This weekend the Mercury News published an excellent story that exposed abuses by Santa Clara County court-appointed officials who take advantage of elderly and incapacitated adults whose finances have been placed under control of the county. Investigative reporter Karen de Sá found that some court-appointed personal and estate managers charge expensive and questionable fees, and judges often sign off with little scrutiny. These finance managers basically drew down their clients’ accounts until little to no money was left in the trust funds and their clients were forced to depend on government assistance. In one case, a Belmont dementia patient was charged $1,062 to help celebrate her birthday.

Do you remember the childhood story about a Troll under a bridge who threatens to block passage and eat the three Billy Goats Gruff? Well, this is similar to the county of Santa Clara and the city of San Jose when it comes to Redevelopment Agency money.

Almost half a million assessment notices went out to Santa Clara County property owners today, and following three years of minimal or negative growth in assessed property values, the county reports its first solid increase since 2008. Overall, total net assessed value of all real business and personal property values increased by 3.25 percent to $308.8 billion.

By now everyone knows that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). Some of the conversation has centered on why the reform was upheld, but more so the story has been advanced to focus on what this all means for the future of the country as well as President Obama’s re-election chances.

Most voters are not stupid. However, they are overwhelmed by their own lives, often uneducated on public issues and misinformed by an increasingly biased and malevolent media. Hence, the substance that formed Winston Churchill’s opinion: “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”

We tried to do a Q&A with Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone back in late March. That didn’t happen, but it wasn’t Stone’s fault—there weren’t enough questions at the time. But here we are, three months later, and we’ve got the tax man’s answers to a couple submitted questions, relayed in a telephone conversation, as well as his thoughts on the fight between the county and Redevelopment Agencies, the odds the Oakland A’s will relocate to San Jose and how he views the local housing market five years after the subprime mortgage crisis.

Officials for Santa Clara County went back on the offensive regarding Redevelopment Agency funds this past week, deciding to direct $30 million in property taxes to schools rather than pay back a loan from the San Francisco 49ers.

Last week, the City Council spent nearly two hours discussing the development of four new recreational soccer fields that would be located next to the new San Jose Earthquakes soccer stadium by Lowe’s and In & Out Burger on Coleman Avenue. The soccer fields were a specific line item under Measure P, which voters passed in November 2000.

Part of a new plan by the business community to rebrand downtown is to staff the city’s core with two patrolling officers. However, how these security guards will be paid has kicked off a new fight between police and city officials.

Tucked away on the 5th floor of the Tech Mart building in Santa Clara are some business offices of the San Francisco 49ers. Season ticket holders are being invited to come to the location, sit in a mock stadium suite and are offered a chance to purchase a lifetime Personal Seat License to the new stadium. While some may grumble at the new business model being adopted around the National Football League, the opportunity presented by the 49ers is well worth the price of admission. The Raiders PSL debacle was predicated on the license being good for only 10 years; this is a lifetime purchase with the right to sell and transfer—a much better deal.

The last City Council meeting of the fiscal year Tuesday will feature a loaded agenda. Last week, the council unanimously approved next year’s budget, moved past its stalemate on lower benefits for new employees to approve a second tier, and paved the way for paid time off for many city contractors. Here are some of the critical items up for the last meeting of 2011-12.

The territory war between San Jose and the San Francisco Giants got a bit more heated Thursday, with the minor league Giants caught in the fray. San Jose councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant said in a memo that before the city spends $85,000 on maintenance for the San Jose Giants’ stadium, they would like to know how much Giants owners are spending to sue the city over land being saved for a potential move to San Jose by the Oakland A’s.

The thriving arts scene in San Jose appears to be helping the local economy rebound from the recession. The San Jose nonprofit arts sector provided more than $122 million in economic activity, according to the “Arts and Economic Prosperity IV” study released by the city Friday.

It’s not often a press release from a government official includes quotes with exclamation points and all CAPS. Apparently, Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith either has an overly excited stenographer or he’s mad as hell with the city of San Jose and he’s not gonna take it anymore.

Lost in the exaggerated numbers of Tuesday’s primary election vote totals is this very frightening reality: Less than 8 percent of the electorate is all it takes to amass political power in our county. And if there is money to push an issue, it’s becoming almost impossible to stop millionaires and multinational corporations from getting what they want.

Campaign disclosure forms for “San Jose Fiscal Reforms, Yes on Measure B, Mayor Reed, Chamber PAC and Issues Mobilization PAC Proponents” show that while the first few months of the year in fundraising went well, fundraising during the last reporting period was excellent. Between March 18 and May 19, the PAC received $435,664 in contributions, bringing the total for the calendar year to $637,919. In just this latest filing period, the PAC spent $352,592.32. While we’ve already profiled some of the people and companies who have supported Measure B with contributions, here’s a look at the way the PAC has spent its money.