San Jose Inside

Santa Clara County may enact a health ordinance to protect nail technicians, who work long hours around toxic chemicals. About 80 percent of the 7,200 registered nail technicians in the county are Vietnamese. The vast majority are immigrant women, around childbearing age, who report headaches, pregnancy complications and other health problems because of the work they do.

Five years since signing a lease agreement with the hope of relocating the Oakland A's to a new ballpark in downtown San Jose, the City Council is poised to renew the land-holding deal for another seven years. Still, prospects of the team moving 40 miles south remain uncertain.

San Jose Inside has learned that Kerry Hillis, a policy aide currently on leave from county Supervisor Cindy Chavez’ staff, purchased the anonymous attack blog The Daily Fetch from political consultant Jay Rosenthal in late 2012, according to a source. Hillis has also done work for San Jose's police union and mayoral candidate Dave Cortese.

A complaint filed against Sam Liccardo’s mayoral campaign alleges the San Jose council member broke election law by failing to report an in-kind contribution for the second time. But according to Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen, who provided Liccardo with an email list, it's all a simple mixup.

John Vartanian, recently fired by the county for running a travel rewards-skimming racket, could get another high-paying job with his former employer, albeit one less lucrative than the $235,000 annual salary he took home as head of the Department of Child Support Services.

A violent episode from Chris Zhang's past has forced the Cupertino school board candidate to talk about whether it’s even appropriate that he run for elected office.

Mountain View has no rent control, leaving many long-time residents feeling helpless as housing costs have skyrocketed. While the city has subsidized construction of hundreds of affordable units since 2005, using below-market-rates in lieu of fees from developers, it’s not doing enough to meet the needs of thousands of residents struggling financially, according to housing activists.

A discussion over corporate influence in Milpitas politics took a dark turn last week when Rajeev Madnawat, a candidate for City Council, lobbed a thinly veiled death threat against termed-out Councilman Armando Gomez.

In a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, an aviation expert calls San Jose’s airport curfew insulting, and wonders why city leaders can’t get residents to put up with the noise, like they do in Oakland and San Francisco.

Weeks after San Jose police suspended off-duty work with the 49ers, emails show just how cozy the relationship was between some officers and the team.

Houston, we have a problem. Public education is facing its own Apollo 13 moment. If fundamental issues are not addressed an inevitable catastrophic ending will occur.

While Silicon Valley copes with its dependence on imported water, our neighbors in Santa Cruz are striving to rely entirely on their local water supply.

An initiative that would repeal San Jose’s new medical marijuana regulations garnered enough signatures to make it to the ballot.

In a deal reached Thursday with the Oakland Athletics, San Jose just bought more time to try wooing the team to a new ballpark in downtown.

Stupid local laws and the rise of unfettered independent expenditure committees are making a mockery of the election process. Candidates are no longer in control of their own messages and in many local races they are not relevant to the debate.