Tag: santa clara county california

Kate and Paolo D’Alessio thought their 15-month-old French bulldog, Sprinkles, was gone forever after a thief smashed the window of their vehicle and stole the pet outside a busy rest stop and gas station in east Santa Clara County.

Morgan Hill Fire Marshal Dwight Good first became attracted to fire work when he joined the Mariposa County Volunteer Fire Department in 1991. At first it was just a fun hobby, but that hobby eventually turned into a passion for keeping people safe from fire.

In the world of writing, paths often overlap. People start careers in other professions then stumble into writing, either from a hardship, a hobby or an inner calling that surfaces later in life.

In May, Supervisor Dave Cortese proposed raising minimum wage to $10 per hour in unincorporated areas of the county. Gov. Brown has since signed legislation to increase California’s minimum wage to $9 per hour on July 1, 2014 and to $10 per hour on Jan. 1, 2016.

The Santa Clara County Planning Department is in the process of updating their procedures for public outreach and notification of development projects, and will be soliciting input from residents at a public hearing in Morgan Hill Thursday night.

A Santa Cruz man died early Saturday morning in a solo vehicle accident near 1750 Hecker Pass Highway, according to a press release from the Gilroy Police Department. 

Crews from five area fire departments were up all night extinguishing a giant garbage fire at the San Martin Transfer Station Friday, according to authorities. The cause of the fire at the garbage and recycling facility at 14070 Llagas Ave. is undetermined, but investigators do not think it was intentional, according to CalFire Battalion Chief Brandon Leitzke. The blaze burned in a pit of garbage and recyclable materials inside a roughly 5,000-square-foot metal building that is open on two sides to allow heavy equipment to sort through the discarded items for processing, Leitzke said. About 100 tons of garbage burned, but the fire only caused “minimal” damage to the building itself. Crews from CalFire, the South Santa Clara County Fire District and the Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Jose fire departments worked through the night Friday and into Saturday morning to extinguish the fire, Leitzke said. The fire started just after 7 p.m. Friday. A firefighter injured his wrist while fighting the fire, Leitzke said. That was the only injury resulting from the incident. The San Martin Transfer Station is owned and operated by Recology South Valley. That company’s general manager, Phil Couchee, said they had to close the site to drop-offs from the public for a couple days, but they expect to reopen by Monday afternoon. “The firefighters did an outstanding job to contain (the fire) and manage it,” Couchee said. 

The Santa Clara County Fair opens to the public August 1, but 4-H and Future Farmers of America organizations from Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy are already in the swing of things, competing on fairgrounds since July 28.

Fire crews responded to two burning greenhouses in north unincorporated Morgan Hill Tuesday morning, according to authorities. 

Santa Clara County is accepting applications for up to $252,000 in grant funds available through the 2013 Historical Heritage Grant Program, according to County staff.