Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Pasadena School Board to Hold Governance Retreat Thursday; Public Comment Limited

The special meeting will focus on board governance training and meeting procedures

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education will hold a special meeting and board retreat Thursday, Feb. 12, focused on how trustees run meetings and make decisions.

The retreat will be one of three special meetings scheduled to run all Thursday afternoon, into the evening.

It is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room, Room 236, at district headquarters, 351 S. Hudson Ave., in Pasadena. The district’s notice says the meeting will be streamed online and broadcast on Charter Cable Channel 95.

Because it is a special meeting, public comment will be limited to items on the agenda. The posted agenda lists one discussion item: “Board Governance Training,” described as a presentation and discussion of parliamentary procedure using Rosenberg’s Rules of Order, meeting protocols and Brown Act-aligned decision-making.

No additional business items are listed for action. The agenda, as posted,

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

LA County Supervisors Place Sales-Tax Hike for Healthcare on June Ballot

By JOSE HERRERA, City News Service

Los Angeles County voters will decide in June whether to approve a temporary half-cent sales tax in an effort to support healthcare services amid reductions in state and federal funding, under a measure approved by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

The proposal, introduced by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis in January, is called the Essential Services Restoration Act and asks voters to enact the half-cent general sales tax increase for five years, through Oct. 1, 2031.

An estimated $1 billion would be generated from the measure, according to the county.

The county sales tax currently stands at 9.75%. The latest proposed hike would increase it to 10.25%.

After hours of debate and public discussion Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors agreed on a 4-1 vote, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger dissenting, to place the proposal on the June ballot.

“Backfilling federal funding cuts on the backs of county taxpayers is not acceptable,”

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Barger Seeks Rapid Action for New County Rebuild Authority

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger is asking the Board of Supervisors to require county staff to report back within seven days on creating a Disaster Recovery Rebuild Authority within the Department of Public Works, according to the agenda for today’s County Supervisors’ meeting.

Barger’s motion calls for a plan to rebuild public infrastructure in Altadena and the unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains, both areas devastated by the January 2025 fires. According to the agenda item, the authority would coordinate infrastructure delivery, hazard mitigation, sewer and water systems, utility coordination and community engagement.

The motion also asks the Director of Public Works to report quarterly on an Infrastructure Master Plan. It further directs fire, public health and planning officials to report within seven days on additional staffing needs at the Calabasas One-Stop Permitting Center, which handles rebuilding permits for the Santa Monica Mountains fire zone.

For Altadena residents, the motion represents the latest in a series of county actions aimed at speeding recovery more than a year after the Eaton Fire destroyed an estimated 9,000 structures in the community.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

California Sues Websites That Publish Blueprints For 3D Printer Ghost Guns

By Cayla Mihalovich, CALMATTERS

Two websites that distribute instructions for how to manufacture ghost guns are facing a new lawsuit from the state of California alleging that they provide access to illegal and untraceable firearms.

The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, is aimed at the Gatalog Foundation Inc. and CTRLPEW LLC.

The lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court argues that the websites violated multiple state laws, including the distribution of computer code and guidelines for 3D printing firearms, illegal large-capacity magazines, and other firearm-related products.

According to the lawsuit, the websites offer computer code and instructions for more than 150 designs of lethal firearms and prohibited firearm accessories. The lawsuit said state officials as part of their investigation downloaded the code and instructions from the website “with a few simple keystrokes” and used it to build a Glock-style handgun.

“These defendants’ conduct enables unlicensed people who are too young or too dangerous to pass firearm background checks to illegally print deadly weapons without a background check and without a trace,” said Bonta.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

County Supervisors to Consider Half-Cent Sales Tax That Could Help Fund Pasadena Public Health

Altadena rebuild authority, Eaton Fire emergency contracts and traffic safety measures also on Tuesday’s agenda

A proposed half-cent sales tax that would raise an estimated $1 billion a year for health care — and send a dedicated share to the City of Pasadena — heads to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday as part of a 66-item agenda that also includes new steps to rebuild Altadena’s fire-damaged infrastructure.

The sales tax proposal, introduced by Supervisors Holly J. Mitchell and Hilda L. Solis, would ask voters on the June 2, 2026, statewide primary ballot to approve a 0.5% general retail transactions and use tax. The measure, titled the Essential Services Restoration Act, is framed as a response to federal funding cuts under H.R. 1 that the county projects will cost it billions in health care dollars over the coming years.

