Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Newsom’s Final Budget Faces a Litany of Political and Financial Challenges

By Dan Walters, CALMATTERS

On paper, the annual process of drafting a state budget is rational. In practice, it’s more akin to voodoo.

It starts, as state law requires, with the governor’s introduction of a preliminary version in January, as Gavin Newsom did last week, unveiling a $349 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Theoretically, the Legislature will spend the next four months going through its details, Newsom will make some revisions in May, and he and legislators will finalize a version for adoption by the June 15 constitutional deadline.

A few decades ago, that’s what more or less happened each year. Over the last couple of decades, however, it’s gone off the rails.

As Democrats gained overwhelming control of the Legislature, they resented having minority Republicans having any input. Their allies in the public employee unions sponsored a 2010 ballot measure to lower the vote requirement for budgets from two-thirds to a simple majority,

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Calmatters Guest Opinion | Chad Hanson: Here’s How We Can Stop LA Firestorms From Happening Again

By Chad Hanson, CALMATTERS

One year ago, in early January, the Eaton and Palisades fires devastated the communities of Altadena and Pacific Palisades. Driven by extremely dry, warm and powerful winds, the fires destroyed more than 10,000 homes and claimed at least 31 lives.

How can we make sure it doesn’t happen again?

The good news is, science has provided a clear answer: The only effective way to protect homes and lives from wildfires is to implement direct measures to create fire-safe communities — including home hardening, defensible space pruning next to homes and businesses, and evacuation planning and assistance.

This community-based approach is highly successful in saving towns from firestorms.

Importantly, the evidence also indicates that vegetation removal and management beyond 100 feet from homes and other structures provide no additional safety benefit.

More bad news: State and federal politicians of both parties are supporting the wrong things.

At the state level, 

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

State Launches Investigation Into Eaton Fire Emergency Response

Audit will examine why western Altadena received evacuation alerts hours after fire began

The oaks and pines and Deodar Cedars that burned in Altadena a year ago are gone. So are 19 of the people who lived among them—most in the western part of the community, where evacuation alerts arrived hours after the Eaton Fire had already swept through.

Now, one year after the deadliest 24 hours in Altadena’s history, a state investigation has officially begun to determine what went wrong.

The audit, ordered in June by Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) in his capacity as Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, started last week under the direction of the California State Auditor. It will examine emergency preparedness and response across all agencies involved before, during, and after the fire—including the delayed alerts that left western Altadena residents without warning while flames consumed their neighborhood.

“Survivors and loved ones still do not have answers about everything that went wrong that night,”

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center Vandalized Amid Ongoing Wildfire Recovery, New York Times Reports

According to reporting by The New York Times, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was vandalized last weekend, compounding grief for a community still recovering from the devastating Eaton Fire one year ago.

The Times reported that a temple member discovered anti-Zionist graffiti on an exterior wall Sunday morning, a finding synagogue leaders said Monday had shaken congregants already in an “emotionally fragile” moment.

Rabbi Joshua Ratner told The New York Times that the vandalism “was devastating in many ways.”

According to the Times, the graffiti—written in black paint—denounced Zionism and included the phrase “RIP Renee,” which Rabbi Ratner interpreted as a reference to Renee Good, a woman shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis last week.

The New York Times reported that photos of the graffiti showed large lettering across several feet of a white exterior wall, behind a chain-link fence lined with hedges..

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to the Times that its Altadena station was investigating a report of a hate crime and vandalism on the block where the temple had stood before the wildfire.

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Altadena Groundbreaking Launches New Long-Term Eaton Fire Recovery Center

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger joined CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), U.S. Representative Judy Chu, Anthem, the Los Angeles County Development Authority and community partners on Saturday, January 10 to celebrate the groundbreaking of The Center for Community, a new long-term recovery hub for Eaton Fire survivors in Altadena, according to a press release.

The 1,600-square-foot Center for Community is being built on County-owned land at 2231 Lincoln Avenue and was designed by Shigeru Ban Architects. The release states the center will offer mental health services, educational workshops and community programming as families continue rebuilding after the Eaton Fire.

“I am proud to support this important project,” Barger said in the statement. “The establishment of a long-term case management service hub for Eaton Fire survivors marks a critical next step in Altadena’s recovery. This center will be especially important for West Altadena, providing a dedicated space on County-owned land for healing, resilience, and connection. Together, we are laying the foundation for a stronger community.”

The groundbreaking marked one year since the Eaton Fire and,

Monday, January 12, 2026

After Bear ‘Evicted’ from Altadena Home, Nearby Resident Has Same Problem

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Just days after the paintball-induced eviction of a 500-plus-pound bear who took up residence beneath an Altadena home, residents of a house about a half-mile away are reporting that a bear has moved into the space under their home.

