Tuesday, July 14, 2026

LA County Officials Urge Mosquito Precautions After First Human West Nile Case

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Los Angeles County health officials were urging residents Tuesday to take precautions against mosquitoes after confirming the county’s first human case of West Nile virus this year.

The Antelope Valley resident was hospitalized after developing West Nile virus encephalitis following the onset of symptoms in late June, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

“The first human cases of West Nile virus are an important reminder that we all need to take steps to prevent mosquito bites and mosquito breeding,” Los Angeles County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said in a statement. “Mosquitoes thrive in hot weather, increasing the risk of bites and mosquito-borne diseases.”

Davis urged residents to use insect repellent, eliminate standing water around homes where mosquitoes can breed and ensure window and door screens are properly installed and maintained.

Officials also encouraged residents to report neglected swimming pools that could serve as mosquito breeding grounds and to notify authorities when dead birds are found,

Monday, July 13, 2026

Langham to Pay $320,000 to the District Attorney’s Office, County Counsel to Settle Price Gouging Lawsuit

Langham Hotels Pacific Corporation must additionally pay at least $216,795 in restitution to eligible Pasadena hotel guests for illegal overcharges

Langham Hotels Pacific Corporation will pay $320,000 to settle a consumer protection civil lawsuit brought by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office alleging the company price gouged wildfire victims and other guests who stayed at its Pasadena hotel during the January 2025 wildfires and resulting state of emergency.

“It is reprehensible to overcharge and take advantage of wildfire victims who were in desperate need of housing as they fled their homes from raging fires last year,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said.

“During a time when our community was meant to come together to help those in need, Langham Hotels Pacific Corporation profited from other people’s tragedies. Since the devastating fires, my office has been working closely with our law enforcement and consumer agency partners to combat price gouging, looting,

Monday, July 13, 2026

Brace for Triple-Digit Heat, Midweek Humidity

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

A dangerous heat wave will grip Pasadena beginning Tuesday, with temperatures climbing into the triple digits and humidity adding to the discomfort, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles/Oxnard reported late Sunday that highs will rise each day through midweek, peaking Wednesday at 104 degrees. Officials warned of widespread Moderate to Major HeatRisk from Tuesday through Thursday.

On Sunday, Pasadena reached 92 degrees under partly sunny skies. Winds were light, shifting southwest at 5 mph. Overnight lows fell to 66 degrees.

Monday will bring highs near 97 degrees with light winds. Tuesday will be hotter, reaching 97 degrees, before Wednesday’s peak of 104 degrees. Lows will remain in the upper 60s to low 70s, offering little relief.

Forecasters said monsoonal moisture could trigger isolated showers or thunderstorms in nearby mountains Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Pasadena itself is expected to stay dry but muggy.

Winds will remain calm to light,

Monday, July 13, 2026

Freedom Set to a Loop Pedal

By EDDIE RIVERA | Photography by JEFF LORCH

A two-man band turns a forgotten migration south into a little-known history with ninety minutes of live-built sound

There is a moment early in “Mexodus” when Nygel D. Robinson pulls a live pattern from a double bass, then loops it into the foundation of a song, with Brian Quijada building on top of it. It happens again and again over the next ninety minutes, and it never stops working. This is a play that manufactures its own soundtrack onstage, without a break, without an orchestra pit, without a wasted second, and the mechanics of that feat turn out to be inseparable from the story it tells.

The show, which opened Sunday at Pasadena Playhouse, follows the roughly ten thousand enslaved people who fled not north but south in the mid-1800s, crossing Texas and the Rio Grande into a Mexico that had already abolished slavery. Quijada and Robinson wrote the piece together and perform it as a two-man company,

Monday, July 13, 2026

Mayor Says PUSD Tree Removals Damaged Public Trust Amid Growing Dispute

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

Mayor Victor Gordo Saturday sharply criticized the Pasadena Unified School District’s handling of its controversial tree removal program, saying the district’s actions have damaged both the environment and public confidence while forcing the city to seek a court order to carry out its oversight responsibilities.

Gordo’s comments come as the dispute between the city and the school district continues to escalate over the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) removal of trees at campuses undergoing soil remediation following the Eaton Fire.

“Decisions like these erode our environment and equally important the public’s trust and confidence,” Gordo told Pasadena Now. “The fact our City Attorney had to ask a judge to issue an inspection warrant in order that the City can meet its responsibility to residents of Pasadena is outrageous, unacceptable and frankly should be embarrassing to all. We should be working together for the safety and benefit of all.”

The city recently sought an inspection warrant after officials said they were denied access to district campuses to determine whether protected trees were being removed in violation of Pasadena’s Tree Protection Ordinance.

