Saturday, September 26, 2026

Caltech Welcomes New Students With a Lesson in Ignition

By EDDIE RIVERA

At the Institute’s annual Convocation, President Ray Jayawardhana and fusion scientist Tammy Ma urged incoming students to embrace difficult problems, failure and the power of working together

Hundreds of new Caltech students streamed across Beckman Mall Friday morning, passing beneath an arch of orange, white and turquoise balloons before filing into Beckman Auditorium for a formal welcome to one of the world’s most demanding scientific communities.

Waiting inside was something considerably smaller.

Held aloft in a clear cylindrical display was a tiny fusion target — the kind of object that helped scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieve what had eluded researchers for generations: fusion ignition.

“This little target,” Caltech Class of 1985 alumna Tammy Ma told the students, holding it up. “This is what we turn into a star.” It was an apt centerpiece for Caltech’s 2026 Convocation, a ceremony about beginnings, difficult questions and what can happen when very small things are pushed to extraordinary limits.

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Eaton Fire Recovery Nonprofit Stages Free Ashes to Anthems Concert at Pasadena City College Sunday

In Pasadena, the Legacy Land Project closes its Ashes to Anthems weekend with a concert at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, in Sexson Auditorium at Pasadena City College.

The nonprofit, a Black-led organization formed in response to the Eaton Fire, says it works to help families return to and rebuild in Altadena and Pasadena.

Admission is free, but guests must reserve tickets in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ashes-to-anthems-rb-concert-tickets-2000539739213. Sexson Auditorium is in Building C of the Pasadena City College campus at 1570 E. Colorado Blvd.

Performers named by the organizers include BJ the Chicago Kid and Ogi.

“This is our second year doing Ashes to Anthems, and what we saw was collectively a need for us to continue to create joy,” William Syms said in a May interview with Pasadena Now, speaking as the Legacy Land Project’s executive director and board chair. “When you lose your home and your community is devastated, it can’t be forgotten,”

Friday, September 25, 2026

UCLA Study: Eaton Fire Smoke Sent Airborne Lead Soaring

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Smoke from the Eaton Fire sent toxic airborne contaminants soaring downwind, including lead levels up to 250 times above normal, but pollution returned to background levels within roughly six days after the flames were extinguished, according to findings from a UCLA study announced Thursday.

Researchers found highly elevated levels of arsenic, chlorine, bromine and copper during active burning, but no evidence that toxic smoke or heavy metals lingered in the air, with pollution levels remaining normal for months afterward.

“As wildland-urban interface fires like what the LA region experienced in January 2025 become more frequent, this study helps us better understand the immediate risks posed by smoke from these kinds of fires to surrounding communities,” Suzanne Paulson, a UCLA professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and one of the study’s authors, said. “Still, there’s more work to be done to better understand the dynamics of how burning in urban environments versus wildlands affects the makeup of the pollutants in the smoke these fires produce.”

Friday, September 25, 2026

Pasadena Community Foundation Sets Nov. 12 Local Heroes Celebration to Honor Nonprofits, Recognize Donors

The foundation’s 27th annual celebration follows $2 million in Eaton Fire recovery grants to nonprofit partners

The Pasadena Community Foundation announced it will hold its 27th annual Local Heroes celebration Thursday, Nov. 12, at Brookside Golf Club in Pasadena, honoring local people and nonprofits and recognizing donors.

The celebration is the foundation’s yearly showcase for the nonprofits it funds in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. In 2026, the foundation has paired its regular grant programs with $2 million in Eaton Fire recovery grants to nonprofit partners.

The foundation said the 4 to 5:30 p.m. event will include light refreshments and will recognize donors “whose generosity helps create a lasting impact across our community.”

Last year’s celebration drew nearly 250 nonprofit leaders, community partners and donors, according to the foundation.

In May, the foundation announced nearly $600,000 in capital grants to 29 Pasadena-area nonprofits, including $50,000 Capital Campaign Grants to the Sierra Madre Library Foundation and Door of Hope.

Friday, September 25, 2026

Edison Says Its Representatives Will Intensify Outreach at Local Events As November 30 Compensation Program Deadline Nears

Utility reports nearly 4,900 claims as survivors’ advocates dispute its offers and City of Pasadena presses its lawsuit

Southern California Edison said Sept. 24 that it has paid more than $525 million to Eaton Fire claimants and that it will send representatives of its compensation program to local events in Pasadena before the program’s Nov. 30 claim deadline.

SCE team members will be at the State of the Black Community event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at First AME Church, 1700 N. Raymond Ave., in Pasadena. Edison representatives will be at other local events throughout October.

As of Sept. 24, nearly 4,900 claims had been submitted on behalf of more than 14,900 individuals, trusts and legal entities, and nearly 2,800 offers totaling more than $970 million had been extended, the utility said.

