Santa Clara County’s largest water district is weighing how to address the hundreds of homeless people living along local waterways — including potential penalties for those camped on district land. Valley Water officials on Friday hosted the Unhoused People and Environment Summit featuring district staff, housing nonprofits and county officials to discuss challenges and how...
Silicon Valley school fight over LGBTQ+ curriculum has ‘big implications’
About 20 teachers and parents walked into a Cupertino Union School District board meeting Oct. 10, armed with signs that read, “Keep LGBTQ students and teachers safe at CUSD.” Another group of about eight people clutched signs that read, “Advanced gender topics don’t belong in TK.” Both groups were there for one reason — to...
Santa Clara County’s top educator loses legal bid to get job back
Recently fired Superintendent of Schools Mary Ann Dewan’s request to be reinstated has been denied by the Santa Clara County Superior Court. The court said Dewan, who filed suit against the Board of Education last week, did “not adequately establish ‘some possibility’ she will ultimately prevail on the merits.” Dewan alleged the board had no...
San Jose officials call on Omar Torres to resign amid child sex allegations
San Jose councilmembers are calling for the resignation of Omar Torres almost a week after a police affidavit revealed he’s under investigation for alleged sex crimes involving minors. “We are in the midst of an active and ongoing investigation, and as our police department uncovers the truth, that truth will be shared with the community....
Santa Clara County botches Vietnamese election billboard
Santa Clara County elections officials have taken down a Vietnamese language billboard in San Jose’s Little Saigon neighborhood, after passing drivers noticed it advertised the wrong election date. Until this month, the billboard on Story Road read “Bầu cử sơ bộ (Primary election)” and “Ngày 5 tháng Ba, 2024 (March 5, 2024).” It should say “Bầu cử tổng...
Ex-San Jose mayor leads in funding over congressional opponent
With 20 days left before the November general election, two candidates racing to represent Silicon Valley in Congress each have more than $1 million in hand — and a wide gap between them. Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has extended his funding lead over opponent Assemblymember Evan Low, raking in $1.1 million since the...
Sparks fly when Silicon Valley congressional candidates face off
Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and California Assemblymember Evan Low traded razor-sharp rebukes of each others’ records on climate, public safety and housing in a tense one-hour debate for Silicon Valley’s hottest congressional race. The candidates for Congressional District 16 were initially all smiles at NBC Bay Area’s San Jose studio on Friday. But...
Meet the candidates for Santa Clara police chief and city clerk
Alongside filling City Council seats, Santa Clara voters will need to pick their next police chief and city clerk on the November ballot. Santa Clara voters resoundingly approved to keep electing both positions after two measures failed in the March primaries to change them to appointed positions. In March, 72.4% of voters said they wanted...
Money flows into Cupertino City Council race
One mid-sized West Valley city’s council race is raking in cash, in what some residents are dubbing a high-stakes election with divisive housing issues on the table. The Cupertino City Council race has brought in about $222,000 among seven candidates vying for two seats in a city of about 60,000 residents, according to election data...
Bramson: Setting expectations for housing and homelessness on the 2024 ballot
This November you’re not going to see any money for affordable housing on the ballot locally. Nor will you see funding to help support people living on the streets or in deep poverty. There are a lot of reasons for why it ended up this way, but the bottom line is that your vote this...