San Jose Inside

The Senate's report on the CIA's use of torture is worse than previously imagined. Yet the response from the Bay Area's elected representatives has been mostly silent.

San Jose's public employee unions will have a fresh face to spar with behind closed doors in the coming weeks. City spokesperson Lenka Wright confirmed to San Jose Inside on Friday that Alex Gurza will no longer serve as the city's lead negotiator on labor contracts.

Silicon Valley residents have taken to social media to share photos of the fallout from the storm dubbed "Pineapple Express." Photos online show massive flooding, and Twitter and Facebook users are spreading warnings to other drivers while also debating the best hashtag to use.

People opposed to incoming Mayor-elect Sam Liccardo are also concerned with an interim appointment to the District 4 council seat, fearing it will give the mayor a governing majority. The truth is Liccardo already has a majority.

San Jose's City Council will consider appointing an interim council member for District 4 at next Tuesday's meeting, and a casting call is open to anyone who meets a few rudimentary qualifications. Critical thinking doesn't have to be one of them.

With new school board members being sworn in this month, county Board of Education trustee Joseph Di Salvo presents his list of key goals for the next two years.

San Jose Mayor-elect Sam Liccardo announced that an eight-person transition team will help him “identify key initiatives to focus on” during his first term. It appears Carl Guardino, his close friend and CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, will have the loudest voice in the room.

San Jose police are planning another gun buyback to take illegal firearms off the streets—no questions asked. Two key organizers have formed an unlikely alliance.

Reports of a gunman prompted an evacuation Monday afternoon at San Jose State. But police re-opened the campus after determining there was no threat.

San Jose may start taxing people who rent their pads through Airbnb and other home-sharing services.

The San Jose Police Department received praise last week for 12 officers volunteering to wear body cameras as part of a pilot program. What several reports failed to mention, however, is that internal politics has temporarily derailed the program.

A proposal to relocate students within San Jose Unified School District appears to have been made with the best of intentions. However, it seems these decisions were rushed within the last two months and did not include all possible solutions.

San Jose’s City Council decided that District 4 residents will have a special election to fill the seat of Kansen Chu, who is moving on to the State Assembly. They could have simply appointed someone—a far better and less expensive option.

As of today, the homeless are no longer allowed in "The Jungle," a 68-acre shantytown that's been called the largest homeless camp in the nation.

Supporters of Dave Cortese’s unsuccessful bid to become mayor of San Jose continue to insist San Jose is a city divided. But there is an underlying detail about the November election that has received almost no attention: incumbency. In Cortese's case, he wasted a key advantage.