Monday, January 26, 2026

Guest Opinion | Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater: The Masked Enforcement of Fear: Authoritarian Tendencies in Plain Sight

The deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents into U.S. cities, including our own — often operating in plainclothes or masks, with vague mandates and limited local oversight — resembles practices more common to authoritarian regimes than to a constitutional republic. Recent events in Minneapolis, including the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by U.S. Border Patrol agents during an immigration enforcement operation, illustrate a dangerous slide toward normalized, anonymous force. Political leaders, religious leaders, and citizens have been saying this for months. We must not be cowed into silence, or gaslighted into doubting what we are seeing, which is precisely what tyranny seeks.

These agents appear out of nowhere, brandish weapons, don’t read any Miranda Rights, and don’t often have proof of wrongdoing. But as these operations unfold, the lines between immigration enforcement and militarized police actions have blurred, leading to lethal force being used against people exercising their constitutional rights to protest.

When law enforcement appears unmarked, when agents avoid clear identification, and when the public is left to piece together competing official and eyewitness accounts of shootings,

Monday, January 26, 2026

Kaiser Permanente Faces Open-Ended Strike as 31,000 Healthcare Workers Walk Off the Job

The walkout, which began Monday morning, follows the longest negotiations in the company’s national bargaining history and leaves the region’s dominant healthcare provider scrambling to maintain services.

Nearly 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and health care workers walked off the job Monday morning in an open-ended strike against the health system’s Pasadena regional headquarters, in what union leaders called a last resort after more than seven months of failed contract negotiations — the longest bargaining effort in the company’s national history.

The strike, which began at 7 a.m. at Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics across California and Hawaii, represents one of the largest healthcare labor actions in the state in recent years. The vast majority of striking workers — approximately 27,000 — are employed in Southern California, where Kaiser Permanente’s regional operations are headquartered on Walnut Street in Pasadena’s  civic center.

Unlike typical healthcare strikes, which are often limited to a few days to minimize patient disruption, this walkout has no predetermined end date.

Monday, January 26, 2026

Edison’s New Co-Defendants Join Eaton Fire Legal Battle in Court Today

Utility’s cross-complaints name Los Angeles County, Pasadena Water & Power, and SoCalGas as sharing blame for the deadly blaze

Attorneys in the consolidated Eaton Fire litigation return to court today for a status conference that will address discovery procedures following Southern California Edison’s sweeping cross-complaints against more than a dozen local agencies and utilities.

The 10 a.m. hearing before Judge Laura A. Seigle at the Spring Street Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles comes 10 days after Edison filed claims against Los Angeles County, Pasadena Water & Power, five other water agencies, SoCalGas, and the County’s emergency alert contractor, Genasys.

The filings allege these entities share responsibility for the deaths and destruction caused by the January fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures in Altadena.

Edison acknowledges its equipment may have ignited the blaze. But the utility argues accountability should extend to agencies it says failed to issue timely evacuation warnings, provide adequate water for firefighting,

Monday, January 26, 2026

Fresh Produce Distribution Set for Altadena as Food Coalition Continues Fire Recovery Support

Hollywood nonprofit plans to distribute free fruits and vegetables at Altadena library parking lot Wednesday

The Hollywood Food Coalition plans to hand out free bags of fresh produce to Altadena residents on Wednesday, January 28, at the Altadena Main Library parking lot, continuing a food assistance program that has brought 16 distributions to the fire-scarred community since June 2025.

The giveaway runs from 11 a.m. to noon at 600 E. Mariposa St. Supplies are limited and distributed first-come, first-served. Residents are asked to bring their own bags.

While many wildfire-related emergency food programs offer canned goods and shelf-stable items, the Hollywood Food Coalition provides fresh organic produce — bananas, peaches, potatoes, celery, peppers and onions among the typical offerings.

“The idea is to support the Altadena community with healthy food, to take one thing off their plate of concerns and help them with their bottom line,” said Linda Pianigiani, associate director of development and communications for the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Sunday, January 25, 2026

SBA Disaster Loan Services Return to Area This Week

In-person assistance resumes Tuesday at the Collaboratory, more than a month after previous location closed

The Small Business Administration is reopening in-person disaster loan assistance in Altadena on Tuesday, returning federal help to the community more than a month after its previous location closed.

Representatives will be stationed at the Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road, starting at 1 p.m. on January 27. The site will offer walk-in service Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The SBA has approved more than $3.2 billion in disaster loans for Los Angeles County wildfire survivors, according to the agency, though permitting delays have allowed fewer than 15% of destroyed homes to receive rebuild approvals.

The Collaboratory has served as the central hub for fire recovery services since opening in October 2025. The space—a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory facility—houses the Eaton Fire Collaborative, a coalition of more than 200 community groups, nonprofits, and government partners working on long-term recovery.