Eligible residents and businesses that do not file by Nov. 30 will not learn what the program might pay them,

Friday, September 25, 2026

Pasadena Congresswoman Presses FEMA to Reverse Denial for Fire Survivors’ Case Management

Rep. Judy Chu and three colleagues are urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reverse its denial of $6.57 million for fire survivors’ case management they say will otherwise end Sept. 30. 

The Disaster Case Management Program serves survivors of the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires. Chu, Rep. Brad Sherman and Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla wrote to FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton on Sept. 24. They asked the agency to grant California’s appeal, release money it has already approved and, answer their questions by Sept. 28. 

The program is FEMA-funded and provides case management to survivors with unmet disaster-related needs, according to FEMA. 

Case managers help survivors with insurance, FEMA or Small Business Administration issues, financing, floor plans and contractors, according to Los Angeles County. The program is administered by the state Department of Social Services and delivered by Catholic Charities of California, CORE, the Little Tokyo Service Center and Jewish Family Services LA. 

FEMA approved the program to run for 24 months on May 5,

Friday, September 25, 2026

Altadena Library: Oct. 3 Groundbreaking at Fire-Damaged Charles White Park

Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office said in November 2025 that $10.5 million, including $5 million from The Walt Disney Co., had been secured for the park’s reconstruction

A groundbreaking for Charles White Park, one of the Altadena parks damaged in the Eaton Fire, is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3, according to a community update the Altadena Library District emailed Sept. 23.

The listing sets the event for 10 a.m. to noon at the park, 77 Mountain View St., but does not name an organizer or describe the program. In November 2025, the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said a $5 million contribution from The Walt Disney Co. brought the total secured for the park’s reconstruction to $10.5 million, with groundbreaking planned for spring 2026.

Charles White Park is a five-acre county park between Glenrose and Fair Oaks avenues in unincorporated Altadena. It sits just off Fair Oaks Avenue near the Pasadena-Altadena border, Variety reported.

Disney,

Friday, September 25, 2026

Weekly Altadena Cars and Coffee Meetup Set for Saturday Morning

The gathering, founded by a Pasadena resident after the Eaton Fire, meets from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on East Altadena Drive

Altadena Cars and Coffee, a weekly Saturday morning meetup for car enthusiasts, is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the parking lot at 749 E. Altadena Drive, according to the ColoradoBoulevard.net events calendar.

The group’s Instagram page lists the meetup on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the East Altadena Drive address.

Founder Dave Stone is a Pasadena resident who lives just south of the Altadena border, Pasadena Now reported in March.

Stone started the gathering after walking through Altadena in the days after the Eaton Fire and photographing burned cars, according to Pasadena Now.

“You notice two things: cars and chimneys,” Stone told ABC7 in January.

Stone runs the “Not EV Altadena” Instagram account, where he posts stories about vehicles lost in the fire and their owners and helps families raise money for replacements,

Friday, September 25, 2026

Ashes to Anthems Weekend Ends With Free Concert at Pasadena City College

The Legacy Land Project’s Eaton Fire benefit also includes a Saturday gospel program, but the event website gives no date or venue for it

The Legacy Land Project, an Altadena nonprofit formed in response to the Eaton Fire, will close its Ashes to Anthems weekend with a free R&B concert Sunday, Sept. 27, at 6 p.m. at Pasadena City College’s Sexson Auditorium, according to the event’s Eventbrite listing.

Admission is free, but an RSVP is required, the listing states. The listing names BJ the Chicago Kid and Ogi among the performers as of Sept. 24. The listing describes the concert as the culminating celebration of a weekend of programming.

The event’s website lists a free Saturday gospel program, This is Us: Gospel Celebration, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., which it says will feature gospel artists, food vendors and community resources. The website does not give a date, venue or performer names for the Saturday program as of Sept. 24.

Thursday, September 24, 2026

Insurers Say They’re Starting to Write New California Homeowner Policies, but how Many?

By Levi Sumagaysay, CALMATTERS

Insurance companies are starting to write new policies in California again after years of holding back as wildfire risk climbed higher.

The state Insurance Department says that means outgoing Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s new regulations, intended to boost insurance availability, are working. Each time a company declares its plans to sell policies again, the department touts it as a win. But the state has not released the number of new policies the companies have written so far.

Enter Consumer Watchdog, the advocacy group that often butts heads with the department. It released an estimate of new policy commitments: 12,189 since January 2025, when Lara’s so-called sustainable insurance strategy went into effect. The strategy allows insurers to use catastrophe modeling, which they say more adequately takes risk into account because it includes forward-looking models, and to factor in reinsurance costs when setting their rates.

Consumer Watchdog, whose numbers come from combing through insurance companies’ rate filings, says that number is low,