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Two days after Governor Gavin Newsom ended California’s COVID-19 state of emergency, the Claremont City Council pulled the plug on a familiar pandemic era sight, giving restaurateurs 14 days to remove outdoor dining “parklets” in the Village.
By a 5-0 vote, the council gave city staff the green light to expand outdoor dining options on public sidewalks and courtyards, but elected not to authorize a permanent parklet program to replace the temporary measure that was enacted at the beginning of the pandemic.
In 1993, Gabby Giffords graduated from Scripps College with a B.A. in sociology and Latin American history. Eighteen years later, she had just begun her third term as an Arizona Congresswoman when on January 8, 2011, while speaking at a “Congress on Your Corner” event in Tucson, she survived a gunshot to the head. Six people were killed and 13 others injured in the mass shooting.
Giffords, who now runs an eponymous gun-safety advocacy group, embarked on a difficult and ongoing road to recovery, captured in the recently released documentary “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down.”
When Michelle Dowd first started writing as a young girl, it was during stolen moments in the margins of a Sears catalog. The only larger book she owned was her childhood Bible, and in her family the catalog was akin to contraband.
She surreptitiously scribbled in its pages — verse-like stories about the man in the moon, curious words from the Old and New Testaments, and lyrical descriptions of her own experience, which she refrained from speaking aloud, lest she be reprimanded for the “sin” of fabrication.
More than 30 years later, this catalog became a valuable resource, helping her to recount the story of a traumatic upbringing she barely survived. On Tuesday, March 7, “Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult,” Dowd’s raw, heart-wrenching, and beautifully crafted memoir, will be released into the world by Algonquin Books.
Claremont was treated to two incredibly rare atmospheric events this past week, as a pair of snowstorms rolled through the region, bringing significant accumulation in the northern areas of the city for the first time since the 1970s, according to longtime residents.
The big storm came through Saturday, February 25, dumping more than eight feet of snow in the highest elevations of Mt. Baldy, and causing nearly everyone in the City of Trees to immediately go outside and document the rare event on social media. On Wednesday, snow flurries were reported as far south as El Roble Intermediate School on Mountain and Harrison avenues, but the event was over in under 20 minutes and melted just as fast.
A special election to fill the now vacant Trustee Area 4 seat on the Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education will go forward.
The Los Angeles Department of Education notified CUSD Superintendent Jim Elsasser Wednesday morning that the petition drive to force the election had 102 valid signatures, three more than the apparent required amount of 99.
The notification also meant Hilary LaConte, who was appointed by to the board of education January 18, was immediately removed, returning it to a four-member body.
Claremont saw more snowfall Wednesday afternoon as a new storm system dropped more of the white stuff on the region hours after a “significant” avalanche closed a section of Mt. Baldy Road.
Mt. Baldy Resort was closed Wednesday after “a significant out of bounds avalanche that covered a section of the ‘Bowling Alley’ section of Mt. Baldy Rd. just before the entrance to the resort at approximately 5:30 a.m. [Wednesday],” according to the resort’s Twitter feed. The resort may be open by Friday, according to the Tweet.
Claremont received another dusting of snow at about 1 p.m. today, adding still more precipitation to a week of very cold, very wet weather. It was the second time in a week Claremont has seen snowfall, which locals have said hasn’t accumulated in the lower elevations of the city since the early 1970s. Today’s snow melted fairly quickly, but stuck around long enough for social media to explode once again with photos and video of the rare event, including this footage shot about 1 p.m. on Padua Avenue.
Eighth-grader Anna Sawhill practices CPR techniques using a plastic dummy designed for the training. COURIER photo/Peter Weinberger
The once-in-a-generation storm that rolled through Southern California Friday and Saturday left up to eight feet of snow in the higher elevations at Mt. Baldy and caused a seemingly citywide social media photo and video dump in Claremont, as the white stuff accumulated in the northern areas of the City of Trees for the first time in decades and residents documented the ultra-rare event. Mt. Baldy Village got about three feet of snow as well, and the Courier took to the skies Sunday to show just how beautiful — and crowded — the road up to the mountain had become.
With access up Baldy Road blocked to vehicles, authorities are asking people to stay away through Sunday. Nevertheless, Baldy Road continued to fill up with people parking on the side of the road. Officials say snow seekers should wait until at least Monday to drive up, weather permitting. More light snow is possible through Wednesday as another storm system is set to make its way through the area. Courier photo/Peter Weinberger
In aerial photos taken Saturday afternoon, looking north directly at Mt. Baldy covered in clouds, high above Baldy Road below, a light coating of snow turns deeper as the elevation increases. Baldy Village received close to three feet of snow, with higher elevations seeing more than six feet.
Courier video by Peter and Matt Weinberger/edited by Matt Weinberger
Well, it happened: snow fell in Claremont Saturday.
Snow began in north Claremont just after 10:30 a.m. and continued for an hour with small accumulations in Padua Hills and other north Claremont neighborhoods. More than two feet of snow has accumulated this morning in Baldy Village at 4,000 feet.
If unofficial reports are accurate, it’s the first time snow has accumulated in Claremont since 1972.
Baldy Road has been blocked by the Claremont Police Department, with no access and no exceptions.