South Bay residents got seemingly contradicting accounts Monday from local and state officials about how stocked California’s ventilator cache is in the face of COVID-19, a potentially deadly respiratory illness that is spreading across the state. Santa Clara County officials stood outside Valley Medical Center in San Jose on Monday afternoon to plead for ventilator donations that...
San Jose looks to increase emergency housing, discuss budget cuts due to COVID-19
With more than 1,200 COVID-19 positive cases countywide and counting, San Jose leaders are scrambling to stop the spread to homeless people and vulnerable residents living in shelters, encampments and overcrowded homes by building emergency housing. The City Council on Tuesday will discuss a proposal to allocate more than $17 million to build modular homes...
Lawmakers push Santa Clara County to reverse in-store recreational cannabis sales ban
Three members of the San Jose City Council wrote to Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody on Monday, urging her to reconsider a recent order that banned the sale of recreational cannabis inside San Jose’s dispensaries. Pam Foley, Magdalena Carrasco and Maya Esparza sent a letter Monday afternoon pleading with Cody to...
Coronavirus: San Jose lawmakers propose suspending rent
Cities across California are passing a slew of laws delaying rent and banning evictions for families who cannot pay during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order, but some lawmakers say the patchwork of bills don’t go far enough to protect renters. As unemployment rates across the country surge to all-time highs, San Jose Councilmembers Magdalena Carrasco and Raul...
South Bay Asian Americans report attacks, harassment amid coronavirus pandemic
The viral posts documenting attacks or harassment targeting Asian Americans amid the novel coronavirus pandemic are not isolated incidents, nor is the South Bay excluded from it, academic researchers and law enforcement say. While these incidents have been shown in everyday interactions ranging from grocery stores and tenant disputes, researchers say the racism has been...
Efforts to house homeless during COVID-19 may lead to long-term housing options
At-risk homeless Californians are moving into trailers, motels and hotels, where they can isolate under a program Gov. Gavin Newsom said could become a long-term solution in California and a model for other states as COVID-19 spreads. Counties and cities, including Santa Clara County, have worked with the state to lease more than 7,000 rooms and...
Advocates fight back against Santa Clara County’s new cannabis rules
A petition launched Friday to stop Santa Clara County from banning recreational cannabis sales at dispensaries under a new health order garnered thousands of signatures within hours, the latest call from advocates to overturn the controversial decision. As first reported by San José Spotlight on Wednesday, Santa Clara County leaders reversed a previous decision in...
San Jose activists call on Supreme Court to delay DACA decision amid COVID-19 pandemic
San Jose activists on Friday called on the U.S. Supreme Court to delay a ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. During a livestream hosted by immigrant rights group SIREN, Executive Director Maricela Gutiérrez led the call to salvage the Obama-era program through a Zoom call, which...
Silicon Valley leaders to host a telethon for coronavirus assistance fund
In a massive effort to replenish a COVID-19 financial assistance fund, a slew of South Bay elected, nonprofit and business leaders will host a telethon Saturday to raise funds to help low-income residents pay rent and other basic necessities. The telethon will be hosted by NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48. The widespread call for...
Coronavirus: Surveys track rapid changes to daily life in America
Surveys of life after the coronavirus pandemic paint a familiar picture of social distancing, increased hand washing and economic stress. Nearly a month ago, the Kaiser Family Foundation asked 1,216 people to detail the changes and differences they’ve made — voluntarily or not — in the weeks since cases of COVID-19 arrived in the United States. SingleCare,...