818 Roundup: Glendale, Burbank insurance rates among state’s highest, Burbank Airport top cop gets raise

Good morning, 818 readers. Today is Wednesday, March 19, 2014. Forecasters predict the high will be 78 and low 54 in the Glendale area.

Here are your top headlines in the region:

• A new report finds that Glendale drivers pay the most for auto insurance in California, topping a statewide list of more than 200 cities that ranks Burbank as sixth highest.

• Bob Hope Airport Police Chief Ed Skvarna is getting a 4% pay raise this year following a unanimous vote on Monday by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

• Burbank earned an A grade from the Los Angeles Conservancy recently -- up from a C- in 2008 -- for boosting its historic preservation efforts during the past few years by designating several homes as local landmarks and stepping up an outreach campaign.

• The California Department of Transportation will host an open house Thursday for the public to learn about the Empire interchange freeway-construction project in Burbank. The meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the community room of the Burbank Community Services Building, 150 N. 3rd St.

• Attorneys for three Burbank men charged in connection with a double stabbing at the Santa Monica Pier in January said Monday that one of the men was defending himself after being provoked and attacked, while the other two weren’t involved in the fight.

-- Sameea Kamal, sameea.kamal@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter: @SameeaKamal.