The previous year the Daily Post a plate full of stories, ranging from the removal of a county sheriff to a controversy over wokeness in the schools, from proposals for taller buildings to Google’s decision to drop its plans to build housing. Here’s a list of the major stories in the Daily Post circulation area, which spans from Belmont to Mountain View and includes some 700,000 people.
1. SHERIFF OUSTED: The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors removed Sheriff Christina Corpus from office in October 2025 due to allegations and findings that she misused public funds, retaliated against subordinates and violated conflict-of-interest laws, particularly concerning her chief of staff, Victor Aenlle. Following her removal, former Santa Clara County Sheriff Ken Binder was appointed as the new sheriff. He’s the brother of Palo Alto police chief Andrew Binder.
2. RVs EVERYWHERE: Caltrans’ addition of bike lanes on El Camino Real in Palo Alto eliminated parking on both sides of the street, sending RV campers into adjacent neighborhoods. Residents complained the RVs were dumping raw human waste into the gutters. While city ordinances ban RVs from parking 72 hours in the same spot, police have been reluctant to enforce the law. Many residents are supportive of the RV dwellers and want the city to put them into a homeless shelter. Others urged police to enforce existing laws.
3. SCHOOL BOARD SPLIT: Wokeness split the Palo Alto school board. The controversy began when newly elected school board member Rowena Chiu said at a board meeting that she felt she was being bullied by woke school board members regarding approval of an ethnic studies class. A district administrator, Danae Reynolds, appeared to one-up Chiu, saying she fears for the safety of her husband at the hands of police when he drives in Palo Alto at night. After the meeting, Chiu reposted a social media comment about the exchange, and that set off a controversy that led to former school board member Ken Dauber organizing a group of former school board members to call for Chiu’s resignation. Chiu refused. The discussion concerned a proposed high school class on ethnic studies that was approved by a 3-2 vote.
TALLER BUILDINGS: New developments will be taller and more dense than in the past due to a state law called the Builder’s Remedy. It says that if a city was late in filing its housing plan with the state, developers can exceed local zoning restrictions. As a result, tall projects are planned in Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The cities are threatening lawsuits to stop the developers, but if 20% of the homes in a project are considered “affordable,” then project is likely to go forward. Housing is planned for parking lots in downtown Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Property owners have sued over the Palo Alto proposal and the Menlo Park project will be the subject of a citizen’s initiative on the November 2026 ballot. There’s also a 38-story project proposed on the former Sunset magazine campus in Menlo Park.
4. STANFORD GROWTH: Stanford announced plans to seek a new general use permit from Santa Clara County so it can expand on campus. The last time this happened, Stanford threw in the towel at the last minute in the face of community opposition and tough oversight by then-supervisor Joe Simitian. The new development could involve millions of square feet of new space, thousands of new employees, and hundreds of new housing units.
5. GOOGLE BACKTRACKS: In June, Google dropped its plans to build 1,900 homes on a 40-acre site in Mountain View, signaling a pullback in its promise to help fight the region’s housing shortage that it helped to create. The company also backed out of its plans to build homes in San Joses and Sunnyvale.
6. STANFORD ATHLETICS: Longtime Stanford Athletic Director Bernard Muir, who oversaw the Cardinal’s move from the Pac-12 to the ACC, stepped down in February, following years of struggling by the football and men’s basketball teams. Stanford alum and former NFL quarterback Andrew Luck was brought in to oversee football. One of Luck’s first moves was to fire coach Troy Taylor after reports he had mistreated employees. Luck would later hire former Cardinal quarterback and assistant coach Tavita Pritchard as coach. Pritchard went 4-8 in his first season, but importantly Stanford beat Cal in the Big Game.
7. FEDS INVESTIGATE STANFORD: In March, Attorney General Pam Bondi opened an investigation into whether Stanford was using DEI to discriminate based on race. The investigation puts in limbo federal funding for Stanford. The administration has put hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding on hold to other schools that were caught using DEI. Stanford hurriedly erased all references to DEI on its websites after President Trump was re-elected in November 2024.
8. CAMPUS PROTESTS: Pro-Palestinian protests at Stanford, which resulted in vandalism to the president’s office, led to charges against 12 students. Three have agreed to plea bargains. The rest are going to trial.
9. NO KINGS: Residents demonstrated in the national No Kings protest on Oct. 18 and again on Dec. 2. There were also demonstrations outside the Tesla showroom on El Camino Real to protest CEO Elon Musk’s leadership of President Trump’s budget-cutting operation.
10. FAREWELL PERRY: Beloved mini donkey, Perry, died at the beginning of 2025. Perry, who lived in a herd of miniature donkeys in the Barron Park neighborhood, was euthanized after dealing with untreatable leg pain. He was 30 years old. Perry inspired the animated movements of Donkey in the movie “Shrek.” His death was mourned in town, with a memorial in April and national outlets picked up Perry’s obituary.
The lingering questions San Mateo County residents have are 1. Why did it take so long to get rid of Corpus and 2. Will the voters be more careful in selecting candidates in the future.