Local college trustee and political aide Patrick Ahrens is leading a field of six in a race to fill the open seat in California’s 26th Assembly District. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Ahrens is ahead with 34.4% of the vote. Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Tara Sreekrishnan is in second with 26.9% and...
Fact check: Did Omar Din create 200 homeless shelters?
Residents are questioning claims in a recent campaign ad from state Assembly candidate Omar Din that he helped create homeless shelters in San Jose. The advertisement asserts Din — Sunnyvale’s vice mayor and a candidate for Assembly District 26 — will prioritize public safety and includes examples of his past work, ranging from increasing funding for...
Silicon Valley senator wants to consolidate 27 transit agencies
Transit agencies across the Bay Area are suffering from low ridership and fiscal strain. One lawmaker thinks combining them may be a solution. State Sen. Aisha Wahab, whose district covers Sunnyvale and Milpitas, has submitted a bill asking the California State Transportation Agency to create a plan that would consolidate the Bay Area’s 27 transit...
Silicon Valley lawmaker targets AI political misinformation
Before election season heats up, one state lawmaker wants to eliminate potential threats from artificial intelligence spreading misinformation in political advertising. Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, who represents District 28, plans to introduce a bill in the coming weeks to ban political advertising materials deceptively altered through AI. District 28 includes Santa Cruz, Los Gatos and parts of San Jose,...
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San Jose lawsuit sparks legislation to bolster government transparency
From Stockton to Anaheim and San Jose, government officials across California use personal email accounts and texts to do the public’s business—and those messages often never see the light of day because public agencies can’t access them. Now, a San Jose legislator is working to change that. State Sen. Dave Cortese on Monday introduced a...
New laws that affect Silicon Valley in 2024
California residents can expect a variety of new laws to take effect in 2024, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed hundreds of bills to tackle the state’s most pressing issues. These bills range from updates to mental health services and housing to worker protections to safe drinking water, and Silicon Valley lawmakers championed many of them....
Three Silicon Valley candidates compete for state seat
A myriad of South Bay seats are set to open up with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo’s retirement—and one of the most contested may be the race for Assembly District 26. Three politicos have already hopped into the race for Assemblymember Evan Low’s seat, with the incumbent eying Eshoo’s congressional seat. Low could not yet confirm he’s running, but...
San Jose schools to teach media literacy in misinformation fight
California passed a bill last month to help students tell fact from fiction, especially regarding social media. Now it’s up to school districts to incorporate media literacy into the curriculum. The bill, AB 873, was authored by local Assemblymember Marc Berman and signed into law on Oct. 13. Its purpose is to integrate media literacy...
Political giant, mentor and role model: Silicon Valley mourns Dianne Feinstein
Silicon Valley leaders and politicos are mourning the death of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein—the longest serving female senator in history. She was 90. Feinstein was a historic fixture in California politics and won election to the U.S. Senate in 1992 after a political career in San Francisco. After a series of health struggles and an...
Will social housing in Silicon Valley find funding to break ground?
A local assemblyman’s goal of establishing social housing in California is one signature away from fruition, but lingering questions remain about how these projects will be funded. Assembly Bill 309 author Assemblymember Alex Lee said social housing—a method where governments own, manage and maintain homes designed as affordable housing—will help alleviate California’s housing crunch. But...