Environment

In the preface to his book “California: A Fire Survey,” Stephen J. Pyne notes that the “California fire scene” has long shaped the broader American agenda. “For the national narrative the important fact is that what happened in California did not stay in California,” he...

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has settled a consumer protection lawsuit against popular sunscreen company Sun Bum for advertising claims that misstated its actual impact on the ocean. The judgment is the first obtained by any prosecutor against a major sunscreen manufacturer for...

Wednesday morning around 7:45am, 6,301 homes lost power, after a fault was reported on a line that serves the San Lorenzo Valley, according to utility officials. The outage occurred on a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. circuit that has Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings built in,...

Heather Kelley counted 15 days the power was out last August, up at her place that’s perched atop the Santa Cruz Mountains along Skyline Boulevard. “It makes our life just a living hell up here,” she said. “It’s absolutely terrifying.” Kelley says it’s not just the...

The drought might not be completely done with California, but the state’s residents are now free of the strictest water conservation measures put in place by Gov. Gavin Newsom nearly two years ago.  Standing at a podium in front of a storm-soaked agricultural field in...

Santa Clara County suffered an estimated $15.4 million in damage to local roadways during the winter storms that doused the West Coast in the first three months of the year, according to county officials. The initial storms during the end of December 2022 and throughout...

While meeting in the scorching heat at Trinity Bible Church in Felton on a recent Friday afternoon, a group was awaiting a tour of Fall Creek where they’d receive a history lesson about the complex interplay between tan oaks, Douglas fir and coast redwoods...

A San Jose recycling company has been ordered by a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge to pay $25,000 in civil penalties for causing dangerous fires to start in the back of garbage trucks in Campbell.   The company, iDiskk, LLC, its principal Yue Zou,...

As part of the Sanborn and Upper Stevens Creek Forest Health Plan, adopted in August 2023 by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Santa Clara County Parks is closing a few hiking trails. The closures are necessary, officials say, in order to put vital...

Just three miles south—or 11 minutes away—from downtown Los Gatos, we have Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, nearly 1,500 acres of unbridled nature. It features six miles of hiking and equestrian trails that meander along perennial creeks. This acreage was acquired for us...