investigations

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

City Buzz: Wholesale Giant fire, campaign 2013, and the Burbank Leader

Mystery surrounding Burbank fire So what’s up with the Wholesale Giant fire investigation? You might remember, a big blaze destroyed Wholesale Giant Inc, a tobacco and cigarette business, at 4410 West Victory Boulevard. The structure was packed with merchandise. The fire raged for hours on the morning of November 9, 2012. The day after, I took the photo (above) of […]
Monday, March 29, 2010

Burbank City Buzz

  Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank    Judgment in the Burbank PD For several days, I’ve been hearing about some ominous letters handed out to some members of the Burbank PD, the result of information gathered during those hush-hush investigations for alleged misconduct in the department. A source tells me that those who have received letters include Sergeant Chris Canales, […]
Sunday, March 14, 2010

Los Angeles Times does investigative story on the turmoil in the Burbank Police Department

Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Police and Fire Headquarters at 200 North Third Street in Burbank In the Los Angeles Times print edition and on its website today an extensive report about the troubled Burbank Police Department. The report covers quite a bit of territory from the allegations of suspect beatings, racial discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and those federal investigations into possible […]
Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Good and bad news for Burbank

Burbank has not escaped the bumps and bruises of the brutal recession, but yesterday it got some good news from one of the top financial agencies. Standard and Poor’s upgraded Burbank’s credit rating to “AAA,” the highest grade possible.   S&P credited the Media City with a strong local economy, steady tax base, low debt, high reserve balance, and attractive location in […]
Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Consumer News: Safety concerns about a hot holiday toy & a Burbank hospital is under investigation

 Are Zhu Zhu pets safe? Zhu Zhu pets, the robotic hamsters that talk and move, are at the top of a lot of wish lists this holiday season. Recently, a California-based consumer watchdog group’s website reportedly sparked a controversy when it claimed there is a potentially harmful level of metal in the Mr. Squiggles model. Now, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has weighed in […]
Friday, November 20, 2009

Burbank gets sued by another one of its police officers

File Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank Police and Fire Headquarters at North Third Street and Orange Grove Avenue. The number of present or former Burbank Police Officers suing the city and some department brass jumped to eight this week, and there are indications that total will go even higher. The latest lawsuit was filed by BPD Detective Angelo Dahlia on Tuesday in federal court, […]
Monday, November 9, 2009

UPDATED 11/11/09: Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr to retire!

  Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove —Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr I don’t know if he was pushed or he volunteered, but Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr is heading for the door. The announcement appeared a short while ago on the Burbank city website. It comes almost a week after that volatile council meeting where Councilman David Gordon called for an […]
Friday, November 6, 2009

Time for serious change in Burbank

  Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank City Councilman David Gordon and Vice-Mayor/Council Member Anja Reinke at the Tuesday November 3, 2009, council meeting. Reverberations from last Tuesday’s Burbank City Council meeting are still shaking the town and probably will continue to do so for some time. That should really come as no surprise to anyone who was there or watched it […]
Friday, October 30, 2009

UPDATED 11/02/09: Tragedy strikes the Burbank Police Department

                                           Photo 11/01/09: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove —Burbank Police and Fire Headquarters where the flags are flying at half-staff in remembrance of Sgt. Neil Thomas Gunn, Sr. The Burbank Police Department has taken some pretty big hits lately from lawsuits, investigations, low morale, scandal and now the apparent suicide of one of its patrol officers. According to a press release put out by […]