UPDATE: When will Casino M8trix open? Maybe as soon as July 20. City officials say they are cautiously optimistic Police Chief Chris Moore will grant the casino its necessary permits at a hearing July 19, because the card room owners have relented and agreed to open the first floor only while continuing negotiations on how top floor gaming will be managed. But casino owner Eric Swallow says the city never contacted him about such an arrangement.

A U.S. patent office will open in San Jose. This is the result of diverse political interests uniting in a shared goal. It is a victory for San Jose and the region, and it will help Silicon Valley businesses, which are the heart of our nation’s economic engine. But considering California accounts for 25 percent of all new patents—with half of those coming from Silicon Valley—why wouldn’t San Jose be chosen? Let’s do the political math.

Rural/Metro took over Santa Clara County’s ambulance contract last July, and by most accounts the company has done a good job. The company submitted a low bid to replace American Medical Response, and county Supervisors George Shirakawa, Mike Wasserman and Dave Cortese championed Rural/Metro as a low-cost yet responsible replacement. Aside from a rough transition in the first month on the job, response times have been above the required threshold in most cases. However, what isn’t found in the monthly reports that Rural/Metro is required to submit to the county is the number of patient records the company lost in its first two months on the job.

U.S. Reps Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda, as well as a myriad of political and civic leaders, must be congratulated on securing the regional site for one of four patent offices in the country. This is a huge win for Silicon Valley. However, the accomplishment will be less meaningful if we don’t create a public education system that represents the ideals of the area and ranks first in the nation.

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.

The Santa Clara County Democratic Party is attempting to make the political battlefield a bit more familiar this weekend with probably the largest day of action it has held since the 2008 election cycle. In particular, the event, which is taking place Saturday at the Labor Temple between 10am and noon, is going to focus on voter registration in “historically disengaged communities.” In other words, the county party is teaming up with local, community-based Democratic chapters to focus on Hispanic outreach in East San Jose.

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.”

San Jose attorney Christopher Schumb will write a bi-weekly column for San Jose Inside focusing on the biggest cases and legal disputes in Santa Clara County. This is his first column.—Editor

If you have seen all the media vans parked in front of the Criminal Courthouse on Hedding Street, it’s not for a location shoot of Law and Order. The media is there for the courtroom drama unfolding in the trial of William Lynch. Mr. Lynch alleges that he was a victim of horrific child abuse by a Catholic priest, Father Jerold Lindner, in 1975. Mr. Lynch settled a civil suit he filed against Father Lindner and the church over a decade ago. In 2010, Mr. Lynch allegedly went to Father Lindner’s retirement home, and attacked the 67-year-old retired priest. From the outset, it was clear that Mr. Lynch’s agenda was to publicize the alleged abuse he, his brother and several other boys allegedly suffered at the hands of Father Lindner.

Now that we’ve all had a little time to absorb the results of the June 5 primary election, as well as the fallout in a few key races, it’s time to dish out some awards. As you might expect this time of year, there’s a baseball theme.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors recently passed its $4 billion annual budget, and in one of her last meaningful acts, Supervisor Liz Kniss, who will be termed out at the end of the year, recommended that the county give $47,000 to Palo Alto Animal Services. This wouldn’t be that big of a deal—the amount accounts for .001 percent of the budget—except for the fact that the animal shelter is in no way related to county business. Oh, and there’s one other important detail: Kniss is running for a seat on the Palo Alto City Council this fall.

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.

Two critical steps to building a public education system second to none begins with a focus on reading between birth to grade three—resulting in all students reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade—and vastly improving middle school education. Middle schools are the key to increasing high school graduation and college enrollment rates. The seeds for dropping out often begin during the transition between elementary school and the less personalized middle school model—six teachers and instructional periods—where the content dots tragically do not connect.

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.