Silicon Valley commuters are feeling the pain of digging deeper into their wallets on a daily basis due to the ongoing VTA worker strike. To compensate for the extra outlay, VTA is partnering with Uber to support riders while bus and light rail services are down. Starting Tuesday, VTA is providing riders with two $5...
Lawsuit: Silicon Valley water CEO pushed funding his private group
A new lawsuit alleges Valley Water CEO Rick Callender pushed to have his agency sponsor the NAACP California-Hawaii State Conference — a private group he personally oversees — with public dollars. The conflict of interest claim comes from a civil complaint filed March 20 by Salena Pryor, an NAACP colleague who worked under Callender in his...
UPDATE: VTA union workers reject latest contract offer
VTA bus drivers and light rail operators turned down the agency’s latest offer, sending negotiators back to the table and leaving Santa Clara County commuters in the lurch. Roughly 83% of members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, which represents more than 1,500 frontline VTA workers, voted Monday to reject VTA’s latest offer. The...
Santa Clara County health care workers go on strike
Scores of Santa Clara County hospital and health lab workers are on strike as the county scrambles to relaunch lifesaving care at a long-depleted East San Jose hospital. Nearly 200 clinical lab scientists, microbiologists, medical laboratory technicians and other workers at county hospitals and public health labs are on strike until Thursday. The strike will affect...
San Jose mayor and county clash over homelessness crackdown
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan wants Santa Clara County to scale up shelter and health treatment options in response to the city’s renewed crackdown on homelessness. During Tuesday’s City Council discussion on Mayor Matt Mahan’s 2025-26 March budget message, Councilmembers David Cohen and Domingo Candelas sought to involve county officials in the mayor’s “Responsibility to...
Silicon Valley VTA strike from a commuter’s lens
My morning commute usually goes like this: I hop on the BART Green Line from San Francisco’s Mission District for an hour-plus train ride to Berryessa Station in East San Jose. From there, I hold on for dear life — with gratitude — as VTA’s Rapid 500 bus hurtles toward San José Spotlight’s downtown newsroom...
VTA board chair absent in first week of strike
Thousands of VTA riders have been stranded without public transportation for 10 days due to an ongoing union strike, and the agency’s board chair has been out of town. Social media posts show Sergio Lopez, chair of the VTA board of directors and Campbell mayor, was in Yosemite over the weekend for a policymakers conference,...
Former Silicon Valley lawmaker lands job with national PAC
A former state assemblymember who made a bid for Congress last year has found another way to enter the national arena — by heading a political action committee supporting LGBTQ+ candidates. Evan Low, who represented Assembly District 26 and previously served as Campbell mayor, is now president and CEO of LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a federal...
Silicon Valley faces challenges as its population gets older
Although Silicon Valley has a reputation for attracting young, tech-savvy workers, the cycle may no longer be true as statistics point toward older adults shifting the dynamic and the area being ill-equipped for the looming change. Fewer births and longer life expectancies will have Americans age 65 and up outnumbering children by 2030, according to...
Santa Clara County cuts early education program
Santa Clara County teachers and local leaders are warning of chaos after mass layoffs have decimated a critical preschool program for families living in poverty, known as Head Start. Head Start staff received pink slips around March 15 amid uncertainty as to whether the federal program under the Trump administration will reimburse the Santa Clara...