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 [...]

It’s officially not official yet. Despite hearing from Mayor Bob Foster, and devoting considerable discussion to the topic, Long Beach Chamber of Commerce hasn’t decided how it feels about Hizzoner’s proposed $571 million infrastructure bond–which will be in our hands and on our ballots in November.
And it may not know how it feels until some [...]

If the City of Long Beach had stuck to its original timetable, Main Library would be open just more six weeks before closing indefinitely. Then, some day, a new, watertight, earthquake-proof Main Library would be built or rebuilt, there or elsewhere. Some day.
That’s what worries members of

It’s happening again, this time to The Daily Breeze–a newspaper which, like our own Press-Telegram, is owned by Dean Singleton’s MediaNews Group, and whose own Gene Maddaus gave us much–but not all–the recent coverage of Rep. Laura Richardson’s (D-Long Beach) hijinks. And lo-jinks!
Yes, The Breeze is on the hoof, fleeing its iconic, blue-tiled, 43-year home [...]

On the day that Nicolas Dibs, a virtually unknown public school substitute teacher, has officially become a little-bit-better-known candidate to replace Congresswoman Laura Richardson, the city of Sacramento has declared Richardson’s home a public nuisance.
The home is one of three on which Richardson has defaulted several times—the others are in Long Beach and San Pedro—as part of a [...]

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 [...]

Wow! So here it is: noted science fiction author Ray Bradbury has an open letter on the Opinion page of today’s Press-Telegram, imploring us to keep our library open.
“I recently learned of the pending forced closure of the Long Beach Main Library from public access to balance the city budget. This is heartbreak and an [...]

In a conversation before, and remarks during this afternoon’s budget study session at City Hall, City Manager Pat West changed the course of Main Library’s proposed closure–originally said to be looming just over the horizon, possibly as soon as Oct. 1.

And what’s this about a two-year “gap in service”?

Time to leave work early today, for this afternoon’s budget study session, at 3:30 at City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.
Among the hot topics, of course, will be what to do with the city’s leaky 32-year-old Main Library

Long Beach Museum of Art’s third audit in two years–and its second audit this year–was unleashed earlier today by City Auditor Laura Doud’s office. As promised, it takes a long, hard look at the museum’s extensive inventory, and the results are rather chilling.