Free Republic

An unconscious tree trimmer stranded high above a San Jose neighborhood was dramatically airlifted to safety Friday after suffering a medical emergency while working roughly 75 feet up a palm tree. Emergency crews rushed to the 2900 block of Sunburst Drive around 10 a.m., where the worker had become incapacitated while cutting the tree, according to the San Jose Fire Department. Initial attempts to reach him from the ground failed due to the height and distance from the street. With time critical, officials called in a Cal Fire helicopter to execute a rare aerial extraction. The operation proved difficult, taking...

Grindr’s in bed with strange fellows. The LGBTQ+ dating app has expanded its political presence in both Washington and California as it seeks to flex its influence muscles on a range of policy priorities. The app’s ambitions have grown since President Donald Trump’s return to office — and much of that is due to the registered Republican running the shop. Since April 2025, Joe Hack has navigated a GOP-controlled Washington as he pushes forward Grindr’s biggest legislative priorities. Out in California, George Arison, Grindr’s self-described “conservative” CEO, has waded into primary politics, pushing moderate San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan as...

Ten days ago, Congressmember Eric Swalwell was getting very close to becoming the Democratic candidate for governor of California. But then he imploded amidst sensational accusations of sexual harassment and assault. Within hours of the revelations, Swalwell abandoned his campaign and then resigned from Congress and is now under criminal investigation. Why Swalwell was leading the field of Democratic hopefuls was never clear. His only claim to political fame was being one of President Donald Trump’s most persistent critics — which, of course, has little to do with governing the nation’s most populous state. It seemed he was seen as...

The California governor's race is heating up, with Emerson College polls showing two Republicans leading after Eric Swalwell's departure. Steve Hilton leads with 17%, followed by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 14%. Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer is tied with Bianco at 14%. Trailing Democrats include former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and former Representative Katie Porter both tied at 10%. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan follows with 5%. The poll also found that 23% of likely voters said they are still undecided, meaning the race remains wide open.

Political media habitually use “race” to describe contests for public office. However the word implies movement and therefore would be inaccurate if applied to this year’s election of a new governor. Sixty-one names will be on the June 2 primary ballot, including 10 leaders who profess to be serious about seeking the office. However, they aren’t racing. Rather, the eight top-polling Democrats seem to be in a children’s game, sitting in a circle staring at each other, waiting for someone to blink. Meanwhile, the two top Republicans are taking potshots at each other, potentially undermining the GOP’s only chance to...

A series of so-called “wrench attacks,” violent robberies targeting wealthy cryptocurrency holders, are making headlines after victims in Los Angeles and the Bay Area were targeted, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. On Nov. 22, a San Francisco man was robbed of $13 million in digital currency after thieves posing as pizza delivery drivers forced their way into his home, bound him with duct tape, beat him with a firearm and threatened to cut off his fingers. The victim told investigators he had been expecting a package when a man carrying a white box arrived on the front porch of his...

The boss of Santa Clara County’s largest water supplier is stepping down — and officials will keep paying him for a year without disclosing what they discovered in a misconduct probe against him. Valley Water CEO Rick Callender is resigning effective March 1 after more than a year-long investigation into misconduct allegations by an employee, which one board director has said involves sexual harassment. The board of directors announced Callender’s resignation at a special meeting Friday, but said nothing about the misconduct probe or what they found. Officials have not disclosed the nature of the employee misconduct complaint. The board...

Three engineers were arrested and charged with stealing trade secrets from Google and other U.S. technology organizations and sending the confidential data to unauthorized locations, including Iran.

A California Teacher of the Year finalist has been arrested for trying to pay for sexual acts with an undercover cop posing as a 13-year-old boy. Ruben Guzman, an assistant principal and math teacher at Sunrise Middle School in San Jose, was snared when he organized for them to meet up last week. The 31-year-old, who was also recognized by the San Francisco 49ers for his work in the classroom, was cuffed by San Jose police and the FBI on the scene. It came as part of a wider bust that saw 10 others across the region caught over alleged...

A San Jose police officer was shot and taken to the hospital Wednesday following a pursuit involving a carjacking suspect, according to authorities. A suspect is dead, and a San Jose police sergeant was taken to the hospital Wednesday following a multi-county pursuit, according to a police source with direct knowledge. CHP said a green Corvette was carjacked in San Jose at around 2:37 p.m. Officers later found the vehicle and initiated a pursuit. The suspect arrived in Hollister, where the city's police department said he abandoned the vehicle on Westside Boulevard, armed with a firearm. Police report the suspect...

