Santa Clara County Public Safety Digest

A proposed Sunnyvale housing development may be put on hold over concerns about exposure to cancerous chemicals.

Students and teachers alike are decrying the actions of the Temecula Valley Unified School District board, which became conservative in majority following the recent elections of three members. The board’s actions include banning critical race theory and mandating parental notification if their child is transgender.

Hackers stole data this week from Blue Shield of California. Historically, this type of data has sometimes wound up for sale on what’s known as the dark web, the part of the internet not typically included in search engine results.

Two miles of public beach were closed in Laguna Beach following a spill of 94,500 gallons of sewage. Orange County is testing water to determine when the beach will be safe to reopen.

San Jose officials have approved a $500,000 payout to San José Spotlight and the First Amendment Coalition following a public records lawsuit involving former Mayor Sam Liccardo.

Residents in the West San Jose Starbird neighborhood are wondering why parties with loud music and strobe lights aren't shut down.

Seven times as many patients have been admitted to the trauma unit at UC San Diego Health since the Trump administration raised the height of the border wall to 30 feet in California. The hospital also notes that 23 people have died in falls from the wall since 2019.

As the Palo Alto City Council voted to advance the city's rental registry, members left one critical question outstanding: What should the city do with the data once it has been collected?

Lacking power at the state level, conservatives are leaning into local governance to protest California’s progressive politics. The fight in Huntington Beach could be a harbinger of what’s to come.

Millions of people across the state struggle to pay electric bills as California regulators decide on proposed rate increases. PG&E wants a rate hike to bolster the safety and reliability of its services.

One year after a consultant said San Jose should expand the powers of the city’s police watchdog, city leaders have shot down the recommendation.

Workers are in the final stages of a long, $217 million project: Install a protective barrier at the Golden Gate Bridge. Roughly 2,000 people have died by suicide jumping from the bridge since it opened in 1937.

Days after Palo Alto officials broke ground on a housing complex for homeless residents, they received an application for a very different type of development at an adjacent site in the Baylands: a wastewater purification plant.

The San Jose Police Department will be getting more military-grade equipment, including projectile launchers that have been at the center of costly lawsuits. But some local community groups are strongly opposed to the purchases.

The County of Santa Clara Behavioral Health Services Department is scheduled to host a fentanyl education and Narcan training at the Rinconada Library.

Tustin Air Base was destroyed Nov. 7 in a raging fire that could last for days. Authorities said letting the 1942 hangar collapse was the only way to contain the fire.

Palo Alto City Council voted to permanently close California Avenue to cars.

A woman who suffered serious facial and oral injuries when a scooter she was riding struck a broken lamp post base in downtown San Jose is set to receive a $337,500 payout from the city.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan unveiled the first iteration of city “scorecards” to track progress in key areas,  hoping this will serve as a model nationwide.

A news report digging into police misconduct records found that a Mountain View officer was disciplined for social media posts that the department found discriminatory.

In a move that many students and parents wished had been made sooner, the Palo Alto school board approved a pair of resolutions that condemn the Hamas attack on Israel and denounce both antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Santa Clara City Council members agreed to allow for the rezoning of two parcels in the city's historic downtown, in addition to hearing a report from Police Chief Pat Nikolai about security at Levi's Stadium.

Members of the community argued during a school board meeting that a statement of support would go a long way in making Jewish students feel safe at their schools.

The FDA announced the changes to its blood donation eligibility guidelines in May, which now recommend asking donors about individual risk factors that may cause them to be more prone to contracting infections like HIV.

A U.S. District Court decision that overturns California’s assault weapons ban is igniting outrage among top state and local officials.

Drawing on violence in the Middle East, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan on Saturday doubled down on a promise to bolster public safety by hiring more police, holding repeat offenders accountable and cracking down on drugs during his first formal address.

One of San Jose’s most dangerous streets will be getting new safety features to protect children going to school.

The Palo Alto Unified School District will temporarily ban members of the public from addressing the school board via Zoom, a prohibition that was inspired by a series of lewd, racist comments that disrupted a City Council meeting.

San Jose could hand out more speeding tickets next year thanks to Assembly Bill 645, which legalizes the state’s use of surveillance cameras in school zones and “safety corridors” to catch speeding drivers for a five-year pilot program.

Middle and high school students across California will be protected by a new law requiring life-saving prevention and response resources for fentanyl overdoses under legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

For the time in Milpitas, public comments at public city meetings will not be submittable through Zoom in light of what’s called “Zoom-bombing,” a phrase for when participants crash meetings through Zoom and engage in harassment or hate speech.

The Sunnyvale City Council is slated to award a $3.9 million contract for pedestrian improvements in the Sunnyvale Neighbors of Arbor community, which includes La Linda and the San Miguel neighborhood.