White Trash Gothic is perhaps the best label to stick on Killer Joe, a black comedy now being staged by Renegade Theatre Experiment. Written by Tracy Letts about 15 years before he won the Pulitzer Prize for August: Osage County, the play concerns the Smiths, a clan of Texan riffraff who decide to kill their family matriarch for her insurance money.
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The San Jose Redevelopment Agency, once one of the largest in the state, is about to lay off twelve of the 78 employees it has left. Executive Director Harry Mavrogenes warns that more layoffs are down the road this coming year, and the Agency may be forced to let half of its remaining staff go. The drop in available fundscould also impact major projects under the RDA’s auspices, including the proposed baseball stadium and the Convention Center renovation.
The Palo Alto City Council unanimously voted no confidence in the proposed high speed rail link between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and called on the state and federal government to stop funding the $43 billion project. At the meeting, City Council also called on the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board to refuse to accept any aerial lines in cities in the peninsula that oppose them.
City Council will once again take up the proposed move by the Oakland A’s to San Jose today and express its support for team owner Lew Wolff’s efforts on behalf of the move. Unlike other meetings about the move, however, this one is geared more for public consumption. Also on the table will be the eight “negotiating principles” for the new stadium, including no new taxes for its construction.
PG&E has released its list of top 100 gas pipeline trouble spots, including two in San Jose and a total of eleven in Silicon Valley. A second list, also released yesterday, consists of 100 additional segments that are being monitored for problems. Representatives from San Jose will be meeting with PG&E this Thursday to discuss further steps to protect residents from potential hazards.
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Michael Hurd, forced to leave the company following a since discredited sexual harassment complaint, can take the helm at Oracle, after an agreement has been reached between the two companies and Hurd. According to the agreement, Hurd must give up $14 million in restricted stock that was part of his severance package. He gets to keep $12.2 million in severance pay, and is currently selling another $30 million in stock that came with his severance package.
Facebook denies claims made on Saturday that its latest project is a cheap phone, to compete with the iPhone and Droid. According to reports, Facebook has two people working on the project. Facebook responded by saying that “Building phones is just not what we do.”
PG&E has warned San Jose that the two of its 100 highest risk natural gas pipelines run in the northern part of the city. Though general locations were revealed, the gas company has stated that it will not reveal the precise locations until later today, when it releases its findings to the Public Utilities Commission.
On Sunday San Jose eliminated its 21-officer Violent Crime Enforcement Team, an elite unit devoted to combating gang activity in the city. City and police officials quickly picked sides in the ensuing fracas, with the San Jose Police Officers Association taking out a full page ad in the Merc on Sunday to condemn the decision.
The Jade Buddha of Universal Peace is more than just an icon. Said to “bring inconceivable peace and happiness and help prevent the destruction that is happening so much in the world,” it is emerging as a bone of contention in the hotly divided Vietnamese community, reflecting the hotly contested election in the city’s District 7.
