Friday, May 29, 2026

Pasadena Opens 4-Day Voting Centers Ahead of June 2 Primary

Pasadena voters gain expanded access to ballot casting beginning May 30 as the city opens four-day voting centers ahead of the June 2 Primary Election

Voters will have expanded access to ballot casting beginning Saturday, May 30, as the city opens a network of four-day voting centers leading up to the June 2, 2026 Primary Election, according to a public agency notice from the City of Pasadena.

Officials said the centers will operate from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. May 30 through June 1, with extended hours of 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, June 2.

The four-day voting centers are located at American Legion Post 280, 179 North Vinedo Avenue; Armenian Cilicia Evangelical Church, Derian Hall, 339 South Santa Anita Avenue; First United Methodist Church-Pasadena, 500 East Colorado Boulevard.; Jefferson Branch Library, Auditorium, 1500 East Villa Street; Octavia E. Butler Magnet, Gymnasium, 1505 North Marengo Avenue; Red Hen Press, Library Center, 1540 Lincoln Avenue; Robinson Park Recreation Center,

Friday, May 29, 2026

Pasadena Transit Waives Fares on Election Day to Get Voters to the Polls

The free service covers all bus routes and Dial-A-Ride paratransit, but paratransit users must book trips by Monday

Pasadena Transit and Pasadena Dial-A-Ride will offer free rides on Tuesday, June 2, Election Day for the Statewide Direct Primary Election, the city’s Department of Transportation announced this week.

The fare waiver, which eliminates the regular $0.75 base fare on all Pasadena Transit bus routes, joins a countywide pattern of free Election Day transit. Metro, LADOT, and Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus will also offer free fares on June 2, according to the city’s press release.

The free service extends to Pasadena’s paratransit system, which provides curb-to-curb rides for residents 60 and older and those with qualifying disabilities in Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino, and surrounding unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Most Pasadena polling places and ballot drop boxes fall within a quarter-mile of a Pasadena Transit bus stop, according to the Department of Transportation. The city has offered free Election Day transit in prior cycles,

Friday, May 29, 2026

Senate Unanimously Passes Altadena Woman’s Namesake Detention Oversight Bill

Legislation authored by Pasadena-area senator would authorize state inspections of private facilities and fines up to $25,000 per day

The California State Senate voted 39-0 to pass the Masuma Khan Justice Act, legislation named for a 64-year-old Altadena resident who was detained without critical medication at a private immigration facility last fall, according to a press release from the bill’s author, Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena).

SB 995 would create a statewide inspection framework for privately operated detention facilities, authorizing four state agencies to conduct periodic reviews and imposing civil penalties up to $25,000 per violation per day on operators that fail to meet health and safety standards. The bill now advances to the California State Assembly.

Khan, an immigrant from Bangladesh who has lived in the United States for nearly 30 years, was taken into custody during a routine check-in with immigration officials in October 2025, according to Sen. Pérez’s office. She was held at CoreCivic’s California City Detention Facility without access to medication for chronic asthma,

Friday, May 29, 2026

SGV Habitat for Humanity Honored for Altadena Rebuilding as Nonprofit Reaches 10-Home Milestone

The Monrovia-based nonprofit has completed or started construction on 10 homes since the Eaton Fire, with 25 funded and 100 targeted

San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity has completed or begun construction on 10 homes in Altadena’s Eaton Fire burn scar, a rebuilding pace that earned the nonprofit a 2026 Nonprofit of the Year honor from Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) on May 20 in Sacramento.

The recognition, presented at a luncheon hosted by CalNonprofits on California Nonprofits Day, came 16 months after the January 7, 2025 fire destroyed more than 9,000 buildings in Altadena. SGV Habitat has committed to rebuild at least 25 homes with $4.55 million in grant funding from the Altadena Builds Back Foundation and aims to build 100 or more in the coming years, according to the organization’s website. More than 800 families have contacted the nonprofit about rebuilding, according to SGV Habitat.

The organization completed its first post-fire home on March 27, 2026, a residence on East Pine Street built for Kenneth and Carol Wood,

Friday, May 29, 2026

Latina Attorney Fighting for Eaton Fire Justice for Latino Community

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

Local attorney says immigration status does not strip residents of their rights

In a press conference on Thursday, a local attorney said that immigration status does not take away the rights of Latino residents suffering after the Eaton Fire.

“Every single Latino family affected by the Eaton Fire deserves to know that Edison caused this fire and you may be entitled to compensation,” said Attorney Maribel Medina. “Whether you rent or own, whether you filed an insurance claim or didn’t know you could, whether you are documented or not, you still have rights, and it is my job to make sure you are fully informed. I have spent 30 years preparing for cases like this. This community is why.”

“This lawsuit is your power, your chance to fight back against the utility that burned down Altadena.”

