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The Santa Clara County area is rich with rock music history, from the groundwork laid by early hits like “Little Girl” by The Syndicate of Sound to the chart-topping releases of 2020 Hall of Fame inductees The Doobie Brothers. Over the last 57 years, these local bands shared one thing in common: guitars and equipment...
San Jose political candidate Gary Kremen quits campaign amid allegations
Silicon Valley politician and tech entrepreneur Gary Kremen is ending his campaign for Santa Clara County assessor five hours after an exclusive report from San José Spotlight revealed allegations from a former staffer. Kremen told San José Spotlight on Saturday he is withdrawing from the race for assessor. The announcement came shortly after a former...
San Jose politician accused of sharing nude photos
Tech entrepreneur and politician Gary Kremen is being accused by a former campaign staffer of sharing unsolicited nude photos with them. The staffer said the images coupled with other questionable behavior from Kremen caused emotional and mental anguish, eventually forcing them to quit working for him. The former staffer, who spoke with San José Spotlight...
Silicon Valley homeless tally guaranteed to be an undercount
As hundreds of volunteers went out before dawn to tally the number of people living on Silicon Valley streets this week, advocates say many are being left out of the count. The point-in-time homeless census count is part of a requirement for Santa Clara County to receive federal funding. The two-day event in Silicon Valley involves volunteers, lawmakers and advocates searching...
Santa Clara officials fire city manager
The Santa Clara City Council has fired city manager Deanna Santana in an emergency meeting Thursday night. The council voted 4-2 in closed session to remove Santana as city manager based on a lack of confidence and to suspend her with pay immediately. The council also voted 4-2 to reconvene in a week to appoint...
Watchdog alleges more labor violations at San Jose public project
A labor watchdog claims to have found a third company that committed labor violations on a costly San Jose public project, raising questions about what the city is doing to monitor these practices. Mauricio Velarde, compliance director for the South Bay Piping Industry, emailed city officials last week about alleged illegal labor practices at the San...
When will Santa Clara County ditch indoor masks?
Santa Clara County residents might be able to shed their masks indoors as soon as next week, as the county is close to hitting all metrics to ease COVID-19 restrictions. Dr. Sara Cody, the county’s public health officer, said Thursday the region is heading in the right direction, as the seven-day rolling average of new...
Reports recommend reforms for San Jose police
Reports from San Jose’s Independent Police Auditor (IPA) show an overhaul of crowd control policing is needed after a review of the 2020 George Floyd protests. Three recently released reports detail how the San Jose Police Department failed to comply with procedures due to a lack of training that resulted in poor policing. One report points out...
Volunteers scour Silicon Valley to tally homeless people
Geneva Strickland used to bounce from one street to another in North San Jose for more than six years before she found housing. On early Wednesday morning, Strickland came back to her old stomping ground with new purpose—to count the number of people who are still homeless. “I want to give back,” Strickland told San José...
Silicon Valley transit agency’s future may be falling off the rails
VTA is pondering the future of its light rail system as it considers how to replace an aging fleet of train cars. The public transit agency’s board of directors met last week to hear about the future of its light rail fleet. According to officials, VTA should replace its fleet of cars in three to...