Firefighters rushed out to West San Jose Friday evening to battle a fire at a vacant two-story building.
Fire crews said the fire was reported at about 5 p.m. near Saratoga Avenue and Lawrence Expressway.
Battalion Chief Shawn Tacklind said crews were worried about interior collapses due to the damage from the fire. He said there was a partial collapse on the second story, forcing crews to pull back about 50 feet from the structure.
Photos of the scene showed a building in the Kato Business Square producing a heavy black smoke.
San Jose Fire Department
Traffic is impacted in the area as crews battle the fire. People are urged to avoid the area.
Saratoga Avenue is closed in both directions between Prospect Road and Lawrence Expressway, crews said. Lawrence Expressway is shut down at Saratoga Avenue.
It’s unknown what started the fire. No injuries have been reported.
San Jose city leaders doing what they can to calm fears about ICE activity ahead of the Super Bowl as tens of thousands of people across the Bay Area took to the streets to protest ICE and the shootings in Minneapolis.
San Jose City leaders say they spoke with the NFL, and they were told immigration enforcement will not be happening around the Super Bowl, but they’re not letting their guards down as many continue to speak out against ICE.
In east San Jose at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, dozens of people took part in a rally against ICE.
“I believe if we don’t stand for something, we’re going to fall for anything and we have to fight for our rights, for our community,” said Sonia.
Educators and hundreds of students from several high schools including Silver Creek walked off campus to protest ICE on the streets. It was loud and peaceful.
“We are the youth and we are the future. So now, more than ever, we just rise and make our voices heard. To the school board members that stand in solidarity: thank you. And to those who don’t, it’s now or never,” said Jonathan, a student.
Those at the Mexican Heritage Plaza remembered Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the two people shot and killed in Minneapolis by federal agents.
At the same time, they made it clear: they do not want ICE in the Bay Area during the Super Bowl.
Mayor Matt Mahan posted on social media Thursday that he talked with the NFL – adding, “They told us that every law enforcement agency coming to the Bay Area for the Super Bowl will be focused on one thing – our safety. I know there have been many rumors swirling for months about heightened immigration enforcement and many have been living in fear. We have been told those rumors are false.”
San Jose City Councilmember Peter Ortiz was at the rally and said he talked with the NFL too as well as DHS.
“They’ve communicated to me that as of now, there are no plans to conduct any sort of immigration enforcements during the Super Bowl. I appreciate that information, but I take it at face value,” Ortiz said.
He thinks residents should still be on high alert.
“They need to have a plan for their loved ones, I encourage everyone who is part of mixed status families to educate themselves of what their rights are, and during this week, to have a plan of where they’re going and aware of their surroundings,” Ortiz said.
After a disappointing 2025 season, San Jose State head coach Ken Niumatalolo made a number of coaching staff changes official on Thursday, including promoting ex-Oakland Raiders linebacker Bojay Filimoeatu to defensive coordinator.
Filimoeeatu took over as the Spartans’ interim defensive coordinator for the final two games of the 2025 season following the firing of longtime defensive coordinator Derrick Odum after a 55-10 loss to Nevada on Nov. 17.
Filimoeatu, who played parts of two seasons as a backup for the Raiders in 2014-15, spent the last two seasons as San Jose’s inside linebackers coach and run game coordinator.
San Jose State, which finished 11th in the 12-school Mountain West Conference after going 3-9 overall and 2-6 in conference play, made five other coaching staff additions on Thursday.
Ex-UCLA and TCU assistant Brian Norwood was named defense pass game coordinator and cornerbacks coach, Joe Dale is the new safeties coach, Ramsen Golpashin, who played under Chip Kelly at Oregon, is the offensive line coach, Fred Guidici is specials teams analyst and Kolney Cassel was promoted from offensive analyst to tight ends coach.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced Thursday that he is running for governor of California in 2026, joining a crowded field in the race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“I’m running for Governor of California — because we can do better,” Mahan said in a statement. “I know we can because San Jose is proving it.”
The mayor pointed to several accomplishments in leading the Bay Area’s most populous city, including reducing unsheltered homelessness, reductions in crime and tackling the city’s housing affordability issues.
“We’re the safest big city in the nation. We’re getting people indoors faster than any other city on the West Coast. And by reducing barriers, we have thousands of new homes for working families now under construction. We need a leader who will fix our problems while fighting to protect our values. We need a leader focused on results,” the mayor added.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan
KPIX
A native of Watsonville, the 43-year-old was previously a public-school teacher in East San Jose and a founder of two tech startups before entering politics. Mahan was first elected to the city council in 2020 and was elected mayor two years later.
Mahan, a Democrat, joins a crowded field ahead of the June primary, in which the top two candidates regardless of party advance to the November general election.
Other Democratic candidates who are running include former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former Rep. Katie Porter, entrepreneur Tom Steyer, Rep. Eric Swallwell, state schools’ superintendent Tony Thurmond, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state controller Betty Yee.
On the Republican side, Riverside Co. Sheriff Chad Bianco and political commentator Steve Hilton are running.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced Thursday that he is running for governor of California, jumping into an already crowded race less than six months before the June primary.
