Wednesday, September 2, 2026

LA County Urges Residents to Prepare for El Niño

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Los Angeles County emergency officials Tuesday outlined preparations for what could be an unusually wet El Niño storm season, urging residents to begin preparing for an increased risk of flooding, landslides and debris flows.

County crews are inspecting and maintaining dams, debris basins, channels, storm drains and pump stations while monitoring burn areas, hillsides and other locations considered vulnerable to flooding and debris flows, according to Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office.

Officials are also preparing for possible evacuations, emergency shelter operations and assistance for people experiencing homelessness, older adults and others who may need additional help during severe weather.

“After fires, floods, and landslides, we know exactly what is at stake when heavy rain hits Los Angeles,” Horvath said. “L.A. County crews have been doing the work year-round; now we’re making sure every part of County government is ready to move together when conditions change. The time to prepare is now, and Los Angeles County is here to make sure our communities have the information,

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

County Supervisors to Debut New Public Comment Sign-Up System Tuesday

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meets Tuesday with a new public comment registration system in place, changing how Altadena and Pasadena residents sign up to address the five supervisors who govern unincorporated Altadena.

Altadena has no city council of its own, so the Board decides its fire recovery matters, and two are on Tuesday’s agenda. The county announced the change in a news release Monday, describing a system supported by the vendor PublicInput that replaces call-in access codes with online registration, a text message when an item comes up and a voice announcement of the speaker’s name.

A speaker registers once, whether commenting on one item or several, chooses to appear in person or by phone, selects the items and marks For, Against or Neutral on each. Callers dial in from the number they gave at registration. Speakers appearing in person check in at a kiosk. A caller who is disconnected keeps their place in line, according to the county. Speakers have one minute per item,

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Pasadena Unified Says Longfellow Front-Lawn Trees Must Come Down to Complete Soil Cleanup

Pasadena Unified School District says several mature trees on the front lawn of Longfellow Elementary School will have to be removed to finish clearing lead-contaminated soil, the outcome of the preservation analysis its board ordered in June.

Six mature or protected trees remain on the front lawn, the district said in a written statement.

Contractors and arborists used air knifing, which uses compressed air and vacuum excavation to expose soil and roots, on all six, reaching about six inches deep and in some places as much as a foot. Soil tested at those depths still showed elevated lead, the district said.

District arborists concluded that removing more soil from around the root systems would destabilize structural roots and make tree failure likely, according to the district.

One of the six, identified as Tree 98, was not listed as protected in the tree inventory the district was given; the district said it applied the same preservation standard to that tree as to the others.

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Guest Opinion | Elizabeth Pomeroy: We Need a New “Committee of the Whole”

In its Special Meeting of August 13, the Pasadena Unified School District School Board took two votes: to declare themselves a Committee of the Whole, and to address one topic: transformation of the District. They tabled items that would have approved various points about future school closures.

With these steps they made themselves the group to discuss what transformation would mean, and they are surely keeping alive the topic of closing campuses.

I speak from my experience of 13 years on the Pasadena Unified School District Board, present experience as a Pasadena Unified School District grandparent, and a resident of Pasadena for 50 years. When we speak of transformation, I would like to see a true reset in who is really leading the open exchange of views that shape decision-making.

I propose a new concept of the “Committee of the Whole.” This would include all Pasadena Unified School District families, students, employees, alumni — everyone who has been at the heart of Pasadena Unified School District in some way.

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Pasadena Unified Board Halts Both Monday Meetings After Acknowledging Required Notice Was Never Properly Posted

A formal Brown Act demand, delivered to the clerk during public comment, exposed a missing physical posting. The staff member who posts the agendas told the board she “completely forgot.”

The Pasadena Board of Education shut down both of its special meetings Monday night — one convened to define the district’s “transformation process,” the second set to take up school consolidation — after a speaker’s formal Brown Act demand exposed that the district never posted a required physical notice of the meetings where the public could see it.

The board’s own staff confirmed the failure on the record minutes after the demand letter was handed to the clerk. The board folded both meetings about 45 minutes later.

“We’ve become aware that in preparation for the meeting tonight, the notice and agenda for the meetings were appropriately posted 24 hours before the meetings on the district’s website,” Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco told the board after a recess. “However, it appears the physical copy of the notice was inadvertently not posted at a location that is freely accessible to members of the public.”

“In an effort to ensure compliance with the Brown Act,

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Deadline Today For The Final Bills Newsom Will See As Governor

By Lynn La, CALMATTERS

Today is the practical deadline for the state Legislature to pass bills before adjourning and lawmakers are in the final frenzy to cross the finish line. Many proposals still need to be resolved before they’re sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom. It’s his final year in office and Newsom’s last round of signatures and vetoes will be closely examined as he gears up for a likely White House run.

