Politics

The City of Gilroy brings on a new hire from the City of San Jose planning department to take on the role of Development Center Manager, a newly created position that largely deals with fostering development within the city.

More than 60 people showered City Council with pleas to keep the pool at South Valley Middle School open during their regular meeting Monday night.

After working in Gilroy for more than seven years, Gilroy Fire Department Chief Dale Foster announced his retirement Thursday.   This time, Foster is determined to "retire for real," referring to his retirement from San Jose Fire Department in 2003 before his move to Gilroy.    "I’ll miss being involved in so many things relating to public safety, and I'll miss the people I’ve worked with and dealt with in this job," Foster said.    Foster, a Morgan Hill resident, said he loves the Gilroy community and plans to stay involved with all things Gilroy and Morgan Hill.    As for the fire department, Foster believes they'll be just fine without him.   "I think the fire department is on a good track right now, and I think the future is good for the the department and the City," he said.    In his retirement, Foster plans to travel, enjoy time with his wife and "basically do whatever I want."   Foster's last day with the department is August 17.    Foster graduated from Oregon State University, where he worked part-time at a fire station in Oregon while going to school. Foster said in 2005 that the experience sparked a love for firefighting that has lasted more than 30 years.   He joined San Jose Fire Department in 1972 after fulfilling his U.S. Navy reserve commitment and stayed there 32 years.   He rose through the ranks to engineer, then captain then in 1996 to battalion chief in, then to deputy chief, and finally, in 2000 to assistant chief.

Tobacco companies have reason to be confident after waking up with a 51-49 lead against an initiative that would raise cigarette taxes by $1 per pack in California, but neither side was prepared to declare the Proposition 29 race over this morning.

Assemblyman Bill Monning is vying for the 17th state Senate seat effectively vacated when Sam Blakeslee decided not to run again.

Voters in San Diego and San Jose overwhelmingly voted to pare back retirement benefits for city employees, setting the stage for a showdown over public pensions in Sacramento later this year.

WASHINGTON – Partisan differences now divide Americans more sharply than distinctions of race, religion, education or sex as a decade-long wave has pushed Democrats and Republicans to opposite corners on a wide range of formerly less partisan issues.

California voters and the Gilroy City Council could deliver a one-two punch to smokers this week.

City Council may have turned down the Gilroy Unified School District’s final proposal on a joint agreement that would keep the South Valley Middle School pool open for three years, but the subject isn’t closed, according to Board of Education trustee Dom Payne.