop a Walmart from opening in Burbank, alleging the city illegally cleared the way to issue building permits to the world's largest retailer without adequately investigating the store's environmental impact. After months of public outcry that included protests and opposition voiced at City Council meetings, Shanna Ingalsbee, Katherine Olson and Yvette Ziraldo filed the lawsuit Friday through their attorney, Gideon Kracov, who also represents United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 770. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that the city has yet to make street improvements that were required before building permits could be issued for any new businesses in, or adjacent to, the Empire Center, according to a resolution approved by the City Council in June 2000.

The summer heat permeates a New York hotel room, circa 1972. A slim and sexy blond, clad only in a lacy white slip, lifts a languid hand to fan herself as she needles and nags the room's other occupant: playwright Tennessee Williams. In Joe Besecker's poignant and steamy drama, “Tennessee in Summer,” at the Sidewalk Studio Theatre in Burbank, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” answers the young woman's gibes in kind as he sits at his typewriter, struggling to finish a new play.

From a distance, Starlight Bowl might as well have been a private dance club on Sunday night, as residents twisted and shouted to the sounds of Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries. The ’50s and ’60s band moved through the crowd and sang along with audience members to favorites such as “Great Balls of Fire” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” Locals took in the band’s energetic sounds while helping to raise $50,000 for a new scoreboard at Memorial Field — part of the city’s $18-million joint athletic field project.

The Burbank City Council this week cleared the way for Walmart to open a new store near the Empire Center, leaving opponents with few options other than legal action to stop the world's largest retailer from moving in. On Tuesday, more than 100 people - bolstered by the support of labor unions - rallied outside City Hall and then crammed into the council chambers to protest the planned Walmart. The show of opposition failed to sway city officials, who say zoning codes allow the Walmart to open so there's little they can do. Opponents have been trying to force Walmart to conduct an economic impact review and the city to carry out major improvements to road infrastructure around the former Great Indoors site before approving the building plans.