Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Story Lead Turns Her Lens on Los Angeles in New Essay Collection

The former Disney Imagineer examines how the city’s streets and neighborhoods shape identity, including reflections on the wildfires

The woman who helped write the story of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has turned her attention to a real city — one that reinvents itself as relentlessly as any fictional planet.

Margaret Chandra Kerrison, the former Walt Disney Imagineer who served as story lead for the Star Wars-themed land, will discuss and sign her new book, “Los Angeles Lost and Found: Essays on Identity, Place, and Belonging,” tonight at Vroman’s Bookstore. The collection applies what Kerrison calls narrative placemaking — the framework she used to build immersive theme park worlds — to Los Angeles itself, examining how the city’s streets, neighborhoods, and landmarks shape who its residents become. The book, published March 3 by ORO Editions, includes reflections on the recent LA wildfires, according to the publisher.

Kerrison was an Imagineer from 2014 to 2021. Her portfolio includes Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance,

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

American Red Cross Puts Out Call for Blood as Supplies Dwindle

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The American Red Cross continued to ask for help across the country Tuesday to replenish its blood supply after severe late-winter storms impacted transportation networks nationwide.

“Some parts of the nation are still clearing snow, but the threat of severe spring weather is already growing,” according to a statement from the organization. “Now is the time to book a blood or platelet donation appointment to help prevent any future disruption to patient care.”

People can book a time to give blood or platelets by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App.

The Red Cross will perform A1C testing on successful blood, platelet and plasma donations made in March and those who come to give blood, platelets or plasma this month will receive a $15 Amazon Gift Card by email.

All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients, according to the organization. A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in.

Monday, March 9, 2026

Abortion Rights Attorney Tapped to Lead Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley

Dipti Singh, who litigated restrictions in courts across the country, will succeed Sheri Bonner after more than two decades of expansion

Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley has named Dipti Singh, its chief legal officer and a veteran abortion rights litigator, as the organization’s next President and CEO, effective April 1.

Singh succeeds Sheri Bonner, who is retiring at the end of March after leading PPPSGV since 2004 — a tenure in which the Pasadena-founded nonprofit grew from a single health center into a five-clinic network serving 24 communities across the San Gabriel Valley.

The Board of Directors unanimously selected Singh following a national search, according to a statement from the organization.

Before joining PPPSGV in September 2021, Singh spent years challenging abortion restrictions in state and federal courts as a founding member, senior counsel and director at the Lawyering Project, a national reproductive rights organization. She also worked at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles, clerked for a federal judge in the Central District of California,

Monday, March 9, 2026

LA County Gas Prices Keep Rising

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose 5.6 cents Sunday to $5.221, one day after shooting up 17.5 cents for its largest one-day increase since the record 19.2-cent spike of Oct. 5, 2012.

The Los Angeles County average price is the highest it’s been since May 15, 2024. It is 52.7 cents more than one week ago, 70.5 cents more than one month ago and 51.3 cents more than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It has dropped $1.273 since rising to a record $6.494 on Oct. 5, 2022.

Prices were rising slightly in line with seasonal norms before the joint U.S./Israel attack on Iran on Feb. 28 sent oil prices higher and drastically accelerated increases at the gas pump.

“It’s unknown how long these price spikes will last or how high prices will climb — that will all depend on how long oil supplies remain disrupted,”

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Eaton Canyon Landscape Recovery Center Opens

By EDDIE RIVERA

New facility will lead ecological restoration of the canyon devastated by the January 2025 wildfire

A red-tailed hawk  soared high over Eaton Canyon  as a stiff breeze blew through the trees Saturday morning, rustling spring blossoms at the site of the newly opened Eaton Canyon Landscape Recovery Center. Fourteen months after the Eaton Fire roared through the canyon on Jan. 7, 2025, the wind carried a different message across the hillsides: renewal.

County leaders, environmental groups and community members gathered to mark the opening of the new center, which will serve as a nursery and restoration hub dedicated to growing native plants and trees to support long-term ecological recovery across the canyon and surrounding habitats. The recovery also features plants and trees restored by the Eaton Seed Library, coordinated in 2023 by the Theodore Payne Foundation.

The project is part of a broader recovery effort that includes $21 million in state funding to help restore Eaton Canyon and nearby fire-damaged landscapes.