Under the spending plan outlined in the motion, 1% of the revenue would go directly to the City of Pasadena Public Health Department and the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services,

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

District Attorney Hochman: Lunar New Year Could Be Target for Crime

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Next week’s Lunar New Year could be a prime target for criminals that watch for bank customers who withdraw large amounts of cash, officials warned Monday.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman and other law enforcement officials from across the county urged the public to stay vigilant, especially when withdrawing and depositing money at banks and ATMs.

“Individuals visiting banks and ATMs are prime targets for criminal opportunists, especially during major holidays such as the upcoming Lunar New Year,” Hochman said in a statement.

“I urge the public to remain aware of their surroundings when conducting banking business. Trust your instincts if you believe something appears suspicious, report it immediately. Let me be clear: To those thinking of engaging in criminal conduct, please heed this warning that you will be arrested, prosecuted, and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, falls on Feb.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

LA County Board of Supervisors to Consider Sales Tax Hike for Healthcare

By JOSE HERRERA, City News Service

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal to place a half-cent sales tax increase on the June primary ballot, which officials say will support health care services amid reductions in state and federal funding.

The five-member board will decide whether to approve or reject a proposal introduced by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis in January. The proposed measure  called the Essential Services Restoration Act  would ask voters whether to enact a half-cent general sales tax increase for five years through Oct. 1, 2031.

An estimated $1 billion would be generated from the measure, according to the county.

The county sales tax currently stands at 9.75%. The latest proposed hike would increase it to 10.25%.

The county sales tax already increased in April 2025 after voters approved Measure A, a half-cent sales hike that replaced Measure H, a quarter- cent sales tax.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Red Cross Says Winter Storms Leave 20,000 Blood Donations Uncollected

Recent winter storms across the country have deepened an already severe national blood shortage, leaving more than 20,000 blood and platelet donations uncollected and prompting the American Red Cross to urge donors — including those in Pasadena — to give as soon as they can, the organization said Tuesday in a statement.

The Red Cross reported that over 500 blood drives have been canceled since the start of the year because of snow, ice and extreme temperatures across the U.S. The disruptions have also made it harder to transport blood products, potentially affecting deliveries to hospitals.

According to the Red Cross, patient care is at risk as hospitals face shortfalls that have already forced some facilities to cancel elective procedures. The organization warned that when supplies reach critically low levels, trauma surgeons and other physicians may face the possibility of running out of blood during emergencies.

Donors in areas not affected by severe weather are being asked to make appointments immediately through the Red Cross Blood Donor App,

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Pasadena Mayor to Join Supervisors Mitchell, Solis at Morning Press Conference Backing Proposed County Sales Tax Ballot Measure

Mayor Victor Gordo is scheduled to join Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis at a morning news conference outlining a proposed temporary half-cent sales tax increase that is on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ Tuesday agenda.

The proposal, according to information provided in the event announcement, would place the tax increase on the June primary ballot “to help address more than $2.4 billion in federal funding cuts to the Los Angeles County healthcare system resulting from the Trump administration’s passage of H.R.1” — the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

Mitchell and Solis will outline the proposal at 8:45 a.m. on Temple Street outside the Board Hearing Room at the Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple St., ahead of the board’s 9:30 a.m. meeting. They will be joined by Gordo, a group of local healthcare leaders and “families and patients that rely on Medi-Cal,” according to the announcement.

The five-member board will decide whether to approve or reject a proposal introduced by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis in January.

Monday, February 9, 2026

The Fire Didn’t Touch Every Home. But Grief Did.

By THERESE EDU

Mental Health Monday sessions are confronting a quiet epidemic of survivor’s guilt in the San Gabriel foothills

A year after the Eaton Fire, a monthly Monday evening mental health program in Pasadena has become a communal meeting ground — where survivors who lost their homes and neighbors who didn’t are discovering that the disaster left no one untouched, and that guilt can wound deeply, like loss.

The monthly program, Mental Health Monday, is sponsored by LA Fire Justice.

“A year later, they are actually reliving the moment all over again,” said Janet Popoola, LA Fire Justice’s Community Outreach Representative, describing what she observes when survivors return to their properties. “There hasn’t been time or space to pause and process what they went through, because survival mode took over so quickly.”

The program’s deliberate expansion beyond direct survivors marks a shift in how this community defines recovery.

Mental Health Monday now explicitly welcomes people whose homes didn’t burn — neighbors carrying survivor’s guilt,