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Significant assets belonging to Infineon Technologies, including a plant in Morgan Hill, has been sold to Cree Inc. for $428 million on Mar. 6, a move made by Cree to expand its 5G wireless market. The sale will not include Infineon's Chip Card and Security operations in Morgan Hill. Cree plans to merge the new acquisition with their Wolfspeed radio frequency division.Infineon, which produces chips, sensors and microcontrollers, is a leader in wireless technology. With the acquisition, Cree hopes to bolster its transition to 5G cellular technology.“The acquisition strengthens Wolfspeed’s leadership position in RF GaN-on-SiC technologies and provides access to additional markets, customers and packaging expertise,” said Cree CEO Gregg Lowe in a press release. “This is a key element of Cree’s growth strategy and positions Wolfspeed to enable faster 4G networks and the revolutionary transition to 5G.”Infineon’s products are also used in self-driving cars.Between Infineon's operations in Morgan Hill, North Carolina, and Arizona, Infineon has about 260 employees. Worldwide, the Neubiberg, Germany based Infineon Technologies AG employs over 30,000 employees.As part of the deal, Cree intends to hire the approximately 260  employees in the US locations of Morgan Hill and Chandler, Arizona, as well as in Finland, Sweden, China and South Korea. While the company has built in a transitional period, the former employees of Infineon will become part of Cree Wolfspeed.“Cree is a strong new owner for this portion of our Radio Frequency business and has an excellent reputation in the industry,” Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon said in a press release. “We are excited about the business rationale and the prospects for the combined businesses. At the same time, we will be able to focus our resources more effectively on Infineon’s strategic growth areas and will retain a strong technology portfolio for the wireless market.”Included in the sale is the main packaging and test operations facility in Morgan Hill, existing intellectual property, and existing customers. With the acquisition, Cree expects to increase annual revenues by $115 million.“We are looking forward to combining our strengths with Cree,” said Gerhard Wolf, Vice President, and General Manager, RF Power Products at Infineon. “With our highly skilled and dedicated team, advanced technologies and commitment to business excellence, we look forward to serving our customers seamlessly as the 5G mobile standard ramps up.”5G technology is the successor the 4G mobile wireless data technology, and it promises faster internet speed. As the type of information that's conveyed via the internet becomes more complex, 5G technology will be better able to handle the huge amounts of data that are needed. As the technology behind autonomous cars advances, the evolution of 5G technology becomes more important.Cree is a Durham North Carolina manufacturer of LED lighting and power components.

The next time Morgan Hill residents vote in a municipal election, they will only select a single choice for city council among candidates who reside within the newly established voting district where they live.As of Sept. 6, there are now four city council districts in Morgan Hill—equal in population—each to be represented by a single councilmember who lives inside that district. At the Sept. 6 meeting—after a series of public meetings and workshops and perusing more than a dozen draft maps created by a professional demographer and Morgan Hill citizens—the council approved a four-district map that will apply until the 2020 U.S. Census.This is a stark change from the way local voters have elected council members since the city was incorporated in 1906. Until now, councilmembers have always served the city on an at-large basis, and voters have typically voted for two councilmembers in each regular election (roughly every two years).Earlier this summer, the council begrudgingly approved the new by-district election system in response to a demand letter threatening a lawsuit under the California Voting Rights Act.Although councilmembers dislike the new system, they approved a district map that considers traditional specific neighborhood interests and protects the voting rights of all minority groups.“We tried to keep communities of interest and neighborhoods together. It’s not perfect, and it’s going to be really hard now to get good qualified candidates to run for city council,” Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr said.The map approved by the council keeps current councilmembers (not including the mayor) in separate districts. Demographer Doug Johnson, who the city hired to help guide the council and the public through the districting process, said this is a common practice among agencies required to draw new districts because it respects the electorate’s desire to be able to choose the incumbents.The by-district system will start with the November 2018 election, when the seats occupied by Councilmembers Rich Constantine and Caitlin Jachimowicz will be on the ballot.Constantine’s district, labeled “District B” on the map, cuts a swath down the middle of Morgan Hill from the northern to the southern city limits. Jachimowicz’ district, known as “District D,” occupies the eastern side of Morgan Hill.The seats occupied by Councilmembers Larry Carr and Rene Spring will be elected within the new districts starting with the November 2020 election.“District A,” where Carr resides, goes from a corner of downtown Morgan Hill southwest past West Middle Avenue. “District C,” where Spring lives, occupies northwest Morgan Hill.The mayor’s seat will continue to be elected at large under the new system.Three of the districts contain at least a small geographic portion of downtown Morgan Hill, a neighborhood where councilmembers say many different interests for residents from all over the city coincide.In May, the council received a demand letter from Oakland law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, alleging that the city’s traditional at-large system violates the CVRA because it limits the influence of minority groups.The firm was hired by local Latino residents Armando Benavides, Sally Casas and Brenda Cayme. Benavides has previously run for Morgan Hill City Council and the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees. In 2012, he was also involved in the effort to force MHUSD to switch from an at-large to a by-district system.Cayme has previously run for MHUSD trustee as well.By approving the change, the council aimed to protect the city from a potentially costly civil rights lawsuit. But it also forced the city to fast track the process of notifying the public and creating four new districts equal in population, without gerrymandering.Residents were encouraged to use online mapmaking tools provided by Johnson’s company, National Demographics Corporation, to draw districts for the council’s consideration. Six residents submitted such maps. The map ultimately approved by the council was proposed by NDC.“I continue to be disappointed that a couple of disgruntled people who have not been able to win an election in Morgan Hill have forced this on us,” Carr added. “I don’t think district elections will improve representation for anyone in Morgan Hill, and it will bring some unintended consequences we will have to work through.”