The 43-year-old Democrat said he decided to run after growing frustrated with what he described as “business as usual” in Sacramento and a field of candidates he said has failed to offer a bold, solutions-driven vision for the state.
“I know that California can do better,” Mahan said in an interview. “We’ve proven in San Jose that when we focus on the most important things and hold ourselves accountable for delivering results, we can really make progress for our residents. That’s the spirit we need in Sacramento.”
Mahan’s announcement comes less than three weeks after he publicly signaled interest in joining the race, which remains wide open with no clear front-runner. He becomes the ninth Democrat to enter a contest that has already drawn a crowded and fractured field.
Over the last two months, Mahan has hosted six of the candidates in San Jose, taking them on tours of the city’s interim housing communities as he looked for a candidate willing to prioritize faster, more pragmatic responses to homelessness. After those meetings, he said, he concluded that none were offering the approach he was seeking.
As the only current mayor of a big city in the race, Mahan said he’s closer to the issues than most. He points to his “back to basics” agenda, which he credits in helping clear blight from the city, reducing unsheltered homelessness and making San Jose one of the safest big cities in the nation.
Elected to the City Council in 2020 representing Almaden Valley and Blossom Valley, Mahan rose quickly, winning the mayor’s office in 2022 and taking office in 2023. A self-described moderate Democrat, he has frequently broken with his party, emerging as a vocal critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom on crime and homelessness.
He has also sparred with Santa Clara County officials over their decision to continue focusing on building permanent supportive housing instead of opting for interim solutions that get homeless residents off the streets more quickly.
Mahan’s announcement that he’s in comes just five months before the June primary, giving him a short runway to build name recognition statewide, particularly in Southern California, where most of the state’s voters live. He has made frequent television appearances in the region in recent years, but acknowledged the challenge ahead.
“Name ID only gets you so far,” Mahan said. “What sets someone aside in this field is solutions.”
According to a Dec. 4 independent poll by Emerson College, the Democratic field is tightly packed, led by East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell at 12% and former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter at 11%. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa followed with 5%, while billionaire environmental advocate Tom Steyer and former U.S. Health Secretary and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra each polled at 4%.
Two high-profile Republicans — former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — are also in the race and have performed strongly as Democrats continue to split their vote.
Democrats hold roughly a 2-to-1 advantage over Republicans in statewide voter registration. But under California’s top-two primary system, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November general election regardless of party affiliation.
“The current field is following the same playbook,” Mahan said. “They’re either running against Trump or running in his image and what I’m running for is the future of California — and I’m offering real specific solutions.”
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
The San Jose Fire Department said there was a string of vehicle fires on Tuesday, bringing the number of vehicle fires they are investigating since mid-December to 24.
Between midnight and 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 11 vehicles in five different areas along the Highway 87 corridor were set on fire, the department said.
The majority of the vehicles were located on the 1600 block of Almaden Road.
12:03 a.m.: one vehicle fire at North Autumn and West Julian streets
12:15 a.m.: one vehicle fire at Woz Way and Almaden Boulevard
1 a.m.: one vehicle fire at Floyd Street and Lick Avenue
1:02 a.m.: six vehicle fires on the 1600 block of Almaden Road
1:14 a.m.: two vehicle fires on the 1600 block of Almaden Expressway
The fire department said its arson investigators are working alongside police to investigate the 24 vehicle fires that have happened since December, and they are looking into whether the fires are connected.
Anyone with information is asked to call the arson tip line at 408-272-7766.
The proposed Billionaire Tax Act, imposing a one-time 5% tax on the total wealth of Californians whose net worth is $1 billion or more, needs reconsideration.
Certainly, anyone with $1 billion (or more) has more than enough to live very comfortably, but there is an approach that would be less onerous to the billionaires and more helpful to the state.
A one-time 5% tax would bring in a windfall for the state — once. And since it would be a one-off, it would likely just get spent on one-off types of things, providing no long-term benefit.
Far better would be an annual wealth tax of, say, 0.5%. That’s just pulling a number out of the air, but the point is that it would generate a steady source of income — and not come as a jolt, one-time though it might be, to those being taxed.
Once again, we hear billionaires are fleeing California because of the possibility of a one-time 5% tax, but billionaires aren’t moving to buggy, high-humidity states. They are moving their LLCs to Nevada for “more flexible tax planning.” Buying a house in Florida doesn’t mean moving your life there. It means counting days to be able to pretend you don’t reside in California.
They pay lawyers and accountants to avoid paying taxes even if paying the taxes would be cheaper. Zero tax is the goal. California taxes income, not unrealized wealth, which is why so much billionaire wealth escapes taxation. A temporary tax won’t start an exodus.
So no, California won’t lose the billionaires. They aren’t making California weather anywhere else. I don’t care whether they enact this law or not — it won’t make any difference.
It’s clear that our government schools need competition. Denying the most important demographic in our country the opportunity to participate, along with their parents, in a competitive system denies them the chance to do well. The government schools are failing our students.
