The Pomona Freeway has been mostly open since Saturday afternoon. There are apparently still nightly closures going on as the Paramount bridge is completely demolished. However, it has no effect on rush hour commutes.

Access to the Montebello Mall is still possible from the north, via San Gabriel Blvd, and the south, via Montebello Blvd.

A tanker truck caught fire near the mall, and it stopped under the Paramount overpass. The heat of the fire caused the concrete to explode. The freeway's shut until further notice, and traffic will be diverted one offramp before the Paramount offramp.

If you're still in the dark but have Internet access, you can track the progress on turning the power back on at this web site, which is the
SCE Outage Center webpage.

Short AP blurb on the Tribune website, although it suggests the area under study is a "wilderness."

The National Park Service newsletter describing the draft report is here.

Interesting story in the LA Times, which discusses how Asian Americans might fare under various redistricting proposals.

Assemblyman Ron Calderon, from a family that has occupied elected offices from around Montebello for seemingly ever, announced he's running for Congress in a new, south San Gabriel Valley district that would include Montebello, Whittier, Pico Rivera, Norwalk, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, and Bellflower.

With redistricting shifting district boundaries, Judy Chu has announced she will run for the new West San Gabriel Valley district that will include Rosemead, San Gabriel, Temple City, San Marino, Monterey Park, Arcadia, Sierra Madre, and parts of South Pasadena and Pasadena. It's the most Asian-leaning of the area congressional districts, and would include her home in Monterey Park.

Good job of serious investigative reporting by the Los Angeles Times has produced a chart showing health care costs imposed on taxpayers by elected officials. Their findings show that Rosemead city council members have the most generous health benefits of any of our neighboring cities: