Thursday, June 25, 2026

PUSD Trustees to Weigh Rescinding Optimal School Size Resolution, Setting Aug. 13 Study Session

Approval would close out the framework that launched the now-paused consolidation review and start a new ‘District Transformation Process’

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is set to consider a resolution Thursday that would rescind its “Establishing Optimal School Size” resolution and replace it with a “District Transformation Process,” reopening the district’s stalled enrollment-and-facilities review with a study session set for Aug. 13.

Resolution No. 2894 would designate the Aug. 13 study session as the venue to discuss how to move forward.

The resolution directs Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco to bring five items to the August session: a Facilities Master Plan demographer’s presentation on local enrollment context, including birth rates, housing trends, immigration and private and charter school impacts; projected district enrollment for the next five to 10 years, with individual school-site projections where available; updated capacity reports by school site; background data from the 2026 consolidation process; and current staffing levels for each school site.

The board would also discuss scheduling community engagement sessions with community partners to gather community values and vision for the district in the next five to 10 years,

Thursday, June 25, 2026

California’s Housing Market Drifts Into Summer With No Clear Bottom In Sight

By EDDIE RIVERA

Mortgage rates above forecast, affordability at 22 percent, and a federal government consumed by other things

The spring 2026 numbers arrived with a familiar message: not much has changed. 

The statewide median home price hit $914,810 in April, according to the California Association of Realtors, a figure that crossed the organization’s own $905,000 forecast for the full year before summer began. Mortgage rates, which CAR projected would average 6.0 percent in 2026, were 6.55 percent on June 24, according to Mortgage News Daily. Active listings across the state were down slightly in March from the year before, according to CAR. 

The number that explains the rest is affordability. Twenty-two percent of California households earned enough to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home as of the first quarter of 2026, according to CAR. The association had forecast 18 percent for 2026. That level of affordability does not produce a surge in first-time buyers.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Guest Opinion | Kimberly Kenne: Pasadena Unified Needs Spending Plans that the Public Can Understand and Believe

This week, the Pasadena Unified School District will approve its Budget for 26-27 and its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP).  The budget document is over 200 pages, and most of it is difficult to understand.  For instance, what is the line for certificated salaries  and who are the people in that category?  Teachers? Librarians? Counselors? Principals? Central Office Directors?  (The answer is all of the above).  What programs do they support and for which students?  It can be difficult to tell exactly how the over $300 million in the general fund is being used to provide an education to the students of Pasadena Unified.

The LCAP document was intended to be the more user-friendly narrative that describes what activities the budget is funding and why.  It includes metrics showing how students are performing and describes what activities are focused on the most at-risk students.  At almost 170 pages, it is not the most concise of plans but at least there is an attempt to link funding to student needs and the strategies to address those needs.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

USC Study Puts 2026 Dementia Cost at $818 Billion

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Dementia is expected to cost the United States an estimated $818 billion in 2026, with much of the burden falling on people living with the condition and family members who provide their care, according to a USC-led study released Wednesday.

The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, estimated that 5.7 million Americans are living with dementia this year, including 5.1 million people ages 65 and older.

Researchers found that reduced quality of life for people living with dementia represents the largest share of the cost, totaling $320 billion. Unpaid care provided by family members and friends accounts for an additional $237 billion, while medical and long-term care costs total $222 billion.

According to the study, about 5.2 million people provide 6.8 billion hours of unpaid care annually to family members or friends with dementia.

Researchers also estimated that people with dementia and their caregivers forgo a combined $23 billion in annual earnings.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

LA County District Attorney, County Fire Official Issue Illegal Fireworks Warning

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman Wednesday implored residents to leave fireworks displays to professionals and to refrain from shooting off guns to celebrate the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

At a news conference in Leslie N. Shaw Park, not far from the scene of an illegal fireworks tragedy last month, Hochman was joined by officials from the Los Angeles County Fire Department in reminding the public that all fireworks are illegal in the county, and prosecutions will result for anyone caught making, selling, buying or setting off illegal pyrotechnics.

Hochman said July 4 was one of his favorite times of year as a child specifically because of the thrill of seeing and hearing fireworks displays.

“But here’s the problem,” he said. “People are going beyond just enjoying legitimately lit fireworks in public displays. They are going ahead and engaging in illegal fireworks and explosives at a level in this county that is absolutely both unfathomable and incredibly dangerous.”

Thursday, June 25, 2026

FEMA Extends Housing Aid for Eaton, Palisades Fire Survivors

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires will continue receiving federal housing assistance as they rebuild after FEMA approved an extension of disaster aid requested by California officials, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday.

