Featured Articles from the Burbank Leader

A low inventory of single-family homes is still making an impact on the local real estate market, resulting in multiple offers and buyers snatching up homes quickly while interest rates are low. There were 135 single-family homes on the market last month, compared to 201 homes for sale in March 2011, according to the Burbank Assn. of Realtors. The number of homes sold and the median price stayed relatively steady last month. Thirty-eight homes sold in March, a dip from 40 sold during the same period last year.

The City Council this week decided on a schedule for appointing interim replacements for the elected positions of city clerk and city treasurer as the women who currently hold those offices prepare to retire next month. Beginning May 14, applicants who feel they are qualified will have an opportunity to apply through June 1, although appointments could be made before then, officials said. City Clerk Margarita Campos and City Treasurer Donna Anderson are retiring on June 1 and July 7, respectively - roughly a year before their terms are set to end in May 2013.

BURROUGHS HIGH - Joel Brinton didn't know where to begin. There was the sub-standard first game, the "swift kick in the butt," his Burroughs High boys' volleyball team needed to get going. There was the balanced and efficient second and third games that the Indians won in their CIF Southern Section Division III second-round home playoff match against Yorba Linda. There was the "timid" fourth game that saw the Indians revert back to their first-game form. Then, there was the unforgettable fifth game.

It looks as if the local track and field teams will have strong representation this season in the middle- and long-distance events. Leading the way are seniors Greg Dotson and McKenzie Paul from Burbank High and sophomore Anthony Monroy of Burroughs. Monroy is coming off a cross-country season in which he earned All-Area Male Runner of the Year accolades and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Finals. Paul is the reigning Pacific League girls’ 800-meter champion and Dotson won the boys’ 800 title and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Master’s Meet.

A new Crunch gym has opened in downtown Burbank following the huge success of the company's West Hollywood location, which has become a trendy work-out spot for celebrities and entertainment-industry types. Burbank's identity as the “entertainment capital of the world” should fit right in with the gym's L.A. branding, according to company officials. It's only the second Crunch gym in the Los Angeles area, said Amita Balla, general manager of the new gym, located at 761 N. San Fernando Blvd., above Barnes & Noble.

Burbank Police Officer Cindy Guillen didn't want to file a lawsuit, her lawyer told jurors Monday, but was forced to do so after complaints of gender and ethnic harassment within the department were ignored. In his opening statements in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Solomon Gresen promised to tell Guillen's full story, from her humble beginnings to fulfilling her dream of becoming a police officer in Burbank. Gresen described Guillen as an “outstanding police officer.” “There is no question about the caliber of her work,” Gresen said, adding that Guillen serves as the public information officer to the Spanish-speaking community.

The Transportation Security Administration has halted a “long-standing” arrangement with Bob Hope Airport police when investigating unattended bags, raising safety and security concerns among officials at the airfield. In an April 19 email to his officers, the airport's police chief, Ed Skvarna, said TSA no longer will test swabs taken of unattended bags in the public areas of the terminal. That means Los Angeles County sheriff's bomb squad agents would have to be called in, creating a delay in determining if a bag contains explosive material.

A gaggle of oil-spattered students stood beneath a raised Acura Integra in the auto shop at Burbank High School Tuesday, reaching their hands into its undercarriage. “The old transmission had a hole in it, so we are replacing it with another one from a scrapped car,” 16-year-old Thomas Wee said. Across the way, another group of students focused on a Cobra kit car that was delivered in pieces and is being assembled bit by bit. Minutes later, automotive technology teacher Manolo Lopez pulled into the garage behind the wheel of a blue Hudson Commodore 8, owned by the actress Patricia Arquette and in need of some electrical work.

A Los Angeles woman who offered sexual favors in exchange for Chicken McNuggets at a McDonald's is homeless and has a history of run-ins with the law, police said. Khadijah Baseer, 31, was arrested on suspicion of prostitution Jan. 11 after she asked the manager of the McDonald's in the 1700 block of Olive Avenue for free Chicken McNuggets in exchange for sexual favors, Sgt. Darin Ryburn said. She had allegedly been opening the car doors of customers waiting in the late-night McDonald's drive-through.

A popular Burbank High School football player took his own life at his home in Shadow Hills Tuesday night, shocking his teammates and student body. The student was identified by Los Angeles County coroner's officials as 17-year-old Matthew Smyser. Officials on Thursday confirmed the cause of death as suicide following an autopsy. Burbank Unified officials were notified of the death Wednesday morning by the Los Angeles Mayor's Crisis Response Team, Supt. Stan Carrizosa said.

The city where they make the movies is also the place where the people come to see them — in droves. Downtown Burbank’s collection of 30 AMC screens forms one of the highest-grossing cineplexes in the country, according to corporate officials. Justin Scott, a spokesman for Kansas City, Mo.-based AMC, said Rentrak Corp. — a firm that compiles box-office revenue figures for theaters throughout the country — consistently ranks Burbank’s AMC screens among the top three in the nation.

This is the epic conclusion to Bryan's two-part sandwich tour of Burbank. Read part one here. I've heard a meat sandwich described as a lot of things. Until recently, though, never “buttery.” We sat on hard benches at McCambridge Park, barely taking time from bites of pastrami to offer our customary assessments of the food. It was late in the day, and Jack Swiker, of the Danger Sandwich blog (thedanger sandwich.blogspot.com), and yours truly had already tried several of Burbank's delis.

Explaining why Councilman David Gordon is continually bypassed for Burbank vice mayor and mayor (“Golonski takes the reins,” May 2), Councilman Jess Talamantes last year in his role as mayor said that the five council members needed to gain the trust and respect of their colleagues. Certainly council members should respect each other. That way, even with differing opinions, civil discourse is assured. But trust? What did Talamantes mean by that? Was he saying that Gordon cannot be trusted to vote on issues as he and his colleagues do?

A 43-year-old Burbank man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he murdered the woman who was found dead in a parked car Friday at his parents' home. The man, David Perry, faces five felony counts, including murder, spousal abuse, making criminal threats and animal cruelty, officials said. He also pleaded not guilty to these charges. Perry was arrested Friday shortly after the body of Dorothy Jean McGuire, 37, of Sunland, was discovered in a parked car at his home in the 500 block of North Sparks Street in Burbank.