“The Collaboratory represents an important and visible milestone in the collaborative’s mission to unify precious resources,

Sunday, January 25, 2026

New Documentary Chronicles What West Altadena’s Black Community Lost—and How It’s Rebuilding

“Beneath the Ashes” premieres Feb. 1 at Pasadena screening featuring fire survivors and relatives of Jackie and Mack Robinson

Before the Eaton Fire swept through West Altadena last January, approximately 75 percent of African Americans in the community owned their homes—nearly double the national rate, according to census data cited by LAist. That remarkable figure was no accident: after mid-20th-century redlining policies in Pasadena and other nearby cities restricted Black families from purchasing property, Altadena became one of the few places where they could buy homes and build generational wealth.

A new documentary premiering less than a month after the fire’s one-year anniversary captures what that community lost—and how it is working to rebuild.

“Beneath the Ashes: the Past Reimagined,” directed by Hrag Yedalian and produced by Brandon D. Lamar, president of the NAACP Pasadena Branch, will screen free to the public on Sunday, February 1, at the AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Cultural Center in Pasadena. The film features homeowners who lost everything,

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Altadena Fire Survivors Face $3,000 Bill to Keep Their Water Flowing

Private utility devastated by Eaton Fire cannot access public disaster funds; costs fall on customers

A year after the Eaton Fire wiped out 75% of the homes it serves, the Las Flores Water Company told its shareholders they must pay $3,000 each — or the utility may not survive.

Nearly 200 residents gathered Thursday at the Altadena Library to hear the grim arithmetic: the small private water company lost both its reservoirs in the January 2025 fire, operates on a quarter of its pre-fire revenue, and was apparently underinsured.

Because mutual water companies are ineligible for many state and federal disaster funds that public utilities receive, the cost of survival falls on customers who are themselves still recovering.

“I think we’re going to get hosed again,” said Altadena resident Michael Barlett, according to KABC. “We’ve already suffered so much and we’re getting suffered again. This time, it’s financially, but just to have an extra $3,000 paid and assessed …

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Kaiser Permanente Nurses Strike Set for Monday Morning

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Thousands of Kaiser Permanente nurses and health care workers in the Los Angeles area are expected to be part of a 31,000-person unfair labor practices strike at facilities in California and Hawaii starting Monday.

Members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals and promise to stay out until a fair contract agreement is reached. UNAC/UHCP members include registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives, physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists, dietitians and other specialty health care professionals.

The strike was set to begin at 7 a.m. Monday, local time.

Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California regional headquarters is located in Pasadena.

“We’re not going on strike to make noise,” said Charmaine S. Morales, RN, president of UNAC/UHCP. “We’re striking because Kaiser has committed serious unfair labor practices and because Kaiser refuses to bargain in good faith over staffing that protects patients, workload standards that stop moral injury and the respect and dignity that Kaiser caregivers have been denied for far too long.

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Pasadena Church Hosts Three Immigration Actions in Three Days

All Saints offers solidarity rally, allyship workshop, and patrol training as federal enforcement intensifies

All Saints Church is hosting three immigration-focused community events over three consecutive days, offering Pasadena residents a range of ways to respond to intensified federal immigration enforcement.

The first event was a solidarity rally Friday in downtown Los Angeles, explicitly supporting Minneapolis faith leaders who have been organizing protests since an ICE agent fatally shot a citizen observer on January 7.

The second, a Sunday, January 25 workshop at the church, will address practical allyship for community members.

The third, a Monday, January 26 training session, will teach attendees how to conduct community patrols to monitor for ICE activity.

On Sunday at 9:00 a.m., the church’s Immigration Task Force will lead “Faith & Formation: Immigration and Allyship” in Sweetland Hall. The workshop, held in collaboration with the Immigration Resource Center, will address “what it looks like to be in solidarity with our community and neighbors,

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Hundreds of Volunteers to Beautify Pasadena Elementary School Saturday for MLK Day of Service

City Year Los Angeles brings corporate sponsors, state assemblymember to Title I school where 90 percent of students are economically disadvantaged

Hundreds of AmeriCorps members and community volunteers are expected at a James Madison Elementary School gathering Saturday to beautify the campus as part of the national MLK Day of Service.

The project, organized by City Year Los Angeles, brings corporate sponsors including Los Angeles Football Club, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and The Starbucks Foundation to a Title I school where 90 percent of students come from economically disadvantaged families. Assemblymember John Harabedian, who represents Pasadena in the California State Assembly, and Principal Elisa Perez will participate alongside the volunteers.

City Year Los Angeles is an AmeriCorps program that deploys young adults to schools across the region. More than 260 AmeriCorps members serve as tutors and mentors in Los Angeles schools each year, and the organization has been conducting school beautification projects for nearly two decades.

“Hosting this service day is more than just beautifying a campus — it’s about restoring a sense of belonging and hope,”