Cupertino is a very small city that borders San Jose on the western edge of its larger neighbor. It is an elite community that prides itself on its excellent schools, ethnic diversity and its agrarian heritage. Its biggest claim to fame remains that it is the corporate headquarters to the wealthiest company in the world, Apple.

For the second time in a month, a local Hells Angels member was shot to death in public. Steve Tausan, 52, was attending a funeral Saturday for the late president of the motorcycle club’s San Jose chapter, Jeffrey Pettigrew, who was killed in September in a casino shooting in Sparks, Nev. Pettigrew also worked as a city of San Jose employee.

Oddly enough, three of the biggest stories in San Jose right now all have one thing in common: the most famous nonfiction author in America, Michael Lewis. His current bestseller, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, details how countries, states and municipalities are going bankrupt, and he uses San Jose as a model for implosion by pension.

This week, San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore has agreed to answer questions from San Jose Inside readers. He is the third public official to participate in this series. Questions are selected from online posts to this site.

Patricia Mahan, Santa Clara’s vice mayor after serving as mayor from 2002 through 2010, says she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. While it is unclear if Mahan’s condition will require leave from her position, she reportedly is expected to fully recover with proper treatment.

Police have reportedly arrested the man accused of killing Jeffrey Pettigrew, a city employee who was also president of the San Jose chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. Pettigrew, who worked for the city of San Jose within the Dept. of Transportation, was shot in the back four times last week at John Ascuaga’s Nugget casino in Sparks, Nevada.

On Sunday, President Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president in a decade to overnight in San Jose. That may placate some of the people who have been complaining that this president bypasses a city that overwhelmingly supported him and only spends time with the wealthy gods of social media on the Peninsula, who dispense $35,800 checks like ATMs. Truth be told, the only reason Obama was in San Jose was because he needed a place to crash.

The Bay Area’s public school system sustained another groin kick of aggressive generosity Tuesday when politically ambitious billionaire Meg Whitman bestowed $2.5 million on South Bay and Peninsula charter school programs. Apparently, the maid-firing former eBay exec didn’t spend all her money losing last year’s race for governor to Jerry Brown.

I’d like to ask how much the Water District spends each year on advertising and outreach? Water District ads encouraging people to conserve are on all of the time.  (By now, I think we’ve got it!)
— Timothy Wright

The budget for marketing campaigns has varied depending on the seasonal need. For example, the “Save 20 gallons” water conservation campaign was released in 2009, following a 15 percent mandatory conservation call by our board of directors.

Sunday will mark the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001, better known simply as 9/11. There will be memorial events held here in San Jose, throughout the nation and even outside the United States, as the 3,000 men, women and children who lost their lives that day from terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Flight 93 are honored. Every generation has its “where were you?” moment, when something monumental happened and in the blink of an eye a person can recall exactly what he or she was doing. That tragic day 10 years ago is exactly that moment for many Americans.

This is the first installment of a new San Jose Inside feature that allows readers to pose questions to public officials. This week, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has answered 10 questions selected out of hundreds that were submitted by San Jose Inside commenters. The topics range from pensions and public safety to a proposed ballpark. The next public official to be interviewed by readers will be announced on Friday.—Editor

The tragic departure of Steve Jobs from his CEO position at Apple last week has prompted me to ask if he would please weigh in on how California should evaluate the effectiveness of their public schools. I think the direction we take today will answer the question of whether public schools can ever produce more thinkers and problem solvers like Mr. Jobs in the future.

City officials were evacuated from City Hall at 5:30pm Monday evening after an email threat was received. It’s unclear how many people were evacuated, but a spokesman for Mayor Chuck Reed said 40 to 50 city officials were standing in a particular area outside an hour after the evacuation. City officials said the threat was not directed at any particular person.

In an effort to keep readers better informed about and involved with community issues, San Jose Inside will unveil several new features in the coming weeks.The first new weekly feature will allow readers to become reporters and ask questions. If you’ve ever wondered why a certain question wasn’t posed, this will be your opportunity to step forward and ask. To begin the Q&A series, Mayor Chuck Reed has agreed to answer your questions.

Racial equality in our schools and communities is elusive, but a work in progress. The achievement gap is real and it has not budged significantly for the half century since Dr. King delivered his famous speech. On Sunday, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial will be dedicated to the American people in Washington D. C. The facts are stark and our work to “Build the Dream” must be re-energized. This new national monument to MLK is a great opportunity for us to do just that.

A story sensationalized last weekend by the Merc’s Sean Webby stops just short of blaming the recent violent-crime spike on SJPD Chief Chris Moore’s business trips. “As San Jose’s homicide rate soared,” Webby writes, “police Chief Chris Moore was out of town on business 12 times.” He goes on to report that “some argue” an absent chief can destabilize a police force battling crime and sagging morale. Maybe so, but who exactly is arguing this (or even saying it under their breath) is unclear.