Billionaire Netflix CEO and Rocketship Education investor Reed Hastings says he's figured out the problem with public education: Democratically elected school boards.

More than a year after San Jose upped its minimum wage to $10 an hour and as the conversation around pay increases for low-paid workers ramps up on a national scale, Santa Clara County is starting to look at enacting a similar measure for unincorporated parts of the region. Supervisor Dave Cortese, who’s also running for mayor of San Jose, will lead the discussion when the Board of Supervisors meets on Tuesday. A county ordinance comes with many more challenges than a citywide measure, Cortese notes.

San Jose’s homeless residents could soon have the option of using their housing vouchers to stay in underutilized hotels and motels.

In his final budget message before he terms out at the end of this year, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed says it’s time to invest in public safety again.

The parents of Audrie Pott, the 15-year-old Saratoga girl who hanged herself after being sexually assaulted and cyberbullied by classmates, have successfully lobbied for a bill that would strengthen California’s sex crime statutes.

Sunnyvale's gun control measure, which includes a ban on gun clips holding more than 10 rounds, doesn't violate the Second Amendment, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Apparently it’s illegal to fire slingshots, crossbows, BB guns and other projectile weapons in San Jose. But a club of model ship makers hopes the city will make an exception.

It’s come to this: Labor blasting city of San Jose officials via poetry. Bad poetry. Like really, really awful poetry. The missive at hand is a 12-line poem written in couplets by police union head Jim Unland.

Last week, Santa Clara County Judge Patricia Lucas issued a final Measure B verdict. A reader wondered in an email why we didn’t write about it. Fair point, which brings us to this update. The final decision in the landmark pension reform case that forced employees to contribute 16 percent more of their pay to retirement costs is similar to the tentative ruling trotted out in December, except for a couple details.

Santa Clara County jails have seen a sharp uptick in assaults over the past few years, partly because of state prison reforms that pushed more dangerous inmates to local correctional facilities.

City leaders on Tuesday will consider placing a measure to extend an about-to-expire library parcel tax on the June ballot.

The mayor's race is on, so of course there are going to be fireworks. But the latest tiff in San Jose's quadrennial contest actually involves fireworks.

In a poll commissioned by his backers, 17th Congressional District Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose) holds a solid lead in his bid for re-election. But a closer look at the numbers shows Honda's early advantage might not be as strong as he'd like.

Supporters of a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana in San Jose attended Tuesday night's Miley Cyrus concert at the SAP Center to collect petition signatures. Things probably got a little weird.

Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio's plan to change the way San Jose funds it police department comes back to the Rules and Open Government Committee this week.

In 2011, a sociology professor released a study on campus climate at San Jose State University that noted problems with minorities feeling singled-out, isolated and discriminated against—sometimes even by faculty. The report’s author, Susan Murray, offered three recommendations: require diversity training for all staff and teachers, establish an office of campus diversity and incorporate diversity research into the tenure process.