Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Los Angeles County Opens Emergency Rent Relief Program Portal

The program will distribute more than $23 million to landlords and homeowners impacted by wildfires and emergencies

The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs announced Wednesday that the application portal for the LA County Emergency Rent Relief Program is now open. The Emergency Rent Relief Program will distribute more than $23 million in financial assistance to landlords and homeowners impacted by the wildfires and other emergencies.

Eligible landlords may review eligibility requirements, access multilingual resources, and submit applications for financial assistance directly at LACountyRentRelief.com. . The deadline to apply is Friday, January 23, at 4:59 p.m. Tenants who have experienced emergency-related rent debt may also review eligibility requirements and submit an interest form to refer their landlord to apply for the program.

Directed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and administered by the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs in partnership with The Center by Lendistry (TCbL), the Emergency Rent Relief Program provides financial assistance to:

Eligible Landlords whose tenants were unable to pay rent due to emergency-related hardship,

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

No-Burn Order Extended Through Wednesday for Much of Southern California

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The South Coast Air Quality Management District extended a No-Burn Alert through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday evening, prohibiting wood burning in fireplaces and in all indoor or outdoor devices across four Los Angeles-area counties.

The updated alert now in effect until midnight Wednesday includes the South Coast Air Basin, covering large areas of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, except the High Desert and Coachella Valley.

“South Coast AQMD reminds residents in these areas that burning wood in their fireplaces or any indoor or outdoor wood-burning device is prohibited at any time on No-Burn Days,” the agency said.

Smoke from wood burning can cause health problems, according to the AQMD. Fine particulate matter called PM2.5 can get deep into the lungs to cause asthma attacks and other respiratory problems, increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

Homes that rely on wood as a sole source of heat, low-income households and those without natural gas service are exempt from the requirement.

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

For Some Eaton Fire Survivors, a Season of Grief

By THERESE EDU

Nearly a year after flames swept through Altadena, mental health professionals are seeing an epidemic of holiday depression as families face celebrations without homes, possessions or traditions

The holidays arrived in Altadena this year like an uninvited guest, bearing gifts nobody asked for: the pressure to be festive when everything feels broken, the expectation of joy in places where homes once stood, the weight of traditions that no longer have a place to happen.

Nearly a year after the January Eaton Fire destroyed homes and displaced families across Altadena and Pasadena, mental health professionals in the area are witnessing what they describe as an epidemic of holiday depression. The timing is particularly cruel: The first major holidays fall just weeks before the fire’s one-year anniversary, creating what therapists call a double burden of anniversary grief and seasonal expectation.

“Anniversaries are deeply tied into grief and trauma. Our brain remembers when,” said Dr.

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

United Teachers of Pasadena President Disputes School District’s Labor Bargaining Report

The president of United Teachers of Pasadena is pushing back against a Pasadena Unified School District update emailed Tuesday to the school district community about ongoing labor negotiations, disputing key claims about bargaining session topics, the district’s financial outlook, and the cost of union proposals.

Jonathan Gardner, UTP president, said the district’s Dec. 16 communication mischaracterized the Dec. 15 bargaining session and overstated the district’s fiscal challenges.

“Even though they spent half of their update on the health and welfare proposals, we did not talk about that this past Monday at all,” Gardner said. “For them to have spent half of that update on referencing that is really not appropriate.”

The district’s update stated that the fourth bargaining session of the 2025-26 negotiation season took place Dec. 15, and devoted substantial space to health and welfare benefit discussions.

Gardner challenged the district’s assertion of a $30 million structural deficit and warnings that unrestricted reserves could turn negative by 2027-28 without a fiscal stabilization plan.

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Eaton Fire Survivors Demand SoCal Edison Provide Housing Relief

By JOSE HERRERA, City News Service

Nearly one year after the Eaton Fire destroyed or contaminated thousands of homes in Altadena, fire survivors Tuesday urged Southern California Edison to provide housing aid to the many families facing homelessness.

Eight in 10 Eaton Fire families remain displaced with most running out of housing funds, according to research by the nonprofit Department of Angels. Fire survivors say without support from SoCal Edison, families cannot move forward in their recovery while fearing where they will sleep next month.

“We are not here in anger. We are here in love for our community,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network. “When a company’s fire destroys or contaminates homes, that company has a responsibility to keep families housed until they can get back home.”

A group of survivors led by Chen’s group, the Eaton Fire Collaborative Leadership Council, the Clergy Community Coalition and the Altadena Town Council conducted a news conference Tuesday morning in Altadena asking the utility company to advance temporary housing support immediately while meeting obligations it already owes.

