Featured Articles from the Burbank Leader

Despite an online petition that garnered over 200,000 signatures protesting the re-imagining of Pixar 's "Brave" heroine Merida, Disney has no intention of abandoning its sexier version of the Scottish archer. The modified Merida was created specifically to welcome the character into the company's princess collection. And according to a Disney representative on Wednesday, the image of Merida that sparked this maelstrom is part of a limited run of products including backpacks and pajamas.

Burbank officials this week proposed cutting roughly 2% - or $2.5 million - from the city's $149-million General Fund budget, which pays for most public services. The proposal also addresses soaring employee pension costs by allocating $9 million to help pay down the city's $252-million unfunded pension liability. Each $1 million the city pays now toward its unfunded liability - the shortfall when comparing the obligation to employees and retirees to the value of the city's assets held with the California Public Employees' Retirement System - amounts to $80,000 a year in General Fund savings, officials said.

Despite the uncertainty that's come with being on rocky financial footing over the last year, Burbank's Colony Theatre is extending its season to meet unexpected demand for their hit musical “Falling For Make Believe.” The musical, which tells the life story of songwriter Lorenz Hart and features songs he wrote with Richard Rodgers, was originally scheduled to run four weeks, ending on Sunday, but due to demand, it will return to the 270-seat...

Look no further than John Burroughs High School to find the national grand champions of all high school choirs in the United States. After months - and for some students, years - of work, two choir teams at John Burroughs High School secured the greatest prizes in the high school show choir world when they performed before 4,800 people and several judges at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago on April 27. When the Powerhouse team of 52 students took...

A Burbank Unified School District teacher turned herself in Monday for having sex with a 14-year-old student from March to September last year, police said. Amy Beck, 33, a sixth-grade teacher at Jordan Middle School, surrendered Monday afternoon to Burbank police with her lawyer, and was being held on $400,000 bail, Burbank Police Sgt. Robert Quesada said. “We’re still trying to piece everything together, what happened, where, what kind of sex acts, how many, and how long it’s been going on,” he said.

Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank was the only area hospital to receive an A this week in a national evaluation of patient safety. Most other local hospitals all were ranked as average. Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Glendale Memorial and Huntington Memorial hospitals all received Cs in the latest annual report card released by The Leapfrog Group. Verdugo Hills Hospital was not graded because there was not enough information available about the facility's operations, according to Leapfrog officials.

BURBANK - Four of its hitters had two hits each. Another batter drove in two runs with a single and a sixth starter also scored twice. The Burroughs High baseball team didn't need seven innings to post impressive statistics. PHOTOS: Burroughs vs. San Luis Obispo baseball It accomplished all of those feats in the first three innings of Tuesday's CIF Southern Section Division II wild-card game against visiting San Luis Obispo. The Indians blasted 10 hits and scored five runs against starter Jake Niezen in three innings en route to a 7-3 victory.

For the first time since the body of her husband - missing FBI agent Stephen Ivens - was discovered July 30, Thea Ivens on Thursday opened up during a prayer vigil about coping with his death after holding out hope for 80 days that he'd be found alive. Surrounded by friends and family at St. Francis Xavier Church in Burbank, Thea Ivens recalled the tenuous search effort that all but ground to a halt with few leads after her husband's disappearance. His decomposed body was discovered under a shrub by hikers about 300 feet from the church, the cause of death later determined to be from a self inflicted gunshot wound.

When rock 'n' roll singer Jimmy Angel hits the stage at the Smoke House restaurant on Saturday, it will be just another stop along a decidedly tumultuous five-decade career path. Angel, who specializes in a mixture of retro-1950s big beat and fiery Memphis soul, has performed from the Tokyo Dome to Las Vegas showrooms to Manhattan's famed Copacabana - where he appeared no less than 39 times. Angel, now 77 but as clear-eyed and energetic as a man half that age, had a unique ace-in-the-hole throughout his early career: He was a close protege of Mafia don Joe Colombo, a Profaci family enforcer who rose from the ranks to become head of that crime organization in 1962.

Warner Bros. Chief Executive Kevin Tsujihara has begun building his own team at the Burbank entertainment company, distributing power among a handful of key executives who have long toiled in the trenches. On Wednesday, Tsujihara announced a new management structure for the company's television, home entertainment and video games unit. "This is all about redesigning the company and how we do what we do," Tsujihara said in an interview with The Times. "One of the key goals we want to accomplish is running this company as one. We all work for Warner Bros.

Bob Hope Airport officials approved additional parking rate increases this week to tackle steady revenue drops caused by declining passenger activity that's expected to be exacerbated by JetBlue's decision to eliminate all daytime flights at the airfield as of Jan. 6. The decision will eliminate one daily flight to JFK International Airport in New York City and another to Las Vegas. JetBlue's evening service to JFK will continue. A spokeswoman for the airline, Tamara Young, said in a statement that customer demand is “the ultimate factor in determining a route or flight schedule.” And despite cutbacks in Burbank, JetBlue's overall network continues to expand, Young said.

Growing up can be tough, but children of preachers face an extra element - the added pressure to keep up appearances and not give in to temptation. Also dealing with the church takes up a lot of parents' time, and that means more stress and more temptation to rebel. In the article, "Beneath the stereotypes, a stressful life for preachers' kids," on Religious News Service, Jay Bakker, the son of televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, says that as a preacher's child, he was expected to be happy all the time, even during tough periods.

BURBANK — Burbank police officers on Wednesday arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with the Nov. 29 death of his father, Timothy Loock, assistant football coach at Burbank High School. Noah Loock faces one felony count of involuntary manslaughter and was released from custody on $25,000 bond. He is due back in Pasadena Superior Court on July 16, authorities said. The incident occurred shortly before 2 p.m. Nov. 29, when police responded to a fight at the family home on the 1800 block of North Avon Street.

A new restaurant planned for San Fernando Boulevard will bring lush landscaping to create a park-like atmosphere and nearly 900 square feet of outdoor dining. The restaurant, to be located at 546 S. San Fernando Blvd., will incorporate an existing 2,494-square-foot building that was once a landscaping nursery. With two large outdoor dining areas, there will be a total of about 3,600 square feet of restaurant space, according to plans approved by the Planning Board last month. Applicant Aram Mnatsakanyan had requested an outdoor stage for unamplified performances by musicians, but planning commissioners nixed that feature because of two nearby apartment buildings.