Rainbow Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley

09/14/2026

San Jose may bar officials from signing nondisclosure agreements

As community distrust of data centers grows, San Jose is considering banning councilmembers from signing confidentiality agreements that bind them from publicly discussing development projects.

The Rules and Open Government Committee on Wednesday unanimously voted to have the city manager create a policy to ensure transparency with developments, including data centers. The committee — comprised of five members of the City Council — wants to establish a process to review proprietary information from companies without requiring officials to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDA).

The policy is expected to return to the committee next week or by the end of the the month, depending on how long it takes for staff to draft it.

“Councilmembers work for the public, not for private companies, and no company seeking city approval should be able to determine what an elected representative can tell the people they serve,” District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz, one of the lead authors of the memo, told San José Spotlight. “When City Hall is considering major developments, infrastructure, data centers or other projects that could shape San Jose for decades, the public deserves transparency.”

https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-may-bar-officials-from-signing-nondisclosure-agreements/

09/14/2026

Meet the Florida nonprofit sending hundreds of transgender Ohioans gender-affirming supply kits

The Q***r Trans Project has sent more than 500 trans Ohioans custom gender-affirming supply kits worth a total of nearly $30,000

When Cielo Sunsarae and Alexis Williams launched The Q***r Trans Project in 2021, other LGBTQ+ people looking for help and resources often thought the Florida-based nonprofit was fake.

The group provides gender-affirming supply kits and travel assistance to transgender and non-binary people across the country – including more than 500 Ohioans in the last year alone.

“Trans people thought we were a scam and that we were going to take the information and harm them,” Williams said. “It was a huge barrier to reaching the world.”

https://www.advocate.com/politics/advocacy/florida-nonprofit-ohio-trans-care-kits

09/13/2026

Bay Area’s first ‘living levee’ opens at Palo Alto Baylands

A cool breeze swept through Palo Alto’s Baylands Nature Preserve as local and federal representatives opened the Bay Area’s first nature-based horizontal levee — a project officials hope protects against rising sea levels and helps filter wastewater going into the bay, while boosting the native marshland ecosystem.

Dozens of representatives from various agencies, from Palo Alto to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, gathered Thursday at the nature preserve for the levee’s grand opening. Construction on the $4.6 million nature-based levee finished last month, and local officials hope it serves as a model for other bayfront communities.

“We are thrilled to lead by being the first and really hope that our project here informs other levees in the Bay Area to support climate adaptation and solutions to sea level rise,” Brad Eggleston, director of public works for Palo Alto, said at the grand opening.

The horizontal levee stretches about 500 feet near the Byxbee Park vehicle entrance, between the bay’s tidal channels and the city’s Regional Water Quality Control Plant at 2501 Embarcadero Way. It features a gradual slope of vegetated earth going into the bay’s tidal channels, with more than 2,000 native plants and hundreds of native seeds, which will be irrigated by the water plant’s treated effluent.

https://sanjosespotlight.com/bay-areas-first-living-levee-opens-at-palo-alto-baylands/

09/13/2026

Seattle could soon protect non-monogamous relationships under civil rights law

Seattle City Council’s Housing, Arts and Civil Rights Committee voted unanimously to further a bill that would extend civil rights protections to people in non-traditional relationship structures.

Seattle City Council’s Housing, Arts and Civil Rights Committee voted unanimously to further a bill that would extend civil rights protections to people in non-traditional relationship structures at a Wednesday afternoon meeting, council member Alexis Mercedes Rinck confirmed in an email to Them.

Rinck is the sponsor of the legislation, which would amend sections of the Seattle Municipal Code. If passed, the law would change the definition of s*xual orientation to “recognize genders outside the gender binary, recognize pans*xuality and as*xuality as orientations, and include consensual relationships with multiple partners as an element of attitudes, preferences, and practices pertaining to s*xual orientation.” These protections would apply to the areas of “employment, housing, business licensure, places of public accommodation, park usage, bias-free policing” and would be overseen by the city’s Office for Civil Rights.

https://www.advocate.com/news/seattle-city-council-non-monogamous

09/12/2026

Silicon Valley immigrants to face stricter green card requirements

Federal rule changes taking effect later this month will make it harder for immigrants applying to live and work in the U.S.

Starting Sept. 18, obtaining a green card will require a greater burden of proof that the applicant won’t become a “public charge” who is dependent on government benefits. As part of the process, green card applicants must submit more documentation, including showing their individual income, the financial status of everyone in their household and whether they are receiving any public benefits, according to San Jose immigration attorney Richard Hobbs. Other factors that may be considered include age, health, education, skills, assets and more.

“They’re onerous and they’re designed to prevent people from getting a green card,” Hobbs told San José Spotlight. “It’s going to create a lot of deep concern in the community, and the biggest impact will be on providing all of the documentation.”

