[photo credit: Supervisor Kathryn Barger]

A free county-produced premiere at Loma Alta Park pairs the film with a panel of families from it, the Altadena Historical Society’s president and the Altadena NAACP’s president

When a new documentary about four Black Altadena families screens at Loma Alta Park tonight, families from the film will be onstage afterward to take questions.

“Reclaiming Home: Black Altadena Rebuilds” is the County of Los Angeles’ own account of what the Eaton Fire did to a community where Black families spent generations buying houses and keeping them. The county is screening it free, outdoors, in the neighborhood it is about, then turning the evening over to the president of the Altadena Historical Society, the president of the Altadena NAACP and families from the film.

A Small Business Vendor Marketplace opens at 6:00 p.m. and the program begins at 7:00 p.m. on the lower Loma section of Loma Alta Park, 3330 North Lincoln Avenue, according to the county’s announcement.

Admission is free, the event is open to residents and members of the public, and the evening will bring together residents, local leaders and historians for storytelling and community connection.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena in the county’s Fifth District, will deliver welcome remarks. Veteran broadcast journalist Pat Harvey will emcee and moderate the panel. Pastor LaKeith Kenebrew of Hillside Tabernacle will deliver the invocation.

The panel brings together Veronica Jones of the Altadena Historical Society, Wilberta Richardson of the NAACP Altadena Branch and families featured in the film, the announcement said. Jones has led the society, founded in 1935, as its first Black president and has lived in Altadena for more than 60 years. Richardson, an attorney, is president of the Altadena NAACP, a branch active since 1984.

[photo credit: Eventbrite]

Organizers say Sunday’s third annual Dena giveaway will include a youth soccer clinic and a roster of elected officials, 15 days before Pasadena Unified reopens

The line for a free backpack on Sunday will run through the UCLA Bruins’ football locker room.

Organizers of the third annual Dena Community Backpack Giveaway say students who have registered will pick out their supplies inside the locker room at Rose Bowl Stadium, then walk through the players’ tunnel onto the field — the route the Bruins charge out every game day.

The free event runs Sunday, August 2 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., about two weeks before Pasadena Unified School District opens the school year.

The giveaway will reach thousands of students and will offer up live entertainment, games, complimentary food and snacks, resource booths, and a youth soccer clinic and tournament on the north side of the field, along with dozens of nonprofit organizations and community partners.

Organizers describe the event as a way to connect families with educational and community resources and to ease the financial burden of back-to-school costs.

The announcement names the children’s educational character Blippi — billed as a surprise special guest — Paralympic swimmer Jamal Hill, California State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, Pasadena City Councilmembers Steve Madison and Tyron Hampton, and UCLA football student-athletes and the UCLA Cheer Squad. 

Several names carry local ties. Pérez represents the 25th Senate District, which includes Pasadena and Altadena, and chairs the Senate Education Committee. Luna’s department serves unincorporated Altadena through its Altadena Station. Madison’s District 6 covers the neighborhoods above the Rose Bowl, and Hampton has represented nearby District 1 since 2015.

Registration is free and required through the stadium’s event page at rosebowlstadium.com and through Eventbrite. Tickets are for students only; parents and guardians do not need one. The stadium has said walk-ups are welcome, and the listing is published in English and Spanish. Rose Bowl Stadium is at 1001 Rose Bowl Drive, Pasadena, CA 91103; the main number is (626) 577-3100.

Pasadena Unified students return to class on Monday, August 17.

[photo credit: PUSD]

“We look forward to welcoming everyone back on the first day of school,” wrote Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco.

The email did not mention any delays in reopening campuses due to contaminated soil remediation work.

In her message to the PUSD community, Blanco said many schools begin registration next week, when students can receive class schedules, take yearbook and ID photos, meet new teachers and reconnect with friends.

“PUSD schools are also hosting welcome events to help families and students connect, meet staff, and kick off the year together,” Blanco wrote.

