When Jose Antonio Vargas turned 16 years old, he did what almost every kid his age does. He applied for a driver’s permit. But when he went to the DMV, he got something unexpected: the truth about his immigration status.

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.

Dear Readers:

You may notice something a little different this morning. After months of work, San Jose Inside has received a substantial facelift. Our hope is the new layout and commenting system will create better functionality and allow you to more easily share and comment on the stories you care about most.

A union-backed poll for the San Jose mayor's race can be read many ways, but the percentage of undecided voters stands out most.

Los Gatos and other South Bay cities begin to consider their own gun control measures as Sunnyvale’s Measure C works its way through court.

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.

The nearly two-year standoff between the city of San Jose and owners of Casino M8trix may finally be coming to an end. On Monday, owners of the Tetris-adorned tower and card club filed papers to pull their lawsuit over several disputes—mainly the city’s rejection of gaming on the top/eighth floor. Sean Kali-Rai, a lobbyist for the card club, said he met City Manager Ed Shikada last week for coffee and had his “first meaningful interaction” with a city official in six months.

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.

The City Council on Tuesday will consider a one-year, $650,000 contract with the San Jose Streets Team, an organization that finds work and housing for homeless people who can and want to work.

A report issued earlier this week cleared San Jose State University of any wrongdoing in the way it reacted to reports of an alleged hate crime against an African American student on campus last semester. But a closer look at the evidence shows that there were red flags the school failed to notice, according to some members of a task force assigned to review the report.