I attended the Oct. 7 “Safety for All: Conversations on Law Enforcement from the perspectives of People with Disabilities” hosted by Parents Helping Parents. As a mother of a special needs child I am deeply concerned about current policing practices and their impact on the disability community and beyond. Police training in the U.S. is...

I retired at the end of September and after a few days of yelling at kids to get off my lawn, my wife insisted I find more constructive uses for my time. I thought about it and decided to become an informed citizen by reading the newspaper cover to cover each day. I opened the...

Lyme disease is the most common and the fastest-growing vector-borne disease in the country, and constitutes a significant public health threat, with  476,000 new cases each year from 2010 to 2018. This is a zoonotic bacterial infection transmitted to humans by the bite of infected black-legged ticks, also known as deer ticks, found in 56 of 58—or 97%—of all counties in California....

Years ago, I was in a car accident. I remember looking over and seeing the other car right before it hit me. I knew the crash was going to happen, I knew that things were going to be bad, I just didn’t know how bad. Time slowed down and I recall a moment of utter...

The COVID pandemic has put in sharp relief the weaknesses, inequities and complexities of our patchwork system of health care. Our nation’s for-profit private insurance model has garnered billions in windfall profits for insurance companies while patients and small health care providers suffer. Twenty-eight million people were uninsured in the U.S. in 2020. Another 31...

What is synonymous with the American Dream? Of course, the first thing that comes to the minds of many is a house or home. A home is a place where children play, families eat and life happens. Our fondest memories, loving relationships and reprieve from the outside world occur inside our homes, thus making it...

Over the course of the past few weeks, our communities have come together to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, including a Mexican Flag raising ceremony we all attended on Sept. 16 at San Jose City Hall to commemorate Mexican Independence Day. It was a beautiful event honoring the culture, traditions and values of Mexican people and...

As advocates for small business, the San Jose Chamber of Commerce continues to work on the safe reopening of our economy so we can get our residents, neighbors and friends back to work. San Jose businesses have been hit hard by the economic slowdown related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and those challenges continue, but...

For 36 years San Jose has prohibited new billboards, but soon we may see new super-sized billboards at Mineta San Jose International Airport near Highway 101 and the Guadalupe River Trail, as well as on other city properties. While the Airport Commission often approves proposals suggested by staff, its value is in exercising independent judgment...

Last year, San Jose was named among the country’s top 10 most welcoming and inclusive cities in the New American Economy Cities Index, which examines the relationship between welcoming immigration policies and municipal economic health. As the index found, proactive welcoming plans make cities more competitive for business and economic investment. While we take great pride in being...