This image of eight teenagers laying in the shape of a swastika on a football field has been circulating online. This image of eight teenagers laying in the shape of a swastika on a football field has been circulating online. Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area. Updated at 5:50 p.m. A photo of eight teenagers lying in the shape of a swastika on Branham High School’s football field, accompanied by an antisemitic quote from Adolf Hitler, circulated online Wednesday, raising concerns in the district and beyond. The photo was...

The Royal Navy sank the galleon in 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession, but its resting place had been a mystery for more than three centuries. Today its contents could be worth billions. ...Experts speculate that the ship was loaded with at least 200 tons of treasure, including millions of high-purity gold doubloon coins, as well as many silver coins and emeralds that the Spanish empire had plundered from South America, worth up to $17bn (£13.5bn) today. The salvage rights have been subject to decades of litigation and are contested by a professional salvage company that claims to...

There are sunken treasures, and then there is the legendary shipwreck of the San Jose. Considered by many to be the ‘Holy Grail’ of shipwrecks, we have been reporting on the explorations of the massive treasure since November 2023: The San Jose Galleon, the ‘Biggest Sunken Treasure in History’, Hasn’t Been Salvaged Yet – But It’s Already Causing Dispute in Court. The remains of the Spanish galleon San José, estimated to be worth nearly $20 billion, has been located off the coast of Colombia. pic.twitter.com/Tsb02Cgu87— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) December 16, 2023This week, it was reported that Colombian scientists have recovered...

A food service provider is stepping up to provide hot meals to federal workers at the San Jose airport during the government shutdown. The workers haven’t been paid since Oct. 1 and food insecurity is prevalent. During the shutdown, Martha’s Kitchen is providing more than 800 meals a week to 340 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers at San Jose Mineta International Airport and Monterey Regional Airport. “I had never thought TSA would be calling Martha’s Kitchen,” Executive Director Bill Lee told San José Spotlight. “Never in a million years.” There are as many as 90,000 federal workers living in the...

Violent cartel members have threatened US tourists in Mexico in an effort to send a warning to FBI Director Kash Patel as the administration continues to crack down on drug and weapons trades. Extraordinary banners have been erected in Baja California responding to recent raids and weapons seizures conducted by the FBI. The messages claim that starting Sunday, cartel gunmen from the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa cartel will begin targeting US citizens who are in Mexico with violence. In particular, tourists and Americans living in Cabo San Lucas and San Jose have been warned they will be targeted....

Former San Jose Councilman Omar Torres was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for child molestation. Prosecutors say Torres abused a boy starting when the victim was 4 years old. Torres must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

A Jewish-owned business in San Jose was vandalized Monday night, with hateful imagery spray-painted on the building and work vehicles. It is being investigated by police as a targeted hate crime. "They broke the windows, they broke side mirrors and swastikas and KKK on the door," HVAC & Insulation Gurus owner Lior Zeevi said. "It's very sad and very disappointing that's to do these kind of bad things. It makes no sense - this kind of hate." Zeevi could not believe was he saw when he arrived at his business Tuesday morning. His work vehicles covered in hateful graffiti as...

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu studio in San Jose is recovering after being a victim of a hit-and-run collision over the weekend. According to the San Jose Police Department, a vehicle crashed into Caio Terra Academy at 4:03 p.m. on Sunday. The studio, located on Park Avenue and Sunol Street, did not report any injuries. No one was inside the studio at the time of the crash. As of Monday afternoon, the hit-and-run driver remains at large. SJPD said the driver was involved in a separate collision with another vehicle prior. The outside brick walls, framing, glass, and mats were “all destroyed,”...

Officials claim they used coins discovered inside a shipwreck off the coast of Colombia to prove the doomed vessel is the legendary San José that was carrying a $20 billion treasure when it sank. The Colombian government used an unmanned vehicle to inspect the wreckage of the 18th-century craft to prove it has found the lost Spanish galleon. The submersible carried out a non-intrusive investigation to document areas of the shipwreck that have yet to be photographed that contained coin-like objects, according to a study from Antiquity. Coins found in a hoard area in the ship’s stern were photographed and...

Nearly half a century after a young California woman was strangled, officials say a thumbprint on a carton of cigarettes has led to an arrest. Willie Eugene Sims was arrested in Jefferson, Ohio, in connection with the death of Jeanette Ralston, according to a Friday statement from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Sims, 69, has been charged with murder and was arraigned on Friday in Ashtabula County Court before being sent to California. (snip) A thumbprint found on Ralston’s cigarette carton in her car was found to match Sims’s last fall after law enforcement had asked to run...