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Altadena’s Grocery Outlet, a Vital Hub Since the Eaton Fire, Is Not on Chain’s National Closure List

The company plans to shut 36 underperforming stores across six states, but the Lake Avenue location is safe

The Grocery Outlet at 2270 Lake Ave. — which emerged as the beating heart of Altadena’s recovery immediately after the Eaton Fire, drawing displaced residents and relief workers alike — is not among the 36 stores the chain announced this week it plans to close nationwide.

The confirmation matters in a community where the store has functioned as far more than a place to buy groceries. Since the Jan. 7 wildfire, the Grocery Outlet and its parking lot have served as a relief distribution site, a gathering place, and the location where roughly 1,000 people held a candlelight vigil on the one-year anniversary of the disaster.

Owners Sandra and Jose Valenzuela, who have operated the store since July 2021, are members of the Altadena Rotary Club and have made the parking lot available to nonprofits and community organizations at no charge since. The store is one of only two groceries in town,

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Plaque Honoring Rodney King To Be Unveiled Today at Site of His Former Altadena Home

Three community groups to mark 35 years since the beating that sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots

Organizers plan to permanently install a plaque honoring Rodney King today at the site of his former Altadena home, a property that burned in the January 2025 Eaton Fire, as three community organizations gather to mark 35 years since the beating that led to widespread protests and civil unrest.

The Rodney King Foundation, My Tribe Rise and Altadena Rising are hosting the commemoration, scheduled for 2 to 5 p.m. at 2530 Lincoln Ave.

The gathering is expected to include reflections from King’s daughter Lora, who now leads the foundation, as well as community members who knew King and My Tribe Rise co-founder Victor Hodgson, who worked with King after the 1992 riots.

King was born in Sacramento, grew up in Altadena and attended John Muir High School in Pasadena. He was 25 when LAPD officers beat him after a traffic stop on the 210 freeway on March 3,

Sunday, March 8, 2026

1,000 Students Head to Shrine Expo Hall for 76th LA County Science Fair

Pasadena-area schools among those sending competitors to the two-day event, which features new categories in robotics and biomedical engineering

Approximately 1,000 middle and high school students from across Los Angeles County will present research projects at the 76th Annual Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair on March 8-9 at the Shrine Expo Hall, competing for medals, scholarships, and a shot at international competition.

The fair, organized by the all-volunteer nonprofit LACSEF and headquartered in South Pasadena, drew students from more than 140 schools countywide last year, according to the organization. Pasadena-area schools have been well represented in recent years — Blair High School, Pasadena High School, and Polytechnic School have all sent competitors to the annual event. Winners in the top two places in each category advance to the California State Science and Engineering Fair and may qualify for the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.

This year, LACSEF has revised and expanded its competition categories to include Applied Computational Science,

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Saint Mark’s School Plans Gala Fundraiser 14 Months After Eaton Fire Destroyed Altadena Campus

The independent Episcopal school, now operating from temporary sites in Pasadena and San Gabriel, will hold its annual auction at the University Club on March 14

Saint Mark’s School, the Altadena independent school that lost nine buildings to the Eaton Fire in January 2025, will hold its annual fundraising gala March 14 at the University Club in Pasadena, aiming to raise money for educational programs and the eventual rebuilding of its permanent campus.

The event, titled “Rooted and Rising,” arrives 14 months after the fire destroyed the school’s five-and-a-half-acre campus at 1050 E. Altadena Drive, along with the adjacent Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, whose congregation dates to 1906. The school was founded in 1960 by parents seeking quality education in a racially integrated setting and has served preschool through sixth-grade students since then. The gala — a spring auction and party beginning at 5:30 p.m. — will raise funds for tuition assistance for displaced families, replacement of classroom materials and technology, trauma-informed mental health services,

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Resentencing Bid in 2007 Altadena Killing Set for March 10 Hearing in Los Angeles Court

A status conference was reported scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, in the case of Mesha Arshaz Dean, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2007 fatal shooting of Monroe “Monty” Miles Jr. outside a home on Canyon Dell Drive in Altadena and is now seeking resentencing under California’s reformed murder liability laws.

A hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. in Department 110 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles. The proceeding is a procedural step in a multi?stage legal process that could result in Dean’s murder conviction being vacated or her 49?year?and?four?month?to?life sentence being reduced.

Prosecutors have the opportunity to contest the petition by proving Dean remains guilty under current legal standards. Judge Lisa B. Lench is presiding.

Dean, serving 49 years and four months to life for killing Miles on Canyon Dell Drive, is petitioning under California Penal Code Section 1172.6, which stems from Senate Bill 1437, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018, according to the California Legislature’s records.