Thursday, July 30, 2026

Decline-in-Value Review Forms Available Now

Los Angeles County property owners may now file an application for a Decline-in-Value Review (DIV) if they believe the market value of their property has fallen below its current assessed value.

Decline-in-Review applications are accepted annually from July 2 through November 30. To file, complete the Decline-in-Value Review Application (Form RP-87), which is available on our Decline-in-Value webpage under the Forms tab beginning July 2. The application may be submitted online for your convenience.

What Is a Decline-in-Value Review?

If you believe your property’s market value as of January 1 is lower than its assessed value, you may qualify for a temporary reduction in your assessed value under California law.

California’s Proposition 13 established a property’s base year value for property tax purposes and generally limits annual increases in assessed value to no more than two percent unless ownership changes or new construction occurs.

In 1978, California voters approved Proposition 8, which allows for a temporary reduction in assessed value when a property’s market value falls below its assessed value.

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Kenne Qualifies for PUSD Re-Election Race as School Board Field Takes Shape

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

Incumbent Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Board member Kimberly Kenne has officially qualified for the Nov. 3 general election, becoming the first incumbent in this year’s school board races to secure a place on the ballot.

Kenne, who represents District 1, filed her nomination papers July 22 and qualified for the ballot July 24, according to nomination records released by the City Clerk’s office.

She is expected to face challengers Felita R. Kealing, who was issued nomination papers July 13, and Dianne Lewis, who pulled papers July 22.

As of the latest filing report, neither Kealing nor Lewis had qualified for the ballot.

In District 7, Dennis J. McNamara has also qualified for the election after filing and qualifying July 27. McNamara is seeking the seat being vacated by Yarma Velazquez, who announced she will not seek reelection.

The remaining races are still taking shape.

In District 3, incumbent Michele Richardson Bailey and challenger Veronica Elias have both been issued nomination papers,

Thursday, July 30, 2026

LA Fire Survivors Say Newsom Is Trying To Help Utilities Reduce Their Wildfire Costs Again

By Levi Sumagaysay, CALMATTERS

If you live in California, chances are you’ve seen the ads that say “Home insurance rates skyrocket” and “The FAIR Plan is broken.”

They urge you to contact your state representative to ask them to “fix our wildfire problem to make California more affordable.”

Those ads are connected to what Los Angeles fire survivors, consumer advocacy groups and the insurance industry say is a secretive, last-minute attempt by Gov. Gavin Newsom to help utilities reduce how much they pay for wildfires they cause.

With the legislative session set to resume next week and run through the end of the month, the governor’s staff has been talking with state lawmakers about addressing challenges around wildfire recovery and rising catastrophic risk in California, a spokesperson for his office confirmed.

Lawmakers have not released the text of the proposals. Newsom spokesperson Anthony Martinez would not say whether the legislation will do the following, as alleged by fire survivors and a consumer advocacy group:

• Limit compensation for fire victims’ pain and suffering.

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Former, Current Caltech Scientists Find Evidence “Something Catastrophic” Happened to Neptune

By Katie Neith, CALTECH

In 1989, the Voyager 2 mission discovered six new moons orbiting Neptune, including five tiny ones that orbit just outside the planet’s main rings. Because of their small sizes and locations, these satellites have been difficult to study from Earth. Now, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of Caltech researchers has observed Neptune’s rings and three of those moons—Larissa, Galatea, and Proteus—and found that their composition is unique among outer solar system bodies.

These findings point to the existence of an original moon system that was demolished when Triton, Neptune’s biggest moon, was likely captured by the planet’s gravity after it formed elsewhere in the solar system. The researchers believe remnants left behind from this smashup then came together to form the inner moons seen today.

“If Neptune once had a system of moons that looked something like what we see at Uranus today, we expect it would’ve been completely destroyed by the process of Triton getting captured,”

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Housing Market Holds Steady As Fed Pauses, And Iran War Drags On

By EDDIE RIVERA

Economists watch a fragile balance between resilience and risk

The nation’s housing market is showing quiet resilience even as a widening war in the Middle East and a divided Federal Reserve complicate the outlook for the rest of the year.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would hold its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75% for a fifth straight meeting, according to the Fed’s postmeeting statement. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh described the internal debate as a “good family fight,” CNN reported. Three regional bank presidents, Beth Hammack of Cleveland, Neel Kashkari of Minneapolis and Lorie Logan of Dallas, dissented in favor of a quarter-point increase, citing inflation that has stayed above the Fed’s 2% target for more than five years, the Fed said. It was the first three-way dissent on a single policy direction since September 2016, CNBC reported.

