Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Arboretum’s 12th Annual Plumeria Festival Set for July 17-18

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden will hold its 12th Annual Plumeria Festival on Friday, July 17, from 4 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, July 18, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to a press release from the Arboretum

The festival is centered on the Arboretum’s Plumeria Grove, which the Arboretum describes as the largest public plumeria collection in the western continental United States, with more than 100 trees. The grove is located on Tallac Knoll at the Arboretum, 301 N. Baldwin Ave. in Arcadia.

The event will include more than 20 plant and merchandise vendors, guided tours of the grove, talks from gardening experts, live entertainment, lei-making, and food trucks, the release said. Admission is included with paid general admission to the Arboretum, which is $18 for adults, $14 for students with ID and seniors 62 and older, and $8 for children ages 3 to 12; children 2 and under and Arboretum members are admitted free, according to the Arboretum’s website.

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

New State Law Lets LA County Prosecute Labor Traffickers and Wage Thieves Across County Lines

Legislation sponsored by the county’s district attorney closes a jurisdictional gap in wage theft and trafficking cases

Employers who traffic workers or steal their wages across county lines can now be prosecuted in the county where those workers lived, where their employment agreement was entered into, where any portion of the work was performed, or where the offending business operated, under a bill that has been signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom and takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The measure, AB 1583, was sponsored by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and co-sponsored by the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office. It was authored by Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa, and passed the Legislature unanimously with bipartisan support.

The bill closes a loophole that has made it difficult for prosecutors to pursue cases spanning more than one county — for instance, when a victim lives in one county but was hired or worked in another.

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Guest Opinion | Calmatters’ Dan Walters: Tech Devices in California’s New Cars Create Thorny Political Issues

By Dan Walters, CALMATTERS

Automobiles have gradually evolved over the last two decades from mechanical devices into electronic platforms featuring computer screens and numerous other digital capabilities.

A few years ago, the California Air Resources Board began requiring automakers to install devices in vehicles to record and store operational data that the agency could access to determine how well emission reduction programs were working.

It was one aspect of the state’s announced goal of phasing out cars and trucks powered by gasoline and diesel fuel and replacing them with zero-emission vehicles.

The auto industry opposed the data collection mandate, arguing it would violate the privacy of vehicle owners. At one point the industry threatened to stop producing cars for California.

The agency insisted it would not collect data involuntarily. But its regulation fueled — pun intended — suspicions in some quarters that recording how and where cars were being used would allow them to be tracked,

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

County Commission Mulls Awarding Altadena Library District Review Contract

The Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission is scheduled to consider awarding a contract to AP Triton to conduct a Municipal Service Review and Sphere of Influence Update for the Altadena Library District, according to the agency’s July 8, 2026 meeting agenda. The Formation Commission is headquartered in Pasadena.

The review is required under the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, which mandates that LAFCO update each special district’s sphere of influence at least every five years.

The last such review of the Altadena Library District dates to 2005.

LAFCO issued a request for proposals for the review on April 22, 2026, bundling the Altadena Library District with the Palos Verdes Library District, with a submission deadline of May 26, 2026. Contract selection was anticipated in June or July; the resulting contract carries a potential one-year term with up to six optional one-month extensions, and the work must be completed by June 30, 2027.

The review will assess seven statutory factors,

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Increased $85,000 Reward Offered in Altadena Cold Case Murder Investigation

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Authorities Monday announced a reward of up to $85,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or people who fatally shot a 4-year-old in Altadena in July 2016.

The shooting involving people believed to be gang members occurred at about 10:40 p.m. July 5, 2016, in the 300 block of West Figueroa Drive, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff’s officials said deputies determined that a man was being chased through a property in the area when the suspects opened fire, striking the man in the leg. He sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Salvador Esparza was standing near a doorway of his family’s home when he was also struck by gunfire. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

“Although a decade has passed, our commitment to Salvador and his family has never wavered. We remain determined to identify those responsible, bring them to justice, and provide Salvador’s family with the answers and accountability they have deserved for far too long,”

Monday, July 6, 2026

County Retirement Association to Get Briefing will on How Environmental, Social and Governance Affect Impact Investments

Trustees on the committee that oversees corporate governance for the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association will hear a research briefing in Pasadena on Wednesday from MSCI on how environmental, social and governance factors relate to investment returns.

