9:35am | As the 5th year of the Long Beach Post draws to a close, we take a look back at our ten most read and most discussed articles of 2011.                                                                                  

  1. Police Chief Confirms Detaining Photographers Within Departmental Policy
    Police Chief Jim McDonnell confirmed that detaining photographers for taking pictures “with no apparent esthetic value” is within Long Beach Police Department policy.
  2. Celebration of Life for Bixby Announced; A Message From Theresa Bixby; Other Plane Crash Updates
    Jeffrey Albert Berger, 49, of Manhattan Beach; Mark Llewellyn Bixby, 44, of Long Beach; Kenneth Earl Cruz, 43, of Culver City; Thomas Fay Dean, 50, of Laguna Beach; and Bruce Michael Krall, 51, of Ladera Ranch, were killed when their Beechcraft King Air 200 Turboprop fixed-wing, twin-engine plane crashed upon take-off from Long Beach Municipal Airport. 51-year-old Michael Jensen, also of Long Beach, was the sole survivor.
  3. Shaun’s Memorial Truly Reflected a Celebration
    Shaun Lumachi, publisher of the Long Beach Post, local innovator, brilliant businessman, and avid community leader, passed away due to a fatal car accident while he was in Miami representing the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network.
  4. Councilman Dee Andrews Releases Official Information for Nate Dogg Memorial Services; Public Tickets Limited to 1,000
    Nathaniel Dwayne Hale, better known as Nate Dogg and regarded as the soulman of G-Funk, died at the age of 41.
  5. Man Thought to Have Committed Suicide ID’ed; Victim’s Friends Say Fall Was Likely Accidental
    Dwayne Russell Browning, 46, of Long Beach fell to his death from the six-story First National Bank of Long Beach Building on the northwest corner of North Pine Avenue and West First Street. Several of Russell’s friends reported that Russell was an amateur photographer who often took pictures of the city’s skyline atop various multi-level buildings in the area.
  6. Police Release Video Of Second Robbery Victim In Store Clerk Murder
    In their continued effort to find the suspects who robbed and killed 53-year old store clerk Sor Phouam, the Long Beach Police Department released video footage of the incident with a clear picture of a second man who was robbed by the suspects.
  7. Long Beach State Releases Statement Regarding Campus Death
    Annette Lujan, a Cal State Long Beach employee, was fatally injured in an apparent elevator malfunction in the CSULB Foundation building.
  8. What Are the 10 Worst Decisions in Long Beach History?
    There are two possible outcomes for every public decision made: a positive one that improves the well-being of a city, and a negative one that not only has the opposite desired effect, but also serves as a source of embarrassment to the populace.
  9. More Press-Telegram Employees Laid Off; Sports, Photo Departments Moved to Torrance
    The photography and sports departments at the Press-Telegram have ceased to exist, with most of those formerly employed in those departments now reporting for work at the Daily Breeze as employees of the Torrance daily newspaper. Former PT staff photographers Steven Georges and Diandra Jay, as well as sports columnist Frank Burlison, were handed pink slips and told to clear out their desks.
  10. Gourmet Food Trucks Hitting Long Beach Streets May 4 Following Council’s Approval of Regulations
    The Long Beach City Council threw its support behind allowing lunch trucks to operate within city limits so long as they are permitted and pass inspections by the city’s health department. Previously, food trucks were allowed to operate in construction zones, but there were no rules in place to regulate them.

Happy New Year, and see you in 2012!

Previous years in review: