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| Altadena child care is rebuilding after the L.A. fires, but road ahead remains rocky - Los Angeles Times | | It took nearly a year, but the families of B’nai Simcha Jewish Community Preschool have found a permanent campus in Pasadena after the Eaton fire destroyed their site, a rebirth that has given hope to the battered child-care industry in the region.
Their move represents both the struggles of child-care providers and the strong support that has converged in Altadena and Pasadena to help them with fire-related needs in a way that offers solutions to strengthen the industry.
“That we were able to find a spot so close to where we were and that this building is in use as a day care again — that feels really good,” said Carina Hu, director of the center, now located in a shuttered child-care facility on Garfield Avenue.
Child care in Altadena has been turned on its head since the Eaton fire: 56% of Altadena’s 50 child-care homes and centers were damaged or destroyed, affecting more than 1,000 child-care spaces for children. The fire hit as the already fragile industry was trying to stabilize amid a string of difficult changes: The COVID-19 pandemic increased costs of providing services and worsened staff shortages. Then the state’s rollout of public school transitional kindergarten made enrolling 4-year-olds more difficult. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-24 | | | | 464,000 criminal case results from LA County weren’t reported to state Department of Justice – Daily News | | Citing technical shortcomings in a decades-old case-management system, Los Angeles Superior Court officials said on Tuesday the results of roughly 464,000 criminal cases dating back to the 1980s were never reported to the state Department of Justice, affecting the official criminal records of more than 400,000 people.
According to the court, the backlog was discovered last year during a technology-modernization project that began roughly a decade ago to replace the court’s Trial Court Information System, which was originally installed in the 1980s. Court officials said “a lack of technical programming” in the TCIS system left court staff unaware of thousands of “arrest disposition reports” that were never reported to the state Department of Justice. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-24 | | | | Pets needed help during L.A. fires. A new bill aims to assist - Los Angeles Times | | As the Eaton fire consumed an Altadena street, one family loaded their furry loved ones into a truck to evacuate — including Canelo, a dog with white-and-caramel fur.
Then, about three or four houses down, propane tanks exploded. Spooked, Canelo broke out of his collar and ran toward the fire. His humans searched for him as the blaze raged, but came up empty.
The ordeal was all-too-common during the deadly, destructive firestorms that seared Los Angeles County a little more than a year ago. As the disaster unfolded, many families frantically tried to find their pets, or put off evacuating because they didn’t want to leave them behind. Hundreds of animals were ultimately killed, injured or displaced.
Now, a new federal bill with bipartisan support has been introduced to beef up emergency preparedness for pets in the event of natural disasters like wildfires or hurricanes. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-24 | | | | California Opens Third Round of $150,000 Down Payment Program – Pasadena Now | | California’s Dream For All program began accepting applications Tuesday for its third round, offering first-generation homebuyers up to $150,000 in down payment assistance through a statewide lottery. [Article] | | by , . 2026-02-24 | | | | Immigration enforcement opens way for criminal defendants to avoid justice - Los Angeles Times | | Guillermo Zambrano faced at least 10 years in federal prison if convicted of working with Sinaloa cartel associates — but then ICE sought to deport him last June. Now he faces none.
Zambrano, a Venezuelan citizen in the midst of political asylum proceedings in the U.S., pleaded not guilty to charges of helping conceal drug-trafficking proceeds. For 17 months, he remained free on a $60,000 bond with an ankle monitor while awaiting trial in the Central District of California.
But amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown last summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers came to Zambrano’s home, removed his ankle monitor and took him into custody. The move surprised everyone, including prosecutors. If convicted, Zambrano would have faced deportation after serving a prison sentence.
When ICE didn’t release Zambrano from custody this month, U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee dismissed the criminal indictment with prejudice, barring the government from refiling the same charges. Gee cited “an ongoing violation of Zambrano’s right to pretrial release.”
The dismissal underscores how the administration’s aggressive deportation push has begun to collide with federal prosecutions and exposes a clash of priorities between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. In recent months, immigration authorities have taken undocumented defendants into custody, and in at least one case deported the accused, while criminal proceedings were underway. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-24 | | | | Split emotions on the economy aren’t just a California thing – Daily News | | California consumers remain deeply concerned about their economic future but feel somewhat satisfied with current business conditions.
