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Stories by Bob McPhail (RIP)

Teens with knives steal snacks

Two knife-wielding teens robbed a small neighborhood grocer in the Anexa Niños Heroes neighborhood, getting away with eight bags of potato chips, two packages of cookies, and 450 pesos in cash (about $30), Tijuana's daily …

May 25, 2015
Rain or pipe leak creates Tijuana disaster

Nineteen families were left homeless over the weekend following a series of landslides in the Anexa Miramar neighborhood of Tijuana, with more mandatory evacuations expected. Initial press accounts on Saturday, May 16, reported a dozen …

May 18, 2015
Teachers' strike holds strong in Baja

My eight-year-old godson in Tijuana has been sending me various versions of sad emoticons on Facebook for more than a week now. He is unhappy because, after a lengthy Easter vacation, school did not resume …

April 26, 2015
Baby whale bites dust

Mexican environmental authorities recently buried a juvenile gray whale that died after becoming trapped on the shoreline near the border of Playas de Tijuana and Rosarito Beach. The young whale, about 42 feet long and …

April 22, 2015
All was not well in Lo Yen City

Four employees and the owner of a Chinese restaurant in Tijuana were arrested on April 7 after food inspectors discovered the eatery was butchering and cooking dog meat. Authorities launched an investigation of the Lo …

April 9, 2015
Forget Tijuana if you need an organ transplant

Dozens of Tijuanans in need of organ transplants have died needlessly because public health officials have failed to maintain organ-donor programs at government hospitals and clinics, the president of the Association of Transplants and Renal …

April 2, 2015
No meat, no bullfights, no zonkeys

Animal-rights activists took to the streets of downtown Tijuana again on Saturday, January 31, in their most recent protest against what they say is the maltreatment of the city's iconic zonkeys — donkeys painted to …

February 3, 2015
Vaya con Dios, Miguelito

For 16 days, seven-year-old Miguel Beltrán battled for his life from a bed in Tijuana General Hospital, the victim of a crime so horrendous that it shocked even the most battle-hardened residents of this violence-prone …

January 9, 2015
Baja losing U.S.-born tourists

During 2014, Baja California tourism struggled to recover from multiple setbacks but was buoyed by visitors of Mexican-American descent, according to a year-end report by the state secretary of tourism. During 2014, 52 percent of …

January 5, 2015
Holiday muggings fill TJ emergency room

The number of emergency-room visits by patients who said they had been mugged increased by nearly 400 percent during the Christmas holidays at Tijuana General Hospital, according to a doctor who works there. In an …

January 1, 2015
Post-coital knife attack

A Tijuana prostitute who ridiculed the sexual performance of a client found herself fighting for her life when the angry man pulled a four-inch knife from his pocket and began attacking her. The unidentified woman's …

December 4, 2014
Unidentified corpses pile up in Baja

Between 2013 and June of this year, Baja California medical examiners have been unable to identify more than 1100 cadavers presented to them for autopsy. Most of the unclaimed bodies have been buried in unmarked …

November 21, 2014
Pay up, gringo!

Beginning on November 1, U.S. citizens planning to stay for more than seven days in Mexico must pay a $23.50 entry fee if crossing at the Otay Mesa port of entry, according to multiple accounts …

November 15, 2014
Attention: pederasts, terrorists, and murderers

Since January 1, 159 fugitives have been caught in Baja by a specially trained unit of the Policía Estatal Preventiva, breaking the previous record of 112 set in 2012, the Tijuana daily El Mexicano reported …

November 10, 2014
Because the governor wouldn't need the Red Cross

Tijuana's Red Cross, which operates a "pay if you're able" trauma center/hospital and a citywide fleet of ambulances, has laid off 16 employees in an attempt to survive a major financial crisis. A cutoff in …

October 14, 2014
Cuffed prisoner steals new cop car in Tijuana

Red-faced detectives from the Policía Ministerial del Estado launched a massive police operation in Tijuana shortly after noon on Friday, October 10, when they apparently left a prisoner in their custody unattended and he drove …

