Under an amnesty program that starts Oct. 1, drivers struggling to pay off traffic fines will have a chance to settle for a fraction of what they owe.

From what I recently witnessed while attending traffic court in Santa Clara County, there is nothing consistent or impartial about the way the court is conducting itself.

If George Shirakawa Jr. receives community service instead of jail time as punishment for his felony mail fraud, he can thank a judge with whom he’s shared a political relationship for more than a decade.

Santa Clara County Judge Diane Ritchie lost her seat to prosecutor Matthew Harris, who pulled in 54 percent of the votes.

San Jose Inside has obtained an internal bulletin San Jose police chief Larry Esquivel sent out July 14, explaining that the status quo on smart phone searches has to change. But that could be the tip of the iceberg regarding 4th Amendment issues in Santa Clara County.

In her six years on the bench, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Diane Ritchie has become legend for all the wrong reasons. Luckily for voters, Matt Harris, a veteran of the District Attorney’s Office, possesses the experience and confidence the incumbent lacks.

Judge Diane Ritchie scored a shocking victory in 2008 when she won a seat on the Santa Clara County bench, but now she's running for re-election and has no shortage of critics.

A serial plaintiff named John Ho has sued scores of South Bay businesses, alleging that they violate the Americans with Disability Act. Ho and another local plaintiff, Cecil Shaw, appear to be using the well-intended ADA laws as a way to make hundreds of thousands of dollars from legal settlements.

George Shirakawa Jr. can no longer afford his legal bills, according to his top-dollar lawyer. As a result, county taxpayers will now start picking up the tab. In court Wednesday, attorney John Williams told Judge Risë Jones Pichon that the disgraced former county supervisor needs a public defender to represent him on a felony charge of false personation. That case, as well as a sentencing hearing for Shirakawa’s admitted misuse of campaign funds and perjury, will be heard next week.

A convicted serial rapist may get released in Santa Clara County, should a judge agree to a writ objecting to his relocation to Los Angeles County, where he was born and raised. SoCal native Christopher Evans Hubbart, 62, has admitted to raping 40 women in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties between 1971 and 1982, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Due to more lenient laws in the past, Hubbart likely avoided prison terms that would have kept him incarcerated for life.

Thomas Kinkade, the “Painter of Light,” resided in his mansion in Monte Sereno until his untimely death at the age of 54 due to an accidental overdose of alcohol and valium on Good Friday, April 6, 2012. His estranged wife of 30 years, Nanette Kinkade, and their four children would normally be the rightful heirs to Mr. Kinkade’s estimated $66 million fortune. But Mrs. Kinkade filed for divorce two years before he died, and, for the last 18 months of his life, Mr. Kinkade was in a relationship with a young woman, Amy Pinto-Walsh.