Sunday, July 12, 2026

Senator Pérez Convenes an Altadena Town Hall on Closing the Recovery Gap

The Eaton Fire recovery discussion meets Wednesday evening at Altadena’s Collaboratory, with reservations required

Eighteen months after the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, the work of rebuilding is far from finished — and the gaps in that recovery will be the subject of a community town hall Wednesday, July 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. Senator Sasha Renée Pérez will lead the session, titled “Closing the Recovery Gap,” at the Collaboratory, the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s recovery hub at 540 W. Woodbury Road in Altadena.

Pérez represents the 25th Senate District, which stretches across the San Gabriel Valley and includes both Altadena and Pasadena. Since the January 2025 fire, she has made recovery a central focus, hosting roundtables with fire survivors and authoring legislation aimed at protecting displaced homeowners — including Senate Bill 1090, the Keep Altadena Land in Altadena Hands Act, which seeks to shield burned neighborhoods from outside developers.

The venue itself reflects that mission. The Collaboratory opened last fall as the first permanent hub of the Eaton Fire Collaborative,

Sunday, July 12, 2026

Rally Set for Saturday as Part of Nationwide ‘Good Trouble’ Weekend

A local Indivisible chapter plans a demonstration at Fair Oaks and Colorado honoring Rep. John Lewis and centered on voting rights

San Gabriel Foothills Indivisible plans to hold a rally Saturday, July 18, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena. The event is part of “Good Trouble Lives On,” a nationwide weekend of nonviolent action honoring the late Rep. John Lewis.

The national “Good Trouble Lives On” effort, which is organized separately from San Gabriel Foothills Indivisible, describes this year’s action as a weekend running July 17 through 19.

The weekend is tied to the legacy of Rep. John Lewis, who coined the phrase “good trouble” during the civil rights movement. Lewis died July 17, 2020.

A first nationwide “Good Trouble Lives On” protest was held July 17, 2025, with as many as 200,000 people participating nationwide, according to a summary of national and wire coverage of that earlier event.

Sunday, July 12, 2026

JPL to Open Its Doors for First Time in Three Years — Tickets Will Likely Be Snapped Up in Minutes

The Pasadena-area lab marks its 90th anniversary with a free open house on October 10–11; tickets go live August 29

The last time NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory invited the public inside, every ticket was gone before most people had finished their morning coffee.

That was 2023. Three years, four rounds of layoffs, a wildfire evacuation and a 90th birthday later, JPL is doing it again.

Explore JPL returns October 10 and 11, a free, two-day open house offering visitors a walk through mission control, spacecraft assembly bays and robotics labs at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Free timed-entry tickets will be released at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 29, at jpl.nasa.gov/explore-jpl — and based on prior years, JPL expects them to be fully reserved within 10 to 15 minutes, according to the lab’s official event page.

The event is the first public open house at JPL since April 29–30, 2023, when all 36,000 available tickets were claimed,

Sunday, July 12, 2026

Local Health Officials Urge Residents to Check on Older Adults as Heat Advisory Extends

With temperatures above normal through next week, the city directs residents to three steps that could prevent heat-related deaths among seniors

The Pasadena Public Health Department is urging residents to check on older neighbors, relatives and friends as a National Weather Service Heat Advisory now stretches into a second week, with temperatures in the city forecast to remain above normal through at least Tuesday, July 14.

The city’s Public Health Department issued a social media advisory this week specifically targeting protections for older adults — a group that bears a disproportionate share of heat-related deaths nationally.

The graphic, posted on the City of Pasadena’s Facebook page, directs residents to ensure that seniors in their lives are drinking enough water, have access to air conditioning, and are wearing light clothing. If someone shows signs of heat-related illness, the department says, call 911.

The advisory points residents to HeatReady.ca.gov, California’s statewide heat safety resource, for additional guidance.

Saturday, July 11, 2026

Fifty Venues Said No. Despite That, They Persisted, And Monday, Their Camp for Fire-Affected Kids Opens

Three Maranatha High juniors spent months searching for a gym willing to host Healing Hoops Altadena before the Pasadena Tabernacle agreed

Before a single child dribbles a ball at Healing Hoops Altadena on Monday, its three teenage founders had already been turned down or priced out by roughly 50 venues — a three-month search, by co-founder Ryder Wong’s count, that ended only when the Pasadena Tabernacle said yes.

The camp those months produced is a free, five-day basketball and wellness program for children ages 8 to 12 affected by the Eaton Fire, running July 13 through 17 at the Pasadena Tabernacle Corps Community Center, 960 E. Walnut St. Wong and his fellow Maranatha High School juniors, Ryden Shiozaki and Ethan Kim, built it around a simple pairing: basketball each morning, alongside activities meant to steady kids who lost homes, schools and routines when the fire tore through Altadena in January 2025.

Sessions run daily from 9 to 11 a.m. Each day features a basketball workshop and activities designed to “instill calm and creativity in the youngsters,