Anyone with the time and interest in learning about the inner workings of local government can sign up for a 10-week class through Santa Clara County.

San Jose's medical marijuana regulations have whittled down the number of pot clubs from upward of 80 last year to just 21 by last count.

The state attorney general's office will host public meetings this week on the contentious sale of six nonprofit hospitals—including two in Silicon Valley—to a multi-state, for-profit chain.

With new school board members being sworn in this month, county Board of Education trustee Joseph Di Salvo presents his list of key goals for the next two years.

Sam Liccardo's victory in the San Jose mayoral contest was confirmed Tuesday, putting to rest suspicions that there were errors in the vote count.

With outdated equipment slowing down vote tallies, Santa Clara County is talking about switching to all-mail elections to quicken the process.

If you're going to get fired, do it the John Vartanian way. The former Santa Clara County department head continues to enjoy the travel rewards he stole. Now he's also getting another five-figure paycheck.

Sylvia Perez-MacDonald has been promoted to director of the Independent Defense Counsel Office. That's the Santa Clara County agency that foots legal bills for defendants who can't afford attorneys and have conflicts of interest with other available offices—such as "allegedly indigent" ex-Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr.

A proposal to regulate surveillance technology on the county level comes up for consideration at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

Women, and girls under 18, are increasingly getting caught up on gang charges and violent crimes—and a lack of gender-specific intervention means local authorities have only recently started catching up to the trend.

Silicon Valley may be home base to many of the world’s most celebrated technical disruptors, but it also holds the dubious distinction of using a voting system that, to be kind, is, well, not exactly state of the art. And to the chagrin of many, it's not going to get better any time soon.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced on Monday that his office will not file domestic violence charges against San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Ray McDonald, citing a lack of evidence.

What do Tuesday's election results mean for education reform? Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo breaks it down by state, county and district.

November is National Homeless & Runaway Prevention Month and Santa Clara County is not immune to the reality of this issue. You can make a difference this month by taking an active role at a pair of National Homeless & Runaway Prevention Month events in the South Bay.

Just as we predicted in March 2012, a Sicilian American, Bellarmine-educated attorney was elected mayor of San Jose this week. As of 2am, Sam Liccardo held a 2-percent lead over Dave Cortese.

John Vartanian, recently fired by the county for running a travel rewards-skimming racket, could get another high-paying job with his former employer, albeit one less lucrative than the $235,000 annual salary he took home as head of the Department of Child Support Services.