Saturday, February 28, 2026

Pasadena Student Wins National Reagan Oratory Competition

Polytechnic School 8th grader emerged from more than 2,000 entrants across all 50 states

An 8th-grade student at Polytechnic School won the middle school division of the Ronald Reagan Oratory Competition, the Reagan Foundation announced, besting more than 2,000 students who submitted entries from all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

DJ Mavis delivered a version of President Reagan’s 1982 Radio Address to the Nation on Armed Forces Day at the competition finals on January 10 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley.

The competition, now in its second year, asked students to record video presentations of themselves reciting excerpts from Reagan radio addresses and submit them through the foundation’s online portal.

Polytechnic School, at 1030 East California Blvd. in Pasadena, is a private K-12 school founded in 1907 and was the first nonprofit, independent school in Southern California. It descends from the Throop Polytechnic Institute, the same institution that became the California Institute of Technology.

Five middle school finalists and five high school finalists were selected from the submissions to compete at the championship round,

Saturday, February 28, 2026

Metro Touts Decrease in Crime for Second Year in a Row

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Violent crime on the bus and rail system decreased by 6.7% in 2025 compared to 2024, reaching its lowest level since 2021, Metro announced Friday.

The transit agency touted violent crime on its system decreased for the second consecutive year with customer satisfaction with safety measures reaching record highs.

“The Metro Board has made public safety our highest priority, and we are seeing measurable returns on those investments,” Metro Board Chair and Whittier City Councilman Fernando Dutra said in a statement.

“By strengthening access controls, expanding frontline presence and building a modern Department of Public Safety, we are creating a safer transit environment for riders, employees, and communities across Los Angeles,” Dutra added.

Metro also reported Friday it experienced a 33% decrease in crimes such as trespassing, narcotics and weapons. Crimes against property such as theft and vandalism remained relatively flat year-over-year, in part due to increased copper wire theft.

The agency stated it is working on mitigation efforts to address and reduce copper wire theft.

Saturday, February 28, 2026

57th NAACP Image Awards Return to Pasadena Civic Auditorium Saturday

The 57th NAACP Image Awards will be held Saturday evening at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., continuing a decades-long relationship with the venue, which has hosted the ceremony 15 times between 1992 and the 56th awards in 2025.

A red-carpet pre-show begins at 3 p.m. streaming on BET.com, followed by the live ceremony at 5 p.m. airing on CBS and other Paramount platforms, according to event organizers. Publicists for the show can be reached at NAACPImageAwards@ssmandl.com, ImagePublicist@naacpnet.org, Mercedes.Smith@bet.net, Erica.Knox@bet.net, Autumn.Griffin@bet.net, KHFisher@cbs.com and Victoria.Saavedra@paramount.com.

Sterling K. Brown, Regina Hall, Halle Bailey and Ryan Coogler are among the scheduled presenters. Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella are set to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo will receive the President’s Award, which recognizes special achievement and distinguished public service. He was also nominated for two Image Awards for his role in and directing Netflix’s The Four Seasons.

Friday, February 27, 2026

PUSD Superintendent Addresses Community After Board Approves Preliminary Layoff Notices

Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco issued a statement to the community Friday morning, one day after the Board of Education voted to authorize approval of preliminary layoff notices for district employees.

The sweeping preliminary layoff notices will impact over 160 full-time equivalent certificated positions and scores of classified positions.

“These decisions affect valued colleagues who have dedicated themselves to serving our students and schools,” Blanco said in the Feb. 27 statement. “We recognize the uncertainty and hardship this brings.”

The reductions affect every school and department in the district, according to Blanco.

Under state law, preliminary reduction-in-force notices must be issued by mid-March. The positions on the list approved by the board were identified through the Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee process conducted last fall, along with other workstreams including staffing/vacancies and grant maximization, according to the statement.

The notices are preliminary and part of a broader process that continues through June 30 in alignment with the district’s collective bargaining agreements,

Friday, February 27, 2026

Teachers, Parents Flood PUSD Board Meeting to Oppose Layoffs

LEAD REPORTER EDDIE RIVERA

More than two dozen speakers urged district to delay workforce reduction vote, citing budget surpluses and harm to students prior to board’s decision to approve the layoffs

[Revised] Dozens of Pasadena Unified teachers, parents and students crowded a Board of Education meeting Thursday, urging trustees to halt a proposed round of layoffs they said would destabilize classrooms, cut essential programs and further strain schools still reeling from the Eaton Fire.

Twenty-six people submitted public comment cards for the Feb. 26 meeting, prompting the board to cap remarks at two minutes per speaker. One after another, speakers pressed trustees to delay a vote on reduction-in-force resolutions, arguing the cuts were driven by conservative budget assumptions rather than the district’s actual financial position.

“This feels like the movie Groundhog Day,” said longtime PUSD teacher Armando Mayer. “The same conversations, the same decisions, the same consequences. It is disheartening to say that it feels like we haven’t learned a darn thing.”

