Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Colonel Green’s Great-Great-Grandson Returns to Castle Green for Annual Spring Tour

The 127-year-old Pasadena landmark opens June 14 with Eaton Fire recovery art and a family reunion more than a century in the making

More than 127 years after Colonel George G. Green opened the doors to his Moorish fantasy of a hotel, his great-great-grandson will walk through them.

Scott Drake, a descendant of the Civil War veteran and patent-medicine entrepreneur who built Castle Green in 1898, will appear as special guest speaker when the Old Pasadena landmark opens for its annual spring tour on Sunday, June 14. It is, according to the Friends of the Castle Green, the first time a member of the founding family has been featured at the event.

The self-guided tour runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine, and includes access to the building’s original Moorish and Turkish rooms, Grand Salon, sunroom, grand staircase, and select private apartments spaces the public can enter only twice a year. Two historic talks will be offered during the afternoon.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Pasadena, LA County Commissions to Host Virtual Forum on Disability Inclusion

City’s disability advisory body delivers on a formal FY 2025-2026 objective with a one-hour virtual session open to all residents

Most forms of bias have a name people recognize. Ableism — discrimination rooted in prejudicial assumptions about what people with disabilities can or cannot do — is less well understood.

A free webinar Wednesday morning aims to change that for Pasadena residents, educators, and employers.

The City of Pasadena’s Accessibility and Disability Commission, along with the Los Angeles County Commission on Disabilities and Pasadena Civitan, is hosting “Ending Ableism Together: Creating Spaces Where Everyone Belongs,” a one-hour virtual session featuring Peter Mendoza, a Grants Program Analyst for the Self-Determination and Supported Decision-Making Technical Assistance Program at the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, according to the city’s official event announcement.

The commission approved a formal work plan for fiscal year 2025-2026 that set community education on anti-ableism as a specific objective under its Community Engagement priorities and Wednesday’s event is that objective in practice.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

California Chooses Next Watchdog Amid Wildfire Insurance Crisis

By Levi Sumagaysay, CALMATTERS

Two Democrats may be duking it out on the November ballot for one of the toughest jobs in the state: insurance commissioner.

Jane Kim, the former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and state Sen. Ben Allen, who’s about to term out of the Legislature, were leading in early returns Tuesday night.

The commissioner is responsible for regulating the nation’s largest property insurance market that includes home and auto, plus health, pet, ride-hailing and life insurance, as well as workers’ compensation.

But the hot topic in the past few years as climate change has caused wildfire risk to rise has been home and fire insurance. The next commissioner will face many challenges that include trying to balance property insurance availability with affordability. Some insurance companies that had stopped renewing policies or writing new ones in the past few years are now taking advantage of new regulations that allow them to use new tools in setting their rates.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Free Concerts Return to Altadena’s Renovated Park for 29th Summer Season

Seven Saturday evening shows at Loma Alta Park run July 11 through August 22, all free to the public

Loma Alta Park, renovated after sustaining damage in the Eaton Fire eighteen months ago, will host seven free Saturday night concerts this summer the 29th year the Rotary Club of Altadena has brought live music to the neighborhood at no charge.

The Rotary Club, in partnership with Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, will stage the series at 3330 N. Lincoln Ave. every Saturday from July 11 through August 22. Concerts begin at 7 p.m. The park was renovated following fire damage in January 2025 and reopened on May 17, 2025, following a $3.4 million renovation the first county park to reopen after the Eaton Fire, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. In announcing the 2026 lineup, the Rotary Club noted it is “incredibly grateful” to Supervisor Kathryn Barger and the county Parks and Recreation Department “for their support in making it possible to keep the series going as Altadena recovers from the Eaton Fire,” according to the organization’s website.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Pasadena Voters Help Put Countywide Healthcare Sales Tax Measure on Track for Defeat

BASED ON A STORY BY CITY NEWS SERVICE

City would receive about 1 percent of the measure’s revenue

A proposed half-cent Los Angeles County sales tax increase intended to support healthcare services was trailing Wednesday, with early returns showing voters countywide opposing the measure as ballots continued to be counted.

Pasadena, which operates its own Public Health Department, would receive about 1% of the measure’s revenue under the measure’s allocation formula

Known as the Essential Services Restoration Act, the measure would raise the county sales tax from 9.75% to 10.25% for five years through Oct. 1, 2031. Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis placed the measure on the ballot, saying it was needed to offset reductions in state and federal healthcare funding.

Preliminary results showed 47.16% of voters supporting the measure and 52.84% opposing it. County officials estimated the tax would generate about $1 billion annually.