My trusty spreadsheet’s review of the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for February showed a slight decline in Golden State optimism from revised January figures. The index, based on consumer surveys, dates to 2007. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-24 | | | | Altadena Gets Its First Comprehensive Historic Survey, Spurred by Eaton Fire Losses – Pasadena Now | | The Los Angeles Conservancy will hold its first public meeting Saturday for a project that has never been done before in Altadena: a comprehensive survey of the community’s historic places, from landmark buildings to the oral histories and cultural traditions that no map has ever recorded. [Article] | | by , . 2026-02-24 | | | | Monument considered for ‘unsung heroes’ of Eureka’s Red Light District | | Humboldt County has a long history of a lucrative sex industry.
In fact, during a presentation on the “Brothels of Humboldt County” on Sunday at the Fortuna Veterans Memorial Building, historian Lynette Mullen said the women historically helped fund quite a bit of Eureka’s infrastructure.
In the early 1900s, as Eureka struggled to balance its budget, it turned to essentially taxing local sex workers.
“The balance in Eureka, all the cash they had on hand in 1903, was $1,156. And in 1903, the ladies brought in $840,” Mullen said. “… In 1909, there was so much money brought in that (the table) literally (overflowed); it filled the table — coins, paper money. There was an officer literally standing there to guard the money. … That’s how much these women were bringing in.
She said city leaders thought of it in terms of how much could be purchased for paving local streets.
“These women helped to build infrastructure.”
As a result, Mullen said she is working with the city to create a potential monument to the women who helped to build Eureka.
“I’m actually working with the Eureka mayor to establish a monument, a physical monument, recognizing these women, their place in the community and their contributions,” Mullen told the crowd Sunday.
Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel confirmed the effort on Tuesday.
“Yes, we are working on a monument for the women of the Red Light District,” she told the Times-Standard, noting she is “super excited about the project!” [Article] | | by , Eureka Times-Standard. 2026-02-24 | | | | Has Los Angeles County homebuying crashed again? – Daily News | | What’s the difference between the homebuying tumble of the past three years in Los Angeles County and the Great Recession’s infamous crash?
My trusty spreadsheet looked for clues in 21 years of sales stats from Attom tracking closed deals for houses and condos, existing and newly constructed. The deep reluctance of house hunters to buy in 2023 and 2025 was compared to the ugliness of the 2007-2009 debacle.
Consider how far sales have fallen recently.
Los Angeles County had 182,245 sales in 2023 through 2025 vs. 237,232 in 2007-2009. So, local homebuying was 23% slower over the past three years than during housing’s nightmare period. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-24 | | | | California woman whose parents were deported to attend Trump’s State of the Union - Los Angeles Times | | Among the guests attending President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening will be 28-year-old Stephanie Quintino, whose parents were deported to Colombia a year ago.
The mixed-status family was among the first to be impacted by Trump’s mass deportation agenda that expanded to detain and deport immigrants living legally and illegally in the country, and in some cases American citizens.
U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano), whose district includes parts of Orange and San Diego counties, said he invited Quintino while contemplating the administration’s immigration policies that he views as being cruel and inhumane toward immigrants who have contributed positively to the economy and society.
“I think the first family that I heard about where I recognized the cruelty and the inhumanity of it all was the Gonzalez family,” he said, referring to Quintino’s parents.
Levin said having Quintino present at the State of the Union is a way to put a face to the cruelty of the Trump administration’s deportation policies, which have torn many families apart.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Levin said he was appreciative that Quintino accepted the invitation and that she has advocated for the Dignity Act, a bipartisan proposal to reform the U.S. immigration system. The act would secure the border and provide a seven-year program for legal status without amnesty and mandate restitution payments, background checks and work authorization for people who have been in the U.S. long-term without documentation. Levin helped reintroduce the bill.
Quintino said it was important to represent her parents and other immigrant families who came to the country seeking a better life for their families and children.
