🌱Shoutout To Sydney McKeever + 20 LBUSD Schools Without AC For Years

Hi neighbors; today is National Cinema Day! It’s Sylvia, your well-informed host of the Long Beach Daily. Here’s all the community news you need to know right now. Grab an iced tea, and read about:

• 👩‍🎓 Poly High senior Sydney McKeever
• 🏫 LBUSD schools without HVAC
• 🔐 The Compound closure

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☀️ First, today's weather:

Mostly sunny and hot. High: 97 Low: 75.

🌡️ FYI: Long Beach Cooling Centers are open daily from noon to 6 p.m. You find them at the Houghton, McBride, and Admiral Kidd community centers as well as the Senior Center and El Dorado Park West.

🏡 Looking for more real estate leads in Long Beach? Let us help you reach prospective home buyers and stand out from the competition. Click here to learn more.

⛽ Three Of The Cheapest Gas Stations In Long Beach

• Sinclair at 5588 Long Beach Blvd., $4.59
• Arco at 1785 Bellflower Blvd., $4.69
• Arco at 1001 Redondo Ave., $4.75

🗳️ November Election Poll!
Beginning October 6, and continuing through October 10, every registered voter is mailed a ‘Vote By Mail’ ballot. How are you planning to vote this November? Please let us know! So far, 19.4% plan to vote in person on election day, 66.7% will be voting by mail, 8.3% intend to vote early in person, and 5.6% plan to sit this one out.

📰 Here are the top five stories today in Long Beach:

1) A shoutout to Sydney McKeever, the 17-year-old Poly High senior who just published “The Vegetarian Cookbook for People Who Don’t Like Vegetables” (ISBN ‎ 979-8438339151). While dealing with the health challenges presented by arteriovenous malformation, she turned to cooking as a distraction. From there, it was a short step to writing down recipes, fine-tuning them, and perfecting them some more. We learned on Friday that McKeever is donating profits of the book sales to the Joe Niekro Foundation, “a nonprofit that is dedicated to supporting AVM patients and their families.” (Press-Telegram)

2) Which Long Beach Unified School District students endure the sweltering heat without air conditioning in their classrooms? We learned on Thursday that “there are still more than 20 elementary, middle, and high schools with either partial or no air-conditioning in the district.” Bancroft Middle School and Holmes Elementary School are supposed to have HVAC by next summer. Others schools that will have to wait longer include Beach, Birney, Carver, Emerson, Gant, Gompers, Henry, Los Cerritos, and Monroe elementary schools; Hoover, Marshall, Stanford, and Washington middle schools and Millikan High School. You may remember that “voters in 2016 approved the $1.5 billion Measure E to fund HVAC and turf fields and other athletic facilities.” (Long Beach Post)

3) The Compound, a nonprofit community art center at 1395 Coronado Avenue, closed its doors on Thursday. “We never imagined when we started conceptually six years ago that we would be opening in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and have faced unforeseeable and insurmountable challenges,” the venue’s founder explained. While in operation, the Zaferia district space offered workshops, dining, yoga classes and similar events. (Compound Long Beach)

4) The Long Beach QFilms Festival is coming to the Art Theater at 2025 East Fourth Street. It features “the best in LGBTQ independent films” and will run from September 8 to 11. An opening night reception will take place at The Center at 2017 East Fourth Street from 8 p.m. to 1 p.m. (Q Films Long Beach)

5) Mark your calendars! The Long Beach Symphony will play its RuMBa Foundation Family Concert on October 2. The performance, which is free to kids under 17, takes place at Terrace Theater from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. However, there will be activities at the Terrace Plaza including “an instrument petting zoo, musical games and performances, arts and crafts, hula dancing, kid-friendly food trucks, and creative play areas that invite families to experience and play music together.” Adult tickets are $20. (Broadway World)

📆 Today in Long Beach:

• North LB Crop Swap (1st Sat., Monthly) at 6509 Gundry Ave (9 a.m.)
• Long Beach Comic Con 2022 at the Convention Center (10 a.m.)
• From Where They Stood with Special Guest Q&A and Lecture by Donald Schwartz, Ph.D. at the Art Theatre of Long Beach (11 a.m.)
• Long Beach Greek Festival at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (noon)
• Angles In America Part Two: Perestroika Opening Night at the Long Beach Playhouse (7 p.m.)

📓 From my notebook:

• 📢PUBLIC NOTICE❕ Officials will resume in-person City Council meetings at the Bob Foster Civic Chambers, 411 W. Ocean Blvd., starting Tue., 9/6. Council meetings temporarily transitioned to in-person/virtual hybrid format in July due to the COVID. (Long Beach City via Facebook)
• The Long Beach Parks, Recreation & Marine will continue offering its Mobile Recess Program for youth this fall, with a new series beginning Sept. 6 through Oct. 28, 2022. (Long Beach City via Facebook)
• A Lakewood Village neighbor reports a coyote sighting at 8:15pm next to Mark Twain School. Keep your little pets inside! (Nextdoor)

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Events:

• Breast Ultrasound Screening Coming Direct to You! (September 6)
• OC ParaCon Oct 1-2, 2022 (October 1)
• Add your event

Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Saturday. I'll see you soon!

— Sylvia Cochran

About me: Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing full-time since 2005. She loves dogs, cats, books, plays Best Fiends (don't judge), embraces social justice, and tries to live out Micah 6:8.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Long Beach Daily? Contact me at LongBeach-CA@Patch.com