Illustration depicting a county mental health outreach event at a neighborhood library.

Eaton Fire survivors can get one-on-one tech help with online applications and appeals — by appointment on weekdays, or walk-in this Saturday

More than a year after the Eaton Fire, the forms are still coming.

FEMA appeals, insurance claim submissions, disaster assistance applications — the bureaucratic aftermath of the January 2025 disaster remains unfinished business for many Altadena survivors. To help them through it, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health has stationed an outreach team at the Altadena Library at Loma Alta Park, offering free, one-on-one, in-person tech support for anyone still struggling to navigate those online systems.

Sessions are available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment. Saturday, May 9 — from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — is a walk-in day: no appointment needed.

The library is at 3330 N. Lincoln Ave. in Loma Alta Park, housed in the park’s Social Hall.

To schedule a weekday appointment, visit https://forms.office.com/g/tTu38ihSxS. The appointment form is available in both English and Spanish, according to the department. The DMH team will follow up to confirm the appointment.

The county mental health department has maintained a recovery presence in Altadena since the fire, including walk-in counseling services at the Eaton Fire Collaborative at 540 W. Woodbury Road. According to LACDMH, the department’s outreach efforts at Loma Alta Park are part of a broader commitment to meet fire survivors where they are — literally, in their neighborhood — as the recovery process extends into its second year.

“While the Eaton and Palisades wildfires took place a year ago, many people continue to experience disaster-related distress, and the anniversary of the wildfires may reactivate trauma tied to these devastating events,” DMH Director Lisa H. Wong said in a statement issued in January 2026, according to LACDMH.

The tech support sessions address a different dimension: the practical work of navigating complex digital systems and submitting the paperwork that can unlock recovery assistance.

For more information or to make an appointment, contact Gisselle Diaz at (213) 965-6484 or GiDiaz@dmh.lacounty.gov, or James Kimura at (213) 965-6485 or JKimura@dmh.lacounty.gov.

The Eaton Fire destroyed 9,418 structures in and around Altadena on January 7, 2025, according to Cal Fire.

Parents, students and community members raised concerns about transparency, financial impact and student well-being during a Pasadena Unified School District town hall Tuesday on potential school consolidations.

District officials and consultants stressed declining enrollment and financial pressures as key drivers behind the discussion, while repeatedly acknowledging the emotional weight of possible school closures.

“This is an extremely difficult topic to talk about,” consultant Joseph Pandolfo told attendees, noting that schools are deeply tied to community identity and history.

Pandolfo said enrollment across the state has dropped significantly, with Pasadena Unified School District losing roughly 23% of its students over the past decade, a trend mirrored across Los Angeles County. The decline, he said, has left districts with more school capacity than students, forcing difficult decisions about how to allocate resources.

“If closures were the solution, why are we still here? Again,” said Shana Villalobos. “The district’s own survey reflects nearly a third of respondents do not believe consolidation will deliver the promised benefits. That is not a clear mandate. That is a lack of trust.”

District officials framed consolidation as a potential way to stabilize finances and preserve academic programs, arguing that fewer campuses could allow for stronger offerings and better use of limited funds.

“Closures are often considered to maintain financial stability and protect educational programs,” Pandolfo said, adding that resources saved could be reinvested into student services and facilities.

But many speakers pushed back, questioning whether past closures have delivered the promised benefits and warning that additional consolidation could further erode trust and enrollment.

“There’s no clarity in how this consolidation represents the overall budget needs,” said Jenny Collins. “We’re not saying how many schools should be consolidated to fill a certain gap, right? We have $30 million, and the numbers that we’re seeing about consolidation is just a tiny piece, and it doesn’t really address that big problem.”

District representatives said no final decisions have been made and stressed that the school board will ultimately determine whether any closures occur.

Officials also highlighted efforts to gather public input, including surveys, committee meetings and town halls, and said community feedback will be incorporated into a forthcoming equity impact analysis required under state guidelines.

However, parents and local residents criticized the pace of the process and the quality of information being provided, with one speaker calling the effort “flawed and ineffective” and alleging that community members have been asked to evaluate incomplete or inaccurate data.

