San Jose - Community & Society

Apple and the city of San Jose apparently have a new challenge on their hands after the tech giants cleared a large homeless camp on its 55-acre property in North San Jose and moved the residents into various locations.

You may notice less of a police presence at this weekend’s Silicon Valley Pride Parade, but it has nothing to do with public safety.

Over 150 people gathered near the SAP Center in San Jose Saturday morning to celebrate the grand reveal of Barack Obama Boulevard, a newly renamed half-mile stretch of pavement that honors the 44th President of the United States.

Clean up the massive homeless camp near Mineta San Jose International Airport or risk getting some of the airport’s federal funding stripped — that’s the ultimatum that was dished out by the Federal Aviation Administration in June.

Many of the vendors who make their livings selling food, clothes, crafts, and other items at the San Jose Flea Market are now left waiting for answers and wondering what their next move may be in the coming years.

It might be one of the most anticipated social and economic events in modern times: a return to normalcy. And many business owners and residents of the South Bay have been celebrating their new/old freedoms.

The owner of a popular San Jose taproom has become the most recent high-profile figure in the craft brewery industry to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. Ryan Summers, the owner of Good Karma Artisan Ales & Cafe and Pizza Flora in downtown San Jose, formerly resigned on Sunday, and promised to remove himself from his ownership role.

As South Bay counties continue to ease COVID restrictions — and as the California economy is on the verge of a full reopening — the Bay Area, and the nation, faces a worker shortage crisis. With the number of available jobs far exceeding the number of available workers, several businesses are struggling to staff reopenings, potentially threatening the speed and vitality of the recovery. 

On Monday, a handful of unhoused residents in San Jose moved into a vacant senior housing complex. Santa Clara County officials said the Willow Glen apartments represent a stepping stone for homeless residents, who will eventually be placed into permanent housing at other locations as it becomes available. 

After more than 30 years of controversy, a statue commemorating the raising of the U.S. flag in 1846 — when California declared war on Mexico — seems destined to be removed.

Two former students of Saint Francis High School and their parents are suing the prestigious, private, Catholic institution in Mountain View for $20 million dollars in what they claim was a case of mistaken racism that cost the teen boys and their families irreparable harm.

Calvary Chapel in San Jose owes more than $2 million dollars in fines for openly defying the ban on indoor gatherings imposed for months by Santa Clara County.

The City of San Jose is trying something new to battle the homeless crisis, and this latest solution could solve two problems at once.

Churches across Santa Clara County were rejoicing this week when they were told they could resume indoor worship services under limited capacity and with new guidelines. But just a few days later, that hope was pulled out from under them when the county was told by a U.S. District Judge that it could reinstate the ban on indoor church gatherings.

San Jose Police officers will now get specialized training that is aimed at improving the relationship with the members of the city’s LGBTQ Community. 

Esperanza “Hope” Castellanos of Santa Clara celebrated her 107th birthday this week with help from family, friends and city officials.

A program to test wastewater at sewage treatment plants in order to better assess the presence of the coronavirus in a community is set to begin via a partnership between Stanford University, Santa Clara County, and San Jose’s Environmental Services Department.

The Silicon Valley Interreligious Council continued its annual tradition of temporarily erecting tombstones to honor those who didn't have a place to call home in Santa Clara County. This year's event featured 196 tombstones representing the highest number of unhoused people who died in Santa Clara County in the past year.

With the pandemic worsening across Santa Clara County, leaders of the Catholic Church came together Friday to issue a stern message to people who were planning to celebrate Our lady of Guadalupe: Don’t come!

The holiday gathering-fueled coronavirus surge in the South Bay is getting more and more alarming by the day, but Wednesday’s announcement by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department sounds more like the area is headed toward catastrophe.

A Santa Clara County judge has held Calvary Chapel in San Jose and its pastor Mike McClure in contempt for holding large indoor worship services with up to 600 people, which is in direct violation of state safety guidelines.

Following a surge in COVID cases, California has moved Santa Clara County to its most restrictive Tier 1, the "Purple tier, along with dozens of other counties in order to once again slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The City of San Jose has partnered with Mastercard to actually pay homeless people to clean up their own trash at messy camps.

Coronavirus cases are surging to record-breaking levels across the U.S. and California, and with several Bay Area counties already rolling back their reopenings, it appears Santa Clara County is on track to follow along.

Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody displayed a graph showing a dramatic spike representing 358 new Coronavirus cases reported on Sunday. That is the second-highest number of cases reported on one day in the county since the pandemic began in March.