More tax money, more government and more unions won’t help. Parents and students need to be able to choose the school that will serve them the best. Competition benefits the consumer. This may be a new concept to some, but it’s a very important one. Politicians and school officials can talk all they want about insufficient taxes, but money alone won’t fix the problem.
Thomas Baker San Jose
Schools must provide classroom supplies
Teachers have to request basic classroom supplies through donation sites or fundraisers instead of receiving them from the school.
This is happening at schools in Cupertino Union School District, such as Miller Middle and Warren E. Hyde Middle, where teachers post projects asking for items such as art supplies, books and classroom tools. Teachers should have the materials they need without having to rely on donations.
I believe the school district should ensure that every classroom has all the basic supplies required. If the district provided these resources, teachers could focus fully on teaching, and students at Miller and other nearby schools would benefit. This issue affects not only our schools, but schools around the world.
I am writing this letter to encourage the government to make sure classrooms are properly supported.
Adithi Nimmagadda San Jose
What is Trump’s endgame with ICE?
I closely watch the news. I mostly watch MS NOW, or whatever NBC cable calls itself today. I’d watch right-wingers like Fox or Newsmax too, but can’t get past 30 seconds without hearing Trump-inspired lies.
What is striking is that no one, even the left, is connecting all the dots to expose Donald Trump’s goal of imposing military rule by provoking insurrection. He isn’t about migrants, deportation or even protest control. He doesn’t care who his thugs shoot. He only cares if they shoot back. This is what he’s waiting for. Once he gets the Army and Marines on your nearest corner, he has them where he needs them to control access to polling places later this year.
Mark my words: the pressure will remain until someone shoots and kills a Trump ICE agent. A nationwide Insurrection Act declaration will follow before the body is even cold.
Robert Wahler San Jose
Trump is given rope that will hang us all
Clay Bennett’s cartoon, pointing out the relationship between the Epstein file redactions and the flurry of new dramas, while not “funny,” does make chilling sense.
What I don’t understand is why our constitutional guardrails haven’t kicked in. Greenland, Venezuela, Iran, Minneapolis, plus our health care and pocketbooks, have created a world of chaos.
When Joe Biden demonstrated age-related decline at the debate, the nation was quick to anger and dump him. Now we have a president who repeatedly lies, insults people worldwide, is obviously in poor physical health and also shows age-related mental decline, and he is allowed to paint it all over in gold.
At about 6 p.m., someone called the San Jose Police Department to report that a man was injured and in need of assistance. Officers arrived at the intersection of South Bascom Avenue and Borello Drive. They determined the man, who was allegedly walking in the road outside of a crosswalk, had been hit by an unknown type of vehicle that was southbound on South Bascom Avenue.
The man was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said Monday. The suspect vehicle fled the scene before officers arrived.
It is San Jose’s first fatal collision, first traffic death, and first pedestrian death of 2026. The victim’s name wasn’t released immediately.
Anyone with relevant information can contact Detective Tori DelliCarpini of the San Jose Police Department’s Traffic Investigations Unit at 4103@sanjoseca.gov or (408) 277-4654.
People can also submit crime tips anonymously by using the P3TIPS mobile app, calling the tip line at (408) 947-STOP, or by visiting www.siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.
A man died after a hit-and-run crash in San Jose Sunday afternoon, the police department said.
Police said the crash happened in the area of Borello Drive and S. Bascom Avenue just after 6 p.m. They add the man hit by the vehicle, was taken to the hospital where he later died.
As a result, authorities said street closures were in place near the scene. They asked drivers to avoid the area and use alternate routes.
A suspect in a carjacking was killed in San Jose after leading several Bay Area law enforcement agencies on a car chase, San Jose police said.
San Jose police Sgt. Jorge Garibay said the incident began at a San Jose dealership when the suspect entered with a gun and stole a vehicle around 2 p.m. The suspect then left the city and was spotted by a San Jose police helicopter in San Benito County.
Hollister police said they and San Benito County deputies were told around 2:48 p.m. that a San Jose police helicopter was following a vehicle that was taken by an armed carjacker. Hollister officers found the vehicle just before 3 p.m. near Central Avenue and Miller Road.
A slow-speed car chase ensued and ended near Buena Vista Road, at Westside Boulevard, when, for unknown reasons, the vehicle became disabled. Hollister police said the suspect got out of the car with a gun, and a shooting then occurred. No Hollister officers were injured.
Hollister police said the carjacker left the area following the shooting and was found by San Benito County deputies near Line Street, where another shooting happened. No deputies were injured, Hollister police said.
The suspect then took another vehicle at gunpoint and drove out of Hollister. While driving toward San Jose, the carjacker shot at California Highway Patrol officers. No CHP officers were injured, Hollister police said.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said the chase ended in San Jose near Highway 87 and Julian Street.
CBS News Bay Area spoke to a witness at the scene who said he was driving on Notre Dame Avenue in San Jose when he saw two patrol cars speed past him and then stop at the nearby intersection. He said multiple other patrol cars then arrived in the area.
