The first Chinese New Year celebration in Rosemead was held on Mission Avenue, just east of Valley. The second one (last year) was at the UFC Gym's parking lot, on Marshall, north of the San Bernardino Freeway. This year's was supposed to be on Saturday, January 21, at 8001 Garvey Avenue (where the Auto Auction used to be). The banner over Valley Blvd said the rain date would be January 28.

Savannah Memorial Park (Cemetery) became the first site in the city of Rosemead granted state Historical Landmark status. The State Historical Resources Commission voted on Friday to recommend this decision.

The story headline in the Tribune says that cutting the redevelopment agencies has "dealt a blow" to affordable housing in El Monte. Yet, when you read the actual story, you discover there has been virtually no low income housing developed for families in the entire history of the program in El Monte.

Last year, their U.S. stores lost over $1 million each. This year, the loss is "just" $600,000 or so each. ($113 million in losses, spread over 177 stores). That's not a sustainable business model.

A tanker truck caught fire near the mall, and it stopped under the Paramount overpass. The heat of the fire caused the concrete to explode. The freeway's shut until further notice, and traffic will be diverted one offramp before the Paramount offramp.

That would major-league suck.

The annual police blotter for Wal-Marts around the country gets longer and crazier every year. This year, it was "competitive shopping" where a shopper armed with pepper spray used chemical warfare to force her fellow shoppers out of her way.

Wal-Mart and its development partner in El Monte are making tens of thousands dollars in contributions to several El Monte council members. In exchange, they're going to get millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to build a store. The proposed site is at Valley and Santa Anita.