The public charge rule has been around since 1882 to determine a person’s eligibility to become a lawful, permanent U.S. resident. The rule has been implemented differently by various federal administrations and didn’t have clear guidelines until 1999 under President Bill Clinton.

https://sanjosespotlight.com/silicon-valley-immigrants-to-face-stricter-green-card-requirements/

09/12/2026

The first recorded victim of 9/11 was a gay Catholic priest

Father Mychal Judge served firefighters, AIDS patients, homeless people, and LGBTQ+ Catholics before walking into the North Tower on September 11, 2001.

Twenty-five years after Father Mychal Judge died inside the World Trade Center, the life behind one of the day’s defining images still challenges the Catholic Church’s ideas about who may be holy.

In the photograph, almost everything is gray.

Five men, their faces and clothing coated in ash, carry the body of the Rev. Mychal Judge through the ruins of the World Trade Center. His head falls to one side. His black clerical clothes and white Roman collar remain visible against the surrounding carnage.

Reuters photographer Shannon Stapleton’s image would travel around the world and become known as the “modern Pietà,” after Michelangelo’s sculpture of Mary cradling the body of Jesus. Before most people knew Judge’s name, they knew his death.

Father Mychal Judge served firefighters, AIDS patients, homeless people, and LGBTQ+ Catholics before walking into the North Tower on September 11, 2001.

09/11/2026

Housing planned for former San Jose school campus

A former South San Jose elementary school is poised to become housing.

True Life Companies purchased Glider Elementary School, a 9.5-acre site, from Oak Grove School District to redevelop it with 80 homes — a combination of townhomes and single-family houses. The San Jose Planning Commission on Aug. 26 voted unanimously to recommend the project, with Commissioner Dilpreet Bhandal absent. It will come before the San Jose City Council on Sept. 15 for approval.

Oak Grove School District is a TK–8 school district serving approximately 8,375 students across 18 schools. The $26.6 million sale of the property will aid the struggling district, which closed three schools, including Glider, in 2018 due to declining enrollment.

“The district intends to use the funds for one-time purposes that support the district’s long-term fiscal stability and help protect student programs and services,” Karyl Brandford, associate superintendent and chief business officer for Oak Grove School District, told San José Spotlight.

The funding could also be used to support facilities, technology needs and retain educators and staff, she added.

https://sanjosespotlight.com/housing-planned-for-former-san-jose-school-campus/

09/11/2026

09/10/2026

CA Laws Targeting Solar, Electric Shock Police Gloves, Insurance, AI And ICE Await Newsom

California lawmakers sent measures targeting detention centers, youth technology harms, offshore drilling, and elder abuse.

Gov. Gavin Newsom received a flurry of bills from California lawmakers before the legislative session ended Tuesday.

Nearly a dozen that landed on the desk of the outgoing governor's desk address a list of California’s most contentious issues. Their fates remain in limbo as Newsom has never been shy about using his veto power. According to CalMatters, his 2025 veto rate was 13.4 percent when he blocked 123 out of 917 bills.

The closely-watched bills include several that would tax private detention center operators, restrict immigration officers’ employment, regulate children’s interactions with technology, block offshore drilling, and expose abuse at senior care facilities.

https://patch.com/california/cupertino/s/kpcpo/ca-laws-targeting-solar-electric-shock-police-gloves-insurance-ai-and-ice-await-newsom?utm_source=local-update&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert&user_email=012c1ea4322aa592e9a174495ab7d2e34dbeb16f2c691fd4df3d717918330933&user_email_md5=5726d7f2043f3b16abd88b86ac1eb9cd&lctg=5f1f751300be990c03781b8d

09/10/2026

Rosie O'Donnell and Epstein survivors sing 'I Am Woman' in musical message to Trump

"You are all heroes," the 12-time Emmy Award winner told seven women victimized by the late convicted s*x offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This story originally appeared on Out.

Rosie O'Donnell is going viral again.

In a new video, she gets some help calling out President Donald Trump's friendship with s*x trafficker Jeffrey Epstein by singing a famous feminist anthem from 1972.

Seven survivors of the late convicted s*x offender joined the former talk show host, all dressed in white, to sing "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy, and O'Donnell shared the video with her 1.4M followers on Instagram. She posted the video Thursday and directly referenced the president's former personal lawyer, U.S Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“After the corrupt AG (Trump’s former personal lawyer) implied that he did not believe men accused of s*x abuse would be charged as a result of the Epstein files — despite mountains of evidence,” O'Donnell wrote in her caption for the video. “I called some Epstein survivors asked them to sing with me, a powerful Helen Reddy song that taught me at 10 years old to use my voice.”

https://www.advocate.com/politics/advocacy/rosie-odonnell-epstein-survivors