Free Republic

If the economy is doing just fine, then why is homelessness at levels not seen “since the Great Depression” in major cities all over the country? If the U.S. economy was actually in good shape, we would expect that the number of people that are homeless would be going down or at least stabilizing. Instead, we have a growing national crisis on our hands. In fact, within the past two years “at least 10 cities or municipal regions in California, Oregon and Washington” have declared a state of emergency because the number of homeless is growing so rapidly. Things are...

PASADENA >> What began as an investigation into public urination at a Pasadena Gold Line station on Wednesday led deputies to seize two guns, high-capacity magazines, suppressors and a machete from the suspect’s duffel bag, authorities said. Deputies first approached a man about 9 a.m. after spotting a man relieving himself in a planter along the sidewalk outside the Sierra Madre Villa Gold Line Station at Madre Street and Foothill Boulevard, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said. The deputies confronted the man about the offense, and the suspect provided them with what turned out to be a false name, according...

A Georgia man caught urinating at a Metro Gold Line station in Pasadena Wednesday was carrying a cache of weapons, including a loaded AR-15-type rifle, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Christopher Goodine, 28, was relieving himself at the Sierra Madre Villa station, deputies said. Besides the rifle, he had a handgun, a machete, a rope, a notebook with odd writing in it, a suppressor and two loaded high-capacity magazines and additional rounds of ammunition inside a duffel bag. Deputies displayed those items during a news conference.

No one was hurt in the blast, which was reported at 6:08 p.m. Thursday at the restaurant at 2 W. Colorado Blvd. ... Witnesses described the suspect as either Hispanic or Middle Eastern, 6 feet tall, with a thin build, a heavy beard, all black clothing and a black beanie. Anyone with information about the explosion or the suspect can call the Pasadena Police Department at (626) 744-4241.

Parishioners at a California Episcopal church will no longer pray by name for the president of the United States over fears the name "Donald Trump" might trigger microaggressions among sanctified snowflakes. Mike Kinman, the rector of All Saints Church in Pasadena, broke the news to the congregation in a blog posting that was filled with all sorts of liturgical lunacy.

Last week I wandered into the Church of Scientology in Pasadena, California, and what happened during my visit made me afraid for the church's members. While shopping along Raymond Avenue in Old Town Pasadena last week, my friend and I stopped into the Church of Scientology to take a free personality test that was advertised on an A-frame chalkboard sign just outside. As a Christian, I wasn’t really searching for guidance or salvation, but I wanted to hear the Church of Scientology’s elevator pitch. I wanted to know what they said to make people fork over massive amounts of money,...

John Ratzenberger played one of America's most beloved sitcom characters, Cliff the Mailman, on "Cheers" for 11 years. Since then, he has become one of the most-employed voices in Pixar movies, with a role in the latest, "Finding Dory." But he's also a longtime Republican activist who will be appearing in four panels at Politicon starting Saturday and running through the weekend in Pasadena, California. LifeZette talked to the actor, 69, about his opinions on the issues involved in two of his four panels at the weekend gathering -- his passion for the Second Amendment ("Tons of Guns") and his...

In an oddly ironic twist, today Donald Trump announced that he has picked as chairman of his newly launched fundraising operation none other than a former employee of the bank he has repeatedly criticized in the past, and which he used as a foil to criticize Ted Cruz: Goldman Sachs. Trump announced that heading up his own personal fundraising operation as national finance chairman will be Steven Mnuchin, a long-time business associate, chairman and CEO of the hedge fund Dune Capital. More importantly, however, he spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs where he was most recently a Partner, having built...

PASADENA >> Pasadena's quirky and eccentric but mostly harmless weirdos flaunted their unconventional talents Sunday as they vied for a chance to rule supreme over the Rose Parade's "twisted sister," the 38th Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade. When the dust had settled, a cohort of drunken but discerning judges selected punk rocker Veronika MeowMeowz to represent the band of unrepentantly outlandish miscreants to the world as Doo Dah Queen.

Georgia health officials on Friday retracted a job offer made to Pasadena's former public health director, who had come under fire for controversial remarks he made on homosexuality and evolution. Dr. Eric Walsh, a Seventh-day Adventist preacher, interviewed for the position about two weeks ago and had received an offer letter with a start date of mid-June. But Walsh never mentioned that he had recently been placed on leave from his job in Pasadena because of controversial sermons he gave on homosexuality and evolution, Georgia officials said. The sermons were discovered during a background check that happens as the last...

