Monday, March 30, 2026

Pasadena Unified to Hold Virtual Town Hall as District Campuses Remain Under Consolidation Review

Tuesday’s online session and evening advisory committee meeting arrive days after 56 speakers opposed closures at the Board

The Pasadena Unified School District will hold a virtual town hall Tuesday morning on its school consolidation process, days after a packed Board of Education meeting where 56 speakers opposed school closures.

Fourteen campuses across Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre remain under review for possible closure or consolidation as PUSD confronts a projected budget shortfall of $30 million to $35 million for the coming fiscal year and an enrollment decline of roughly 23% over the past decade. The advisory committee guiding the process deferred further narrowing at its most recent meeting, and at the March 26 Board session, 56 speakers — parents, students, teachers, and staff — lined up to oppose closures.

The virtual town hall, scheduled from 9:30 to 11 a.m., will be livestreamed in English and Spanish at pusd.us/townhall and recorded for later viewing at the same address. A separate in-person meeting of the Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Monday, March 30, 2026

Want Government Records? This California Lawmaker Wants You to Pay More for Them

By Yue Stella Yu, CALMATTERS

Want to know what your government is up to? Be prepared to pay up.

A California state lawmaker wants to let public agencies charge an unspecified, uncapped fee if it takes their workers more than two hours to search for records to fulfill a public records request. The proposal is raising concerns among transparency advocates that the fees could deter Californians from accessing records they are constitutionally entitled to.

Assembly Bill 1821, authored by Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, a Downey Democrat, would also allow the charge if government workers spend more than 10 hours within a month looking for documents requested by the same person. The proposal would apply to most people, with exemptions for journalists and educational or scientific institutions.

In a statement responding to CalMatters’ questions, Pacheco said public agencies have had to spend substantial time responding to a spike in the volume and scope of records requests.

Monday, March 30, 2026

Big Change for California Small Businesses: No More SBA Loans for Non-Citizens

By Levi Sumagaysay, CALMATTERS

Green-card holders no longer qualify for loans from the Small Business Administration, eliminating a longtime source of financing for immigrants that advocates say will discourage job creation and harm the economy.

The SBA limited access to its loans to U.S. citizens and nationals only starting in March, and expanded that policy to SBA-backed loans beginning in April. On top of that, any business that’s even partly owned by a permanent legal resident with a green card is no longer eligible for the loans.

California — which has the most small businesses and the largest immigrant population in the nation — could be most affected. SBA loans have been important to immigrant entrepreneurs because they typically are low-interest and available to those without an established credit history. The agency has also backed loans by private funders, providing a government guarantee for people banks may deem riskier. Now, all those loans are off the table for owners and would-be owners of restaurants,

Monday, March 30, 2026

Arizona Woman Faces Sentencing for Inventing Fake Altadena Address to Steal Eaton Fire Relief

Katrina Woods pleaded guilty to collecting more than $23,000 in FEMA disaster funds using a nonexistent North Lake Avenue address

An Arizona woman who fabricated a non-existent Altadena address in order to collect more than $23,000 in federal disaster relief meant for Eaton Fire victims is scheduled to be sentenced Monday afternoon in Los Angeles federal court, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Katrina Marie Woods, 33, of Maricopa, Arizona, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in connection with major disaster or emergency benefits. She had claimed to be a renter at 2060 N. Lake Ave. in Altadena — an address federal investigators determined does not exist — and told the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the home was destroyed in the Eaton Fire, according to court records and a U.S. Department of Justice statement.

FEMA disbursed approximately $23,441 in disaster relief to Woods, according to the Justice Department. Woods also used FEMA’s transitional sheltering program to book stays at two hotels — one in downtown Los Angeles,

Monday, March 30, 2026

Today Is First-Ever Farmworkers Day, Public Schools and County Offices Are Closed

County of ices and schools close Monday; state of ices and courts close Tuesday — but City of Pasadena services run all week

Pasadena residents face a split holiday week as the newly-named March 31 Farmworkers Day triggers two separate rounds of closures: Los Angeles County offices and public schools shut down Monday, March 30, while California state offices, courts, and the Department of Motor Vehicles close Tuesday, March 31.

The City of Pasadena, which does not officially observe the holiday, will remain fully operational both days. 

The closures reflect the newly renamed state holiday, formerly known as Cesar Chavez Day, which California lawmakers officially renamed Farmworkers Day last week following sexual abuse allegations against the United Farm Workers co-founder. 

Federal government services like the U.S. Postal Service and federal offices remain open for Farmworkers Day, and so do federally regulated banks. 

