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Monrovia Police: Thief Steals Catalytic Converters; Big Burglary Bust

[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for April 8-10. - Brad Haugaard]
 
During the last seven-day period, the Police Department handled 469 service events, resulting in 65 investigations.
 
Grand Theft From a Vehicle
April 10, overnight, three victims had their catalytic converters stolen off their vehicles.  The incidents occurred in the 600 block of West Olive, 500 block of West Maple and the 400 block of West Lime.  The investigation is continuing.
 
 
Detective Bureau Case Follow-Up
 
March 26, an officer responded to and conducted a burglary investigation at a business in the 100 block of West Walnut, Antiques of Fairoaks.  Sellers rent cases from the business owner to display and sell their products.  Suspect(s) broke into the location overnight and stole merchandise from the cases.  Four victims were identified.
 
One of the victims found and identified some of her property being sold on eBay and contacted police.  She recognized not only the items, but also the description of the items she had written on the tags.  Through investigation, detectives found information on the seller, and the investigation led to an address in Tujunga. 
 
A search warrant for the location in Tujunga was written and served on April 10 at 5:30 a.m.  The property/residence in Tujunga was extremely large, so Monrovia detectives requested assistance from the West San Gabriel Valley Burglary Task Force, Pasadena Police Department and Glendale Police Department SWAT Teams.  The search warrant was executed without incident.  The objective of the search warrant was met and the victim's property was recovered from the residence.
  
This case is a great example of multi-agency cooperation and teamwork.

Monrovia's Unity Center Helped Almost 5,000 | Passing Tournament | Being on Ballot Helps

~ In its newsletter, Monrovia's Foothill Unity Center reports that it helped 4,699 low-income and homeless families in 2012.

~ Monrovia to participate in passing tournament. http://goo.gl/B2syl

~ Daily News observes that Monrovia election shows that the results favor who are on the ballot rather than write-ins. http://goo.gl/w5hcy

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovian - No Contest in Fake Bomb Reports

Monrovian pleads no contest to charge of making false bomb report. http://goo.gl/rUAMG

- Brad Haugaard

Study Session on Finding a New Monrovia Superintendent

The Monrovia School Board will hold an open study session at 6 p.m. April 15 on the superintendent search process at the district office.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's Mayan Bar and Grill Gets Sign

The new restaurant at the Aztec Hotel should be opening soon. The sign has been posted and according to Facebook posts, the restaurant is inviting friends to test its foods.

Monrovia's AeroVironment Gets $13.8 Million from Army

Monrovia's AeroVironment gets $13.8 million from the Army for Raven drone work. http://goo.gl/I0Qja

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Vintage and Collectible Sale and Auction

Vintage and Collectible Yard Sale and Silent Auction for Monrovia Historical Museum, this Saturday, April 13, 8 a.m.-noon, 742 E. Lemon Ave. Pre-1969 items such as crystal, lamps, porcelain dinnerware, sterling silver, nambe, silver plate items, vintage clothing, etc. Free admission and parking. For info call Pam Barkas 599-8187.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Election: Blackburn and Spicer Win

With the results of today's election in, the two new Monrovia City Council members are ...

- Alexander Blackburn.

- Larry Spicer (who served as Clarence Shaw's fill-in while Shaw was on active military service).

Write-in candidate Robert Parry fell short but pretty strong considering he was write-in.

Final vote, Blackburn 1691, Parry 983, Spicer 1504.

- Brad Haugaard

Counting Ballots for the Monrovia City Council

The Vote by Mail ballots have Larry Spicer and Alexander Blackburn in the lead, but no regular ballots yet.

Power Outage Affects 22 Monrovia Customers

An unexpected power outage is affecting 22 Southern California Edison power customers in Monrovia. SCE says the problem, "Lines Down," caused by "Foreign Object in Equipment," should be fixed by 10 p.m. tomorrow, April 10. http://goo.gl/mJSZr

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Assemblymember Legislation to Help Start-ups In State

Assemblymember Chris Holden (who represents Monrovia) hopes to expand on the state's iHub innovation network with a new plan to create economic opportunities for start-up companies. It's part of his legislation (AB 250) that was overwhelmingly approved with bi-partisan support today in the Assembly Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy Committee.

AB 250 would allow emerging technology companies an opportunity to partner with the state to demonstrate new innovative technologies on underutilized state properties.

"We want to put the state in a position to cultivate and incubate young companies that are developing new technologies," explained Assemblymember Holden. "Our goal is to foster greater collaboration between innovators and investment opportunities within the state."

There are three parts to AB 250:

- Establishes the California Innovation Hub (iHub) Program into law.

- Authorizes the Director of the Department of General Services to authorize the use of vacant or underused state property for full-scale demonstration programs to benefit start-up technology companies,

- And creates the iHub Accelerator Fund in the state treasury to accept private sector funding to operate the program.

