Monday, July 6, 2026

Sheriff, Supervisor, Family Renew Appeal in Unsolved Killing of Altadena Boy, 4

A media advisory says county leaders will gather with relatives Monday morning to seek tips in a decade-old porch shooting

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and Supervisor Kathryn Barger are scheduled to join relatives of Salvador Esparza III at a 10 a.m. Monday news conference in Altadena, according to a sheriff’s department advisory, renewing a public appeal for information nearly a decade after the 4-year-old was fatally shot on a relative’s front porch.

An $85,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Esparza, of Monrovia, was shot on the evening of July 5, 2016, while standing on the porch of a relative’s home in the 300 block of West Figueroa Drive in unincorporated Altadena.

He died hours later at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

The case remains unsolved.

A gunman fired at least 13 rounds at people gathered on the porch, then fled in a dark-colored sedan that had been waiting nearby on Olive Street.

Monday, July 6, 2026

Heat Advisory Cautions Temps To Push Pasadena Into the 90s Through Thursday

The National Weather Service warns temperatures could reach 100 degrees in nearby mountains and valleys, and Los Angeles County is urging residents to check on neighbors without air conditioning

A heat advisory takes effect at 10 a.m. Tuesday and runs through 8 p.m. Thursday for the San Gabriel Valley, including Pasadena, with the National Weather Service forecasting highs near 90 to 92 degrees locally.

The advisory prompted the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to issue a countywide warning Sunday urging residents — particularly older adults, young children, pregnant people and those without air conditioning — to take precautions against heat-related illness this week.

The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles/Oxnard office forecasts a sunny high near 90 for Pasadena on Tuesday, a sunny high near 92 on Wednesday, and a mostly sunny high near 92 on Thursday, with overnight lows around 63.

The advisory covers interior valleys and mountains across Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties,

Monday, July 6, 2026

LA County Seeks Contractors to Water 1,100 Newly Planted Trees in Unincorporated Communities

A request for proposals covers unincorporated communities, including Altadena, as part of the county’s broader tree-canopy initiative

Los Angeles County is looking for a contractor to keep 1,100 newly planted trees alive across its unincorporated communities, under a request for proposals the county’s Department of Economic Opportunity released June 4.

The solicitation is part of the county’s Community Forest Management Plan, an effort the county says advances climate resilience and equitable investment in historically underserved communities — a designation that includes Eaton Fire-devastated Altadena.

Community and nonprofit estimates suggest Altadena lost roughly two-thirds of its tree canopy in the fire and subsequent recovery work, though the county has not as yet published a confirmed loss figure.

Proposals are due July 6 at noon. The county expects the resulting contract to run from October 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028.

To qualify, contractors need at least three years of experience providing comparable tree-watering services within the last five years,

Monday, July 6, 2026

County to Begin Hauling Fire Sediment From Eaton Wash Reservoir in July

Trucks will run through November as crews clear debris left by the Eaton Fire from the Altadena-Pasadena border reservoir

Los Angeles County Public Works will begin hauling fire-related sediment out of Eaton Wash Reservoir in late July, with truck operations continuing through Nov. 15, according to the department’s page for the Eaton Wash Dam Post-Fire Emergency Project. The department’s materials list differing start dates — July 27 and July 29 — for the hauling phase.

The work targets soil and debris that has washed into the reservoir since the Eaton Fire burned the watershed above it.

With less vegetation left on the burned hillsides to hold soil in place, storms have continued carrying sediment into the reservoir, according to Public Works. Clearing it out restores the space needed to capture and slow stormwater, reducing flood risk for communities downstream.

Staging and hauling preparations are set to begin this month. Once hauling starts, trucks will run Monday through Friday from 7 a.m.

Monday, July 6, 2026

County Webinar Walks Eaton Fire Survivors Through Tax Relief Options

Free session Friday covers casualty-loss deductions and disaster aid for low-income taxpayers

The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs will host a free webinar Friday explaining federal and state tax relief available to survivors of last year’s wildfires, according to the county’s event announcement.

The hour-long session, set for noon to 1 p.m. July 10, will be presented by Deanna S. Newton, managing attorney of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic at the Koreatown Youth and Community Center. The clinic represents low-income taxpayers in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service, including audits, appeals and collections matters, and in some cases handles state tax issues as well.

Registration for the webinar is being collected through a form titled “Altadena LITC Registration/Survey,” which asks attendees whether they were affected by the 2025 wildfires — a reference to the Eaton Fire, which destroyed thousands of structures in Altadena in January 2025.

