Federal and state lawmakers will converge in San Jose this weekend for an emergency town hall with the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors about how massive federal spending cuts will derail the public hospital system and social safety net services. The community meeting, hosted by District 2 Supervisor Betty Duong, will bring the elected...
San Jose medical rehab ranks among top 10 in U.S.
Public investments in Santa Clara County’s hospital system are proving being uninsured doesn’t have to mean poor health care. The region’s poorest patients actually have access to one of the nation’s top-rated rehabilitation centers. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s Rehabilitation Center is ranked seventh best in the nation, according to the 2025-26 U.S. News &...
Santa Clara County considers sales tax to pay for health care costs
Santa Clara County officials are preparing to ask voters for higher taxes to protect their poorest public hospital patients from devastating federal revenue cuts. The Board of Supervisors is expected to hold a special meeting around Aug. 7 to consider putting a five-eighths cent sales tax increase proposal before voters, according to county officials who...
San Jose Planned Parenthood workers laid off as other clinics close
The ripple effect of President Donald Trump’s budget bill has cascaded into Planned Parenthood closing five clinics in California and laying off staff in other locations. Although Planned Parenthood Mar Monte announced July 24 it was closing clinics in Gilroy, South San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Madera, San Jose’s four locations will remain...
Silicon Valley grocers expect sales hit from food assistance cuts
Grocery stores are bracing for how federal cuts to food stamps will affect their businesses. Grocers who accept food assistance payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the majority of their sales are going to take the greatest hit with the federal passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill.” The massive spending and tax...
Federal cuts affect future doctors trained in Santa Clara County
Sweeping federal spending cuts to Northern California’s largest public hospital system could ripple far beyond Silicon Valley — threatening communities statewide that rely on doctors trained in Santa Clara County. Public hospitals train 50% of new doctors across California, despite comprising only 6% of the state’s total hospitals, according to statewide data. Santa Clara County’s...
Santa Clara County could lose millions in food assistance
The federal government is abandoning its role in providing critical social safety nets, advocates and policy watchers warned. The Senate reconciliation bill would cut $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would be the largest cut in the program’s history. SNAP, known...
San Jose advocates rally against Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will create staggering losses for America’s most vulnerable families, advocates say. About two dozen protesters from the Solidarity and Unity Network (SUN) rallied in front of Robert F. Peckham Federal Building in San Jose on Thursday to speak out against the bill, which has passed the House and is...
Cupertino all-inclusive playground welcomes everyone
Cupertino resident Alicia Schober got teary-eyed at the opening of a new, all-inclusive playground at Jollyman Park earlier this month. It would have provided another outlet for her son’s sensory needs if it had been available when he was growing up. As soon as the playground’s gate opened on June 13, children, adults and older...
San Jose clinics push Black health to the forefront
For many, stepping through the doors of Ujima Adult & Family Services and Roots Community Health feels like a Black oasis. Portraits of important Black figures — Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Marcus Garvey — greet visitors when they walk through the halls. African symbols such as masks and the...