Here are some highlights:

• Climate fund: Legislators and Newsom haven’t agreed yet on how to spend the state’s main climate fund that comes from its carbon-trading program. Under new rules the Newsom administration adopted this year, money the state uses to finance climate programs could shrink by half, putting dollars for various legislative priorities in jeopardy.

• Monopolies: The Legislature late Sunday passed a contentious bill that would give Californians the ability to sue large companies for using monopolistic practices to stifle competition.

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

New Underground Map of the Los Angeles Region Tracks Seismic Shaking

CALTECH

In computer simulations of The Big One—a large magnitude earthquake that may occur along the San Andreas Fault in California—seismic waves ripple from a magnitude 7.8 epicenter near the Salton Sea up into the Los Angeles Basin. For minutes in this simulation, the ground beneath downtown Los Angeles shakes like Jell-O because the region is built upon a deep basin of soft sediments, which can amplify seismic waves.

The structure and composition of the ground make a large impact on the strength of seismic shaking and whether it is felt as a quick jolt or a long reverberation. To understand and prepare for how a major earthquake will affect different areas of Southern California, a new Caltech study installed hundreds of temporary seismic stations throughout LA County to measure seismic activity and build a map of the shape of the basin below.

The map shows that soft sediments are up to 10 kilometers deep beneath downtown Los Angeles, whereas other regions such as the San Gabriel and San Bernardino valleys sit atop sediments that are much shallower.

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

LA County Sues State Farm Over Eaton and Palisades Fire Claims

Los Angeles County sued State Farm on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging the insurer illegally delayed, underpaid and denied claims filed by policyholders affected by the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires.

The complaint cites policyholders in Altadena, Pasadena and Pacific Palisades. County Counsel brought the case under California’s Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law, seeking restitution, injunctive relief, abatement of what it calls ongoing health hazards from inadequate testing and remediation, and civil penalties of up to $2,500 per violation.

The suit alleges false advertising, unreasonable delays, systematic underpayments, improper reassignment of adjusters, barriers to contacting and communicating with adjusters, refusal to pay additional living expenses, misrepresentations that discouraged claims, and illegal suppression of smoke damage claims.

“Wildfire survivors have already endured unimaginable loss; they should not have to fight their insurance company simply to receive the benefits they paid for and counted on,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose 5th District includes Altadena and Pasadena.

“We are committed to holding State Farm accountable and making sure claimants are treated fairly,”

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

LA County Looks to Crack Down on Scams Targeting Wildfire Victims

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday will consider directing its staff to develop tighter measures to protect Eaton and Palisades fire survivors from contractor scams and other fraud.

“Eighteen months after the Eaton and Palisades Fires, many Altadena and Palisades fire area residents continue the long and difficult process of rebuilding their homes and their lives,” according to a motion by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath, who represent the fire-affected areas. “While survivors have shown extraordinary resilience, the complexity of recovery has also created opportunities for bad actors to exploit vulnerable homeowners through contractor fraud, home repair scams, deceptive business practices, and other predatory conduct.

“As rebuilding activity continues, protecting consumers is essential to ensuring that residents can recover safely and confidently. Wildfire survivors should have access to clear, accurate information about selecting licensed contractors, understanding home improvement contracts, recognizing common scam tactics, and reporting suspected fraud. Although Los Angeles County has existing consumer protection and enforcement resources,

Monday, August 31, 2026

Wildfire Deal With Governor Drops Non-Economic Damage Limits Altadena Eaton Fire Survivors Fought

State lawmakers resisted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to limit non-economic damages for wildfire survivors, a proposal that survivors of the Eaton Fire in Altadena relentlessly campaigned against, under a narrowed wildfire agreement announced Saturday.

The deal, which lawmakers will vote on Tuesday, Sept. 1 in Senate Bill 492, does not include most of the proposals Newsom wanted and does not substantially change how much utilities must pay after fires they cause. Opponents of his original plan included insurance companies, consumer advocates and survivors of the January 2025 Eaton Fire that Los Angeles County said was caused by Southern California Edison equipment that killed 19 people in Altadena.

“The governor was demanding attacks on economic and non-economic damages. Those were fully gone. Attacks on cities, attacks on insurance policy holders, all of those are gone in the new bill. So that is what wildfire survivors want,” said Joy Chen, Executive Director of the Every Fire Survivor’s Network, the nation’s largest survivor recovery hub.

Newsom backed off his proposal to reduce costs for electrical utilities after their equipment sparks wildfires,