Santa Clara County nurses who keep oxygen flowing to people with spinal cord and brain injuries already work in a tense environment, but some fear their jobs are about to get harder. Three nurses in the acute respiratory rehabilitation unit at Valley Medical Center — who spoke to San José Spotlight under condition of anonymity...
Santa Clara County to increase transparency on lawsuit settlements
Santa Clara County leaders are still trying to lift the curtain on how taxpayer money is used to pay for lawsuit settlements on issues such as jail deaths. The Board of Supervisors took action to publicize such settlements last year, but reports haven’t fully delivered. Now supervisors want to include even more details for the...
State bill affecting Santa Clara County landlines pulled after backlash
A state bill that would have let AT&T off the hook for emergency landline service — circumventing state regulators and affecting remote pockets of Santa Clara County — is on hold after public backlash. Assembly Bill 2797 has been pulled from the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee meeting slated for Tuesday. It comes...
Santa Clara County oversight office under fire over Tasers
As the Santa Clara County Sheriff pushes to arm deputies with Tasers, one local civil rights group argues the sheriff’s oversight office acts more as a rubber stamp. In May, the county Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring voiced support for a policy outlining how deputies would use Tasers if deployed in jails and certain...
San Jose LGBTQ+ center namesake embraced everyone
Not much is known about William Price, the drag queen whose name adorns the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center in San Jose. Price, an African American drag queen and activist who performed under the name “Billy DeFrank,” used his performances to fundraise for various causes, according to Gabrielle Antolovich, president of the center’s board of...
Santa Clara County politician gets top job in New Mexico
After two attempts to leave Silicon Valley, a South Bay political fixture was chosen to lead a county hundreds of miles away — in New Mexico. Elected leaders in Bernalillo County chose Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez to be the county’s top administrator in a split 3-2 vote Tuesday. If she accepts the job...
Santa Clara County loses top election official before November races
Santa Clara County’s top elections official is bowing out four months before the November election and shortly after her office landed in the hot seat over a historic recount. After nearly 30 years leading the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters through myriad controversies, Shannon Bushey is retiring on Friday due to medical reasons, according...
San Jose BART expansion needs federal funding to finish the job
Construction workers broke ground on BART’s expansion in Santa Clara this week, and officials are banking on federal funding to help finish the job. Santa Clara County Supervisor and VTA Board Chair Cindy Chavez and other labor leaders urged the Federal Transportation Agency on Tuesday to approve VTA’s $6.2 billion funding request to support the...
San José Spotlight’s PolitiBeat tackles the future of Silicon Valley
San José Spotlight’s all-day political festival returned for its second year to tackle pressing issues facing Silicon Valley, from artificial intelligence and county elections to the region’s evolving identity. Roughly 200 attendees heard firsthand from local leaders in government, education, technology and development, converging on June 14 at the Hammer Theatre in downtown San Jose...
Silicon Valley transit agency services off track, state audit shows
Santa Clara County’s main transportation agency needs to change how it is governed and improve its transparency with the people it serves, a recent audit reveals. The California State Auditor released an audit of VTA earlier this month, requesting the public transit agency improve its existing operations by taking measures such as strengthening planning and oversight of capital projects,...