818 Roundup: Burbank veteran goes big with yard decorations to honor his own

Good morning, 818, and happy Veterans Day. Today is Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015. Temperatures for today are forecasted to reach a high of 70 and a low of 49 with sunny skies, according to the National Weather Service.

Here are your local headlines:

• In honor of Veterans Day, Burbank resident Marciano Ventura, who served on the served on the U.S.S. Hancock during the Vietnam War, is celebrating Veteran Day by decorating his frontyard in star-spangled splendor to honor his fellow veterans.

• A 27-year-old Arizona man was charged this week after allegedly forcing his way into a Burbank home looking for his estranged wife and holding several of her family members hostage at gunpoint while demanding money, police said.

• Glendale firefighters, along with members of Montrose women’s gym, raised nearly $1,800 during a battle-of-the-sexes fitness challenge on Saturday for a Glendale-based nonprofit that helps burn survivors.

• After 30 years housing thousands of used novels crammed into towering bookshelves, the former location of the now-closed Brand Bookshop could soon be home to a pizzeria and gastro pub.

• A Glendale couple was arrested after a tracking device in a stolen laptop pointed investigators to their home, officials said.

• Hoping to attract tech businesses and entrepreneurs to the “Media Capital of the World,” Burbank hosted a “tech summit” last Thursday, drawing attendees from Santa Monica and Orange County, as well as closer neighboring communities such as Pasadena and Studio City to the Tower in Burbank’s Media District.

• A Star Wars light saber, a Girl Scout cookie-oven and a high-fiving robot shared a table with other toys predicted by Glendale Galleria’s management staff to be the hottest kids’ gifts this holiday season.

• Ken Burns, the award-winning filmmaker whose 2009 film focused on the nation’s national parks, was named Tuesday morning as the Grand Marshal for 2016 Rose Parade, which will carry the theme, “Find Your Adventure.”

• The Burbank Recycle Center will celebrate America Recycles Day with an event that’s open to the public on Sunday.

• A Seedling pop-up store, which specializes in children’s toys, gifts and activity kits, opened recently in the Americana at Brand.

• The Burbank Public Library and Warner Bros. will present a screening of the animated film “The Iron Giant” next week. The film has been remastered with two new scenes added.

• The French Confection Co., a French-American pastry shop, which sells items such as homemade chocolate chip cookies and French macaroons opened recently in Burbank.

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Ryan Fonseca, ryan.fonseca@latimes.com

Twitter: @RyFons