A man was found floating face down in Uvas Reservoir Wednesday

A new animal shelter campus under construction in San Martin reached a major milestone Nov. 22, when crews placed the structure’s final steel beam. Santa Clara County officials held a “topping off” ceremony to mark the occasion. The new animal shelter campus is being constructed at...

Perfectly nestled in a small corner business space in the trendy Granary District on Depot Street at the corner of Main Avenue—which already includes a brewpub, wine bar, bike shop, high-end restaurant and apartment flats—is the recently opened Realm Flower Company. While her new endeavor...

Robert Davies, a San Mateo police officer who was arrested at his Morgan Hill home June 6, is scheduled to appear in court July 8 for an arraignment on accusations that he contacted a minor for criminal, sexual purposes, according to authorities.

David Wolfsmith, a 51-year-old personal trainer and former owner of a Morgan Hill gym, pleaded guilty last week to sexually assaulting more than a dozen female victims—one of them a child—according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerny.Wolfsmith, a Morgan Hill resident, entered the plea at South County Courthouse June 23. Specifically, he pleaded guilty to 14 counts “pertaining to 13 charged victims,” McInerny said. One of the counts was a felony charge of lewd and lascivious acts against a child younger than 14, and another was a misdemeanor charge of child molestation.The other 12 charges to which Wolfsmith pleaded guilty are felony counts of sexual battery by fraudulent purpose, related to 13 victims, McInerny said.Wolfsmith agreed to a prison term of seven years in exchange for the guilty plea, according to court files. He also agreed to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, and to pay restitution. He will be formally sentenced Aug. 25 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill, where the judge will determine how much restitution Wolfsmith must pay, among other penalty requirements.Wolfsmith assaulted the victims when he was a personal trainer for the Wolfpak Training Center, which he owned with his wife, Julia Wolfsmith, according to authorities. The Wolfpak gym was located in downtown Morgan Hill near the corner of Monterey Road and Third Street.David Wolfsmith used his position as a personal trainer to gain the trust of the victims who trained at Wolfpak, according to police reports contained in the court file. He convinced numerous female victims to let him massage them as part of their personal training and recovery regimen. During these massages, he subsequently touched the victims in sexually explicit or inappropriate ways that made the women feel uncomfortable or threatened.Wolfsmith also asked some of the victims to take off all of their clothing before he gave them a massage, according to the court file. In at least one instance, he removed a victim’s pants and underwear while he was massaging her.Wolfsmith touched these victims in this way “for the purpose of sexual arousal, and fraudulently represented that the touching served a professional purpose,” the police report states.Morgan Hill Police officers arrested David Wolfsmith April 11, 2016 in relation to accusations of sexual assault made by five female victims. The initial MHPD investigation began February 2016. After Wolfsmith’s initial arrest, more victims came forward, and the D.A.’s office added more charges to his case.After he made bail following his initial arrest, Wolfsmith continued to train clients in Morgan Hill, and attempted to open a gym in San Jose, according to authorities.

Ken Christopher joined friends and family at home the afternoon of July 28, celebrating the 4,000 volunteers who poured in countless hours to make Gilroy’s annual celebration of cloves and community a success. The 41st annual Gilroy Garlic Festival was well on its way to...