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.

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

It’s come to this: Labor blasting city of San Jose officials via poetry. Bad poetry. Like really, really awful poetry. The missive at hand is a 12-line poem written in couplets by police union head Jim Unland.

The mayor's race is on, so of course there are going to be fireworks. But the latest tiff in San Jose's quadrennial contest actually involves fireworks.

The first poll for the San Jose mayor’s race came out this week, and county Supervisor Dave Cortese sits atop the pack. This really isn’t surprising. What’s interesting is the fight for second.

A union-backed poll for the San Jose mayor's race can be read many ways, but the percentage of undecided voters stands out most.

Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio's plan to change the way San Jose funds it police department comes back to the Rules and Open Government Committee this week.

To help car-sharing take off in San Jose, the city plans to donate free parking to Zipcar for a year-and-a-half. The City Council will discuss the plan when it meets this week, along with a proposal to expand wireless Internet service in downtown.

On Wednesday, the county Board of Education agreed to participate in a mayoral candidate forum on education. Educate Our State invited the Board be a partner, and the data show a thoughtful discussion is needed. Nineteen of the thirty-one districts in the county are located in San Jose, and nearly 50 percent of San Jose’s public school students test below grade level in math and English.

The first political firefight of the San Jose mayor’s race has adopted the adage “everything old is new again.” Two weeks ago, the county Board of Supervisors took a bold vote to withhold $700,000 from the city of San Jose due to its fire department’s slow—and in some cases absent—emergency response times. Contracted by the county to arrive first on the scene for high-priority “lights and sirens” emergencies within eight minutes, 90 percent of the time, SJFD has routinely showed up late and misreported its response times in the last four years.

Sam Liccardo’s campaign admitted Friday that a violation occurred in the councilman’s collection of contributions for the San Jose mayor’s race. Ragan Henninger told San Jose Inside that a supporter’s email announcing a fundraiser before the campaign window began is “totally a violation” and “we’re going to return the money.”

Dave Cortese came away with the official backing of county Democrats after every other San Jose mayoral candidate withdrew their application for the endorsement. The vote by the Santa Clara County Central Democratic Committee (DCC) came before Forrest Williams decided to drop out of the race. Williams then threw his support behind the county supervisor in his bid for mayor.

Councilmember Rose Herrera’s plan to ban pot clubs from making political contributions to campaigns comes back to the Rules and Open Government Committee today. Plus, Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio wants to make it illegal to declaw cats. And city commentator David Wall says he’s figured out the real story behind the city’s wild pig-shooting ordinance.

Parking prices may double in downtown pretty soon. But a couple city leaders insist there must be a better way to offset the cost of upgraded meters, rather than passing the price-spike down to drivers. Also on the agenda: wild pigs, a construction tax hiatus and a discussion about where to place that long-delayed bond-funded softball complex.

Today was the deadline to file the first round of campaign finance forms for San Jose City Council and mayoral campaigns. Not all were uploaded online by the 5pm deadline, but here’s a look at the four mayoral candidates whose reports were available.

The Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee is on the fast track to endorse its preferred mayoral hopeful, Dave Cortese. But there are growing concerns that the group’s backing will give that candidate the unfair advantage of bypassing campaign finance laws that apply to individual candidates. Campaign staff of Councilman Sam Liccardo, the fundraising frontrunner in the mayor’s race, challenged the DCC in emails to abide by the same rules governing candidates that prevent unlimited spending in an election.