To San Diego County residents who drive Interstate 15, Lake Hodges has been their drought meter. Since the rainy El Niño year of 1998, they've watched the lake's edge slowly recede from a mile east …

"The last time that much rain fell was the year of El Niño, July 1997 to June 1998, when 53.07 inches fell on the mountain town. The next three years were below average.

In New York, they're debating what sort of memorial to build on the six-acre site where the World Trade Center once stood. Three thousand miles away, in Tijuana, one such memorial of the attacks of …

It's illegal for a child under 16 to work in Mexico. Doubtless, the law was passed to prevent the exploitation of children and to keep kids in school. But sometimes the law denies children from …

Tucked behind a Toyo Tires shop, where Tijuana's Centro and Rio zones meet, stands a boys' home operated by Desarollo Integral de la Familia (integral development of the family). Better known by the acronym DIF …

"The tribe’s constitution in Jamul requires that to be a member, you had to have half-blood or more as far as the degree of Indian blood. The problem is that [some new members] are quarters, sixteenths, sixty-fourths."

Savvy San Diego shoppers seeking slashed rates on paint jobs, window tinting, and upholstery have driven their cars to Tijuana for decades. But you don't hear about gringos heading south to buy the whole car, …

'I probably average two calls a week inquiring about Mexico," says Brent Yoder, director of the Mission Valley-based international adoption agency Adoption Options. "I'm one of the few agencies that even indicates that I can …

Gary Sehnert works as the United States representative and distributor for several wineries in the Guadalupe Valley -- the Napa Valley of Mexico -- ten miles inland from Ensenada. Though he operates from his home …

Beginning with Vietnam, American soldiers and Marines have carried the M-16 rifle. And the virtues and vices of the black rifle have been argued by military men and gun enthusiasts ever since. The central issue …

It's very easy to take water for granted. Even here, in arid San Diego, when you turn on the tap, water always issues. But the fact is, only about 5 percent of the water in …

With a lower standard of living comes a lower cost on life's necessities. Hence, Tijuanenses pay less than San Diegans for housing, food, clothing, medical, and dental work. And savvy San Diegans sojourn south to …

To many, Tijuana's medical reputation is associated with alternative medicine. Cancer patients and others who are seriously ill, disillusioned by mainstream medicine's offers of little hope and harsh treatments, flock to the border city for …

Over 90 percent of the avocados grown in the United States are grown in California, and half of those are grown in San Diego County. The cultivation of avocados, particularly the durable and tasty Haas …

For traffic-weary Tijuanenses, the happiness of the new year of 2002 ended quickly when they read reports of the city's light-rail project being scrapped. Though ground had never been broken, the tren ligero had been …

Edmundo Batista Rivera and Conrado Gaxiola Val, though business competitors, greet each other as old friends. Batista rises from his table at Azulejos restaurant in the Hotel Camino Real in Tijuana's Zona Rio, and the …

We all assume that if there is one thing that's ours alone, it is our Social Security number. And everyone who's ever offered you a job, a loan, or a line of credit has assumed …

In November, superior court judge William Nevitt denied a coalition of seven San Diego County police officers associations -- plus an association of district attorney researchers -- access to a database that they claimed the …

Jules Wesselink's cheese operation, Winchester Cheese Company, couldn't have been smaller when it started. "I went to Holland in 1995," says the Dutch immigrant, "for the 50th anniversary of our liberation from Germany. My relatives …

Some of the fondest memories I have of time spent with my father were around a Lionel three-rail train he bought used and brought home in a big cardboard box. The track was hard to fit together.

The difference between the $55,000 the hypothetical deputy in Lemon Grove can make by moving to Campo and the $52,500 he can make as a corporal staying in Lemon Grove is only $2500.

To convict a man of murder, jurors need only be certain of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. One thing, however, is usually metaphysically certain; that the victim is dead. Yet on August 29, 2001, …

Before tourism, before apples, Julian's reason for being was gold. The town would still be a mountain plateau had it not been for a minor gold rush in the 1870s. When what gold there was …

For two years, I've crossed the border once a month to visit friends who live in Playas de Tijuana. I've learned to go after 7:00 p.m. on weekdays. But in the beginning I always went …

From July of 2000 to April 2001, a new kind of crime wave hit San Diego County. Boiled down to penal-code labeling -- 211 for armed robbery, 459 for burglary -- the crimes weren't anything …

San Diego's Indian tribes hope Internet technology will bring back the old days, the pre-Cabrillo days, when they traded and traveled among themselves. They believe technology could help them preserve their culture. Up until now, …

Two years of below-average rainfall had resulted in fuel moisture content - amount of water in the grass - of less than 10 percent. "You like to see it up around 30 to 40 percent."

