Thursday, August 6, 2026

County Health Alerts Will Reach Altadena Doctors Through an AI Search Tool

Los Angeles County is routing its guidance into a clinical platform that NBC News reports nearly two-thirds of U.S. physicians use; Pasadena maintains a separate health jurisdiction

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will begin surfacing county health alerts and links to local public health resources for physicians who use OpenEvidence, an AI-powered clinical decision support platform, under a collaboration the department and the company announced July 23.

Under the arrangement, when a physician in Los Angeles County Public Health Dept.’s jurisdiction searches the platform on selected public health topics, OpenEvidence will display county messages linking to local resources and alerts on reportable diseases, outbreaks and other time-sensitive public health issues, according to the announcement, which the two parties distributed as a press release.

In Altadena and Sierra Madre, the county department is the controlling local health authority — the agency that issues disease alerts and receives reportable-condition notices from clinicians.

Pasadena is somewhat different; although it is located in LA County,

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Pasadena Unified Enrollment Decline Will Continue, Consultant Report Says

Pasadena Unified School District’s TK-12 enrollment, including charter schools, has fallen 38% from its 2000 peak, driven by declining birth rates.

The District’s non-charter enrollment is down 44% since 2000, according to an enrollment forecast progress report from demographic consultant NDC to be presented to the Pasadea Board of Education Thursday night.

The report also found a high private-school share and few students in recently constructed housing, and noted the District loses students as they progress through the grades because families leave the area.

The elementary grades have absorbed the sharpest drop. Elementary enrollment plummeted 49%, from 12,199 students in 1999 to 6,173 in 2025. Kindergarten enrollment fell 56%, from 2,062 students in 1996 to 914 in 2025.

High schools have not yet experienced the full decline, according to the report. High school enrollment dropped 35%, from 6,414 students in 2004 to 4,193 in 2025.

NDC listed future housing scenarios, Eaton Fire recovery scenarios, and resulting enrollment forecasts as next steps.

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Local Lawmaker Convenes Assembly’s First California–Armenia Committee

Armenia’s consul general in Los Angeles delivered remarks at Wednesday’s opening hearing in Sacramento

Armenians have been opening businesses in Pasadena since about 1900 (possibly earlier.) On Wednesday afternoon, a Pasadena lawmaker convened the California State Assembly’s first committee devoted to the state’s ties with Armenia.

The Select Committee on California and Armenia Mutual Trade, Art, and Cultural Exchange held its inaugural hearing at 1:30 p.m. in Room 444 of the State Capitol, chaired by Assemblymember John Harabedian, a Democrat whose 41st District takes in Pasadena and the unincorporated community of Altadena.

Anna Avetisyan, Consul General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles, delivered remarks underscoring the importance of strengthening the partnership between California and Armenia and highlighting the opportunities the committee can help create, Harabedian’s office said in a press release issued the same day.

The agenda announced for the session set two panels, one on California–Armenia international relations and trade and a second on economic and business insights.

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Pasadena School Board to Hear Post-Eaton Fire Enrollment Forecast, Budget Revision on Thursday

Board also faces eight closed-session litigation matters and a consent agenda heavy with rebuild contracts

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education meets Thursday to receive a demographic report that weighs the continuing effects of the Eaton Fire on future enrollment projections, along with a revision to the district’s 2026-27 budget reflecting changes in state funding.

The board convenes at 5 p.m. for public comment on closed-session items and recesses to closed session at 5:15 p.m. The open meeting is called to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room #236 at 351 S. Hudson Ave., beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance. All times listed on the agenda are approximate.

The first of two presentations is a preliminary demographic report. The board will receive an update on the district’s enrollment forecast covering demographic and enrollment trends, birth rates, student mobility, housing development and transfer patterns, as well as the ongoing impacts of the Eaton Fire on future enrollment projections,

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Guest Opinion | Calmatters’ Dan Walters: California’s Catch-22: Who Should Pay When Utilities’ Power Lines Cause Wildfires?

By Dan Walters, CALMATTERS

The timing could not have been better — or worse.

The findings from a long-awaited investigation into the origins of a deadly Southern California wildfire were released Tuesday, pinning it on an electrical arc from a Southern California Edison transmission tower.

Simultaneously, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration was asking legislators to limit the financial liability of SoCal Edison and other investor-owned utilities when their equipment ignites wildfires, which have become an inescapable fact of Californians’ lives.

The report dealt with the Eaton Fire, one of several that swept through the Los Angeles area in January 2025, driven by hot winter winds known as Santa Anas. Once ignited, it quickly engulfed communities in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, particularly Altadena, charring more than 14,000 acres, destroying more than 9,000 homes and other buildings and claiming at least 19 lives. It took firefighters 24 days to fully extinguish it.