The split reflects a broader anxiety running through the economy. Fighting between the United States and Iran resumed in early July after a ceasefire collapsed,

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Red Cross Grant to Fund Altadena Home Rebuilds Through San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity

The American Red Cross has awarded San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity a $5 million grant to pay for long-term rebuilding of Altadena-area homes destroyed in the January 2025 Eaton Fire, according to the Red Cross and media reports.

The grant is intended to expand the nonprofit’s capacity to help homeowners rebuild and return home, as part of the Red Cross’s national Long-Term Recovery Program.

The money will provide resources for “eligible homeowners facing financial barriers” to rebuilding. The homes involved are in Altadena and neighboring unincorporated Los Angeles County communities inside the Eaton Fire burn area.

San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity senior director of development Michael Bridges said in the release that the money would broaden the organization’s reach.

“We are deeply grateful to the American Red Cross for this generous investment and partnership in wildfire recovery,” Bridges said in the press release. “As families continue to rebuild after the Eaton Fire, this support expands our capacity to help homeowners restore stability and regain a sense of home.

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Blood Drive at Altadena’s Collaboratory Comes as Red Cross Declares National Crisis

Pasadena Village and the Eaton Fire Collaborative partner with the Red Cross for an August 3 donation event open to all

The nation’s blood supply has dropped to levels the American Red Cross calls a crisis. On August 3, a partnership between three organizations will bring a donation site to Altadena, where a single hour in a chair could help reverse it.

Pasadena Village, the Eaton Fire Collaborative, and the Red Cross are co-hosting a blood drive at the Collaboratory from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Organizers say they need 25 donors to make the drive a success, according to the Pasadena Village event listing.

The drive comes as the Red Cross confronts what it calls only the second national blood supply crisis in its history. The national supply fell nearly 25% in June, and donations have reached a four-year summer low, according to a Red Cross press release issued July 27.

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Chu Joins Federal Announcement on Medical Care for Immigrants in ICE Custody

The announcement comes 13 days after a U.S. district judge ordered an overhaul of conditions at the Adelanto detention center

A federal judge ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to overhaul medical care at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center 13 days ago. On Wednesday afternoon, four Southern California Democrats will hold a news conference and announce legislation on the same subject.

One of them is Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, whose 28th Congressional District takes in both Pasadena and Altadena. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, is convening it. A media advisory describes the measure as legislation intended to improve access to medical care for immigrants detained in ICE detention centers. Reps. Gil Cisneros, D-Covina, and Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, will also take part.

In Chu’s district, the issue already has a case attached to it. Masuma Khan, a 64-year-old Altadena resident and Eaton Fire survivor, was detained at a routine immigration check-in on October 6, 2025, and held at the California City Detention Facility in Kern County,

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Barger Motion Turns to Dr. Lucy Jones, Caltech, UCLA for County Earthquake Review

Unincorporated Altadena depends on the county emergency office that would carry out the assessment, working with Caltech and UCLA

Los Angeles County wants to know how ready it is for the next major earthquake. Under a motion from Supervisor Kathryn Barger, part of the answer would come from Pasadena.

Barger introduced the motion on Tuesday. It calls for a comprehensive review of County earthquake preparedness and directs County emergency officials to engage Dr. Lucy Jones, along with experts from Caltech and UCLA, to help shape readiness for the next major quake.

Jones is a visiting associate in geophysics at Caltech and founder of a Pasadena-based science center. Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory, where she has held an appointment since 1984, sits on East California Boulevard. 

Under the motion, that office would return to the Board of Supervisors on September 29, 2026 with a comprehensive assessment, the release said, evaluating County facilities, emergency personnel, continuity of government operations and critical infrastructure,

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

JPL’s Chief Scientist Brings the Search for Life to a Live Audience

Caltech alumnus Jonathan Lunine will discuss the Perseverance rover’s biosignature discovery and Europa Clipper’s voyage in a free Aug. 25 livestream

The rock that may hold the strongest evidence of ancient life on Mars was drilled from an old riverbed by a robot built in Pasadena. The scientist now leading the laboratory that built it will explain what comes next — live, from the room where mission controllers talk to spacecraft billions of miles away.

Jonathan Lunine, chief scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a professor of planetary science at Caltech, will headline a free public livestream on Tuesday, August 25, at 12:00 p.m. Billed as a fireside chat and broadcast from JPL’s Space Flight Operations Facility — the nerve center known internally as the Center of the Universe — the 75-minute conversation will trace the missions driving the search for habitable worlds beyond Earth, from a single Mars rock sample to an ocean hidden beneath the ice of Jupiter’s moon Europa.