Los Angeles County, which traditionally observes the holiday on the last Monday of March,

Sunday, March 29, 2026

The Man Who Runs Angels Flight Is Coming to the Foothills to Talk About the Neighborhood It Once Served

Historian Nathan Marsak brings Bunker Hill’s lost transit history to Lanterman House — a story about what gets saved and what gets razed

Nathan Marsak goes to work each day at Angels Flight, the century-old funicular railway tucked against the eastern face of Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles. He pulls the levers. He runs the cars. He ferries strangers up and down the same steep slope that Victorian-era Angelenos once climbed to reach their mansions — before the automobiles came, and the streetcars faded, and the redevelopment agency arrived, and the mansions came down.

That neighborhood — Bunker Hill — is what Marsak has spent nearly two decades writing about. It is also the subject of his free illustrated lecture at Lanterman House on Sunday, April 19, just minutes from the Altadena border in the La Cañada Flintridge foothills. The talk will trace how the horse-drawn world of one of Los Angeles’s most storied hilltop communities gave way to streetcars, then automobiles, and ultimately to a wholesale clearance that erased a neighborhood of Victorian Queen Anne homes and Edwardian apartment buildings from the city’s map.

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Palm Sunday Services Across Pasadena and Altadena Mark the Start of Holy Week

Churches throughout Pasadena and Altadena are preparing to observe Palm Sunday today, a day that holds central significance in the Christian calendar as it commemorates the biblical account of Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. The day marks the beginning of Holy Week, leading to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and is traditionally observed with palm processions, special liturgies, and readings of the Passion narrative.

The following directory provides a comprehensive listing of local worship services scheduled for Palm Sunday weekend, along with additional Holy Week observances, offering residents a detailed guide to services across denominations in the Pasadena and Altadena area.

Pasadena Now staff have done our utmost to provide well-researched information; we encourage local houses of faith to provide us with information regularly.

ALL SAINTS CHURCH (EPISCOPAL) 132 N Euclid Avenue, Pasadena (626) 796-1172  https://allsaints-pas.org — Tim Rich. Palm Sunday services: 7:30 a.m. (Chapel), 10:00 a.m. (Church, with palm procession and dramatic Gospel reading).

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Fire-Displaced Altadena Church Hosts Free Job, Health and Housing Event in Pasadena

LIFT International partners with California Community Foundation and Altadena CDC to connect residents with recovery services

A church that lost its own building in the Eaton Fire is hosting a free event today connecting Altadena and Pasadena residents with employment opportunities, financial services, health screenings and homeowner support.

LIFT International Church, in partnership with the California Community Foundation and the Altadena CDC, will hold “H2O: Help for Overcoming Obstacles” at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1757 N. Lake Ave., beginning at 11 a.m. The event comes more than 14 months after the Eaton Fire destroyed more than 9,000 structures and displaced thousands of residents — the vast majority of whom, according to Los Angeles County officials, have not yet returned home.

The event will include a live symposium, counseling and consultations, and access to community service providers, according to organizers. Services are expected to address employment, financial assistance, health needs and homeowner support.

LIFT International was founded in Altadena in 2000 by Drs.

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Faith Groups to Stage Hymn-Singing Protest at Downtown Pasadena Target Over DEI Rollback, ICE Concerns

The Palm Sunday action, organized by Mennonite Action and All Saints Church, is part of a national campaign targeting the retailer

Greater Los Angeles Mennonite Action and All Saints Church are staging a nonviolent protest at the Downtown Pasadena Target store this afternoon, bringing a national campaign against the retailer to a Pasadena sidewalk one day after the No Kings 3.0 march drew crowds to the city.

The protest is part of Mennonite Action’s “Sing Down the Doors at Target” campaign, which has spread to Target stores across the country. Organizers are demanding that Target restore its rolled-back diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments and take a public stand against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in its stores — demands that follow months of sustained civic engagement centered on downtown Pasadena’s faith communities.

Participants plan to gather for prayer at All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., at 2 p.m. before walking to the Target at 777 E. Colorado Blvd. for what organizers describe as a “song-filled action”

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Holy Week Begins With Palm Sunday

Local churches mark the beginning of Holy Week on Sunday with the observance of Palm Sunday

Local churches mark the beginning of Holy Week on Sunday with the observance of Palm Sunday. For Christians, the week preceding Easter Sunday is full of significant events. Easter 2026 will be observed on Sunday, April 5. Known as Holy Week, the week begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Holy Saturday, the day before Easter.

Holy Week commemorates different key events that unfolded over the final days of Jesus Christ’s life on earth.

Many Eastern Orthodox churches follow the Julian rather than Gregorian calendar and will observe Palm Sunday on April 5 and Orthodox Easter on April 12.

“This is a moment for us to really reflect on the mystery of our redemption — the mystery of God’s love for us,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez, who will celebrate the 10 a.m. English-language Palm Sunday Mass at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.