“I’m really happy that I get to represent that and just be a voice for so many people who don’t have this type of opportunity,” she said. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-24 | | | | East LA has no mayor. What it means to be unincorporated | | East Los Angeles is home to nearly 119,000 residents, but the community has no mayor or city hall. [Article] | | by , . 2026-02-24 | | | | Autism training for law enforcement aims to prevent tragic outcomes - Los Angeles Times | | Kate Movius moved among a roomful of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, passing out a pop trivia quiz and paper prism glasses.
She told them to put on the vision-distorting glasses, and to write with their nondominant hand. As they filled out the tests, Movius moved about the City of Industry classroom pounding abruptly on tables. Then came the cowbell. An aide flashed the overhead lights on and off at random. The goal was to help the deputies understand the feeling of sensory overwhelm, which many autistic people experience when incoming stimulation exceeds their capacity to process.
“So what can you do to assist somebody, or de-escalate somebody, or get information from someone who suffers from a sensory disorder?” Movius asked the rattled crowd afterward. “We can minimize sensory input. ... That might be the difference between them being able to stay calm and them taking off.”
Movius, founder of the consultancy Autism Interaction Solutions, is one of a growing number of people around the U.S. working to teach law enforcement agencies to recognize autistic behaviors and ensure that encounters between neurodevelopmentally disabled people and law enforcement end safely.
She and City of Industry Mayor Cory Moss later passed out bags filled with tools donated by the city to aid interactions: a pair of noise-damping headphones to decrease auditory input, a whiteboard, a set of communication cards with words and images to point to, fidget toys to calm and distract.
“The thing about autistic behavior when it comes to law enforcement is a lot of it may look suspicious, and a lot of it may feel very disrespectful,” said Movius, who is also the parent of an autistic 25-year-old man. Responding officers, she said, “are not coming in thinking, ‘Could this be a developmentally disabled person?’ I would love for them to have that in the back of their minds.” [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-24 | | | | Fire survivors paying exorbitant rents fall deeper into debt, as LA County price-gouging law is extended – Daily News | | About 70% of the fire survivors in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas are unable to move back into their homes, leaving them paying high rents on temporary housing for more than a year, which has tapped out their savings and placed about half into serious debt.
A report released on Tuesday, Feb. 24, from Los Angeles County’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs found 50% of fire survivors were more than $300,000 in debt. Also, 48% have depleted “a significant portion of their savings,” the report stated. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-24 | | | | With midterm elections looming, California lawmakers focus on protecting polling sites from immigration enforcement – Daily News | | In an election year with the Trump administration’s widespread crackdown on immigration enforcement in the backdrop, a pair of California lawmakers are looking to shore up protections for voters.
That’s the idea, at least, behind a new package of bills from Sens. Tom Umberg and Sabrina Cervantes, both Democrats, that would increase the number of vote centers counties would provide for elections, starting with the general election this fall, and the length of time they’d be available to voters. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-24 | | | | How one Long Beach resident’s $2,200 medical bill got erased | LAist | | Medical debt affects 1 in 9 Los Angeles County residents — almost a million people — according to the county health department. It’s a financial burden Long Beach resident Alexy Cordova learned about at a young age. [Article] | | by , . 2026-02-24 | | | | Trump's plan for rising energy costs: pump oil, make data centers pay - Los Angeles Times | | Energy affordability was in the spotlight during President Trump’s lengthy and at times rambling State of the Union address Tuesday evening as the president promised to bring down electricity prices in an effort to assuage voter concerns about rising costs.
The president announced a new “ratepayer protection pledge” to shield residents from higher electricity costs in areas where energy-thirsty artificial intelligence data centers are being built. Trump said major tech companies will “have the obligation to provide for their own power needs” under the plan, though the details of what the pledge actually entails remain vague.
“We have an old grid — it could never handle the kind of numbers, the amount of electricity that’s needed, so I am telling them they can build their own plant,” the president said. “They’re going to produce their own electricity ... while at the same time, lowering prices of electricity for you.”
