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Signs of segregation may not be as brazen as the days of Martin Luther King Jr., but Black leaders in San Jose say racism still rears its head and is why the Black community keeps shrinking. It’s something Silicon Valley Minority Business Consortium CEO Walter Wilson calls the “Black exodus.” Thousands of Black residents have left over time...
Silicon Valley mother-daughter duo committed to public service
It started with stuffing campaign envelopes together as a family. Decades later, mother Rosemary Kamei and daughter Ellen Kamei are both serving in local government. Rosemary, a likely pick for San Jose vice mayor, won the District 1 seat for City Council last June. District 1 is based in West San Jose and includes the Winchester...
Santa Clara County shutters hybrid meetings—for now
Santa Clara County is eliminating hybrid committee meetings in favor of an in-person only format, which residents said could reduce community engagement. County CEO Jeff Smith told the Board of Supervisors during the Jan. 10 meeting that a lack of resources makes it infeasible to continue providing hybrid services for every committee meeting. The general board...
Mixed progress for Silicon Valley’s English learner students
Santa Clara County’s English learner students, part of the largest group in the nation, saw mixed progress during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Santa Clara County school districts with the largest populations of English learners, data reviewed by San José Spotlight showed three districts had a drop in test scores while the others saw an increase. The...
Santa Clara County preps for more rain
Santa Clara County is getting a brief break from the rain before storms return over the weekend, prompting officials to urge residents to prepare for emergencies. In a news conference today, county officials asked residents to sign up for the AlertSCC app, an alert and warning system for flooding, power outages, road closures and mudslides....
Santa Clara County graduation rates are up
More Santa Clara County students are crossing the stage to get their diplomas than years past, and education leaders hope to keep the momentum going. High school graduation rates for the 2021-22 school year increased across Santa Clara County’s largest school districts, data from the California State Dashboard reveals. Rates also went up for vulnerable...
UPDATE: Santa Clara County sinks millions into mental health crisis
Santa Clara County is investing millions in mental health programs and workers to address an ongoing crisis. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved roughly $9.5 million to continue several mental health programs, such as residential treatment services, at its Tuesday meeting. Local officials also voted to spend more than $14 million to create 38 full-time...
San Jose storms still pose flood threat
The atmospheric river storm is reaching its end, but more rain is on the way. This means the threat of flooding is real for hundreds of homes in San Jose. San Jose saw one of the highest rainfalls in the recent storm from Sunday to Monday, with close to an inch of rain falling overnight,...
Santa Clara County sees surge in new citizens
Santa Clara County welcomed more than 20,000 new citizens last year, making communities politically and economically stronger, advocates said. Data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reveals a total of 20,397 citizens were naturalized at the San Jose field office in the 2022 fiscal year, from October 2021 through September 2022. This is a...
San Jose struggles to reduce homeless count
San Jose’s unhoused population is not as big as initially reported, but the number of chronically homeless people continues to grow, new county data shows. A report released last month shows San Jose with 6,650 homeless people in 2022—a drop of roughly 100 people from when preliminary data was released in May. Despite the drop, the current homeless...