Anthony Batts has only been the Oakland police chief for a year, which has prompted speculation as to why he is interested in coming to fill San Jose’s open position in the midst of a three-year contract he just signed. A report by Ali Winston, a producer for KALW Radio in Oakland, suggests Batts might want to come here because Oakland faces a real threat of having its police department placed under federal receivership.

In response to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to slash $1.9 billion from the budget by eliminating the state’s redevelopment agencies, a special meeting has been called for 4 p.m. Wednesday between the City Council, San Jose Redevelopment Agency and San Jose Financing Authority.

It looks to be a two-man race in determining who will be the next chief of police in San Jose. Reports state City Manager Debra Figone will make her decision by early February, and the final candidates appear to be acting police chief Christopher Moore and Oakland’s current chief of police, Anthony Batts.

The Coalition for Justice and Accountability, a citizens group which includes Silicon Valley DeBug’s Raj Jayadev, released a report Wednesday about what people in San Jose would like from the city’s next chief of police. The report also requests more openness in the process. The city has been guarded on releasing the names of candidates.

Sen. Joe Simitian admits the hard truth is that life is going to get worse for many Californians before it gets better. That is doubly true, he says, if Brown is unable to win voter approval for some new tax revenue.

An investigator from the district attorney’s office who has been spearheading recent raids on local medical marijuana dispensaries says every pot club in Santa Clara County is operating outside the law. Dean Ackemann, who has been responsible for obtaining search warrants for the task force that has been conducting armed raids in recent months, said that in his opinion every dispensary in the county should be shut down. “The search warrants and the investigations are not going to stop,” Ackemann vowed.
But he may be wrong