Friday, March 27, 2026

César Chávez Day is No More. California Lawmakers Officially Scrap the Holiday Name

By Nadia Lathan, CALMATTERS

Just one week after damaging sex abuse allegations surfaced against the iconic labor leader César Chávez, California lawmakers unanimously passed a bill Thursday to rename the holiday named for him to Farmworkers Day, capping off a series of rapid-fire moves to expunge his legacy from public places.

The governor quickly signed Assembly Bill 2156. It takes effect immediately, in time for the March 31 holiday.

“Our farmworkers remind us that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect,” Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón said on the Senate floor. “Their days and their lives inspire us to push for a better California.”

The Senate voted 37-0, following an Assembly vote earlier this week.

It is the latest development in a nationwide backlash against Chávez, who Democrats and Republicans quickly renounced last week after a New York Times investigation found he sexually abused young girls while president of the United Farm Workers union in the 1960s and 70s.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Displaced by Fire, Eliot Arts Students Take a Borrowed Stage for Bring It On

The Altadena middle school’s second spring musical since losing its campus opens tonight at Pasadena High School

The auditorium where Eliot Arts Magnet students rehearsed their musicals is gone — burned in the Eaton Fire along with their costumes, their sets, and much of the Altadena neighborhood they called home. Tonight, they take someone else’s stage.

The school’s drama and dance program opens Bring It On: The Musical at Pasadena High School, the second spring production the displaced middle schoolers have mounted since the January 2025 fire destroyed their campus at 2184 N. Lake Ave. in Altadena. Drama teacher Mollie Lief chose the show — a Tony Award-nominated musical about a cheerleader who builds a new squad after being forced to change schools — for reasons that hit close.

“It’s all about unity and coming together, and so it felt like the right next show for Eliot,” Lief said in a December interview with the Los Angeles Times.

The fire tore through Altadena on January 7,

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Michele Zack Explores Altadena’s Enduring Identity

Historian revisits her acclaimed work, “Altadena: Between Wilderness and City,” at the Pasadena Museum of History.

Altadena, a community nestled between the untamed San Gabriel Mountains and the bustling urban sprawl of Pasadena, possesses a unique spirit forged by its distinctive history. Two decades after its initial publication, Michele Zack’s nationally recognized local history, “Altadena: Between Wilderness and City,” continues to illuminate this singular identity. On Thursday, March 26, Zack will return to the Pasadena Museum of History for a compelling discussion, offering fresh perspectives on her acclaimed work and the forces that have shaped Altadena.

Zack, a recipient of the prestigious Pfleuger Award for best history writing in 2005, delves into Altadena’s evolution, placing its narrative within the broader context of Pasadena, the region, and the nation. Her meticulous research and engaging prose earned her praise from State Librarian Kevin Star, who lauded her work as “urban history at its best.” This special presentation promises an updated exploration of the unincorporated community’s past,

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Pasadena Unified School District Board Tackles Eaton Fire Recovery, Teacher Negotiations and Science Curriculum in Packed Thursday Agenda

District seeks contract for environmental testing at Altadena Arts Magnet ahead of campus reopening

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education convenes Thursday evening with a dense agenda that spans wildfire recovery, labor negotiations and a sweeping update to secondary science instruction across the District.

The Board will consider awarding a contract to Verdantas Inc. to conduct indoor environmental testing at Altadena Arts Magnet to assess potential wildfire-related contaminants prior to campus re-occupancy following the Eaton Fire. The District will also vote on funding allocations for construction management and program management services tied to ongoing wildfire recovery projects.

Two separate items ask the Board to reaffirm continuing local emergency declarations under Resolutions 2797 and 2798, which grant the District expanded contracting authority to speed recovery work. A related item seeks ratification of contracts already awarded under the delegated authority established by Resolution 2797.

A public hearing will open the floor to community input on the United Teachers of Pasadena’s reopener proposals for the 2026–2027 school year.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Fire-Displaced Altadena Church Will Host Free Resource Event for Eaton Fire Survivors

LIFT International partners with the California Community Foundation and Altadena CDC to offer employment, health, and homeowner services in Pasadena

An Altadena church that lost its building in the Eaton Fire will host a free community event Sunday offering employment, financial, health, and homeowner resources to residents still navigating the aftermath of the disaster.

LIFT International Church, which has been operating from a borrowed campus at Westminster Presbyterian Church on North Lake Avenue since the January 2025 fire, is partnering with the California Community Foundation and Altadena CDC for the event, called “H2O: Help for Overcoming Obstacles.” The fire destroyed more than 9,400 structures in Altadena and surrounding communities, according to Cal Fire, and the event’s organizers say residents continue to face barriers to recovery more than 14 months later.

