One month ago, millions of Californians celebrated the end of COVID-19 restrictions and mask mandates. But a new variant of the virus poses an outbreak threat that some experts say is only a matter of time. While people took their masks off for the first time in a year, COVID-19 spread and mutated, mainly among unvaccinated people. Now,...
Teachers can’t afford to live in San Jose
Affordable housing remains elusive for young teachers in San Jose, leaving them with long commutes or forcing them to look for jobs elsewhere. The high cost of living in the Bay Area is challenging for new teachers and other employees, including cafeteria workers and groundskeepers, said San Jose Unified School District spokesperson Jennifer Maddox. “It’s...
EGD: San Jose police doesn’t know what it’s doing with its own tech
During a cool Thanksgiving weekend in 2019, Brian Hofer and his younger brother were driving home to Oakland along I-80 in Contra Costa County. The rental vehicle they were driving, a Kia from the rental company Getaround, was reported stolen from San Jose just the month before. Yet the report was not updated after the...
San Jose: The second most expensive place to rent in the country
If you earn minimum wage in San Jose, you either need a roommate or a second job to afford market-rate rent. For the 44% of San Jose’s population that rents their homes, this is likely not a surprise. But a new report describes just how stratified the local rental market has become over the past...
Silicon Valley reps back bay restoration bill
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The San Francisco Bay could get a $125 million boost to help improve its water quality and restore surrounding wetlands. The House of Representatives passed the San Francisco Bay Restoration Act last month and the Senate recently referred it to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), who co-sponsored the bill,...
One man’s fight against recidivism in Santa Clara County
For Johnny Lee Clarke, preventing former inmates from returning to jail is personal. Clarke, 59, spent six years in federal prison for hacking into bank accounts and writing $22,000 in bad checks when he was 24. He turned his life around and endeavors to do the same for others. Through his company CityLab Professional, Clarke teaches technical training...
Santa Clara County sees increase in value of taxable properties
The value of taxable properties in Santa Clara County rose by 4.6% since last year—showing that the pandemic’s economic impact had a limited reach. “This was not a normal business cycle,” Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone told San José Spotlight. “This was a self-imposed recession, based upon the health crisis.” The total value of...
Enfantino: California’s Private Attorneys General Act must be overhauled
California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) has made the Golden State even more golden for trial attorneys, while raising litigation challenges via frivolous lawsuits for employers and costing them thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition to bringing individual or class-action claims, disgruntled employees can sue under PAGA for any alleged labor...
San Jose, school districts push for digital equity
Students are resuming in-person instruction this school year, but some will be returning with significantly different experiences from their months of virtual learning. Erendia Diaz, who has sons in the Alum Rock Union School District and East Side Union School District, experienced this gap firsthand. When her sons switched to virtual learning last year due...
VTA to discuss remodeling site of San Jose mass shooting
A mass shooting in May left San Jose without light rail service for weeks. Now that VTA has a roadmap to resume service, the transit agency will discuss a budget that, among other things, seeks to rebuild parts of the rail yard damaged in the shooting. VTA’s Board of Directors will discuss funding Tuesday to rehabilitate and rebuild...