Several parents also raised concerns about the potential impact on students, including overcrowding at receiving schools, loss of programs and disruptions to academic progress and social connections.

“The board is considering one size fits all, squeezing these kids into educational experiences that are not optimal for them, will not set them up for success, and that does upset me because PUSD’s superpower is choice,” said Emma Green.

The district is expected to release a draft report outlining potential consolidation scenarios in late May, followed by additional public input before the school board makes a final decision later this summer.

The Los Angeles that Jordan Harper writes about is not the one on the postcards. It is a city of nightcrawlers and fixers, of billionaires without boundaries and crimes that never make the papers. On Thursday night, Harper brings that city to Pasadena.

Harper, the Edgar Award-winning crime novelist and television producer, will discuss and sign his new novel, “A Violent Masterpiece,” at Vroman’s Bookstore at 7 p.m. He will be joined in conversation by S.A. Cosby, the New York Times bestselling author of “King of Ashes” and “Razorblade Tears.” The ticketed event includes a copy of the book, published April 28 by Mulholland Books.

“A Violent Masterpiece” follows three characters — a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler, a street lawyer, and a young woman searching for a missing friend — as their paths converge around a serial killer and a web of crimes reaching into the highest levels of Los Angeles power. The New York Times called the 384-page novel “the noir novel for our times,” according to the publisher’s listing. Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and Bookpage each gave the book starred reviews.

Harper, who was born in Missouri and now lives in Los Angeles, won the 2018 Edgar Award for Best First Novel for “She Rides Shotgun,” which has since been adapted into a major motion picture. He has also written and produced for television series including “The Mentalist,” “Gotham,” and “Hightown,” and is a co-showrunner on the Amazon series “Criminal.”

His conversant brings comparable credentials. Cosby, a New York Times bestselling author from southeastern Virginia, has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anthony Award, the ITW Thriller Award, and the Macavity Award, among others. His most recent novel, “King of Ashes,” was an instant New York Times bestseller. In a published blurb for “A Violent Masterpiece,” Cosby called Harper “not only the modern master of the unique neon noir of LA” but “one of the finest authors working today,” according to the publisher’s listing on Hachette Book Group’s website.

The event takes place at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Southern California’s oldest and largest independent bookstore. Founded in 1894, Vroman’s has hosted author events since 1939 and welcomes more than 400 community events a year.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite and include a copy of the book. A public book signing follows the conversation. For questions, contact Vroman’s at 626-449-5320 or email promo@vromansbookstore.com.

Fellow crime novelist Rob Hart perhaps put it most simply in his own published blurb for the novel: Harper, he wrote, “is a generational talent,” according to the publisher’s listing.

Mesha Dean, serving 49 years to life for shooting a man during a custody confrontation, seeks resentencing in a proceeding scheduled for Thursday morning

Nineteen years after a man was shot and killed on a cul-de-sac in Altadena while trying to stop two women from taking his 4-year-old nephew, the woman convicted of pulling the trigger is back in a Los Angeles courtroom, asking a judge to reconsider her sentence under laws that did not exist when she was convicted.

A status conference in the case of Mesha Arshaz Dean is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Department 110 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center at 210 W. Temple St. in Los Angeles. The hearing, before Judge Lisa B. Lench, is a procedural step in a multi-stage process under California Penal Code Section 1172.6 that could result in Dean’s murder conviction being vacated or her sentence reduced — or, if prosecutors prove she remains guilty under current legal standards, the petition being denied.

Dean was 25 when a jury convicted her on March 26, 2012, of second-degree murder, kidnapping and child endangerment for the March 18, 2007, fatal shooting of Monroe “Monty” Miles Jr., 32, at 4023 Canyon Dell Drive in Altadena. She was sentenced to 49 years and four months to life in state prison.

The shooting grew out of a custody dispute. Dean and her partner, Vanessa Marie Ochoa, had driven from Henderson, Nevada, to retrieve Ochoa’s son, who was staying with his father’s family. Miles, the child’s uncle, was caring for the boy while the father was out of town, according to court records.

