UPDATE: The District Attorney’s Office is charging former MACSA CEO Olivia Soza-Mendiola and CFO Benjamin Tan with grand theft for illegally diverting more than $1 million that should have gone to employee retirement accounts. Check back later in the day for a story about the charges.—Editor

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office plans to hold a press conference at 11am Thursday unveiling its findings from the investigation into the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA). The announcement will come 28 months after former DA Dolores Carr was notified that MACSA, a nonprofit organization, stole $400,000 from employee pension funds from two of the schools it operated.

Norm Mineta, Janet Gray Hayes, Susan Hammer, Ron Gonzales and Reed all took part in Monday night’s installment of the Don Edwards Lecture Series at San Jose State University, and each of the current mayor’s predecessors voiced relief that never in their tenures were they forced to deal with the current mayor’s challenges. A full decade of budget shortfalls, a workforce depleted and demoralized, the loss of the Redevelopment Agency and no certain economic rebound in the future was a tall order in every mayor’s eyes. The never-ending pummeling a mayor experiences—from the press, constituents and colleagues—was reiterated consistently in the talk, which retiring SJSU political science professor Terry Christensen moderated.

In a sign that the city of San Jose has no immediate plans to aggressively add to its workforce, an item on Tuesday’s City Council agenda suggests permanently eliminating 12 positions and adding a new job: Risk manager. Also on Tuesday, the city plans to accept an audit of the police department that says urgent reform is needed regarding the secondary employment of officers. Discussion on the city’s top five priorities in its Economic Strategy Workplan has been deferred to next week.

The office of the Independent Police Auditor, led by retired judge LaDoris Cordell, conducted “unprecedented outreach” in 2011, according to its annual report released this week. As a result, the office received a 26 percent increase in the amount of complaints filed against the San Jose Police Department compared to a year prior. The IPA provided 30 recommendations, some of which were as small as prohibiting tobacco chewing to as large as overhauling Internal Affairs.

The long-awaited work to extend BART from Fremont to Berryessa begins today with a groundbreaking ceremony featuring many of Silicon Valley’s most prominent political officials. The event has been a long time coming, and shovels should enter the ground this afternoon.

The Sixth District Appeals Court sided in favor of labor unions Tuesday, ruling that Measure B must change the term “pension reform” to “pension modification,” and also alter the way the ballot question is worded. Unless the city appeals the ruling to the California Supreme Court, the ballot measure is set to go before voters June 5.

Starting May 25, it could be against the law in San Jose to smoke a cigarette while sitting in a bar’s outdoor patio, standing outside of one’s apartment door or waiting in line. On Tuesday, the City Council plans to vote on expanding restrictions on where people can smoke, and many at City Hall believe the item will pass with little resistance. According to Joseph Okpaku, Councilmember Ash Kalra’s chief of staff, the new ban would go into effect 45 days after the vote.

The spillover from Milpitas’ toxic political landscape has finally seeped over to San Jose. On Tuesday, Milpitas councilmember Debbie Giordano requested the city’s attorney investigate council colleague Armando Gomez’s fundraising activities for San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. The direction by Giordano seems to be a direct response to Gomez—a senior budget advisor to Reed—targeting a lobbying loophole that he says Giordano and political consultant Vic Ajlouny have taken advantage of.

It seems some people at City Hall just don’t know how to accept a bribe anymore. All of last year, the city held public meetings about a potential ban on expanded polystyrene. It seemed like it would be no big thing, especially after passing a plastic bag ban. That is until December rolled around, and DART—a food-packaging company that manufactures EPS products—offered San Jose $100,000 to look at other ways to meet the city’s trash-reduction goals by 2014.

Nevermind. Just when it looked like Measure B was good to go, an appeals court had to throw a monkey wrench in the city’s plan for pension reform. On Monday, Councilmember Pete Constant’s lawsuit got beat down. On Tuesday, the ballot question was heard, and a judge made revisions that mostly favored the city. On Wednesday, an emergency appeal was turned in by labor attorneys, and on Thursday a three-judge panel for the 6th District Court of Appeals ordered a stay of printing any ballots. The judges also told the city not to submit the ballot question as written, pending further order of the court.

It appears Ballot Measure B is ready to go to voters. Superior Court judges granted small victories to both the city of San Jose and labor when clarifying what language should be used.

A student-organized push to raise the minimum wage in San Jose looks like it has a chance to make its way on the ballot. Roughly 35,000 signatures were reportedly submitted Wednesday by a group led by San Jose State students. Those signatures will need to be verified by the county Registrar of Voters. For now, the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce is taking a wait-and-see approach to the initiative.

The city’s fight over pension reform and dwindling reserves resulted in San Jose’s credit being downgraded by Moody’s Investment Service in New York. The impact, according to City Manager Debra Figone at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, will be a cost of $350,000 to the city.

One might have wondered if law enforcement was targeting the homeless Tuesday morning, as people were cleared from Saint James Park. One would have been wrong in that assumption. According to reports, emergency personnel were responding to a package covered in white powder at Saint James Park Post Office on North First Street. The substance was not anthrax or another chemical weapon but an herbal remedy from Taiwan, ordered by a man for his child.

Despite having a reputation for sprawl, rent in San Jose increased at a higher rate than anywhere else in the nation, according to a city memo distributed Tuesday. A 3-percent increase is the highest allowable under the city’s ordinance, and many of the people targeted by recent rent hikes include mobilehome owners who rent land for their homes.

Tuesday’s City Council meeting will feature considerably less rancor than recent weeks. Among the key issues on the agenda are transferring housing projects to the Successor Agency of the Redevelopment Agency, including the Mayfair Court Apartments; a public hearing on infrastructure improvements for The Alameda and acceptance of a grant for electric vehicle charging stations.