A list of school welcome events is posted at https://canva.link/dbspk03w6nocinq.

Blanco wrote that the district is embracing the theme “the Power of PUSD: Forward Together,” and said the power of PUSD is found in the people who make up the community: students, families, staff and partners.

The 2026-27 calendar included in the kit sets Labor Day on Sept. 7, Thanksgiving break Nov. 23-27, winter break Dec. 21-Jan. 1 and spring break March 29-April 2. The first semester ends Dec. 18 and the second begins Jan. 4. The last student day is June 3, 2027, and next summer school runs June 9 to July 16. The calendar also identifies conference days, staff development days and minimum days.

Back-to-School Nights are scheduled by campus between Aug. 20 and Oct. 8, each designated a minimum day. Spring open houses are set from April 7 through May 20 and are also minimum days.

Parent conferences take place in October. The kit describes them as a chance to celebrate student strengths, identify areas needing improvement and develop plans for student success, and it encourages parents to talk with their child and prepare questions beforehand, to discuss support strategies and share their student’s interests and goals during the meeting, and to review the meeting with the child and maintain communication with teachers afterward.

The kit consolidates bell schedules for every campus, with separate schedules listed for elementary schools, McKinley Middle, Sierra Madre Middle, Blair, Marshall, Pasadena High and John Muir High School. Among the examples given, elementary schools run 7:50 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. Mondays and 7:50 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, while high schools run roughly 9:20 a.m. to 3:28 p.m. Mondays and 8:30 a.m. to 3:28 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

A reference page explains the district’s three grading methods: traditional A-F letter grades; standards-based grades of exceeds standard, meets standard, progressing, below standard and not yet assessed; and effort grades of outstanding, satisfactory, needs improvement and unsatisfactory. The kit explains that standards-based grades measure mastery of grade-level standards rather than averaging assignment scores.

All students qualify for free breakfast and lunch under the Community Eligibility Provision, and no application is required, according to the kit, which outlines a breakfast program, the National School Lunch Program and an after-school supper program. Families whose students have medical dietary needs are directed to download the Special Dietary Needs Request Form, complete and sign it, and submit it to both the school nurse and Nutrition Services. The district said special menus are developed individually based on physician documentation.

Parents are asked to log in to the Aeries Parent Portal at pusd.us/ParentPortal to complete their student’s data confirmation, which updates family contact and medical information and student authorizations.

The portal also provides grades, attendance, test scores, schedules and report cards. Parents without an account can request one by submitting a Parent Portal Access Form, available in English and Spanish, to their school’s main office. Portal accounts are separate from enrollment accounts.

Registration questions can be directed to a school registrar, to pusd.us/Enrollment or to the PUSD Office of Enrollment at (626) 396-3639.

Los Angeles County property owners may now file an application for a Decline-in-Value Review (DIV) if they believe the market value of their property has fallen below its current assessed value.

Decline-in-Review applications are accepted annually from July 2 through November 30. To file, complete the Decline-in-Value Review Application (Form RP-87), which is available on our Decline-in-Value webpage under the Forms tab beginning July 2. The application may be submitted online for your convenience.

What Is a Decline-in-Value Review?

If you believe your property’s market value as of January 1 is lower than its assessed value, you may qualify for a temporary reduction in your assessed value under California law.

California’s Proposition 13 established a property’s base year value for property tax purposes and generally limits annual increases in assessed value to no more than two percent unless ownership changes or new construction occurs.

In 1978, California voters approved Proposition 8, which allows for a temporary reduction in assessed value when a property’s market value falls below its assessed value. This is commonly referred to as a Decline-in-Value review.

It is important to remember that a Decline-in-Value reduction is temporary. As market values recover, assessed values may increase accordingly. As a result, property owners who received reduced assessments in prior years may see their property taxes increase by more than two percent in years when market values rise.

Property owners are encouraged to visit the Assessor’s Decline-in-Value webpage for additional information about eligibility requirements, the review process, and how property values are assessed.

