Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, July 27, 2019

MVNews this week:  Page 3

3

Mountain Views-News Saturday, July 27, 2019 


PHS Wiggle 
Waggle Walk

House Unanimously 
Passes PRIDE Act

Early Bird rate Ends 
Wednesday 

 
The Pasadena Humane 
Society & SPCA’s (PHS) 
biggest, most fur-tastic 
fundraiser is just around 
the corner. That’s right…
our 21st annual Wiggle 
Waggle Walk steps off 
Sunday, September 29th at 
Brookside Park at the Rose 
Bowl!

 Whether or not you have 
a dog, all are welcome to 
wiggle and waggle on a one- 
or three-mile route around 
Pasadena’s iconic Rose 
Bowl stadium. If you’re 
not already registered or 
are just learning about this 
beloved community dog 
walk, now is the time to 
sign up and put your best 
paw forward for the more 
than 11,000 animals PHS 
takes in every year.

 Our goal is to raise 
$225,000 to help provide 
these animals with food, 
shelter, veterinary care, 
and much more… and we 
need your help!

 This event offers a host 
of animal-related vendors, 
demonstrations, a photo 
booth, and food trucks. It’s 
a day of fun for the entire 
family! Day of registration 
opens at 8 a.m. and the walk 
steps off at 9 a.m., but sign 
up at wigglewagglewalk.
org before July 31st to take 
advantage of our Early Bird 
rate of just $25 per person. 

 Sign up as an individual 
or gather together friends, 
family, and coworkers to 
form a team. Create your 
own fundraising page and 
share your story about why 
you’re supporting PHS 
with everyone you know. 
Every dollar you raise 
helps to create a second 
chance for the animals 
and earns you some sweet 
swag. We have prizes that 
range from a cool t-shirt, 
dog leash, PHS socks, 
and on-trend waist pack, 
to a chance to win either 
a ride along with a PHS 
Animal Control Officer or 
a professional photography 
session for you and your 
pet.

 All participants will 
receive a dog bandana 
and participant bib with 
their registration. Fetch 
your friends then visit 
wigglewagglewalk.org to 
register, make a donation, 
and get all the details!

Council Postpones Hearing, Rejects Another

 The House of Representatives 
unanimously approved 
Wednesday of H.R. 3299, 
the Promoting Respect for 
Individuals’ Dignity and 
Equality (PRIDE) Act of 2019, 
introduced by Representatives 
Judy Chu and Andy Levin (MI-
09). The PRIDE Act would 
remove gendered language like 
“husband” and “wife” from the 
tax code to accommodate same 
sex couples. Instead, tax filings 
will use words like “spouse” and 
“married couple.”

 The PRIDE Act also corrects 
the tax code to allow same-sex 
couples who married before 
the Defense of Marriage Act 
(DOMA) was struck down to 
claim the refunds they to which 
they are entitled. For years, 
same-sex couples in states 
that recognized legal marriage 
were wrongfully denied federal 
refunds because DOMA did 
not allow them to file federal 
taxes jointly. That law was 
overturned in 2013 by the 
Supreme Court’s decision in 
U.S. v. Windsor, but the IRS still 
lacks the authority to override 
limitations in the tax code that 
limits to three years the period 
within which a married couple 
may file jointly after having 
filed separate returns. This bill 
would correct that to allow 
the IRS to provide refunds to 
same-sex couples who married 
in states that recognized same-
sex marriage before DOMA 
was overturned. In the Senate, 
Senator Elizabeth Warren 
(D-MA) has also introduced 
companion legislation that 
would allow for same-sex 
couples married before the 
repeal of DOMA to refile their 
taxes as a married couple. 
Reps. Chu and Levin issued the 
following statements:

 “This bill corrects injustices in 
our laws that failed to recognize 
the reality of legal same-sex 
marriage in our country,” said 
Rep. Chu. “For starters, it 
removes gendered language 
like ‘husband and wife’ and 
replaces it with neutral wording 
like ‘they’ and ‘married couple’. 
It also allows same-sex couples 
who married in states before 
the repeal of the Defense of 
Marriage Act (DOMA) to go 
back and refile past taxes as 
a married couple, something 
they have been prevented from 
doing even after the repeal of 
DOMA by an IRS restriction 
that only allows married 
couples who filed separately 
to refile returns going back 
three years. Legalizing same-
sex marriage has meant greater 
equality for families across 
our country. It’s time our tax 
code reflect that. I’m thrilled 
to have the support of my 
colleague Andy Levin and I 
hope the Senate will act on this 
legislation soon.”

