🌱 Shoutout To Cmdr. Shaleana Benson + Queen Mary Hotel Rooms To Open

Hello, everybody! Today, we play a tune on National Kazoo Day. It's Saturday in Long Beach, and I'm back in your inbox with everything you need to know that's happening in town. In today's briefing, you'll learn about these stories and more...

• 🚓 Shots fired on 15th Street
• 📕 Dana Library reopens one day a week
• 🧹 Money for small business owners affected by vandalism

❤️ Loving the Long Beach Daily? Tell a friend and send them this link, so they can subscribe!

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🌤️ But first, today's weather:

Partly sunny. High: 63 Low: 52.

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Business owners and marketers in Long Beach: Do you want to build awareness with local customers? I have a limited number of sponsorships available to introduce our readers to local businesses they need to know. Click here to learn more.

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⛽ Three of the Cheapest Gas Stations in the City of Long Beach

• ARCO at 3201 E 7th St., $3.99
• Food 4 Less at 6700 Cherry Ave., $3.99
• ARCO at 5742 Orange Ave., $3.99

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💐 Valentine's Day Poll! 🥂
Pink hearts, boxes of chocolates, and greeting cards – reminders that Valentine's Day is coming are everywhere. But responses to the holiday are mixed. What are your feelings about the occasion? Do you celebrate? So far, 48% take a bah-humbug approach, while 43.9% plan on a Valentine's Day with all the trimmings. 2% plan on celebrating Galentine's Day, and 6.1% focus on Singles Awareness Day.

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📰 Here are the top stories in Long Beach today:

1. On Friday morning, just before 1 a.m., somebody fired shots into a home in the 100 block of West 15th Street. There were no injuries, and the cops found plenty of evidence, "including bullet casings and strike marks." (Long Beach Police Department)
2. The Dana Neighborhood Library at 3680 Atlantic Avenue will reopen for in-person browsing and amenity use beginning February 4. However, it will only open one day a week, Saturday. Patrons can visit Saturday between noon and 5 p.m. On Tuesday through Friday, to-go service only will run from noon to late afternoon. No word yet on when Brewitt and Alamitos will reopen. (Press-Telegram)
3. Another reopening of note is the Queen Mary. Slated for sometime in the spring, scuttlebutt says that throwing open the doors will include "hotel rooms, retail, some full-service food offerings, tours and event spaces." Areas that remain closed at first will open over the summer. Stay tuned! (Long Beach Post)
4. If you're a small business owner whose storefront was vandalized after October 1, listen up! The city funded a Visual Improvement Grant with $350,000. Affected business owners will be able to apply for grants of $1,500 to pay "for storefront repairs, boarding costs, insurance deductibles and business operating expenses." The application process opens February 22. (City of Long Beach)
5. A shoutout to Long Beach Police Department Lieutenant Shaleana Benson! Effective today, Saturday, she is promoted to Commander. Benson has been with the department for 18 years and will be assigned to the Community Outreach, Response and Enforcement Division (CORE). Congratulations! (Long Beach Police Department)

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📆 Today in Long Beach:

• Festival Of Human Abilities at the Aquarium Of The Pacific (9 AM)
• Indie Bookstore Field Trip & Meetup at the Casita Bookstore (11 AM)
• UC Davis vs. Long Beach State at the Walter Pyramid (1 PM)
• The Big Anime Pub Crawl meets at Shannon's on Pine (3 PM)
• Stephen Sharer performs at the Terrace Theater (6 PM)

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🖊️ From my notebook:

• "We are proud to welcome Academy Recruit Class #96 to the LBPD! 👮🏽‍♂️👮🏼‍♀️ Congratulations to our 41 new officers, who are dedicated to serving our Long Beach community for many years to come! Read more ⤵️ https://www.longbeach.gov/po..." (Long Beach Police Department (CA) via Facebook)
• "We want to take a moment to thank and acknowledge the 250+ volunteers that assisted with our Homelessness PIT Count. 🙏🏽 Thanks to our volunteers and City staff, we are able to count and survey people experiencing homelessness." (Long Beach City via Facebook)
• "🏡 The Housing Authority is offering incentives to landlords who open their rentals to families in need through our Emergency Housing Voucher program. 💙 Help make a difference and secure a stable home for those in need." (Long Beach City via Facebook)
• "Join the Los Angeles County Fire Department for Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) programs to learn basic training in safety and life-saving skills." (Nextdoor)

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More from our sponsors — thanks for supporting local news!

Events:

• South Bay Wind Ensemble presents From Chaos into Life (January 28)
• Gap Year and Summer Enrichment Fair (February 7)
• Add your event

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🛑 Consumer Product Recalls 🛑

Lead, undeclared allergens, and . . . foreign objects in food? Here are some of the latest consumer product recalls we ran across.

• ZLINE 30-inch, 36-inch and 48-inch RG gas ranges (1-26-23). Operating the oven may lead to dangerous emissions of carbon monoxide.
• Almondy's chocolate cake with Daim (1-25-23). There was a metal object in a cake. These were sold through IKEA.
• Mercedes-Benz' 2001-2011 C-Class, CLK, E-Class, and CLS vehicles. There's a chance that the glass sunroof panel isn't fastened correctly. The manufacturer will also send out letters on February 21.

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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Saturday! See you tomorrow for another update.

— 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