Lunch

In recent months, when Writers Guild of America members line up outside a Burbank business, it hasn?t been to gush about the services. Bob?s Big Boy on Riverside Drive is the exception. About a week after the writers strike began, the ?50s-style burger joint has offered free meals for guild members who show their cards when the check comes. But the restaurant isn?t the one footing the bill. Comedian and host of ?The Price is Right? Drew Carey has been picking up the tab of any and every writer that comes through the restaurant?

BURBANK - As the Ultimate Fighting Championship seemingly gets bigger and bigger with network television, pay-per-views once a month if not more and a fan base growing across the globe, it cannot get any bigger than UFC 146 - literally. The May 26 event at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden - for the first time in company history - will feature an all-heavyweight lineup across the pay-per-view main card, headlined by UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos defending his title against Alistair Overeem in a bout that will feature roughly 500 pounds of knockout power.

ON THE AGENDA The following items will be discussed at Thursday's school board meeting.   SUPPLEMENTAL COUNSELING PROGRAM The board will consider implementing a Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling Program for the 2006-07 school year. The 2006-07 state budget provides funding for several supplemental programs including this counseling program, which would help students prepare for the California High School Exit Exam. If it participates in the program, the district will be eligible for $80 per student in state funding.

Chamber hosts business lunch The Burbank Chamber of Commerce hosts its monthly business connection lunch starting at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Burbank Fire Department Disaster Preparedness Coordinator Rich Baenen will be the featured speaker. The luncheon takes place at The Castaway Restaurant, 1250 Harvard Road. The cost is $22 for chamber members and $27 for prospective members. For more information, contact the chamber at (818) 846-3111. Make-up artist helps patients Entertainment industry make-up and hair stylist Maurice Stein is lending his expertise to help burn victims and patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Taxi drivers get lunch on the house MEDIA DISTRICT NORTH -- Arnie Morton's The Steakhouse shows its gratitude for local taxi operators by declaring today Cabbie Appreciation Day. Cab drivers are invited to pick up a complimentary bag of lunch at the restaurant, 3400 W. Olive Ave. For more information, call 238-0424. Shop gives away patriotic cards BURBANK VILLAGE -- CardSmart will donate "Spirit of Freedom" patriotic greeting cards to store visitors requesting a card to send to members of the U.S. military.

Irma Lemus MAGNOLIA PARK -- The 8-foot-high chain-link fence around the front entrance of John Burroughs High School may evoke a prison to some, but officials say it has a purpose. The fence was installed over the summer to make way for major renovations at the school. Burbank schools, including Burroughs, are undergoing a $112.5-million facelift. The project, which was approved in 1997 by Burbank voters, includes rebuilding and modernization of school buildings.

Disney buys video game studio Disney Interactive Studios, the video game development branch of the Walt Disney Co., announced that it acquired Junction Point Studios, a video game development studio based in Austin, Texas. Disney Interactive will use Junction Point Studios to create new video game franchises and bring some of Disney's animated characters into video games, according to the press release. The studio is currently working on a video game project for Disney.

It's not often that a Christian minister agrees with the New Atheist movement, but the Rev. Michael Dowd believes it's possible when it comes to what he calls the "idolatry of the written word. " A self-described "New Theist" - one who "value[s] scientific, historic and cross-cultural evidence over ancient texts, religious dogma or ecclesiastical authority" - Dowd believes that Scripture is outdated and fossilized and needs to grow and change with modern times, calling some injunctions "morally repugnant.