San Jose’s beleaguered entertainment community, already reeling from a multi-agency crackdown on downtown San Jose clubs, now faces a new threat in the form of a well-intentioned ordinance to bring promoters under the umbrella of the City of San Jose’s regulatory apparatus. Currently, promoters escape many of the requirements that club operators face in bringing entertainment to the public, so not everyone thinks it’s a bad idea to have these pied pipers show some accountability.

Isn’t there something a little counterintuitive about tapping into recycling money to help pay for global warming programs in California? But that’s exactly what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to do. The governor has been touting his massive global warming bill for the last year, suggesting this legislation will make California the bellwether of green policy. But alas, he has yet to find the money to fund these megaprograms, which include expanding solar rooftops across the state.

San Jose Mercury News employees already know the drill—just stay home and wait by the phone. It took about two hours on Friday for Merc executives to call employees and inform them they no longer had a job. Between buy-outs and layoffs, the Merc lost a total of 50 positions in this round of cuts, half of which came out of the newsroom.

From “The Fly,” Metro Silicon Valley, March 5, 2008

Accused City Hall hacker Eric Hernandez showed up for his arraignment on Friday before Judge Jerry Nadler, represented by one of the valley’s most expensive criminal attorneys. Attorney Benjamin Williams appeared—and dropped the bombshell that Hernandez had retained his boss, superstar lawyer Steve Manchester, to handle the case.