Mountain Views News          Saturday, July 24, 2010

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com

5

Public Safety

Mountain Views News Saturday, July 24, 2010

Independent Report Says Continued EPA 
Climate Action is Critical

CA Plastic Bag Ban Idea Catching On?

By James Hudson

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - After three decades, 
the old question, "Paper or plastic?" may soon 
be a thing of the past in California. The Golden 
State became the first to address this issue with 
the Plastic Bag Recycling Act of 2006, designed 
to curb the use of an estimated 19 billion bags 
per year in the state by instituting recycling 
programs.

Now, California Assembly Bill 1998 could 
prohibit supermarkets and pharmacies from 
providing single-use plastic carryout bags 
altogether. Dave Heylan of the California Grocers 
Association explains why his organization is in 
favor of the bill. 

"We wanted to make it uniform statewide, so we 
could have the greatest amount of environmental 
gain, while having the least amount of impact on 
retailers and their day-to-day business."

In 1977, plastic grocery bags were introduced 
to American supermarkets as an alternative to 
paper ones that were filling up landfills. A new 
story from DCBureau.org points to the fact that 
many of the bags are discarded in other ways, 
found along roadsides, coastlines and caught in 
trees after being blown by the wind.

If AB 1998 passes, it would not go into effect until 
January 1, 2012, giving retailers and shoppers 
time to adjust. So, if paper and plastic are out, 
what is a shopper to do? Heylan has a suggestion.

"What the consumer can do is just begin the 
process of remembering to bring their reusable 
bag."

Several groups are voicing opposition to the bill, 
including the Biodegradable Products Institute, 
which supports the use of bags that break 
down in landfills and in water, as well as bag 
manufacturing companies. Similar legislation is 
on the books in dozens of other states as well as 
in many cities nationwide.

 A new analysis from the World 
Resources Institute (WRI) 
confirms that preserving the 
Environmental Protection 
Agency’s (EPA) authority to 
aggressively reduce greenhouse 
gas emissions has substantial 
near term benefits. The authors 
say the analysis highlights 
both the need to pass climate 
legislation and the importance 
of beating back challenges to 
EPA action by some on Capitol 
Hill.

 The WRI study shows that we 
have tools that can start us on 
the road to achieving significant 
greenhouse gas reductions but 
still more needs to be done. 
Washington, DC (Vocus) July 
23, 2010 

 A new analysis from the World 
Resources Institute (WRI) 
confirms that preserving the 
Environmental Protection 
Agency’s (EPA) authority to 
aggressively reduce greenhouse 
gas emissions has substantial 
near term benefits. The authors 
say the analysis highlights 
both the need to pass climate 
legislation and the importance 
of beating back challenges to 
EPA action by some on Capitol 
Hill.

 The analysis finds that if the 
federal government and states 
move aggressively, through 
2016, it could successfully use 
existing authorities to put the 
country on a trajectory to meet 
the Obama Administration’s 
reduction target of “in the 
range of” 17 percent below 2005 
levels by 2020. Importantly, 
longer-term reductions require 
comprehensive legislation. 

 Last year, EPA made final 
its determination that global 
warming pollution constitutes 
a public danger. Since then 
several pieces of legislation have 
been introduced that would 
short circuit EPA’s authority, all 
of which are opposed by NWF.

 Joe Mendelson, global warming 
policy director for NWF served 
as co-counsel throughout the 
landmark case (Mass. v EPA) 
that resulted EPA’s action to 
curb global warming pollution. 
Mendelson praised WRI’s 
findings saying:

 “The WRI study shows that we 
have tools that can start us on 
the road to achieving significant 
greenhouse gas reductions but 
still more needs to be done. EPA 
action can take us significantly 
down the path of averting the 
climate crisis but we will need 
aggressive climate and energy 
legislation to ultimately end our 
addiction to fossil fuels.

 “Of course Big Oil doesn’t 
want to be held accountable for 
their pollution and will dig into 
their wallets and mobilize their 
army of lobbyists to fight EPA 
at every turn. WRI has made 
it acutely clear why we’ll fight 
tooth and nail against Big Oil 
backed challenges in Congress 
to EPA action.” 

