Xavier De La Torre, superintendent for the Santa Clara County Office of Education, has agreed to give back nearly $100,000 of his salary over the rest of his contract to help pay down the interest and principal of a housing relocation loan he received last year. The manner in which he announced the giveback, however, was a little curious.

As a U.S. Congressman, Mike Honda has promoted the rise of the under-represented, so it is the height of irony that he would be challenged by Ro Khanna, an Indo-American from his own party.

ABV News’ sixth issue hit digital news racks Monday, this time with a little less sensationalism and a little more transparency. Robert Braunstein, high school sportscaster and defeated District 10 City Council candidate, now signs his name at the end of the newsletter, which includes news links and a brief editorial.

Is this nuts or what? Even though Supervisor George Shirakawa is under criminal investigation for misconduct in office, he continues to serve as chair of the Public Safety and Justice Committee. The committee oversees the very agency that appears on track to prosecute him: the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.

The neighborhood park is often taken for granted as part of the everyday American urban and suburban landscape. The primary value of our parks is economic, but there are also very important health benefits to citizens of all age groups.

First came a ban on smoking in public places; now local lawmakers are targeting a particular style of cigarettes. Seeing that menthol smokes are so popular with youngsters, especially minorities, several city officials want to support a Food and Drug Administration resolution that proposes banning the sale of menthol cigarettes. The motion brought by councilmembers Kansen Chu, Ash Kalra and Xavier Campos goes before the Rules and Open Government Committee Wednesday.

Someone asked me last week if there are underreported stories about public education in the Bay Area. Absolutely there are. People and ideas are converging in Silicon Valley, and they have the potential to alter the landscape of schools and learning.

San Jose’s largest school district will sue the Santa Clara County Office of Education over an allegedly illegal land-use exemption to pave the way for a private charter school. The San Jose Unified School District Board of Trustees last week unanimously voted to sue the county office because it granted a zoning exemption to build the eighth Rocketship charter in the region.

Once again it’s Presidents’ Day, or George Washington’s birthday if you yet again want to be that guy. Most city, county, state and federal workers have the day off from work, but we’ll still have a couple stories before calling it a holiday.—Editor

Before Don Rocha became a San Jose councilman, the District 9 rep did a little modeling on the side. We assumed those days were done. We were wrong.

Call it a preemptive strike but Ken Yeager deserves a little credit for trying to get something while knowing he’d probably get nothing. Last week, the president of the county Board of Supervisors sent a letter to San Jose Mayor, Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen and the City Council proposing a deal on how to continue funding the Santa Clara Healthy Kids Program. There’s just one problem. San Jose is broke and has no interest in giving another dime now that the county got Measure A passed.

The ground: an unavoidable, unforgiving medium in the art of breakdancing. It bruises and cuts a dancer’s hands. Experience forms callouses. So, when world-renowned breaker and San Jose native Raymond “NastyRay” Mora set out to photograph some of the world’s top breakdancers (B-boys), he focused on their hands. The resulting gallery goes on display Friday night in San Jose, and a corresponding breakdancing competition will take place Saturday at Edenvale Community Center.

Johnny Khamis’ sudden exit before a City Council vote that will include the city of San Jose in an amicus brief supporting same-sex marriage had nothing to do with his conservative views, the councilmember insists.

San Jose’s police union leadership says it wants what’s best for its members. But how many members will be left if the Police Officer Association keeps on hosting other departments’ recruiters in its headquarters? In an ad in Sunday’s Mercury News, the Austin Police Department announced it was hosting two recruiting sessions in San Jose. After stopping by The National Hispanic University on Tuesday morning, the Texans moseyed over to the POA shop to hold court for three afternoon hours.

Jim Beall neither forgives nor forgets. After soundly squashing Joe Coto in last November’s election, Silicon Valley’s state senator has gone scorched-earth on anyone who failed to show adequate fealty during the campaign.

I had an incredible experience this past July, attending the Greater & Greener Conference in New York City. It was the largest gathering ever in the United States of Park, Trails and Open Space Professionals, Advocates, and Supporters, with more than 900 people from 200 cities and 20 countries. Some of the critical messages form this conferences are now being applied to our parks here in San Jose.