A confrontation erupted when Miles tried to prevent them from taking the child. Prosecutors said Miles was unarmed. At trial, Deputy District Attorney Tamu Usher told the jury that Dean had come prepared with a loaded gun. Miles was shot and died about an hour later at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, according to court records reported by Altadena Now.

Dean’s defense attorney, Ed Murphy, argued at trial that Dean acted in self-defense, contending that Miles had become physically violent during the confrontation. Prosecutors maintained that Miles was acting as a concerned relative trying to protect his nephew from being taken without permission, according to Pasadena Now reporting on the case.

Dean and Ochoa fled to Nevada after the shooting and were arrested two days later in Las Vegas. The child was found unharmed. Ochoa pleaded guilty in August 2010 to voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping and child endangerment and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison, according to Patch.

Dean’s direct appeals were exhausted in 2014 when the California Supreme Court declined to review her case, following a rejection by the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Her current petition falls under PC 1172.6, a provision created by Senate Bill 1437, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018, and expanded by SB 775, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021. The laws reformed California’s felony murder rule and eliminated the natural and probable consequences doctrine for murder liability.

Under the revised statute, a person can be convicted of murder only if she was the actual killer, acted with intent to kill, or was a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life, according to the text of the statute. Dean’s conviction involved a shooting during a felony kidnapping. Her legal team is arguing that under current law, she could not have been convicted of murder under the theory used at trial, according to Altadena Now reporting on the case.

Prosecutors have the opportunity to contest the petition by proving that Dean remains guilty under the current legal standards.

Dean has appeared in court multiple times since filing the petition, including hearings in March and July 2025, consistent with the multi-stage PC 1172.6 process, according to Altadena Now.

The Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center is at 210 W. Temple St., Los Angeles. The Criminal Clerk’s Office can be reached at (213) 628-7900.

Canyon Dell Drive, where the shooting took place, is a residential cul-de-sac in the foothills of Altadena — the kind of street where a gunshot would have been heard by every neighbor on the block.

County says those who can’t pay by today may apply for penalty relief through 2030

Sixteen months after the Eaton Fire leveled more than 9,400 structures across Altadena and parts of Pasadena, property owners in the burn zone face a different kind of reckoning: a property tax bill — and a deadline that expires today.

The Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector is reminding fire-impacted property owners that Thursday, April 30, 2026, is the deadline to make property tax payments, according to a notice posted by the department. Those who cannot pay on time because of wildfire impacts may submit a Penalty Cancellation Request beginning May 1 to avoid penalties and interest. Approved requests could extend the payment window through June 30, 2030, the department said in a press release.

The deadline applies countywide to properties affected by both the Eaton and Palisades fires, but its weight falls heavily on Altadena and Pasadena. Zip codes 91001, 91104, 91106, and 91107 — covering Altadena and fire-affected areas of Pasadena — are among those designated under Governor Gavin Newsom’s January 2025 executive order that suspended property tax penalties through April 10, 2026. That automatic suspension has now expired, shifting the burden to individual property owners to seek relief.

Under state law, the Treasurer and Tax Collector has limited authority to cancel penalties and interest on late payments when a property has been impacted by a wildfire. The department will review each request individually and notify property owners within 30 to 45 days, according to the press release.

The office also accepts partial payments. Property owners who can make a partial or full payment on fire-impacted properties should contact the Treasurer and Tax Collector directly to ensure payments are applied correctly and without penalties, the department said.

Property owners may still see penalties displayed online or receive delinquent notices for the FY 2024–25 second installment, FY 2025–26 installments, or related supplemental bills. The department cautioned that receiving such notices does not mean a penalty cancellation request has been denied. Automated notices will continue until all wildfire-related tax matters are resolved, which could extend through June 30, 2030.

The Eaton Fire began on the evening of January 7, 2025, driven by powerful Santa Ana winds into the foothill communities of Altadena and Pasadena. It destroyed 9,418 structures and damaged more than 1,070 others, according to Cal Fire. At least 19 people died. The fire burned roughly 14,000 acres over 24 days before it was fully contained on January 31, 2025.