More than a year after the Eaton Fire devastated the San Gabriel Valley, thousands of Latino families are still struggling: unsure of their rights,

Friday, May 29, 2026

Eaton Fire Lawsuits Return to Court, With Pasadena’s Jewish Temple Among The Plaintiffs

A century-old Pasadena congregation is one of nearly 1,000 plaintiffs pressing claims against Southern California Edison as pre-trial proceedings advance

When the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena on January 7, 2025, members of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center raced to save what they could. The sanctuary was already burning. They got out with the Torah scrolls. Everything else — the sanctuary, the preschool, the community buildings that had stood on Altadena Drive for more than eight decades — was gone.

On Friday morning, the congregation joins nearly 1,000 plaintiffs in Los Angeles County Superior Court, where a motions hearing is scheduled before Judge Laura A. Seigle in the consolidated civil litigation against Southern California Edison. The 10 a.m. proceeding in Department 17 of the Spring Street Courthouse advances a mass tort that has grown to encompass Altadena homeowners, businesses, and institutions — all alleging that Edison’s transmission equipment ignited the blaze.

The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, founded in 1921 and described as the only Conservative Jewish synagogue in the western San Gabriel Valley,

Friday, May 29, 2026

PUSD Board Halts School Closure Plan, Two Trustees Served With Recall Notices

The Pasadena Unified Board of Education halted its school consolidation process Thursday night in a stormy meeting that also saw the in-person delivery of formal recall notices to Board President Tina Fredericks and Trustee Scott Harden.

The board rejected the $230,000 equity analysis that had put Blair, Thurgood Marshall, Don Benito, McKinley, Webster, and Norma Coombs on a potential closure or merger list.

Any future closure recommendation will require the district to start over with a new analysis, the board’s legal advisor at the meeting told trustees. No school is closing under the current process.

The vote followed more than seven hours of meeting time, more than 60 commenters at the opening public comment period and dozens more during item-specific public hearings, including the AB 1912 consolidation hearing, and the in-person delivery of formal notices of intent to circulate recall petitions to Fredericks and Harden.

The rejected consolidation-related document, presented to the board as Resolution 2882, was the work product of Total School Solutions,

Friday, May 29, 2026

LA Metro Board Approves $9.7B Budget for 2027

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Metro Board of Directors Thursday approved a $9.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-27, representing a $223 million, or 2.4% increase, over the prior year’s spending plan.

Michelle Navarro, Metro’s interim chief financial officer, described the budget as balanced though it was difficult to do so because of uncertainty related to federal transit funding, inflation and other economic challenges. Nevertheless, they were able to implement a 3% reduction in spending and prioritize funding in the most efficient way, according to Navarro.

“We took what we heard through our outreach efforts and prioritized bus service, safety and cleanliness,” Navarro said. “With our limited operating eligible dollars available, we developed a budget that provides the best possible service to our riders and the public.”

The board voted 9-0 to approve the budget with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, L.A. City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, Inglewood Mayor James Butts and Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian absent during the vote.

Friday, May 29, 2026

Displaced Eaton Fire Couple Sue Former Landlords Over Alleged Excessive Rent

CITY NEWS SERVICE

A family displaced from their Altadena home by the 2025 Eaton Fire Thursday sued the landlords who allegedly charged them nearly three times the maximum rent permitted under state and local law.

The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges that Terrence and Catalina Chow continued to collect the allegedly illegal rent from plaintiffs Randall and Candy Renick for nearly 10 months after receiving written notice from both the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office and Los Angeles County that their conduct was illegal. The plaintiffs’ attorneys stated during a news conference Thursday outside the downtown civil courthouse that the case is the first private civil action brought by a wildfire-displaced family to enforce the rental price-gouging protections.

The lawsuit seeks restitution of the unlawful overcharges, compensatory damages, civil penalties of up to $30,000 per violation as well as   attorneys’ fees and costs. A representative for the Chows could not be immediately reached.

“The state and the city’s price-gouging laws exist because we know people will be taken advantage of without them,”

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Parents to Rally at PUSD Headquarters Thursday Ahead of First Public Hearing on School-Closure Analysis

Parents and students opposed to potential school closures plan to rally outside Pasadena Unified School District headquarters at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, ahead of a 6:45 p.m. Board of Education meeting at which the district’s outside consultant is scheduled to present the draft Equity Impact Analysis required before any campus can be closed.

The rally at 351 S. Hudson Ave. converges multiple parent-led campaigns —the broader Save Our Schools coalition and groups focused in specific campuses— ahead of the board’s first public hearing on consolidation since the Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee voted May 11 against all six closure scenarios it had been asked to consider. The session also falls amid Brown Act allegations against four trustees and a recall campaign targeting Board President Tina Fredericks.

The Save Our Schools rally series began with a March 31 demonstration that drew nearly 100 participants outside the district office.

Warren Bleeker, president of the Thurgood Marshall Secondary School Parent-Teacher-Student Association and a principal organizer of that earlier rally,