If the filing deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, an application that is mailed and postmarked on the next business day will be considered timely filed.

Kimberly Kenne Photo courtesy PUSD

Incumbent Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Board member Kimberly Kenne has officially qualified for the Nov. 3 general election, becoming the first incumbent in this year’s school board races to secure a place on the ballot.

Kenne, who represents District 1, filed her nomination papers July 22 and qualified for the ballot July 24, according to nomination records released by the City Clerk’s office.

She is expected to face challengers Felita R. Kealing, who was issued nomination papers July 13, and Dianne Lewis, who pulled papers July 22.

As of the latest filing report, neither Kealing nor Lewis had qualified for the ballot.

In District 7, Dennis J. McNamara has also qualified for the election after filing and qualifying July 27. McNamara is seeking the seat being vacated by Yarma Velazquez, who announced she will not seek reelection.

The remaining races are still taking shape.

In District 3, incumbent Michele Richardson Bailey and challenger Veronica Elias have both been issued nomination papers, but neither had qualified as of the latest report. In District 5, incumbent Patrice Marshall McKenzie has been issued nomination papers and has not yet qualified.

Candidates who are issued nomination papers are not officially placed on the ballot until they complete the filing process and are certified by the City Clerk.

Voters will elect representatives in Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 in the Nov. 3 election. PUSD holds plurality elections, meaning the candidate receiving the most votes wins, even if that total is less than a 50% majority.

The nomination period remains open through Aug. 7. If an incumbent fails to file by the deadline, the nomination period for that office will be extended.

Construction workers build a home to replace one of the 6,000 destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Fire in Altadena on March 19, 2026. Photo by David McNew, Getty Images

If you live in California, chances are you’ve seen the ads that say “Home insurance rates skyrocket” and “The FAIR Plan is broken.”

They urge you to contact your state representative to ask them to “fix our wildfire problem to make California more affordable.”

Those ads are connected to what Los Angeles fire survivors, consumer advocacy groups and the insurance industry say is a secretive, last-minute attempt by Gov. Gavin Newsom to help utilities reduce how much they pay for wildfires they cause.

With the legislative session set to resume next week and run through the end of the month, the governor’s staff has been talking with state lawmakers about addressing challenges around wildfire recovery and rising catastrophic risk in California, a spokesperson for his office confirmed.

Lawmakers have not released the text of the proposals. Newsom spokesperson Anthony Martinez would not say whether the legislation will do the following, as alleged by fire survivors and a consumer advocacy group:

• Limit compensation for fire victims’ pain and suffering.
• Eliminate insurance companies’ right to recover wildfire costs from utilities or other corporations.
• Cap attorneys’ fees, making it harder for fire survivors to get representation.

Every Fire Survivors Network, a group started by survivors of last year’s Eaton Fire, and Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocacy group that focuses on insurance and other issues, say the bills would shift recovery costs from utility companies to insurance policyholders. Insurance industry representatives agree. The strange bedfellows are calling out the late political maneuvering known as “gut-and-amend,” which lawmakers use to create bills by gutting other pending bills and replacing their language for a different purpose and are meant to be fast-tracked.

The groups are speaking out against the purported bill package, which appears to align with the goals of Wildfire Survivors First, a campaign funded by utilities that, despite its name, has no wildfire survivors groups among its supporters.

“Californians deserve a government that works in the open, not behind closed doors,” said Joy Chen, leader of the Every Fire Survivors Network, in a press conference last week. She urged the governor to “choose democracy over corporate special interests.”

In an open letter to the governor, Chen laid out how she said Newsom has, over the years, already helped utilities shift responsibility for wildfires they cause.

The state’s three major utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric, have tremendous influence in California. They have what seems to be an unlimited number of names, entities and affiliates; donate to campaigns by Democrats and Republicans; and together employ hundreds of lobbyists who advocate for hundreds of bills every session. In the 2025-26 session, their donations to sitting legislators totaled more than $1.2 million, according to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy Database.

