Montrose Search and Rescue – When Hikers Bit Off More Than They Could Chew It’s a common mistake. Hikers read about a particular hike, check their maps (“It looks pretty easy!”), and head out for what they estimate will be a “day trip.” But they’re halfway through the hike and it’s getting dark and cold. […]
The Mountain Lion of the Verdugo Mountains Mountain lions commonly come down from the San Gabriel Mountains to feast on the deer that eat our roses and to pick off the occasional unlucky dog. But allow me to introduce P-41, our very own mountain lion of the Verdugo Mountains. P-41 is special. He’s part of […]
Thanks to everyone who joined us on June 22 to hear from Glendale City Councilmember Vrej Agajanian. We appreciate his sharing information about his background and vision for Glendale. Residents let him know about their concerns, starting with Glendale changing the recycling policy to no longer accept Styrofoam even if it is clean, single-use plastic […]
The War of the Black Widow Spiders Our valley has a near-perfect climate and, as such, attracts newcomers from all over the world. Besides the human newcomers, foreign plant and animal life also do well here, so-called “invasive species.” In past columns, I’ve described several local “wars” involving the displacement of native species by non-native […]
On May 16, a group of peaceful protestors gathered at a public park outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence in Northwest Washington, D.C. They came to exercise their First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution and to make it clear that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s brutal crackdown on political opposition, free speech and free media […]
A Description of Crescenta-Cañada Valley in 1883 We get an early description of La Cañada in an 1883 publication “A Southern California Paradise.” It should be noted La Cañada in that era was the entire Crescenta-Cañada Valley from Tujunga to Altadena. The writer was the Rev. R.W.C. Farnsworth, one of the original members of the […]
Why Medicaid Must Be Saved As the landscape of healthcare reform shifts rapidly, it’s clear the federal Medicaid program – the nation’s largest insurer of children – is in jeopardy. Over the next two weeks, the United State Senate will debate a version of the American Health Care Act, which drastically endangers the care of […]
Happy Birthday, America – Land of the Free and Home of the Very Brave We’re back with our second year at Crescenta Valley High School with a spectacular July 4th fireworks show for the community! Being an all-volunteer organization, we want to keep this family event affordable and thank the many people in our community, […]
Crescenta Valley’s Very Own Indian Swami For the last few weeks I’ve been relating a small sample of the thousands of thrilling stories of the Montrose Search and Rescue team. I’ll take a break from those tales, and return to them later. Not many people know that La Crescenta had its very own Swami, Swami […]
Reaching Across the Aisle in Sacramento For many of you – of the words you would ascribe to Sacramento, “bipartisan” probably is not one. Out of the 80 members of the Assembly, 55 are Democrats and 25 are Republicans. Within those ranks, you have every shade of blue and red running from the most progressive […]