AB 250 will expand the development of iHubs across California and develop more economic opportunities for start-up companies throughout the state. They are anchored by at least one major university or research center which provides access to new inventions and cutting edge thinking.

Source: Holden press release

- Brad Haugaard

New Video of 210 Gold Line Bridge

"Teaser" video of new 210 Gold Line freeway bridge. http://goo.gl/p6ql5

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Election Today

Election day is today, Tuesday, in Monrovia. If you have any clue what is going on, get out and vote! Your polling place is on your sample ballot. If you forgot, it is here: http://lavote.net/LOCATOR/

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's STAAR Surgical Expects Q1 Growth of 16% Over Q1 2012

Monrovia's STAAR Surgical Company, which makes replacement eye lenses, today announced that first quarter revenue is expected to be approximately $18 million, which would represent approximately 16% growth over the first quarter of last year. http://goo.gl/C5zjQ

- Brad Haugaard

Congresswoman Napolitano Visits Monrovia

According the a Facebook posting by the City of Monrovia, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, who represents Monrovia, "toured Monrovia neighborhoods and key projects on Thursday, including the construction of the Gold Line, Sherman Avenue, the High Tech Corridor and Old Town Monrovia."

She also stopped in at Monrovia Bakery to congratulate the owners, who are retiring, on their 42 years running the store.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia High Video Team Wins First Place in State

The Monrovia High Video Team has taken first place in California. http://goo.gl/mhJCm

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police: Accident on Huntington

[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for April 4-7. - Brad Haugaard]
 
Following are the weekend's highlighted issues and events.
 
Traffic Collision
April 4 at 2:17 p.m., a traffic collision was reported in the 700 block of East Huntington.  A vehicle was exiting a business parking lot and the driver failed to yield to a vehicle traveling west on Huntington, striking the rear of that vehicle.  That vehicle was then pushed into the raised center divider and it struck a concrete light pole, knocking the pole over.  No one was injured and the driver who failed to yield was issued a citation for the traffic violation. 

Monrovia Police Looking for Texting Drivers

As part of April's Distracted Driving Awareness Month campaign, the Monrovia Police Department will be actively ticketing those texting or operating hand-held cell phones while driving in the month of April. Drivers who break the law and place themselves and others in danger will be cited with no warnings. The current minimum ticket cost is $159, with subsequent tickets costing at least $279. Last April, over 57,000 tickets were issued statewide for texting and hand-held cell use. There were nearly 450,000 convictions in 2012. Whether it's a ticket or a collision, as the campaign theme states, "It's not worth it!"

Distracted driving is a serious traffic safety concern that puts everyone on the road at risk. In recent years, hundreds have been killed and thousands seriously injured in California as a result of collisions that involved at least one driver who was distracted. Nationally, an estimated 3,331 died in 2011. As a result, law enforcement across the state, including the Monrovia Police Department, are increasingly cracking down on cell phone use and texting. This April will see over 225 local agencies, plus the CHP, conducting zero tolerance enforcements.

"We all know that talking on our cell phones while driving is distracting, but that doesn't stop some people from continuing to do it," said Monrovia Police Department Sergeant Daniel Verna. "This effort is intended to educate our community about the dangers of cell phone use while driving. We hope that once people see the statistics and realize the danger involved, they will change their driving habits to help protect themselves, their families, and others on the road."

Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. Younger, inexperienced drivers under 20 years old have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes. In addition, studies show that texting while driving can delay a driver's reaction time just as severely as having a blood alcohol content of a legally drunk driver.

Studies also show that there is no difference in the risks between hands-free and hand-held cell phone conversations, both of which can result in "inattention blindness," which occurs when the brain isn't seeing what is clearly visible because the drivers' focus is on the phone conversation and not on the road. When over one third of your brain's functioning that should be on your driving moves over to cell phone talking, you can become a cell phone "zombie."

To avoid a distracted driving ticket or crash, Monrovia Police Department offers drivers the following tips:

- Turn off your phone and/or put it out of reach while driving.

- Include in your outgoing message that you can't answer while you are driving.

- Don't call or text anyone when you think they may be driving.

Strong Winds in Monrovia Today? | Pro Wrestling | Runaway and Homeless Youth Month

~ Strong and gusty northwest to north winds today, peaking this afternoon and diminishing tonight. http://goo.gl/q9nSM

~ Pro wrestling poster. For April 19 in Monrovia. http://goo.gl/4dBYk

~ State Senator Carol Liu, who represents Monrovia, has introduced a measure to designate November 2013 as California Runaway and Homeless Youth Month, to "recognize the need for individuals, schools, communities, businesses, local governments, and the state to take action on behalf of runaway and homeless youth in California." http://goo.gl/WpvNj

- Brad Haugaard

Friday Fireworks | Monrovia 6, Covina 0 in Softball

~ Those fireworks you heard Friday night were apparently a NASCAR race at Irwindale. http://goo.gl/BMpQc

~ Monrovia over Covina in softball. http://goo.gl/E0wj2

- Brad Haugaard