Bradley

With mammoth Bobcat fire looming, firefighters draw battle lines along Mt. Wilson’s steep slopes

Pasadena Star-News | I was the only guy up there before they closed the road.
9/15/2020

Fire crews stood poised atop Mount Wilson on Tuesday, Sept. 15, strategizing in the shadow of billions of dollars worth of communications infrastructure and history-shaping telescopes. With the Bobcat fire’s various smoky layers dancing as close as 500 feet away, snaking upward toward the complex from various wooded routes, the team’s mission was simple: Protect the familiar towers of the Mount Wilson Observatory.

Inside the ‘anarchy’ of Pasadena’s evacuated nursing home

Pasadena Star-News | Scoop!
6/18/2020

State nursing home investigators had been in and out of Pasadena-based Golden Cross Health Care for 11 days when they walked into a resident’s room just after 6 p.m. on May 26 to find him sitting alert in bed with dark red stains on his shirt.

Videos show Anthony McClain is shot while running from Pasadena police; they say he had a gun

Pasadena Star-News | This was a tough one.
8/20/2020

Videos of the Saturday police shooting of Anthony McClain showed a Pasadena police officer fire at least two shots at a fleeing McClain, who held what police say was a firearm, though the family’s lawyer has contested that description.

Pasadena parents frustrated by city’s response on school reopening

Pasadena Star-News | People really liked this one.
10/28/2020

Don’t shoot the messenger. That’s Pasadena’s response to public comments from over 50 frustrated parents during Monday’s council meeting, Oct. 26, parents who are calling on the city and state to reopen schools.

Pasadena police union spent $87,000 plus on this election so far

Pasadena Star-News | Fun with spreadsheets!
8/12/2020

As the City Council examines options for increasing oversight of the Pasadena Police Department, the officers’ association spent $87,373 on behalf of candidates’ campaigns.

Billion-dollar restaurant chains are scoring financial help from Pasadena

Pasadena Star-News | Scoop!
6/10/2020

The program pays restaurateurs who deliver meals to local seniors. It was designed to be a lifeline for the hard-hit local restaurants, but there’s a problem: Two multibillion-dollar companies have managed to get a piece of the action, and critics say that’s unfair.

Pasadena may file criminal charges against elder facility

Pasadena Star-News | Scoop!
5/30/2020

The Pasadena City Prosecutor’s Office is considering filing criminal charges against Jasmin Terrace, an assisted living facility for the memory impaired, alleging the facility required an employee to come into work even though he had tested positive for the new coronavirus and was exhibiting some symptoms.

Two more cases confirmed at East Pasadena Whole Foods

Pasadena Star-News | Scoop!
5/27/2020

Two more employees at a Whole Foods location in East Pasadena have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, weeks after another employee tested positive and later died.

National Guard deployed to Pasadena, Gardena, LA nursing homes

Pasadena Star-News | Canary for the National Guard's bad info.
4/23/2020

Medical teams from the California National Guard have been deployed to four Los Angeles County nursing homes hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, including one in Pasadena, another in Gardena and two in the city of Los Angeles.

LA County, state order unprecedented ‘stay at home’ rules amid coronavirus spread

Pasadena Star-News | We were first to report coming lockdown, hours early.
3/19/2020

Bradley here: This story went through so many versions throughout the day, I only link it because we were the first ones to report that a lockdown was coming. It was from one of my Pasadena sources and Donna Littlejohn was able to get it confirmed. The version you see here is the final one of countless rewrites throughout the day as we learned more.

Did Pasadena break its own laws scoring cannabis dispensary applications?

Pasadena Star-News | Wonky.
1/26/2020

While Pasadena’s most prominent retail cannabis controversies have centered on technical details and surprise application requirements for the city’s top six applicants, a more fundamental question is making its way through the courts: Did the city abide by its own procedures when choosing the best contenders?

Explaining Pasadena’s misadventures with cannabis

Pasadena Star-News | Wonky.
1/12/2020

The competition to become one of Pasadena’s few legal marijuana dispensaries has played out like a lawsuit-ridden soap opera. While some maintain the process was fair and say any mistakes made were innocent, others say city staff gave certain companies a leg up.

Pasadena sues itself and wins: Judge strikes cannabis measure from ballot

Pasadena Star-News | Picked up in NY Times newsletter!
12/12/2019

Pasadena took itself to court and won.

Pasadena’s plan to solve its pot problems gets panned

Pasadena Star-News | Wonky.
11/14/2019

Facing down multiple lawsuits and significant criticism over its retail cannabis application process, last month City Manager Steve Mermell suggested loosening the city’s strict laws to allow more marijuana storefronts in the city.

This Pico Rivera cat was stuck in a 90-foot palm tree for nearly two weeks … then he fell

Whittier Daily News | 3rd Place California Journalism Awards
10/8/2019

Life surrounded by palm fronds isn’t all its cracked up to be. Not when you’ve spent almost two weeks living in a Pico Rivera tree, nearly 100-feet in the air, and a guy in a crane — whom you’ve never met — is trying to pull you into God-knows-where.

Why Pasadena is finding it hard to say no to bigger and bigger developments

Pasadena Star-News | Wonky.
10/7/2019

Back-to-back real estate developments have dragged the Pasadena City Council into late-night deliberations which have played out like local cable television reruns.

