Santa Clara County Public Safety Digest

A handful of super powerful tropical storms in the last decade and the prospect of more to come has a couple of experts proposing a new category of whopper hurricanes: Category 6.

Los Angeles County flood control network withstands punishing rains—for now.

The storm fed off of unusually warm waters as it grew. It also reached “bomb cyclone” status as it neared California.

The Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted to allow guns in local government buildings, defying California law.

An updated earthquake hazard map from USGS shows a high shaking risk in California.

Hundreds of San Diego homes and businesses were damaged or ruined in devastating floods after punishing rainfall fell on Jan. 22.

Our understanding and preparedness have come a long way since Southern California’s magnitude 6.7 earthquake in 1994. We’re still learning from that destructive temblor.

A new Los Gatos commission is taking a look into how the town treats people who live and work there, and how it welcomes visitors.

As the field of generative artificial intelligence explodes in popularity, ushering in a torrent of fake photos and videos, state Sen. Josh Becker is sponsoring a bill that would require AI companies to watermark their content.

Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, announced he will resign. The departure of Moore, who has been in the job since 2018, will spur the appointment of an interim chief and a nationwide search for his replacement, according to Mayor Karen Bass.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case related to whether cities and towns can ban camping on public property. The high court could overturn Martin v. Boise, a 2018 federal court decision that keeps western cities and counties from blocking public camping when sufficient shelter space is unavailable.

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, who represents District 28, plans to introduce a bill in the coming weeks to ban political advertising materials deceptively altered through AI.

Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism found that hate crimes rose 12.9% between 2022 and 2023. The spike follows a particularly stark increase in crimes against Jewish people.

A five-year data analysis conducted by the Vision Zero Task Force, a San Jose traffic safety program, shows a sharp increase in homeless traffic fatalities from 2018 to 2022, with five deaths in 2018 that grew to a total of 51 by 2022.

California correctional officers train like ‘they are going to war’ to work in state prisons. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to transform San Quentin could require a kinder approach.

Munition boxes, depth charges and smoke floats have been found 3,000 feet underwater off the coast of Los Angeles. More than 100 square miles of ocean might be contaminated.

Heavy snow is projected in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Previously, warmer storms had been bringing precipitation mainly to higher elevations in the Sierras.

In the six years since San Jose made national headlines for losing a pivotal lawsuit that changed state transparency laws, the city's been sued over public records numerous times and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle.

Electric vehicle battery fires are known to burn hot, long and occasionally reignite. But they may have met their match with a new tool specifically designed to put out electric vehicle fires faster.

California state law dictates that property owners are responsible for repairing damaged sidewalks. In Sacramento, this has left some owners facing bills of thousands of dollars or tax assessments from the city.

San Francisco police officers have been operating for more than a year with guidance from their chief that California’s vehicle code doesn’t provide authority for them to ticket driverless cars for infractions like speeding or running red lights. Officers are still encouraged to report relevant information about incidents.

A law passed by the California legislature in 2023 has gone into effect banning licensed gun holders from bringing their firearms to places like playgrounds, churches and casinos. The law faces an ongoing challenge in the federal court system.

A new law, sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta, will create a fund designed to fully compensate victims of false advertising or unfair competition.

Under new state laws, five cities will test cameras to catch speeding drivers and cruising bans will be lifted statewide. The first is supposed to improve road safety, but critics of the second say it will endanger the public.

Prescribed burns, used to limit destructive wildfires, are growing in frequency at California State Parks. But as the smoke drifts into residential areas, it’s easy to see why many Californians are concerned about the health impacts.

Some firefighters and police officers who worked long enough in California to earn pensions are heading to more conservative destinations like Idaho in retirement. Some of these people even run for political office in these places.

An effort spearheaded by the Newsom administration and congressional leaders resulted in Congress authorizing and accelerating the transfer of seven C-130 aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard to CalFire, expanding California’s firefighting fleet.

Residents from the Bella Castello and Corde Terra Senior tenants associations protested in front of ROEM Corporation’s offices in Santa Clara, calling for CEO Robert Emami to meet with them.

San Jose will use $12.9 million from the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program to add safety features to four transit corridors.

Mountain View mail carriers are facing more than just the usual perils of bad weather, heavy loads and aggressive dogs. They now also have to contend with armed robbers stealing their postal keys.

A gas leak halted construction at a Church Street residence, leading to the evacuation of workers and residents but no reported injuries, according to the Mountain View Fire Department.

The fentanyl epidemic has pushed San Francisco to a grim milestone: a new record for overdoses. A total 752 people overdosed in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing 2020’s record number of 726.