 “The House today sent a 
message to LGBTQ married 
couples across America that 
their unions are recognized, 
valued and dignified by the U.S. 
government,” said Rep. Levin. 
“The PRIDE Act moves our 
country closer to true equality 
and equity for the LGBTQ 
community and I am proud 
that the House today passed 
this important bill. I commend 
Congresswoman Chu for her 
leadership in getting the PRIDE 
Act to the House Floor, and 
Speaker Pelosi and Chairman 
Neal for their commitment to 
passing legislation that affirms 
the LGBTQ community.”

 Fixes LGBT 
Discrimination in Tax 
Code

 The city council postponed a 
hearing for a project at 127-
141 N. Madison Ave. that was 
scheduled for Monday night, 
although went ahead with 
another appeal for the housing 
project at 253 S. Los Robles 
Ave. (Pictured above) and then 
rejected that project altogether.

 “Several Board members, 
Advocacy Committee members 
and supporters attended the 
meeting with Pasadena Heritage 
staff, prepared to speak,” 
Officials for Pasadena Heritage 
said. “Many thanks are due to 
our co-appellants, the Women’s 
City Club of Pasadena and 
the Blinn House Foundation, 
for taking this on with us. We 
were especially gratified to 
learn that more than 70 letters 
were received in support of 
our appeal, a most impressive 
showing.”

 The Madison Ave project was 
postponed after the council 
presentations, comments, and 
discussion on the Los Robles 
Ave. went for more than four 
hours. According to reports, 
most of the debate was related 
to the height of the building and 
the impact of the project along 
South Los Robles Ave.

 At issue was a California 
state law that would allow a 
taller building 80 foot building 
instead of 60 foot one in 
exchange for two additional 
affordable housing units. 
Under an Affordable Housing 
Concession Permit Pasadena 
would have been forced to grant 
more square footage 94,000, 
opposed to 80,000 square feet. 
This would also allow for 91 
units as to 70 under the city’s 
zoning laws. 

 The council deadlocked,4 to 4, 
after voting and again re voting. 
When asked what that meant, 
Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek 
replied “There is no project.”

 Representative Richard 
McDonald for the project 
developer Zhuang & Zhong Los 
Robles LLC told reporters that 
the developer had no plans to 
resubmit the design and would 
likely file a lawsuit against the 
city.

 Officials for Pasadena Heritage 
said “ The project at 127-141 
N. Madison Ave is located 
between two National Register 
Historic Districts, and any new 
building should be compatible 
with its historic setting per 
our General Plan and Design 
Guidelines for the district. The 
FAR (floor area ratio) requested 
far exceeds the allowable FAR 
in the Zoning Code that already 
includes a density bonus. 
Pasadena Heritage believes 
that a successful project could 
be developed here, but it must 
comply with our General Plan, 
Zoning Code, and Design 
Guidelines.” 

 The council set the hearing for 
the Madison Ave project at their 
August 19 meeting. 

NASA Mars 2020 Rover 
Does Biceps Curls at JPL

Pasadena 
Library 
Huntington 
Free Pass 

 
The Huntington Pass 
program with Pasadena 
Public Library allows a 
family of four (two adults and 
two children) free admission 
to The Huntington through 
August. The pass is available 
for checkout for one week 
and allows one visit per 
family during that week. 
Two passes are available 
for checkout at Pasadena 
Central Library and one is 
available at the La Pintoresca 
Branch. Passes are available 
on a first-come, first-served 
basis each Friday. They 
cannot be reserved. Each 
pass is good for one week, 
Friday-Thursday. Once the 
passes are checked out, they 
will not be available for 
checkout until the following 
Friday. The pass must be 
checked out up by an adult 
family member with a valid 
Pasadena Public Library 
Card and may be checked 
out once during the six-
month period. Passes do 
not need to be returned 
to the library site. The 
Huntington Library, Art 
Collections, and Botanical 
Gardens • 1151 Oxford Rd. 
• San Marino

Pasadena Central Library is 
located 285 E Walnut St. For 
more information call (626) 
744-4066.

