Santa Clara County transit workers approved a new contract last week, avoiding a threatened strike. The workers approved the new contract, with 2 and 3 percent pay raises over the next two years, by a wide margin. The nearly 1,500 transit workers had been without a contract for the last 16 months.
Police response time in unincorporated North Fair Oaks should improve as a result of a new 911 policy. Both Redwood City police and sheriff's deputies will now be dispatched to 911 calls from North Fair Oaks, which is bordered by Redwood City, Menlo Park and Atherton and patrolled by sheriff's deputies. The concern was that some 911 calls had been going ignored.
Capt. John Sterling will be East Palo Alto's interim police chief until a final choice can be made. Sterling, who has served as understudy to Chief Burny Matthews for the last two years, will also be a candidate for the permanent job. Matthews left the department last week to take over as the police chief in Alameda.
When Santa Clara County's juvenile detention center is overcrowded like it has been lately, juvenile offenders who commit serious crimes often get cited and sent home. As a result, youths arrested for crimes like vandalism and car theft are sometimes sent home, while those awaiting trial for violent crimes remain in custody. The new "three strikes law" will increase the overcrowding problems, law enforcement officials say.
Stanford University Libraries announced last week that it has added the Fishman Family Archive to its special collections. Dr. Joshua Fishman was a leading sociolinguist, and the archive includes more than 50 years of his personal papers and work on the study of Yiddish language and culture.
A former San Mateo County coroner's employee has sued the county, charging that Coroner Adrian Moorman sexually harassed him. Stephen Burrell claims in his lawsuit that Moorman repeatedly referred to his race and made other racist and sexist comments about him. Burrell worked for the county from mid-1992 until last August.
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