Elections in Silicon Valley might be a year away, but special interest groups are already lining up to spend big bucks on their favored candidates. In 2022, many major offices are at stake. San Jose will have a new mayor, and two San Jose City Council colleagues are already jockeying for it. San Jose will...
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How San Jose schools fared during COVID-19
New report cards on Santa Clara County’s public schools during COVID -19 show most high school seniors graduated, suspensions disproportionately hurt students of color and some teachers are being priced out of the region. These are the findings of San José Spotlight’s analysis of the latest school accountability report cards, despite those reports omitting data about student test scores and absenteeism...
San Jose boots tenants but offers no help
A lawyer contacted San Jose about several clients living in substandard housing conditions. City officials dragged their feet, allowing the tenants to live in squalor for more than a month — before abruptly kicking them out. San Jose code enforcement officers on Thursday forced 15 to 20 people, including several children, to leave several mobile...
Lack of hybrid learning leaves some San Jose students behind
Before the COVID-19 pandemic forced school districts to move to remote learning, Polly Ferguson said her fifth grade grandson could not read or grasp basic math concepts. That changed after 15 months of one-on-one tutoring and online school. But as school districts phase out online learning in favor of returning to in-person instruction, Ferguson worries all...
Masks recommended indoors again in Santa Clara County
Bay Area health officials are now urging all residents to mask up when indoors out of rising concerns of the highly-infectious Delta variant. Santa Clara County, joined by a coalition of six other Bay Area counties and the city of Berkeley, recommends all residents resume wearing masks inside—regardless of vaccination status. “Out of an abundance...
From fields to the frontlines: Chava Bustamante inspires next generation
Salvador “Chava” Bustamante was first arrested for civil disobedience in 1979 at the age of 28. The labor organizer, who recently stepped down as executive director of Latinos United for a New America (LUNA), was striking with the United Farm Workers in Salinas. He was sentenced to three months in Monterey County Jail for the strike, and...
VTA further delays return of San Jose light rail
Bad news for South Bay commuters—VTA may have overestimated its readiness to resume light rail service. On Tuesday, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority announced that its light rail trains are likely to start later than the end of July, as the agency previously stated. “VTA is working diligently and compassionately to restore the service we...
San Jose’s largest emergency homeless shelter closes
Homeless advocates say dozens of people are left without a roof over their heads after South Hall, one of San Jose’s largest temporary COVID-19 shelters, shut down Thursday. City officials have vowed to help find shelter for all the residents through a nonprofit partner. “Some people went to tiny homes,” homeless advocate Shaunn Cartwright told...
A tale of two San Jose rose gardens
When visitors hear “San Jose Rose Garden,” they likely picture a lush field of roses growing over a well-manicured lawn. But that’s not what they see at the Heritage Rose Garden, which has fallen victim to neglect, vandalism and even arson over the last year. “We desperately need a few new serious volunteers who will...
This Silicon Valley town is doubling its housing; residents are crying foul
In a town that has barely grown for the last two decades, Los Gatos is looking to add more housing—almost twice as many units as it needs by 2040. Officials are recommending 3,783 new housing units in the next 20 years. That’s a significant 90% increase over the town’s state-mandated housing production goal of 1,993....