Martinez said the discussions between the governor’s office and California lawmakers are informed by a report released in April by the California Earthquake Authority, which under Senate Bill 254 was tasked with studying how the state should “responsibly and equitably allocate the burdens from natural catastrophes.”

That bill — rewritten so late last year that it required the Legislature to extend its session — also allows utilities to shift additional wildfire costs to consumers if their costs exceed a wildfire fund created in 2019 through legislation also backed by the governor. The three major utilities paid half of the $21 billion fund. Californians paid the other half through monthly surcharges on their electric bills. Eaton Fire survivors have sued Edison over what they say is negligence that led to the fire; the cost of claims from the fire are expected to exceed what’s in the fund.

Among the April report’s many recommendations is to put more money in the wildfire fund by increasing the surcharge on utility customers by $8.50 a month, bringing the total to $11 a month.

Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Wildfire Survivors First, said the campaign is calling on lawmakers to “urgently implement” many of the conclusions in the SB 254 report, which he said “highlighted how payouts to financial middlemen — like trial attorneys, hedge funds and insurance companies — are often paid out before wildfire victims receive a single dollar for rebuilding.”

Click did not answer CalMatters’ question about why there are no fire survivors groups on the list of more than 200 organizations that support the effort. Most are local chambers of commerce or business groups.

CalMatters contacted nearly a dozen of the organizations. Ten did not respond or would not make their executives available for an interview.

But the chief executive of one of them, Jennifer Gray Thompson, said she changed her mind about participating once she realized the coalition did not include fire victims groups. Her organization, After the Fire, which helps support leaders in communities around the country that have experienced mega fires, was briefly on the list but was removed promptly at her request, she said.

“I’m from Sonoma,” Thompson told CalMatters. “I’m a national advocate for fire victims. I’m definitely not on their side,” she added. Former state Sen. Bill Dodd, a Democrat whom she said did a lot of good for fire survivors when he was in office, was among those who contacted her to solicit her group’s support for the effort, according to emails she shared with CalMatters.

Dodd did not return a phone call and text message from CalMatters.

The Bay Area Council, another supporter, counts PG&E among its member businesses. Spokesperson Rufus Jeffris said the council “generally supports sensible policies and investments that reduce wildfire risk and increase community wildfire resilience and balance the diverse needs of business, consumers and residents.”

A Consumer Watchdog analysis of utilities’ required financial disclosures shows that 66% of the non-governmental organizations on the list have received utility-industry contributions, grants, sponsorships and more worth about $7.3 million from 2023 to 2025.

Click called Consumer Watchdog a “shadow lobby firm for trial attorneys” and said “it should come as no surprise that they are trying to protect a system that prioritizes trial attorneys over wildfire victims.”

Spokespeople for PG&E, Edison and SDG&E referred CalMatters to the Wildfire Victims First campaign regarding the campaign and the legislative proposal.

What state lawmakers are saying or not saying

Sen. Ben Allen, a Democrat from the Los Angeles area whose constituents include survivors of the Palisades Fire, attended the Friday press conference.

“Any solutions that we have have to (hold) the responsible parties accountable,” Allen said in a room full of fire survivors.

Who’s responsible for the costs of wildfire recovery is important to both Allen’s current job and possibly his future one: He is chair of the Senate energy and utilities committee, and is running for insurance commissioner.

Allen’s spokesperson, Ben Cheever, said the senator was not available for an interview about the specifics of the legislative package.

But he sent the following statement from Allen: “I will carefully review any proposal put forth to ensure we hold responsible parties accountable while meaningfully reducing risk to improve affordability. We should not simply shift around the costs consumers pay without addressing this more holistically.”

Fellow Democrat Sen. Sasha Renee Perez, who represents Eaton Fire survivors, said in an interview with CalMatters that if a legislative package contains the proposals fire survivors suspect they do, she would have a “tremendous issue” with them being presented at the last minute. She also said she has talked with other members of the Legislature who “are very upset with what’s taking place.”

