Santa Clara County will expand services targeting substance use crisis
The County of Santa Clara announced last week that it will be augmenting its substance use treatment services with additional inpatient, residential and outpatient offerings through the Behavioral Health Services Department and Santa Clara Valley Healthcare to serve thousands of the county’s most vulnerable...
County funds more immigration services as federal enforcement escalates
Santa Clara County has earmarked more than $8 million in local funds for immigration related services in the recently adopted 2025-26 budget.
The funding builds on the county’s previous investments in services for the immigrant community that include an emergency $5 million allocation in 2024...
Valley Water to expand creek cleanup program
On Aug. 22, the Valley Water Board of Directors allocated additional resources to support greater service and coordination toward cleaning up trash, debris and hazardous pollutants produced by encampments along waterways in Santa Clara County.
The board approved two new staff positions, adding to Valley...
Sheriff investigates fentanyl exposures at jail
From Bay City News Service
Santa Clara County Sheriff Robert Jonsen is drawing attention to a rash of fentanyl overdoses and exposures at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, he said in a release on Wednesday.
Thirteen inmates and two staff members were exposed to fentanyl...
Santa Clara County hospitals investigated for illegal medical, hazardous waste disposal
Three hospitals in the Santa Clara County healthcare system have been repeatedly illegally dumping medical and hazardous waste—as well as confidential patient records—over the past year or more, according to authorities.
Violations observed at the county-owned hospitals—including Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy—include the improper...
Spoking My Mind: Keeping cool when temps climb
To coin a cliché, hot enough for you? Sure, I’ve lived here long enough to know that some of the hottest days of 2024 have yet to hit us; still, we’ve already had our fair share of some terribly toasty temps.
You longtime readers know...
City council gives homeless 90 days to leave Sixth Street encampment
Since Valley Water evicted dozens of unhoused residents of Gilroy from the water district’s properties along local creeks in November, many have relocated to a growing encampment on Sixth Street near Camino Arroyo Drive.
On Feb. 9, the Gilroy City Council voted 4-2 to give...
Julie Hutcheson named executive director of Green Foothills
Julie Hutcheson, a longtime Morgan Hill resident and environmental advocate for the South Bay, is the new executive director for Green Foothills.
Hutcheson has been on Green Foothills’ staff for more than 12 years and has taken an active role in leading the organization, most...
Saint Louise Regional Hospital opens new cardiology services center
Santa Clara Valley Healthcare officially launched expanded cardiology services at Saint Louise Regional Hospital Jan. 6, bringing diagnostic heart care closer to South County residents who previously had to drive up to an hour to San Jose for the same services.
The new cardiac diagnostic...
County makes Narcan available at all public libraries
Santa Clara County will begin providing the opioid overdose-reversing medicine naloxone in all county library branches in an effort to make the treatment more widely available.
The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously April 4 to make naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, available at all...























