San Jose Inside

While San Francisco commands more headlines for its exorbitant rental prices, San Jose has struggled to meet affordable housing goals of its own.

After losing an appeal over ballot measure language, Mayor Chuck Reed decided to drop his state pension reform campaign and delay it to 2016.

The recent poll showing Dave Cortese in first place—and Madison Nguyen in second—for the San Jose mayor’s race must have been a shock to the Sam Liccardo camp. So much so, that Liccardo released his own polling information showing him now in second.

A complaint filed earlier this week alleges inconsistencies on sheriff candidate Kevin Jensen's campaign fundraising forms.

Future droughts will become increasingly frequent and severe, according to climate predictions. Officials are so concerned about the current shortage that many are now looking for new sources of water, including the use of treated sewage discharge for—gulp—drinking water.

Politics can make for strange bedfellows, but there was something surreal about last week’s re-election kickoff party for Sheriff Laurie Smith.

Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-San Jose) has owed a Sacramento lobbyist $100,000 since 2008. He refuses to talk about it, but consultants running his San Jose City Council campaign say the amount is "in dispute."

More than half a century after the three Century Theater domes—21, 22 and 23—opened on Winchester Boulevard, their lease is up and the future is uncertain.

The frequency of posts by the Mercury News' new political blog has been herky-jerky, but that isn’t the only aspect of the gossip site that’s missed a beat.

The city wants to support a state bill that would require pharmaceutical companies to subsidize a drug take-back program to get rid of whatever medications are left over.

Billionaire Netflix CEO and Rocketship Education investor Reed Hastings says he's figured out the problem with public education: Democratically elected school boards.

More than a year after San Jose upped its minimum wage to $10 an hour and as the conversation around pay increases for low-paid workers ramps up on a national scale, Santa Clara County is starting to look at enacting a similar measure for unincorporated parts of the region. Supervisor Dave Cortese, who’s also running for mayor of San Jose, will lead the discussion when the Board of Supervisors meets on Tuesday. A county ordinance comes with many more challenges than a citywide measure, Cortese notes.

San Jose’s homeless residents could soon have the option of using their housing vouchers to stay in underutilized hotels and motels.

In his final budget message before he terms out at the end of this year, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed says it’s time to invest in public safety again.

The parents of Audrie Pott, the 15-year-old Saratoga girl who hanged herself after being sexually assaulted and cyberbullied by classmates, have successfully lobbied for a bill that would strengthen California’s sex crime statutes.