The event will take place March 29 from noon to 2:30 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1757 N. Lake Ave. A complimentary breakfast will be provided. Admission is free and open to the public.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

San Gabriel Valley Economy Grinds in ‘Neutral’ as Small Businesses Bear the Brunt, Forecast Finds

Cal Poly Pomona report identifies Pasadena as the region’s primary office market and forecasts Eaton Fire rebuilding will add construction jobs in 2026

The San Gabriel Valley’s economy is growing but barely moving forward, constrained by the highest levels of economic policy uncertainty on record and rising costs that are hitting small businesses harder than anyone else, according to a new forecast to be released Thursday.

The 2026 San Gabriel Valley Economic Forecast, co-authored by Cal Poly Pomona economists Anthony Orlando and Gerd Welke and produced in partnership with the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership, describes the 31-city regional economy as “stuck in neutral” — avoiding recession but unable to gain speed. The report identifies Pasadena as the region’s primary office market and forecasts that Eaton Fire rebuilding in Altadena will generate more than 1,600 construction jobs this year, even as rent pressures near the fire zone persist.

The report was presented Thursday at the 2026 San Gabriel Valley Economic Forecast Summit at Diamond Bar Center.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

School Board to Consider Indoor Testing at Altadena Arts Magnet Before Students Return

The Eaton Fire spared the school, but wildfire smoke and ash concerns have kept it empty for 14 months

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education will consider tonight whether to approve a $33,226 contract for indoor environmental testing at Altadena Arts Magnet, the Altadena elementary school that survived the Eaton Fire but has sat unoccupied for more than 14 months while its students attend classes elsewhere.

The contract with Verdantas Inc., an environmental consulting firm, would fund testing for metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, asbestos, and wildfire-related particulate matter inside the school before students return to the campus in August, according to Board Report 1933-F. The school at 743 East Calaveras Street was not directly damaged by the fire but was surrounded by approximately 75 burned properties within 250 yards, the report states.

If approved, the testing would represent a step the district is taking voluntarily. No state or federal agency has established formal requirements for indoor environmental testing following urban wildfire events,

Thursday, March 26, 2026

PUSD Eyes Bond Refinancing That Could Save Taxpayers Up to $13.4 Million

Financial advisor presents two options for replacing higher-interest 2016 bonds at Thursday board meeting

The Pasadena Unified School District could save taxpayers between $11.6 million and $13.4 million by refinancing two bond series issued a decade ago, the district’s financial advisor will tell the Board of Education at its meeting Thursday.

Dale Scott & Company, the San Francisco-based municipal advisory firm that has served as PUSD’s financial consultant since 2019, is scheduled to present a debt management strategy outlining two refinancing alternatives for $150.26 million in outstanding principal on bonds first issued in May 2016.

The process — similar to a homeowner refinancing a mortgage at a lower rate — would replace older debt carrying an average interest rate of 3.89% with new bonds at estimated rates of 2.57% to 2.61%, according to the presentation.

If realized, the savings could reduce property tax levies for homeowners and businesses within the district, which spans Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre, and unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

California Governor’s Race Gets Weirder With Debate Cancellation, New Poll

By Dan Walters, CALMATTERS

Just when we thought the campaign for California’s governorship couldn’t get any weirder, it did.

A Tuesday night debate at the University of Southern California was cancelled late Monday amid allegations of racism because all the candidates invited to participate are white while the four Democrats who were left out are Latino, Black or Asian.

USC chose debaters on the basis of their standing in the polls or the amounts of money raised or being spent. It meant, for example, that San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was included because of his heavy financial support from Silicon Valley, even though he is in the lower tier of candidates as measured by polling.

While the racial divide might have been a result of USC’s methodology, it is what political pros call “bad optics” for a party that embraces identification politics. Democratic leaders in the state Legislature had backed the four excluded candidates, saying in a letter,

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Pasadena Community Foundation Reports $83 Million Raised for Eaton Fire Recovery in 2025

Impact report details $24 million disbursed to more than 110 nonprofit partners and the first Altadena home rebuilds now underway

The Pasadena Community Foundation raised $83 million for Eaton Fire recovery in 2025 and disbursed $24 million to more than 110 nonprofit partners serving fire survivors across Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre, according to the foundation, which released its 2025 Impact Report this week.

The 32-page report documents the 73-year-old foundation’s response to the January wildfire, which killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 structures—including over 6,000 homes and rental units—in what President and CEO Khanh Duy Russo described as a year that “called us to pivot and respond to a disaster of unprecedented scale.” Donations came from all 50 states, the foundation said.

PCF established its Eaton Fire Relief & Recovery Fund on the morning of January 8, as the fire continued burning. In April, the foundation created the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, a supporting organization focused on long-term residential rebuilding.