Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Pasadena High Schoolers Measure Seismic Waves at Weeknd Concerts — and Present Their Findings to Scientists

Caltech’s free Earthquake Fellows program, now recruiting for 2026, produced research that last summer’s cohort took to a professional conference in Palm Springs

A research team that included Pasadena-area high school students deployed seismometers near SoFi Stadium during The Weeknd’s June concert series last summer, recorded the vibrations that tens of thousands of fans generated, and presented their findings at a professional earthquake science conference in Palm Springs — alongside hundreds of researchers from across the state.

The students are part of the Caltech Earthquake Fellows program, a free research fellowship at Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory that selects about a dozen local sophomores and juniors each summer for roughly 130 hours of seismology immersion on the Pasadena campus. The program is now accepting applications for its 2026 cohort through March 31.

The 2025 cohort — 12 fellows chosen from 53 eligible applicants — produced a poster titled “On the origin of seismic signals from concerts and its potential use to monitor stadium health,” according to the abstract published on the Statewide California Earthquake Center’s website.

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Pasadena Education Network Offers Free Workshop on Fundraising for Pasadena Elementary Schools

The session at McKinley School covers donor strategy and fundraising equity as district budgets tighten

The Pasadena Education Network will host a free workshop Wednesday evening on fundraising for elementary schools, aimed at PTA leaders and parent volunteers looking to raise money for programs that district budgets may no longer cover.

The two-hour session, scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. March 11 at the McKinley School library, 325 S. Oak Knoll Ave., covers the practical mechanics of parent-driven fundraising: who can raise money for what, how to set priorities and goals as a school community, how to solicit donations, and what fundraising can look like at schools where families have limited capacity to give, according to PEN’s event listing. The workshop will also include examples of successful campaigns.

PEN, a nonprofit founded in 2006 by parents to promote family involvement in Pasadena Unified School District schools, describes the workshop as geared toward elementary school PTA board members, fundraising chairs, Annual Fund committee members,

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Pasadena Nonprofit Invites Seniors to Learn About Peer-Run Aging-in-Place Community

A Pasadena nonprofit where older adults help each other age in their own homes will open its doors Thursday to anyone interested in joining, offering coffee, bagels and a firsthand look at a community that has grown from 50 charter members to more than 200 in just over a decade.

Pasadena Village, a 501(c)(3) founded in 2012, holds “Meet Me At The Village!” on the second Thursday of each month at its office at 236 W. Mountain St., Suite 113. The March 12 gathering, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., is free and open to all. Members and staff host the session, which the organization describes on its website as “a casual information session to learn more about Pasadena Village.”

What newcomers find is not a senior center or a service provider but a member-run organization where adults over 55 plan and lead their own activities, according to the organization’s website. Members drive each other to medical appointments, help with grocery shopping, troubleshoot technology problems and provide household assistance — a peer-to-peer model in which,

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Kidspace Marks 30 Years of Butterfly Season With Free ArtNight Launch

The Pasadena children’s museum opens its spring tradition on March 13, featuring art installations, nature activities, and caterpillar adoptions through May

Kidspace Children’s Museum will open its 30th annual Butterfly Season on Friday, March 13, with free admission that evening as part of ArtNight Pasadena, the city’s twice-yearly cultural open house.

The season runs through May 17 at the museum’s 3.5-acre campus in Brookside Park. This year’s edition brings back Los Trompos, an interactive art installation of brightly colored spinning structures designed by Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena. The work, inspired by vintage Mexican toy tops, was first commissioned by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in 2015 and invites visitors to hop on and spin together.

Inside Roberts Pavilion, a display of handmade Monarch butterflies crafted from upcycled waste-stream materials by artist Christopher Lutter will fill the space. Lutter, a Kidspace artist-in-residence, built the original kinetic sculpture using recycled wire and plastic utensils in collaboration with museum visitors and community volunteers,

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Story Lead Turns Her Lens on Los Angeles in New Essay Collection

The former Disney Imagineer examines how the city’s streets and neighborhoods shape identity, including reflections on the wildfires

The woman who helped write the story of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has turned her attention to a real city — one that reinvents itself as relentlessly as any fictional planet.

Margaret Chandra Kerrison, the former Walt Disney Imagineer who served as story lead for the Star Wars-themed land, will discuss and sign her new book, “Los Angeles Lost and Found: Essays on Identity, Place, and Belonging,” tonight at Vroman’s Bookstore. The collection applies what Kerrison calls narrative placemaking — the framework she used to build immersive theme park worlds — to Los Angeles itself, examining how the city’s streets, neighborhoods, and landmarks shape who its residents become. The book, published March 3 by ORO Editions, includes reflections on the recent LA wildfires, according to the publisher.

