A group of San Jose politicians allegedly participated in an inflammatory text thread with a disgraced colleague that included racial slurs and derogatory remarks, according to law enforcement sources. Sources say the participants in the text thread, which included councilmembers and community leaders, made the remarks while discussing city meetings and public business. Mayor Matt Mahan,...
‘Little to show’: San Jose landmark raises $3M before going silent
A Silicon Valley nonprofit raised more than $3.3 million to build a towering art installation in downtown San Jose — but the group’s funding has dwindled to about $35,000 and the project never got off the ground. Since 2017, Urban Confluence executive director Steve Borkenhagen has touted a plan to create a landmark in the...
San Jose fire hid drug tampering, patient exposure
San Jose firefighters raised internal alarms in 2023 about addictive painkillers that went missing from their paramedic drug inventories, and gave morphine from tampered vials to patients with traumatic injuries, according to email records obtained by San José Spotlight. The emails indicate Fire Chief Robert Sapien and city leaders knew about a firefighter drug theft...
Report: San Jose festival was behind-the-scenes nightmare
San Jose’s Vietnamese Catholic Lunar New Year festival appeared to be all smiles this year. But a recently-obtained report alleges verbal abuse, property damage, safety concerns and political weight-throwing caused misery behind the scenes. The report — submitted by History San Jose to multiple City Hall officials in February — was kept hush for months...
San Jose fire chief in hot seat over drug oversight failures
To save money, San Jose leaders cut a critical fire department program last year that tracked the storage of addictive painkillers for cross-trained firefighter paramedics. Nine months later, the theft of opioids from nearly two dozen fire stations has raised concerns that patients in serious pain received tampered drugs. San Jose Fire Fighters Local 230, the...
Paperwork jams up Santa Clara County jail releases
Silicon Valley is known for technological innovation, but its jails are running on paper — and it’s fueling a public safety crisis. Santa Clara County is leading Bay Area counties in late-night jail releases due to an outdated paper-based processing system, according to a March report from the Sheriff’s Office. This poses myriad problems because...
Report: Santa Clara County education office misused funds
A federal investigation has found more than $135,370 earmarked for preschool education program Head Start was misallocated to pay for non-Head Start staff and credit card purchases, according to the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Interim Superintendent of Schools Charles Hinman said the failure has been remedied in a Wednesday statement. But he said...
Ex-Silicon Valley education leader splurged on staffing
A top Silicon Valley education leader had five highly-paid admins and assistants working for her — with some making nearly $200,000 each a year in public dollars meant to serve the county’s most vulnerable students. An analysis by San José Spotlight revealed an office studded with six-figure salaried assistants, strategy managers and a “senior administrator...
San Jose’s recycling hauler criminally indicted on bribery charges
The CEO of San Jose’s recycling hauler was federally charged for allegedly bribing former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and her boyfriend. California Waste Solutions CEO David Duong and his son, Andy, who also works for the company, are accused of paying $95,000 in bribes to Thao and her partner, Andre Jones. They also promised to pay...
Santa Clara County veterans still living in subpar conditions
Veterans living in a substandard housing facility in East San Jose said it’s getting worse, more than a year after Santa Clara County purchased it and months after a new service provider took over. The county purchased the facility at 10 Kirk Ave. in November 2023 for $14.5 million and contracted nonprofit Abode Services to...