Perez said she would oppose any proposal that limits non-economic damages for fire survivors: “I represent Altadena. I have a friend who lost his sister in the fire. How do you put a price tag on losing your sibling?”

The senator also said she was “so frustrated and shocked” that SB 254, which started off as a bill intended to reduce profits for investor-owned utilities, ended up helping utilities instead during the last three days of last year’s session.

“That’s not the way government should work,” she said.

CalMatters also contacted several other lawmakers or their offices, especially ones who lead related committees. The following Democratic lawmakers’ offices did not respond: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas; Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, who leads the insurance committee; and Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, who leads the utilities and energy committee.

Spokespeople for Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limon and Sen. Josh Becker responded with emailed statements similar to that sent by Newsom spokesperson Martinez: “The current system is unsustainable and not working for fire survivors, utility customers, or insurance policyholders.”

The insurance industry’s concerns

Insurance industry representatives say if insurance companies can’t recover wildfire costs from utilities, also known as subrogation, they will inevitably raise premiums.

“We don’t think it’s fair to make insurance policyholders pay more to bail out utility shareholders,” said Denni Ritter, a vice president at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

Ritter also pushed back against the assertion by the utilities’ campaign that insurance companies usually recover their costs from utilities before paying out claims to their policyholders: “It’s not like AAA goes, ‘OK, we’ll pay you once we’ve recovered from the utilities’.”

Rex Frazier is president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, which represents the largest insurers operating in the state. He said this campaign is the latest attempt by utilities to chip away at their industry’s possible liability for wildfires. Sometimes, the insurance industry has had conversations with utilities, he said. That’s not happening this time, he said.

Now he, like other Californians, is seeing the ads from the Wildfire Victims First campaign, whose website says it’s funded by PG&E, SDG&E and SCE shareholders and three other organizations.

“We’re trying to understand why they’re talking about the insurance market,” Frazier said. “We can’t get a clear answer about what they have in mind.”

Jeanne Kuang contributed reporting.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Naomi Rowe-Gurney (NASA-GSFC)

In 1989, the Voyager 2 mission discovered six new moons orbiting Neptune, including five tiny ones that orbit just outside the planet’s main rings. Because of their small sizes and locations, these satellites have been difficult to study from Earth. Now, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of Caltech researchers has observed Neptune’s rings and three of those moons—Larissa, Galatea, and Proteus—and found that their composition is unique among outer solar system bodies.

These findings point to the existence of an original moon system that was demolished when Triton, Neptune’s biggest moon, was likely captured by the planet’s gravity after it formed elsewhere in the solar system. The researchers believe remnants left behind from this smashup then came together to form the inner moons seen today.

“If Neptune once had a system of moons that looked something like what we see at Uranus today, we expect it would’ve been completely destroyed by the process of Triton getting captured,” says former Caltech graduate student Ryleigh Davis (PhD ’26), lead author of a paper about the team’s findings publishing July 29 in Science Advances. “This is exciting new evidence that something catastrophic happened at Neptune that completely destroyed its original satellites, and we’re getting to see the fingerprints left behind by that process.”

Neptune is a curious planet, as it is the only one in the solar system that lacks a “typical” moon system of large, ordered satellites, meaning its evolutionary pathway might also be unique. In fact, another recent study from the same JWST research program, and led by Caltech postdoctoral scholar Matthew Belyakov (PhD ’26), provides independent evidence for the existence of the original satellite system, suggesting that Neptune’s moon Nereid may be the sole surviving intact member.

To look for more clues that could help reconstruct Neptune’s history, Davis, who did her graduate studies in the lab of Mike Brown, Caltech’s Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy, and the team turned to the planet’s inner moons.

Until recently, no spectroscopy data existed for the moons. Spectrographs such as the near-infrared instrument on JWST split light into its many wavelengths to obtain information about the chemical makeup of astronomical targets, enabling scientists to identify the molecules present.

