Dental Implants in San Jose, CA

A report on fast-food workers shows immigrants are often too scared to report violations and are largely unaware of their rights.

The California Fast Food Workers Union’s latest report done in collaboration with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights documents worker experiences. The groups surveyed 405 workers at more than 200 fast-food locations throughout the state, and found most immigrant workers were unaware of workplace protections, leading to widespread abuse.

The survey found 82% of workers who are afraid for their immigration status are less likely to file complaints. It also found 63% of respondents didn’t know they have the right to file workplace-related complaints, claims or lawsuits regardless of immigration status.

The findings are unsurprising to Yunuen Trujillo, director of workers rights and labor legal services for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Her organization offers legal support for workers and provides “know your rights” training, so workers are informed of their rights and have access to support resources.

“Foreign-born workers — and I’m not even saying undocumented workers — but foreign-born are less likely to be familiar with the system and to know your rights,” Trujillo told San José Spotlight. “If we then narrow it down to undocumented workers, most of the time they don’t know that employment laws actually do protect them. We see that mirrored in the report.”

Trujillo said immigrant workers are afraid of employers threatening their immigration status, bolstered by anti-immigration rhetoric from President Donald Trump’s administration. The report shows dozens of respondents reported being threatened by their employers — either that they might call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or fire the workers because of their immigration status. Both are workplace violations in California.

The report recommends fast-food workers get training to ensure they know their legal protections. Trujillo said these trainings inform workers of their rights, and give them the tools needed to advocate for themselves if they experience intimidation or other workplace violations.

Armando, a San Jose fast-food worker who requested to use a different name out of fear of retaliation, said learning about his rights helped him file a complaint against a series of workplace abuses at his job.

“I experienced a lot of violations, like wage theft, sexual harassment and they made me feel like I had no rights,” he told San José Spotlight. “When I joined the union and started listening in on the trainings, I learned about workplace abuses and it was really surprising and confusing to me, because I realized that everything they were doing at work was wrong.”

He said knowing about existing protections against harassment helped him speak up against abuse, and that more workers need to learn their rights.

In early April, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a voluntary worker rights training program. Supervisors will review options for full-day training courses in August, with another public hearing planned before then.

Fast-food workers have been rallying statewide for expanded rights and better protections for several years. The California Fast Food Workers Union fought to pass Assembly Bill 1228 in 2023, which raised the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour and established the Fast Food Council to oversee the industry, though it hasn’t started robust policy discussions.

Ruth Silver Taube, a worker rights attorney and San José Spotlight columnist, said she helps lead trainings and often hears about workplace abuse and violations in the fast-food industry. She’s also heard workers talk about employers threatening to call ICE, which she emphasized is a penal code violation.

“Once workers know that they have those rights, then they’re more likely to advocate with their employers and speak up if there’s a violation,” Silver Taube told San José Spotlight.

Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at sakura@sanjosespotlight.com or @SakuCannestra on X.

13-year-old San Jose boy accepted to more than 100 colleges

13-year-old San Jose boy accepted to more than 100 colleges

SAN JOSE, Calif. - At just 13 years old, Sunny Nguyen of San Jose might be close to achieving a world record as one of the youngest people to get accepted into the most colleges.

"My parents told me about going to college and I agreed with it and I’m here now," he told KTVU in a recent interview.

His father, Tommy Nguyen, said Sunny was the first of his five children, and he's always been special.

"He really liked math," his father said. "He studied math everywhere he went. He could see math in everything, everywhere."

His dad said that he believes his son will be able to do whatever he wants in life.

The teen has always loved technology – making websites and studying subjects like software engineering and artificial intelligence at home.

Like most teens, Sunny also said he likes to "play a lot of video games."

He also has a YouTube page booming with nearly 60,000 subscribers.

So when public school and home-education weren’t cutting it, Tommy Nguyen tarted submitting applications for his son.

"To our surprise, people just welcomed him like crazy, like letters kept flying into our home about admission and admittance and scholarships," he said.

Some of those schools include UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, along with a bunch of California state universities.

Sunny is especially interested in AI and hopes to use it to create something that will help people live longer.

"I think the most exciting part is seeing what’s going to happen next," Sunny said.

Tommy Nguyen said his son has been awarded more than $3 million in scholarships.

"Every school is giving him something," his dad said. "Some schools are giving him over $100,000 in scholarships."

Wherever Sunny decides to go, he plans to major in computer science and change the world.

Plans to develop a data center have been re-filed in San Jose, California.

Silicon Valley.com reports developers are seeking to develop a facility on land in the Alviso district of north San Jose previously earmarked for an entertainment district.

