San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has officially bowed out of the race for California governor. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Mahan was still in sixth place with 4.1% or 205,590 votes, trailing conservative pundit Steve Hilton in first place with 27.8% or 1,387,459 votes, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra in...
Burned East San Jose youth center could be rebuilt
An East San Jose youth center that burned to the ground last year has only made the community more determined to raise it from the ashes. The Alum Rock Union School District board of trustees on Thursday voted 4-1 to enter an exclusive negotiating agreement with SOMOS Mayfair and the School of Arts and Culture,...
Will Bay Area transit tax measure qualify for November ballot?
Transit advocates say they’ve surpassed their signature-gathering goal to put a sales tax on the November ballot, which would raise $1 billion annually for public transit service across five Bay Area counties and could save some stations from closure. Representatives for the Connect Bay Area campaign on Tuesday said canvassers gathered nearly 306,000 signatures — roughly 120,000...
Santa Clara County faces $200M losses in new state budget
Outrageous. Catastrophic. A massive leadership failure. These are the words Santa Clara County leaders used this week to describe Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decisions in response to his May 14 state budget revision. Instead of helping California’s second largest public hospital system withstand billions of dollars in funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s H.R. 1 spending...
San Jose mayor’s bid for CA governor fizzles out
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s bid for governor appears to be stalling. An outside committee set up to support Mahan’s campaign, Deliver for Mahan, has filed papers to shut down while another, California Back to Basics, has refunded a $1 million donation from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, as first reported by the Mercury News. “It’s...
San Jose truck company loses eminent domain case
A commercial truck company based in San Jose has lost its bid to gain additional compensation from VTA in an eminent domain case stemming from the planned BART extension project through Silicon Valley. Monarch Truck Center executives have argued their business has been severely harmed following its forced relocation two years ago. But after a weeks-long...
San Jose District 9 candidates ‘noncommittal’ on climate policy
Ambitious plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions mingled with concerns about San Jose’s daunting fiscal challenges and potential overregulation during a climate-focused election forum quizzing the candidates running for District 9’s City Council seat. The race’s five candidates spent an hour at the Cambrian Branch Library Saturday answering questions and sharing their visions for how...
South Bay data centers present environmental challenges
With more than a dozen data center projects taking shape in Santa Clara County, local leaders have offered assurances that potential environmental impacts will be thoroughly assessed before any new facility gets switched on. But when it comes to water usage, a group of Bay Area researchers is warning such environmental reviews have an alarming...
Santa Clara University to open region’s first medical school in 100 years
Santa Clara University is entering the medical field through a major partnership with Sutter Health aimed at training future physicians in the South Bay. University and healthcare leaders announced the launch of the Mark & Mary Stevens School of Medicine during a Friday event outside the future campus site at 2431 Mission College Blvd. in...
Waymo driverless cars are coming to the West Valley
Driverless vehicles will soon be a more common sight in the West Valley as autonomous ride-sharing company Waymo expands into the region — leaving local officials grappling with concerns about safety and transit impacts. Waymo will begin operating in West Valley cities such as Cupertino and Campbell in the coming weeks, as well as Willow...