Thursday, September 3, 2026

Altadena Chamber’s Friday Coffee Chat Carries County Economic-Recovery Updates

The Altadena Chamber of Commerce & Civic Association holds its weekly Business Coffee Chat online at 9:30 a.m. Friday, an open session for Altadena business owners that carries updates from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity.

The Friday session is the standing point of contact between the Chamber and a business community in the unincorporated community directly north of Pasadena that is still working through Eaton Fire recovery, and it now doubles as a regular channel for county information at a point when several of the county’s Altadena aid programs have closed.

The session runs Friday, Sept. 4. It is held on Zoom, with the link posted on the Chamber’s homepage at altadenachamber.org, and the meeting ID is 881 9070 5729.

The Chamber has described the Coffee Chat as a forum for owners and operators to raise concerns, share experiences and talk through recovery. “Let’s foster a supportive environment where we can learn from one another,” the Chamber said in its announcement of the series.

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Metrolink to Offer $10 Day Pass, Weekend Schedule on Labor Day

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Metrolink announced Wednesday it will operate on a weekend schedule on Labor Day and offer passengers a $10 day pass for unlimited travel throughout its Southern California rail system.

Weekend service will operate Monday on the Antelope Valley, Orange County, 91/Perris Valley, San Bernardino, Inland Empire-Orange County and Ventura County lines, along with Arrow service between San Bernardino and Redlands, according to the agency.

The Riverside Line will not operate Monday.

Metrolink’s $10 SoCal Day Pass provides unlimited rides throughout the system on the day of purchase and is available through the Metrolink mobile app and station ticket machines, officials said.

The agency’s Rail2Rail program, which allows Metrolink Monthly Pass holders to ride eligible Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains at no additional cost, will be suspended from Friday through Tuesday because of the holiday period. The program will resume Wednesday.

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner codeshare trains that accept Metrolink tickets and passes between Los Angeles and Ventura could have limited availability if holiday ridership exceeds capacity,

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

County Orders Contractor-Fraud Taskforce for Altadena Within 30 Days

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday, Sept. 1, to order several county departments to convene a taskforce within 30 days to address and curb contractor fraud and other scams targeting wildfire survivors.

The motion, authored by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey P. Horvath, is aimed largely at preventing fraud before it occurs, and it routes the work into the Altadena One-Stop Permitting Center, where residents rebuilding after the Eaton Fire already file their plans. It sets two deadlines and calls for county resources and enforcement tools to be better aligned so emerging complaints and potentially fraudulent activity can be identified and addressed.

The first directive instructs the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, working with the District Attorney, County Counsel, the Director of Public Works and other county departments, and in consultation with partners including the state Contractors State License Board, to build upon and strengthen existing county consumer protection and wildfire recovery efforts and to convene the taskforce within 30 days.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

County Puts $63.7 Million Into Baldwin Lake Restoration, Funded Largely by Regional Stormwater Tax

Los Angeles County is spending $63.7 million to restore Baldwin Lake and Tule Pond at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia, with dredging scheduled to begin this month and about 86 percent of the money coming from the countywide stormwater parcel tax that Pasadena property owners help pay.

Of the $63,714,000 total, $54,714,000 comes from the Safe Clean Water Program, which is financed by the Measure W parcel tax of 2.5 cents per square foot of impermeable surface on private property throughout the Los Angeles County Flood Control District. Pasadena pays into that program and draws from it for its own stormwater projects. The county has also committed itself to maintaining the result for as long as a century.

The work will remove approximately 65,000 cubic yards of sediment from a lake the county says is now roughly 2.5 to 3 feet deep, down from the 12 to 15 feet Elias Baldwin dredged it to in the late 1880s. The lake covers 3.4 surface acres and the adjacent Tule Pond about 0.7 acres.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Four Harabedian Wildfire Recovery Bills Clear Legislature and Await Newsom’s Signature

Four wildfire recovery bills written by Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena, cleared the California Legislature and now await Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, Harabedian announced Tuesday.

The package grew out of the January 2025 Eaton Fire in Altadena, which Harabedian represents.

AB 1642 directs the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations on lead and asbestos testing and remediation after a wildfire by Dec. 31, 2028. It becomes operative only if AB 1795, the Smoke Damage Recovery Act by Assemblymember Mike Gipson, takes effect on or before Jan. 1, 2027; that bill also passed.

