Saturday, April 25, 2026

Housing Affordability Edges Up Across SoCal; Disparities Remain

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Housing affordability in California improved slightly in 2025, but Southern California remained among the least affordable regions, while significant gaps persisted for Black households, according to a report released Friday by the California Association of Realtors.

According to CAR, 19% of California households earned enough income to purchase a median-priced home in 2025, up from 18% the previous year.

In Los Angeles County, affordability remained among the lowest in the state, particularly for minority households. Only 8% of Black households and 9% of Hispanic/Latino households could afford a median-priced home, according to the report.

Orange County also ranked among the least affordable markets. According to CAR, 15% of white non-Hispanic households, and 18% of Asian households could afford a median-priced home, while just 10% of Hispanic/Latino households had the same ability.

The statewide median price for a detached home was $875,550 in 2025. A minimum annual income of $221,200 was required to afford monthly payments of about $5,530,

Saturday, April 25, 2026

Statewide Voter ID Measure to Appear on November Ballot

CITY NEWS SERVICE

California voters, including those in the Southland, will decide in November whether to impose new voter identification and citizenship verification requirements under a proposed constitutional amendment that qualified for the November ballot, state officials announced Friday.

Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber said Friday the initiative cleared the signature threshold needed to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The measure would require voters to present government-issued identification at the polls or provide identifying information when voting by mail. It would also require the state to issue voter identification cards upon request and mandate annual reports on voter citizenship verification rates.

To qualify, the initiative needed 874,641 valid signatures, equal to 8% of votes cast in the 2022 gubernatorial election. Officials said the measure exceeded that threshold through random sampling.

The proposal is scheduled to be formally certified for the ballot June 25 unless it is withdrawn by its proponents.

A fiscal analysis estimated one-time implementation costs in the tens of millions of dollars,

Friday, April 24, 2026

Pasadena Teacher of the Year Among Roughly 160 Educators Facing Layoff, School Board Told

Martin Dorado said his name is on the proposed layoffs list

The Pasadena Unified School District’s current Teacher of the Year told the Board of Education on Thursday that he is among approximately 160 educators issued Reduction in Force notices this budget cycle, a disclosure that crystallized a night of escalating community emotions over proposed school consolidations, teacher layoffs and a zero Cost of Living Adjustment offer in ongoing contract negotiations with United Teachers of Pasadena.

Martin Dorado, a fifth-grade teacher at Madison Elementary School and a member of United Teachers of Pasadena, said he has taught in Pasadena Unified School District since 2016. Addressing trustees during public comment, Dorado said the district’s repeated invocation of “sustainability” rings hollow inside classrooms facing 36 students and biennial layoff cycles.

“Whenever the budget is referenced, the conversation is always centered around sustainability, but what does sustainability look like inside a classroom? 36 students in a room, teachers doing the jobs of three or more people,

Friday, April 24, 2026

Pasadena’s Harabedian Leads Assembly in Recognizing 111th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide

The only Armenian American in the Legislature, the District 41 assemblymember presented a resolution and honored an advocacy group days before the April 24 commemoration

Assemblymember John Harabedian of Pasadena stood before the California State Assembly on April 20 and presented House Resolution 97, formally designating April 24, 2026, as the state’s Day of Commemoration of the 111th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

He is the only Armenian American serving in the California Legislature. The resolution passed the Assembly that day.

HR 97, introduced by Assemblymember Nick Schultz with Harabedian as a co-author, recognizes the systematic killing of more than 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, affirms the historical record, and condemns ongoing efforts to deny the genocide, according to the legislative text. The resolution also pledges continued support for educators who teach about human rights and genocide. Assemblymember Juan Alanis, a Republican from Modesto, joined the measure as a coauthor — one of 13 legislators from both parties listed as sponsors,

Friday, April 24, 2026

Senator Pérez Reacts to Court Ruling Blocking Enforcement of No Vigilantes Act

Federal appeals panel halts the No Vigilantes Act, ruling California cannot require federal officers to show identification; senator says the fight isn’t over

On Wednesday, April 22, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blocked enforcement of the identification requirement at the center of that law — SB 805, the No Vigilantes Act — ruling that California cannot require federal law enforcement officers to display visible identification during enforcement operations. The court held that doing so likely violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“Today’s injunction ruling is disappointing, but it is not the final word on SB 805 as the court’s full analysis is still pending,” Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) said Thursday in a statement issued by her office.

