Authorities busted an alleged high-ranking drug-dealer accused of pumping millions of dollars of illicit narcotics into Silicon Valley's black market.

Some 1,060 Silicon Valley residents have more than a tax refund to look forward to this spring.

Janet Gray Hayes, San Jose’s first female mayor and the first woman to lead a major US city, died Monday in the Saratoga home she shared with her daughter.

People looking for addiction treatment in Santa Clara County often have to wait for the help they need—or resort to an emergency room.

Kathleen King ran the county's $450 million sales tax campaign, and she also happens to be CEO of the organization most likely to get leftover money from Measure A. So, coincidence or kickback?

Environmentalists clash with private landowners who want to develop a greenbelt property in San Jose's southeastern hillsides.

While George Shirakawa Jr. bides his time behind bars after admitting to filching public money, the price of defending him in court keeps ticking up as a second criminal case moves forward.

Though it boasts some of the highest median incomes in the nation, Silicon Valley also claims one of the greatest disparities between men and women’s earnings.

Santa Clara County mental health doctors say they’ll strike next month unless they get a pay raise and a promise for more consistent schedules.

An independent expenditure committee supporting Kevin Jensen's bid for sheriff wrote a $2,500 check to Crime Victims United, an organization that subsequently endorsed Jensen just days after the latest filing period.

Santa Clara County supervisors want to bring electronic cigarettes and vapes under the purview of existing anti-smoking laws.

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.

Last week, Santa Clara County Judge Patricia Lucas issued a final Measure B verdict. A reader wondered in an email why we didn’t write about it. Fair point, which brings us to this update. The final decision in the landmark pension reform case that forced employees to contribute 16 percent more of their pay to retirement costs is similar to the tentative ruling trotted out in December, except for a couple details.

Santa Clara County jails have seen a sharp uptick in assaults over the past few years, partly because of state prison reforms that pushed more dangerous inmates to local correctional facilities.

So many of the higher paying jobs in our valley involve some aspect of computing and programming. A story in the Mercury News this past weekend highlighted the issue of access to technology by gender.

A federal ruling will dramatically cut the cost of out-of-state phone calls for Santa Clara County inmates, making it actually cheaper to dial long distance than local. The Federal Communications Commission handed down a directive this month that drops the price for inmates calling to another state by 85 percent, though it’s been met with legal opposition from the phone companies that have a monopoly on jail and prison telecommunications. Global Tel-Link, the service provider for the 700 phones at both Elmwood Jail in Milpitas and the main jail in San Jose, is asking a judge to delay the ruling.