“About 40 rounds of gunfire popped off,” Grant Messinger said. “It lasted maybe 30, 45 seconds of a firefight.”
Garibay said the suspect had come to a stop after crashing into another vehicle. He then got out of his vehicle and shot at officers, who returned fire. He then tried to carjack another driver but was run over by a patrol vehicle, Garibay said. He died at the scene.
Cellphone video obtained by CBS News Bay Area shows the suspect trying to get into a patrol vehicle in San Jose, running toward a different vehicle, but falling to the ground. He was then run over by a patrol vehicle, video shows.
A San Jose police sergeant was shot during the shootout near Highway 87 and Julian Street and is expected to survive.
A San Jose police officer was shot in the downtown area Wednesday while responding to an armed carjacking, according to the police department. Officials said the suspect is dead.San Jose police said the officer was taken to a hospital in critical condition, but is expected to survive.Sgt. Jorge Garibay of the San Jose Police Department said the “violent spree” began around 2 p.m. when the suspect stole a vehicle from a dealership. A law enforcement helicopter then tracked the suspect, who drove into San Benito County. In Hollister, more than 40 miles away from San Jose, the police department there said its officers, around 3 p.m., were involved in a pursuit that included gunfire. Hollister police said the suspect, allegedly driving a stolen green Corvette, abandoned the stolen vehicle in the city and “engaged with officers with the firearm” before running away. No Hollister police officers were injured, officials said.The suspect was then found by San Benito deputies, Hollister police said. Another shootout occurred involving the suspect and deputies, with no deputy injured. The suspect did, however, steal another vehicle at gunpoint. The suspect then led officers and deputies in a second pursuit outside the city limits and into Santa Clara County, Hollister police said. He was also firing shots out of the vehicle. Garibay said the chase ended on Julian Street near the intersection with Terraine Street in San Jose. That intersection is steps away from Highway 87.The suspect then got out of the stolen vehicle and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement, Garibay said. The suspect then tried to carjack another vehicle at that intersection when he was hit by an officer’s vehicle.San Jose police said the suspect in the incident was pronounced dead at the scene. It’s not clear if the suspect died from gunfire or from being hit by the vehicle. Garibay said the medical examiner would determine the cause of the suspect’s death.The California Highway Patrol said Highway 87 was shut down in both directions at Julian Street due to the law enforcement activity. This is a developing story. Stay with KCRA 3 for the latest. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SAN JOSE, Calif. —
A San Jose police officer was shot in the downtown area Wednesday while responding to an armed carjacking, according to the police department. Officials said the suspect is dead.
San Jose police said the officer was taken to a hospital in critical condition, but is expected to survive.
Sgt. Jorge Garibay of the San Jose Police Department said the “violent spree” began around 2 p.m. when the suspect stole a vehicle from a dealership.
A law enforcement helicopter then tracked the suspect, who drove into San Benito County.
In Hollister, more than 40 miles away from San Jose, the police department there said its officers, around 3 p.m., were involved in a pursuit that included gunfire.
Hollister police said the suspect, allegedly driving a stolen green Corvette, abandoned the stolen vehicle in the city and “engaged with officers with the firearm” before running away.
No Hollister police officers were injured, officials said.
The suspect was then found by San Benito deputies, Hollister police said. Another shootout occurred involving the suspect and deputies, with no deputy injured. The suspect did, however, steal another vehicle at gunpoint.
The suspect then led officers and deputies in a second pursuit outside the city limits and into Santa Clara County, Hollister police said. He was also firing shots out of the vehicle.
Garibay said the chase ended on Julian Street near the intersection with Terraine Street in San Jose. That intersection is steps away from Highway 87.
The suspect then got out of the stolen vehicle and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement, Garibay said. The suspect then tried to carjack another vehicle at that intersection when he was hit by an officer’s vehicle.
San Jose police said the suspect in the incident was pronounced dead at the scene. It’s not clear if the suspect died from gunfire or from being hit by the vehicle. Garibay said the medical examiner would determine the cause of the suspect’s death.
The California Highway Patrol said Highway 87 was shut down in both directions at Julian Street due to the law enforcement activity.
This is a developing story. Stay with KCRA 3 for the latest.
SAN JOSE – A suspect in a series of carjackings, robberies and shootings died after being driven over by a police vehicle and an officer was in the hospital following a dramatic police shooting Wednesday afternoon in downtown San Jose, according to authorities and a law-enforcement source.
The confrontation unfolded around 2 p.m. at the intersection of West Julian Street and Notre Dame Avenue.
In a video provided to the Bay Area News Group, a police vehicle can be seen in the middle of the intersection, lights on and traffic stopped all around it. Shots begin to ring out.
The shooting intensifies as a plain-clothed person emerges from the driver’s seat of the police vehicle and runs 30 to 40 yards before collapsing.
About three seconds after the person has fallen to the ground, a second police vehicle enters the frame at high speed and drives over the person, a split-second after they can be seen moving on the ground.
Dozens more gunshots ring out and the person can no longer be seen moving on the ground. Police then moved in on the suspect.
