In response to anonymous online threats that police officers will be targeted on New Year's Eve, the San Jose Police Department announced it will deploy officers in two-man crews per patrol car.

San Jose Mayor-elect Sam Liccardo has a new city manager in Norberto Dueñas, and now he’s got his senior staff in place. Jim Reed, vice president of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce since February 2013, will become Liccardo's chief of staff.

Almost all people at City Hall can talk about Friday is "The Interview," but it has nothing to do with catty Sony execs, sensitive North Korean dictators or a movie that looks terrible on its face.

San Jose Inside has confirmed with multiple sources that Ed Shikada will resign from his post as city manager, the top appointed position in the city. (UPDATE: The city manager announced his resignation in an email to staff Wednesday afternoon.)

Shortly after returning from a holiday lunch party Thursday, City Manager Ed Shikada removed Alex Gurza as head of the Office of Employee Relations. But on Monday, Gurza surprised many by returning to work—just at a far lower rung on the totem pole.

San Jose's public employee unions will have a fresh face to spar with behind closed doors in the coming weeks. City spokesperson Lenka Wright confirmed to San Jose Inside on Friday that Alex Gurza will no longer serve as the city's lead negotiator on labor contracts.

San Jose's City Council will consider appointing an interim council member for District 4 at next Tuesday's meeting, and a casting call is open to anyone who meets a few rudimentary qualifications. Critical thinking doesn't have to be one of them.

The San Jose Police Department received praise last week for 12 officers volunteering to wear body cameras as part of a pilot program. What several reports failed to mention, however, is that internal politics has temporarily derailed the program.

Supporters of Dave Cortese’s unsuccessful bid to become mayor of San Jose continue to insist San Jose is a city divided. But there is an underlying detail about the November election that has received almost no attention: incumbency. In Cortese's case, he wasted a key advantage.

San Jose Inside editor Josh Koehn sat down with Mayor-elect Sam Liccardo last week to discuss the recent election, what accomplishments he'll cite when running for re-election in four years and how he plans to mend relationships with political adversaries.

If you're going to get fired, do it the John Vartanian way. The former Santa Clara County department head continues to enjoy the travel rewards he stole. Now he's also getting another five-figure paycheck.

Public safety and the recruitment and retention of San Jose police officers dominated discussions during the campaign season. So, what's the right salary for a job in which men and women could very well have risk their life every day they put on a uniform? It's not supposed to be an easy question.

County Executive Jeff Smith announced Friday that the Registrar of Voters will conduct a post-election manual tally of 1 percent of precincts to ensure the accuracy of electronic vote scanners. The recount is not related to any particular local race, he noted in a statement, but it offers a last-gasp hope to candidates who trail by close margins.

Silicon Valley may be home base to many of the world’s most celebrated technical disruptors, but it also holds the dubious distinction of using a voting system that, to be kind, is, well, not exactly state of the art. And to the chagrin of many, it's not going to get better any time soon.

Dave Cortese refuses to go gently into that good night. The county supervisor and San Jose mayoral candidate announced Wednesday, a day after the election, that he will not concede victory to Sam Liccardo due to the large number of ballots still yet to be counted.

San Jose Inside has learned that Kerry Hillis, a policy aide currently on leave from county Supervisor Cindy Chavez’ staff, purchased the anonymous attack blog The Daily Fetch from political consultant Jay Rosenthal in late 2012, according to a source. Hillis has also done work for San Jose's police union and mayoral candidate Dave Cortese.