There are a few ways to spot Hilliker's Egg Ranch on El Nopal Road in Lakeside near Santee. One is to look for one of several chicken signs — the animated white chicken will be …

"What we've got here is a school with 450 kids. The site that they're on here, the whole thing, is five acres, but only three of it is usable. The rest is canyon.”

Highway Patrol officer Gwen Goodwin steers her black-and-white Ford squad car north on Ashwood Street past Lakeside's El Capitan High School until she comes to a four-way stop. Straight ahead, the road starts to climb. …

"That gentleman has done nothing but harass us at every opportunity. As a result of his claims, we've spent thousands and thousands of dollars to be on the cautious side of safety for the community.”

At this time of year, the pies in Julian are made with fresh apples from Julian orchards. The Julian Pie Company gets its apples from Crown Orchards in the Farmer's Road area north of town. …

We all get them and we all hate them: unwanted e-mails advertising cut-rate life insurance, low-interest mortgages, get-rich-quick schemes, debt-consolidation services, ink-jet cartridges, and cell-phone accessories. One might live with these annoyances, if they weren't …

“She said, ‘My husband just shot himself. I had the address here, but we always verify it. I said, ‘What’s your name?’ She said,‘Ruth’.... I immediately put the call in, so we had officers rolling.”

“We only milked 200 cows. Most places milk 1000. The milk trucks don't want to drive all the way out here.You've got to have 700 gallons, or they charge you double on their freight."

Other than the Butterfield Stage Route, there isn't much reason to be in Carrizo. "It's in a very rugged, very remote area. And it's 45 minutes to an hour by dirt road from the nearest paved road."

“There are a lot of transplanted Midwesterners in East County that like a drier climate, not as moist and damp as the beach is. And they like to see the sunshine a little bit more.”

Despite boasting one of the nation's sunniest climates, despite laboring under towering electricity rates, San Diego County isn't home to a single solar energy plant. It's not that we haven't tried. A 20-acre solar farm …

My opera career up to a year and a half ago consisted of an appearance as a monkey in a Cal State Los Angeles production of The Magic Flute when I was 10 and as …

It's still not La Jolla. The buildings along Main Street between Magnolia and Avocado in downtown El Cajon form a hodgepodge of 20th-century architectural styles, from an early-century board-sided, post-and-beam warehouse to 1960s stucco boxes. …

Rumors spread through the backcountry town of Campo the way a wildfire spreads through the local hills. It starts with a passing comment in the feed store, an off-the-cuff remark in the post office. It's …

Dale Raver, 53, a Poway resident and the owner of a cell-phone-accessory business, is waging a quixotic crusade against the City of Escondido, which he believes is breaking the law. He's spent over 30 hours …

In early 1999, over a dozen similar assault-and-robbery crimes took place against elderly pedestrians in the Mid-City area. In all of them, the victims were knocked over from behind, held face down, and robbed. Many …

San Diegans who cross into Mexico by car are used to waiting an hour and a half to clear customs when coming north But local fishermen, whale watchers, and sailboaters who have traveled by boat …

In November 1999, the Daily Californian, a 108-year-old newspaper serving East County, shifted from daily printing to a twice-weekly format. Thus ended a run of 36 years in which East County had its own daily …

Before most people knew the shooter at Santana High School's first name was Charles, not Andy, District Attorney Paul Pfingst announced his intention to try him as an adult at a news conference three hours …

Following the deregulation of the power utilities in California, a host of alternative providers began an advertising blitz; some promised environmentally conscious power generation, some offered lower rates, some both. Now, none of the companies …

Fearing I would fly forward ahead of my board and into the concrete floor, I didn’t commit enough of my weight to the front foot and the board slipped forward, out from underneath me.

In January of 1999, Alpine land developer Tom Dyke donated 627 acres on two parcels in East County's Campo area to St. Vincent de Paul. The charitable organization immediately announced plans to build a long-term …

City of Escondido park ranger John Flohr hops up from behind his desk when I enter the rangers' office -- really a temporary trailer -- next to the snack bar in the picnic area on …