By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara News Online readers ranked City Hall controversies and police investigations as the most important stories of 2025, according to a reader survey.
The top-ranked story was selected by just over 40 percent of respondents – the April report that Councilmembers Suds Jain and Kevin Park asked a court to sentence convicted felon Anthony Becker to no jail time.
Second, with roughly one-third of the vote, was the July story confirming that Santa Clara Police were investigating Park.
Coming in third, with a little over 20 percent, was SCNO’s November report examining whether Jain used a “sock puppet” social media account to post negative comments.
Infrastructure stories ranked lower.
Only about five percent of readers selected SCNO’s critical analysis of BART’s planned San Jose station. No respondents chose the story reporting that Levi’s Stadium was likely to undergo a name change.
The survey asked readers to choose the single story they believed mattered most to Santa Clara in 2025 from the five most-read stories of the year.
I’m part of the 5%. I think the Bart station is likely to impact us more than the others. As despicable as they may be.