With FEMA’s approval, the Individuals and Households Program housing assistance period for eligible homeowners was extended through July 9, 2027. The agency also approved a three-month extension of assistance for eligible renters through Oct. 9 2026, according to the governor’s office.

State officials said the extension follows months of advocacy by Newsom, members of California’s congressional delegation, local elected officials and community organizations.

According to FEMA, more than 35,000 households had received assistance through the Individuals and Households Program as of June 12, with more than $177 million awarded to eligible survivors.

Federal officials cited ongoing challenges facing survivors, including unresolved insurance claims, underinsurance issues, housing shortages, contractor shortages and rebuilding delays.

“Recovery doesn’t end when the headlines fade,”

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Backpacks and School Supplies to Return to the Rose Bowl for Pasadena and Altadena Families

A third annual giveaway will aid local students, including fire survivors, ahead of the new school year

Thousands of Pasadena and Altadena students will be able to pick up free backpacks and school supplies at the Rose Bowl Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 2, when the third annual Dena Community Backpack Giveaway returns from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The free event, hosted by the Rose Bowl Institute and the Rose Bowl Stadium, will offer backpacks, school supplies, family resources, food, entertainment and youth activities to families across Pasadena, Altadena and surrounding communities, according to a stadium press release. Organizers say the giveaway will support fire survivors as they prepare for the school year.

Four organizations are partnering on the event: Neighborhood Servants, the Pasadena Educational Foundation, Project Passion and Shriners Los Angeles.

At last year’s event, more than 2,500 backpacks filled with school supplies and resources were handed out, the stadium said. Families were welcomed into the stadium’s locker rooms and onto the field,

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Insurance Pays Off as Altadena Water Company Rebuilds Fire-Damaged Reservoir

Rubio Cañon breaks ground on $2 million restoration funded by a statewide safety net it helped create

Nearly 18 months after the Eaton Fire swept through this foothill community, one Altadena water company that kept its systems running during the blaze is putting shovels in the ground to rebuild what the flames took.

Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association, a nonprofit mutual water company that has served Altadena shareholders since 1886, plans to break ground Wednesday on a more than $2 million restoration of the Maiden Lane Reservoir at 2663 Maiden Lane. The reservoir was damaged in the January 2025 fire.

The funding comes largely from insurance proceeds through JPRIMA, a statewide joint powers authority that Rubio Cañon said it helped establish, according to a press statement announcing the ceremony.

The insurance backstory stretches back nearly two decades.

In 2007, the Association of California Water Agencies stopped providing pooled insurance coverage to mutual water companies statewide, according to an AB 656 legislative fact sheet,

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

County Governance Task Force Brings Measure G to Altadena

Residents of the unincorporated community can weigh in Wednesday on reforms that will reshape the only government that directly serves them

The body charged with guiding the implementation of the most sweeping overhaul of Los Angeles County government in more than a century holds a special public meeting Wednesday at the Altadena Community Center — placing its work squarely in front of residents who have no city hall, no mayor and no council of their own.

The 13-member Governance Reform Task Force will convene at 5:00 p.m. at the center, 730 East Altadena Drive, to discuss implementation of Measure G, the charter amendment L.A. County voters narrowly approved in November 2024. The session is open to the public and includes time for community comment, according to the county’s official Measure G website.

Measure G sets in motion a series of structural reforms with milestones extending through the mid-2030s. An independent Ethics Commission and Office of Ethics Compliance must be operational by the end of this year.

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Under a Telescope Dome, a French Cellist Has Helped Build a Concert Series That Sells Itself

By EDDIE RIVERA

Sunday Mt. Wilson Observatory shows are a delicious Pasadena secret

In 2017, Dan Coney, then a trustee at Mount Wilson Observatory, had a little idea. He invited a French cellist named Cécilia Tsan to climb the mountain, stand inside the dome that once housed the most powerful telescope in the world, and play.

He shot the video on his iPhone. They posted it to social media. Within a week it had 12,000 views.

“And I said, ‘Okay, let’s try to launch a series,’” Tsan recalled in a recent interview.

Nearly a decade later, the Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome has become one of the more unlikely success stories in Southern California classical music. No advertising budget. No corporate sponsor. Sold out for two consecutive seasons. Tsan, who now serves as the series’ artistic director, programs each season and performs in select concerts herself.

The dome in question sheltered the 100-inch Hooker Telescope,