Back in 1999, the San Jose Police Department led the charge in collecting racial data about the people it stops and arrests. But it's been five years since the the agency has analyzed any of that information.

A handful of city leaders want to hike up penalties for illegal fireworks, given that complaints and injuries are becoming increasingly common. Also on Wednesday's Rules Committee agenda, the city's federal lobbyists will submit a mid-year report. San Jose Inside will be meeting with the lobbyists Thursday morning, and readers are invited to submit questions in the comments section.

An old yellow cottage in Delmas Park has become a point of contention in a heated debate about the future of downtown San Jose. That and more will be discussed at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

San Jose Inside editor Josh Koehn sat down for a interview last week with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. In the first part of their conversation, the two discuss the city's controversial pension reforms, the depleted police ranks, the current mayor's race, San Jose's lawsuit with Major League Baseball and Reed's insistence that he's not a closet Republican.

It's a common practice to use old, gutted patrol cars as mechanical scarecrows, according to San Jose Police Department spokesman Officer Albert Morales. But police are pretty miffed that they weren't notified about a plan to park a defunct cruiser near the San Jose Repertory Theater for about a week.

Twenty-nine baby chicks are currently nestled in the soil tunnels of northern San Jose, according to city officials. It’s a record rebound for the western burrowing owls, a California Bird Species of Special Concern.

City leaders are demanding a public hearing on airport security after two widely publicized security breaches called into question the safety of the San Jose airport.

San Jose wants to clean up its largest homeless encampment and build a fence around it to prevent illegal dumping. But residents of The Jungle say they have nowhere else to go.

Sources confirmed Monday that a complaint has been filed with San Jose's Ethics Commission against the mayoral campaign of Dave Cortese. Questions are now being raised about whether he will have to return money that was collected immediately following the June 3 primary.

San Jose officials want to travel to Copenhagen, which has branded itself the "City of Cyclists," to study how the area has adapted to cyclists and pedestrians. That and more will be discussed at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Alum Rock Union Elementary School District trustee Andrea Flores Shelton announced in an email to supporters Friday that she will not seek re-election to the school board.

A new ballot initiative seeks to address the unduly harsh punishments tens of thousands of Californians face for nonviolent offenses. The proposal, sponsored by former San Jose Police Chief Bill Lansdowne, would reduce penalties for certain low-level drug and petty theft crimes.

On the same day Dave Cortese's campaign suffered a blow, firing spokesman Jay Reed following San Jose Inside's report of his sexist tweets, the San Jose mayoral candidate withstood a legal challenge by the City Clerk to join Sam Liccardo in opting out of the voluntary expenditure limit.

Sam Liccardo picked up the last major endorsement in the San Jose mayor's race, getting the rubber stamp from City Council colleague and primary challenger Madison Nguyen.

Though polling appeared to show San Jose voters are willing to pay more to restore public services, the City Council on Tuesday voted against placing a tax hike on the November ballot.

In the face of mounting criticism about its acquisition of a drone, the San Jose Police Department admitted that the process was not conducted in a transparent fashion and the drone will not be deployed before addressing community concerns.