This year, a multimillion-dollar deficit won’t just threaten Santa Clara County’s essential public services — it will force county leaders to reckon with a decade-long overspending crisis in the Sheriff’s Office. Since 2013, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office has exceeded its budget by millions of dollars annually — and roughly $20 million last year...
Silicon Valley advocates push to increase voter turnout
Voter turnout for California’s primary election is expected to be low statewide. But officials and advocates remain hopeful about Santa Clara County, as they make their final push to increase voter participation in marginalized communities. The county Registrar of Voters is expecting 45% to 55% of the estimated 81.4% of registered county voters to cast...
Silicon Valley economy sees slow rebound post-pandemic
Silicon Valley is not experiencing the same booming energy and rapid growth it’s known for as the local tech economy continues adjusting to a post-pandemic reality — but researchers say the region is still a powerful hub of innovation that is fully recovering. While Silicon Valley remains a place of massive wealth, longstanding disparities persist. With...
UPDATE: Santa Clara County school superintendent still on the job
It was an emotional night for Santa Clara County’s top educator, as she wondered whether her time as superintendent might end. Residents waited for more than two hours at Wednesday’s Santa Clara County Board of Education meeting as trustees weighed Superintendent Mary Ann Dewan’s performance behind closed doors — which could have led to discipline...
Santa Clara County nurses rally over pay, working conditions
Santa Clara County nurses are rallying at Valley Medical Center in an effort to bring renewed attention to familiar concerns including pay, working conditions and patient care standards. About 100 nurses and other health care workers gathered Wednesday afternoon at the hospital courtyard, holding signs, yelling chants and calling on county leaders to meet their...
How many Santa Clara County tech workers have been laid off?
Silicon Valley made everything the world needed when the pandemic reared its head, including testing kits, medical records software and virtual meeting platforms — and with it came a tech sector hiring frenzy. But after COVID subsided and the Bay Area began adjusting to a post-pandemic world, scores of tech workers started losing their jobs....
Silicon Valley dam upgrade draws scrutiny over price tag
Residents and environmental activists continue to scrutinize the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s plans to expand a regional dam. Valley Water employees presented updates and fielded questions about the controversial Pacheco Dam expansion — including questions about costs. The project’s estimated cost is $2.78 billion, but factoring financing and other contingencies could escalate the price...
Silicon Valley water director harassed colleagues, probe finds
An embattled Valley Water leader made harassing, discriminatory, abusive and demeaning comments to colleagues and underlings over a series of months, a recent investigation has found. Attorneys from the Meyers Nave law firm said in a summary released Friday that various statements by Santa Clara Valley Water District Board Member Rebecca Eisenberg “more likely than not”...
Santa Clara County D2 candidate dismisses ‘cruel’ voter registration rumors
Issues of cultural and family duty are becoming the center of controversy in a historic race that might seat Santa Clara County’s first Vietnamese American supervisor. Madison Nguyen, a frontrunner candidate for the District 2 Board of Supervisors seat, is blasting a labor group supporting her chief opponent, Betty Duong, for fueling misinformation that Nguyen...
Silicon Valley parents face highest child care costs
A national survey ranks California among the top five states with the least affordable child care. Local officials say Santa Clara County is worse. California ranked third, second and fifth for least affordable nannying, babysitting and infant day care in 2023 respectively, based on a national survey of 2,000 respondents with children under age 14...