2 articles. 1. Racing returns at Santa Anita. The historic Santa Anita racetrack reopened Friday for racing amid concerns for horse safety and the future of the track and the industry. There were no deaths in eight races Friday, which had been closed for racing since March 5.
2. Back in the saddle: racing resumes without incident after 26-day closure.
$2 million in funding to help provide more homes. San Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust gets state award for affordable, transitional housing. About 2 dozen cities have partnered, including Alhambra, Arcadia, Azusa, Baldwin Park, and others, to develop affordable housing.
A 2-year-old legal battle between the city of Arcadia and Taboo Gentlemen's Club, a strip club, will most likely result in the club being closed or sold off by April, 2009. The federal court case started when the city revoked Taboo Gentlemen's Club's business license for breaking the city's adult business codes. The club's owners Bill Badi Gammoh and Chawkat Jajieh sued in response, claiming city and police had obstructed business and violated their civil rights. The city's adult business ordinance prohibits lap dances, sexual contact, private dance booths and direct tipping. It requires licensed dancers to perform on an elevated stage.
4th Annual Downtown Arcadia Patriotic Festival, an Independence Day celebration, takes place on First Avenue between Bonita Street and Diamond Street, Sunday, July 1, 5-9 PM.
5,133 attended the first day of inter-track wagering at Santa Anita Park where wagering was offered on racing at Del Mar. $1,069,980 was wagered on the simulcast races. Santa Anita Park is one of 10 off-track wagering satellites.
A 5-year effort to put $1.5 million worth of computers, laser disc players, videocassette recorders and other high-tech teaching tools into Arcadia classrooms was kicked off by the Arcadia Educational Foundation, an independent fundraising group.
A $7,500 grant from the Arcadia Auditorium Foundation will provide performing arts opportunities for students of all grade levels in the Arcadia Unified School District.
7-year-old Maria Lugo Rocha of Sinaloa, Mexico, is recovering after a surgery to remove a bone tumor from her chin, performed last week at Arcadia Methodist Hospital. LIGA International, a non-profit group of medical experts, pilots and volunteers, helped to bring the girl to Arcadia to have the surgery.
The 9-person team of Arcadia High School placed 3rd out of 73 teams in the county's 41st annual Academic Decathlon, thus performing the best ever in Arcadia High School history. The decathlon consists of speech, math, science, fine arts, social science/history, economics, language, literature and essay competitions.
9-year-old Maria Lugo came to Arcadia Arcadia Methodist Hospital from Mexico to have a steel plate removed from her chin. It was a follow-up surgery to a softball-size tumor removal she had in April, 2008, at Arcadia Methodist Hospital. Dr. Jon Tyrell, a member of LIGA International, and Dr. B.S. Chandrasekhar operated on her. LIGA International is a non-profit group of medical experts, pilots and volunteers who travel to clinics in Sinaloa, Mexico several times a year.
The 11.5 mile light rail Gold Line extension from Pasadena to Azusa was awarded to Foothill Transit Constructors. Kiewit-Parsons, a joint venture company, will design and build the project. Funding comes from Measure R.
$12 million headquarters of the Angeles National Forest Service was dedicated yesterday. It is an environmentaly energy efficient 24,000 square feet administrative facility at 701 N. Santa Anita Avenue. Mary McGrath, of Mary McGrath Architects, was the executive architect on the project.
The 13-member MTA board voted to leave the Gold Line Extension off a critical funding list. This delays the construction of the $1.4 billion project , a 24-mile rail link between Pasadena and Montclair, until at least the end of 2009.
15 Arcadia High School students beat out 19 other schools to win the county competition of the Science Olympiad. The state competition is set for April 9, followed by the national competition in Arizona.
The $16 million Arcadia Police Station building, built with bond money and city and CRA funds, is on target for completion in July. WWM Associates designed the building. Mallcraft of Altadena is the contractor and Construction Control Group is the manager of the project. The station is the first civic project constructed with bond funding.
17 students at Arcadia Alternative High School signed up as owner/operators of Medi-Kit Company, part of a 13-week Junior Achievement program sponsored by the Arcadia Rotary Club. The Medi-Kit auto safety first-aid kits sell for $8.
The 18,000-square-foot post office at 41 Wheeler Ave. has reopened more that 2 years after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake of June 28, 1991 forced its closure.