The use of illegal fireworks in San Jose has exploded in recent years primarily because of law enforcement and fire personnel shortages and a lack of enforcement across the city. But on Tuesday, fire and police officials assured local lawmakers on the city’s widespread efforts to beef up enforcement for illegal fireworks. The City Council unanimously...

For the first time since San Jose declared a “shelter crisis” in 2015, lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved expanding an overnight warming location program for homeless residents to operate every night for the next six months — a major expansion considering the centers previously opened for a few months, based on inclement weather conditions. Councilmember...

San Jose officials confirmed Sunday morning that 7,500 customer accounts in San Jose, including parts of Santa Teresa, Alum Rock, Berryessa, Evergreen and Almaden, continue to be affected by PG&E’s latest power shutoff. That means about 22,500 people across the city are left in the dark this weekend — and could stay that way until...

Most San Joseans today may not know the name Kimball Small, but they most certainly know the pioneering developer-turned-tech-entrepreneur’s work in the city’s downtown core. Small, who developed the iconic, luxury Fairmont Hotel, the nearby retail pavillion and 50 West San Fernando (often called the KQED building), died peacefully Oct. 11. He was 84. “He...

For years, it was uncommon for San Jose lawmakers to not endorse their respective colleagues on the City Council when an incumbent faced re-election, despite differences in voting patterns or belonging to opposing political camps. But now, and increasingly in recent years, many councilmembers are backing a challenger, instead of their own council colleague —...

After more than three years and countless delays, a park named after a late political activist in San Jose still remains closed off, behind a fence and off limits to the public. But community leaders are confident that Iris Chang Park on Epic Way might actually open next month — a moment of pride for...

As greenhouse gas emissions hike up the earth’s temperature, San Jose leaders eagerly push for greener energy initiatives to combat the region’s increasingly warmer climate. As a result, the City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of implementing the California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (CALeVIP), a state-sponsored program that allows qualifying cities across California to...

The Bay Area, home to more than 7.5 million residents, is notorious for its predisposition to earth-rattling quakes. As a result, San Jose leaders want to ensure residents’ safety in the event that the next “Big One” hits. On Tuesday, lawmakers are slated to amend the city’s building standards code, as San Jose’s local climate,...

Good Karma Bikes, a nonprofit bike shop in Willow Glen that refurbishes donated bicycles to give away to homeless residents in San Jose, was burglarized twice this past week, just after celebrating its tenth anniversary. In the last decade, founder and CEO Jim Gardner says Good Karma Bikes has made 200,000 bicycle repairs, helped 25,000...

More cities across the country are scrapping Columbus Day and replacing it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day to commemorate native communities who inhabited the Americas long before European explorers like Christopher Columbus arrived. But even as the trend is growing nationwide, progressively deemed cities such as San Jose are still heavily polarized on making the switch,...