GREG GETS AWAY TO SANTA BARBARA
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Huntington Nurses Clash during Unionization Attempt BY TERRY MILLER
“CNA- NO WAY” was the repeated chant while officials and nurses from California Nurses Association attempted to speak at a press conference Thursday morning. Scores of nurses, community leaders and union officials quarreled outside Huntington Memorial Hospital Thursday over unionization. The confrontations occurred when members of the anti-union employees attempted to quell the voices of the California Nurses Association initially called the press conference. “I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT OR NEED UNION REPRESENTATION,” Vandy Uphoff, RN told Pasadena Independent in an email Friday.She added “Many nurses here, like me, appreciate what a special and unique place this is to work. The claims the CNA are making about our hospital and administration are absolutely false. I have been a bedside nurse at Huntington for 15 years (the last 14 in the Emergency department.) Our
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MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015 - MARCH 8, 2015 - VOLUME 6, NO. 9
Star Trek Actor Leonard Nimoy ‘ Mr. Spock’ Dead at 83 -A Long and Prosperous Life Leonard Nimoy, actor who was perhaps best known as Mr. Spock, the commonsensical humanalien officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air, Los Angeles. He was 83. After the series wrapped, Nimoy joined the fourth season of spy series “Mission: Impossible” as master-of-disguise Paris, leaving after the fifth season, according to Variety , Hollywood’s insider newspaper. He went on to star in the 1971 Western “Catlow,” with Yul Brynner and Richard Crenna, and the 1978 remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” with Donald Sutherland and Jeffrey Goldblum. The actor also made a series of TV films throughout the ’70s and received an Emmy nomination in 1982 for his role as Golda Meir’s husband in telepic “A Woman Called Golda.” Also during the ’70s, Nimoy narrated the docuseries “In Search of …,” which
investigated unexplained events, paranormal phenomena and urban legends long before these matters become the common fodder of pop culture.
His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was endstage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Mr. Nimoy announced
that he had the disease last year, attributing it to years of smoking, a habit he had given up three decades earlier. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week.
The 6th annual Walk-aThon to benefit horseback riders with disabilities at “MACH 1” (Move a Child Higher) will take place Sunday, March 15th at the Pasadena Equestrian Center in the Hahamongna Watershed Park. Please follow the signs. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. Walkers head out at 9:00 a.m. Runners are welcome. Dogs on leash are also welcomed. All participants are encouraged to bring along your four leg-
ged friends. The Walk-a-Thon is a major fundraiser co-sponsored by the City of Pasadena. Walkers and runners raising the most money will win two scholarship lessons for a MACH 1 student of their choice. Bring your family and friends or create a team. Please help us raise needed funds. A minimum pledge of $10 sponsorship is requested for all walkers and runners. So come the day of the walk for a beautiful 5K na-
The 33rd Annual Black History Parade was celebrated last Saturday with a huge show of community spirit, local leaders and celebrities. Hundreds of people lined Fair Oaks to cheer on such notables as Councilwoman Jacque Robinson, Former State Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, as well as Phillip Sanchez, Pasadena’s Chief of Police who was out in force with his key staff shaking hands with as many people as possible.
The community policing such as Chief Sanchez spearheading was very well-received in the community that has seen a lot of violence in recent months, particularly shootings. Sanchez and the Pasadena PD made it loud and clear that they are here to protect everyone in the community. One woman yelled, “We love you Pasadena Police…” as a Motorcycle officer drove past one area of the parade near Hammond. That sentiment was echoed through-
Leonard Nimoy and his wife Susan at the Playboy Mansion in 2005 – Photo by Terry Miller
Annual Walk-a-Thon in Arroyo Seco to Benefit Therapeutic Equestrian Program
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Pasadena’s 2015 Black History Month Parade Celebrates Diversity
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San Gabriel Surrogacy Agency Rips Off WouldBe Parents The owner of a Glendora egg donation and surrogacy company pleaded guilty last week to a federal wire fraud charge and admitted defrauding wouldbe parents, egg donors and surrogates over the course of more than three years. Allison Layton, a 38-year-old resident of Star, Idaho, pleaded guilty before United States District Court Judge George H. Wu. Layton, who owned and operated Miracles Egg Donation and sometimes used the name Allison Jarvie, lived in Glendora during the course of the scheme. Between August 2008 and January 2012, wouldbe parents—who in the surrogacy and egg donation world are known as intended parents—paid thousands of dollars for egg donation and surrogacy services that Miracles promised to coordinate. Layton took money—often tens of thousands of dollars—from the intended parents, but, instead of putting the funds into escrow accounts to be withdrawn only for certain costs related to the surrogacy or egg donation, Layton used the money for her own personal expenses or to cover unpaid costs related to other clients. As a result of Layton’s misappropriation of client funds, egg donors, surrogates, attorneys and others often were not paid for all the services they provided and intended parents often did not receive all the services for which they had paid. At least one investor in Miracles also lost money. When the donors, surSEE PG. 4
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