Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Local Fire Survivor Group Seeks Seat in State Farm Case Over Handling of Eaton Fire Claims

A wildfire survivor advocacy organization representing survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires has asked to become a formal party in California’s enforcement case against State Farm, arguing that Altadena and Pasadena-area policyholders should have a direct voice in proceedings that could determine penalties and remedies arising from the insurer’s handling of fire claims.

The petition, filed June 16 with the California Department of Insurance, seeks permission for Every Fire Survivor’s Network, known as EFSN, to intervene in an administrative proceeding arising from the state’s Accusation and Order to Show Cause against State Farm General Insurance Co. over its handling of claims related to the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires.

EFSN argues that many of its members are State Farm policyholders whose claims are directly implicated by the proceeding and whose legal rights could be affected by its outcome. The organization contends that California’s Administrative Procedure Act requires intervention because the proceeding could substantially affect policyholders’ rights, pending claims and future remedies available to affected survivors.

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

LA County Supervisors Approve Homelessness Prevention Services Plan

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved a proposal aimed at streamlining homelessness prevention services, including assistance for residents displaced by the Eaton and Palisades fires.

A motion by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath calls for the creation of a countywide homelessness prevention resource page on the county website, and a coordinated referral system designed to connect residents with housing assistance before they lose their homes.

The motion was approved Tuesday as survey data from the nonprofit Department of Angels found that two-thirds of fire survivors remain displaced and nearly half have exhausted, or soon will exhaust, insurance-funded temporary housing benefits. The survey found that 40% of survivors said they could afford no more than six months of housing on their own.

“Fire survivors are doing everything right, including paying their mortgage, finding temporary housing, and waiting for support to catch up to their needs,” Barger said in a statement.

“We can’t let families lose their housing on top of everything else they’ve already lost.

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Wildfire Survivors Urged to Complete SBA Loan Process

The U.S. Small Business Administration Tuesday urged Los Angeles County wildfire survivors to complete the final steps needed to access approved federal disaster loan funds before a June 30 deadline.

According to the SBA, nearly 13,000 disaster loan applications totaling more than $3.4 billion have been approved for residents, businesses and nonprofit organizations affected by the January 2025 wildfires in the county. However, only about $1 billion of that assistance has been disbursed to borrowers.

The agency said approved borrowers who have not yet accepted or drawn down their loan funds should do so by June 30. After that date, undisbursed loan assistance generally will only be available on a case-by-case basis.

The SBA made low-interest disaster loans available following the Jan. 7, 2025, wildfires and windstorms that devastated communities including Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Federal officials said recovery challenges, including permitting delays, prompted multiple extensions of disaster-relief deadlines. The agency has maintained recovery centers throughout Los Angeles County and provided in- person assistance to residents and business owners seeking aid.

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Public Health Warns Against Nara Organics Infant Formula After Botulism Outbreak

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

On Tuesday, the Pasadena Public Health Department (PPHD) alerted parents and caregivers to immediately stop using Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Infant Formula.

The formula has been voluntarily recalled following a multistate outbreak of infant botulism.

Retailers have been notified, and the formula should no longer be available locally. At this time, no cases of infant botulism have been reported in Pasadena, according to a City statement.

“While no cases have been reported in Pasadena, parents should seek immediate medical attention if their infant shows any symptoms after consuming the recalled Nara Organics formula,” said Parveen Kaur, health officer. “Rapid treatment can make all the difference after exposure.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the California Department of Public Health are investigating the outbreak.

As of June 13, three infants from California, Pennsylvania and Washington have been hospitalized with infant botulism after consuming Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Infant Formula.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Pasadena Unified, State Defend Tree Removals in Eaton Fire Soil Cleanup as Council Weighs Jurisdiction

The Pasadena Unified School District and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control in a joint statement Monday, June 15 affirmed their position that removing certain trees is the safest and most appropriate way to clean fire-contaminated soil tied to the Eaton Fire across the district’s campuses, even as tree advocates and several Pasadena city councilmembers questioned that day whether the district may cut the trees without city permits.

The competing positions center on the Eaton Fire recovery on Pasadena Unified campuses, where the district says it determined, after months of consultation with state regulators, that removing and replacing soil contaminated by the January 2025 fire — and the trees rooted in it — is the safest course, and that DTSC approved that plan, while opponents say alternatives could spare mature trees and that the district has sidestepped Pasadena’s tree-protection ordinance.

The dispute reached the City Council shortly after the joint statement was released.