October 12, 2014
Grandmother caught between cops and robbers

Tijuana police pursuing robbery suspects in a marked pickup ran over and killed a grandmother on Wednesday, September 17, as she attempted to cross a Zona Norte street to buy some midday birria. María Elena …

September 19, 2014
TJ's a tough place to own a small business

At least 75 percent of Tijuana's small businesses have been victimized by armed robbers, according to the head of a trade group. And what's worse, said Heriberto Villalobos Rentería, president of a national small-business organization …

September 16, 2014
Tijuana gets help from federal cops

Members of a newly created and specially trained federal police force began arriving in Tijuana last week to help local officers combat a growing wave of violent crime. According to press reports, about 100 members …

September 7, 2014
Alarm among Americans

Baja California authorities are searching for the caretakers of an elderly American woman found dead and stuffed into the refrigerator of her Rosarito Beach home earlier this week. Rosarito police said a friend of the …

September 4, 2014
Our Lady of Guadalupe delivered meth

Tijuana police say an anonymous tip led them to search merchandise at a roadside curio shop at the San Ysidro border crossing on August 26, where they discovered individual doses of heroin or methamphetamine hidden …

August 29, 2014
Taxation on top of salvation

In unusually combative language, the archbishop of Tijuana has accused Mexico's federal government of extorting money from the Catholic Church under the guise of taxation. In an interview published August 25 by the daily newspaper …

August 26, 2014
Trash-pile baby rescued in Tijuana

Tijuana police on Sunday, August 24, rescued a newborn baby discarded in a pile of trash in Colonia Rojo Gómez, a neighborhood in the far eastern area of the city. Police were alerted to the …

August 25, 2014
Homicides down in Tijuana, up in Rosarito

Homicides dropped 10 percent in Tijuana but the number of kidnappings skyrocketed by 60 percent, while in Rosarito Beach there were no kidnappings but murders jumped by 40 percent, according to crime statistics just released …

Pope Francis in TJ?

According to Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, Pope Francis accepted an invitation to visit Mexico during a meeting between the two at the Vatican last month. Since the June 7 meeting, Tijuana has turned up …

July 21, 2014
El sexo peligroso

Tijuana authorities recently detained around 30 prostitutes for failure to have current health cards in an ongoing citywide crackdown on violators of a variety of municipal laws. “We’ve had an intense operation dealing with sex …

June 30, 2014
We have no way to catch them

“We are desperate. The siege of these criminals is constant, and we have no way to catch them. We have to do something.” The voice is that of Guillermo Díaz Orozco, president of the Asociación …

June 29, 2014
Children witness shooting in Tijuana

As hundreds of children looked on, a gunman opened fire on a father waiting for his sons to get out of classes at a Tijuana elementary school on June 19. According to press accounts, Margarita …

June 21, 2014
Want bargain bariatric surgery?

Medical tourism to Tijuana fell 20 percent during the first four months of 2014, leading to staff layoffs and price reductions for certain procedures, the Baja California daily newspaper El Mexicano reports. A 30 percent …

May 25, 2014
Tijuana fire chief: Stop thieving fire hydrants

Tijuana firefighters made a troubling discovery on Wednesday, May 14, as they battled Santa Ana-whipped flames in the eastern neighborhoods of the city: most of the fire hydrants in the area were useless. In an …

May 15, 2014
General’s disregard for the warrior

A former U.S. Marine jailed in Tijuana for bringing weapons into Mexico is getting little sympathy from a top-ranking Baja California military official despite an outpouring of support north of the border. Twenty-five-year-old Andrew Tahmooressi, …

May 8, 2014
Drugged toddler rushed to Tijuana hospital

For the third time in six weeks, a child has been rushed to a Tijuana hospital suffering from a drug overdose, El Sol de Tijuana reported on May 6. The one-year-old boy was taken by …

Baja tax hike screwed businesses over

Following a rancorous debate in Mexico City late last year, federal legislators voted to increase the sales tax from 11 percent to 16 percent, effective the first of the year. Baja California business leaders have …

April 17, 2014
TJ cops threatening to tourism?