– Arcadis

An affiliate of Terra Ventures is behind the proposal, which has been filed with the San Jose planning department.

Two buildings are planned on a 9.3-acre site bounded by North First Street, Anderson Alley, Top Golf Drive and Liberty Street. The three-story data center is expected to total 295,100 sq ft (27,415 sqm)while the energy supply hub would be 167,400 sq ft (15,551 sqm).

Arcadis is involved in the development, which on a project page claims a second phase of development will include a greenhouse heated by the data center, which will grow fruit and vegetables to be sold from an on-site community retail store.

A blog post in the AI Journal from Arcadis suggests the site will utilize natural gas-powered fuel cells from Bloom Energy that will be grid reactive. This will reportedly be the facility’s primary power source. It also suggests the data center will use DC power from the fuel cells rather than going through multiple AC conversions.

An Arcadis document calls the facility the Terra Data Center. The site will reportedly use absorption chillers to use heat from the fuel cells to generate chilled water.

This is the second time Terra has filed to build a data center on the site. The company first submitted an application to develop a two-story, 172,500 sq ft (16,025 sqm) data center and adjacent power-generating facility back in 2023.

In 2018 Terra pitched the 37.7-acre site along the Guadalupe River for a development known as ‘Shops @ Terra’; an entertainment district that would have housed restaurants, shops, two hotels, and a TopGolf complex.

While the TopGolf site opened in 2021, the rest of the developments have failed to materialize. The site where the data center is being proposed was previously earmarked for SJL7; a four-story, 200-room hotel.

City leaders have approved a fee program allowing the San Jose Fire Department’s emergency medical services to collect payments from people they treat.

Fire Chief Robert Sapien said San Jose needs to join the 23 fire agencies across California that already have first responder fees for people using the fire department’s emergency medical services. While such services only represent about 16% of the fire department’s total operating budget, demand for emergency medical care significantly increased after the COVID-19 pandemic — with 911 incidents reaching all-time highs since 2022. Approved unanimously by the City Council Tuesday, the fire department will be able to bill $427 for emergency medical care starting Jan. 1, 2026.

Sapien said the city’s fire department has evolved into a substantial medical care provider in the community since forming more than 170 years ago, responding to more 68,000 requests for emergency medical services in 2024.

“Implementing a first responder fee will align the department with other medical care providers, helping our community to sustain critical life safety services through cost recovery from medical care payers,” he told San José Spotlight.

But residents who are treated by San Jose Fire Department first responders could be stuck footing the bill if they don’t have insurance.

“It has become a common practice for fire agencies across California to fund the enhanced paramedic level of service through a user fee,” Sapien said. “First responders will attempt to obtain medical insurance to collect the first responder fee. Similarly, most automobile insurance companies already have policies that include coverage for medical expenses.”

Mayor Matt Mahan described the fee program as a community-centered approach that doesn’t put an undue financial burden on residents.

“I really appreciate us being sensitive to the financial realities of our residents and focusing on what’s billable and recoverable under insurance — not going after residents,” he said Tuesday. “This fee protects our response system in a way that is fair and sustainable.”

The San Jose Fire Department only provided basic life support until 1995 when the department’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) evolved into providing more in-depth care as demand increased alongside the city’s growth.

Medical-only EMS incidents have averaged 62% of total fire department response incidents over the past 10 years.

Fire department officials looked to neighboring agencies like the San Francisco Fire Department when calculating the $427 per-incident cost of San Jose’s first responders fee. Cities with such programs target collections through commercial and private insurance companies with established billing policies to cover this fee type on behalf of the insured person.

The department has an 80% chance of collecting fee payments from residents with accident coverage or auto insurance, but only a 3% chance to collect from residents with private health insurance. This fee is distinct and cannot overlap with transport reimbursement, and it is solely for the cost incurred in assisting with EMS treatment of patients.

Sapien said the fire department expects to collect $4 million annually from the first responder fees.

“The first responder fee is the first step in a series of many that the city is looking to take to restore fire-based service in San Jose,” Jerry May, spokesperson for San Jose Fire Fighters Local 230, told San José Spotlight. “It’s encouraging to see solutions being proposed.”

District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan, a former fire captain, said he wants underserved residents to know they won’t be financially penalized under the fee program.

Uninsured residents can pay a reduced fee or get the fee waived altogether if they qualify for the “compassionate billing” provision.

“The final initial fee and associated annual revenue will be recommended as part of the 2025-26 proposed budget,” Sapien said. “The department would establish an agreement with a third-party agency to perform billing and collection of revenue for the first responder and vehicle collision response fees.”

Updated March 25 at 3:26 p.m. Original story published March 24 at 3 p.m.