Collins Names ‘Mogging’ 2026 Word of the Year After 210% Surge
Collins Dictionary selected "mogging"—slang meaning to outshine someone—as its 2026 Word of the Year after usage jumped 210% across…
3 min read
Civic life
Local reporting. The people, places and decisions behind the headlines.
Search and community filters apply to these 50 stories in this part of the archive. Continue to earlier reporting below.
Civic life
AP Voter Poll Finds Young and Hispanic Voters Shifting to Democrats
The AP Voter Poll of 80,000 voters across all 50 states (margin of error 0.6 points) found 7 in 10 voters under 30 and 6 in 10…
4 min read
Contra Costa Airs Voter Forums as Magic of Lights Comes to Concord
Contra Costa Television, the Contra Costa Elections Department, and the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley partnered to broadcast…
3 min read
Officials Caution on ‘Red Mirage’ as 1,000 Poll Monitors Deploy
California election experts and Protect Democracy’s Ben Gips cautioned voters that initial "red mirage" leads reflect early Republican…
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Becerra Elected Governor as California Takes $1.4B for Broadband
The Associated Press called California’s 2026 gubernatorial election for Democrat Xavier Becerra over Republican Steve…
3 min read
Volunteers Restore Native Olympia Oysters Across San Francisco Bay
The nonprofit Wild Oyster Project, founded in 2016 by environmentalist Linda Hunter and led by executive director Giulio Salerno, now…
3 min read
Berkeley Author Ayelet Waldman Explores Feminist History in New Novel
Berkeley author Ayelet Waldman’s 19th-century historical novel A Perfect Hand, published May 19, 2026, by Knopf (a division of Penguin…
3 min read
Alameda County Sets Vote Schedule as Emeryville Weighs Measure BB
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters outlined its November 3 election night release schedule after 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. plus 5…
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SF One-Bedroom Rent Hits $4,430 as BART Preps for Valkyries Parade
Zumper data shows San Francisco median monthly rent reaching a record $4,430 for a 1-bedroom apartment and topping $6,000 for a…
3 min read
Ballistic Ventures Seeks $490M as ILC Dover Pays $13M Cyber Fine
San Francisco cybersecurity venture firm Ballistic Ventures filed to raise $490 million across a $360 million third flagship fund and…
4 min read
Citizen Lab Wins IRTF Prize in SF as Europe Counters Cyber Threats
Citizen Lab and Princeton researchers won the IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize—to be presented at IETF-127 in San Francisco from…
5 min read
TechCrunch Founder Summit Opens as Steam Delays Hit Indie Studios
TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 convenes November 4 at Boston’s SoWa Power Station (with doors opening at 9 a.m.
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Polls Close in Key States as Senate Tossups and 2027 Aid Shift Loom
Vote counting began in Indiana and eastern Kentucky on Tuesday ahead of 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and 8 p.m.
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Scientists Track 1,750 Monarch Butterflies With Solar Radio Tags
A tri-national science team including National Wildlife Federation senior scientist Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón and the Xerces Society has…
3 min read
Californians Vote on 8 Statewide Offices as 9th Circuit Backs Ballots
Californians are electing 8 statewide constitutional offices on Tuesday, November 3—including Attorney General, Insurance…
3 min read
Voters Weigh Prop. 3 School Tax and Prop. 38 as Google Revises K-12 AI
California voters are deciding Proposition 3—making permanent a 12.3% income tax on individuals earning over $371,000 and couples over…
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Voters Decide Prop. 45 CEQA Limits, Prop. 44, and Wealth Tax
Campaign spending across California’s 14 statewide ballot propositions has reached nearly $1 billion on Tuesday, led by Proposition…
4 min read
Bay Area Voters Weigh Five-County Transit Tax as Turnout Surges
Voters across 5 Bay Area counties are deciding the 14-year Regional Transit Measure to fund more than 20 transit agencies carrying…
5 min read
DOJ Sends Four Monitor Teams to Alameda County on Election Day
Alameda County Registrar of Voters Cynthia Cornejo confirmed that 4 U.S.
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Concord Council Weighs $75,000 Aid Fund as Brentwood Drive Begins
Concord Mayor Laura Nakamura confirmed that 3 councilmembers support returning Vice Mayor Dominic Aliano’s proposal for $75,000 in…
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CrowdStrike, Cisco, Microsoft, and Google Expand AI Cyber Defense
CrowdStrike signed agreements at Fal.Con Europe to acquire Fiddler AI (reported at $400 million) and Dreadnode (reported at $95…
4 min read
U.S. Voters Decide Control of Congress as Polls Open Nationwide
Americans across all 50 states are deciding control of the 120th Congress on Tuesday across all 435 U.S.
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Pleasanton and Dublin Voters Decide Mayoral Races and Tax Measures
Pleasanton and Dublin voters are casting Election Day ballots on Tuesday, November 3, for Pleasanton Mayor (Jack Balch vs.
