A five-bedroom Long Beach house listed at $249,900 joined the list of most-searched-for homes nationwide at Realtor.com last week among homes priced within 20% of the median list price of $219,000.

Here are the top 5 in the order they ranked:

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Truck pollution to reach 80 percent reduction two years ahead of plan

The Port of Long Beach will reduce truck pollution in the harbor by almost 80 percent by the end of the year, two years earlier than port executives anticipated when they launched the clean-trucks plan in the fall of 2008.

Long Beach and neighboring Los Angeles introduced clean-trucks programs on Oct. 1, 2008, when they banned all pre-1989 trucks. Since then, harbor truckers have purchased more than 5,000 vehicles that meet the federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for 2007-model trucks.

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NEW YORK — Home prices across most of the country have started to rise from the depths of the housing slump, a crucial trend that might help stabilize the broader U.S. economy, according to figures released Tuesday.

Nationally, prices in the second quarter posted their first quarterly increase in three years, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index of 20 major cities.

Home prices are still 30 percent below their mid-2006 peak and 15 percent lower than in the second quarter of 2008, but their new direction could bring relief to lenders and homeowners.

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For nostalgic Americans, boardwalks are the stuff of summer dreams, mixing memories of salt water taffy at sunset, white-knuckled wooden rollercoaster rides, and kids with dogs racing along weathered walkways.  James Lilliefors, author of America’s Boardwalks, From Coney Island to California, says boardwalks have always been “bright, alluring, loud, lucrative and very American.”

Still, as Park World magazine reported in 2007, “In the 1920s there were more than 1,500 authentic seaside amusement parks in the United States, today there are less than two dozen.” Despite these dwindling numbers, those that remain are flourishing: Where once boardwalks were merely the venue for the world’s greatest oddities, now they have a civic purpose, acting as a nexus for local business and a spur to nostalgia-based urban renewal.

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The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are so busy that they move more cargo than the next five largest U.S. ports combined. They’re so efficient that they process more international trade in one month than most North American harbors handle in an entire year.

Now the friendly rivals are leading the way into unexpected waters: attracting, testing and funding cutting-edge technology to reduce emissions and fuel consumption at the ports.

Even as their revenues declined and their budgets shrank in the worst global recession in more than 60 years, the twin ports have become accidental venture capitalists of sorts in the world of green technology.

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If your tastebuds are hungry for  Maine lobsters flown in fresh from the Atlantic, the Original Long Beach Lobster Festival (www.originallobsterfestival.com)  has a lobster bib with your name on it September 11 through September 13, 2009.

An international food court, beer and wine gardens, live musical entertainment, along with lobster feasts prepared by Bristol Farms (www.bristolfarms.com) chef Bruce Jacobs and staff (including lobster, butter dipping sauce, lemon, coleslaw, dinner roll and watermelon) are all part of the weekend fun, happening at Rainbow Lagoon in Long Beach, 400 Shoreline Drive.

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Earlier this week, Governor Schwarzenegger’s office announced that nearly $11 million in stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would be awarded to ten California workforce organizations, and the City of Long Beach was awarded with $935,797.

“Using Recovery funds and public-private partnerships, the California Green Jobs Corps will help 1,500 at-risk young adults realize a brighter future while stimulating our economy and working toward a greener California,” Schwarzenegger said in the press release.

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The huge car carrier ship called the M/V Auriga Leader idled at the Port of Long Beach, burning through enough electricity to power 100 homes as workers loaded and unloaded a fleet of Toyotas.

But unlike any of the diesel-spewing, power-draining vessels that travel here, the Auriga Leader sports 328 solar panels on its top deck — a small array that provides 10% of the energy used by the giant ship while she is docked.

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Atlantic Avenue between Carson Street and San Antonio Drive will be jammed with cars on July 11, when the Fourth Annual Dragster Expo and Car Show hits the street from 2 until 7 p.m.

The event began in 2006 as the brainchild of Eighth District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, whose late husband Gary Gabelich is best known for setting a world land speed record of 622.407 mph in the rocket-powered Blue Flame and was also a power boat and drag boat champion.

“We hope this is the most successful year ever appealing to people in the neighborhoods looking for something to do close to home,” said Gabelich, whose office coordinates the event with the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association (BKBIA).

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Another $3 million in federal economic stimulus money will come to Long Beach, this time in the form of support for the Water Department’s seawater desalination testing facility.

This money comes through the Department of Interior as part of a $134.3 million allocation from the Bureau of Reclamation for water projects in the west. Ultimately, the money came from the $1 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for economic stimulus.

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