Tijuana police are at it again — stopping motorists with U.S. license plates for imaginary traffic infractions so they can extort money from visitors to the city’s struggling tourist district. "We are hoping that tourists …

April 8, 2014
Canada issues travel warning for Mexico

Canada has joined the United States in warning its citizens of the potential dangers they may face when visiting Mexico, with specific reference to Baja California. In an advisory posted on the home page of …

Tijuana’s “Twin of Parisian perfume shops" closes

Sara´s London Shop, a popular perfume store in downtown Tijuana that once attracted tourists from around the world, has closed its doors after 70 years in business. The store, at the corner of Avenida Revolución …

January 14, 2014
Drone patrols over Tijuana begin today

Tijuana police will begin using drones to patrol crime-plagued areas of the city beginning today, January 6, according to the daily newspaper El Sol de Tijuana. The city has acquired two drones to add to …

January 6, 2014
Adiós, zonkeys?

Tijuana's famed zonkeys — donkeys painted to look like zebras — would be permanently retired and replaced by fiberglass replicas if an international animal-rights organization gets its way. In recent years, the zonkeys have fallen …

January 3, 2014
New Year brings new taxes in Mexico

Baja Californians awakening today, New Year's Day, face what the daily newspaper El Mexicano describes as "a cascade of taxes." In addition to an increase in the sales tax to 16 percent, Baja Californians will …

January 1, 2014
Pit bull kills baby in Tijuana

A 37-day-old baby girl died on Wednesday, December 11, shortly after she was bitten on the head by a pit bull at her grandmother's house in Tijuana, according to newspaper accounts. The infant, identified only …

December 13, 2013
Tijuana leads Mexico in tuberculosis cases

Dr. Rafael Laniado Laborín, head of the multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis clinic at Hospital General de Tijuana, recently told El Mexicano that the clinic diagnoses an average of 1000 TB cases a year, leading Mexico in the …

December 2, 2013
Bomb threat at Tijuana's Centro Cultural

A Thanksgiving-morning bomb scare led to the emergency evacuation of Centro Cultural Tijuana, an iconic structure in the city's Zona Río neighborhood. According to a news release from the cultural center, police received a phone …

November 30, 2013
Tijuana strays may increase soon

The skyrocketing cost of dog food along with new rules on its importation into Mexico have led animal advocates in Tijuana to warn of a new wave of canines abandoned in the street, adding to …

November 25, 2013
Tijuana sells out of dollars

Several Tijuana casas de cambio ran out of dollars on Thursday, November 7, apparently the result of speculators betting that the value of the greenback against the Mexican peso was about to increase. Virtually all …

November 9, 2013
Baja sales tax to jump 5% in 2014

Baja Californians are bracing for what some economists and political leaders have warned will be a major financial crisis after Mexico's senate voted in the wee hours of Wednesday, October 30, to increase the state's …

October 30, 2013
Tijuana shoplifters were looking to party

A pair of middle-aged shoppers ended up behind bars in Tijuana over the October 26-27 weekend after allegedly trying to shoplift what one newspaper called enough food for a small party. Under the headline "They …

October 29, 2013
Mexicali officials bury unidentified body after 18 years

After 18 years under refrigeration at the medical examiner's office in Mexicali, the body of a nondescript person believed to have been the victim of some long-ago foul play was finally laid to rest yesterday, …

October 16, 2013
Grand-scale electrical theft continues in Tijuana

An estimated 10,000 Tijuana homes and more than 1000 businesses are stealing their electricity each month from Baja California's public utility, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (Federal Electricity Commission). "Diablitos" — the popular term for …

September 26, 2013
Baseball bat spells the end for Tijuana neighbor

A 56-year-old Tijuana man has been jailed on murder charges after allegedly beating his neighbor to death with a bat in a dispute over barking dogs. According to press accounts in El Sol de Tijuana …

September 24, 2013
Tijuana prostitutes stray from “zone of tolerance”

Tijuana’s downtown prostitutes are straying outside the area in which they are allowed to offer their services legally, prompting city officials to promise a crackdown on the wayward streetwalkers. According to accounts in both El …

September 16, 2013

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