Chuck Reed’s about to sunset his final term as mayor of San Jose, and he’s inviting the public to a farewell celebration. What’s that? You have plans? Oh, come on.

San Jose police are planning another gun buyback to take illegal firearms off the streets—no questions asked. Two key organizers have formed an unlikely alliance.

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.

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.

Just as we predicted in March 2012, a Sicilian American, Bellarmine-educated attorney was elected mayor of San Jose this week. As of 2am, Sam Liccardo held a 2-percent lead over Dave Cortese.

Santa Clara County may enact a health ordinance to protect nail technicians, who work long hours around toxic chemicals. About 80 percent of the 7,200 registered nail technicians in the county are Vietnamese. The vast majority are immigrant women, around childbearing age, who report headaches, pregnancy complications and other health problems because of the work they do.

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.

Few scenes illustrate the fall of a once-powerful political family like a former labor boss passive-aggressively stalking people at Starbucks.

Santa Clara County's Office of Human Relations is inviting public testimony about the cost of living in Silicon Valley.

Summer brings a brief reprieve for local elected officials—for some more than others.

County Supervisor Dave Cortese has taken an unusual approach to email in recent months. But perhaps more worrisome for the San Jose mayoral candidate, Cindy Chavez' successful run for a county supervisor seat last year could cut into funds that were expected to help him get elected.

Sam Liccardo will not accept a voluntary expenditure limit for the San Jose mayoral runoff. The decision leaves little doubt that the 2014 mayor's race will end up being the most expensive in city history.

The 21st annual comedy show Monday Night Live! starred some of Silicon Valley’s biggest political players eschewing personal dignity for the sake of raising money for the San Jose Stage Company. For that we thank them.

San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos says he cast the wrong vote for a planning commissioner appointment and wants a do-over.

A transportation measure intended to raise the local sales tax will have to wait until 2016. Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said new polling projects low voter turnout. But questions remain about how Guardino's been handling his polling information.