Here are a few photos from recent AP assignments. The most recent was to cover a home foreclosure auction hosted by Auction.com at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport. More than 100 homes were on the block, with starting prices of only a small fraction of the stated value. It wasn’t the most exciting thing to cover, but it was interesting to see. Some were there just to check it out, while others walked out with multiple new properties to add to their investment portfolios. The second assignment (photos after jump) was from a bomb scare that cleared out around 100 guests at the Clarion Hotel in San Pedro. Early reports received by most of the news outlets painted a much scarier picture that what the reality turned out to be. Most of us had rushed to the scene expecting to see a fire caused by a car that had either blown up or crashed into the side of the hotel. What had in fact happened was that someone had lit an M-80 firecracker around the same time that an SUV had been vandalized in the parking garage below the hotel. When the sound was investigated and the vandalized car was discovered, authorities jumped to a worst-case scenario and evacuated the building, also closing down access to the area within 1000 feet in all directions. Hotel guests were escorted up the street and eventually loaded onto a bus that took them to the nearest police station. After a while they apparently protested and were allowed to leave, according to a female guest with whom I briefly spoke. After an hour or so, the scene was declared safe by the bomb squad and we were allowed to come see the damage. Other than being a nuisance, it was pretty much a non-event in the end. Except for the guy who owned the car. He had just returned that day from a cruise to find his car messed up and a bunch of reporters and police surrounding the scene. And it was his birthday no less. Bummer.