To file a Penalty Cancellation Request, property owners should visit ttc.lacounty.gov/public-inquiries and select the penalty cancellation form. They will need their Assessor’s Identification Number, which appears on property tax bills or can be located by address at portal.assessor.lacounty.gov. In the comment field, applicants should write “Fire-Impacted Property.” After submitting, they will receive an automated confirmation. A separate request must be submitted for each property tax bill that cannot be paid on time. Those unable to file online may call (213) 974-2111. Additional information is available at ttc.lacounty.gov/wildfires-and-other-emergencies-frequently-asked-questions.

The bills keep arriving at addresses where, in many cases, no homes remain. For Altadena, the deadline is one more line on a long list of things the fire left behind to sort through.

Nichole MacDonald, founder and creator of the Sash bag, showcases her merchandise while livestreaming a sale from her home in San Diego on April 23, 2026. MacDonald says her small business is being severely affected by the rise of tariff costs and fuel prices due to the war in Iran. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters

Small businesses already navigating the costs and chaos of tariffs must now also contend  with the effects of the war in Iran.

“It just feels like things keep getting piled on top,” said Nichole MacDonald, owner of a San Diego business that sells women’s bags. “Not just for businesses, but for consumers. And what is a business without consumers?”

Since her customers are feeling financial pain just like her, they’re spending less money on discretionary items, she said. If they are still buying, they’re choosing denim bags over leather because they’re cheaper.

“Each level of pressure, economic uncertainty and tightening of the purse strings impacts people’s decisions on spending,” the Sash Bag owner said.

Other small retailers in the area tell similar stories of increased costs and having to adjust to continued tariff uncertainty in the wake of the Supreme Court decision that invalidated the bulk  of President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs. In some cases, such as if they imported their own goods, they might be able to apply for tariff refunds, though the timeline for receiving refunds is unclear. The president also imposed new tariffs based on a different law, against which California and other states have filed a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, everyone has been hit with higher shipping costs because fuel prices have gone up. The average price for regular unleaded gas in the state is $5.55, up from $4.79 a year ago, according to AAA. The national average is $4.11 vs. $3.15 a year ago. The spikes in gas prices caused inflation to rise in March. Consumer confidence is at a record low.

Higher prices hit small businesses — defined as those with fewer than 500 employees — harder than big ones, and some wonder how long they can survive. That’s bad news for the state, whose small businesses create millions of new jobs a year and lately have been responsible for 99% of net new jobs, according to the California Office of the Small Business Advocate.

Lost sales, staff and more

MacDonald, whose business brings in six figures a month, said she saw her 2025 sales drop by up to 50% compared with the previous year. Because of tariffs, she stopped manufacturing products in China and has shifted entirely to India. She went from 11 staff members to three. And because she spent tens of thousands of dollars on tariffs, she said she didn’t have money to bring in inventory for the holidays.

She uses brokers to import her offerings, so she’s waiting to hear from them about possible tariff refunds. But even if she does eventually receive refunds, she said the damage has been done: “That money could’ve gone to personnel or to growth, instead of going to a tax.”

The president’s policies have had a global impact. Last week, MacDonald’s longtime manufacturing partner in India informed her that costs for raw material have gone up 25%, so that will mean higher costs for new production. After increasing prices about 10% last year, she will probably have to raise them again because she is working on thin margins, she said.

The top executive at the Port of Long Beach, one of the nation’s biggest ports, recently talked about higher costs being passed on to small businesses and consumers.

“For a while, shippers absorbed rising costs from fuel spikes to last year’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs,” said Noel Hacegaba, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, during a media briefing earlier this month. “That’s no longer the case. Today, those costs are being passed along across the board. We’re seeing new surcharges and higher rates.”

He said major shippers are instituting fuel surcharges, and adjusting how they move cargo. Amazon is adding a 3.5% third-party seller surcharge for fuel and logistics. The U.S. Postal Service is planning a temporary 8% surcharge, and UPS and FedEx also have raised their surcharges.

Hacegaba was joined by Jonathan Gold, vice president at National Retail Federation, who said the nation’s small retailers are seeing a disproportionate impact. “Small businesses in particular don’t have the ability to absorb cost increases and typically have to pass those along to the end consumer,” Gold said.

