Dozens of young environmental activists implored the Valley Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors to declare a climate crisis during its last meeting of the year this week. The group — including many local high school students — asked the board to commit to a zero carbon emission bus fleet, forswear future cuts to bus service...
The competition is on for policing new BART stations, including San Jose
As Bay Area mass transit services struggle to protect public safety, Silicon Valley law enforcement agencies are competing for a chance to police the new Valley Transportation Authority transit centers in Milpitas and San Jose when BART trains start rolling into Santa Clara County for the first time in 2020. An Alameda County Grand Jury...
San Jose Water Company shut off wells contaminated with PFAS chemicals
WASHINGTON. D.C. — As a famous actor took center stage during a Capitol Hill hearing last month to demand stricter regulations of ‘forever chemicals’ in water, a longtime San Jose water company revealed that it has tested positive for those contaminants. The news comes as California water officials this year began a statewide assessment of any...
Trump may not be ready to ban flavored e-cigarettes, but Anna Eshoo is
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump last week met with vape industry executives to discuss the youth e-cigarette epidemic, two months after he sat next to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and watched him tell reporters that the Food and Drug Administration was preparing to remove almost all flavored e-cigarettes off...
VTA charges ahead with new service plan, despite BART delays
The Valley Transportation Authority spent most of 2019 making decisions about how to deploy public transit resources based on the assumption that Bay Area Rapid Transit would open two new train stations in the South Bay before the end of the year. But despite months of promises from BART, that’s not going to happen. Last week,...
San Jose airport receives $10 million to kickstart plans for expansion
It’s Christmas in November for airports across the country. On Friday morning, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren announced the Department of Transportation is awarding San Jose’s Mineta International Airport $10 million to revamp its Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting building. “That’s really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of new stuff coming right behind it,”...
VTA installs new safety railings in downtown San Jose
The next time you’re strolling through downtown San Jose while staring at your phone, look up. You might bump into a VTA railing that’s meant to save you from an oncoming train. VTA recently installed a series of railings on Second Street as part of a pilot program to improve safety and speed for VTA...
Another charter school in East San Jose set to close
As the younger sister of a graduate of Summit Rainier, a charter school in East San Jose, junior Hailey Bui dreamed of walking across the graduation stage with her classmates next year. Now, she and her classmates are searching elsewhere to finish their high school careers after the abrupt news that the school is shutting...
Alum Rock Union School District extends superintendent’s contract
It’s been a tumultuous year for the Alum Rock Union School District (ARUSD), following months of scandals stemming from a long history of mismanagement and financial troubles. But just last week, the school board voted to extend Superintendent Hilaria Bauer’s contract for an additional three years, hoping her leadership will bring transparency and better ethical practices to the...
San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren has déjà vu on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House this week held its first televised impeachment hearing on President Donald Trump’s conduct with Ukrainian officials. But San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren wasn’t watching. She was sitting in a Judiciary committee hearing, doing something that felt oddly familiar — something she’s done before. “I keep doing these things that remind me of what...