Sunday, March 8, 2026

Saint Mark’s School Plans Gala Fundraiser 14 Months After Eaton Fire Destroyed Altadena Campus

The independent Episcopal school, now operating from temporary sites in Pasadena and San Gabriel, will hold its annual auction at the University Club on March 14

Saint Mark’s School, the Altadena independent school that lost nine buildings to the Eaton Fire in January 2025, will hold its annual fundraising gala March 14 at the University Club in Pasadena, aiming to raise money for educational programs and the eventual rebuilding of its permanent campus.

The event, titled “Rooted and Rising,” arrives 14 months after the fire destroyed the school’s five-and-a-half-acre campus at 1050 E. Altadena Drive, along with the adjacent Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, whose congregation dates to 1906. The school was founded in 1960 by parents seeking quality education in a racially integrated setting and has served preschool through sixth-grade students since then. The gala — a spring auction and party beginning at 5:30 p.m. — will raise funds for tuition assistance for displaced families, replacement of classroom materials and technology, trauma-informed mental health services,

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Resentencing Bid in 2007 Altadena Killing Set for March 10 Hearing in Los Angeles Court

A status conference was reported scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, in the case of Mesha Arshaz Dean, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2007 fatal shooting of Monroe “Monty” Miles Jr. outside a home on Canyon Dell Drive in Altadena and is now seeking resentencing under California’s reformed murder liability laws.

A hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. in Department 110 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles. The proceeding is a procedural step in a multi?stage legal process that could result in Dean’s murder conviction being vacated or her 49?year?and?four?month?to?life sentence being reduced.

Prosecutors have the opportunity to contest the petition by proving Dean remains guilty under current legal standards. Judge Lisa B. Lench is presiding.

Dean, serving 49 years and four months to life for killing Miles on Canyon Dell Drive, is petitioning under California Penal Code Section 1172.6, which stems from Senate Bill 1437, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018, according to the California Legislature’s records.

Friday, March 6, 2026

Pretrial Hearing Set Friday in 2021 Altadena Double Stabbing Partially Witnessed on Zoom

Robert Cotton faces two murder counts in the deaths of his mother, a Pasadena City College educator, and his uncle

A pretrial hearing is scheduled Friday for the man charged with fatally stabbing his mother and uncle at their Altadena home nearly five years ago, in a case that drew national attention when part of the attack was witnessed by a colleague during a Zoom call.

Robert Anderson Cotton is set to appear at 8:30 a.m. in Dept. B of the Pasadena Courthouse, 300 E. Walnut St. He faces two counts of murder with an allegation of using a knife as a deadly and dangerous weapon in the deaths of Dr. Carol Anne Brown, 67, and Kenneth Wayne Preston, 69, according to a press release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The case number is GA109673.

The stabbings occurred March 22, 2021, at the victims’ shared residence in the 3100 block of North Marengo Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Friday, March 6, 2026

Pasadena’s Chu Votes to Halt Iran War, but House Rejects Resolution 212-219

The congresswoman also backed a bipartisan measure designating Iran the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism

Rep. Judy Chu voted Thursday to stop U.S. military operations in Iran, backing a War Powers Resolution that would have required the withdrawal of American forces from the conflict. The House rejected the measure 212-219.

Chu, a Democrat whose 28th Congressional District includes Pasadena, cast two votes on the Iran conflict in quick succession. She supported the War Powers Resolution, H.Con.Res. 38, and also voted for a separate resolution reaffirming that Iran remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism. That second measure passed 372-53, according to the Clerk of the House.

The votes came as U.S. military operations in Iran entered their second week. Six American service members have been killed and 18 others seriously wounded since the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran on February 28, according to U.S. Central Command. The national average gas price jumped 11 cents overnight to $3.11 per gallon in the days after the strikes began,

Friday, March 6, 2026

All Saints Church to host free Youth Self-Care Day on Saturday

All Saints Church will hold a free Youth Self-Care Day on Saturday, March 7, offering haircuts, beauty services, therapy dogs, books, quilts and snacks for youth ages 10 to 18, according to information provided by the church. The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Regas House at 132 N. Euclid Ave., across from Pasadena City Hall.

The program is organized by the church’s Children, Youth & Families Ministry under Director Amanda Baughman and is part of All Saints’ 2026 Lenten Offerings. Church materials describe the gathering as a relaxed, drop-in event intended to give young people “a gentle space to pause, breathe, and find a little joy.”