On Wednesday L.A. Weekly reached out to the Pasadena-based National Hispanic Media Coalition to see if it wanted to weigh in on the pro golf tour's continued ties to Donald Trump and some of his courses, which include the Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes. NHMC CEO Alex Nogales, who had already played a role in pressuring NBC Universal to sever ties with the mogul over his controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants, responded by threatening to organize a boycott of PGA events if pro golf didn't end its relationship with Trump.

Police in Pasadena, Calif., arrested a Black Lives Matter protester on two outstanding warrants for terrorist threats, assault, trespassing, and petty theft among other alleged crimes. The Pasadena Star-News reports that Jasmine Richards’ arrest emerged out of a protest that took place last week. Richards’ arrest appears to have occurred shortly before a meeting of the Pasadena City Council. The Black Lives Matter chapters in Los Angeles and Pasadena issued a statement claiming the police misused their authority in arresting the 28-year-old protester, who became a member of the organization after visiting Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014. “Since her return...

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — The anticipated blockbuster return of El Niño is looking more like it will be a flop, a climatologist said Monday. Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory say that unless developing weak-to-modest El Niño conditions strengthen, California will continue to stay bone dry. El Niño describes a weather pattern involving a warming of equatorial waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, a condition that is associated with increased rainfall on the west coast of North America. El Niño conditions in 1997 and 1998 doubled rainfall up and down California, Patzert said. “Those very strong El Niños happen every 30...

The city of Pasadena is letting homeless people keep the change. The Los Angeles suburb is turning 14 parking meters into repositories for donations made to nonprofits that serve the homeless, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. Pasadena’s housing director, Bill Huang, says the hope is that people who might be reluctant to hand spare change to a panhandler will be more open to putting it in a meter. […] Some homeless advocates complain the meters aren’t a serious enough effort to help the homeless. They also say that in some cities meters have been used to push panhandlers out...

A new, unprecedented bill passed by California’s State Senate on Thursday will encourage public schools to teach students about the historical significance surrounding Barack Obama’s status as the first African-American president of the United States of America. Assembly Bill 1921 passed with a 30-1 vote, according to the Associated Press. It was introduced by Assemblyman Dan Holden (D-Pasadena). Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) says the bill would require the Instructional Quality Commission (which facilitates much of California’s Common Core framework) to consider teaching students about Obama’s election within the context of past voter discrimination, the AP notes. Sen. Joel Anderson...

A Texas teen is accused of stabbing to death a 16-year-old classmate who was pregnant with his twin babies, police said. But the shocking arrest, at the boy’s Pasadena, Tex. high school, did not happen until two months after the brutal murder, around noon Tuesday, after authorities linked the teen’s DNA to his dead, unborn children. Arrijana Hill, 16, was found by her mother stabbed and strangled to death on March 21 in the family’s home in a gated community in Pearland.

Pasadena city officials placed Public Health Director Eric Walsh on temporary paid administrative leave Thursday after they learned of controversial statements he had made about homosexuality and evolution in online videos and audio clips. In sermons uploaded to various websites, Walsh, a Seventh-day Adventist preacher, calls evolution "a religion created by Satan," compares Disney to a "dark empire" of superstition and witchcraft, and criticizes homosexuality.

<p>Los Angeles gang members have joined the fray in Syria. The gang-bangers are reportedly fighting alongside the regime forces.</p> <p>MEMRI posted the transcript.</p> <p>A video-clip recently posted on the Internet shows two Armenian Power gang members from Los Angeles fighting in Syria. One of them, Wino Ayee Peeyakan, also posted a picture of himself in Hizbullah garb on his Facebook page.</p>

(CNSNews.com) – The two television networks – ABC and NBC – that covered the 2014 Tournament of Roses parade live on Jan. 1 are not saying why the wedding of two men atop the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s float was not part of their programming viewed by more than 60 million people around the world. When CNSNews.com asked whether the wedding was covered and, if not, why not, ABC’s press office said there would be no official statement about the event and cited technical issues. NBC did not respond to the questions. ABC ran a news article about the gay wedding...

Aubrey Loots and Danny Leclair joke that they're getting married New Year's Day in front of 80 million of their closest friends, and the men say they aren't that concerned that a few thousand others may boycott the first gay marriage at the 125-year-old Rose Parade. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses, which puts on the parade, said in a statement that it is proud to have the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's float, adding it clearly represents this year's parade theme, "Dreams Come True." "Like all of our sponsors and float designers, AHF continues to help make the Rose Parade a premier...