Kerrison was an Imagineer from 2014 to 2021. Her portfolio includes Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance,

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

American Red Cross Puts Out Call for Blood as Supplies Dwindle

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The American Red Cross continued to ask for help across the country Tuesday to replenish its blood supply after severe late-winter storms impacted transportation networks nationwide.

“Some parts of the nation are still clearing snow, but the threat of severe spring weather is already growing,” according to a statement from the organization. “Now is the time to book a blood or platelet donation appointment to help prevent any future disruption to patient care.”

People can book a time to give blood or platelets by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App.

The Red Cross will perform A1C testing on successful blood, platelet and plasma donations made in March and those who come to give blood, platelets or plasma this month will receive a $15 Amazon Gift Card by email.

All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients, according to the organization. A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in.

Monday, March 9, 2026

Abortion Rights Attorney Tapped to Lead Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley

Dipti Singh, who litigated restrictions in courts across the country, will succeed Sheri Bonner after more than two decades of expansion

Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley has named Dipti Singh, its chief legal officer and a veteran abortion rights litigator, as the organization’s next President and CEO, effective April 1.

Singh succeeds Sheri Bonner, who is retiring at the end of March after leading PPPSGV since 2004 — a tenure in which the Pasadena-founded nonprofit grew from a single health center into a five-clinic network serving 24 communities across the San Gabriel Valley.

The Board of Directors unanimously selected Singh following a national search, according to a statement from the organization.

Before joining PPPSGV in September 2021, Singh spent years challenging abortion restrictions in state and federal courts as a founding member, senior counsel and director at the Lawyering Project, a national reproductive rights organization. She also worked at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles, clerked for a federal judge in the Central District of California,

Monday, March 9, 2026

LA County Gas Prices Keep Rising

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose 5.6 cents Sunday to $5.221, one day after shooting up 17.5 cents for its largest one-day increase since the record 19.2-cent spike of Oct. 5, 2012.

The Los Angeles County average price is the highest it’s been since May 15, 2024. It is 52.7 cents more than one week ago, 70.5 cents more than one month ago and 51.3 cents more than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It has dropped $1.273 since rising to a record $6.494 on Oct. 5, 2022.

Prices were rising slightly in line with seasonal norms before the joint U.S./Israel attack on Iran on Feb. 28 sent oil prices higher and drastically accelerated increases at the gas pump.

“It’s unknown how long these price spikes will last or how high prices will climb — that will all depend on how long oil supplies remain disrupted,”

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Eaton Canyon Landscape Recovery Center Opens

By EDDIE RIVERA

New facility will lead ecological restoration of the canyon devastated by the January 2025 wildfire

A red-tailed hawk  soared high over Eaton Canyon  as a stiff breeze blew through the trees Saturday morning, rustling spring blossoms at the site of the newly opened Eaton Canyon Landscape Recovery Center. Fourteen months after the Eaton Fire roared through the canyon on Jan. 7, 2025, the wind carried a different message across the hillsides: renewal.

County leaders, environmental groups and community members gathered to mark the opening of the new center, which will serve as a nursery and restoration hub dedicated to growing native plants and trees to support long-term ecological recovery across the canyon and surrounding habitats. The recovery also features plants and trees restored by the Eaton Seed Library, coordinated in 2023 by the Theodore Payne Foundation.

The project is part of a broader recovery effort that includes $21 million in state funding to help restore Eaton Canyon and nearby fire-damaged landscapes.

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Altadena’s Grocery Outlet, a Vital Hub Since the Eaton Fire, Is Not on Chain’s National Closure List

The company plans to shut 36 underperforming stores across six states, but the Lake Avenue location is safe

The Grocery Outlet at 2270 Lake Ave. — which emerged as the beating heart of Altadena’s recovery immediately after the Eaton Fire, drawing displaced residents and relief workers alike — is not among the 36 stores the chain announced this week it plans to close nationwide.

The confirmation matters in a community where the store has functioned as far more than a place to buy groceries. Since the Jan. 7 wildfire, the Grocery Outlet and its parking lot have served as a relief distribution site, a gathering place, and the location where roughly 1,000 people held a candlelight vigil on the one-year anniversary of the disaster.

Owners Sandra and Jose Valenzuela, who have operated the store since July 2021, are members of the Altadena Rotary Club and have made the parking lot available to nonprofits and community organizations at no charge since. The store is one of only two groceries in town,