Monday, June 15, 2026

Teachers Union Presents PUSD Board With Resolution for ‘Fully Staffed, Stable, Integrated’ Schools

[UPDATED] The United Teachers of Pasadena has adopted a resolution calling for “fully staffed, stable, integrated” schools across Pasadena Unified. A union representative read a statement summarizing the resolution to the Board of Education during the board’s June 11 meeting.

“This resolution is built around a simple principle,” the union’s statement told the board: “every student in Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre deserves access to a fully staffed, stable, integrated, and high-quality public school.”

The resolution arrives as the district works to close a projected 2026-27 budget shortfall its own figures put at $30 million to $35 million — pressures that have already driven layoffs and a now-paused school-consolidation review affecting campuses in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. The union casts its document as an alternative course: invest in neighborhood schools rather than manage decline.

It calls on PUSD to minimize layoffs and involuntary transfers, protect direct student services, and preserve programs the union says families value most — among them arts,

Monday, June 15, 2026

A Pasadena Landmark and an Altadena Wine Shop Return to the Gamble House Lawn for Summer Fridays

The twice-monthly series, presented with West Altadena Wine + Spirits, continues June 12 with $5 admission and first-floor access to the 1908 Craftsman home

A Pasadena Craftsman landmark and an Altadena wine retailer will return to the Gamble House lawn Friday, June 12, for the next installment of a twice-monthly summer evening series that pairs picnics and live music with after-hours access to the historic home’s first floor.

The series, called “Friday Nights at The Gamble House with West Altadena Wine + Spirits,” opened May 8 and runs on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month through August, with eight evenings total. The remaining 2026 dates are June 12, June 26, July 10, July 24, August 14, and August 28, each from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Non-members pay $5 for general admission or $40 for admission with a wine tasting. Members enter free and pay $35 for the tasting. Children 12 and under are admitted at no charge.

The Pasadena–Altadena partnership is built into the name.

Sunday, June 14, 2026

A Juneteenth Hike and Luncheon Carry Altadena’s Black History Forward

The Altadena Historical Society marks the holiday with a trail dedication, a scholarship luncheon and the voices of Eaton Fire survivors.

The Altadena Historical Society marks Juneteenth this year by walking the community’s history into the foothills. On Friday, June 19, its annual Juneteenth Celebration and Scholarship Awards begins at 8:30 a.m. at the JPL East Parking Lot, where participants gather before setting out on a 3.2-mile round-trip community hike along the El Prieto Trail. The destination is a newly installed handcrafted bench at the El Prieto Canyon trailhead, built by Eagle Scout candidate Elias Silva of Troop 333 as a permanent place to pause and reflect on the area’s layered Black and Indigenous history.

At noon, the celebration moves to Loma Alta Park for a community luncheon and program. The afternoon features a photo exhibit by award-winning local photographer Alfred Haymond, quilt displays by master quilters, and a program exploring the significance of Juneteenth while honoring the legacy of Ellen Garrison Clark, the 19th-century educator and civil rights activist who spent her final years in the Pasadena area and is buried in Altadena.

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Altadena’s Juneteenth Stretches Across Two Days of Music, Resilience and Community

My Tribe Rise hosts a Friday night Backyard Boogie and a Saturday festival as the community marks freedom and recovery.

For Altadena, Juneteenth this year is both a celebration and a statement of endurance. The community will mark the holiday with two events organized by My Tribe Rise, the Black-led Altadena mutual-aid group that has been a steady presence in the neighborhood’s recovery since the January 2025 Eaton Fire. More than 20 organizations have come together to present the celebrations.

The weekend opens Friday, June 19 with a Backyard Boogie night party from 5 to 10 p.m., featuring the band Jammetry and a performance by “American Idol” alum Edi Callier. The festivities continue Saturday, June 20 with a festival and community fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 2283 N. Fair Oaks Ave. in Altadena.

The gatherings carry added weight in a community still rebuilding. My Tribe Rise, founded in 2019 around a peace-and-unity mission it calls the P.E.A.C.E.

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Altadena Town Council Takes Up Edison Savings and Housing Bills

The monthly meeting pairs a Southern California Edison presentation with legislative updates touching recovery and housing.

The Altadena Town Council holds its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, June 16 at 7 p.m. at the Altadena Community Center, with an agenda that keeps the community’s two preoccupations — utility costs and the rules governing rebuilding — front and center. The session is open to the public, and residents will have time to address the council during general public comment.

Southern California Edison is scheduled to present on customer savings programs and provide updates, a perennial topic in a community where the January 2025 Eaton Fire and the utility’s response remain central concerns. The agenda also includes legislative updates on Senate Bill 9 and Senate Bill 1090, with the discussion expected to feature state Senator Sasha Renée Pérez and Assemblymember John Harabedian. Public safety reports are slated from the Altadena Sheriff’s Station, the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The Altadena Town Council serves as an ombudsman for the unincorporated community,

Sunday, June 14, 2026

On Tuesday, Two Local Legislators and Edison Are On the Altadena Town Council’s Agenda

The two California legislators whose bills now govern how Altadena rebuilds after the Eaton Fire will appear before residents Tuesday evening — and a Southern California Edison representative will take the microphone after them at the Altadena Town Council.