 The National Wildlife 
Federation is America's largest 
conservation organization 
inspiring Americans to protect 
wildlife for our children's 
future.


Arcadia Police Blotter

For the period of Sunday, July 11, through Saturday, 
July 17, the Police Department responded to 954 
calls for service of which 122 required formal 
investigations. The following is a summary report 
of the major incidents handled by the Department 
during this period.

Sunday, July 11:

1. Between 2:20 p.m. and 2:35 p.m., a 
residential burglary occurred in the 2400 block of 
El Monte. Unknown suspects entered the home 
through an unlocked bedroom window and stole 
a plasma television, DVD player, cameras, laptop 
computer, and other miscellaneous property. The 
homeowner returned home and saw three male 
Hispanic subjects in a green vehicle leave the 
scene. 

2. Around 10:25 p.m., a consensual contact 
was made with a bicyclist at Live Oak and Second. 
The 54-year-old male Hispanic parolee consented 
to a search, and officers found a smoking pipe 
and baggies containing methamphetamine and 
marijuana. The subject also had a misdemeanor 
warrant and was taken into custody for possession 
of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, 
possession of drug paraphernalia, and felony 
parole violation.

Monday, July 12:

3. A residential burglary occurred in the 
1000 block of Fairview between 12:30 p.m. and 
4:00 p.m. Unknown suspect(s) smashed a window 
to gain entrance into the house. The suspect(s) 
then ransacked rooms and stole cash.

4. Units responded to Westfield Mall 
around 3:46 p.m. in reference to two 18-year-
old subjects detained for theft. While in the 
American Apparel store, one Filipino female was 
seen concealing merchandise in her purse; the 
other Chinese female was located outside the store 
wearing a stolen jacket from Cotton On. Private 
persons’ arrests were made, and they were taken 
into custody without incident.

Tuesday, July 13:

5. Shortly after 2:30 a.m., units were 
dispatched to the 800 block of West Huntington 
in reference to a restraining order violation. 
Upon arrival, officers located a vehicle with 
three occupants. A 27-year-old male Caucasian 
suspect was sitting in the back seat with computer 
equipment and a duffle bag containing credit cards 
and personal identifying information belonging to 
different individuals. In a previous incident, the 
suspect held a knife to a woman’s throat and took 
her cell phone. The man was arrested for robbery 
and receiving stolen property.

6. Around 10:00 p.m., a witness saw three 
male subjects attempting to pry open a rear 
window of a closed business in the 00 block of 
East Duarte. Officers located the suspects in an 
alley and they admitted to trying to break into the 
business to steal property. Two Caucasian 

suspects, ages 16 and 18, and an 18-year-old 
Hispanic were taken into custody for attempted 
commercial burglary.

Wednesday, July 14:

7. A victim came to the station 
around 10:19 a.m. to file a fraud report. She was 
checking her account online and discovered an 
unauthorized transfer of almost $16,000 into a 
bank account that did not belong to her.

8. Between 11:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., a 
residential burglary occurred in the 00 block of 
East Colorado. Unknown suspect(s) gained entry 
into the residence by smashing a window and 
then reaching inside to unlock the front door. 
The suspect(s) then stole a semi-automatic rifle, a 
12-gauge shotgun, and several ammunition clips.

Thursday, July 15:

9. Officers were sent to the 5600 block of 
North Peck around 1:00 p.m. regarding a fraud 
investigation. The owner mailed a check for 
$80,337 in March, and in June she discovered 
that the check had not reached the recipient but 
was cashed at a check cashing business.

10. Around 3:18 p.m., units responded to 
the 300 block of Fairview in reference to two 
male subjects possibly smoking marijuana. An 
18-year-old man was arrested for possession of 
marijuana and possession of a driver’s license 
belonging to another individual. 

Friday, July 16:

11. A victim came to the station around 7:45 
p.m. to file an identity theft report. On July 9, 
she received an overdue notice from a collection 
agency. She checked her credit report and 
discovered that a line of credit with a balance 
of $11,242 was opened using her personal 
identifying information without her knowledge.

