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Stories by Don Bauder (RIP)

The juicy Trump-Cohen-Russia story

The April 10 issue of Rolling Stone features an intriguing story, “A Brief History of Michael Cohen’s Criminal Ties” by Seth Hettena, who lives in San Diego with his wife and sons. The subtitle of …

April 17, 2018
CalPERS buys boatload of Bridgepoint stock

The California Public Employeees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation’s largest pension fund, in last year’s fourth quarter boosted its stake in San Diego-based Bridgeport Education by 112.4 percent, according to the company’s most recent filing …

April 16, 2018
Papa Doug won’t get Bahamas job

Last February, the Washington Post reported that Douglas “Papa Doug” Manchester, real estate developer and former owner of the Union-Tribune, had an “unsettling management style,” according to a number of former female U-T employees, who …

April 13, 2018
Trump's hefty military budget

No wonder San Diego is called a Navy town. Federal military spending in San Diego on uniformed and civilian payrolls, along with veterans, is almost entirely related to the Navy, and half of military contract …

April 11, 2018
Lawyer Michael Cohen raided by FBI

As everyone knows by now, the Federal Bureau of Investigation today (April 9) raided the office of Michael Cohen, one of President Trump’s attorneys. The agency raided other locations where Cohen might keep his records. …

April 10, 2018
Tony Robbins attacked #MeToo at lecture

Tony Robbins, the self-help guru and life philosopher, has gotten a lesson on life. It recently came out that in a San Jose seminar last month, he had scolded women for the #MeToo movement. A …

April 9, 2018
Douglass Jennings, disbarred tax lawyer, gets 34 months

In the packed federal courtroom of Judge Gonzalo Curiel yesterday (April 5), attorney John Douglass Jennings Jr. was sentenced to 34 months in prison, while his wife Peggy, who worked in real estate, got four …

Bridgepoint slammed over veterans

In 2011, now-retired United States Senator Tom Harkin called San Diego’s controversial for-profit Bridgepoint Education “an absolute scam.” This month, two senators have whacked the company’s major operation, Ashford University, with similar — but more …

March 30, 2018
Industrial vacancies lowest ever for San Diego

It appears that San Diegans go to craft brewers located in industrial parks, put on weight, then go to to a fitness centers in industrial parks to shed that excess blubber. These are two reasons …

March 23, 2018
February unemployment drops to 3.5 percent

The unemployment rate in San Diego County dropped to 3.5 percent in February from a revised 3.6 percent in January, according to the March 23 California Employment Development Department report. The county gained 5300 jobs …

March 23, 2018
Barry Minkow movie is finally out

In February, 2015 I wrote that Bruce Caulk, a part-time La Jolla resident, had a problem: as a movie producer/director, he had invested a bundle in a redemption movie about San Diegan Barry Minkow, who …

March 22, 2018
Ride the warhorse out of the morass

A warhorse carries embattled soldiers out of a morass. In opera, a warhorse is a popular work performed so often it has become hackneyed — in snobs’ eyes, anyway. San Diego Opera, which almost died …

March 21, 2018
Charles La Bella honored by trial lawyers

San Diego attorney Charles “Chuck” La Bella has become a fellow of the American Colllege of Trial Lawyers, which only admits one percent of the total lawyer population in a state or province. According to …

March 19, 2018
Bridgepoint splits company

Bridgepoint Education, San Diego’s troubled and controversial for-profit education company, on March 13 said it will split into two parts — and one part will be non-profit. Bridgepoint’s Ashford University and University of the Rockies …

March 15, 2018
San Diego, Chula Vista happy places to live

WalletHub, a statistical aggregating firm following economic and demographic trends, came out yesterday (March 12) with its list of the nation’s happiest cities. San Diego is 32nd out of 182 cities, and Chula Vista is …

March 13, 2018
Trump blocks hostile Qualcomm takeover

President Trump issued an executive order late today (March 12) blocking the attempt by Broadcom Ltd. to take over San Diego’s Qualcomm in a proposed $117 billion hostile deal. Acting on a recommendation by the …

March 12, 2018
Yanni got $102,000 for a classic Porsche

Poway resident Philip Yanni is a software entrepreneur and a classic car enthusiast, who sat on the board of the Riverside International Automotive Museum until it closed in 2016. Over the Internet, he sold a …

March 12, 2018
County loses 20,500 jobs in January

San Diego County lost 20,500 jobs in January, as the unemployment rate rose to 3.6 percent from 3.3 percent in December. However, the January rate compares with 4.6 percent for California and 4.5 percent for …

March 8, 2018
Airbnb forcing you out?

