California teachers could soon be required to include the history of gays, lesbians and transgenders in their curriculum, after a landmark vote was passed Thursday in the state Senate.

The San Jose Redevelopment Agency laid off over half of its staff on Wednesday, leaving just 31 people to oversee RDA projects.

The future of professional sports in the nation’s 10th largest city is in limbo. In furious preparations for an opportunity that may never materialize—and to protect the land holdings that may one day house a ballpark—San Jose has taken extraordinary steps.

Editor’s Note: The following was written by City Councilmember Nancy Pyle and included in her March newsletter. Pyle represents San Jose’s 10th District. On Wednesday, February 16th I traveled to Sacramento with Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen, Councilmembers Ash Kalra and Donald Rocha and Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Harry Mavrogenes. Our mission was to discuss the governor’s plan to eliminate Redevelopment Agencies statewide.

Mayor Chuck Reed sat down with the Wall Street Journal for a Q&A article published today, and the responses were strikingly similar to the State of the City Address he delivered last Thursday.

Last week, RDA director Harry Mavrogenes and the San Jose City Council said they would work to keep the Redevelopment Agency going despite Gov. Jerry Brown’s intention to shut down agencies statewide.

An article in the Mercury News closed with the following paragraph: “The governor’s finance office said Brown has not wavered on his position and cited a study released Tuesday by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office. The report offers support for Brown’s plan to eliminate the agencies and replace them with other ‘tools to finance economic development.’”

Jerry Brown’s plan to dismantle the state’s redevelopment agencies would make things a lot worse for San Jose’s staggering deficit—and eliminate the funding source for the salaries of Mayor Chuck Reed and the San Jose city council.

It doesn’t sound like Gov. Jerry Brown bowed or budged Wednesday when meeting with a delegation of mayors from California’s biggest cities to talk about the proposed elimination of redevelopment agencies.

The two biggest issues facing San Jose so far this year—pension reform and the future of redevelopment—will be discussed at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, and the public forum concluding the session is likely to get lively.

Sunday’s San Jose Mercury News endorsement of Jerry Brown is getting a bit of traction, as might have been expected. The Brown campaign spread news of the endorsement today in an email blast headlined: “Meg’s Hometown Paper Backs Brown.”