In a report at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, City Manager Debra Figone will talk about efforts to save city jobs and services while noting the sacrifices employees have made in recent years. Also on Tuesday, the council will discuss the county’s Habitat Conservation Plan and the transfer of several properties.

Working Partnerships USA, the labor-aligned nonprofit headed by former San Jose vice mayor Cindy Chavez, yesterday released its most recent Internal Revenue Service Form 990, after eight days of refusing requests to view the document. A review of the organization’s filings over the years found spending increases during key elections despite IRS restrictions on political activities by charities. In total, the nonprofit has raised and spent more than $25 million since 1998.

Gun violence, healthcare reform and community health lead the list of topics Supervisor Ken Yeager will speak about during his State of the County speech next week. Also on Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors will meet to discuss strict fines for not filing campaign disclosure forms on time and funding for the county hospital system, amongst other agenda items.

When the calendar ticked over to 2013, a slew of bills authored last year by our local state senators and assembly members became actual law. Moving forward, those lawmakers have until late February to introduce bills, which means they’re in the middle of planning a legislative agenda for the coming year. We compiled a list of their just-enacted bills and called up those same representatives to ask them what they have planned for the upcoming year.

A trend has emerged in the Silicon Valley real estate market, where middle-class homebuyers are losing out to cash buyers—often investment groups from overseas—who convert owner-occupied homes into rentals. The natural tendency of sellers to choose quick, guaranteed sales over offers with financing contingencies is a new assault on middle-class home ownership, a shift likely to expand the ranks of landlords and tenants and make home ownership an increasingly elusive American dream.

San Jose’s fire chief, William McDonald, will present a verbal report along with a 46-page written report about the department’s response times—and failure to accurately report them—at Thursday’s Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee meeting. Also on the agenda is a survey that finds San Jose police officers are about as racist as the rest of local citizens—which isn’t a good thing—and a report on crime around the city’s two casinos.

The National Rifle Association heard about a local attorney’s idea to crack down on assault weapons in San Jose and hired a law firm to write up a disapproving missive to City Council. Other items going before the Rules and Open Government Committee on Wednesday include support for a Constitutional amendment acknowledging companies aren’t people, a report on how transparent the city is in holding meetings and disseminating information and more rants from City Hall critic David Wall.

An old industrial lot northeast of the Tamien Caltrain station, slated to house a two-story elementary charter school, contains toxic levels of herbicides, oils and arsenic, according to an environmental report from the city of San Jose. The Santa Clara County Board of Education at its Wednesday meeting plans to discuss a zoning exemption for the new Rocketship charter school. The county board will also discuss in closed session the potential special election over Trustee Darcie Green’s seat.

San Jose and its surrounding cities topped a list of best-performing metro areas thanks to its booming tech industry, which thrust it from 51st to numero uno in the nation just a year ago.

New laws pass almost every week in San Jose, often several of them at a single City Council meeting in the form of an ordinance that revises municipal code, enacts a ban, raises fees or changes policy. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how anyone—even you—can take a good idea from the concept phase and make it a reality.

A semi-retired employment law and civil rights attorney thinks anyone in San Jose who wants to own an assault weapon should be required to pass a mental health check and hand over their gun to police for safekeeping. San Jose resident Maurits Van Smith, 77, drafted a proposed city ordinance, which he submitted to the police chief, the mayor and a handful of other public officials in the hopes that they’ll support his idea. Other topics going before the Rules and Open Government Committee meeting Wednesday include child obesity and how police interact with senior citizens.

In a bid to move on from the scandal ignited by county Supervisor George Shirakawa abusing his taxpayer-funded credit card, the Board of Supervisors will discuss P-Card audits Tuesday morning instead of later this month. Also on the agenda for the first meeting of the year, the supervisors will discuss $15 million in bonds for YMCA, low-income childcare, a new farmers market, ridding the county of illegal pot and a commendation for outgoing San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore.

Larry Esquivel will take over the role of San Jose’s chief of police starting later this week. City Manager Debra Figone sent out a memo late Monday afternoon announcing the decision.

If you’re interested in making a non-tax deductible contribution to a man who misused thousands of taxpayer dollars, in addition to hiding campaign disclosure forms for years, George Shirakawa would like to speak with you.

Predicting the future of politics is a tricky proposition, as Nate Silver pointed out in his NY Times blog and book during the election season. But taking a closer look at local issues, there are a few predictions you can, or can’t, count on in the future.

San Jose Inside today purchased the abandoned domain of the shuttered political blog San Jose Revealed. Internet users browsing to sanjoserevealed.com will now be directed to the San Jose Inside article revealing that the anonymous hit site was operated by former South Bay Labor Council political director Philip Bump.