Santa Clara elected leaders Tuesday night faced a full agenda, voting on issues around affordable housing, 2020 voting centers and the future of massage parlors in the city. The meeting was a relatively tame one following last week’s council meeting, where officials ridiculed the San Francisco 49ers for alleged mismanagement of Levi’s Stadium and voted...
San Jose lawmakers approve extension of tax breaks for high-rises
At the forefront of Tuesday’s San Jose City Council meeting, lawmakers discussed how the two interwoven crises plaguing the region — housing and homelessness — are alarmingly growing worse. In response, the councilmembers passed a smorgasbord of housing measures, which include expediting the study of a commercial linkage fee and extending a contentious tax break...
Longtime South Bay attorney Anne Kepner joins Assembly race
South Bay consumer attorney Anne Kepner, who’s served five years on the West Valley-Mission Community College Board, is running for an open Assembly seat in what’s shaping up to be one of the most closely-watched races this fall. Kepner, 50, last week joined the race to succeed Kansen Chu in Assembly District 25, which covers...
Santa Clara County has highest wage theft in the state. But a new office can help with that.
Santa Clara County has the highest number of wage theft claims in California, but county leaders announced plans Monday to open a new enforcement office to fix that. Established in Sept. 2018, the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement leads the county’s data collection and research initiatives to advance labor standards, including combating wage theft. The office opened its...
San Jose lawmakers to discuss strategies to end homelessness
The San Jose City Council is set to hear several big ticket items on Tuesday, including a proposal to extend a tax break for high-rise developments in downtown and updates on the city’s homelessness and housing crises. Lawmakers will hear an annual update on the city’s ongoing homelessness crisis, and a proposal led by Councilmember...
Santa Clara County is aging fast, but resources for elders remain scarce
Elders are projected to make up nearly a quarter of Santa Clara County’s population by 2046. With that growing number of older adults, county lawmakers say a focus on elder abuse, housing, transportation, social participation and safety needs to grow, too. Those issues were discussed during a special meeting by Santa Clara County’s Children, Seniors...
Milpitas Vice Mayor Karina Dominguez drops out of Assembly race
Three months after announcing a bid for California Assembly, Milpitas Vice Mayor Karina Dominguez announced early Saturday on Facebook that she’s dropping out of the race. “While an Assembly seat provides the opportunity to create great change for our families, after deep reflection and very thoughtful consideration, I have decided to withdraw and end my...
Hundreds marched through downtown San Jose for climate strike
Hundreds of climate protestors marched from Diridon Station to City Hall in a climate strike Friday afternoon, one of dozens of environmental protests planned around the Bay Area. “We need to save our world,” said Devon Johnson, 22. “Nothing’s really working, so we need to pull out all the stops. We need to be making this...
San Francisco 49ers sue Santa Clara over management dispute at Levi’s Stadium
The San Francisco 49ers have filed a suit against the city of Santa Clara following a vote by city officials to remove the football team as the manager of Levi’s Stadium during non-NFL events. That filing, known as a request for declaratory relief, was submitted Friday to the Santa Clara Superior Court. In it, the...
Social workers arrested in fight to save East San Jose family resource center
More than a dozen activists were arrested Thursday in San Jose after blocking a street to protest Santa Clara County’s decision to close its Department of Family and Children’s Services on North King Road and move the family resource center to its campus on West Julian Street — more than three miles away. The social...