
Gil Rubinstein, Reporter
Gil is a sophomore at Los Altos High School and serves as a beat reporter covering the Los Altos City Hall, also serving as a staff photographer. Previously, he’s was a staff writer on the Los Altos High School Talon, where he covered the 2020 Los Altos City Council elections. Gil is a founding member of the Post.

Local professor presents research on Black people in Santa Clara County
STORY BY GIL RUBINSTEIN AND ARI STROBER, PHOTO BY EMILY MCNALLY Local author and historian Jan Batiste Adkins will be speaking at the Los Altos History Museum in a Zoom event on Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. to commemorate the contributions of Black visionaries in the Bay Area. African Americans have a long, yet relatively…
Continue reading ➞ Local professor presents research on Black people in Santa Clara County

CIF reverses, allows athletes to participate in same-season club and school sports
STORY BY GARV VIRGINKAR, PHOTO BY GIL RUBINSTEIN Note: At the moment, Santa Clara County cohorting restrictions still prohibit participation on multiple teams. The California Interscholastic Federation has reinstated its waiver of Bylaw 600-605, allowing student athletes to participate in both school and club sports through the same season. This latest development, according to the…

DeMartini Orchard: Oldest business in Los Altos sticks to its roots
STORY BY DANA HUCH AND GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTOS BY DANA HUCH AND EMILY MCNALLY June 26 might just seem like a regular summer Sunday, but here in Los Altos, it’s officially known as DeMartini Day, commemorating the oldest business that still operates in the town today: DeMartini Orchard, a farmstand on the side of San…
Continue reading ➞ DeMartini Orchard: Oldest business in Los Altos sticks to its roots

County walks back 25-foot rule for youth sports, but adds new restrictions
STORY BY TOMOKI CHIEN, PHOTO BY GIL RUBINSTEIN The Santa Clara County Health Department appears to have walked back its previous mandate that athletics cohorts maintain a 25-foot distance from one another, a restriction that sparked outrage among the high school sports community. The new guidance notes that participants in youth athletic activity must maintain…
Continue reading ➞ County walks back 25-foot rule for youth sports, but adds new restrictions

County guidelines could spell disaster for high school sports competition
STORY BY TOMOKI CHIEN, PHOTO BY GIL RUBINSTEIN Note: Santa Clara County has walked back its guidance mandating a 25-foot distance between athletics cohorts. Click here for the most recent updates. Santa Clara County safety restrictions could thwart high school sports competitions set to begin in just over two weeks. County guidelines allow practice and…
Continue reading ➞ County guidelines could spell disaster for high school sports competition

Los Altos Police Department to encrypt public radio channel
STORY BY GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTO BY ALLISON HUANG Starting in March, the Los Altos Police Department will be encrypting its radio communications following new guidance from the California Department of Justice. The justice department’s order mandates that police departments statewide encrypt personal information such as names, driver’s license numbers and other personal identifiers when transmitted…
Continue reading ➞ Los Altos Police Department to encrypt public radio channel

Teachers speak out against LASD return at board meeting
STORY BY GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTO BY TOMOKI CHIEN While for many, school commutes now consist solely of the distance between bed and laptop, the Los Altos School District Board’s decision on Jan. 11 to continue as planned with in-person learning means that many LASD teachers are now forced to return to campus. For fourth grade…
Continue reading ➞ Teachers speak out against LASD return at board meeting

MV Council elects Kamei and Ramirez as mayor and vice mayor
STORY BY CARLY HELTZEL, PHOTO BY GIL RUBINSTEIN As outgoing Mountain View City Council Members Chris Clark and John McAlister said their heartfelt goodbyes to a teary-eyed council, they were anticlimactically moved to the attendees box on Zoom while elected Council Members Margaret Abe-Koga, Sally Lieber, Lisa Matichak and Pat Showalter were sworn in by…
Continue reading ➞ MV Council elects Kamei and Ramirez as mayor and vice mayor

A look into the MV Housing Justice Coalition: activists protecting renters and mobile home owners
STORY BY CARLY HELTZEL, PHOTO BY GIL RUBINSTEIN Logging onto the Mountain View Housing Justice Coalition (MVHJC) Zoom call, you’d hardly expect to be greeted with a tight-knit, welcoming group of advocates laughing about how many trout brains makes a serving of food — but the amicable environment took nothing away from the gravity of…