It must be the noise — not higher rents and home prices — that people feel most strongly about. I am referring to public indignation about short-term vacation-housing rentals — Airbnb and the like. People …

March 7, 2018
Security panel deals blow to Qualcomm takeover

The federal government yesterday (March 4) appears to have dealt a serious blow to Broadcom’s attempt to take over Qualcomm by ordering the local chip-maker to delay its meeting scheduled for tomorrow (March 6). Singapore-based …

March 5, 2018
Gunning for the sheriff

Robert Frank Mansueto, a Coronado Cays dentist who has been in trouble for his actions in dentistry, filed suit in federal court February 25 against county sheriff William Gore, claiming that Mansueto was wrongly charged …

March 3, 2018
Mexican stole American's identity 37 years ago

Tijuana’s Andres Avelino Anduaga pleaded guilty yesterday (March 1) to stealing the identity of an American citizen and collecting his Social Security benefits for 37 years. He admitted to illegally entering the country and stealing …

March 2, 2018
Trump bump-restart reported for Peter Navarro

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, who was benched last year after arguing strenuously with President Trump’s more moderate economic advisors, is reported to be back in favor again. Media say he may get a …

February 26, 2018
Titters over Chargers' Twitter numbers

“The Chargers almost doubled Twitter followers since L.A. move, but 45 percent of total are now fake.” That’s the headliine in thebiglead, a sports site that is owned by USA Today. Ryan Phillips says that …

February 23, 2018
Good weather, high cost of living make San Diego bad for pro sports

Once again, civic boosters are hoping San Diego will land another professional sports team. Big bucks are behind an attempt to rip down the former Qualcomm Stadium and make it home for a pro soccer …

February 21, 2018
Radio and newspaper man and vultures

John Lynch, former chief executive officer of the Union-Tribune and previously a local radio executive, is in financial trouble again. He defaulted on his mortgage in December of 2016, and then woes cascaded in 2017 …

February 20, 2018
Spike three: Tanya and Charles Brandes divorcing

The financial publication Fundfire notes in a February 16 article that onetime social darlings of San Diego and Rancho Santa Fe, Charles Brandes and his wife Tanya, are now divorcing; this was the third marriage …

February 18, 2018
U-T's Washington Post whitewash

The Union-Tribune this weekend tried a trick that is not used so much these days: trying to cleanse a story in another publication before it has run. On Saturday (February 17), the U-T tried to …

February 18, 2018
Excise tax to whack Scripps and Sharp

Effective the first of this year, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act imposes a 21 percent excise tax on nonprofits that pay $1 million or more to their five highest-paid employees. The tax applies to …

February 15, 2018
Workforce Partnership embezzler gets 30 months

Jared Palmer, who embezzled more than $450,000 from the San Diego Workforce Partnership — with “great stealth, and great planning,” according to the judge — was sentenced February 12th to 30 months in prison and …

February 15, 2018
Kratom crackdown

Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration say compounds in the popular herbal drug kratom act like prescription-strength opioids. Kratom has been tied to 44 deaths, up from 36 reported in November. Kratom is “not …

February 8, 2018
Rabobank banked millions in untraceable cash

Rabobank National Association, a subsidiary of a Netherlands bank, pleaded guilty in federal court February 7 to unlawfully impeding a U.S. examination of its California operations, including Calexico and Tecate branches. Rabobank admitted that its …

February 8, 2018
Amazon’s bribery charade

San Diego County put forth four locations to get in on the Amazon bidding — the contest among 238 metro areas to become the huge retailer’s second headquarters, now called Amazon HQ2. Twenty metro areas …