SB 805 requires any non-uniformed law enforcement officer operating in California — including federal agents — to visibly display identification showing their agency and either a name or badge number during arrests,

Friday, April 24, 2026

Why New Ruling on CA’s ICE Limits Spells Trouble for Resistance Bills

By Lynn La, CALMATTERS

A federal appeals court struck down one of California’s signature laws challenging the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and the ruling does not bode well for future measures.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld an injunction prohibiting the state from requiring federal immigration agents to readily identify themselves, a law that Democrats passed last year to rein in the masked federal officers who carried out detentions around California.

The law was destined to face critical scrutiny from federal judges, and President Donald Trump’s administration sued to block it almost immediately after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it. An 1890 Supreme Court case states that a state cannot prosecute federal law enforcement officers acting in the course of their duties, reports CalMatters’ Nigel Duara.

And the law ran headlong into the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which holds that states may not regulate the operations of the federal government.

• Mark J.

Friday, April 24, 2026

Where Fire Survivors Come for Help, a Poet Is Coming to Listen

A free workshop series for Eaton Fire survivors reaches its final session Saturday at Altadena’s recovery hub — led by the community’s own former poet laureate

Carla Sameth knows this community. She served as Altadena’s Co-Poet Laureate for Community Events for two years, running readings and programs in the same foothills neighborhoods that the Eaton Fire tore through in January 2025. On Saturday, she is coming back — not to a library or a school auditorium, but to the building where fire survivors go to find a case manager, a housing counselor, or a path through the paperwork of losing everything.

The San Gabriel Valley Phoenix Poets is holding its final free, public poetry workshop at the Eaton Fire Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road, Altadena, at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The workshop is led by Sameth, who served as Altadena’s Co-Poet Laureate for Community Events from 2022 to 2024 alongside Peter J. Harris and received a 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. It is free and open to anyone directly or indirectly affected by the fire.

Friday, April 24, 2026

Pasadena Unified Board Approves Full Rebuild of San Rafael Elementary Over Fiscal Concerns

Trustees reject motion to delay project until school consolidation decision

[UPDATED] The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education voted Thursday night to approve the full demolition and rebuild of San Rafael Elementary School, rejecting a motion to delay the project until after the district’s pending school consolidation decision.

The approval comes after trustees acknowledged that the project’s total cost has risen to roughly three times its original allocation in the five?year bond plan, and that the additional amount above existing Measure O funding and expected state match will have to be covered from Measure R before the new facilities master plan is complete.

Trustee Kimberly Kenne moved to table Board Report 1941-F, which authorized the rebuild, arguing the board should wait until the school consolidation process concludes. Trustee Scott Harden seconded the motion.

“I think this would bring clarity to how San Rafael will be used in that plan, as well as may identify other facility needs that will need to be funded,”

Friday, April 24, 2026

Guest Opinion | Calmatters’ Dan Walters: First TV Debate in Race for Governor Mostly Bypassed California’s Serious Issues

By Dan Walters, CALMATTERS

There will be 61 names of would-be governors on the June 2 primary election ballot, but the top two finishers will — as certainly as anything can be in politics — come from the six who participated Wednesday evening in the first statewide televised debate.

Former Congressman Eric Swalwell’s scandal-ridden departure this month shook up the field and seemingly lifted former Attorney General (and ex-Biden cabinet member) Xavier Becerra into contention after months in the low single digits.

However, no one has achieved support anything close to what would be needed to claim one of the top two finishes, probably in the mid-20% range, and a spot on the November ballot.

The debate, staged by the Nexstar string of television stations in San Francisco, was a chance for them to shine.

None did — if shining means presenting a compelling case that he or she is what California needs to confront the existential issues that will determine whether the state can once again be a unique place where people can see their ambitions become reality.

Thursday, April 23, 2026

LA County Begins Mailing Sample Ballots for Primary Election

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Los Angeles County has begun mailing sample ballot booklets to registered voters for the June 2 Statewide Direct Primary Election, officials announced Thursday.

Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan said the sample ballot books include key information on candidates, ballot measures and voting options available to voters.

Mailing of the sample ballots will continue through May 12, while vote- by-mail ballots are scheduled to be sent to all registered voters beginning April 30.

Additional election information is available in the State Voter Information Guide, which is mailed separately by the California Secretary of State and is also accessible online at https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/.

County officials said election materials are available in English and 18 additional languages.

Voters can request materials in their preferred language by returning a form included in the sample ballot book or by contacting the Registrar- Recorder’s office.

For assistance, voters can call 800-815-2666, with Spanish-language support available at 213-358-2770.