Thursday, February 26, 2026

Wildfire Recovery Funds Could Put $350,000 Toward Home Purchases for Pasadena, Altadena Residents

A federal program offers forgivable loans to LA County households who lived in fire hazard zones during the 2018 wildfires

Residents of Pasadena and Altadena who were living in the foothill neighborhoods that sit within designated fire hazard zones in 2018 may qualify for up to $350,000 in homebuyer assistance — money that never has to be paid back.

The ReCoverCA Homebuyer Assistance Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by Golden State Finance Authority, provides forgivable loans to low- and moderate-income households in Los Angeles County who lived in High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones during the 2018 California wildfires. The zero-interest loans carry no monthly payments and are forgiven entirely after five years of ownership and occupancy. The program does not cover the January 2025 Eaton Fire.

Los Angeles County is one of four qualifying counties, alongside Butte, Lake, and Shasta. The 2018 Woolsey Fire, which burned nearly 97,000 acres across Los Angeles and Ventura counties,

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Pasadena Unified Brings City, County and Community Groups Together for Summer Fair

The district’s third annual resource event lets families explore programs from multiple agencies in one evening

Families trying to figure out what their children will do this summer can get answers from the school district, the city, the county, and a roster of community organizations — all in one room, in one hour.

Pasadena Unified School District’s third annual summer program and resource fair will bring representatives from PUSD, the City of Pasadena, the County of Los Angeles, and local community groups to John Muir High School on March 4 from 6 to 7 p.m., according to a district announcement. The fair is designed to give families and caregivers a consolidated look at summer programs, learning resources, and enrichment options available to their children.

The event takes place at John Muir High School, 1905 N Lincoln Ave., in Pasadena. Families can sign up online through the district’s registration form.

The fair also offers families a chance to connect with PUSD’s Family and Community Engagement team,

Thursday, February 26, 2026

West Altadenans Plan Ceremonial Walk Through the Burn Zone, First of Five Annual Processions

Hands in the Soil leads a route-based healing arts experience at Loma Alta Park on February 28

Its scarred path through West Altadena bears the marks of the Eaton Fire — cleared lots, rebuilt foundations, stretches of sidewalk where the oaks are charred. On Saturday, February 28, a procession of neighbors will walk throughthat path together, not in protest, and not in parade, but in what organizers describe poetically as a ‘ceremony in motion.’

The Through the Fire Procession, organized by the Pasadena-based nonprofit Hands in the Soil, will route participants through the burn zone from Loma Alta Park with curated moments of sound, prayer, and land-based offerings along the way, according to the organization.

It is the first of what organizers envision as five annual processions intended to support long-term recovery through arts-based healing and collective presence.

“We gather to honor what was changed, what was lost, and what continues to endure,” the organization states on its event page.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

New Walking Group Draws 50 Altadena Residents to Post-Fire Community Outing

Free monthly club founded by a crisis counselor turned construction liaison aims to rebuild neighborhood bonds

More than 50 Altadena residents walked together through their neighborhood on February 15, the first outing for a new community walking group created to help neighbors reconnect more than 13 months after the Eaton Fire.

The Altadena Walk Club, a free monthly group, was founded by Mathew Rahban, who served as a crisis counselor for fire survivors before becoming Client & Community Relations Director at Rahban Development, his family’s Beverly Hills-based construction firm that has been rebuilding homes in Altadena. Rahban said the group was created to give residents a low-barrier way to move and reconnect in a community still recovering from a fire that destroyed more than 9,400 structures.

Participants — families with children, residents with dogs, community members of various ages — gathered at Unincorporated Coffee on Lincoln Avenue before walking toward Good Neighbor Bar and back, according to a press release announcing the event.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Altadena Business Owners Get Another Shot at Recovery Guidance Tonight

A Pasadena-based wildfire law firm hosts a roundtable for entrepreneurs still navigating the Eaton Fire’s aftermath

More than 13 months after the Eaton Fire wiped out roughly half of this community’s businesses, a Pasadena-based plaintiff law consortium is holding a roundtable tonight aimed at helping surviving business owners understand their recovery options.

LA Fire Justice — a consortium of wildfire attorneys that has filed lawsuits against Southern California Edison on behalf of Eaton Fire survivors — is hosting the Business Roundtable from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Altadena Design Works Resource Center, 409 E. Woodbury Rd. According to the organization’s website, all guidance will be educational and non-legal, and no direct negotiation or communication with insurers will take place at the event.

The Altadena Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1924, is promoting the event through its social media and events calendar, listing LA Fire Justice as a chamber member. Chamber posts on February 21 described it as “LA Fire Justice presents Business Roundtable.”