12. Between 3:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., a 1998 
black Honda Civic was stolen from the Peacock 
parking structure located at Westfield Mall.

Saturday, July 17:

13. At approximately 3:00 p.m., units were 
called to County Park regarding an assault that 
just occurred. A 46-year-old female Caucasian 
transient was arrested for assault with a deadly 
weapon when she attempted to strike a male 
transient with her vehicle. Investigation revealed 
that the two transients were involved in a physical 
altercation several hours prior to the assault.

14. Loss prevention personnel from JC 
Penney detained a woman for theft around 4:50 
p.m. The suspect was seen concealing a necklace 
in her bra and then left the store without making 
payment. She stole 14 pieces of jewelry from JC 
Penney and 3 necklaces from Claires for a total of 
$661. A private person’s arrest was made, and the 
30-year-old Hispanic was taken into custody for 
grand theft.


THE WORLD AROUND US


Astronomers Discover An Unusual Cosmic Lens

 Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology 
(Caltech) and Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) 
in Switzerland have discovered the first known case of a distant 
galaxy being magnified by a quasar acting as a gravitational lens. 
The discovery, based in part on observations done at the W. M. 
Keck Observatory on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, was published July 16 
in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

 Quasars, which are extraordinary luminous objects in the 
distant universe, are thought to be powered by supermassive black 
holes in the cores of galaxies. A single quasar could be a thousand 
times brighter than an entire galaxy of a hundred billion stars, 
which makes studies of their host galaxies exceedingly difficult. 
The significance of the discovery, the researchers say, is that it 
provides a novel way to understand these host galaxies.

 “It is a bit like staring into bright car headlights and trying to 
discern the color of their rims,” says Frederic Courbin of EPFL, 
the lead author on the paper. Using gravitational lensing, he says, 
“we now can measure the masses of these quasar host galaxies and 
overcome this difficulty.”

 According to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, if a large mass 
(such as a big galaxy or a cluster of galaxies) is placed along the line 
of sight to a distant galaxy, the part of the light that comes from the 
galaxy will split. Because of this, an observer on Earth will see two 
or more close images of the now-magnified background galaxy.

 The first such gravitational lens was discovered in 1979, and 
produced an image of a distant quasar that was magnified and 
split by a foreground galaxy. Hundreds of cases of gravitationally 
lensed quasars are now known. But, until the current work, the 
reverse process—a background galaxy being lensed by the massive 
host galaxy of a foreground quasar—had never been detected.

 The use of gravitational lensing to measure the masses of distant 
galaxies independent of their brightness was first suggested in 
1936 by Mount Wilson/Caltech astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky, and 
the technique has been used effectively for this purpose in recent 
years. Until now, it had never been applied to measure the masses 
of quasar host galaxies. 

 To find this cosmic lens, the astronomers searched a large 
database of quasar spectra obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky 
Survey (SDSS) to select candidates for “reverse” quasar-galaxy 
gravitational lensing. Follow-up observations of the best 
candidate—quasar SDSS J0013+1523, located about 1.6 billion 
light years away—using the W. M. Keck Observatory’s 10-meter 
telescope, confirmed that the quasar was indeed magnifying a far 
more distant galaxy, located about 7.5 billion light years away.

 “We were delighted to see that this idea actually works,” says 
Georges Meylan, a professor of physics and leader of the EPFL 
team. “This discovery demonstrates the continued utility of 
gravitational lensing as an astrophysical tool.” 

 “Quasars are valuable probes of galaxy formation and 
evolution,” says Professor of Astronomy S. George Djorgovski, 
leader of the Caltech team. Furthermore, he adds, “discoveries of 
more such systems will help us understand better the relationship 
between quasars and the galaxies which contain them, and their 
coevolution.”

 Images of the lens are available at http://www.astro.caltech.
edu/~george/qsolens/.

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@MtnViewsNews.com.


Image of the quasar SDSS J0013+1523 (blue), bracketed by the 
lensed images of the background galaxy (red), obtained with the 
W. M. Keck Observatory’s 10-m telescope and Adaptive Optics.