February 7, 2018
Tronc planning to sell L.A. Times and Union-Tribune

The Chicago-based owner of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Los Angeles Times, tronc, is expected to announce it is selling the two Southern California properties, according to a report in the Washington Post. The buyer …

February 6, 2018
Broadcom makes another Qualcomm offer

Broadcom this morning (February 5) boosted its bid for San Diego-based Qualcomm to almost $124 billion, including debt assumption, up from its initial $103 billion bid, which Qualcomm’s board rejected. Broadcom has headquarters in San …

February 5, 2018
The ol' annual Super Bowl shakedown

Today is the day economists identify as one of the major global scams: the Super Bowl. Last year, 106.7 million watched it, down from the record 114.4 million in 2015. Given that the Sunday-night, Monday-night, …

February 4, 2018
Green-haired Black Mountain residents file lawsuit

Fred Maas, a San Diegan known for sustainable communities and clean technologies, spearheaded the developmet of the 5100-acre Black Mountain Ranch, an upscale development east of Fairbanks Ranch. But two couples who live there have …

Proposed settlement will cost SDG&E, Edison $873 million

In a settlement made late yesterday (January 30), Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, which jointly own almost 100 percent of the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, agreed to not collect …

January 31, 2018
SD City College instructors plan protest

Instructors at San Diego City College will stage a protest Monday (January 29th) from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Arts and Humanities Building, 1442-1494 C Street. They will be supporting a lawsuit filed December …

January 28, 2018
Chaos at newly unionized L.A. Times

On January 19th, newsroom employees at the Los Angeles Times voted 248 to 44 to unionize. Now, national media are looking into newsroom fears: management is setting up a secret, non-union “shadow” news operation that …

January 28, 2018
McMahon's XFL could put hurts on L.A. Chargers

The XFL was a professional footballl league financed by NBC and the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment). It lasted one year, 2001, because of poor TV ratings and attendance. Now it intends to …

January 26, 2018
Would disbarred Bill Lerach dare practice law again?

San Diego’s most famous — and most infamous — attorney, Bill Lerach, is raising eyebrows again. Lerach, the onetime “King of Torts,” was known and widely hated for scaring the wits out of corporate executives …

January 24, 2018
Remember the Wobblies

Spellbinding orator and labor leader Eugene Victor Debs became a socialist while jailed in the late 19th Century. He went on to become a presidential candidate five times in the 20th Century — the last …

January 20, 2018
Less farming, more drinking in San Diego County

San Diego County lost 3000 nonfarm jobs in December, although the unemployment rate remained at a very low 3.3 percent, according to the state Employment Development Department. That 3.3 percent rate bettered the 4.2 percent …

January 19, 2018
Sempra hasn’t paid corporate taxes since 2008

Utility regulators are noting all around the country that since corporate tax rates have been lowered from 35 percent to 21 percent, utilities should pass on those savings to ratepayers. Don’t expect your San Diego …

January 18, 2018
Forbes eyed SD for Amazon and got it wrong

Preceding today's news that Amazon has narrowed down the list of potential cities for establishing a second headquarters — and San Diego is not among them — Forbes magazine had an astonishing item in its …

January 18, 2018
Local tourism rose in year without Chargers

The Union-Tribune admitted this morning (January 14) that those "pointy-headed, sissy" economists were right all along: the San Diego economy remained strong during the year that the Chargers were gone. From the mid-1990s to last …

January 14, 2018
Ray Lucia goes to Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the complaint of San Diego radio host Ray Lucia, who was slapped by the Securities and Exchange Commission, lost his appeal to that body, and then lost at the …

January 14, 2018
Porn thief in our midst?

In San Diego federal court, Strike 3 Holdings is suing an unknown person who is allegedly stealing the company’s “adult” (realistically, porn) websites and DVDs. In this case, the plaintiff has the defendant’s internet provider …

January 13, 2018
West Coast real-estate bubble?

Almost one-fourth (24.1 percent) of U.S. homes sold above the listing price last year, according to Zillow.com. The median price paid over list was $7000. In San Diego, 32.1 percent sold above the listing price, …

January 11, 2018

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