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Posada Celebration Offers Support, Rights Education for Eaton Fire Survivors

The community event will highlight solidarity, rights education and cultural healing for fire survivors

Survivors of the deadly Eaton Fire will gather Wednesday evening for a community Posada at La Fiesta Grande restaurant, an event organizers say is meant to provide solidarity, legal education and cultural healing nearly a year after the blaze.

The Dec. 17 celebration, scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 181 E. Glenarm St. in Pasadena, is hosted by LA Fire Justice, the Delgado family of La Fiesta Grande, and Labor Community Services. The event is described as not a fundraiser or city-sponsored function, but a rights-focused outreach effort for families still displaced.

The Posada will feature traditional festivities including a procession reenacting Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter, carols, food, and live music. Flyers spotlight free pan dulce and atole alongside legal rights education, particularly for Latino and immigrant families navigating recovery regardless of immigration status.

The Eaton Fire ignited Jan.

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

LA County Board of Supervisors Appoints Eric Bates as Interim Inspector General

Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors appointed Eric D. Bates as the interim Inspector General for LA County.

“I am honored by the Board’s confidence and am committed to upholding the Office of Inspector General’s core mission of independent oversight, accountability, and transparency,” said interim Inspector General Eric Bates. “My priority will be to preserve the independence and credibility of the oversight function while maintaining continuity in audits, investigations, and compliance monitoring, meeting legally-mandated obligations, and ensuring the Board receives timely, objective information to guide its oversight of the Sheriff’s and Probation Departments. Nothing is more important to me than strengthening the OIG’s work to identify systemic risks and improve public safety and trust.”

A highly experienced litigator with over three decades of oversight and trial experience, Bates most recently served as an Assistant Inspector General with the LA County Office of the Inspector General. Prior to his work for the County of Los Angeles, Bates served for five years as a Special Assistant Inspector General with the California Office of the Inspector General,

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Festive Winter Wonderland Will Comfort Eaton Fire Survivors

STAFF REPORT

Event promises care, dignity, healing, and programming

On December 23, Hillside Tabernacle Church in Altadena will be transformed into a festive Winter Wonderland, a gathering designed to uplift families and seniors recovering from the Eaton Fire. Hosted by Community Women Vital Voices (CWVV) in collaboration with Black Clergy, Black Leadership, and local nonprofit partners, the event runs from 3 to 6 p.m. and promises a season of care, joy, and community connection.

Traditionally centered on seniors, this year’s Eaton Fire Senior Summit expands its embrace to entire households. Recognizing the heightened needs of families navigating displacement and loss, CWVV has broadened the scope to include children and loved ones—ensuring that support and celebration are shared across generations.

“The CWVV Eaton Fire Senior Summit Winter Wonderland is more than an event—it is a moment of care, dignity, healing, and programming that builds healthy minds to make critical decisions,” said President Lena L. Kennedy, founder and creator of the Winter Wonderland initiative.

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Music Legends Pledge $3 Million for Equitable Fire Recovery in Altadena, Pasadena

STAFF REPORT

Songwriter Mike Stoller and his wife, jazz musician Corky Hale Stoller, have pledged $3 million to support equitable fire recovery in historically Black neighborhoods in Altadena and in Pasadena, devastated by January’s wildfires.

The contribution will bolster the Black LA Relief & Recovery Fund, led by the Black Freedom Fund in partnership with the California Community Foundation. The fund prioritizes community-led rebuilding efforts, directing resources to organizations rooted in Black neighborhoods long shaped by redlining, housing covenants and intergenerational homeownership.

“This isn’t just about houses,” said Mike Stoller. “It’s about people — people, for many years denied equal access to real estate in Los Angeles … people who created a community for their families and friends, their churches and businesses. Corky and I wish to support the preservation of this community and to inspire others to help in that preservation.”

“History shows that if families are forced to leave while they rebuild, the odds of returning drop dramatically.

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

County Marks Sheriff’s Department’s 175th Anniversary

Altadena has been under the Sheriff’s Department jurisdiction since the town’s first station opened 1927

Supervisor Kathryn Barger will honor the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department today with a commemorative scroll marking the department’s 175th anniversary, recognizing nearly a century of service to the County and to Altadena through its local station.

The presentation is scheduled during the Board of Supervisors’ public hearing at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles.

The Sheriff’s Department Band will perform at 9 a.m., followed by the scroll presentation at 9:30 a.m. with remarks from Barger and Sheriff Robert G. Luna, according to county event details. Captains from Fifth District stations, including Altadena, are expected to attend.

Founded in 1850, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is the nation’s largest sheriff’s agency, serving 42 incorporated cities and 141 unincorporated communities. Altadena has been under its jurisdiction since 1927, when Station No. 7 opened on East Foothill Boulevard. The station later moved to Lake Avenue and Mariposa Street before relocating in 1948 to its current site at the Altadena Civic Center.