Editorial: Pension reform deserves public debate

Democracy only works from the bottom up. Unfortunately, there was a breakdown in this most basic of democratic principles at last week's City Council candidate forum.

Exercise your right to vote

Eyes from around the globe will be watching the United States on Tuesday as Americans select their next president. This exercise of popular power is the envy of the world, and we encourage all registered voters to take advantage of the opportunity.

All hail the Rose queen, princesses, volunteers

Like an Olympic skier starting down the slopes, Pasadena 17-year-old Vanessa Manjarrez has just begun the most exhilarating ride of her life.

Editor's Note: Upcoming changes

Beginning next month, the Glendale News-Press, Burbank Leader, La Cañada Valley Sun and Pasadena Sun will be undergoing some changes. Here's a preview of what to expect.

Cast your vote, have your say

It might not look like it locally, but the Nov. 6 election really is important.

Coppedge verdict lost in space

Justice delayed is justice denied, goes the old saying, and a rover could just about reach from the United States to Mars in the time a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has been mulling the evidence in the case of a JPL worker who accused the La Cañada Flintridge lab of religious intolerance.

Putting schools to the test

We all have a lot invested in La Cañada schools — students and parents, certainly, but also alumni, law enforcement officers, real estate agents and the city as a whole. That's why it's refreshing to see the La Cañada Unified School District take on the challenge of seeking...

Edison could use more days like this

Rare is the day that Southern California Edison gets high praise in La Cañada Flintridge. It is more common to hear residents and civic officials grumble about occasional power outages and an unresponsive bureaucracy.

The summer of the bear

The steady drumbeat of bear sightings in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains reached a crescendo last week, with two unusual incidents punctuating a season full of bear activity.

Chance for Caltrans to gain some respect

Caltrans has seven fewer reasons to hold on to homes it has mismanaged for years, now that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency has eliminated seven routes from its proposed fix for the so-called 710 gap.

Caltrans should get out of the landlord business

Transportation planners were involved in a multiple-car pileup last week and it remains to be seen if they will be able to repair the damage.

Gifts for future La Cañadans

The La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce’s plan to plant a time capsule in Memorial Park to commemorate the chamber’s 100th year is a fine one. Chamber officials said last week that the capsule will include a chamber business directory and photos of town, which we trust will...

Diagnosing Verdugo's merger talks

In June, Verdugo Hills Hospital’s board of directors voted to begin merger talks with USC’s Keck Medical Center. On Tuesday, they decided to make this decision public — a delay that hints at a disconnect the board and its administration seem to have with the public they serve.

We don't need any more bear visitors

What is La Cañada Flintridge, chopped liver?

A sense of place on Foothill

La Cañada Flintridge civic and business leaders have made it clear that they want a more walkable shopping district, which is something of a challenge when your commercial zone is in truth a single bustling boulevard.

They're signs of the times, not doom

All over Southern California, schools have installed electronic signboards where their stale old signs used to be.

Mountains will recover on their own terms

Nobody moved to La Cañada Flintridge to live with concrete barriers lining their streets as though the family had chosen to bivouac at the edge of a battleground.

Community support of schools is top-notch

La Cañada Flintridge's commitment to public schools is on display today, and it reflects well on the whole city.

Focus is on November

With the foregone conclusion now behind us in the 43rd Assembly District race, we now look ahead to the November general election — giving incumbent Democrat Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) and his Republican challenger, Glendale Unified school board member Greg Krikorian, less than five months...

Vote even when it seems academic

The June 5 primary is, admittedly, a mostly academic exercise: The two top vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the November ballot.

The road to forest recovery

Rangers who work in the Angeles National Forest and the volunteers who support them deserve a tip of the hat for opening a huge swath of forest this weekend, less than three years after the Station fire ravaged the front range of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Steady as she goes in La Cañada

While some California cities are on the brink of bankruptcy, La Cañada Flintridge has roughly $15 million — nearly one-and-a-half times it annual budget — in its reserve fund.

Thanks for the 'linear parks'

Recently the La Cañada Flintridge Trails Council earned recognition for completing a 12-mile loop of trails around the city. It is nice to see the volunteers rewarded for their arduous, decades-long effort.

Country, Cañada and Callas

It's beautiful when a handful of people can hatch an idea that benefits others they may never meet. Last week's charity concert by the Texas Tenors is an example of how people of La Cañada Flintridge can put their neighbors first while having a good time.

A winning strategy at Flintridge Prep

In an era of volatile financial markets and catastrophic shifts in the fortunes of some industries and even nations, at least one group of financial managers has kept a steady hand on the till: seniors at Flintridge Preparatory School's investments class, taught by Assistant Headmaster Peter...

Editor's note: Changes at the Valley Sun

As of April 1, readers of the La Cañada Valley Sun will begin receiving a second edition of the paper. You asked, and we listened: Locals want more La Cañada news in the Sunday paper, not just Thursday. Starting next month, you'll get it, with more city-specific coverage in both...

Schools must keep eyes open

The Gabrielle Leko controversy has come to a close, and not a moment too soon for the La Cañada Unified School District. Leko, a math teacher with more than two decades of experience in La Cañada, was found to have crossed a line by calling a geometry student “Jew boy”...