Politics

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Mountain View’s cold weather homeless shelter has for years provided a warm place to sleep at night during the winter months. Now the city and county are working to expand its operations to six months out of the year, providing more services to the unhoused.

A winery owner in California is suing Santa Clara County after being fined more than $120,000 for allowing a long-term employee to live in an RV on the property for a number of years. According to The Mercury News, Michael Ballard, whose family owns Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards south of San Francisco,...

Gov. Gavin Newsom is awarding $131 million in grants to cities and counties that are seriously addressing homeless encampments. These grants come with stricter accountability measures than ever before. Newsom announced $131 million in grants to cities and counties, the latest in a billion-dollar program aimed at resolving the homeless...

There were opposing rallies on opposite sides of the San Francisco Bay.Both of them were regarding Proposition 36, a ballot measure that voters will decide on during next month's election.If passed, Prop 36 would increase sentencing for certain drug and theft crimes, rolling back previous criminal justice reforms passed by voters in 2014."We have a situation right now in San Francisco where there's just a level of public drug use that we can't tolerate. It's not helping our neighborhoods. It's not helping our economy. But least of all, it's not helping anybody who is struggling with a substance use disorder,"...

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. - Just days after the Santa Clara County Board of Education fired their superintendent of schools, there was a new development. Lawyers for Mary Ann Dewan now say her termination was unlawful. In fact, they're questioning everything from the way it was handled, to the board's authority to do it at all.

Most Bay Area residents are finding it harder to afford necessities such as groceries, gas, child care, housing, and home insurance, according to a new poll by the Bay Area News Group and Joint Venture Silicon Valley, with seven in 10 respondents agreeing the region’s quality of life has gotten worse in recent years.

In a virtual news conference Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced more than $130 million to help combat the state's homelessness crisis."We need to take back the streets, and these encampment resolution grants are a part of that," Newsom said.In total, 18 cities and counties across the state will be receiving part of the money. That includes several locations here in the Bay Area, like San Francisco and Contra Costa County.Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia said his county plans on using the $5.7 million it's receiving to clear an encampment near the city of San Pablo.MORE: Sonoma Co. parking lot...

SAN JOSE — The owner of a San Jose housing tower that is mired in a thicket of lawsuits and legal complaints is now attempting to rent, rather than sell, the units in the highrise. The residential building at 188 West St. James Street in downtown San Jose is...

Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a new state law that could lead to more farmworker housing development in Santa Clara County. Assembly Bill 3035 was authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin and was inspired by Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas’ Agricultural Worker Housing Initiative, says a press release from Arenas’ office. The new law, which was signed by Newsom on Sept. 24, builds upon the Farmworker Housing Act of 2019 by expanding the geographic area that is eligible for streamlined development.

Milpitas is seeking an order against its former city manager to stop him from leaking information prior to a trial, the latest saga in an ongoing legal battle. Last December, ousted City Manager Steve McHarris filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Milpitas, accusing city officials of intimidation and unethical behavior — including Mayor Carmen Montano. The city denied wrongdoing and hired an outside law firm to conduct its own investigation into the same issues.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... State officials are weighing whether to conduct an “extraordinary audit” of the Mountain View Whisman School District, a type of external review that’s meant to investigate possible fraud, misappropriation of funds or other illegal fiscal practices. Santa Clara County’s superintendent of...

Monday, October 7 marks the start of San Francisco Fleet Week.Service members are in the city ready to highlight some of the hard work they do. They're also ready to experience all San Francisco has to offer, but for a handful of them, this week marks a special homecoming."It's definitely a privilege to be here," Lt. Kimberly Main of the U.S. Navy said. She grew up 20 miles away in Lafayette.MORE: San Francisco Fleet Week 2024 schedule of eventsThroughout the week, you'll see ships like the U.S.S. Tripoli in San Francisco to help showcase the contributions of men and women...

In San Jose, a center of California’s housing crisis, one of the oldest and last remaining Japanese-owned farms in the state will be demolished to pave the way for urban housing. San Jose is home to one of only three existing Japantowns in the country and the only one...

San Francisco drivers, be prepared for major delays this weekend as the northbound US-101 connector to the Central Freeway is closed for emergency barrier repairs. The closure will last until 5 AM on Monday, October 7.

In San José, the unwelcome buzz of the non-native Aedes aegypti mosquito has been detected, prompting local vector control agencies to take swift action. According to the County of Santa Clara Vector Control District, these invasive pests, known carriers of diseases like dengue and yellow fever, were found near Oak Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park. The district is launching an eradication campaign to avert the establishment of a permanent mosquito population.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... KEY DEPARTURES … After more than 15 years in Palo Alto and five years at the helm of City of Palo Alto Utilities, Director Dean Batchelor is preparing for retirement. The city is preparing to launch a search for a new leader for the Utilities Department. Batchelor had worked at PG&E and at Alameda Municipal Power and Telecom before he came to Palo Alto, where he worked as an assistant director and the Utilities Department’s chief operating officer before getting appointed director in 2019. Under his leadership, the department has launched several giant ongoing projects, including the upgrade of the city’s electric grid and a massive expansion of the fiber backbone. The city’s Utilities Advisory Commission is set to discuss next week the qualities that they would like to see in the next utilities director. His is not the only notable departure. Chief Planning Official Amy French, who had spent 26 years at City Hall and enjoyed stints as assistant planning director and supervising code enforcement officer, concluded her tenure on Oct. 1. French has been at the forefront of many significant and contentious planning efforts, including the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, the new vision for the Ventura neighborhood and zoning changes to encourage accessory dwelling units. To honor her contributions, the City Council is set to approve on Oct. 7 a resolution that lists her many achievements and commends her as “a mentor who has trained many new planners who have moved into managerial roles; and has earned the respect of her colleagues through her personable nature, depth of knowledge, and ability to collaborate with individuals across the organization.”

Columbia, Maryland, Fremont, California and Huntington Beach, California, ranked as the top three best cities for women to lay down roots. The post Here Are The Best And Worst Cities For Women To Live In 2024: Study appeared first on MadameNoire.

(KRON) — More than 1 million ballots for the November 5 Presidential General Election are being mailed out to homes across Santa Clara County. County election officials said “Vote by Mail” packets are in the process of being sent to 1,041,499 registered voters. Every active registered voter will receive a Vote by Mail ballot, officials […]