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Adolfo Gomez had driven just five minutes away from his downtown San Jose restaurant, Mezcal, when he got a call from a friend that the doors to the business had been broken and people were looting. His friend’s daughter had recorded and shared the action on her phone after what started as a peaceful protest...
Thousands gather at San Jose City Hall for a peaceful protest
Explosive sounds of rubber bullets and shrieks from the crowd were nowhere to be heard Friday, instead replaced with music, chants and a “die-in” at San Jose City Hall. Friday’s peaceful Black Lives Matter rally brought out thousands of people, but it was starkly different from a protest last Friday demanding justice for the police...
From the editor: San Jose police detention of journalists is City Hall’s problem
The morning after one of our freelance reporters covering the George Floyd protests was detained by San Jose police and left on the ground, my phone lit up from a text message from Police Chief Eddie Garcia. “Ramona, saw you tweet last night,” he wrote. “Getting more information on all of that. Let me know...
South Bay lawmakers pledge to put equity at center of policymaking
More than 20 Silicon Valley lawmakers this week signed a new pledge that outlines how elected officials will consider equity and the needs of disadvantaged communities in policymaking. The pledge, which was introduced Wednesday by San Jose councilmembers Sylvia Arenas, Maya Esparza, Magdalena Carrasco, Raul Peralez, Sergio Jimenez and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President...
Manufacturing is big business in San Jose, and it’s ready to get back to work
Virag Saksena’s whisky, which he makes at 10th Street Distillery in San Jose, is sitting in barrels ready to bottle, but his hands have been tied for months due to the shelter-in-place order that prohibited nonessential manufacturers from operating starting in mid-March. He set aside whisky making for producing hand sanitizer, but now Saksena is...
San Jose city, police double down on use of force during protests
Reflecting on scores of fired rubber rounds, hundreds of deployed officers, 180 arrests and several viral videos, San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia doubled down Thursday on his officers’ use of force this past week during mostly peaceful protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. San Jose was the first Bay...
As child abuse calls drop, Silicon Valley organizations fill gaps for prevention
Calls to Santa Clara County’s child abuse and neglect hotline have declined in recent weeks, but that drop doesn’t necessarily reflect a decrease in abuse and neglect occurring. As children are studying at home after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools across the United States, they’re no longer seeing teachers, coaches, family friends or other trusted...
Santa Clara policy denies gay commissioner a role in Pride flag raising
As members of the Santa Clara City Council raise the LGBTQ Pride flag at City Hall Friday morning, a 25-year-old city policy denied a gay commissioner from standing in as a last-minute replacement. When Vice Mayor Karen Hardy, a math and computer science teacher at Wilcox High School, recently learned that she had the opportunity...
Stone: Good cops must report bad cops
If you see something, say something. Every police force has a certain degree of “Blue Silence” — good cops who see bad behavior by fellow officers, and say nothing. The high school bully that becomes a cop, and applies just a little more force than necessary against a minority or vulnerable citizen. The cop who...
Silicon Valley economic slowdown brings positive news for environment, safety
With more than 2,800 cases of COVID-19 in Santa Clara County resulting in 144 deaths, and unemployment at almost 12 percent, a source of positive news can be found in the effects of quarantine on the environment and traffic safety. Significant decreases in travel by car should prove advantageous for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in...