‘We can only charge so much’

But small retailers don’t want to drive their loyal customers away.

Rema Abedkader is feeling the squeeze all around, with higher shipping costs being the latest pain point, but she hesitates to pass along the costs to her shoppers. The designer of women’s clothing said she does not want to raise prices because it will just deter those who are still spending.

“We can only charge so much, so we’re having to eat that cost again,” she said.

Abedkader, who makes her eponymous REMA clothing brand in the San Diego area but buys imported fabric from Los Angeles-based companies, said she had to cut back on production by about 30% last year, which meant fewer sales. This year, she has had to reduce production by about 50%.

Her decreased business has had a widespread effect on her local ecosystem, all of whom are small business owners themselves.

“When I’m not producing, there’s no work for my sewer, pattern maker and cutter,” she said. That causes a vicious cycle: “My manufacturer had to get a second job, so our business had to be put on the back burner.”

Abedkader said she’s working four times harder and is having to get creative with marketing and by doing wholesale locally.

“If the government doesn’t do something for small business, a lot of us are going to be going out of business very soon,” she said.

Like Abedkader, women’s apparel designer and maker Jennafer Grace Carter knows fabric brokers and importers in the Los Angeles area who have shut down because of tariff costs.

The Trump administration’s immigration policies have also affected her business. Carter, who uses imported materials but makes her clothing domestically, said a lot of people were afraid to come to work. One shop that had 25 people sewing now sees less than half of them coming to work, she said, adding that the workers are “here legally but look a certain way” so they are scared.

Her handmade Jennafer Grace brand has had to scale back on styles to adjust to that shift, she said.

The bottom line is that Carter is dealing with “less labor force, (fewer) materials and higher costs,” she said. She has raised her prices only incrementally, because people won’t buy if a business changes prices too drastically, she said.

Carter recently returned to California from direct-to-consumer events in Las Vegas and Scottsdale, Ariz. The U.S.-Israeli war in Iran has not only affected her shipping costs, it has also raised her travel costs. Her customers were in the same boat. She heard some attendees talking about how “it was so expensive to get here… I wanted to shop more.”

Higher costs’ long-term impact

The pain of higher costs seems unlikely to go away anytime soon. For one thing, the uncertainty continues.

“Whether it be on shores around the world or right here at home with erratic policy, it makes it very difficult for business people to plan,” said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, during a media briefing this month.

Even those whose businesses have an opportunity to benefit from what’s going on are expressing pessimism.

“It’s going to be harder and harder for small businesses,” said Ellie Rose, owner of Calibaja Manufacturing, which contracts with U.S. businesses to make their products in Mexico. Those businesses avoid import tariffs because most products made in Mexico are still governed by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — although the free trade deal is being reconsidered.

Rose said the small business owners she speaks with are seeing growing challenges. It’s taking a lot longer than before to get their products to the United States, she said — 100 to 165 days on a ship vs. the 30 to 60 days it used to take.

“That’s components, finished goods, whatever you need coming from Asia,” she said. “It’s going to slow everything down and cost more.”

And if or when fuel prices come back down, she doubts businesses will lower their prices because they’ve had to bear increased costs for the past couple of years. That’s going to affect innovation, Rose said: “Down the line this is going to be more of a problem for everybody.”

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Environmental samples collected from both floors of the fire-adjacent school; lab results for lead and other metals expected as early as this week

The classrooms at 743 East Calaveras Street have been empty for more than 16 months. Last week, environmental testers worked through both floors of Altadena Arts Magnet for the first time, collecting samples from walls and air for laboratory analysis.

According to a district communication sent Tuesday, the Pasadena Unified School District has completed indoor environmental sampling at the school’s Calaveras Street campus — wipe samples and air samples collected from both floors, now in a laboratory.

Initial results for metals including lead are expected as early as this week, according to the district. When all analyses are complete, PUSD said, a full detailed report will be shared with the school community, and those findings will guide any next steps — including what happens to soft goods and porous materials like carpet, blinds, and acoustic tiles.

