Mountain View Voice

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. The board that oversees the California High-Speed Rail Authority voted Friday to rein in Chief Executive Ian Choudri’s contracting authority following a state investigation that showed consultants billed the agency $600,000 in questionable travel expenses.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. The board that oversees the California High-Speed Rail Authority voted Friday to rein in Chief Executive Ian Choudri’s contracting authority following a state investigation that showed consultants billed the agency $600,000 in questionable travel expenses.

City Council candidates participate in a forum at the Mountain View Community Center on Oct. 8. Photo by Seeger Gray. Ahead of the November election, Mountain View’s City Council candidates squared off at a political forum Thursday evening, giving their perspectives on hot-button issues, like housing, oversized vehicle parking and how to take on the Trump administration.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Not only has Gov. Gavin Newsom vocally opposed the proposed California billionaire tax, but he also wants to prevent the state from ever passing a wealth tax in the future. On Friday he endorsed Proposition 42, a ballot measure that would cancel out Proposition 40, the proposed billionaire tax. Prop.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. In a dim storefront near downtown Fresno, a family gathered to mourn. They wore memorial T-shirts, lit candles, and told stories about their patriarch through tears and sobs. Luis Arreguin didn’t die, but to his closest loved ones, it feels like it. The 54-year-old skilled laborer was arrested Oct. 1 by federal immigration agents on his way to work, disappearing into a vast and opaque detention system, his family said.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Electric bicycles allow riders to zip across town in a way that’s more affordable and environmentally friendly than gas-powered cars. They reduce traffic, can help people with mobility issues and generally are fun to use. But the rising use of e-bikes has also resulted in high-profile collisions and growing safety concerns among parents, healthcare professionals and state legislators. Gov.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Bernie Sanders. Jane Fonda. There’s some star power endorsing each of the two Democratic candidates to be California’s next insurance commissioner. Sure, it has historically been a little-known regulatory position. But its profile and importance are rising after a decade of some of the most destructive and deadliest wildfires in the state, which have disrupted one of the world’s largest insurance markets. Not a homeowner?

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. In 2022, 58% of Los Angeles city voters approved a hefty tax on mansion sales. In 2024, 62% of Sonoma County voters backed a half-cent sales tax to fund wildfire response and other emergency services. Neither would have become law under the threshold set by Proposition 43, which would require a two-thirds vote to pass any local tax measures that pay for specific services.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. In 2014, residents and environmental groups argued in a lawsuit that a California Department of Transportation road project planned to run through Richardson Grove State Park failed to properly evaluate how it could harm the redwood trees. It still took courts a total of 15 years to resolve all of the related legal complaints before Caltrans could move forward with building.

BurbleBox founder Amy Bearman plays with her daughter at home in Emerald Hills on Oct. 2, 2026. Photo by Allyson Moore. Becoming a parent can be a surprising experience in many ways. In Redwood City resident Amy Bearman’s case, one thing she hadn’t expected was how, even as a newborn, her daughter was already actively responding to the world around her. “I kind of thought that she would be, like, a potato for longer,” Bearman recalled with a laugh.