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Eaton Fire Displaced Eliot Arts Students Raise Funds for Broadway Trip

A GoFundMe campaign seeks $15,000 in scholarships so no student misses out on seeing three shows in New York

Thirteen months after the Eaton Fire destroyed their school campus, theater students at Eliot Arts Magnet Middle School are raising money to experience Broadway in New York City — a dream that began when the students performed their spring musical on one of Los Angeles’ most prominent stages.

Drama teacher Mollie Lief and dance teacher Billy Rugh launched a GoFundMe campaign on Feb. 10 seeking $15,000 to fund scholarships for the trip, called Eliot Arts Broadway Bound. Sixty students are set to go to Manhattan, where they would see three Broadway shows, attend workshops and explore the city, according to the campaign page.

As of Thursday, the campaign had raised $5,271 from 73 donors.

The funds will go to families who cannot afford the full cost of the trip, according to the GoFundMe page. For many of the students,

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Pasadena School Closures: A District at a Crossroads

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is scheduled to vote Thursday on the guiding principles for a committee that could recommend the closure of several schools, a move driven by a severe financial crisis and years of declining student enrollment. This vote represents a critical juncture for the district, which is grappling with a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, the devastating aftermath of the 2025 Eaton Fire, and a history of contentious school closures.

The immediate decision before the board is the approval of “Desired Outcomes and Factors” that will steer the newly formed Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee (SCAC).

This committee, which held its first meeting on February 23, is working with an external consultant, Total School Solutions, under a $233,300 contract. It is tasked with analyzing the district’s landscape and presenting potential school consolidation scenarios to the board by May 2026, with a final board vote on any closures scheduled for June 25, 2026.

Pasadena Unified is facing a difficult financial situation,

Thursday, February 26, 2026

PUSD Audit Reveals $33.3 Million in Fire Losses as District Faces Layoff Vote

Insurance recoveries of $133 million mask an underlying operating deficit; classroom teacher spending falls to 42 percent, far below the state-required 55 percent

The Eaton Fire destroyed $33.3 million worth of buildings and equipment at five Pasadena Unified School District campuses, but $133 million in insurance recoveries preserved the district’s finances during the 2024-25 fiscal year, according to an annual audit report set to be presented to the Board of Education Thursday night.

The audit, conducted by CliftonLarsonAllen and covering the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, also flagged five findings — two of them repeat problems CLA said the district has failed to fix — and revealed that the share of spending devoted to classroom teacher salaries dropped to 41.97 percent, well below the 55 percent required by state law. 

The board will consider accepting the report at its regular meeting at 4:30 p.m. in the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room at 351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena.

The presentation comes on the same night the board is expected to formalize more than 160 employee layoffs as part of a plan to address a $30 million structural deficit.

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Edison Parent Reports $4.46 Billion Profit as Altadena Wildfire Litigation Proceeds

Wildfire litigator criticizes ‘misplaced priorities’

Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, reported $4.459 billion in net income for 2025 — more than triple its $1.284 billion profit the previous year — according to financial results released Feb. 18 during an investor call outlining the company’s performance and shareholder returns.

The disclosure has drawn criticism from an attorney representing plaintiffs in litigation related to the Eaton Fire, which burned through parts of Altadena.

Richard Bridgford, whose firm Bridgford, Gleason and Artinian filed the first case in the Eaton Fires, and is handling the lead Gursey case against the utility, said in a public statement that the earnings highlight what he described as misplaced priorities.

“While families in Altadena are still grieving the loss of homes, memories, and loved ones, Southern California Edison announced $4.5 billion in profits — nearly triple last year — boosted in part by a 9% rate increase approved by the California Public Utilities Commission,”

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

PUSD Bond Watchdog Finds Proper Spending but Flags Staffing Risks

District’s oversight committee tells board the bond program lacked adequate personnel after an outside manager was let go

An independent audit found the Pasadena Unified School District properly spent money from its two voter-approved school construction bonds during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, but the citizens’ committee that monitors that spending warned the district exposed itself to risk by trying to manage the program without enough staff.

The Citizens’ Oversight Committee’s annual report, which covers Measures TT and O — bonds worth a combined $866.3 million approved by voters in 2008 and 2020 — goes before the Board of Education at its regular meeting Thursday at the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room, 351 S. Hudson Ave.

Auditing firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP concluded that “in all significant respects, the District has properly expended the funds held in the Measure TT and Measure O Bond Building Funds on authorized bond projects,” according to the report. The auditors presented their findings to the board on March 27,