US senator to keynote State of the Valley conference
Harris will be the biggest name at Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s annual ‘town hall meeting’
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris will deliver the keynote address at the State of the Valley Conference, Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s annual town hall meeting, on Feb. 9 in San Jose. The 11:30 a.m. talk at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center is expected to answer the question, “What is the view from our nation’s capitol and what do recent developments there portend for our region?”
Boy, that could take a while.
It’ll be tight timing, too, as the current deal to keep the federal government running expires on Feb. 8, and Harris was one of the big-name Democrats who voted “no” on that agreement. Other speakers on the agenda include Carol Galante, director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation; Pinterest Chief Scientist Jure Leskovec; Metropolitan Transportation Commission Executive Director Steve Heminger and famed futurist Paul Saffo. Attendees will also get the comprehensive Silicon Valley Index, an annual barometer on the region’s progress in various areas.
And while that sounds like a lot, the program — which starts at 8 a.m. — is being streamlined this year for a fourhour window. The two big cuts are lunch and the David Packard Award
for civic entrepreneurship. You can still register for the event at www.jointventure.org.
MISSION COLLEGE >> The campus will cut the ribbon on its new building Wednesday with the help of Rep. Ro Khanna,
who’ll speak at the opening ceremony for the Student Engagement Center on the Santa Clara campus. The first-term Democrat has been an advocate for affordable college education, as well as programs that get more underserved groups and women into STEM fields.
The 101,000-squarefoot, three-story building replaces Mission’s Main Building, which
had been in use since the community college — founded in 1975 with 1,000 students and 32 faculty members — moved to its current site in 1979. The new facility will be home to the Welcome Center, the International Center and offices for financial aid, counseling, admissions and other student services. There’s also classroom space on the second
and third floors.
In an appropriate bookend, the Santa Clara Vanguard drum corps, which performed at the 1979 opening of the Main Building, will perform at Wednesday’s 11 a.m. opening ceremony.
IT’S A GOOD START >> Fortune has smiled twice on San Jose resident Lino Fabela, who won a $2 million jackpot
on a California Lottery scratcher after winning $250,000 back in 1987. Funny thing is that Fabela didn’t realize at first that his second win — purchased at Grewal Food & Liquor on McLaughlin Avenue in San Jose — was much, much bigger.
“I thought I won $200,000, but I handed my ticket to the clerk and he told me it was $2 million — I almost fainted,” Fabela, 66, said in a release from the California Lottery.
Fabela told lottery officials he plans on using his winnings to help his daughters buy a house. In San Jose’s hot market, he might need one more win to pull that off.