Thanksgiving affords us a little more free time, thankfully. But rather than getting pulled into the chaos that is Black Friday, here's a list of suggestions on how to give back a little during the four-day weekend.

Just how many races would have commenced had Dave Cortese defeated Sam Liccardo?

The votes have been counted—most of them anyway—and it's time to reflect on all that went into the 2014 Midterm elections. But before we do that, here's a collection of photos from the night that was make or break for local politicos.

San Jose may update its procurement card policies to keep employees in check, after a recent audit found several examples of overspending.

Against the backdrop of an impotent state legislature and a growing awareness of the predatory nature of payday lenders, local governments have had to pick up the slack and adopt laws to stifle the industry.

Unable to move to Milpitas without San Jose's approval and with a lease set to expire in 2017, Bay 101 owners are trying to convince the city to approve development plans for a new facility.

Civil rights groups castigated San Jose city leaders for approving a drone purchase without public debate over privacy concerns. They're now asking the city to reform procedures for acquiring surveillance technology to make the process more transparent.

Though polling appeared to show San Jose voters are willing to pay more to restore public services, the City Council on Tuesday voted against placing a tax hike on the November ballot.

The November election will either shift the body politic in San Jose toward change or provide a continuation of the status quo. With the problems facing the city, change should be in the air.

After weeks of delays and years of failed attempts, San Jose passed regulations on medical marijuana collectives.

A woman has been waging war with the city, emailing reams of records requests punctuated by verbal abuse.

The City Council deadlocked in a 5-5 vote Tuesday (with Pete Constant absent) on medical marijuana zoning, moving to table the action another week.

After three hours of public testimony and discussion, city leaders tabled a vote on how to better regulate cannabis clubs.

The South Bay political machine knows how to orchestrate high strategy better than just about anybody, but fallout from the San Jose mayor’s race could lead to one awkward encounter next year.

Just when this story couldn’t get any stranger, Councilmember Johnny Khamis offered a new timeline of events regarding his decision last week to abstain from voting on his own memo. And some of those new events don't add up.

A bizarre occurrence flew under the radar at last week’s City Council meeting, as Councilmember Johnny Khamis abstained from a vote on his own memo. Why he did so just might make your head spin.