The officer was taken to an area hospital, the San Jose Police Department said in a social media post. An update on the officer’s condition was not immediately available.
The suspect was being pursued for a series of carjackings, armed robberies and shootings.
Check back for updates.
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Jason Green, Robert Salonga, Luis Melecio-Zambrano
California van moves, average shares of 3 companies. (Graphic by Flourish)
One yardstick of California’s popularity as a place to live made a slight improvement last year.
My trusty spreadsheet has collected annual migration data dating back to 2004 from three major moving van providers — Allied, Atlas and United. While having someone else move your stuff by van is usually an option for upper-crust Americans changing home states, this metric is worth following because it tends to parallel California’s competition for residents with other states.
For 2025, the three van companies found that, on average, 44% of their California interstate relocations were arrivals of new residents. And while that’s the fourth-lowest inbound share in the past 22 years, it also marked a rare improvement.
Last year’s outflow was a bump up from 2024, when 41% of California van moves were inbound — the second-lowest rate over these 22 years. California’s inbound share of van moves had decreased in five of the previous six years.
Despite the cooling of the outflow, 2025 was still below the average 47% inbound rate since 2004 and the 52% high of 2014. The all-time low was 41% in 2023.
Looking back
Last year, California van outflow declined across all three companies compared to 2024, marking only the third time in 14 years that these movers experienced such synchronized slips.
Looking back over two decades, the pandemic appears to have been a turning point for van movements in California.
From 2004 through 2019, California van moves averaged 49% inbound relocations. This includes the 2008-2014 period, when the Great Recession’s economic turmoil saw van moves into California exceed van moves out of the state.
Since coronavirus upended the economy, though, arrivals averaged just 42% of California relocations by vans.
Bottom line
Van moves represent a small slice of migration, typically affordable only to wealthier households or workers with an expenses-paid relocation from major corporations.
Still, California van moves often parallel domestic migration patterns.
Swings in inbound van moves have gone in the same direction as changes in the state’s net population loss to other states in 14 of the last 21 years. It’s worth noting that these two benchmarks of interstate relocations have moved in opposite directions over the past three years.
State demographics reports show California lost a net 215,500 residents to other states in the year ended in July 2025 — the first widening of the outmigration gap in four years.
That was 54% above 2024’s 140,100 net outflow and 24% below the average 183,800 outmigration since 2004.
California has long been a net loser of residents to other states. Outmigration since 2004 has ranged from only 34,200 in 2014 to 369,200 in 2023.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
Rallies began Saturday morning in Los Gatos and Mountain View, with more planned later into the day in Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, San Jose, Richmond and San Francisco. Many were organized by a coalition of groups including May Day Strong, Indivisible and others.
Robin Dosskey, of Mountain View, waves at motorist while protesting in Mountain View, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. About 25 people gathered at the corner of West El Camino Real and Grant Road to protest the recent immigration enforcements and President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
In a statement, May Day Strong called for unity against U.S. occupation of Venezuela and the removal of “reckless untrained ICE agents from our communities.” They argued overseas wars and increased immigration enforcement enriched billionaires at a human cost, and that tax money should be used for “good jobs, better schools, access to health care and (getting) our basic needs met.”
At Los Gatos, David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” blared to over 100 people as passing cars honked in support of the demonstration.
George Hoffman, a 49-year-old Los Gatos resident, said he’s been protesting regularly at the town’s Tesla dealership since April 2025, in an effort to push back against Elon Musk’s support of Trump.
Hoffman said he started attending protests because he was tired of keeping quiet on the Trump administration’s actions and “feeling like everything was broken.”
“It was killing me,” he said. “I was in a hole of despair and loneliness.”
One week ago, a U.S. strike in Venezuela killed about 80 people and ended with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who are now in New York City awaiting trial on federal drug charges. Trump and others in his administration have said the U.S. would “run” the country, taking millions of barrels of oil with the blessing of the South American nation’s acting leadership.
Lynda Turkus, of Mountain View, shakes a cowbell while protesting in Mountain View, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. About 25 people gathered at the corner of West El Camino Real and Grant Road to protest the recent immigration enforcements and President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Susanne Rondeau, of Sunnyvale, shakes a cowbell while protesting in Mountain View, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. About 25 people gathered at the corner of West El Camino Real and Grant Road to protest the recent immigration enforcements and President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Susanne Rondeau, of Sunnyvale, shakes a cowbell and waves a US flag while protesting in Mountain View, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. About 25 people gathered at the corner of West El Camino Real and Grant Road to protest the recent immigration enforcements and President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
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Lynda Turkus, of Mountain View, shakes a cowbell while protesting in Mountain View, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. About 25 people gathered at the corner of West El Camino Real and Grant Road to protest the recent immigration enforcements and President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Many within the U.S. and internationally criticized the attack as a flagrant violation of international law that ignores Venezuela’s sovereignty. However, Venezuelan expatriates in Florida and elsewhere were supportive of Maduro’s removal after years of reported human rights violations and economic troubles in the country.
