San Jose & Silicon Valley News

The Race for the DA's Office
Dolores Carr is facing a stiff challenge to her bid to stay on as Santa Clara County's DA, but she's fighting back. Even before challenger Jeff Rosen officially entered the race on Wednesday, Carr sent out an email citing a 2006 Mercury News report in its "Tainted Trials, Stolen Justice" series, which reported that an appeals court found that Rosen made a trial error several years earlier by ignoring a judge's ruling to obtain a conviction » Read More

Where Does All the Money Go?
It used to be conventional wisdom that no one should spend more than 25 percent of their income on rent or get a mortgage worth more than two years gross salary. A new study by the Urban Land Institute shows that Bay Area residents are thinking outside the box—or throwing conventional wisdom out the window. » Read More

IN San Jose, people who rely on a doctor-prescribed puff of pot to relieve pain must hit the highway, and drive to a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco or Santa Cruz, or else hit the street, and buy a bag from a dealer. City Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio has a plan designed to help relieve cancer patients’ pain, and also make the city a mint in sales taxes. » Read More

City to Host Skating Championships
San Jose is not known for its icy climate, but it does have its share of world-class figure skaters. Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi grew up in San Jose, and so did U.S. champion Rudy Galindo, who won the Gold right here in San Jose in 1996. The two of them used their star power to bring the U.S. Skating Championships back to San Jose in 2012. » Read More

Is the VTA Facing Even More Cuts?
Bus fares could rise and service could be reduced now that the VTA has announced new deficit figures totaling $98 million. On Aug. 10, SanJose.com reported that VTA officials decided to advance a fare hike from January 2010 to October 2009 in order to raise $1 million in revenue and offset possible service reductions. The excuse given for the hike was an anticipated budget shortfall of $36 million budget. » Read More

”Girafa" Graffiti Artist Arrested by SJPD
Most people know Steven Free as "Girafa." The 30-year-old San Francisco resident made a name for himself throughout the Bay Area dabbing his trademark giraffe logo on buildings everywhere from Contra Costa to Alameda, but most of all in San Jose. » Read More

Tesla Motors to Start Hiring
Tesla Motors announced that it is planning to start hiring. The electric car manufacturer is taking advantage of a news tax incentive to promote green industry, in order to expand its Palo Alto headquarters and hire as many as 1,400 people. » Read More

Pyle to Investigate Leash Law
It all began with a freak accident. On Sept. 16, Beverly Head, 62, was walking along the Los Alamitos Creek Trail when she was passed by a man on a mountain bike with two Siberian huskies trailing behind him. She got entangled in the leash and fell backwards on her head, suffering severe brain trauma. A few hours later, she was dead, and the city has since been investigating whether to regulate the length of leashes that cyclists can use while walking their dogs. » Read More

SJPD Officers Will Carry Cameras
The SJPD has a new weapon in its arsenal. Officers responding to calls will soon be outfitted with a new mini-camera that will fit over their ear like a Bluetooth device. The device will record everything they do in high definition, so that it can be played back in the event of a problem. It will be the first police department in the country to deploy the new device. » Read More

City Manager Faced with Budget Dilemma
City Manager Debra Figone has a huge dilemma on her hands. With San Jose facing a $90 million deficit, she is being forced to make drastic spending cuts. Laying her options on the table, she explains that since personnel costs account for almost $600 million of the city's general operating fund, she can either slash benefits or lay off 763 municipal workers, almost 12 percent of the city's total workforce. With new union contracts about to be negotiated for most of these workers, she is about to face a fight. » Read More