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Danville Voters Decide Town Council, SRVUSD, and Assembly Races
Danville voters are casting ballots until 8 p.m.
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Voters Decide Prop. 40 Billionaire Tax After $316.7M Campaign War
California voters are deciding Proposition 40—a labor-backed one-time 5% tax on assets above $1 billion held by roughly 200 California…
3 min read
California U.S. House Battles Test Prop. 50 Maps on Election Day
Voters across California’s 52 congressional districts are deciding pivotal U.S.
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Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton Square Off to Succeed Gavin Newsom
California voters are choosing a successor to termed-out Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday in a contest between Democrat Xavier…
3 min read
Alena Maunder Vies for Marin School Board as Prop. 2 Goes to Voters
Third-generation Marin City resident and registered nurse Alena Maunder, who served as a Sausalito Marin City School District trustee…
3 min read
Californians Weigh Prop. 39 Voter ID and Prop. 5 Recall Reform
California voters are deciding two constitutional amendments reshaping state elections on Tuesday: Proposition 39, a voter ID measure…
3 min read
Google Cloud Sets $250K Root Bounty as Barracuda Patches Flaws
Google Cloud CISO Chris Betz and Cloud VRP Lead Michael Cote introduced a $250,000 top-tier reward for Root-in-Cloud architectural…
2 min read
Fremont Advances 918 Affordable Homes as Union City Upgrades Roads
Fremont approved 918 affordable apartments across 6 developments opening between fall 2027 and spring 2028 under a 35-day permit…
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San Francisco Voters Elect Pelosi Successor as Bay Area Polls Open
San Francisco voters are electing a successor to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the first time in nearly 4 decades—choosing…
2 min read
Polls Show Democrats Ahead in 6 Senate Races as 57M Vote Early
Final New York Times/Siena College polls across seven U.S.
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Commonwealth Meets in Antigua as U.S. Cuts 2 Nations From AGOA
King Charles III and Queen Camilla joined leaders of the 56-nation Commonwealth representing 2.7 billion people in Antigua and Barbuda…
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Livermore Library Hosts India Vet Talk as Hayward Updates Bike Plan
The Livermore Public Library announced a free November 12 Armchair Travelers lecture by veterinarian Randy Lung at the Civic Center…
3 min read
UK Cyber Chief Warns of AI Attack Surge as Groups Seek CISA Renewal
UK National Cyber Security Centre CEO Richard Horne warned that AI-assisted vulnerability discovery will drive an unprecedented surge…
4 min read
Los Altos School Candidates Top $30K as East San Jose Rallies Voters
Four candidates competing for three seats on the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees raised more than $30,000 combined through…
4 min read
Tech Billionaires Spend $140M Against Prop. 40 as Squarespace Cuts 19%
Silicon Valley billionaires led by Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s $103 million contribution poured $140 million into Building a…
3 min read
Ex-San Quentin Worker From Vallejo Gets 37 Months for Smuggling
Former San Quentin Rehabilitation Center janitor Keith Randle, a 36-year-old Vallejo resident, was sentenced in Oakland federal court…
3 min read
Contra Costa Hires Security for 150 Polls as LMC Wins State Honor
Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder Kristin Connelly hired private security guards for all 150 county polling places and Martinez…
3 min read
State Agency Rates Oakland Unified at High Insolvency Risk
California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team rated the Oakland Unified School District at high risk of financial…
3 min read
Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Set Aside 20,000 California Ballots
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal by Solicitor General D.
5 min read
Trump Touts Reflecting Pool Makeover on Eve of Midterm Elections
On the eve of the Nov. 3, 2026 midterm elections, President Donald Trump spoke at the reopened Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in…
3 min read
European Freezer Hacks Mirror August Incidents at 6 U.S. Base Stores
Broadcast confirmations from European grocers—including Sweden’s Coop (7 of 800+ stores) and ICA in Sjöbo, Belgium’s Carrefour (15 of…
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Rep. Levin Pushes Bipartisan Bill as 5 States Eye San Onofre Waste
U.S. Rep. Mike Levin—joined by Republican Reps.
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Nearly $200B in Data Centers Stalled as AI Shapes Midterm Debate
Almost $200 billion in U.S. data center projects were delayed, stalled, or blocked in the first half of 2026 amid local political…
2 min read
Avenida de Altares Honors Dolores Huerta as South Bay Polls Open
Families gathered at Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose for the 2026 Avenida de Altares Día de los Muertos celebration—honoring…
2 min read
Google Disrupts 1.3M-Device XCPE Android TV Botnet and Bans Maker
Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, Japan’s National Police Agency, and five cybersecurity partners dismantled the XCPE malware…
2 min read
USC Report Finds 50% of CA School Board Candidates Run Unopposed
A University of Southern California report co-authored by education professor Julie Marsh found that roughly 50% of California school…
2 min read