AB 1842, the California Mortgage Relief Act, would require servicers to offer forbearance of up to 12 months for homes made uninhabitable by a disaster. AB 1847 extends the deadline for Eaton and Palisades fire survivors to request forbearance to Jan. 7, 2029. AB 2038 amends the Insurance Code section on post-disaster cancellations and nonrenewals.

Financial industry groups opposed the mortgage bills. The California Bankers Association, the California Chamber of Commerce and California’s Credit Unions were among eight organizations registered against AB 1847,

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Pasadena Unified Says Effort to Save Six Mature Longfellow Trees Failed; Parents Dispute Account

By THERESE EDU

[UPDATED] The Pasadena Unified School District has told families at Longfellow Elementary Magnet School that contractors and arborists tried but could not avoid the need to destroy six mature trees on the school’s Washington Boulevard front lawn, and about a dozen parents, neighbors and tree advocates gathered outside the empty campus Tuesday morning to challenge the district’s version of the efforts it had taken to save the trees.

The district’s Monday night announcement email closed out a summer during which its board directed staff to evaluate, tree by tree, whether as many as 57 protected trees in Eaton Fire soil remediation work zones could be saved from destruction. It arrived while the district’s authority to remove trees at all remains before a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, with a trial setting conference scheduled for Oct. 30 and no trial date set.

A second demonstration at Longfellow was called for Wednesday morning at the same location.

In its Aug.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Guest Opinion: Dianne Lewis: What Would School Closures, Consolidations, or Program Relocations Mean for Students With Disabilities?

I agree with Elizabeth Pomeroy that if Pasadena Unified School District is serious about “transformation,” the community must have a meaningful role in defining what that transformation means.

But there is another question that must be answered before the conversation moves any further:

What will school closures, consolidations, or program relocations mean for students with disabilities?

That question is particularly urgent because Special Education has already undergone a major restructuring. Parents were told that the restructuring would be transformative. We were promised a new structure and better services.

We are still waiting to see those results.

What is increasingly difficult to ignore is the loss of institutional knowledge — the experience of people who understood why programs were created, what had been tried, what worked, what did not, and what particular students needed.

And now, at the beginning of a new school year, parents are reporting problems.

During the first week of school, I received calls from multiple parents who said their children were not receiving services or were in placements they believed did not meet their needs.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Altadena Music Theatre Closes Its Rebuilt Season With “Little Shop of Horrors” Thursday

Altadena Music Theatre opens “Little Shop of Horrors” at 8 p.m. Thursday on the outdoor stage it built at Mountain View Mausoleum, 2300 N. Marengo Ave., closing the first season the company has staged since the Eaton Fire destroyed its Farnsworth Park home.

The production runs Thursdays through Sundays through Sept. 13, eight performances in all, and it ends a summer the company spent on borrowed ground. Rather than wait for the county to rebuild the Charles S. Farnsworth Park Amphitheatre, Altadena Music Theatre put up a temporary outdoor venue with a custom-built stage and seating a little more than a mile away.

The musical, with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, follows a florist’s assistant whose life changes after he grows a plant that feeds on blood. Sarah Azcarate, the company’s founder and producing artistic director, directs, with Chris Wade as music director and Noel Bajandas as choreographer.

Ruby Lewis, who played Sandy in the company’s “Grease”

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Southern Californians Urged to Report Monarch Butterfly Sightings

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Southern California residents were encouraged Wednesday to report sightings of western monarch butterflies as part of an effort to help scientists track the species’ sharply declining population during California Biodiversity Day activities.

The California State Parks Foundation is asking residents to photograph monarch butterflies or caterpillars and upload the observations using the free iNaturalist app. California Biodiversity Day will be observed from Saturday through Sept. 13.

Information collected through the observations will help scientists determine where western monarchs are at different times of the year and contribute to the upcoming 30th annual Western Monarch Count.

Millions of western monarchs once returned to coastal California each year, but their population has fallen dramatically in recent decades because of factors including climate change, habitat loss, pesticides and disease, according to the foundation.

The most recent Western Monarch Count found a peak population of 12,260 butterflies, the third-lowest overwintering population recorded since tracking began in 1997.

Wednesday, September 2, 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 increase enforcement over the Labor Day weekend, focusing on impaired drivers during a 78-hour holiday enforcement period, the agency announced Tuesday.

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.”