Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site

Grim news hit this university town in late October just two days before a PTA forum on teenage stress: A fourth Palo Alto teen had died after stepping in front of a commuter train in less than six months. With hundreds of parents crowding the forum, school Superintendent Kevin Skelly told the anxious gathering that the latest death was "a cruel irony" because city officials were working to prevent another tragedy. Experts have struggled to understand what generates clusters of teen suicides, a phenomenon that breaks into a community's awareness when they occur in a public place, as they did in Palo Alto. But ... Read Full Story

A Veterans Administration probe that found eight veterans suffered potentially preventable vision loss while under the care of optometrists at a Northern California VA facility is prompting medical groups to call for a state investigation. The groups sent a petition Wednesday to the California Department of Consumer Affairs seeking an evaluation of the care received by the veterans at VA Palo Alto. The patients had glaucoma, a class of eye diseases that can lead to blindness. The California Medical Association, California Academy of Eye Physicians & Surgeons and American Glaucoma Society want the state to suspend a new state law set to take effect ... Read Full Story

KEEPING THE FAITH IN SILICON VALLEY> Spirits are high and ideas are flowing in the cubicles of one startup incubator For months, Saeed Amidi has heard all the talk of doom and gloom in Silicon Valley. Layoffs are on the rise, venture capital investments are plunging, and tech startups are closing their doors. But Amidi doesn't see that pessimism in his own business, a Valley-based incubator called Plug and Play Tech Center. "People are really excited about starting new companies," says Amidi, co-founder and chief executive of the center. In June alone, some 30 startups moved in, bringing the total to more than 220 ... Read Full Story

Palo Alto Networks releases an Application Usage and Risk Report report twice a year that summarizes the data they collect from traffic assessments (I’m pretty sure this means evaluation units). The Fall 09 report includes data from more than 200 organizations. Some specific findings from the research include: Twitter session use grew more than 250 percent from the Spring 2009 edition of the Application Usage and Risk Report, published in April. Facebook use increased 192 percent while Facebook Chat (released in April 2008) was the fourth most commonly detected chat application, ahead of Yahoo! IM and AIM. SharePoint collaboration is ubiquitous – bandwidth consumed ... Read Full Story

Tesla Motors will open a new power train production facility and corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., as the electric-car maker moves to expand production after a recent award of government loans, the company said Tuesday. The three-building facility at the Stanford Research Park will build components for Tesla's electric vehicles as well as parts for other automakers. The facility will employ some 350 people with space for up to 650. The carmaker, which currently builds the $109,000 Roadster sports car, is working on additional vehicles to target more mainstream drivers. In March, it unveiled the Model S electric sedan, a seven-seater that it ... Read Full Story