The item, set for the July 8 meeting of LACERA’s Corporate Governance Committee and Board of Investments, is educational only — it carries no motion, vote or policy proposal. The presentation was recommended by Principal Investment Officer Scott Zdrazil in a June 26 memo reviewed by Chief Investment Officer Jonathan Grabel.

The speaker, Julia Morello, is executive director of MSCI Research & Development, where she leads a team within the firm’s newly created Emerging Risk function, studying how climate, artificial intelligence and geopolitical risk show up in company-level data. She joined MSCI in 2009 through its acquisition of RiskMetrics Group. Before her current post, she was head of sector and thematic research at MSCI, leading a team of sector, regulatory and carbon experts with a particular focus on ESG Ratings research.

Monday, July 6, 2026

LA County to Consider Giving Nonprofits First Crack at Altadena-Area Apartment Sales

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is set to consider a proposal that would explore giving nonprofit housing organizations the first opportunity to buy apartment buildings and mobile home parks in unincorporated communities, including Altadena, before those properties reach the open market.

The measure, Item 4 on the board’s July 7 agenda, would direct county departments to return within 180 days with a recommended Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, ordinance. Because Altadena is an unincorporated community governed directly by the county, any such ordinance would apply there, potentially changing how apartment buildings and mobile home parks are bought and sold.

Under the framework the motion lays out, the county would explore giving qualified mission-driven purchasers — such as community land trusts and nonprofit developers — a Right of First Offer and a Right of First Refusal on covered properties, along with a method for determining fair-market offers. The program would apply to residential properties with five or more units and to mobile home parks.

Monday, July 6, 2026

Sheriff, Supervisor, Family Renew Appeal in Unsolved Killing of Altadena Boy, 4

A media advisory says county leaders will gather with relatives Monday morning to seek tips in a decade-old porch shooting

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and Supervisor Kathryn Barger are scheduled to join relatives of Salvador Esparza III at a 10 a.m. Monday news conference in Altadena, according to a sheriff’s department advisory, renewing a public appeal for information nearly a decade after the 4-year-old was fatally shot on a relative’s front porch.

An $85,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Esparza, of Monrovia, was shot on the evening of July 5, 2016, while standing on the porch of a relative’s home in the 300 block of West Figueroa Drive in unincorporated Altadena.

He died hours later at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

The case remains unsolved.

A gunman fired at least 13 rounds at people gathered on the porch, then fled in a dark-colored sedan that had been waiting nearby on Olive Street.

Monday, July 6, 2026

Heat Advisory Cautions Temps To Push Pasadena Into the 90s Through Thursday

The National Weather Service warns temperatures could reach 100 degrees in nearby mountains and valleys, and Los Angeles County is urging residents to check on neighbors without air conditioning

A heat advisory takes effect at 10 a.m. Tuesday and runs through 8 p.m. Thursday for the San Gabriel Valley, including Pasadena, with the National Weather Service forecasting highs near 90 to 92 degrees locally.

The advisory prompted the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to issue a countywide warning Sunday urging residents — particularly older adults, young children, pregnant people and those without air conditioning — to take precautions against heat-related illness this week.

The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles/Oxnard office forecasts a sunny high near 90 for Pasadena on Tuesday, a sunny high near 92 on Wednesday, and a mostly sunny high near 92 on Thursday, with overnight lows around 63.

The advisory covers interior valleys and mountains across Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties,

Monday, July 6, 2026

LA County Seeks Contractors to Water 1,100 Newly Planted Trees in Unincorporated Communities

A request for proposals covers unincorporated communities, including Altadena, as part of the county’s broader tree-canopy initiative

Los Angeles County is looking for a contractor to keep 1,100 newly planted trees alive across its unincorporated communities, under a request for proposals the county’s Department of Economic Opportunity released June 4.

The solicitation is part of the county’s Community Forest Management Plan, an effort the county says advances climate resilience and equitable investment in historically underserved communities — a designation that includes Eaton Fire-devastated Altadena.

Community and nonprofit estimates suggest Altadena lost roughly two-thirds of its tree canopy in the fire and subsequent recovery work, though the county has not as yet published a confirmed loss figure.

Proposals are due July 6 at noon. The county expects the resulting contract to run from October 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028.

To qualify, contractors need at least three years of experience providing comparable tree-watering services within the last five years,