Friday, September 4, 2026

CHP Plans Labor Day DUI Crackdown in Southern California, Across State

CITY NEWS SERVICE

California Highway Patrol officers in Southern California and across the state will begin a 78-hour Labor Day enforcement period Friday evening.

The CHP’s Labor Day holiday enforcement period will begin at 6:01 p.m. Friday and continue through 11:59 p.m. Monday, with officers statewide focusing on removing impaired drivers from the road and educating motorists about the dangers of driving under the influence.

The enforcement period will coincide with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, which began Aug. 19 and will continue through Monday.

“There is no excuse for driving impaired. If you choose to drink or use a substance that affects your ability to drive, make a plan and stay out of the driver’s seat,” CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee said. “Your decision could be the difference between everyone getting home safely and a tragedy that can change lives forever.”

During the 2025 Labor Day enforcement period,

Friday, September 4, 2026

Rep. Judy Chu, Whose District Includes Pasadena, Introduces Resolution Designating Sept. 3 as National Neuroblastoma Awareness Day

The bipartisan measure grows out of a campaign by La Cañada High School senior Mikaela Hong, a seven-year neuroblastoma patient who won Chu’s 2026 Youth of the Year award last month and helped pass a state Senate resolution in August

Rep. Judy Chu, whose 28th Congressional District includes Pasadena, joined Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly on Thursday in introducing a House resolution to designate Sept. 3, 2026, as National Neuroblastoma Awareness Day, an effort that began with a La Cañada High School student who has lived with the childhood cancer since she was a young girl.

The resolution recognizes the children and families affected by neuroblastoma and the clinicians and researchers working to develop better treatments and, ultimately, a cure, according to a news release from Chu’s office.

It was inspired by Mikaela Hong, a La Cañada High School senior, neuroblastoma patient and founder of the Pediatric Hope Project, who has turned her own experience with the disease into advocacy for children and families facing pediatric cancer,

Friday, September 4, 2026

County Officials Warn Pasadena Property Owners About Fake ‘Form 1098-SR’ Property Tax Freeze Spreading Online

Assessor Jeff Prang and three other department heads say no such IRS form exists; the same scheme has prompted alerts from Kern to Sonoma counties and as far away as Wisconsin in the past month

Four Los Angeles County department heads warned Pasadena homeowners and other property owners across the county Thursday about a scam spreading through social media videos and phone calls that promises to freeze or cut property taxes by filing a nonexistent federal form called 1098-SR.

Assessor Jeff Prang, Treasurer and Tax Collector Elizabeth Buenrostro Ginsberg, Auditor-Controller Oscar Valdez and Department of Consumer and Business Affairs Director Rafael Carbajal issued the joint warning, saying the claims are aimed particularly at seniors, according to a news release from the Assessor’s Office.

The pitch tells homeowners they can reduce or freeze their property taxes by filing a supposed IRS “Form 1098-SR.” No such form exists, and no federal property tax relief program exists, the officials said. Versions of the claim promote a federal program that can freeze property taxes for seniors,

Friday, September 4, 2026

Preparedness Fair Comes to the Altadena Hub Where Project Passion Already Works

Project Passion Inc. will hold a free Disaster Preparedness and Community Resilience Fair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road, the Altadena recovery hub where the Pasadena nonprofit already works as one of 26 onsite service providers.

The fair brings preparedness programming into the building Altadena turned to after the Eaton Fire, at an address that served as the county’s Disaster Recovery Center in the weeks after the January 2025 disaster.

Project Passion says its preparedness work exists so the next wildfire, earthquake or extreme weather event finds neighbors ready rather than caught off guard, and describes the program as built on relationships and communication rather than supplies and checklists alone. Its workshops cover building a household emergency plan, assembling a go-bag, understanding evacuation routes and knowing what to do in a disaster’s first hours. The organization also creates household plans one-on-one and organizes block-by-block networks so neighbors can check on each other during an emergency.

Project Passion says it centers residents most often left out of emergency planning: seniors living alone,

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Pasadena’s Side Street Projects Opens Free Six-Week After-School Woodworking Series for Kids at Altadena’s Loma Alta Park Sept. 9

The artist-run nonprofit, which is searching for a new executive director as Emily Hopkins steps down after nearly 17 years, also sets a Sept. 13 community day with a mixed-media self-portrait workshop

Families can sign their children up for a free, six-week after-school woodworking series that Pasadena’s Side Street Projects will run on Wednesday afternoons beginning Sept. 9 at Loma Alta Park in Altadena, the temporary home of the Altadena Library, the artist-run nonprofit announced Thursday.

The series, offered in partnership with the Altadena Library, meets Sept. 9, 16, 23 and 30 and Oct. 7 and 14 at the park, 3330 N. Lincoln Ave. Families can choose one of two hour-long slots, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. or 4:45 to 5:45 p.m., and children are expected to attend all six sessions, particularly the first, according to the organization’s September newsletter.