In collaboration with Belyakov, Davis designed and co-led a research program using JWST data to determine the composition of the satellites to see if the team could learn more about how the objects might have formed.

“Phyllosilicates had never been detected anywhere in the outer solar system beyond Jupiter, so that was not on our list of things to look for,” says Davis, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego. “We were shocked to find the observed clays, which had to come from objects that were much, much bigger than Neptune’s small inner ring moons.”

One interesting result, Davis says, is that signatures of magnesium-rich phyllosilicates were found in the spectra of Larissa, Galatea, and the rings—minerals that only form in the presence of liquid water. And yet, no water ice is indicated by the spectra of any of the three moons studied or their rings.

“That’s really surprising because everything out in this part of the solar system is really icy,” she says. “So, we’re fairly confident that they had to come from deep inside something that was big enough to generate enough heat that it melted its water ice. We think the most likely place would be an original system of icy moons, although it’s a bit of a mystery where the ice may have gone.”

Brown, who is also the Terence D. Barr Leadership Chair and director of the Caltech Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution, remembers everyone on the team having the same big question when they saw the spectra of the satellites: “What is that?”

“It took diligent detective work from Ryleigh before we understood what we were seeing,” he says. “Sometimes in science you are trying to find evidence to evaluate a specific hypothesis, and, sometimes, something that you had not been thinking about just hits you in the face.”

Furthermore, the phyllosilicates were not present on Proteus, the largest of the small moons investigated, suggesting it may have reaccreted from a different region of the debris disk or undergone subsequent heating that destroyed any clay minerals present. In addition, the team found that each of the three moons has the same hydrated mineral that the team has not been able to identify.

“We see something that doesn’t really look like anything else we’ve identified in the solar system; it doesn’t match anything we have in our spectral libraries.” Davis says. “We assume it’s some form of hydrated rock from the moons as well, but there’s still a lot of mystery.”

While the team favors the primordial satellite destruction scenario, they note that an alternative explanation cannot be ruled out: the tidal shredding of a large, differentiated Kuiper Belt object, similar in size to Pluto, that passed too close to Neptune and was torn apart by the planet’s gravity.

“Either way, what we’re seeing on these moons had to come from deep inside something much larger,” says Davis, noting that Neptune’s inner moons are the only place in the solar system where we can look directly at the deep interior composition of a large icy world. “That material is normally permanently buried—we can only infer what’s there. Here, a catastrophic event essentially turned these ancient moons inside out, and we get to see what was hidden inside.”

She notes that the team’s findings leave more open questions than answers; future projects, she says, might look at the dynamics of the evolution of the moon-destruction and recreation process.

“If you bring Triton in, and you smash up your large moons, we think only 1 percent or so of that material stayed around in the system,” Davis says. “But the actual behavior of that material might be really different if Triton is still there shaking things up for a long time. So, looking forward, understanding how that process actually proceeds would be interesting. From there, the question is: ‘Can we learn anything about how big the initial moons had to be to have formed and provided this material?'”

The paper is titled “Neptune’s Inner Moons and Rings Are Exposed Icy Body Interiors.” In addition to Belyakov, Brown, and Davis, postdoctoral scholar Zachariah Milby (PhD ’26) and former Caltech graduate student Ian Wong (PhD ’18), now with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, are co-authors. Funding was provided by NASA through a grant to the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.

Economists watch a fragile balance between resilience and risk

The nation’s housing market is showing quiet resilience even as a widening war in the Middle East and a divided Federal Reserve complicate the outlook for the rest of the year.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would hold its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75% for a fifth straight meeting, according to the Fed’s postmeeting statement. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh described the internal debate as a “good family fight,” CNN reported. Three regional bank presidents, Beth Hammack of Cleveland, Neel Kashkari of Minneapolis and Lorie Logan of Dallas, dissented in favor of a quarter-point increase, citing inflation that has stayed above the Fed’s 2% target for more than five years, the Fed said. It was the first three-way dissent on a single policy direction since September 2016, CNBC reported.

