David Cho, Brady Dennis and Karl Vick
 
The Obama administration has turned back pleas for emergency aid from one of the biggest remaining threats to the economy -- the state of California.
 

Frank Davies
 
Immigration reform, an intractable issue that has frustrated presidents and Congress for years, is making a comeback as a hot topic here. Whether it makes it into legislation is another matter.
 
The Obama administration and Congress already have an ambitious to-do list for the next few months, including health care reform, climate change legislation and a Supreme Court confirmation.
 

By Fawn Johnson

U.S. lawmakers are setting the stage to halt state and local governments from imposing new taxes on cell-phone and mobile e-mail services.

Several Democrats and Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee's commercial law panel agreed Tuesday that "discriminatory" cell-phone taxes, or taxes on wireless services alone, are unfair.

Ellen Danford
 
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren ‘70 of the 16th District of California paid her alma mater a visit yesterday to speak to the Stanford Immigrant Rights Project (SIRP), a newly formed student group which focuses on raising awareness on immigrant-related issues.
 
Lofgren addressed her work as the chair of the Immigration Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, as well as her hopes for future immigration law reform.
 

Jonathan Tilove

Hurricane season begins today, and with it an effort to gain some traction on Capitol Hill for an ambitious plan to create 100,000 "green jobs" along the Gulf Coast for victims of past storms.

The Gulf Coast Civic Works Act was born 2,100 miles from New Orleans at a San Jose State University "campus sleep-out" on election night 2006. Students watched Spike Lee's documentary, "When the Levees Broke," on a giant outdoor screen, and wanted to know what they could do to help.

By Scott Duke Harris

From midway up the grandstands at Spartan Stadium, Cindy Plares could look down across the football the field into the huge cap-and-gown crowd and spot her oldest child - 23-year-old Misty Montoya.

Katherine Conrad

Developer Peter Pau now has a congresswoman on his side fighting for money for his stalled Sunnyvale Town Center project.

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, sent letters to Kenneth Lewis, president of the Bank of America, and John Stumpf, president of Wells Fargo, dated May 7, asking them to explain why they refused to give Pau and partner RREEF a $391 million construction loan.

Edward Epstein and Alan K. Ota

As Congress returns from a two-week hiatus, the main focus isn't on what will happen on the House or Senate floor.

Rather, the real action will be in committees, where sweeping legislation dealing with contentious issues including global warming and health care will be debated over the next several weeks.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District said Friday its lower Silver Creek flood protection project will receive $10 million in stimulus package funding.

The partially completed $78 million dollar flood protection project has been on hold since winter of 2007 due to lack of funds.

Frank Davies

Whether it's that worthy program in your neighborhood or another "bridge to nowhere" extravagance, you can now read about all of the favored projects U.S. House members are seeking on their Web sites.

Responding to years of controversy over so-called pork-barrel spending on pet projects, House leaders are requiring members to post how they want to spend taxpayer money in the 2010 federal budget - from flood-control projects in Santa Clara County to a training program for weather forecasters at San Jose State University.