In Mountain View, a couple dozen people went to a Chevron gas station to protest. Cindy Ferguson, a 73-year-old Mountain View resident, has been going to several demonstrations, including the No Kings protests in June. She specifically wanted everyone to rally around Chevron due to the president’s actions in Venezuela to gain control of their oil reserves. Ferguson was formerly in the Army between 1973 and 1976. She criticized the similarities she saw between the U.S.’s intervention in Iraq and Iran and the attacks in Venezuela, saying “none of it worked, then or now.”
“They stand to profit really big, so he’s just paying off his billionaire buddies, and all the money and spending is for that,” Ferguson said. “Why aren’t we feeding kids? Why aren’t we giving health care? We could do a lot with that money, too. Let’s care for everyone.”
On Wednesday, a Minnesota woman named Renee Good was fatally shot by a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, a killing caught on video that quickly sparked outrage and, from the Trump administration, unsupported claims that Good was a “domestic terrorist.” A day later, two people were wounded in Portland, Oregon, when federal immigration officers shot them in their car outside of a hospital. Both of the shootings inspired vigils and demonstrations against crackdowns authorized by Trump.
Many people that were protesting in the South Bay were enraged over the Good’s death. John Elliott, a 77-year-old Los Gatos resident, said that he had seen the video footage of Good’s shooting and thought it was “striking” that there were people who could justify it. Similarly, 20-year-old Campbell resident Michael Zambon felt that Good’s death was an extrajudicial killing.
“This is really not just about the murder of Renee Nicole Good. It’s also about the rule of law,” Zambon said. “This is a regime of lawlessness. And I believe we need to push back as best we can in order to ensure that the rule of law can endure in the consciousness of the country.”
Lisa Guevara, a 58-year-old resident of Menlo Park, is affiliated with Showing Up for Racial Justice, an organization to help white people organize against racial discrimination. Guevara connected the ICE-involved shootings with the attack on Venezuela as examples of Trump’s government trying to convince Americans that they have a right to enter Venezuela or American cities to strong-arm them.
“I think all of it is connected; It’s all this fascist, patriarchal, white supremacy situation,” Guevara said. “It’s this idea of being able to to determine other people’s lives for them, whether it’s in foreign countries or whether it’s in our own neighborhoods.”
Hoffman said Good’s death was another example of the Trump administration lying to people about what has been happening in the nation.
“We need to stop seeing this as a single issue,” Hoffman said. “It’s all the same fight.”
This is a developing report. Check back for updates.
More than 50 observers from the Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County lent their voices Thursday morning in San Jose to criticize the action of ICE agents that led to the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Protestors said that Good was doing what they do every day, observing ICE in action, which they assert is constitutionally protected.
Protestors added that they’ve seen a video that shows the moments before Good’s death, reaffirming that, to them, it appeared as if ICE agents were overreacting instead of deescalating. Good was shot while behind the wheel of her SUV.
Yesenia Campos said she experienced that same kind of escalation on Oct. 13 when an ICE agent charged at her before detaining her while she was documenting ICE activity in San Jose.
While the network’s legal counsel advised limiting details, their social media page showed there was activity that day at a San Jose Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Blossom Hill.
“I have experienced unpredictability of these people and we can be as trained as possible as responders but we can’t predict what they will do and what their intentions are,” Campos said. “It definitely puts us at risk but it’s a risk I and many others are willing to take for our community.”
The same message was shared in San Francisco Wednesday night, while people protested outside the city’s ICE headquarters.
Protestors are calling Good’s death a murder, though Homeland Security asserts that the officer acted in self defense.
Another protest is planned for 5 p.m. on Thursday in Pleasanton, where “Indivisible Tri-valley” will gather at Delucchi Park.
The Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County has about 2,000 trained observers. They said they will continue documenting ICE activity even though they fear that agents are getting more aggressive.
How I would love to send the Bay Area protesters to South Florida, where residents are celebrating President Trump’s intervention in Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, are responsible for “one of the most dramatic political, economic and humanitarian collapses in modern history,” according to a Miami Herald piece (“Venezuela left to grapple with wreckage Maduro leaves behind“) published Sunday.
Both the Bay Area protesters and the Florida revelers are waving Venezuelan flags. My heart lies with the latter, along with the nearly 8 million exiled Venezuelans.
I hope President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will leave Venezuela a better place than it has been since Chávez was elected in 1998, which eventually led to Maduro replacing democracy with autocracy.
This past weekend, President Trump referred to the State of the Union address by our fifth president, James Monroe, to Congress back on Dec. 2, 1823, which warned European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the Americas.
In true Trump fashion, he reminded us that “they now call it the Donroe Doctrine” by adding the first letter of his name. It is an important time to consider the subsequent 1904 Roosevelt Corollary, which reinforced a U.S. responsibility to get involved with Latin American countries to prevent European interference, following Venezuela’s 1902-3 crisis, in which it refused to pay its debts back to Europe.
America would do well to prevent the likes of Russia, China and Iran from developing military capabilities in our backyard.