According to the announcement, the webinar will cover four main topics: federal and state disaster tax rules,

Monday, July 6, 2026

FEMA Pushes Back Housing Aid Deadline for Eaton Fire Survivors to 2027

Homeowners get another year of rental assistance; renters get three more months, after monthslong pressure from state officials

Homeowners displaced by last year’s Eaton Fire will now have until July 9, 2027, to keep receiving federal rental assistance, after the Federal Emergency Management Agency extended a deadline that had been set to expire this Thursday.

FEMA approved the extension June 24, according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, following requests from the governor, California’s congressional delegation and local officials who argued that many fire survivors still face obstacles beyond their control. Eligible renters received a shorter extension, through October 9, 2026.

The change affects households working through FEMA’s Continued Temporary Housing Assistance program, which had covered rent and utility costs for people whose homes were destroyed or made unsafe by the January 2025 wildfires. The Eaton Fire alone destroyed more than 9,000 structures in Altadena. Under the prior timeline, that housing aid was set to run out 18 months after the disaster was declared — July 9,

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Area Under Air Quality Alert Sunday as Fireworks Smoke Raises Health Risk

The National Weather Service has issued an air quality alert for Pasadena and the rest of the San Gabriel Valley, warning of harmful fine particle pollution from fireworks that is expected to last until 3 p.m. Sunday, July 5.

The alert, based on a South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) advisory, covers most of Los Angeles County.

Particle pollution levels can vary by time and location depending on emissions and local weather conditions, meaning some areas of Pasadena and surrounding communities could see worse air quality than others during the alert period.

Fine particle pollution can get deep into the lungs and cause serious health problems, including heart attacks, bronchitis, asthma attacks and difficulty breathing, the alert states.

Health officials say everyone can be affected, but sensitive groups face greater risk. Those groups include people with lung or heart disease, older adults, people who are pregnant, children and anyone who spends significant time outdoors.

The AQMD outlined precautionary guidance based on the Air Quality Index (AQI),

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Eaton Fire Survivors Who Maxed Out FEMA Aid May Qualify for a State Grant of Up to $10,000

Altadena residents who exhausted their federal disaster aid after the Eaton Fire may be eligible for an additional state grant of up to $10,000, the Altadena Chamber of Commerce said Friday, July 3.

The money comes through California’s State Supplemental Grant Program, a state-funded program administered by the California Department of Social Services that helps disaster survivors who have received the maximum grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Individuals and Households Program but still have unmet, disaster-related losses.

There is no separate application. Once a household reaches the FEMA maximum, FEMA automatically forwards the case to the state program, which bases its award on the same FEMA inspection. The grant does not have to be repaid and is considered assistance of last resort, meaning it will not duplicate other aid.

While the program’s ceiling is $10,000, most awards are considerably smaller — historically between $200 and $2,000, according to the state. The funds are restricted to specific disaster-related needs such as rental assistance,

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Judge Shoots Down Trump’s Homeless Funding Shift: ‘The Hallmark of Unreasoned Decision Making’

By Marisa Kendall, CALMATTERS

California scored another win against the Trump administration in their battle over how to address the homelessness crisis here and nationwide.

A federal judge this week shot down the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2025 attempt to divert money away from permanent housing and instead fund temporary shelters and programs that require sobriety. But the judge stopped short of banning the Trump administration from making such changes in the future.

“The federal court’s decision to reject the Trump-Vance Administration’s attempt to disrupt essential housing services for people experiencing homelessness, including families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities, is both appropriate and just,” Renee Willis, chief executive of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, wrote in a news release.

In November, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said jurisdictions applying for about $4 billion in federal Continuum of Care funding can’t spend more than 30% of it on permanent housing – a move that would result in a significant cut to the type of long-term housing that for years has been a cornerstone of the fight against homelessness.

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Public Can Weigh In July 8 on L.A. County’s Measure G Government Overhaul

Los Angeles County residents will have another chance on Wednesday, July 8 to weigh in on the biggest restructuring of county government in more than a century, when the panel overseeing those changes holds a public meeting in San Fernando.

The Governance Reform Task Force will meet at 5 p.m. at the San Fernando Recreational Park and Aquatic Center, 300 Park Avenue, with public comment accepted in person and online, the Altadena Chamber of Commerce announced.

The 13-member Task Force advisory body has been deliberately holding meetings around the county — its last session, on June 24, was at the Altadena Community Center — to reach residents far from downtown Los Angeles.

The task force advises the Board of Supervisors on carrying out Measure G, the charter amendment county voters approved in November 2024. It is the first major change to the county’s governing charter since 1912, when the county’s population was roughly 500,000; today it is close to 10 million, spread across the most populous county in the nation.