As a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class, Virginia Sanchez sees why literacy is vital

Long Beach native Virginia Sanchez was an adult services librarian at Long Beach Public Library when she answered the call of duty and enlisted in the United States Navy.
Petty Officer 1st Class Sanchez was sent to Afghanistan last Fall, where she’s [...]

The late reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes–whose giant wooden seaplane the Hercules (AKA the Spruce Goose) was displayed for a time in Long Beach, before going to a museum in Oregon–has been dead 32 years.
But traces of his empire and the people who ran it still remain, though their evidence is dwindling.
As the Los Angeles Times [...]

5 Minutes of Plame
On Monday, Nov. 7, at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Valerie Plame Wilson lectured and signed copies of her new book, Fair Game. I was there as a photographer.
The press was allowed photos only during the first five minutes of her lecture. After that, cameras were to be put away. You could [...]

Special Election: The Wrigley Neighborhood Association hosts a Q&A with the candidates vying for the 55th Assembly seat. 7pm.
VETERAN’S PARK SOCIAL HALL 101 E 28th St, Long Beach 90806.
Slash: Still burning out but still not fading away: Slash stops by to sign his new memoir. 7pm.
BORDERS TORRANCE 3700 Torrance Blvd, Torrance 90503. 310.540.7000; bordersstores.com.

Valerie Plame warms up at the Carpenter Center

It’s funny: four years after Valerie Plame was outed by Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer and Dick Armitage as a covert operative of the CIA working in nuclear counter-proliferation, I forget there are people who haven’t quite heard of the affair.
“Valerie Plame . . .” friends would [...]