Tuesday, August 4, 2026

LA County to Conduct Earthquake Preparedness Review

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The county Board of Supervisors directed its staff Tuesday to conduct a thorough review of the county’s preparedness for a major earthquake, and to create a public outreach campaign to provide quake-readiness information to residents and businesses.

Without discussion, the board unanimously approved a motion by Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who cited recent studies showing that strain on portions of the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems has reached the highest point in at least 1,000 years.

The motion directs the county’s Office of Emergency Management to report back to the board on Sept. 29 with a comprehensive review of the county’s earthquake preparedness. That report, conducted in conjunction with Southland earthquake guru Lucy Jones, is expected to include a review of readiness at major county facilities — including medical centers — and infrastructure, along with preparedness to ensure continued government operations following a major quake.

The report will also identify gaps in need of addressing before a large temblor.

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

LA County Fire Department: SoCal Edison Electrical Tower Sparked Deadly Eaton Fire

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Fire Department concluded in reports released Tuesday that electrical arcing on an out-of-service Southern California Edison transmission tower sparked the January 2025 Eaton Fire.

Fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds, the Eaton Fire killed at least 19 people in the Altadena area, while destroying roughly 9,000 structures as it raged over more than 14,000 acres.

SCE power lines have long been suspected as the source of the fire, with numerous lawsuits already filed against the utility. SCE officials have acknowledged in previous filings with state regulators that its equipment was a likely ignition source for the blaze.

“Our hearts are with the Altadena community, and we continue to support them as they recover and rebuild through our Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program,” SCE spokesman David Eisenhauer told City News Service Tuesday. “We received the L.A. County Fire report and are reviewing it. We have taken our potential role in the start of this fire seriously from the beginning.

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Eaton Fire Survivors’ Nonprofit Opens Zero-Interest Rebuild Financing to More Altadena Homeowners

Founders of Altadena Land Initiatives will take questions Tuesday at The Collaboratory as the Gap Rebuild Program widens beyond its pilot families

Altadena Land Initiatives will host a launch mixer for its Gap Rebuild Program, a zero-interest financing program for homeowners rebuilding after the Eaton Fire, at 4 p.m. Tuesday at The Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road, according to a media advisory from the nonprofit.

Co-founders Ursula Hyman and Manny Abascal, Eaton Fire survivors and longtime Altadena residents, are scheduled to speak, followed by media interviews.

The program is aimed at a shortfall that has kept many families from breaking ground: after insurance proceeds, many homeowners still face a gap of 40% to 50% of their rebuild costs, often hundreds of thousands of dollars, that FEMA assistance, SBA loans and other recovery resources cannot close, ALI said in materials announcing the program.

Without affordable financing, families are left choosing between high-interest debt, selling, or walking away from the community,

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Eaton Fire Burglary Case Reaches Its 19th Month in Pasadena Court

Rudy Salazar, accused with a co-defendant of entering two evacuated Altadena homes as the January 2025 wildfire burned, is scheduled before a judge in Department B on Tuesday morning

Rudy Salazar is scheduled to appear in a Pasadena courtroom Tuesday morning at 21 years old, facing allegations in two felony counts from an afternoon in Altadena when he was 19, and the Eaton Fire was burning.

Salazar and co-defendant Lucia Jilrara Perez, 37, each are charged with two counts of first-degree residential burglary.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office alleges the two entered a pair of Altadena homes at approximately 2:30 p.m. on January 8, 2025, while mandatory evacuation orders were in effect, and took property.

Both pleaded not guilty at their arraignment two days later.

The pair were apprehended while allegedly attempting to enter a third residence, the district attorney’s office said. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.

First-degree residential burglary is a felony in California.

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Deals To Watch As CA Lawmakers Make Final Sprint

By Lynn La, CALMATTERS

State lawmakers are returning to Sacramento today for the final month of session, which ends on Aug. 31. In the next few weeks, Democratic legislative leaders will attempt to hammer out deals between themselves, Gov. Gavin Newsom and other stakeholders on bills related to climate policy, speeding up urban development, wildfires and more, write CalMatters’ Yue Stella Yu and Maya C. Miller.

Major deals we’re keeping tabs on include:

• Climate funding: By the June state budget deadline, legislators and Newsom failed to agree on how to spend the state’s main climate fund. The parties last year reauthorized the state’s carbon market, which finances climate programs by charging companies that pollute. But that money, which was estimated to generate $4 billion a year, could shrink by half under new rules the Newsom administration adopted this year — putting money for various legislative priorities at risk.

