San Jose Inside

Sam Liccardo says kids are never too young to get on that 9-to-5 grind. The downtown San Jose councilmember and 2014 mayoral candidate created a petition last week to pad San Jose school days an hour or few longer to match adult work schedules.

Judge Griffin Bonini denied a motion by George Shirakawa Jr.‘s defense attorney to reseal grand jury transcripts pertaining to the incarcerated former county supervisor’s alleged role in a political mail fraud scandal.

Santa Clara County needs more drug rehab housing for convicts slated for release under the state’s 2011 prison reform measure. On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors will consider allocating $526,000 to the Department of Drug and Alcohol Services to pay for up to 130 more treatment beds by the end of next month. Other items on the Board agenda include skydiving permits, vaccinations, a new fire chief for South County and a $225,000 grant to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley.

George Shirakawa Jr. is currently spending his days in the Santa Rita Jail infirmary, while his county-provided attorney is attempting to seal grand jury transcripts that shed new information on his alleged role in a political mail fraud scandal. Since the documents remain public for the time being, San Jose Inside has decided to publish the grand jury transcripts in their entirety.

Despite calling it “a humanitarian issue,” Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese said he doesn’t want to assign blame to the the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services, which has failed to answer thousands of calls to the local child abuse hotline—the public’s first point of contact with welfare services.

Income inequality is one of the biggest problems in Silicon Valley. We have at least 48 billionaires in the Bay Area alone. Yet, we also have thousands of people who struggle to survive working low wage jobs. Even the recent increase in the minimum wage in San Jose is not enough to live in an area where housing prices have soared, transportation costs continue to increase and most people have a negative net worth. But as individuals, we can make a difference.

San Jose State University suspended three white students Thursday after the District Attorney charged them with hate crimes. The three young men allegedly fastened a bike lock around their African-American roommate’s neck—twice—while also racially bullying him and locking him in his bedroom.

Ever since Rick Lombardo took the reigns and imprinted his vision on the San Jose Repertory Theatre, the performance center has had excellent seasons. But until recently, a behind-the-scenes drama was playing out—one that would test Lombardo, Managing Director Nick Nichols and the Rep’s Board.

As the mayoral race heats up, it’s safe to assume some candidates will resort to personal attacks against their opponents. But Manuel Herrera, a trustee of the East Side Union High School District, has a plan to counteract the negativity. Will it work?

As previously noted in this space, it’s nearly impossible to get Xavier Campos to agree to an interview. It helps, however, if you have a close relationship with the media-dodging councilman like NBC’s Damian Trujillo, who scored a rare on-camera chat last week. What did we learn from Trujillo’s interview and a follow-up report? Hardly anything. But we did learn plenty about Trujillo and NBC Bay Area.

Almost 28,000 people are expected to run in the 9th Annual Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, the Thanksgiving morning race put on each year by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation. The runners, walkers and joggers might be surprised to note that money raised in previous years to pay health care premiums for low income kids was diverted to political campaigns.

San Jose’s police union reached a tentative agreement with the city this week that would give officers a 10 percent raise over the next three years. The Police Officers Association is expected to be on board with the plan, and so is the City Council.

San Jose Councilman Ash Kalra says the city’s got some explaining to do about its police stats gaffe. In a memo to the Rules and Open Government Committee, which meets Wednesday, Kalra calls for a hearing in front of the City Council about why a change was made in calculating gang stats, and why the numbers were misrepresented to the public.

The U.S. Department of Commerce picked San Jose City Hall as the permanent site for its Silicon Valley satellite patent office. The office will open up shop by the end of 2014, the federal agency announced Tuesday.

I have been so preoccupied with writing columns on the local war between charter and traditional public schools that I have unwittingly neglected another contentious public battle. The standards for testing in California’s public schools are changing, and the looming fight could be as partisan and ugly as the roll out of the Affordable Care Act.