The announcement comes as polling shows Americans are dissatisfied with the economy and concerned about the cost of living. Experts on both sides of the political spectrum have said the energy affordability issue could translate to poor outcomes for Republicans in the midterm elections this November, as it did in a few key races in New Jersey, Virginia and Georgia last year.
While Trump has focused on ramping up domestic production of oil, gas and coal, residential electric bills have been soaring — jumping from 15.9 cents per kilowatt-hour in January 2025 on average to 17.2 cents at the end of December, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-24 | | | | Editorial: State preschool plan is ruining the daycare market – Daily News | | One of Gavin Newsom’s most highly touted accomplishments was to provide $2.7 billion in state funding to create free universal transitional kindergarten for every 4-year-old, It was one of his core campaign promises. He signed the law in 2021, but the program became fully operational in January after a five-year rollout. These children “can start their schooling on the right track, setting them up for success further down the road,” Newsom proclaimed. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-24 | | | | Newsom and Trump have vowed to crack down on corporate home buying. A new bill aims to curb it - Los Angeles Times | | In a rare moment of political alignment last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Trump vowed to crack down on corporate home buying. Now, a new bill aims to make it a reality.
Assembly Bill 1611, introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) in January, would eliminate a “tax loophole” that Haney says corporate landlords and investment firms use to buy up single-family homes across the state.
“It’s shocking to me that by design, our tax system lets large firms take advantage of tax breaks in order to outbid California families when buying homes,” Haney said. “They’re able to use a tax loophole to give themselves an upper hand.”
The so-called loophole takes the form of a 1031 exchange — a tax-filing strategy that allows real estate owners to defer capital gains taxes when they sell an investment property, such as a single-family home, as long as they buy a similar “like-kind” property within 180 days. Essentially, it allows investors to replace one investment property with another, avoiding taxes in the process.
The bill would ban companies that own at least 50 single-family homes from taking advantage of the tax break. It would apply to sales completed after Jan. 1, 2026.
California has the second-lowest homeownership rate in the country at 56%, and Haney said corporations shouldn’t be shirking real estate taxes in the midst of a housing crisis. The California Department of Finance estimated that during the current fiscal year, the state lost $1.2 billion in revenue due to like-kind exchanges.
Lenny Goldberg, the policy director for the California Tax Reform Assn., worked with Haney to develop the bill. He said he has viewed like-kind exchanges as a rip-off for years, but it’s an ongoing issue with a powerful lobby behind it.
“They’re called like-kind exchanges, but they’re not actually like-kind,” he said. “You can exchange an office building for a hotel, or an apartment building for a single-family home.”
He added that corporate investors aren’t buying up high-end neighborhoods; it’s mostly working-class or middle-class areas, where the affordability crisis is more acute. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-24 | | | | California invested billions into a new grade for 4-year-olds — without a plan to evaluate it | LAist | | In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers set out a plan to create the largest universal preschool program in the country for 4-year-olds, through a massive ramp-up of an elementary grade known as transitional kindergarten, or TK. [Article] | | by , . 2026-02-24 | | | | At San Quentin, Newsom shows off the anti-Trump model of public safety - Los Angeles Times | | A strange quirk at San Quentin state prison is that most of those incarcerated behind its towering walls are unable to see the San Francisco Bay that literally laps at the shore a few yards away.
That changed recently with the completion of new buildings — holding among other accouterments a self-serve kitchen, a library, a cafe and a film studio — and third-floor classrooms that look out over that beautiful blue expanse, long a symbol of freedom and possibility.
In the new San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, along with learning job skills and earning degrees, incarcerated men can do their own laundry, make their own meals, and interact with guards as mentors and colleagues of sorts, once a taboo kind of relationship in the us-and-them world of incarceration.
“You want to clothes wash? You wash them,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, debuting the new facilities, including laundry machines, for reporters last week. “You want to get something to eat. You can do it, whenever.”
“All of a sudden, it’s like you’re starting to make decisions for yourself,” he said. “It’s called life.”
Listen closely, and one can almost hear President Trump’s brain exploding with glee and outrage as his favorite Democratic foil seemingly coddles criminals. A cafe? C’mon. Bring on the midterms! [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-24 | | |
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