Cover Stories
San Marcos City Manager Jack Griffin begins his annual June letter to the mayor and city council, “It is kind of my pleasure to submit the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Operations and Maintenance Budget.” That “kind …
To hold an anaconda, it’s best to spread your hands out like spatulas and let the snake lie there, feeling supported. If the serpent doesn’t feel buoyed in your hands, it will squirm and droop …
The restaurant business, as Bette Davis once said about growing old, ain’t no place for sissies. The hours are long; the profit margins, razor-thin. Customers are notoriously fickle, and a few bad Yelp reviews can …
It’s the last outpost of agriculture in coastal North County, plainly visible from the freeway. A vast field of green just east of Interstate 5 and north of Cannon Road in the heart of Carlsbad, …
“You painted a black person” Last year, while exiting an MTS bus at the El Cajon Transit Station, I heard a man yell, “Imagine a world without black people!” A black girl walked away from …
Lions and tigers and bears. Is it possible to say the words without at least thinking of Dorothy’s punch line? But a stronger exclamation might be appropriate as Nola the 600-pound white tiger leaps ten …
Bushy beasts, a heavenly meal, a giant lemon, a brutal murder, and so much more. Join us for a road trip to see some of San Diego’s more unusual sights. Roadside attractions have been an …
“Be ready for the gas grenades!” yells a protester. Seconds later: boom... boom... boom. “The sun just went down and everyone’s getting violent out here,” says Arturo Gonzalez into his phone’s microphone. “Look at how …
“We’re a wasteful country. A study by the USDA from 1997, but still in wide use, reports that ‘5.4 billion pounds of food were lost at the retail level in 1995.’ The ‘retail level’ applies …
Author Marty Rubin once observed, “Parks and playgrounds are the soul of a city.” A century before him, famed 19th century horticulturalist Andrew Jackson Downing similarly sang the praises of these urban spots of green …
It’s almost Zonie season, that time of year when the arrival of triple-digit heat prompts Arizonans to head west in search of cool ocean breezes. But over the last year, I’ve been driving east to …
On the rare occasions that he leaves his home now, Robert, who wishes to remain anonymous, notices many people failing to maintain social distancing. It concerns him, because he has two underlying medical conditions that …
As afternoon temperatures pushed 90 last Wednesday, ice cream fans lined up in Mission Hills to be among the first to get scoops from Mr. Trustee, the neighborhood’s newest ice cream shop. Like me, they …
I don’t recall when I first heard the word “prepper,” but it was definitely derogatory, perhaps a step above — but certainly related to — “hoarder.” A prepper, as I understood it then, was someone …
Sawaya Carpet Care has been in business for 29 years. Recently, owner Steve Sawaya (pronounced Sa-why-a) approached the owner of “a fancy restaurant in La Jolla” about getting paid for a job he’d completed. “Before …
Jessica is pretty, petite, and young — 5’2” and slim, according to her profile on the dating app. Golden bangs cascade across her forehead, and in her profile picture her sweet, silly smile is reminiscent …