“After 18 months of thorough review of all evidence,

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Final DENA C.A.R.E.S. Convening on Altadena Housing Set for Thursday

The final convening of DENA C.A.R.E.S., an Eaton Fire recovery initiative of the Pasadena nonprofit Day One, is scheduled for Thursday, August 6, at The Collaboratory, 540 West Woodbury Road in Altadena. The Eaton Fire Collaborative announced the gathering on social media, setting it from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. under the theme “Building Altadena’s Housing Future.”

The Collaborative described the convening as a review of coalition work, data and survivor experiences. More than 18 months have passed since the fire began on January 7, 2025.

The announcement names funders and philanthropic partners among those invited. Residents who wish to attend should contact Day One in advance.

Day One defines DENA C.A.R.E.S. as Community, Access, Resilience, Engagement and Support. The nonprofit, based at 175 North Euclid Avenue in Pasadena, created the initiative after the fire to help residents of Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre recover and rebuild, and describes it as providing housing education, navigation support, emergency housing resources and opportunities for community connection.

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Judge Bars City From Halting PUSD Tree and Soil Removal at Nine Campuses, Portions of Ed Center

City argued for the first time that the district’s exemption resolution is “invalid on its face”

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Wednesday barred the city of Pasadena from halting Pasadena Unified School District’s removal of trees and fire-contaminated soil at nine campuses and portions of the Education Center, a day after the city argued in a court filing that the school board resolution the district used to exempt itself from local tree rules is “invalid on its face.”

The preliminary injunction issued by Judge Joseph Lipner prohibits the city, its agents and anyone acting in concert with them from issuing stop-work orders against the district’s ongoing tree and soil removal and remediation project at the nine schools, or from attempting to enforce Pasadena’s tree protection ordinance there, pending trial in the case.

The order also bars enforcement at portions of the district’s Education Center at 351 S. Hudson Ave. — but only at areas the judge circled and initialed in an exhibit to the order,

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Altadena Music Theatre Opens “Grease” on a Stage It Built Itself

Nineteen months after the Eaton Fire destroyed its Farnsworth Park home, the company returns tonight at a temporary outdoor venue at Mountain View Mausoleum

Altadena Music Theatre had to build a stage before it could put on a show. It opens “Grease” on that stage tonight.

The production is the company’s first fully staged musical since the January 2025 Eaton Fire destroyed the Charles S. Farnsworth Park Amphitheatre, where it had performed. Rather than wait for a permanent venue, the nonprofit assembled a temporary outdoor theater with custom staging and seating on the grounds of Mountain View Mausoleum, at 2300 North Marengo Avenue in Altadena — a little more than a mile from where the amphitheater stood.

Curtain is 8:00 p.m. Performances run Thursdays through Sundays until Sunday, August 16, eight in all.

“Grease” has a book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Oliver Azcarate directs, with musical direction by Chris Wade and choreography by Melissa Schade.

Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Altadena’s Elected Officials Call for Accountability After County Concludes Edison Tower Caused Eaton Fire

Altadena’s elected officials called for accountability and pledged continued support for fire survivors Tuesday after the Los Angeles County Fire Department released investigative reports concluding that electrical arcing on an out-of-service Southern California Edison tower caused the Eaton Fire — a determination the utility said it is reviewing.

The reports close an 18-month investigation into the January 2025 fire that killed 19 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in Altadena and parts of Pasadena. It is the first official determination of the fire’s cause, and it arrives while litigation continues: a trial is set for Jan. 25, 2027; survivors face a Nov. 30 deadline to seek compensation directly from Edison; and portions of the reports remain redacted amid an ongoing District Attorney review.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose Fifth District includes Altadena, said in a statement, “The community deserves transparency, accountability and access to the facts. While the report does not close this chapter, I hope it brings greater clarity and a measure of closure to those who have endured so much.

Wednesday, August 5, 2026

LA County Moves on Federal Investment Accounts for Foster Children

Supervisors gave child welfare officials 90 days to produce an outreach plan that would run through 2028

A $1,000 federal deposit is waiting for eligible American children born in January 2025. On Tuesday, Los Angeles County started working out how to get it to the children in its own custody.

The Board of Supervisors approved Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s motion giving the Department of Children and Family Services 90 days to produce a plan for reaching foster youth and the families caring for them.

The accounts opened nationwide on July 4. But the deposit goes only to children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, and under Treasury guidance a parent or foster parent — not the county — must file for it, The Imprint reported in June.

That puts the paperwork in the hands of resource families, including those in Pasadena and unincorporated Altadena.

The federal government established Fostering the Future accounts on June 11, 2026,