With the state set to lift COVID-19 restrictions next week, some San Jose church leaders say they will continue to require attendees to wear masks and social distance for in-person services. Lorianna Gardere, operations pastor at Bible Way Christian Center, said the center has held weekly virtual services since March 2020. The first in-person service will...
A little more than a year after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer —following massive protests and calls for reform of police departments across the country—San Jose police officers took the life of another Black man, Demetrius Stanley, on May 31. “It’s really heartbreaking to see so many families lose their loved...
Stopping fights, finding bloody clothes and calling the police: All in a day’s work for San Jose Public Library employees. Library workers are concerned for their safety following the May 26 mass shooting at a VTA light rail yard that left 10 dead including the gunman. One employee started a petition demanding library leaders and...
The high costs of building in San Jose, among the highest in the state, imperil the supply of a crucial source of financing for affordable housing: state tax credits. “Each year, these programs change their funding requirements,” Michael Lane, state policy director at urban planning think tank SPUR, told San José Spotlight. “It takes multiple years to put...
Washington, D.C.— America has a familiar routine when it comes to mass shootings: Vigils are held, thoughts and prayers offered, money is raised to support the victims’ families and heated arguments ensue over gun control. Then comes the eventual return to the status quo, until the next mass shooting, when the cycle repeats itself. The...
The disgruntled VTA employee who killed nine of his coworkers before committing suicide was never written up, the transit agency said Thursday, despite one coworker saying he “scared” them and suspected he would “go postal.” He did, however, have a history of insubordination and verbal altercations with coworkers. VTA released these details Thursday on the...
In one Bay Area city, public meetings are going to run a bit differently, with more or less transparency depending on who you ask. In a split 3-2 vote, the Los Gatos Town Council this month approved a change to the consent calendar—a list of items usually approved with a single vote of the council—that...
When Yajaira Gutierrez first heard of a widespread survey about the potential closure of Reid-Hillview Airport in East San Jose, she was surprised by what it found. “I thought the results were really alarming,” Gutierrez told San José Spotlight. “It didn’t make sense to me that the community would rather keep that airport open than shut...
During the pandemic, government meetings went online to allow for greater public participation and compliance with social distancing guidelines. But with COVID-19 on the decline, some are wondering when meetings might return to an in-person format. Hybrid meetings may be the answer. Both the San Jose City Council and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors...
The nation’s 10th largest city lost residents at its highest rate last year and is among the slowest-growing South Bay cities in the past decade, according to population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. San Jose, the most populous city in Santa Clara County with 1.01 million residents, lost almost 13,000 people between 2019 and 2020. That’s roughly...
