San Jose State University no longer employs a lecturer accused of sexual battery by a student, according to SJSU President Mohammad Qayoumi.

Last Friday, Edison International—one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the country—announced that it would permanently retire the troubled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The decision ended 18 months of uncertainty for Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) customers, after a January 2012 leak caused the plant to be shut down. The shutdown and now retirement of the plant has made our state’s energy future uncertain.

Most people do not consider jail inmates to be an empathic interest group. But many in custody are innocent, as they have not yet been proven guilty, and as a matter of law and right they must be treated justly. That’s why the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections (DOC) was right in halting a new proposal to limit mail in county jails.

When the sun goes down, big-rig truck drivers parallel park on Baytech Drive in the Alviso neighborhood so they can rest for the night. It’s not illegal, but it is annoying, says City Councilman Kansen Chu. Other items going before the Rules and Open Government Committee on Wednesday include Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen fighting for the public’s right to take photos in public spaces and potential raises for City Manager Debra Figone and City Attorney Rich Doyle.

Dozens of alleged Nuestra Familia gang members were indicted by a criminal grand jury on 77 charges, which range from meth sales to murder. It’s the largest gang case Santa Clara County has ever tackled: 48 people charged in a hefty 99-page indictment. “This is a sophisticated, complex criminal organization that required a sophisticated, multi-faceted law enforcement and prosecutorial response,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement released Tuesday morning.

Psycho Donuts scared off some of its vegan customers and incurred the wrath of animal rights groups Friday, National Donut Day, when it gave out free Foie gras donuts to the morning’s first batch of customers. Though California last year outlawed sale of force-fed-until-fat-engorged goose and duck livers, the state doesn’t ban giveaways. This did not sit well with the Internet.

Every year around this time, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and the City Council hold a series of public meetings regarding our city’s budget, which the council must pass it before the summer “recess” in July. This year, the city should needs to make libraries one of its top priorities.

During a press conference held Friday at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, President Obama insisted that “Big Brother” has played by the rules while keeping tabs on nearly every phone call made within the nation’s borders during the last seven years.

Santa Clara County residents enjoy longer life expectancies and overall better health than the rest of the state and nation, but stark disparities based on wealth and race persist.

According to the May 2013 Pew Research Center report, “Teens, Social Media, and Privacy,” teens are changing their habits when it comes to choosing social media and how much information they make public. Parents be advised.

As San Jose copes with one of its most violent years in decades—22 homicides since the start of 2013—a group of community members will gather tonight at City Hall to honor the memory of those lost.

I have mentioned before that we are now all part of a new paradigm in civic life, especially as it relates to our parks, trails and recreation programs. The new paradigm is not a great distance from this traditional view. It is merely a small step forward by the citizenry toward a closer level of ownership and participation than we have generally assumed. That one step is active care. A recent example relates to bags supplied at our local dog parks.

How many more years will the country and Silicon Valley put up with broken promises made to our children, before it is too late for us to recover from the lack of political will? This year we commemorate the 30-year anniversary of a national report that provided a clarion call to improve our public education system.

A proposal for a new construction fee to rake in more money for affordable housing has sharply divided the City Council. Vice Mayor and 2014 mayoral candidate Madison Nguyen and Councilman Don Rocha say San Jose desperately needs another funding source for low-income housing since the state-ordered end of Redevelopment Agencies (RDA). But councilmen Pete Constant and Johnny Khamis strongly disagree. Other issues at Tuesday’s City Council meeting include a public hearing to raise the medical marijuana tax and a fight over a recycling facility near the San Jose Flea Market.

The Great Recession devastated shelters for battered women. And while government funding has declined, the need for such services has drastically increased. This issue will be one of many discussed at Tuesday’s county Board of Supervisors meeting, including a federal grant to develop news strategies to find long-term homes for foster children.

San Jose Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio pens an open letter to Netflix, which is considering its options on where to expand operations, perhaps outside of Los Gatos. Oliverio makes his case for why the DVD and online movie streaming company should consider its neighbor, San Jose.