A recent letter praised the Los Gatos-Saratoga high schools for achieving “perfection” based on certain state standards. Good for them; yes, keep up the good work.
I am a retired high school teacher who taught for over 30 years in a relatively poor district. Our teachers worked hard and diligently to teach those who had little outside support. We didn’t become perfect, but we did a darn good job and made a positive difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids.
It is easy to create a good public school: Choose a wealthy area, like Los Gatos/Saratoga, or choose your students, as Lowell High School did in San Francisco.
Congratulations, you who achieve perfection. Greater congratulations to you who faithfully toil in the trenches, with few resources, to fight against the darkness of ignorance.
Normando Ortez East Palo Alto
Readers deserve Roadshow successor
It’s been more than two years since the death of Gary Richards, who wrote the Mercury News “Mr. Roadshow” column. We miss Gary and his gentle soul terribly, What he did was important to the Bay Area. No one can replace him, of course, but someone must succeed him, whether under that moniker or a new one.
Chuck Martin San Jose
California sells out workers who make tips
President Trump’s federal “no tax on tips” policy delivers vital relief to hardworking service workers, shielding their tipped earnings from income taxes.
Shockingly, Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats have sabotaged this by blocking a bill to exempt tips from state taxes for low-wage heroes like servers and bartenders. In an era of crushing inflation and lingering pandemic pain, this greedy grab prioritizes bloated state coffers over struggling families, widening inequality.
Why rob Californians of relief that other states are rushing to provide? This betrayal isn’t just unfair — it’s a direct assault on the workers Democrats pretend to champion. Demand better now.
Michael Lelieur Santa Cruz County Republican Party chairman Santa Cruz
“It’s very important that we stand firm and raise our voices that we, the American people, do not believe in this,” Sharat Lin said. “We do not support it.”
Lin lives in San Jose, but he’s spent a significant amount of time in Venezuela.
For him, it was hard to watch the images coming out of there on Saturday.
“Yeah, it hit home because I was there where those bombs dropped,” said Lin, recalling his past visit to the country.
Lin cares deeply about Venezuela’s political past, present, and future. So much so, he’s previously volunteered to help monitor elections in the country.
“The Venezuelan government has invited international observers to independently verify the validity of those elections,” Lin explained. “And I served twice as an international observer.”
Nicolás Maduro’s elections in Venezuela are a widely controversial issue. Part of the charges against Maduro, who is set to be arraigned Monday, includes running a “corrupt, illegitimate government.”
Despite a majority of the international community, including the U.S., refusing to acknowledge his presidency, Lin insists, in his view, that the election was a democratic process.
“I just want to push back against this notion that Venezuela and Nicolás Maduro are illegitimate,” said Lin. “He was duly elected. There’s plenty of Venezuelans that disagree with him, and that’s fine. But that’s part of democracy.”
Lin told his story to a crowd of demonstrators standing and marching in the rain, including Fabi Saba.
“It’s raining cats and dogs and people are out here because they’re enraged,” Saba explained. “This is not acceptable. This takes people back in time to 1989 when the United States invaded Panama under the same pretext of drug cartels.”
Saba continued to march for more than a mile in hopes of sounding the alarm.
Lin went on to say he’s calling on Congress to pass a resolution that would explicitly stop any president from doing something like this again without congressional approval.
“We prevent these kinds of military intervention that are so destabilizing,” said Lin. “We want a world that is peaceful and stable, but he is doing exactly the opposite. So that’s why we’re here.”
Volunteers from various homeless assistance groups handed out tents, clothing and other supplies to several dozen unhoused people in San Jose.
The advocates visited an area near a San Jose library and park on Tully Road. A homeless encampment used to near the area and it is a popular site for advocates to distribute supplies.
Advocates said they have been confronted by police in the area in the past and visited Thursday to draw attention to Senate Bill 634, which is designed to protect outreach workers from being punished for providing basic survival items to the homeless.
Robert Handa provides a closer look at the challenge that took place. Watch his report in the video above.
SAN JOSE – Firefighters on New Year’s Eve battled a blaze at an apartment complex in San Jose, according to authorities.
The fire was reported around 4:50 p.m. at the Del Coronado Apartments, located in the 5200 block of Camden Avenue, the San Jose Fire Department said in a social media post.
Multiple units were involved and residents were evacuated, according to authorities.
One person was taken to an area hospital for smoke inhalation, the fire department said.
The fire was contained around 5:35 p.m., according to authorities. The cause is under investigation.
Now, with back-to-back rainstorms bearing down on the Bay Area, officials this week are racing to seal the gaping hole and protect the historic Great Lick Refractor telescope beneath it.
“I’ve never seen or even heard of damage like this to a dome,” said Lick Observatory site superintendent Jamey Eriksen.
The Christmas Day storm that brought winds of 110 mph to the top of Mt Hamilton where the James Lick Observatory sits brought down the 60-foot crescent steel door that once covered half the dome’s vertical opening. The door landed onto an adjoining building where it broke windows and splintered attic beams. (Photo by Jamey Eriksen/UCSC Lick Observatory)
From the Bay Area below, the dome sheltering the Great Refractor still appears intact. Up close, the damage is stark: a multi-ton, 60-foot crescent of steel that once covered half the dome’s vertical opening is gone. It was one of two giant doors that slid open to reveal the night sky, then closed again to protect the telescope from the elements. Now it lies on the pavement beside the dome.
