Palo Alto News

Palo Alto on Monday gave an emotional sendoff to Planning Director Curtis Williams, whose mild-mannered leadership, passion for community engagement and encyclopedic knowledge of local zoning laws won praise from even some of the city's most vehement land-use critics.

The board of directors of the Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo announced Monday that it is working with the Peery Foundation to create a matching gift challenge for rebuilding the facility as part of the master planning project for Rinconada Park.

Palo Alto will present potential plans for parking in the downtown area at a pair of community meetings scheduled for June 18 and 19 at 7 p.m. The meetings, held in the council chambers at City Hall, will cover possible plans for residential parking restrictions and/or permit parking programs in the Downtown North and South neighborhoods, according ... (more)

Va de bye: If you wondered what had become of Shane McAnelly, the Oakley native who was exec chef at Walnut Creek's much loved Va de Vi up until December, here's an update.

Jim Harbaugh, Class of '82 at Palo Alto High School. His father was an assistant coach at Stanford at the time .

Taking a page from the Summer Solstice yoga fest in New York's Times Square, five local yoga teachers will hold a free, public, outdoor yoga session Friday, June 21. Palo Alto yoga teacher Manjiri Subhash, who "grew up around yoga" in India, urges yoga practitioners of all levels to unroll their mats in Rinconada Park from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the ... (more)

Won't you consider contributing a few hours a week to help keep our five Palo Alto libraries up-to-date and thriving? Friends of the Palo Alto Library's monthly sales of donated books and media raise much-needed funds to purchase new books, furniture, technology, and special programs.

Herb Kaiser, World War II veteran and a medical philanthropist, celebrated his 90th birthday on Saturday, June 8, at his midtown Palo Alto home with neighbors, family and a white sheet cake that read "90 wow!" At his birthday party, Kaiser thanked the small gathering in his living room for attending.

Web Link was published in the Palo Alto Weekly today. It indicates that the Federal government has stepped in and determined that Palo Alto Unified staff failed to do their jobs to prevent bullying of special education students with disabilities in their district.

Leaves under a barbecue left unattended at a Palo Alto home on Saturday afternoon caught on fire, causing minimal damage to the home and neighboring home's garages.

Much of downtown Palo Alto will be closed to traffic on Sunday, June 16, to make room for World Music day, which runs from noon to 8 p.m. Police said that University Avenue will be closed from High Street to Webster Street and Hamilton Avenue will be closed from Ramona Street to Bryant Street.

Increased reliance on local funds and diminished state and federal funding mark the Palo Alto school district's proposed $170 million operating budget for 2013-14.

Classes at the Palo Alto institution known as the Pacific Art League are being held 'round the corner at 227 Forest Ave. while the building undergoes major renovations.

The Office for Civil Rights report inspired Palo Alto special-education parents and Community Advisory Committee members Christina Schmidt and Mary Vincent to research and prepare their own presentation for school decision-makers on the topic of disability-based bullying and lessons learned from the federal report.

One of Yahoo's senior international execs and longtime entrepreneur Ahmed Nassef is leaving the company to create a new startup called Telfez, which will be a social television effort aimed at emerging markets.

PARTY CITY, USA ... If a food-truck gathering, a campout or a yoga session suddenly pops up in your neighborhood, don't be alarmed.

Palo AltoCA LIFORNIAOn June 6, President Obama attended a fundraiser with major Democratic donors in Palo Alto.

Oct. 20, 2011, was no ordinary day at Terman Middle School in Palo Alto. Shilpa Ram and Laura Welp, attorneys from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, set up shop for the day at the school as part of their investigation into alleged civil rights violations arising from the school's failure to stop the bullying of a disabled ... (more)

The San Jose Civic's going to be bursting with folk music and activism when icon Joan Baez plays an acoustic concert with Jackson Browne and Emmylou Harris on July 27 to benefit Downtown Streets Team.

First up is the WinePad, a new custom app that simplifies the ordering of wine at Fleming's, which boasts a whopping 100 wines by the glass.