English
Spanish
Vietnamese
Like many of this year’s holiday traditions, Thanksgiving food events, donation stations and canned food drives have taken a hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s put a wrench into dozens of free turkey drives this holiday season as charities scramble to figure out socially distanced ways to serve low-income communities and communities of color. And as Silicon...
A look inside San Jose’s Office of Racial Equity
Five months ago at the height of Black Lives Matter protests, San Jose leaders created a racial equity office, a proposal that was shot down just two years earlier. Some critics, including civil rights leaders from Silicon Valley De-Bug, said lawmakers created the office to pacify protesters demanding the city defund the police. They said...
San Jose talks campaign finance after dramatic and costly election
As San Jose winds down from a feisty and expensive election season, Councilmember Sergio Jimenez asked lawmakers to rethink campaign finance regulations to help restore public trust in local government. “We’ve seen an astonishing amount of money spent on negative, divisive and often — as we all recall — misleading or outright false advertisements,” Jimenez...
Silicon Valley Turkey Trot goes virtual for 16th annual race
Thanksgiving Day in Silicon Valley means more than family dinners, touch football and volunteering. For the past 15 years, families across the Bay Area have flocked to downtown San Jose to participate in the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot. This year, the race is taking another page from 2020: it’s going virtual. Since its...
Watch: A live chat with VTA General Manager Nuria Fernandez
The need for reliable public transportation has never been greater, especially amid the pandemic. Valley Transportation Authority, the South Bay’s largest transit agency, is on the edge of transformation with several critical projects — such as BART to San Jose and a light rail extension to Eastridge — while grappling with unprecedented budget challenges. What...
South Bay Latinx community starts push for immigration reform in Biden administration
While President-elect Joe Biden plans how to meet the challenges facing the nation, San Jose’s Latinx community is creating a strategy for immigration reform. The Si Se Puede Collective will be asking local officials to sign a list of demands, which include a pathway to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, ending...
San Jose starts talks on police misconduct under Measure G
Now that voters overwhelmingly passed Measure G to expand the authority of the independent police auditor, city leaders are charging forward with plans to take police misconduct investigations out of the hands of the San Jose Police Department and ensure officers are fired or disciplined following abuses of power. The city’s Rules and Open Government...
Homicides, school burglaries spike during San Jose shelter in place
San Jose has seen a significant spike in crime during the pandemic. The frequency of homicides, school burglaries, commercial robberies, reports of domestic violence and auto theft has increased since the onslaught of COVID-19, according to the San Jose Police Department. Homicides Lieutenant Steve Donohue told the San Jose City Council Nov. 17 that out...
How will David Cohen shake up the San Jose City Council?
As the newly-elected David Cohen gears up to represent San Jose’s District 4, political observers look to the past to see where local policymaking is headed. The council for years has been divided across business and labor lines, leading to a handful of 6-5 split decisions in favor of Mayor Sam Liccardo’s voting bloc, which...
Public webinars coming up on status of iconic landmark in downtown San Jose
Three years ago, a group of San Jose philanthropists aspiring to build a world-class landmark downtown and donate it to the city began with the idea of erecting a light tower at Plaza de Cesar Chavez — a 21st century update on San Jose’s original icon, a 237-foot structure adorned with newfangled electric light bulbs,...