Aveson Charter Schools is sponsoring a free, open-to-the-public parent education event Monday, April 29, 6:30 -8:30 PM. at Aveson School of Leaders, 1919 E. Pinecrest Drive in Altadena.  Guest speaker, Dr. Niki Elliot, will present “Healing the Child From Within,” and explore how a child’s behavior can improve through balancing his/her energy field.  Parents will gain an understanding of how colors, sounds and dietary resources can help a child focus and learn and how learning style analysis can support parents in making informed choices about their child’s education. 

The Pasadena Police Department will be taking drugs back today at their headquarters, 207 Garfield Avenue in Pasadena.  The Altadena Sheriff’s Station has disposal bins for both legal and illegal drugs and sharps on the Altadena Drive side of the sheriff’s station,

by Timothy Rutt

“Salvage,’ the latest film from Altadena’s MoonHill Productions, now has its trailer online.

Richard Moon (who with his wife Isabel J. Hildebrandt and their partner Colleen Kelly comprise MoonHill)  writes us:

“Wreck-It-Ralph,” starring John C. Reilly, will be showing at Donley Field at Longfellow School, 1165 E Washington Boulevard in Pasadena.  Free admission and surprises in store, including a special raffle.

There will be taco plates for sale for dinner along with candy, popcorn, and drinks at the snack shack. 

The festivities start at 7 PM,

• Altadena spring: Local photog Heather Bullard went to a workshop at the Institute for Domestic Technology, and got some good shots of the Zane Grey Estate in the spring.
• Awards: Our content partners at the Pasadena Sun and other Times Community Newspapers cleaned up pretty good at the California Newspaper Publisher Association contest.  Nicole Charky has the scoop.
• Doo-dah:  The Sun also has a collection of photos of yesterday’s Doo-Dah parade (but alas,

The focus of the AML Conference is to provide young girls with tools for personal and professional growth; challenge them to raise their expectations; promote leadership and encourage them to pursue a post high school education, so that they may achieve their goals and have a positive impact on their lives and on the lives of others.

One of California’s greatest policy challenges – air quality – will be the topic of a free public forum Saturday, May 11, 2013, from 8:30-11 a.m. The Sierra Club, Sustainable World of All Saints Pasadena and the League of Women Voters Pasadena Area are joining hands to sponsor the forum at All Saints’ Sweetland Hall, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena.

While California is leading the way in air-quality policy,

• Poetry Month: Sid Galley in PSN looks at some local female poets for Poetry Month, including Altadena’s Jean Burden.  
• Some days the bear bites you: Some of the neighbors on Chaney Trail are reporting that a bear has gotten into some bad habits and is rooting through the trash cans, so head’s up!
• Eliot end of year meeting: Over at Eliot Middle School, there will be an important end-of-year parent meeting on Wed,

Southern California Edison is reporting (as of 1:15 PM) that 636 customers are currently without power (we're getting reports of outages from businesses along Lake Avenue, just to let you know the area).  Outage was first spotted at 11:30 AM this morning. Edison's outage web page says they're aware of the problem, blame it on equipment failure,

Senator Carol Liu invites current and former foster youth to a town hall style meeting on Saturday (May 4, 2013) in Pasadena. In recent years, California has improved permanency for thousands of children and youth in foster care, however many foster youth still lack a safety net, permanent family, housing, or income.

“Every child needs and deserves to feel love,

Nancy Romero lives in a 1909 Craftsman farmhouse and — up until late 2012 — she had a row of boxelders that were the same vintage.

But now she’s gone from a shady garden to a sunny garden, and not by choice.

Romero called an arborist when the trees were showing obvious signs of distress.  The arborist said they had to be cut down —

• Eat I: Shawna Dawson of Altadena and Sonja Rasula are the organizers of the annual LA Street Food Fest at the Rose Bowl on June 29. This event always sells out and tickets go quickly — you can get more information at LAstreetfoodfest.com.
• Eat II: The Eliot Middle School PTA tells us that El Patron Mexican Restaurant, 2555 N. Lake Ave.,  will give a portion of the proceeds from every customer who eats in or gets takeout,

According to Rick Keaton of the election committee, packets should be available by Thursday, April 18, at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Drive. Completed packets should be delivered to the Altadena Community Center no later than 5 PM May 17. There will also be a candidate forum at the Altadena Town Council meeting on May 21.

MonteCedro – the along-planned retirement community on the site of the historic Scripps Home – plans to finally break ground late this summer.

Martha L. Tamburrano, president/CEO of the Episcopal Homes Communities, told the Altadena Town Council at Tuesday night’s meeting, “This project is going to be a $100 million construction investment in Altadena, but what it’s really going to be is a long – term investment in the community.”

Tamburrano said that the project is going to bring about 100 jobs to Altadena with good pay,

Altadenablog, your only Altadena-based news website,  has opened up a new Facebook page exclusively for Altadena businesses.

“Shop Altadena” is a one-stop place on Facebook where local businesses can share their sales, openings, new product lines, etc.  You do not have to be an Altadenablog sponsor to participate, but we DO love our sponsors!

Please note that this is only open to local businesses (home-based,

As reported in the LA Times and at its community websites, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has suspended this year’s open house, which always draws thousands to the NASA facility every spring.

The event, which had been scheduled for June 8 and 9, was a casualty of the federal government’s sequestration budget cuts.

According to JPL’s website,

As the nation grieves with Boston, another tragic event took place in Texas. We are thinking about the countless people who have experienced loss, not only of their homes, but of loved ones. We are thinking about the many businesses there that were damaged or entirely decimated.

We will be taking donations at the store,

According to a release from Phi Kappa Phi, Nancy Warter-Perez, Hengchun Ye, and Stacey Boland were inducted into the honor society.

Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Two things are buzzing in Altadena at the moment — we’re on the case, but not really getting anywhere right now:

• Bakery and deli at Ralphs?  That’s the rumor going around: Greg and Ericka Lozano-Buhl have been passing around a picture in the local newsgroups that say the long-neglected Ralphs Market on Lake Avenue will start construction of a deli and bakery this summer,

From Michele Zack at Altadena Heritage, the April 24 workshop on tree-killing pests is now free for everyone.   Previous story here. 

Zack emailed that the AH board decided at the April 17 meeting “since we all benefit if fewer trees die in Altadena, we will open the April 24 Altadena: Heritage of Abundance workshop presented by Arboretum tree expert Franch McDonough as a ‘free to everyone’

• WFS needs love:  Webster’s Fine Stationers, 2045 N. Lake Avenue, is entered in the “Small Business Going Strong”  contest with Intuit. They’re looking for a $5,000 prize to help upgrade their interior to support more arts events, which have become a mainstay with the local business.  Hit it here to vote for Webster’s!
• Garage sale:  No strangers to these pages Marisol Martinez and Lance Anderson are lightening their load this weekend with a Giant Garage Sale.

Join us for an educational evening exploring one of the most important issues facing us today.  Learn what you can do to advocate for your views.