Aol

A Sept. 14, an AOL News article about food-borne pathogens reported that, “Oysters, steak tartare and sushi are just a few of the foods that often get a bad wrap.” AOL News should be more concerned about the bad rap they themselves risk when they let mistakes like “bad wrap” get into print. Dictionary.com says that a “rap” is, among other things, a criminal charge or blame. Hence the expressions “murder rap” or “to beat the rap.” And though the latter would be cause for celebration, you’d probably never throw a “rap party.

On the threshold of its 40th year of service to the community, the Burbank Temporary Aid Center staged its 10th annual Burbank Top Award for Citizenship gala at the Castaway this past Friday. Honoring recently retired Burbank Fire Chief Ray Krakowski and Logix Federal Credit Union, more than 250 supporters, including Mayor Dave Golonski, Vice Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy, Councilmembers David Gordon, Gary Bric and Jess Talamantes, Councilman-Elect Bob Frutos, City Clerk Zizette Mullins, City Treasurer Debbie Kukta and School Board member Larry Applebaum enjoyed the evening hosted by BTAC Chairman of the Board Susan Borders and Executive Director Barbara Howell, and emceed by Chamber of Commerce President Gary Olson.

Here we go again - at the first sign of recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression, government officials are gearing up to line their pockets with taxpayer money. The Burbank City Council took the lead last week by granting 100 department heads, managers and other non-union employees raises of up to 5%. They even voted to give themselves 5% raises, but Councilman Gary Bric had a change of heart just before midnight near the end of a six-hour meeting, saying that "there are a lot of other people that are more deserving of that than we are. " It wasn't clear whether he meant city workers or the populace in general.

Irma Lemus BURBANK -- This week's announcement of job cuts at AOL Time Warner, following the media giants' merger Jan. 11, is not expected to affect Burbank's Warner Bros. studio, officials said. AOL Time Warner officials said there are no plans to lay off more employees after Tuesday's announcement that the company had slashed more than 2,000 jobs. The businesses affected were Warner Music Group, New Line Cinema, AOL and the Time Warner magazines.

“As an advocate of homeless animals, it is great for all of us with the Volunteers of the Burbank Animal Shelter (VBAS) to see so many people be extremely generous and willing to help us do what we do,” said Alexis Cole who serves as the organization's director of development. Along with being generous and willing to help the VBAS achieve their goals - to provide medical, social, behavioral and financial care for animals at risk and to eliminate animal homelessness in Burbank - the people referred to by Cole were also interested in enjoying an evening of comedy, cocktails and culinary delights as the VBAS staged their “Third Annual Laugh Your Tail Off” fundraiser at Flapper's Comedy Club last Thursday.

It's a billboard custom-tailored to grammar buffs. "Every day we help people get back to their everyday," proclaims the ad for Keck Medical Center of USC. In that single sentence, the copy writer does more to help people with grammar than I probably will in this whole column. But I'll give it a long-winded shot anyway. The best thing about this line of marketing copy, grammar-wise at least, is that it succinctly illustrates something far too few people know - that both every day and everyday are valid forms.

“Whatever our vocation in life, we can sow the seeds of faith by how we conduct ourselves and by keeping God present in our daily lives,” said St. Finbar Parish's pastor, Father Albert Bahhuth. “Our honorees serve as great role models for us.” Those honorees - Auxiliary Bishop of the San Fernando Region, the Most Reverend Gerald Wilkerson and Dr. Raul Mena, who serves as the director of the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center - were presented with 2012 Harvester of Faith Awards at the 10th annual Harvest Ball held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center last week.

While the goal of playing the board game Monopoly is to acquire and develop as many of a community's transportation and utility companies, properties, houses and hotels as possible, the goal of the Boy & Girls Club is to acquire the needed funding to develop children and young people into productive, responsible and caring members of their community. Working to acquire that funding was just what the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and the Greater East Valley did by staging its 18th annual gala fundraiser this past Saturday.

Irma Lemus DOWNTOWN -- The Glendale Galleria's Warner Bros. retail store may soon be closing as a result of the Jan. 11 America Online and Time Warner merger, officials said. About 3,800 people will be unemployed if all 130 Warner Bros. retail stores throughout the country close down. "We don't need to keep the stores to capture the value," said Barbara Brogliatti, Warner Bros. director for corporate communications. Brogliatti said Warner Bros.

A Sept. 14, an AOL News article about food-borne pathogens reported that, “Oysters, steak tartare and sushi are just a few of the foods that often get a bad wrap.” AOL News should be more concerned about the bad rap they themselves risk when they let mistakes like “bad wrap” get into print. Dictionary.com says that a “rap” is, among other things, a criminal charge or blame. Hence the expressions “murder rap” or “to beat the rap.” And though the latter would be cause for celebration, you’d probably never throw a “rap party.

Irma Lemus BURBANK -- This week's announcement of job cuts at AOL Time Warner, following the media giants' merger Jan. 11, is not expected to affect Burbank's Warner Bros. studio, officials said. AOL Time Warner officials said there are no plans to lay off more employees after Tuesday's announcement that the company had slashed more than 2,000 jobs. The businesses affected were Warner Music Group, New Line Cinema, AOL and the Time Warner magazines.