• Haircuts, styling, manicures and makeup provided by Paul Mitchell The School – Pasadena
• Beauty, art and paint activities from Jazzy Jam for Empowerment, a Pasadena-based nonprofit
• A quiet room with therapy dogs
• Cookies from Diddy Riese
• Handmade quilts and pillowcases,

Friday, March 6, 2026

Democratic Angst and Gerrymandering Threaten California’s Political Reforms

By Dan Walters, CALMATTERS

Turmoil within the California Democratic Party over this year’s election for governor and  fallout from the party’s naked grab of congressional seats could have long-term effects, undoing two important political reforms — the top-two primary system and redistricting by an independent commission.

The turmoil is over having nine Democratic candidates for governor, creating the possibility that two Republicans could finish one-two in the June 2 primary, thus resulting in a GOP governor being elected in November.

A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll of voters found that Republicans Steve Hilton (14%) and Chad Bianco (12%) are 1st and 3rd in support, with Katie Porter (13%) the leading Democrat, followed by Eric Swalwell (11%) and Tom Steyer (10%). The other six Democrats are all 5% or less.

Filing for the primary ballot closes this week, and Rusty Hicks, the Democratic state chairman, is publicly pleading for lower tier Democrats to drop out and thus reduce chances of a 1-2 GOP finish.

Friday, March 6, 2026

Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena Adopts New Mission, Three-Year Plan Shaped by Eaton Fire

The 89-year-old youth organization replaces decades-old mission language and sets four strategic priorities through 2028

The Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena has adopted a new three-year strategic plan and rewritten its mission statement for the first time in decades, changes the organization says were shaped by the January 2025 Eaton Fire that disrupted its planning process and reshaped its direction.

The plan, titled “Future Ready: Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena 2025-2028 Strategic Plan,” replaces the organization’s longtime mission focus on “kids who need us most” with broader language committing to all youth. The new mission statement reads: “BGCP provides youth and teens with the environment, relationships, and opportunities that equip them to build essential skills to learn, lead, and succeed.” The Club’s Board of Directors adopted the plan in late 2025, according to a statement from the organization.

The 18-month planning process began in 2024 and was interrupted when the Eaton Fire struck in January 2025, according to the press release.

Friday, March 6, 2026

Largest Gift in LA Conservancy History Funds Altadena Heritage Project

The Los Angeles Conservancy announced Thursday it has received a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, the largest single gift in the nonprofit’s history, to expand a community-driven effort documenting Altadena’s cultural heritage following the devastating Eaton Fire.

The funding, awarded through the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place program, will support expansion of the Conservancy’s Altadena Cultural Asset Mapping project, which aims to identify and document the community’s cultural landmarks, traditions and stories as part of long-term recovery efforts, according to officials.

“Altadena’s recovery is about more than rebuilding structures — it’s about honoring the lives, memories, people and cultural heritage that make this community what it is,” Adrian Scott Fine, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy, said in a statement.

The three-year grant will fund expansion of the mapping effort, a full- time project manager and a community regranting program aimed at supporting local storytelling and cultural preservation projects, officials said.

A total of $550,000 will be redistributed to Altadena-based organizations to support oral histories,

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Altadena Homeowners Sue Farmers Insurance, Testing Firm Over Eaton Fire Smoke Claims

Class-action lawsuit alleges hygiene company conducted substandard contamination assessments that let the insurer underpay for cleanup

Two Altadena property owners have filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Farmers Insurance and the environmental testing firm it hired of conducting shoddy smoke-damage assessments after the Eaton Fire, then using those findings to avoid paying for proper cleanup of toxic contamination.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, targets Fire Insurance Exchange, a Farmers Insurance entity, and Hygiene Technologies International, a Torrance-based industrial hygiene firm. It is one of at least two cases — including another involving a Pasadena duplex — that take the novel approach of suing both the insurer and the third-party testing company over how post-fire contamination was evaluated, according to a Law.com report on the litigation.

“Farmers Insurance and HygieneTech’s failure to uphold their obligations under the policy is not just a matter of negligence, it’s a case of deliberate bad faith practices that have caused real harm to our clients,”

Thursday, March 5, 2026

One Man, 250 Million Seeds: The First Poppies Bloom in Altadena’s Burn Scar

By THERESE EDU

René Amy spent months sowing California poppies across more than 750 fire-damaged properties, largely alone and at his own expense — and the flowers are now emerging

The first California poppy René Amy can claim as a direct result of his Great Altadena Poppy Project bloomed about a week ago. It opened on the lot where his own home once stood, before the Eaton Fire took it.

The first flower, from 250 million seeds.

Amy, the founder of The Great Altadena Poppy Project, said he spent months sowing a quarter-billion California poppy seeds across more than 750 fire-damaged properties in the Eaton Fire burn scar — an effort he executed largely alone, largely at his own expense, using a portable hand-crank seed spreader on each property.

His project has no office and no staff. Whether those seeds produce anything close to a quarter-billion blooms depends on rain and conditions he cannot control. But more flowers have opened since that first one,