It’s unclear if the new case involves the same bear, who spent weeks under the home of Ken Johnson after squeezing through a seemingly too-small crawlspace entry.

The outfit that sent that bear packing the first time says it’s already been contacted about repeating the successful ouster. The second resident sent images of the bear beneath the home to KTLA5 anonymously, according to the station.

Last week, the animal under Johnson’s house was chased off by the Tahoe-based animal-advocacy group BEAR League after the bruin had moved into the crawlspace some time last year.

Around Thanksgiving, a camera captured the unthinkable — the massive black bear backing into the narrow crawlspace entryway. Efforts to remove the bear all fell flat,

Monday, January 12, 2026

A Year After the Eaton Fire, Altadena Residents Face the Question: How Do You Build a Home That Won’t Burn?

Marketplace Tech explores fire-resistant construction as thousands navigate the costly, complicated path to rebuilding

The oaks and eucalyptus that lined David Brancaccio’s street are gone. So is his cottage—1,100 square feet of English Tudor charm, purchased two months before the Eaton Fire reduced it to ash and cracked stucco.

A year later, Brancaccio, who is a radio host, stands on an empty lot in Altadena, one of 15 neighbors on his block who lost everything when the fire tore through on January 7, 2025. The fire killed 19 people and destroyed 9,414 structures according to Cal Fire, making it the deadliest in modern Los Angeles County history.

Marketplace Tech, a weekday public radio program and podcast produced by American Public Media,  turned its attention to a question Brancaccio and his neighbors are wrestling with: How do you build a home that won’t burn next time?

That’s the subject of a Marketplace Tech segment airing January 12 titled “Building a home with future fires in mind.”

Monday, January 12, 2026

As California’s Drought Ends, Pasadena Weighs Future of Its Underground Water Reserve

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

As the Municipal Services Committee gears up to discuss the Raymond Basin at its next meeting, a new wrinkle has developed that will impact the discussion.

California is drought-free for the first time in decades after a powerful winter brought heavy rain and snow.

While the short-term relief is welcome, water officials caution it does not erase longer-term risks, particularly for cities like Pasadena that depend heavily on imported water.

The majority of Pasadena’s water is imported through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which delivers water across Southern California using a blend of Colorado River supplies, State Water Project deliveries, and local sources.

The federal government is preparing to reset how the Colorado River is managed after 2026. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has released a draft plan outlining potential operating rules for Lake Mead and Lake Powell once current guidelines expire at the end of next year and if the seven Colorado River Basin states fail to reach an agreement.

Monday, January 12, 2026

Sawmill Founder: Altadena’s Burned Trees Can Help Rebuild Neighborhoods

Presentation Monday includes visit to log storage site where fire-damaged trees await milling

Heaps of oaks and pines that were burned in the Eaton Fire a year ago are gathered at a storage site on Lake Avenue, waiting and ready to be milled into the floorboards and trim of homes that will replace the ones they once shaded.

On Monday, the founder of the sawmill transforming those trees will explain how Altadena residents can put that lumber to use.

Jeff Perry of Angel City Lumber will speak in the Altadena Library Community Room at 600 E Mariposa St, in Altadena, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. about the Altadena Reciprocity Project, which is milling fire-damaged trees into finish-grade lumber to be sold at discounted prices to fire survivors. The presentation comes five days after the one-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed 9,414 structures and killed 19 people.

After the presentation, Perry will invite attendees to visit the log deck in Altadena where the salvaged trees are stored.

Monday, January 12, 2026

A Year After the Fire, Odyssey Charter Students Return to a Campus of Their Own

The Altadena school opens its new South Campus on Monday, ending a year in borrowed classrooms

Five days after Altadena gathered to remember the Eaton Fire, Odyssey Charter Schools will open the doors of a new campus. 

For 375 students who spent a year learning in borrowed spaces at ArtCenter College and Boys & Girls Club facilities, the day marks something they lost in January 2025: a school they can call their own. 

The school was to host a tour of its new South Campus at 575 West Altadena Avenue on Monday, January 12, at 7:30 a.m., as the spring semester begins. 

The Eaton Fire destroyed the original South Campus at 119 W. Palm Street on January 7-8, 2025. At Odyssey, the losses were specific and personal: four and a half buildings gone, 80% of classrooms reduced to char, and 40% of the school’s families also lost their homes. 

“It was gone,” Principal Bonnie Brimecombe said in an interview with CalMatters last year,