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A Morgan Hill resident and a statewide firearms advocacy organization have sued the City of Morgan Hill over a local gun control ordinance enacted by the city council last year.

Auto burglaryA thief or thieves broke the rear window and entered a gray Scion parked on Cochrane Road. The incident was reported 9:02 a.m. Nov. 25.A thief or thieves broke into a 2014 Ford Escape and stole paperwork and a gift card. The crime was reported 10:32 a.m. Dec. 3.Stolen vehicleSomeone stole a 1990 Nissan Sentra from a location in Morgan Hill. The crime was reported 4:09 a.m. Nov. 27.A thief or thieves stole a silver 2009 Toyota Corolla from a parking spot on the 2800 block of Vista Del Val. The crime was reported 8:19 a.m. Nov. 27.Grand theftThe exhaust system was stolen from a white 2012 Dodge 3500 pickup on the 17000 block of Condit Road. The crime was reported 3:47 p.m. Dec. 1.Petty theftA man and woman tried to steal merchandise from Staples, 1023 Cochrane Road, by concealing the items in an oversized bag. Police arrived and arrested the thieves before they could leave the store. The crime was reported 8:29 p.m. Dec. 1.Vehicle stopPolice tried to make a traffic stop on a silver BMW 5 series in the area of Monterey Road and Dunne Avenue, but the driver refused to yield to officers’ commands and lights. Officers pursued the vehicle south and onto westbound Middle Avenue in San Martin, then to Santa Teresa Boulevard southbound. The chase eventually turned back around to northbound Monterey Road, and police caught up with the BMW on West Edmundson Avenue in Morgan Hill where a patrol car overtook the vehicle with a PIT maneuver. At times, the chase exceeded 90 mph. The driver of the BMW was arrested on a DUI warrant, and on suspicion of evading police, among other offenses. The chase began 12:16 a.m. Dec. 3.  DisturbanceA witness reported a man and his pit bull dog were “terrorizing” feral cats on Digital Drive. The man would use a laser pointer to lure the cats out from a dark corner so that his dog could attack the felines. The disturbance was reported 11:10 p.m. Dec. 4.All subjects are innocent until proven guilty. Information is compiled from public records.

Gary Harmon, a former Morgan Hill producer who is now accused of embezzling at least $500,000 from local victims, is out of custody as he awaits his arraignment May 9.Harmon was transported to Santa Clara County Jail April 7 from Clark County Detention Center in Nevada, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Erica Engin. Police in Las Vegas arrested him March 23 in that city on suspicion of grand theft and securities fraud in relation to at least two victims in Morgan Hill. The arrest warrant was originally filed by MHPD.Specifically, Harmon faces two counts of grand theft and three counts of securities fraud (violations of the California corporations code), according to authorities.Harmon, formerly a Morgan Hill resident and local high school teacher, also faces an “aggravated white collar crime” enhancement to the charges, which means he is accused of stealing more than $500,000 from his victims, Engin added.He was released from Santa Clara County Jail on bail April 8, just a day after he was booked at the local facility, Engin said. He will appear for his arraignment May 9 at South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill.If convicted of all five charges, Harmon faces a maximum penalty of 16 years in prison.Harmon is the director of ARTTEC, a music and film production company now based in Nevada. Under Harmon’s leadership, ARTTEC produced a number of shows in Morgan Hill up until about 2014. These performances included Kiefer Sutherland and his band ZZ Lightfoot, SmashMouth, Queensryche, Survivor, Greg Kihn, Bret Michaels and others.

A subsidiary of El Camino Hospital has a purchase agreement with Verity Medical Foundation to buy five healthcare clinics in Santa Clara County, including clinics in Morgan Hill and Gilroy. The Feb. 27 offer by Silicon Valley Medical Development of Mountain View is awaiting approval...

You may have wondered about the little brown house on West Dunne Avenue and Monterey Road. It sits in the middle of a major development construction site, alone and untouched. The house at 45 W. Dunne Ave. is a stark contrast to the development going...

The developer of the two new proposed hotels enlisted its own paid representatives to distribute competing information in support of the project, often in the same locations where the petitioners were gathering signatures.

A Morgan Hill-based lumber company reached a $375,000 settlement agreement with a northern California county over the death of a sawmill employee in 2013.

Storage and impound fees for vehicles towed by order of the Morgan Hill Police Department will soon rise, in order to offset the city’s increasing costs, according to city staff.The Morgan Hill City Council approved the new fees April 4 as an update to the city’s “Two Franchise Agreements” with two local towing companies: Community Tow, and California Tow and Salvage.Under the new towing agreements, the towing companies’ tow fee charges to vehicle owners will rise from $180 per hour to $225 per hour; the daily storage fee for vehicle owners will increase from $60 to $100; and the towing companies’ “franchise tow fee” paid to the city will rise from $97 to $128 per police-ordered vehicle towed.The franchise tow fee is designed “to ensure 100 percent cost recovery” for the police department and its staff who order vehicles to be towed and process the related paperwork, according to MHPD Sgt. Carlos Guerrero.In the last three years, MHPD has towed an average of 612 cars per year from local streets and properties. Police order parked vehicles to be towed when they are in violation of city ordinances, abandoned or illegally parked.The fee increases will also “maintain consistency throughout the region,” reads a staff report by Guerrero.Besides the franchise tow fee, the city also charges impounded vehicle owners $165 each to release their vehicle to them.Morgan Hill’s franchise tow program was started in 2009, and was revised in 2011 to cut down on some of the labor costs involved in administering it, Guerrero added.Since then, the city’s costs associated with towing and processing vehicles has risen, and the city has been losing money on towed vehicles.In 2017, Morgan Hill Police recovered a total of about $113,300 in vehicle release fees ($165 each vehicle) and franchise tow fees ($97 per vehicle, paid by towing companies). But the city’s cost to administer the towing program is about $126,177, or about $206 per hour of staff time, according to Guerrero’s staff report. Staff positions involved in administering the program include sergeants, officers, dispatch and records personnel.Thus, police calculated that a higher franchise fee of $128 would recover the difference in costs, and the council agreed.Before 2011, the city was charging the franchised towing companies 20 percent of the revenue recovered from police-ordered tows. However, this required too much officers’ staff time, and that fee was changed to a flat rate of $97 per vehicle, Guerrero explained to the council.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren was front and center at the opening session of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, arguing for a motion for the Senate to subpoena new evidence in the case against the President. Lofgren, whose 19th Congressional District includes Morgan Hill, San...