State Senator Sasha Renee Perez and Assemblymember John Harabedian, joined by Los Angeles County Deputy Supervisor for Planning and Development Anish Saraiya, are scheduled to brief the Altadena Town Council on Senate Bills 9 and 1090, the legislation the agenda describes as governing key aspects of the community’s ongoing rebuilding efforts. The public will be permitted to comment when they finish.

Then Edison takes its turn. A company representative is slated to present on customer savings programs and related utility matters. Public comment will follow that presentation as well.

The meeting convenes at 7:00 p.m. at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Drive, with a live broadcast on Pasadena Media’s YouTube channel.

The rest of the agenda reads less like a town council’s monthly business and more like the standing order of a community still running on recovery time.

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Route 66 Centennial Anchors Pasadena’s 140th Birthday Celebration Today

The free Pasadena Museum of History celebration runs noon to 4 p.m. on the Fényes Estate campus and marks the city’s 140th, Route 66’s centennial and Colorado Boulevard’s 150th anniversary

The Pasadena Museum of History and the City of Pasadena will throw the city its annual birthday party on Sunday, June 14, with a free, all-ages celebration that doubles this year as a tribute to two highway milestones — the centennial of Route 66 and the 150th anniversary of Colorado Boulevard.

Billed as “Happy Birthday Pasadena: Highway to Adventure!”, the event runs from noon to 4 p.m. on the museum’s Fényes Estate campus at 470 W. Walnut St. and marks Pasadena’s 140th birthday alongside the two road anniversaries. Admission and parking are free, and no reservations are required.

Mayor Victor Gordo and special guests are scheduled to cut a three-tiered birthday cake at 2 p.m., according to the museum’s event page, with cake, lemonade and popcorn served throughout the afternoon.

The museum’s event page lists a road-trip-themed lineup across the two-acre campus: vintage automobiles and motorcycles staged for photo opportunities by local collectors and clubs,

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Bill Would Pause Density Laws in Fire-Scarred Altadena

State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez this week unveiled new amendments to a wildfire recovery bill that would temporarily block California’s marquee housing density laws in fire-scarred Altadena, escalating a local fight over real estate speculation after the Eaton Fire.

SB 1090, known as the “Keep Altadena Land in Altadena Hands Act,” would impose a five-year moratorium on the ministerial approvals required by Senate Bills 9 and 1123 for projects in Altadena ZIP codes 91001 and 91003, covering applications filed from Jan. 7, 2025 through Jan. 7, 2030. The measure cleared the state Senate late last month and on June 11 was re-referred to Assembly housing and local government committees for hearings expected in the coming weeks.

Pérez, a Pasadena Democrat whose district includes Altadena, said the bill responds to reports that corporate investors are using SB 9 and SB 1123 to buy fire-damaged lots from distressed Eaton Fire survivors and pursue higher-density projects that could overwhelm local infrastructure. “Allowing up to ten homes to be rebuilt on a single-family lot will overwhelm the existing infrastructure and destabilize this special community as it works to recover,” Pérez said in a statement announcing the bill.

Saturday, June 13, 2026

Human Shield Planned Along Woodbury Road to Protect Altadena’s Rebuild Workers

A year after immigration raids reached Pasadena, organizers say roughly a thousand people will line Woodbury Road from Lincoln Avenue to Lake Avenue on Saturday

The day laborers who hauled away ash and framed new walls across Altadena after last year’s fire plan to return to the same streets on Saturday — this time not to work, but to stand shoulder to shoulder.

Hundreds are expected b organizers to link arms Saturday morning in a human chain along Woodbury Road, from Lincoln Avenue to Lake Avenue, in an action the National Day Laborer Organizing Network calls “La Muralla Humana,” the Human Shield.

The Pasadena-based network timed the event to one year after immigration raids swept the Los Angeles region, and it says the chain is meant to protect the immigrant workers who rebuilt after the Eaton Fire and who now labor under the threat of detention.

In the weeks that followed the Eaton Fire, day laborers organized through NDLON and its Pasadena Community Job Center became early responders,

Saturday, June 13, 2026

California Legislature in Standoff with DMV Over Sharing Driver License Data with Other States

By Khari Johnson and Wendy Fry, CALMATTERS

The California Legislature wants to stall plans to share information about California drivers — including more than 1 million immigrant license holders who lack federal authorization to live in the U.S. — with a little-known nonprofit agency made up of motor vehicle administrators across the nation.

The Assembly and Senate’s budget agreement, released Thursday night, withholds $55 million in funding for the California Department of Motor Vehicles to link to a database that would begin fulfilling requests for information from other states about California drivers early next year.

The governor’s office and DMV want to share that information with the State-to-State system and SPEX platform, which lets states check for duplicate licenses and is operated by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

Because the system records the last five digits of a driver’s Social Security number and uses a placeholder such as “99999” for people without one, opponents of the plan warned it could easily flag drivers who lack a Social Security number.