The split reflects a broader anxiety running through the economy. Fighting between the United States and Iran resumed in early July after a ceasefire collapsed, and American bombing runs against Iranian targets have continued for more than two weeks, drawing in Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels and disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, according to CNN’s ongoing coverage of the conflict. Oil prices have climbed sharply as a result, and the Fed’s postmeeting statement pointed directly to the conflict as a source of economic uncertainty.

Housing data collected before the renewed fighting show an economy still finding its footing. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 2.1 points in June to 97.4, helped along by a short-lived US-Iran ceasefire signed June 17 that temporarily eased energy costs. That relief appears to have been fleeting. With oil prices spiking again in July, economists expect the August optimism reading to reverse course.

New-home sales nudged up 1.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628,000, but the gain masked a steep regional divide. Sales in the West fell 24.6% from a year earlier, the weakest showing there since July 2014, when the region was still climbing out of the aftermath of the 2008 housing crash. Builder confidence has followed a similar trajectory, with the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index slipping to 34 in July, its 15th straight month below 40, a stretch not seen since 2011 and 2012.

Foreclosure activity offers a more mixed signal. ATTOM reported 39,327 properties with foreclosure filings in June, down 3% from May but up 21% from a year earlier. California recorded one foreclosure for every 3,205 homes, the ninth-highest rate among states, with Lake, Shasta, Sutter and Mendocino counties leading the state. Foreclosure levels nationally remain well below pre-pandemic norms, a sign that homeowner equity and tighter lending standards are still absorbing some of the strain.

A separate report from the Consumer Federation of America found that homeowners insurance costs continue to fall unevenly along racial lines. Nationally, homeowners in majority Black zip codes pay about 16% more for identical coverage, while those in majority Hispanic zip codes pay roughly 30% more. In California, the gaps narrow to 16% for Black homeowners and 4% for Hispanic homeowners, though researchers said the disparity still limits wealth building in communities of color.

With mortgage rates elevated and the war in Iran showing no clear end, economists say the housing market’s next moves will depend heavily on how long the conflict, and the inflation pressure it brings, persists.

[photo credit: San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity]

The grant is intended to expand the nonprofit’s capacity to help homeowners rebuild and return home, as part of the Red Cross’s national Long-Term Recovery Program.

The money will provide resources for “eligible homeowners facing financial barriers” to rebuilding. The homes involved are in Altadena and neighboring unincorporated Los Angeles County communities inside the Eaton Fire burn area.

San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity senior director of development Michael Bridges said in the release that the money would broaden the organization’s reach.

“We are deeply grateful to the American Red Cross for this generous investment and partnership in wildfire recovery,” Bridges said in the press release. “As families continue to rebuild after the Eaton Fire, this support expands our capacity to help homeowners restore stability and regain a sense of home. In partnership with the American Red Cross long-term disaster-recovery efforts, we are not only addressing today’s rebuilding challenges — we are helping lay the foundation for a stronger, more resilient community that can thrive for generations to come.”

Jacquelyn Clites, regional chief executive officer for the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region, said in the same press release that the organization is committed to the long-term recovery needs of communities hit by the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires.

“We are honored to partner with San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity on this critical initiative,” Clites said. “This collaboration reflects our shared dedication to responsible stewardship of resources and to ensuring that survivors receive the necessary support as they rebuild and move forward through the recovery process.”

How the money will be used

The funding flows through San Gabriel Valley Habitat’s existing Fire Relief Home Repair and Rebuild Program, which offers zero-interest, five- or 10-year forgivable loans for repairs.

The program also provides case management, pre-approved home designs and coordination with partner organizations, including the Altadena Builds Back Foundation and GER3, or Global Emergency Relief, Recovery & Reconstruction, which handles smoke remediation, testing and debris removal. The Foothill Catalog Foundation is developing pre-approved home designs for the program.