Inside, an all-hands scramble by a skeleton holiday-season crew helped avert worse damage. Beneath the dome, the 57-foot-long Great Refractor telescope is wrapped in black plastic tarps from eyepiece to lens assembly. Above it, the fallen door has left a gap in the steel dome roughly 4 feet wide and 10 feet tall, with a larger opening below it covered only by a fabric windscreen.
The Christmas Day storm that brought winds of 110 mph to the top of Mt Hamilton where the James Lick Observatory sits brought down the 60-foot crescent steel door that once covered half the dome’s vertical opening. The door landed onto an adjoining building where it broke windows and splintered attic beams. (Photo by Jamey Eriksen/UCSC Lick Observatory)
This week’s first storm is expected to dump about an inch of rain atop Mount Hamilton on Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. A second storm could add another inch Friday and Saturday, National Weather Service meteorologist Dial Hoang said Tuesday.
“Lenses, of course, don’t like water,” Lick astronomer Elinor Gates said. “Electrical equipment doesn’t like water.”
What a permanent fix will look like remains unclear. Even a temporary solution has proven difficult. Contractors suggested drilling into the surface of the dome — built in the 1880s — to fasten sheets of plywood or other materials over the opening. Eriksen rejected that approach, saying the solution will likely involve attaching large sheets of wood or siding to the dome’s interior steel framework instead. Tarps may also be suspended beneath the opening to catch any rain that gets through.
“It is not an easy solution,” Eriksen said. “We’re just trying to get through, protect this amazing telescope and building.”
Why the steel door fell off remains unclear. It initially crashed down onto an adjoining building, breaking windows and splintering attic beams, before a crane hoisted it and lowered it to the ground.
“Every winter we get very strong winds of 90 to 100 miles per hour,” Gates said. “This just seemed to have been a little more sustained than usual.”
The dome’s aging hardware may have made it vulnerable, she added. Newer research telescopes at Lick appeared undamaged and will continue operating, according to the University of California, which owns and operates the observatory.
When the damage was discovered Christmas morning, the roughly 10 staff members who had not left for the holidays rushed to the dome as rain fell and winds continued to buffet the peak.
“The set of skills up here is very good,” Eriksen said. “We worked full blast Christmas and the next day.”
Sensitive equipment and historical artifacts — including the Mills spectrograph used in the observatory’s early days to measure the colors of light emitted by stars and galaxies — were wheeled out as rain blew inside and winds swirled through the opening.
Gates and others mopped the circular wood-laminate floor surrounding the telescope, which sits atop elevators that raise it about 16 feet for observation. Others climbed a spiral staircase along the pedestal that supports the instrument. A 60-foot black tarp was cut in half, wrapped around each side of the telescope and secured with ratchet straps and minimal duct tape.
Lick Observatory astronomer Elinor Gates stands outside the damaged dome housing a 36-inch Lick Refractor telescope on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. A large metal shutter was torn off the dome during a recent wind storm. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
“We had nothing falling inside the dome but water,” Gates said — an outcome staff described as a relief under the circumstances. “We’re reasonably certain the telescope is fine, and that is a huge relief because of course the telescope is the heart and soul of this place.”
Built between 1880 and 1888, the Great Refractor — with lenses 3 feet across — was once the largest lens-based telescope in the world. For the 100 years after it was hauled up Mount Hamilton by horses and mules, it ranked among astronomy’s premier research instruments. It gained worldwide fame in 1892 after astronomers used it to discover Jupiter’s fifth moon, Amalthea, almost 300 years after Galileo identified the planet’s first four.
Later advances in mirror-based telescopes eventually eclipsed its scientific dominance.
But, said Andrew Fraknoi, former head of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and an astronomy professor at the University of San Francisco, the telescope “remains both a great teaching tool, and a historical place where generations of students were trained.”
Still the second-largest refracting telescope in the world, it anchors Lick’s popular visitor programs, which draw adults and children eager to peer through its eyepiece into distant galaxies.
“At many observatories, you just showcase the science and you go to museums for the history,” Fraknoi said. “But here, you have a combination of both the history and science.”
A safety hard hat placed on a bust of James Lick inside the Lick Observatory on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. A large metal shutter was torn off the dome of the facility during a recent wind storm. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Those public programs — including nighttime stargazing events, tours and educational programs — are now on hold indefinitely. The observatory’s Main Building, which houses the Great Refractor dome, the smaller Nickel reflector dome and an exhibit and lecture space between them, has been red-tagged by the county as temporarily unusable.
“It’s going to take many months,” Gates said. “This is going to be a real blow to our public programs.”
“Fire, water, wind — all those things are issues,” he said. “In part, that’s why we have telescopes in space. But they can get hit by a chunk of rock, so no observatory is totally safe.”
