Meet In CommonNews

News in Pomona, CA

The Student Life · Pomona, CA

Pomona College community raises concern over proposed academic building security policy

Editor’s note: Soren Murphy-Pearson PO ’29 is an Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) Senator and South Campus Representative. This is not a news article, and the information stated here is not stated on behalf of ASPC. Murphy-Pearson is also part of an ad-hoc committee involved in the policy discussed in this article. Pomona College Vice President Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer Jeff Roth sent an email on Sept. 1 to the student body titled “Building Access Policy: Campus Review and Feedback,” requesting student feedback on a proposed security policy. The new policy would require a 5C ID to enter Pomona academic buildings at all hours, a change from the current open access policy from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. As Roth explained to me and other members of ASPC during our public Sept. 24 meeting, the policy was created with the help of third-party consultants, partially motivated by concerns regarding the Dec.

The Student Life · Pomona, CA

Pomona campus climate survey results show dissatisfaction

On Nov. 2, Pomona College and Interwoven Insights (formerly Rankin Climate) consulting firm published results from an anonymous campuswide ‘Campus Climate’ survey in a 107-page report. Respondents’ concerns ranged from students of certain identities feeling unsafe on campus — namely Jewish and Muslim or Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) students — to issues of sexual harassment. Roughly 45% of the campus community — or 1,259 people — took the 126-question survey last spring, marking 18% higher turnout compared to the last time a similar survey was conducted in 2020, according to Pomona’s press release. The survey was facilitated by a working group of 20 faculty members, students, staff and college administrators called the ‘Climate Survey Working Group,’ and was generated by Interwoven Insights. Several student groups reported concerns around religious identity.

Nearby reporting

Stories from surrounding communities, closest first.

Daily Hampshire Gazette · Claremont, CA

Nearby: Claremont, CA

Albey Reiner

Claremont, CA – Albey M Reiner died on October 15, 2026 at the age of 85 in his home in Claremont, California. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Albey attended Princeton University (B.S.E ’62) as an undergraduate, then spent time at Oxford University, the University of Wisconsin, Harvard University (PhD ’68), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and UC Berkeley before landing a position in the Microbiology Department at UMass Amherst, where he worked as a professor for 34 years before retiring in the spring of 2005.Albey liked to be called by his first name by his students, and was best known for his enormously popular Biology of Cancer (later Biology of Cancer and AIDS) course, in which he introduced thousands of students (more than 30,000 all told) to new ideas about disease, healing, and spirituality, while maintaining rigorous academic standards and keeping up with the latest developments in cancer and AIDS research.

The Student Life · Claremont, CA

Nearby: Claremont, CA

Diwali lights up McKenna Auditorium

Last Sunday, students danced their hearts out in elaborate traditional outfits of various bright colors for Diwali, one of the few festivals where the Desi community at the 5Cs comes together to bring a familiar cultural tradition to life in Claremont. On the evening of Nov. 8, students from across the 5Cs celebrated Diwali at McKenna Auditorium. The event was hosted by the Claremont Hindu Society in partnership with the South Asian mentorship program and the 5C Bollywood dance club Claremont Tamasha. It was also co-sponsored by The Claremont Colleges Services’ Religious and Spiritual Life office, which brought interfaith chaplains from the McAlister Center as well as a new partner from the Bay Area, the Hindu Spiritual Care Institute. For many students far from their families, the celebration offered a piece of home at the 5Cs. Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, celebrates the spiritual victory of light over darkness, though the specific victory being referenced varies by region.

The Student Life · Claremont, CA

Nearby: Claremont, CA

At 2026 FestivArts, Claremont arts community provides color to a rainy afternoon

Gray clouds loomed over the San Gabriel Mountains, slowly passing over their peaks late in the morning. Warm amber bulbs strewn around the trunks of olive trees at Padua Hills Theatre became shrouded with the encroaching haze of sprinkling rain. But as artists began to open their booths and people poured inside, the venue quickly flooded with soul, color and curiosity. The Claremont Lewis Museum of Art (CLMA) hosted its 22nd annual FestivArts showcase on Nov. 1 at the Padua Hills Theatre, bringing 44 artists to the foothills of Claremont. Among them were 5C staff and longtime Claremont artists, and for many in attendance, the festival was a reminder of how deeply the city’s art scene connects to the Claremont Colleges — a legacy stretching back to Scripps College art department head Millard Sheets. “They made [Claremont] into a mecca for culture,” Shearer said. “The colleges, Pomona and Scripps, have a lot to do with it.