Working only with hand tools, students choose from project templates including cars, animals and planes and build them from scratch while learning to sand,

Thursday, September 3, 2026

West Nile Virus Activity Tops Five-Year Average in Mosquito District Serving Pasadena and Altadena

Public health officials urge residents to take preventative measures against mosquito bites over the Labor Day weekend as the year-to-date count of positive mosquito samples reaches 105.

The San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, whose service area includes Pasadena, South Pasadena, Sierra Madre and unincorporated Altadena, has detected 105 West Nile virus-positive mosquito samples so far this year, with disease activity surpassing the District’s five-year average, and is urging residents to take extra precautions against mosquito bites over the Labor Day holiday weekend, according to a press release the District issued Thursday.

Pasadena recorded its first positive mosquito sample of the year on Aug. 13, Altadena has logged three positive samples since July 23, and South Pasadena four since Aug. 4, according to the District’s detection table, last updated Aug. 31. The District’s release follows advisories issued Aug. 20 by the Pasadena Public Health Department, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health. The state health department said statewide activity had reached its highest level in five years.

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Eleven Pérez Bills Await Newsom’s Decision, Including an Altadena-Only Pause on State Density Laws

Eleven bills authored by state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, have cleared the California Legislature and are awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature or veto, according to her office. Six respond to the Eaton Fire, and one applies only to Altadena.

That measure, SB 1090, the Keep Altadena Land in Altadena Hands Act, would take effect the moment it is signed and would suspend the state’s ministerial-approval requirements for housing developments and subdivision maps in ZIP Codes 91001 and 91003, for applications filed on or after Oct. 1. Ministerial approval is the fast, non-discretionary track created by SB 9 and SB 1123, which allow lot splits and additional units on single-family parcels. The Assembly concurred in the final amendments Aug. 30 on a 36-0 vote. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger is sponsoring the bill, and Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena, is a principal coauthor.

“The people of Altadena are demanding protection from speculators who are buying land from distressed fire survivors and trying to exploit the intent of existing laws,”

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Another Special School Board Meeting Scheduled for Thursday Night

Board will meet as a committee to edit a daft definition of the District Transformation Process

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is scheduled to return Thursday evening to a discussion halted on Aug. 31, meeting once again as a Committee of the Whole to edit a draft definition of the “District Transformation Process” — after Monday’s meeting was declared to be in violation of the Brown Act and abruptly canceled midstream.

The process traces to Resolution 2894, which initiated the District Transformation Process and replaced Resolution 2852, the optimal-school-size resolution that began last school year’s school consolidation process.

The definition they approve would set the terms of a process that the draft describes as spanning the next five to 10 years and culminating in Board votes on existing assets, programs, and student opportunities, as well as campus consolidations.

No official decisions can be made at the session. Sitting as a Committee of the Whole, the Board cannot take official action,

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Hurricane Marie to Influence SoCal Weather Over Labor Day Weekend

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Hurricane Marie is expected to influence Southern California’s weather over the Labor Day weekend, with rain chances developing in Los Angeles County and larger-than-normal swells along the coast.

“The potential for Marie to directly impact Southwestern California as a tropical system remains VERY LOW,” the National Weather Service said. “However, there still will be impacts that the area should be aware of through the holiday weekend.”

Moisture from Marie is expected to begin moving into the region Saturday, bringing a chance of showers to Los Angeles County, forecasters said.

Orange County could also see showers beginning Saturday, with rain chances continuing through the Labor Day weekend.

Any rainfall through Saturday evening is expected to be very light, but chances of rain will continue through the holiday weekend and into Tuesday. Forecasts indicate a good chance of light rainfall and a low chance of moderate or heavy rain.

Thunderstorm chances are expected to remain low,

Thursday, September 3, 2026

District 3 School Board Member Michelle Richardson Bailey Launches Re-Election Campaign

The trustee, on the board since 2017, qualified for the Nov. 3 ballot on Aug. 3; District 3 is one of four seats up this year

Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education member Michelle Richardson Bailey laid out her case for re-election in a message to District 3 voters Wednesday, Sept. 2, citing the district’s five-year strategic plan, the student think tank and a balanced budget as accomplishments of her tenure.

“I’m running for reelection because District 3 deserves leadership that listens, follows through, and delivers,” Richardson Bailey said in the campaign message.

Richardson Bailey qualified for the Nov. 3 ballot on Aug. 3 after filing her nomination papers that day, and she faces challenger Veronica Elias, who qualified July 30.

The election, consolidated with the statewide general election, also covers Districts 1, 5 and 7.  Board seats are decided by plurality, so the candidate with the most votes wins even without a majority.

“If reelected, in addition to prioritizing our students,