Neysa Fligor continues breaking barriers
STORY BY GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTO COURTESY NEYSA FLIGOR Los Altos City Council meetings used to look a certain way: white, often older individuals coming together to discuss the various, sometimes trivial issues they perceived to be important. Like constructing bocce ball courts. Two years ago, that changed when Neysa Fligor became the first Black council…

Through biting criticism, MV City Council votes unanimously to form police advisory board
STORY BY CEDRIC CHAN AND ALLISON HUANG, PHOTO BY GIL RUBINSTEIN The Mountain View City Council voted unanimously last night to implement a “Public Safety Advisory Board” (PSAB) to oversee the Police Department, following a recommendation from the Ad-Hoc Subcommittee meeting on Race, Equity and Inclusion (REI). The PSAB will be made up of up…

“We went from being thanked to driving by nine year olds with ACAB signs”: MVPD Deputy Chief Chris Hsuing set to take over Dept.
STORY BY CEDRIC CHAN AND GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTO BY ALLISON HUANG Deputy Police Chief Chris Hsuing is set to become Mountain View Police Department’s Chief this December, taking the place of Max Bosel, who announced his retirement Friday, November 6. The Post spoke to Hsiung — who’s set to assume his role on Sunday, December…

Los Altos City Council votes to remove SROs from LAHS
STORY BY GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTO BY TOMOKI CHIEN In a unanimous vote, the Los Altos City Council moved to eliminate school resource officers from the Los Altos High School campus and implement a variety of reforms to the police complaint process. These decisions come following over 19 hours of police task force meetings, culminating in…
Continue reading ➞ Los Altos City Council votes to remove SROs from LAHS

Los Altos task force to recommend elimination of SRO program
STORY BY GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTO BY TOMOKI CHIEN The Los Altos Citizens’ Police Task Force is set to advise the City Council to permanently eliminate the school resource officer (SRO) program from Los Altos High School. The task force chose to leave the creation of a replacement up to the Council, hopefully before students return…
Continue reading ➞ Los Altos task force to recommend elimination of SRO program

Mountain View may implement community advisory board to oversee Police Dept.
STORY BY CEDRIC CHAN, PHOTO BY GIL RUBINSTEIN As a long-term solution for community oversight of the Police Department, Mountain View may implement a “Public Safety Advisory Board” (PSAB), following a City staff recommendation at tonight’s Ad-Hoc Subcommittee meeting on Race, Equity and Inclusion (REI). The PSAB would be tasked with hosting public forums, reviewing…
Continue reading ➞ Mountain View may implement community advisory board to oversee Police Dept.
COVID-19 Updates
Tuesday, Feb. 23: San Mateo County falls to red tier, Santa Clara poised to follow suit San Mateo County has fallen to the red tier of coronavirus restrictions, effective tomorrow, Feb. 24. Santa Clara County — whose adjusted case rate, test positivity rate and health equity quartile qualify for the red tier — will make a…

A conversation about Los Altos police reform with Council Member Neysa Fligor
STORY BY TOMOKI CHIEN AND GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTO BY TOMOKI CHIEN Formed in August in reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement and increased conversation around police reform, the Los Altos Citizen’s Police Task Force is charged with presenting the City Council recommendations for changes to the school resource officer (SRO) program at Los Altos…
Continue reading ➞ A conversation about Los Altos police reform with Council Member Neysa Fligor

LASD staff presents possible reopening plans for sixth through eighth graders
STORY AND PHOTOS BY GIL RUBINSTEIN The Los Altos School District Board met last night to review different schedules presented by staff for in-person learning for sixth through eighth grade. Sixth grade students are currently slated to return on Monday, January 11, while junior high students will return on Wednesday, January 20. The deadline to…
Continue reading ➞ LASD staff presents possible reopening plans for sixth through eighth graders

Demonstrators gather for a ‘count all votes’ rally in Mountain View
STORY BY GIL RUBINSTEIN, PHOTOS BY TOMOKI CHIEN Amid brewing uncertainty surrounding the presidential election, a group of roughly 60 demonstrators gathered in Mountain View to express support for a fair, democratic election process, with the pervading theme of the night being to “count all the votes.” The group of demonstrators — largely older long-time…
Continue reading ➞ Demonstrators gather for a ‘count all votes’ rally in Mountain View