Pasadena Unified hit with $887,000 judgment over a security guard’s role in students’ sexual encounter

Pasadena Star-News | Guy lost his job because of this story.
10/2/2019

A jury has ordered Pasadena Unified to pay a former student $887,416 after a sexual encounter in 2015 with another student was facilitated by a school security guard who is still employed by the district.

Pasadena’s top choice for cannabis dispensary helped fund a councilman’s holiday party

Pasadena Star-News | He didn't talk to me for months afterward.
9/19/2019

Pasadena’s top retail cannabis applicant helped fund Councilman John Kennedy’s 2018 annual holiday party, paying $8,800 at his request months before a consultant would select the company to receive one of the city’s six highly coveted permits.

Tornek: State’s affordable housing requirements create ‘a cage fight’ for Pasadena

Pasadena Star-News | Wonky.
8/27/2019

Under soon-to-be-released benchmarks from the state, Pasadena will likely be asked to build more than 9,400 affordable housing units over the next eight years. Local officials say it’s highly unlikely — even impossible — for the city to hit that mark. And if it falls short, they warn Pasadena could lose the ability to control what developers build in the city.

Pasadena has more affordable housing than its neighbors, but it’s still not meeting state goals

Pasadena Star-News | Wonky.
9/8/2019

Pasadena’s current affordable housing supply is falling short of its state-mandated housing goals, according to recently released data from the statePasadena’s current affordable housing supply is falling short of its state-mandated housing goals, according to recently released data from the state Not that the city is alone in that regard: Nearly every city in Los Angeles County is falling short of these goals, but few are making the concerted push that Pasadena officials have made, one that’s in part motivated by those recently release numbers.

Parents of 6-year-old who drowned in Altadena camp pool speak out

Pasadena Star-News | This was the toughest one.
8/13/2019

Instead of shopping for school supplies last week, Pasadena parents Doug Forbes and Elena Matyas searched for answers in a Los Angeles County Coroner’s report.

Torrance treasurer still not back to work. This is why, in her own words

Daily Breeze | I can't believe she talked to me.
5/17/2019

Dana Cortez breaks silence in emotional interview, saying it’s ‘scary … to put your personal matters out there in the public’

Torrance unsure how to move forward in aftermath of latest clash with Black Lives Matters activists

Daily Breeze | This was an intense period.
5/15/2019

Mayor says the city is trying to balance the rights of protesters with the city’s right to conduct its business

How Torrance city treasurer’s extended 4 month absence has officials scrambling for options

Daily Breeze | Someone offered to sell me her medical records, lol. I refused.
3/6/2019

It’s been more than four months since embattled Torrance Treasurer Dana Cortez last reported to work. Her absence, and subsequent lack of communication, has already created one fiscal emergency for the city and has left officials scrambling for solutions.

Interpreter became the reluctant face (and hands) of the LAUSD strike

Los Angeles Daily News | Funny guy!
1/23/2019

Justin Maurer, an American Sign Language interpreter, found himself at center stage while working with United Teachers Los Angeles during the teacher’s strike

Amateur firefighters say they saved most of their Malibu neighborhood from the Woolsey fire

Los Angeles Daily News | I met my wife because of this story.
11/11/2018

Just after dawn on Saturday morning, Malibu City Councilman-elect Mikke Pierson was armed with a garden hose, still fighting fires near his home in Malibu West. Alongside eight of his neighbors who collectively call themselves the Malibu West Fire Brigade, Pierson may have saved most of his neighborhood from the raging Woolsey fire.

This Amateur Metal Detectorist Is Fighting Pirates On The Beaches Of Santa Monica

KPCC | Radio!
9/7/2018

Would you wake up in the middle of the night if someone said there was buried treasure on the beaches of Los Angeles? Steve Smith does and he's found a lot of loot — but it's not for himself. Smith is something of a treasure-hunting do-gooder, one who doesn't officially charge for his services. (Starts at 40:04)

LA sheriff's oversight commission chair walks out as talk of secret deputy societies ends in shouting

KPCC | Radio!
7/27/2018

The chair of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department watchdog commission walked out from a public meeting on Thursday after a discussion on secret deputy societies devolved into a shouting match about police behavior.

How Do You Get Your Catholic Mom to Accept Your Job ... As a Dominatrix?

KQED | Radio!
5/11/2018

In a high-rise apartment in the heart of Los Angeles, a naked man is on his knees. A clothed woman towers above him. The man does not have a name. He has given her good money not to have a name. The woman has a name, but the man calls her only “Goddess.”

The AI-Engineered, 3-D Printed Cast That Won’t Drive You Crazy

The Daily Beast | Comfy.
12/1/2017

Casts suck: They smell, they itch, they take a long time to heal, they make everyday life miserable. But this new product changes all that.

Bradley Bermont grew up between Miami, FL and Big Sky, MT. He's lived in Los Angeles since 2012 where he worked and wrote for a number of nonprofits before heading to the University of Southern California for a M.S. in Journalism.

He's not too picky about what he's covering these days, as long as there's a story to be told. But, as Annie Gilbertson (investigative reporter at KPCC) pointed out, he's a sucker for a good scheme.

Bradley is currently freelancing for a few local outlets including KPCC, LAist, and the Los Angeles Daily News.

The stories on this website are a narrow selection of the things he's covered. For a more complete picture, go to his Muckrack page.