Saturday, May 2, 2026

RAND Study Highlights Success of LA County Reentry Housing Program

CITY NEWS SERVICE

An evaluation by the RAND Corporation finds Los Angeles County’s Breaking Barriers program is helping justice-involved people secure and maintain housing while building long-term stability, officials announced Friday.

The program, operated by the county’s Justice, Care and Opportunities Department (JCOD), provides rental subsidies, case management and employment services to people exiting the justice system who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

According to the evaluation, 83% of participants receiving housing subsidies remained housed after one year, exceeding the program’s retention goal, while 56% of 460 participants studied obtained subsidies and secured housing.

“The RAND evaluation confirms what we see every day — when people have stable housing, consistent coordinated support, structure, and access to living-wage employment, they generally commit to the provided opportunities and rebuild their lives,” JCOD Director Songhai Armstead said in a statement.

Among participants who exited the program after receiving subsidies, 61% achieved positive outcomes such as taking over their own rent,

Friday, May 1, 2026

LitFest in the Dena Opens Tonight With 200 Authors and an Immigration Discussion Panel

The free Pasadena festival, born in Altadena and displaced by fire, returns for its 14th year

An immigration enforcement discussion panel will open LitFest in the Dena tonight at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, launching two days of readings, panels, and workshops built around the question of how books reshape the way a society thinks.

The free literary festival, now in its 14th year, brings approximately 200 authors to 585 E. Colorado Blvd. for programming themed “Books That Changed the Public Narrative,” according to a press release from the organizers. Founded in Altadena in 2012 and historically held at the Mountain View Mausoleum, the festival relocated to the Pasadena church after the January 2025 Eaton Fire led to the mausoleum site being used for Army Corps of Engineers recovery operations.

The opening panel, “Speaking Truth to Power: Humanizing Immigrant Communities in the Time of ICE,” features Daniel Olivas, a California Department of Justice attorney and speculative fiction author who lives in Pasadena;

Friday, May 1, 2026

Pasadena and Altadena Voters Get Their Ballots for a Packed June Primary

Three City Council seats, a countywide healthcare tax and statewide races are on the June 2 ballot; registration deadline is May 18

Ballots for the June 2 primary began landing in Pasadena and Altadena mailboxes this week, and this one will take some time to fill out.

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office started mailing Vote by Mail ballots to all registered voters on April 30, according to an announcement from the office of Registrar Dean C. Logan.

Earlier, the office had sent voter outreach postcards to approximately 4.8 million registered voters across the county — the largest and most complex election jurisdiction in the nation, according to the county.

The ballot is long. Pasadena voters will choose among candidates for California governor, Los Angeles mayor, three Pasadena City Council seats and a countywide ballot measure that proposes a half-cent sales tax increase to shore up healthcare services facing federal funding cuts.

“Los Angeles County administers elections for one of the most diverse populations in the nation,”

Friday, May 1, 2026

Congresswoman Chu Leads Push for Federal Board to Enforce Language Access Standards

The bill responds to the Trump administration’s rollback of multilingual services that affect an estimated 25.7 million people nationwide, including tens of thousands in the San Gabriel Valley

For Rep. Judy Chu, the fight over who gets to speak what language in America is personal — and four decades old.

As a young professor in the 1980s, Chu watched her adopted hometown of Monterey Park pass a city council resolution declaring that only English should be spoken in the city. She organized neighbors, gathered signatures, overturned the ordinance and ran for city council herself. Now the congresswoman who represents Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley is waging that fight on a national scale.

Chu (CA-28), Chair Emerita of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, joined by Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06), Chair of CAPAC, and Rep. Juan Vargas (CA-52), introduced the Language Access Board Act of 2026, a bill that would create an independent federal board composed of community leaders and federal agency officials to develop,

Friday, May 1, 2026

Campbell Family’s Home Rises as Nonprofit Launches 100-Home Altadena Rebuild

Hope Crisis Response Network breaks ground for uninsured and underinsured households displaced by the Eaton Fire

The house that the Campbell family had built their life in stood on an Altadena lot for more than 50 years. The Eaton Fire took it in a single night. On Wednesday, construction began to bring it back as a new, beautiful home.

Hope Crisis Response Network, a nonprofit that describes itself as California’s leading disaster homebuilder, broke ground April 23 on the Campbell residence — the first of 100 homes it has committed to rebuilding at no cost over five years for uninsured and underinsured families who lost their homes in the January 2025 fire. The effort is supported by the American Red Cross, the California Fire Foundation and FireAid.

The Eaton Fire, which ignited on January 7, 2025, in the foothills above this unincorporated Los Angeles County community, burned 14,021 acres, killed 19 people and destroyed 9,414 structures, according to Cal Fire and Los Angeles County data.