Long Beach Post · La Puente, CA

Nearby: La Puente, CA

This new horror-themed coffee shop isn’t a gimmick. For the owner, it’s deeply personal

After Sabrina Arellano opened Coffinated Coffee in La Puente in October 2022, the coffee shop’s Instagram account gained 41,000 followers. Coffinated Coffee has a menu of drinks inspired by quintessential horror movies, games, TV shows and books. It was Arellano’s grandmother who first turned her onto all things horror. On Saturday, Arellano opened the shop’s second location on First Street in Downtown Long Beach. The Long Beach Post sat down with Arellano to learn more about Coffinated Coffee and its spooky menu. The interview has been edited for clarity and length. How did Coffinated Coffee come to be? My grandma and I grew up loving everything horror and spooky-related. We were really close, so I get a lot of the demented, dark humor from her. I love it, but she got really sick – she had cancer – and so I [put everything] on pause to take care of her. In 2021, she passed at home.

Noozhawk · Baldwin Park, CA

Nearby: Baldwin Park, CA

Santa Barbara Football Has Too Many Weapons for Baldwin Park to Handle, Rolls to 42-15 Win

Everything seemed to be clicking for the Santa Barbara High football team on the road Friday, as the Golden Tornado roared past Baldwin Park, 42-15, in a CIF-SS Division 6 quarterfinal game. Quarterback Griffin Arnold threw five touchdown passes and running back Everett Rabb-Preston rushed for 148 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries to lead a high-octane attack. The defense held Baldwin Park without a touchdown until 1:54 left in the third quarter. Last week, Baldwin Park scored 35 points to beat Ventura in the first round and came into the quarterfinal game averaging over 40 points a game. Santa Barbara (9-3) will return to Peabody Stadium for a semifinal game against Beaumont next Friday. Beaumont defeated Summit, 42-22. Baldwin Park (10-2) opened the scoring with a field goal at the 7:23 mark of the first quarter. Santa Barbara answered with a Rabb-Preston touchdown run at 10:40 of the second quarter and never looked back.

The Hechinger Report · Fullerton, CA

Nearby: Fullerton, CA

TEACHER VOICE: The future of personalized learning cannot be built on technology alone

By the time many of my high schoolers enter my algebra classroom, they already know what their school thinks they are bad at. They carry labels before they ever open a notebook: “remedial,” “unmotivated,” “low-performing.” Too often, personalized learning begins with those labels. We start with a low score or what we believe students cannot do — a missing skill or an academic gap — and then build instruction around fixing it. I think we should start somewhere else: with what students care about, what they want to become and what already makes sense to them. The starting point matters because personalized learning is supposed to do more than respond to academic gaps. Personalized learning is supposed to tailor instruction and learning experiences to support a student’s individual strengths, needs, interests, goals and pace. But whether it fulfills that promise depends on the information we choose to prioritize.

Fortress of Solitude · Arcadia, CA

Nearby: Arcadia, CA

Rena Sofer Left General Hospital Twice, Remarried Her Ex-Husband After 7 Years Apart — and Now Sells Handmade Ceramics

While she’s best known for her role as Lois Cerullo on General Hospital (which won her a Daytime Emmy in 1995), Rena Sofer is also remembered for playing Heidi Petrelli on Heroes and Quinn Fuller on The Bold and the Beautiful. After leaving General Hospital for the second time in 2025, the 57-year-old actress has been focusing on a quieter life in the Hudson Valley. But how did she break into the world of entertainment? And what else is keeping her busy in 2026? Rena Sofer’s Early Life: How She Broke Into Acting Image Credit: Walt Disney Television, Selmur Productions Born on December 2, 1968, in Arcadia, California, Rena Sofer’s childhood was characterized by her Jewish upbringing. Following her parents’ divorce, she moved to New Jersey with her rabbi father and her brother. At 15, Rena was approached by a talent scout while hanging out on the streets of Greenwich Village. Her modeling career was rather short-lived, with her later stating: “It just never really worked for me.