The district and DTSC said the trees marked for removal are “only those located within the contaminated soil removal area” and that,

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Sheriff’s Deputies and Firefighters Pick Up Hammers in Altadena Habitat Rebuild

Los Angeles County first-responder agencies join San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity at an Altadena build site, helping construct a home and ADU for a family affected by the Eaton Fire

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and county firefighters are joining San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity volunteers Tuesday morning at an Altadena work site to help build a home and accessory dwelling unit for a family affected by the Eaton Fire.

The 10 a.m. build day brings members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles County Fire Department onto an active SGV Habitat rebuilding corridor in West Altadena, where the nonprofit has been raising walls on East Pine Street since last October. Organizers have not publicly identified the specific street address for Tuesday’s build or the family receiving the home.

The event was publicly announced through IAFF Local 1014, the union representing more than 3,200 county firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, pilots, wildland firefighters, forestry and hazmat personnel.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Altadena Roundtable Tonight Closes LA Forum Series on Rebuilding at Town Scale

Panelists from local affordable-housing nonprofits, UCLA’s cityLAB and two architecture practices gather at Good Neighbor Bar for the third Alt:adena conversation

A roundtable on rebuilding Altadena at neighborhood scale — affordable housing, alternative homeownership models and economic-development strategies — will convene Tuesday evening on the patio of Good Neighbor Bar, closing a three-week Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design series on recovery after the Eaton Fire.

The event, called Alt:town, runs from 7 to 9 p.m. and is the third and final installment of the LA Forum’s Alt:adena roundtable series.

According to the LA Forum’s event page, the panel will explore how “affordable housing, new models of homeownership, and economic development strategies” can build “a familiar and resilient Altadena.”

The series has stepped up in scale week by week — from the home (Alt:home, June 2) to the land (Alt:land, June 9) to the town.

The LA Forum lists five panelists for Tuesday: Alex Athenson of the Foothill Catalog Foundation,

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Chu Secures $1 Million for Jackie Robinson Community Center

By EDDIE RIVERA

Federal funds will pay for accessibility upgrades, kitchen remodel, and the return of a beloved pottery program

Congresswoman Judy Chu stood on stage at the Jackie Robinson Community Center in Pasadena Monday morning and presented the City a $1 million federal check that officials say has been a long time coming.

“This center needed some love,” Chu said. “This center needed an injection of funds.”

The money, secured through the federal community project funding process, will pay for facility-wide ADA accessibility upgrades, energy-efficient lighting, HVAC maintenance, staff area remodeling, a kitchen renovation, and the revival of the center’s pottery program, which had been discontinued.

Chu said she requested the funding as part of the fiscal year 2026 appropriations process, a mechanism that Congress members use to direct federal dollars toward specific projects in their districts. The practice, once known as earmarking, was suspended for a decade before House Democrats restored it in 2021 with new oversight requirements,

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

County Supervisors to Consider Streamlining Homelessness Prevention Services

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected Tuesday to consider a proposal aimed at streamlining homelessness prevention services, including assistance for residents displaced by the Eaton and Palisades fires.

A motion by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath calls for the creation of a countywide homelessness prevention resource page on the county website, and a coordinated referral system designed to connect residents with housing assistance before they lose their homes.

According to the motion, many wildfire survivors remain in temporary housing arrangements while rebuilding homes destroyed in the January 2025 fires. Supporters of the proposal said many residents face growing financial pressure as federal aid, insurance benefits and other temporary assistance programs begin to expire.

“Fire survivors are now simultaneously carrying a mortgage on a destroyed home and paying rent elsewhere, with insurance payouts that are delayed or insufficient to cover full rebuilding costs, which places fixed- income homeowners, and seniors in particular, at acute risk of housing instability and potential homelessness,”

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Eaton Fire Lawsuits Return to Court Tuesday With Pasadena and Altadena Plaintiffs Pressing Case Against Edison

A motion hearing in the consolidated litigation against Southern California Edison advances proceedings that include the Pasadena Jewish Temple, the Pasadena Unified School District and hundreds of Altadena homeowners

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge will convene a motions hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the consolidated Eaton Fire litigation against Southern California Edison, advancing pre-trial proceedings in a case that now includes the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, the Pasadena Unified School District and nearly 1,000 other plaintiffs.

The hearing, before Judge Laura A. Seigle in Department 17 of the Spring Street Courthouse in the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center, is part of a mass tort advancing toward a first bellwether trial scheduled for January 25, 2027. The litigation alleges that Edison’s transmission equipment played a role in starting the January 7, 2025, fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures across Altadena.

The consolidated proceeding is anchored by Gursey v. Southern California Edison Co. (No.