San Gabriel Valley Habitat, based in Monrovia, was founded in 1990.

Demand outpaces the build commitment

More than 800 families have contacted the organization about rebuilding in Altadena, according to San Gabriel Valley Habitat, against a stated commitment to build 25 homes and an aspiration to reach 100.

The affiliate’s first full rebuild in the burn scar, for longtime Altadena residents Kenneth and Carol Wood on Pine Street, broke ground Oct. 16, 2025, marking the first of that initial 25-home commitment.

“People will never understand what it means to be able to live on that corner again,” Kenneth Wood said in comments posted on the organization’s website. “Along with the pain, there has been a lot of gain … having this house rebuilt and the help we’re getting is teaching us something we never knew before.”

On July 21, the organization broke ground on its 15th Eaton Fire rebuild, at 3510 McNally Ave. in Altadena, for fire survivors identified only as Louise and Michael.

“This is not just about rebuilding homes — it’s about restoring hope, stability, and a future,” Bryan Wong, chief executive officer of San Gabriel Valley Habitat, was quoted as saying by HeySoCal in a July 21 report. “Each groundbreaking represents another family taking an important step toward coming home.”

Pasadena Village and the Eaton Fire Collaborative partner with the Red Cross for an August 3 donation event open to all

The nation’s blood supply has dropped to levels the American Red Cross calls a crisis. On August 3, a partnership between three organizations will bring a donation site to Altadena, where a single hour in a chair could help reverse it.

Pasadena Village, the Eaton Fire Collaborative, and the Red Cross are co-hosting a blood drive at the Collaboratory from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Organizers say they need 25 donors to make the drive a success, according to the Pasadena Village event listing.

The drive comes as the Red Cross confronts what it calls only the second national blood supply crisis in its history. The national supply fell nearly 25% in June, and donations have reached a four-year summer low, according to a Red Cross press release issued July 27. The organization is now limiting distributions of type O blood — the most commonly transfused — to hospitals nationwide.

“Emergency departments, operating rooms, and labor and delivery units can’t support patients with the most urgent needs, and cancer patients must wait,” said Dr. Courtney Lawrence, medical director for the Red Cross, in a statement earlier this month. “We’re asking donors to give now before doctors are forced to make those difficult decisions.”

The venue is the Collaboratory, a community hub that opened in October 2025 as the physical home of the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s recovery operations. The Eaton Fire, which ignited on January 7, 2025, destroyed more than 9,000 structures across Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre. The Collaboratory has since served as a central space for fire survivors to access resources and connect with community partners, according to the Eaton Fire Collaborative.

Pasadena Village, a Pasadena-based nonprofit that serves adults 55 and older, is sponsoring the drive. The organization, led by Executive Director Katie Brandon, fosters independent living and community connection among its members. It also offers free rides to the blood drive for anyone who needs transportation; donors can select “Need a Ride” when registering or email info@pasadenavillage.org.

To schedule an appointment, donors can visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter “Village” as the ZIP or sponsor code, then look for “Eaton Fire Collaborative – The Collaboratory, Sponsor: Pasadena Village” on August 3. Donors can also call 626-765-6037.

All who donate blood through the Red Cross from August 1 through August 31 will receive a $20 Amazon gift card by email, according to the Red Cross. Details are available at rcblood.org/August. Donors must be at least 17 years old in most states — 16 with parental consent — weigh at least 110 pounds, and be in generally good health. Full eligibility requirements are available at redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/eligibility-requirements.html.

The Red Cross estimates that just three additional donors at each blood drive this summer could stabilize the national supply, according to the organization’s crisis press release.

The Blood Drive takes place on Monday, August 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Collaboratory, 540 West Woodbury Road. Admission is free and the event is open to all eligible donors. Parking information was not available at the time of publication. For more, call 626-765-6037 or visit pasadenavillage.org.