A Kansas City charter school operated by San Diego-based School Futures Research Foundation, which is backed by South Bay billionaire John Walton, has flunked a state-university audit and may be forced to close unless it …
April 27, 2000
North America
School Daze
The Guns of Mexico
Gun ownership is illegal in Mexico. This statement has been heard more than once on Southern California talk radio. Sometimes a host or caller will qualify the comment by saying it is handguns that are …
April 6, 2000
Fox Populi
'Fox Fox Fox Fox FOX FOX FOX FOX!" You know who they're yelling about: he's the granite-jawed guy standing above everybody else in the hall. Vicente Fox Quesada. Over six feet tall -- and, some …
February 10, 2000
On Tijuana TV, you see the news director
If you ask Vicente Calderón, San Diego TV news is mushy. "It tends to be extremely superficial," says the veteran Mexican television journalist. "You [in San Diego] feel you have to connect with the people, …
December 23, 1999
Why doesn't Canada require an international code when calling someone?
Dear Matthew Alice: Today my boss asked me to fax something to Canada. I didn't have to dial the international code. Why is Canada so special? -- Jamie Reeves, downtown Hey, Matt: This bugs me. …
July 22, 1999
Winona Martin, owner of two San Diego tattoo parlors, gets heat in Arkansas
You'd think that after three decades of Bill and Hillary Clinton, the people of Arkansas would be pretty tuckered in the outrage department. But Winona Martin, the owner of two San Diego tattoo parlors, recently …
April 22, 1999
Why isn't there keg beer in Mexico?
Why is there no keg beer in Mexico? -- S.B. in Clairemont Ah but there is, my friend. Not much, but some. In a few big Mexican clubs, mostly. Especially those run by Americans. Both …
April 15, 1999
Georgina Romero de Crespo, heiress to the wealthy Tijuana-based Serrano family, kidnapped
“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t give any information.” Speaking from his Coronado Cays home, Miguel Crespo sounds tired and shaken. His wife, Georgina, was kidnapped over a month ago. “All the family are concerned about …
March 25, 1999
Does the volcano in Pahoa, Hawaii have an effect on electronics?
Matthew: I was on vacation in Pahoa, on the island of Hawaii, recently, and I had trouble with my camera. Sometimes the autofocus wouldn't work, or the shutter. A resident of the town told me …
January 21, 1999
During World War II, were Germans rounded up by Ecuadorian governments and sent to concentration camps in Texas?
Matmail: On vacation in Ecuador, I met an 80-year-old man who claims that during World War II, he and his German parents were rounded up by the Ecuadorian government at the request of the U.S. …
November 29, 1998
Veronica Salazar from San Ysidro strung up and beaten in Michigan
Was Veronica Salazar strung up like a piñata and beaten to death in Michigan? Does anybody care? When the San Diego mother of three was murdered last September 1, the event rated 74 words in …
October 29, 1998
A Mystifying Murder And the Del Mar Doc
'I was hoping it would stay away from San Diego," she said, compressing her meaty lips and furrowing her broad fore-head. She had not expected Californian curiosity to find her here, crammed with other unhappy …
October 15, 1998
Salk lab in Pennsylvania loses Army contract
The end of a once-controversial era has finally arrived for the Salk Institute's Biologicals Development Center in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania. The 20-year-old lab, which at its peak in the early 1990s employed a staff of 110 …
September 24, 1998
What happened to Ted Kaczynski's cabin from Montana?
Dear Sir: The Mad Bomber, Ted Kaczynski, lived in a decrepit cabin in Montana. During his trial, the government seized it and hauled it to Sacramento. Whatever happened to it? Rumor has it that it …
June 4, 1998
How come stupid Americans can enter sweepstakes, but stupid Canadians can't?
American Hero: I've entered a few sweepstakes-type contests in the recent past, and a few of them have a statement such as "Canadian residents, in order to win, must first correctly answer a time-limited skill-testing …
June 4, 1998