In the end,

Friday, February 27, 2026

PUSD Board Approves Layoff Resolutions Eliminating More Than 160 Certificated Positions

LEAD REPORTER EDDIE RIVERA

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education on Thursday night approved two resolutions authorizing sweeping staff reductions for the 2026-2027 school year, eliminating 161.35 full-time equivalent certificated positions and scores of classified positions across nearly every department and school level in the district.

The actions come as the district faces a $30 million-plus structural budget deficit and pressure from the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), which had warned that PUSD risked losing local control if it did not put forward a credible plan to reduce expenditures in excess of $35 million.

The meeting included emotional public comment from parents, students, teachers, labor representatives, and community members. More than an hour’s worth of speakers urged the board to rethink cuts to programs such as science teachers, librarians, arts, athletics, and the Center for Independent Study, which families say retains students who might otherwise leave the district. A number of families described the cuts as harmful to student learning and long-term stability.

Friday, February 27, 2026

What Do Theme Parks and a Destroyed Imperial Garden Have in Common?

A guided walk at The Huntington explores the surprising design connections between classical Chinese gardens and modern theme parks

Walk through the entrance of The Huntington’s Chinese Garden and you’ll pass beneath a wooden placard inscribed “Bie You Dong Tian” — “Another World Lies Beyond.” For art historian Patricia J. Yu, that phrase is the opening argument in a larger story linking ancient imperial gardens to Disneyland.

On Saturday, Feb. 28, Yu will lead a two-hour guided walk through Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. The program explores how principles of classical Chinese garden design reappear in the world’s modern theme parks.

The walk centers on the Yuanming Yuan — the Garden of Perfect Brightness — a great Qing dynasty imperial garden outside Beijing that was partially destroyed by Anglo-French forces in 1860. Yu’s book project traces the garden’s “afterlives” as it has been reconstructed and reimagined across diplomatic spaces,

Friday, February 27, 2026

Pasadena Civic Ballet Takes ‘Aladdin’ to the Stage at San Gabriel Mission Playhouse

Nonprofit youth ballet company mounts large-scale production featuring more than 100 dancers

Pasadena Civic Ballet brings its full-length story ballet “Aladdin” to the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse this weekend, with performances Saturday, Feb. 28, and Sunday, March 1.

The production features a cast of more than 100 dancers performing amid lavish costumes, animated sets and aerial artistry — including a magical flying carpet. “This spectacular ballet brings to life a world of romance, comedy, and adventure as Aladdin sets off on a magical journey to win the heart of the Princess and outwit the wicked Sultan,” according to the Mission Playhouse event listing.

Founded in 1980 by Elly Charlotte Van-Dyke, Pasadena Civic Ballet is a nonprofit organization of pre-professional and professional dancers that has trained children and adults in the Pasadena area for more than four decades. The company has been directed since 2000 by Diane De Franco Browne, Tania Grafos and Zoe Vidalakis. Its faculty includes alumni of American Ballet Theatre,

Friday, February 27, 2026

Pasadena’s Handmade Market Comes Home for Its 11th Year Under the Oaks

Butterflies will be the newest artisans at Central Park this spring.

The Jackalope Indie Artisan Fair, which held its first event under the oaks at 275 S. Raymond Ave. in 2015, returns to Old Pasadena on April 25 and 26 with more than 200 juried makers, an interactive butterfly garden — a first for the fair — and free craft workshops run by its nonprofit arm. Admission is free.

The two-day market, open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, showcases handmade goods only. Co-founder Sara Diederich said that policy is non-negotiable.

“First and foremost, our event focuses on handmade,” Diederich said. “We really want to make sure that artists are creating their work by hand. We’re not looking for vintage or AI-generated work. We want to have work that was hand-created by all the artists that are part of the event.”

Diederich and co-founder Melissa Kohout launched Jackalope in Pasadena after meeting at an international arts organization in Los Angeles in 2014.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

It’s Guitar Night on Lincoln Avenue

By EDDIE RIVERA

In a nondescript industrial park, a ‘backyard’ sanctuary for broken strings and second chances

On a surprisingly cold Pasadena evening, a long line formed outside a warehouse tucked into an industrial park along Lincoln Avenue. Inside, beneath stage lights and the low murmur of guitars tuning up, guitars moved from hand to hand like patients in triage. Some needed strings. Others needed more serious attention—neck resets, wiring repairs, encouragement. Mostly, they needed someone who knew what they were doing.

The gathering, known simply as Guitar Night, was only in its second iteration. It already had the feeling of something inevitable, as guitarists of all ages—boys and girls, men and women—brought their precious guitars in to see the professionals.

Matt Chait, a guitarist who helped organize the event, traced the evening’s origin to the aftermath of the Eaton Fire and a pair of teenage girls who were raising money for fire victims through backyard shows. Matt met their mom,