 The robotic arm on NASA’s 
Mars 2020 rover does not have 
deltoids, triceps or biceps, but 
it can still curl heavy weights 
with the best. In this time-lapse 
video, taken July 19, in the 
clean room of the Spacecraft 
Assembly Facility at the Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory, the 
rover’s 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-
long) arm handily maneuvers 
88 pounds’ (40 kilograms’) 
worth of sensor-laden turret as 
it moves from a deployed to a 
stowed configuration.

 The rover’s arm includes five 
electrical motors and five joints 
(known as the shoulder azimuth 
joint, shoulder elevation 
joint, elbow joint, wrist joint 
and turret joint). The rover’s 
turret includes HD cameras, 
the Scanning Habitable 
Environments with Raman & 
Luminescence for Organics 
& Chemicals (SHERLOC) 
science instrument, the 
Planetary Instrument for X-ray 
Lithochemistry (PIXL), and 
a percussive drill and coring 
mechanism. 

 On Mars, the arm and turret 
will work together, allowing 
the rover to work as a human 
geologist would: by reaching 
out to interesting geologic 
features, abrading, analyzing 
and even collecting them for 
further study via Mars 2020’s 
Sample Caching System, which 
will collect samples of Martian 
rock and soil that will be 
returned to Earth by a future 
mission.

 “This was our first opportunity 
to watch the arm and turret 
move in concert with each other, 
making sure that everything 
worked as advertised — 
nothing blocking or otherwise 
hindering smooth operation of 
the system,” said Dave Levine, 
integration engineer for Mars 
2020. “Standing there, watching 
the arm and turret go through 
their motions, you can’t help 
but marvel that the rover will 
be in space in less than a year 
from now and performing 
these exact movements on 
Mars in less than two.”

 Mars 2020 will launch from 
Cape Canaveral Air Force 
Station in Florida in July 2020. 
It will land at Jezero Crater on 
Feb. 18, 2021.

 Charged with returning 
astronauts to the Moon by 
2024, NASA’s Artemis lunar 
exploration plans will establish 
a sustained human presence on 
and around the Moon by 2028. 
We will use what we learn on 
the Moon to prepare to send 
astronauts to Mars. 

 JPL is building and will 
manage operations of the 
Mars 2020 rover for the NASA 
Science Mission Directorate at 
the agency’s headquarters in 
Washington.

 For more information about 
the mission, go to: mars.nasa.
gov/mars2020/

LEGO Robotics at the Library

 
Program inventions that 
come to life. Take one of 
America’s favorite toys to 
the next level with LEGO 
robotics. In this class, 
boys and girls will design 
and configure a variety 
of creations using LEGO 
blocks, batteries and 
motors. The possibilities 
for imagination and fun 
are endless! For ages 7-12. 
For information, call (626) 
744-6530. To sign up, visit 
cityofpasadena.net/reserve 
or stop by any Pasadena 
community center. 
Saturdays, July 6-Aug. 24 • 
10-11:30 a.m. Villa-Parke 
Community Center • 363 E. 
Villa St.

Community 
ALERT: 

Catalytic 
Converter Thefts

 According to the sheriff’s 
department, the Altadena 
community is currently 
experiencing thefts of 
catalytic converters. The 
incidents are occurring 
during the early morning 
hours and most of the 
vehicles targeted are parked 
curbside. At this time, it 
appears the suspects are 
targeting Toyota Prius’ and 
Honda’s. Please remain 
vigilant and report any 
suspicious activity. Anyone 
with information about the 
thefts or to report a theft at 
(626) 798-1131.

177 East Colorado Boulevard, Suite 550, Pasadena, California 91105 
(626) 792-2228 | cliffordswan.com 
Providing Objective and Experienced 
Investment Counsel to Financially 
Successful Families since 1915 
Walter Cailleteau, DVM Free Exam!
927 N. Michillinda Ave. For New Clients 
Pasadena, CA 91107 Bring this coupon to save! 
(626) 351-8863
Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com