Friday, May 1, 2026

LA County Launches CalFresh Awareness Campaign

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Los Angeles County officials will launch a month- long outreach campaign Friday to raise awareness about CalFresh benefits and upcoming federal policy changes that could affect eligibility and participation in the program.

The effort by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services coincides with CalFresh Awareness Month and is aimed at helping residents understand how provisions in U.S. House Resolution 1 could impact enrollment, reporting and renewal requirements, officials said.

CalFresh, California’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides food assistance to low-income individuals and households. County officials said about 1.5 million residents are currently enrolled, though an estimated 320,000 more may be eligible but are not receiving benefits.

The campaign will focus on providing information to help residents apply for CalFresh and maintain their benefits, including reminders to respond promptly to department requests and complete renewal requirements on time.

Officials said the outreach will also include information about changes affecting certain non-citizens,

Friday, May 1, 2026

Gas Prices Still Spiking in Southland, Across U.S.

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose 3.7 cents Friday to $6.141, its highest amount since Oct. 5, 2023.

The average price has risen nine consecutive days, increasing 22.1 cents, including 2 cents Thursday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. The streak of increases follows a 14-day streak of decreases totaling 12.8 cents.

The average price is 15.3 cents more than one week ago, 13.4 cents more than one month ago and $1.373 more than one year ago. It has risen $1.447 since the joint U.S./Israel attack on Iran Feb. 28, moving within 35.3 cents of the record $6.494 set on Oct. 5, 2022.

The national average price rose 9.2 cents to $4.392, its highest amount since July 22, 2022. It has risen nine consecutive days, increasing 37.2 cents, including 7.1 cents Thursday.

The national average price is 33.3 cents more than one week ago,

Thursday, April 30, 2026

County Mental Health Team Brings Free Paperwork Help to Altadena’s Neighborhood Library

Eaton Fire survivors can get one-on-one tech help with online applications and appeals — by appointment on weekdays, or walk-in this Saturday

More than a year after the Eaton Fire, the forms are still coming.

FEMA appeals, insurance claim submissions, disaster assistance applications — the bureaucratic aftermath of the January 2025 disaster remains unfinished business for many Altadena survivors. To help them through it, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health has stationed an outreach team at the Altadena Library at Loma Alta Park, offering free, one-on-one, in-person tech support for anyone still struggling to navigate those online systems.

Sessions are available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment. Saturday, May 9 — from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — is a walk-in day: no appointment needed.

The library is at 3330 N. Lincoln Ave. in Loma Alta Park, housed in the park’s Social Hall.

To schedule a weekday appointment, visit https://forms.office.com/g/tTu38ihSxS.

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Parents Say School Closures Have Not Helped District in the Past

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

Parents, students and community members raised concerns about transparency, financial impact and student well-being during a Pasadena Unified School District town hall Tuesday on potential school consolidations.

District officials and consultants stressed declining enrollment and financial pressures as key drivers behind the discussion, while repeatedly acknowledging the emotional weight of possible school closures.

“This is an extremely difficult topic to talk about,” consultant Joseph Pandolfo told attendees, noting that schools are deeply tied to community identity and history.

Pandolfo said enrollment across the state has dropped significantly, with Pasadena Unified School District losing roughly 23% of its students over the past decade, a trend mirrored across Los Angeles County. The decline, he said, has left districts with more school capacity than students, forcing difficult decisions about how to allocate resources.

“If closures were the solution, why are we still here? Again,” said Shana Villalobos. “The district’s own survey reflects nearly a third of respondents do not believe consolidation will deliver the promised benefits.

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Two Crime Fiction Heavyweights Bring LA Noir to Vroman’s Tonight

The Los Angeles that Jordan Harper writes about is not the one on the postcards. It is a city of nightcrawlers and fixers, of billionaires without boundaries and crimes that never make the papers. On Thursday night, Harper brings that city to Pasadena.

Harper, the Edgar Award-winning crime novelist and television producer, will discuss and sign his new novel, “A Violent Masterpiece,” at Vroman’s Bookstore at 7 p.m. He will be joined in conversation by S.A. Cosby, the New York Times bestselling author of “King of Ashes” and “Razorblade Tears.” The ticketed event includes a copy of the book, published April 28 by Mulholland Books.

“A Violent Masterpiece” follows three characters — a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler, a street lawyer, and a young woman searching for a missing friend — as their paths converge around a serial killer and a web of crimes reaching into the highest levels of Los Angeles power. The New York Times called the 384-page novel “the noir novel for our times,”