• California Forever: The real estate development group,

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

A Home Built, Faith Vindicated, In Altadena

By EDDIE RIVERA

A church community’s eighteen-month commitment gives a widow a brand-new home to replace the one she lost

Alice Jean McFerguson stood on Terrace Avenue in Altadena and watched her home burn to the ground before dawn on January 7, 2025. Her pastor, Bishop Christopher Milton of Holy Assembly Church of God in Christ, was beside her.

“We took her from that point,” Milton said, at a Monday party celebrating her rebuilt home. “We provided places for her to temporarily stay. We fostered with her insurance company, which was a whole parallel pivot business for her.”

McFerguson, 82, is a widow. A neighbor pulled her from her house the night the fire broke out. The next morning, Milton drove her back to check on the property. They arrived in time to see it collapse.

What followed was eighteen months of displacement. McFerguson, unlike other fire victims, moved only twice,

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Black August Film Festival Marks Fifth Year in Pasadena as Altadena Fire Recovery Anchors Program

Screenings set for the Flintridge Center and the Watercooler Room; the foundation has published conflicting dates

The Pasadena African American Film Foundation will present the fifth annual Black August Film Festival this month at venues in Pasadena, Los Angeles and, the foundation says, Altadena, with films examining the January 2025 Eaton Fire among the selections.

Every ticket the foundation is selling is dated Saturday, August 15, or Sunday, August 16. Its published dates otherwise vary: the press release announcing the fifth anniversary gives August 12 through 16, the foundation’s website gives August 14 through 16, and its promotional banner and its Pasadena Black Pages social media account give August 16 and 17.

Saturday’s thirteen screening blocks are set for the Flintridge Center, 236 West Mountain Street, Suite 106, with start times from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday’s program moves to the Watercooler Room at Jazzy Jam for Empowerment, opening at 10:30 a.m. and closing with the awards ceremony. A general all-access pass costs $45.00 and single blocks cost $15.00.

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

LA Metro Touts 57% Reduction in Homelessness on Transit System Since 2024

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Metro experienced a 57% decrease in homelessness on its transit system since 2024, marking two straight years of progress, officials announced Monday.

Metro operates a county-wide bus system and the A Line (formerly the Gold Line), the light rail route that runs through Pasadena and connects it to Downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Pomona.

Data from the 2026 Homeless Count led by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in January showed a 31% decrease in homelessness on the transit system compared to 2025. This year’s count estimated 395 to 517 unhoused individuals on Metro’s transit system.

The estimate was lower than the 631 to 684 unhoused people in 2025 and 1,041 to 1,092 unhoused people in 2024. Metro noted the point-in-time count is not an exact census, but estimates are reported as a range to account for statistical margins of error.

In fiscal year 2025-26, outreach teams connected 354 individuals to permanent housing,

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Supervisors to Vote Today on Barger’s $20,000 Reward in Jewish Center Mural Vandalism Case

CITY NEWS SERVICE

County supervisors Tuesday will consider a motion by Supervisor Kathryn Barger to offer a $20,000 reward for information leading to the person or people responsible for vandalizing a mural at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center that burned in last year’s Eaton Fire.

The mural in the 1400 block of North Altadena Drive was vandalized with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti sometime on July 24, which was a Friday, according to the county sheriff’s department.

The mural, depicting an orange poppy as a symbol of hope, was produced by artist Miriam Hellmann, the Art Over Hate Collective, the Sparks of Kindness Youth Fund and religious school students, volunteers and community members. It was created earlier this year in response to an act of vandalism in which antisemitic graffiti was painted on a wall of the fire-damaged center.

“An attack motivated by hate against one community is an attack against us all,” Barger said in a statement after introducing her reward motion.

Monday, August 3, 2026

Elias Qualifies to Challenge Bailey for PUSD District 3 Seat

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

Veronica Elias has qualified to challenge incumbent Michelle Richardson Bailey for the Pasadena Unified School District District 3 seat, setting up a November contest for one of four Board of Education seats on this year’s ballot.

According to the City Clerk’s office, Elias filed her nomination papers and qualified for the Nov. 3 election on July 30. Richardson Bailey had taken out nomination papers but had not filed or qualified as of the latest posting.

The field continues to shape up as the district struggles through several public relations crises. Several board members have been accused of corruption and violating the Ralph M. Brown Act, which governs open meetings. The district is currently in litigation against the city over the district’s efforts to cut down nearly 200 trees across the district.

District 3 is one of four Pasadena Unified board seats up for election this year.

In District 1, incumbent Kimberly Kenne qualified for the ballot July 24.