The district included the two maps for the first and second floors, showing all locations where indoor wipe and co-located air sampling were conducted:

• Indoor Sampling Locations – Map 1
• Indoor Sampling Locations – Map 2

The Eaton Fire, which ignited January 7, 2025, and burned more than 14,000 acres across Altadena and surrounding communities, did not directly damage the school. But it destroyed more than 9,400 structures region-wide, according to PUSD’s Board Report 1933-F, and approximately 75 of those structures were within 250 yards of the Calaveras Street campus, the report states. That proximity — along with burned commercial properties nearby, including laundromats and grocery stores — drove community demands for indoor testing.

In May 2025, more than 300 Altadena residents signed a petition calling on PUSD to conduct comprehensive indoor environmental testing at the school. Petitioners noted that the campus, built in 1953, is a Title I school where 63 percent of students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, and that the community deserved the same level of post-fire scrutiny being applied at other schools, the petition stated. By that point, PUSD’s own exterior soil testing had found elevated levels of fire-related toxins at the Calaveras Street site.

The PUSD Board of Education voted 7-0 on March 26 to approve a contract with Verdantas Inc., a state-licensed environmental consulting firm, along with its teaming partner Vista Environmental Inc., to carry out the indoor testing. The not-to-exceed contract totaled $33,226, including a base amount of $28,226 and a $5,000 contingency allowance, according to the board report. Costs are being covered through the district’s General Fund under a wildfire recovery budget code, with potential reimbursement from insurance recovery proceeds, FEMA disaster assistance, or other disaster recovery sources, the report states.

The testing covered surface wipe sampling at a minimum of 24 locations and co-located air sampling, following methodology established by the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s Technical Guide for Wildfire Impact Assessments, according to PUSD. Samples were analyzed for Title 22 metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and asbestos. No state or federal agency currently requires indoor environmental testing after urban wildfires, according to Board Report 1933-F — the district was taking the step voluntarily.

“Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our students, employees and school communities,” Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco said in a statement on PUSD’s fire recovery page. In Tuesday’s community communication, Blanco and Michael Dunning, the district’s Director of Facilities, Maintenance, Operations and Transportation, said the district is “grateful for your continued engagement and for the trust you place in us to protect our students.”

Parents at the March 26 board meeting had urged that sampling focus on surfaces within six feet of exterior openings and HVAC ducting, and that all results be made fully public. Verdantas representatives told the board a walkthrough would occur the following week and that a detailed sampling protocol could be shared with the community shortly after. The email sent Tuesday includes maps showing sampling locations on both floors.

PUSD had previously completed exterior pressure washing, professional interior cleaning, HVAC system and duct cleaning, and exterior soil testing at the campus, according to the board report. The indoor sampling now completed is a required step before AAM’s students are anticipated to return to Calaveras Street in August, according to Board Report 1933-F.

The test results, pending in the lab, will also figure into a broader legislative moment. AB 1642, the Wildfire Environmental Safety and Testing Act authored by Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena), passed its first Assembly policy committee in March and is now before the Assembly Appropriations Committee. If enacted, the bill would require California to establish statewide science-based standards for indoor and soil contamination testing after wildfires by July 1, 2027 — filling a regulatory gap that currently leaves schools like AAM without a mandatory framework to follow.

The district said results will be shared with the school community once all analyses are complete — a moment 16 months of waiting has been building toward.

Modest gains in affordability mask persistent gaps, cooling profits and shifting buyer demographics

California’s housing market is showing tentative signs of stabilization, but a volatile mix of geopolitical strain and erratic domestic policies continue to weigh on the broader economic landscape, according to new data from the California Association of Realtors.

The report paints a picture of modest improvement under pressure. Housing affordability ticked up slightly in 2025, aided by a pullback in mortgage rates from their late-March peak. Yet the gains remain marginal and uneven, with affordability still out of reach for most households. Just 23% of White non-Hispanic households could afford a median-priced home, up from 22% a year earlier, while affordability stood at 29% for Asian households and only 11% for both Hispanic/Latino and Black households.