Mitchell said the county faces significant losses following what she described as the largest federal Medicaid funding cut in the nation’s history.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Three Convicted in Angeles Crest Highway Killing Investigated by Pasadena Police

Two Others Convicted in Related Double Homicide

Three reputed MS-13 gang members were convicted Tuesday, June 2, in the July 22, 2023, robbery and killing of a man at an Angeles Crest Highway lookout in Pasadena Police Department jurisdiction — a case investigated and brought to charges by the Pasadena Police Department’s Robbery/Homicide Unit.

Two additional gang members were convicted in a separate double homicide committed less than 48 hours later with the same firearm.

In all, a Los Angeles County jury deliberated just over a day before returning guilty verdicts against five defendants in the linked cases.

Marco Antonio Hernandez, 21, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, two counts each of second-degree robbery and attempted second-degree robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit a robbery. Hernandez was charged in both the Angeles Crest Highway killing and the later double homicide, and had faced a personal firearm-use allegation along with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a robbery or attempted robbery.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Average LA County Gas Price Drops For 14th Time in 15 Days

By STEVEN HERBERT, City News Service

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped Tuesday for the 14th time in 15 days, decreasing 2.3 cents to $6.049, its lowest amount since April 27.

The average price has fallen 16.5 cents over the past 15 days, including three-tenths of a cent Monday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It dropped six consecutive days, rose two-tenths of a cent May 25 and resumed decreasing last Tuesday.

The average price is 11.6 cents less than one week ago and 11.7 cents lower than one month ago, but $1.30 more than one year ago.

A decrease of one-tenth of a cent to $5.983 extended the run of dropping prices.

The national average price dropped for the 12th consecutive day, falling 3.2 cents to $4.29. It has dropped 27.4 cents over the past 12 days, including 1.4 cents Monday.

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Guest Opinion | Pablo Miralles: “Reclaiming My Time”

[Friday, May 29, 2026] Last night I attended the PUSD Board Meeting to deliver a message to the board members. I did not finish. And not because my time ran out—a minute to give a message is very short—but because I was interrupted by a loud “Not true!”, from a middle aged White male wearing a Marshall sweatshirt and then booed off the mic by a few dozen others some of whom seemed to be Blair supporters.

First I want to thank that gentleman, not just because a witness later told me that it reminded them of when Obama was yelled at in his State the Union, but because, as a scholar of the local fight for racial justice, I finally experienced the visceral pushback that those standing against district segregation surely endured. So, whoever you are, you won’t silence me, and now, as a recognized documentarian with two LA Press Awards I get to show receipts.

The following is my prepared statement. I will add additional context in parentheses when needed.

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Study Finds Carcinogenic Chromium-6 Near Eaton Fire Cleanup Zone

CITY NEWS SERVICE and STAFF REPORTS

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) have found airborne particles containing carcinogenic hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium-6, in neighborhoods near the Eaton Fire and Palisades burn areas months after the devastating wildfires, according to a study announced Monday.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment, found elevated concentrations of chromium-6 nanoparticles in the air around wildfire cleanup zones approximately two months after the fires were extinguished.

Researchers said the particles may have traveled six to nine miles downwind, potentially affecting communities far beyond the burn areas.

Chromium-6 is a highly toxic, carcinogenic form of the metallic element chromium. Often produced by industrial processes like metal plating and leather tanning, it also leaches into water from natural rock deposits. It poses severe cancer and respiratory risks.

“Hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, is a toxic metal and carcinogen that can impact the lungs and is associated with asthma,

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Local Parents of Neonatal Intensive Care Infants Can Now Watch Over Their Newborns From Anywhere

Huntington Hospital installs 32 live-streaming cameras, funded in part by Panda Cares, the charity rooted in a Pasadena restaurant that opened more than 50 years ago

The hardest part, for many parents of a NICU baby, is leaving.

Shift ends, or another child needs dinner, or the hospital is 40 minutes away — and the baby stays, monitored by strangers the parents have come to trust but cannot watch.

Huntington Hospital has now installed 32 live-streaming cameras throughout its neonatal intensive care unit, giving families secure video access to their newborns 24 hours a day, from any phone, tablet, or computer. The system, called AngelEye, was made possible in part by Panda Cares the philanthropic arm of Panda Express, a restaurant chain that traces its origins to a single Panda Inn on East Foothill Boulevard in Pasadena, opened in 1973. For families separated from their babies by work, distance, or illness, the cameras offer something the hospital calls family-centered care: the ability to see your child even when you cannot be there.