Fearing backlash from the public, San Jose police have opted to get rid of a heavily armored 15-ton truck, a military hand-me-down the city received from the Pentagon earlier this year.

California looks poised to become the first state to pass a plastic bag ban. Senate Bill 270, which passed out of the Assembly on a 44-29 vote, would phase out single-use plastic bags starting in 2015. A vote on the issue failed earlier this week, but it’s now expected to move through the Senate.

Rep. Mike Honda agreed with Huffington Post and San Jose State University to an Oct. 6 debate date. But challenger Ro Khanna says he has still yet to receive an invite.

Santa Clara's most vocal NIMBYist, Deborah Bress, has changed her focus to running for mayor and accusing city officials of killing her dog.

San Jose Inside takes a look at several programs designed to reduce homelessness in Silicon Valley. The different approaches show there is no easy solution.

Rep. Mike Honda may finally have agreed to a debate date—it’s just he didn’t consult his opponent, Ro Khanna, on the details.

In the second installment of an interview with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, we discuss his administration's legacy, mistakes that were made along the way and the battle over pension reform.

San Jose may enact water-rationing measures to cope with the state’s dogged drought.

An ordinance banning cannabis collectives from unincorporated Santa Clara County goes into effect Sept. 25.

Santa Clara County's Office of Human Relations is inviting public testimony about the cost of living in Silicon Valley.

Code for San Jose—a collective of civic-minded programmers—has set out to take mountains of inchoate public data and form meaningful projects.

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.