Those disparities persist even as borrowing costs ease, underscoring the structural imbalance between incomes and home prices. Home values have continued to edge higher, offsetting the modest relief provided by lower rates. Economists expect that pattern to hold through 2026, limiting any meaningful narrowing of affordability gaps.

The broader economic context is complicating the outlook. The ongoing Iran conflict—now carrying an estimated cost of $25 billion—has injected fresh uncertainty into global markets, dampening business investment and consumer sentiment. While the U.S. labor market remains relatively stable, early signs of strain are emerging. Initial jobless claims rose to 214,000 in mid-April, and continuing claims edged up to 1.82 million. In California, filings have also increased, suggesting a labor market that is cooling at the margins.

Still, the feared wave of layoffs has yet to materialize. Instead, economists describe a “low hire, low fire” environment, in which employers are reluctant to expand payrolls but equally hesitant to cut staff amid an uncertain outlook.

In housing, policymakers are attempting to address supply constraints that have long defined the state’s affordability crisis. A newly qualified ballot measure, the Middle-Class Homeownership Act, would create a $25 billion loan program funded through state-issued revenue bonds. The initiative aims to help middle-income buyers purchase newly built homes by offering subordinate financing covering up to 17% of the purchase price.

Supporters argue the program could stimulate the construction of roughly 190,000 homes, expanding supply while targeting so-called “missing middle” buyers. Skeptics, however, question whether financing mechanisms alone can overcome the fundamental shortage of buildable land and regulatory hurdles that have constrained development for decades.

Demographic shifts are also reshaping the market. Baby Boomers now account for 42% of homebuyers, the largest share of any generation, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Millennials, long expected to dominate the market, have seen their share decline to 26%, in part due to affordability challenges and limited inventory. Many younger buyers remain sidelined, while older Millennials increasingly transition into move-up purchases, often leveraging accumulated equity.

Meanwhile, returns for homeowners are beginning to normalize. Profit margins on home sales fell to 44.1% in the first quarter of 2026, down from 50.2% a year earlier and well below the 2022 peak of 63.5%. The decline reflects both elevated financing costs and slower home price appreciation.

Taken together, the data suggest a market in transition—no longer overheated, but far from balanced. As geopolitical tensions persist and policy uncertainty lingers in Washington, the path forward for California’s housing sector—and the broader economy—remains anything but clear.

[photo credit: California Department of Public Health]

The quarantine area extends from the Oregon border to the Mexican border, including all bays, inlets and harbors in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health conducts daily syndromic surveillance to identify cases of illness due to ingestion of mussels and other bivalent shellfish and works with the state by collecting shellfish for testing.

During the quarantine season, mussels may concentrate naturally occurring toxins that are highly poisonous to humans including paralytic shellfish poison and domoic acid biotoxins in bivalve shellfish, including mussels, clams, oysters and scallops.

Shellfish toxin levels do not have predictable cycles and can increase rapidly. Prevention of human illnesses requires the annual quarantine, combined with year-round surveillance, public education, shellfish advisories and commercial closures as needed. Cooking does not destroy the toxins.

The advisory does not apply to commercial shellfish from approved sources.

Mussels may be used or sold for use as bait when displayed and sold in containers labeled in boldfaced type letters at least one-half inch in height as follows: MUSSELS FOR BAIT ONLY, UNFIT FOR HUMAN FOOD, according to LA County health officials.

Symptoms of domoic acid poisoning, also referred to as amnesic shellfish poisoning, can occur within 30 minutes to 24 hours after eating toxic seafood.

[photo credit: Pasadena Humane]

The dog, a German Shepherd named Artemis, had originally been brought to the shelter for emergency boarding after his family lost their home in the fire, officials said. Although they had hoped to reunite with him, they ultimately surrendered the animal due to long-term impacts from the disaster.

“Today, we’re celebrating something truly meaningful: every animal who came into our care during the Eaton Fire is now home,” shelter officials said in a statement.

Some animals were returned to their original families, while others were adopted into new homes, reflecting what officials described as resilience and recovery in the aftermath of the fire.

Pasadena Humane cared for more than 1,500 pets and wildlife during and after the fire, providing shelter, medical treatment and emergency support, while also working to reunite animals with their owners.