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THURSDAY, MAY 21 - MAY 27, 2009 VOLUME 14, NO. 41
THURSDAY EDITION News, Arts, Opinions and Community Events Since 1996
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FIRST SWINE FLU No Stimulus CASE IDENTIFIED Funds for Foothill IN PASADENA
Gold Line
This week the Pasadena Public Health Department announced the city’s first probable case of Swine Flu, following a highly publicized pandemic threat the virus has posed since it was first discovered to have infected humans in Mexico last month. Though media coverage of the outbreak has waned significantly, the virus is still spreading around the country and the world according to public health officials. To date, the total number of infections in Mexico has climbed to 3,734, with at least 74 of those cases being fatal. The PPHD is urging local residents to take common-sense steps to protect themselves from the H1N1 Influenza strain, otherwise known as Swine Flu following identification of this first likely case of the illness in Pasadena. An adult in the 40-to-50 age range had mild symptoms and was seen by a physician. Prescription med-
The much anticipated Gold Line Foothill Extension project won’t get federal stimulus money after all. According to reports, the MTA will instead use $66.7 million in federal funds for the nearly completed Eastside Extension which will connect East Los Angeles to downtown when it opens this summer, officials said. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials had requested $150 million in funding for the Foothill Extension project. It was estimated that a Foothill Extension to the Gold Line would create over 26,000 new jobs. In the meantime, Pasadena
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School Districts Fair Better in Cash Grab
Monrovia Bank Robber Leaves Getaway Keys At Teller’s Window Sarah Jacobson, 4 rides a float with her brother Daniel during the annual Monrovia Day Parade held last Thursday evening. This year’s themes was based around books in conjunction with the opening of the new multi-million dollar library. -Photo by Terry Miller
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A Different Kind Ray Bradbury Inspires and of Tea Party Shares His Inspirations AUSD Looks to Fundraisers to Save Teachers and Programs
BY SUSAN MOTANDER
“Do the things you want to do. If you want to write, write. If you want to act, act,” Ray Bradbury advised. That was the message of his keynote address at the grand opening of Monrovia’s new public library. When you listen to him, you forget he is in a wheelchair... that his voice is not as strong as it was. The strength now comes in his words. In his closing remarks he advised the standing room only crowd, which overflowed into two other rooms in the library, to “Do what you love and love what you do. If there are people who don’t believe in you, get rid of them.” He spoke of the loves of his life. “The women in my life have been librarians, English teachers and book sellers. It makes for great pillow talk,” he said. The author’s other love is his stories. He recounted the stories of some of his most famous works including The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man. In to-
BY ELAINE TSUI
tal he has written and published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, and plays (at least according to his official biography). At first his works were all short stories published in various magazines in the late 1930s and 1940s. The author (he calls himself a writer of “fantasy” not science
With a budget deficit that refuses to disappear, AUSD and AHS aren’t waiting for stimulus dollars to trickle down before holding their own fundraisers. Even with an unprecedented amount of money allotted to schools across the nation, most of the economic stimulus money will be given to schools in low-income districts that desperately need improvements to their education systems, leaving districts like AUSD with plenty of difficult decisions and hard work on their plate. AHS has already held two major fundraisers to benefit students and to prevent programs and teachers from disappearing. Sophomore Kevin Tsai encourages every one to participate in the fundraisers because the fundraisers “are very important, and we need to support our school at this time.”
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-Ray Bradbury
BY TERRY MILLER
Monrovia Police responded to a 211 silent robbery alarm at The Pacific Western Bank at 2:10 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Within minutes, officers had arrived on scene and carefully approached the bank with guns drawn. Eventually, after assisting dispatchers contacted the Branch Manager, some employees emerged from the bank and gave officers a description of the suspect and details of what had just happened. According to Jim Hunt of the Monrovia Police Department, the black male suspect apparently had entered the bank with a plastic shopping bag and approached a female teller at the bank. Showing off the gun in his possession, the bank rob-
ber then told the teller he needed cash. He then proceeded put his car keys down at the teller’s window and placed the plastic grocery bag atop the keys in preparation for his new found wealth. The teller filled the bag with $1910.00 in cashcash and the suspect left the bank heading for his car. There was one problem, however. With all the excitement of the robbery, the suspect had left the keys to his older model ‘84 -85 Lincoln Town Car at the teller’s window. Not wanting to re-enter the bank, the suspect apparently returned to his car and made a few split-second decisions.
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Library Opens with Swelling Crowds and Spelling Bees
-Photo by Terry Miller
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