The statue’s trip occurred several days after Christmas, but for the previous two weeks, the Mexicans had been coming to the monument to prepare for loading. Workman had his doubts that the statue was stable …

SDSU’s emphasis seems to be on fundraising; teaching comes second in priority, say some. The money is in research, not teaching.

Early this year, James Marshall filed a complaint with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s Taxi Administration about rude and negligent service he received from a cabdriver. The agency sent a copy of the complaint …

In the past several months, the initiative to stop corporate and union payroll deductions for political purposes has taken a drubbing up and down California. Appearing as Proposition 32 on the ballot for the November …

When Poway Youth Rugby coach Phil Calio explains how he teaches the “cheek to cheek” technique, he’s only talking about tackling. “What we teach the kids,” he tells me, “is to attack right at the …

The raccoon noise at the Maggards’ Narragansett Avenue apartment in Ocean Beach began in early May. They were often awakened around three in the morning to a racket above their bedroom. At first, they thought …

Last summer, child-custody attorney Denise Bohdan was burning out. For relief, a law school buddy suggested she raise money for a documentary his company was producing about life in Tibet under Chinese rule. The producer …

Surfing photographer Kirk Lee Aeder, who has lived in Hawaii since 1985, talked recently about the subject of his new book, Child of the Storm. The 306-page book, from Mutual Publishing in Honolulu, is an …

Last November, taxicab driver Joe Ciprian, 50, took a call from his dispatcher to pick up a passenger at UCSD hospital in Hillcrest. “I got there to find the security guard waving me down,” wrote …

Ron Paul, a 12-term congressman from Texas, is attracting an intense and dedicated cadre of voters in the 2012 primary election season. But, to date, at least, their numbers suggest he is not a viable …

“In the old days, you had kingmakers who would put in the people they wanted over the objections of those in the community,” says Donna Frye.The former city councilwoman is speaking of the two major …

"Mostly all lies” is how San Diego State University graduate student and teaching assistant Ashley Wardle characterizes statements two California State University officials made during a joint legislative subcommittee hearing in Sacramento last month. The …

Most of us onlookers conquered the mountain the easy way — by car — and had gathered for the big moment, trying at the same time to exploit the 10,857-foot elevation for an alpine vista. …

In the 1940s and early 1950s, when other surfboard shapers worked intuitively, legendary surfer Bob Simmons was applying mathematics and boat-building and aircraft technology to board designs. In 1954, he died in a surfing accident …

There is a multicolored slide, part of a jungle gym, in Robert Brians’s front yard on Delaware Street in Imperial Beach. But I am admiring his two large African turtles crawling along the dusty ground. …

Last December in federal court, Dan Bamberg was trying to figure out how homeless men and women could store their belongings safely and out of sight rather than carry them around everywhere. Transport containers of …

The worst thing about the job, Blanca tells me, is the chaos. “It’s not being able to control the influx of clients. It’s happening so fast that before I’m finished with one application I have …

What would you do at witnessing someone about to jump from the Coronado Bay Bridge? Consider the tale of real estate appraiser Bryan Knowlton, a 42-year-old resident of Kearny Mesa. On Thursday, May 12, Knowlton …

Peter Corona, a veteran superintendent of numerous school districts in California, was born in 1928 in San Diego’s “Italian Colony,” as Little Italy was first known. He grew up during the Depression and World War …

Meeting of the Minds, moderated by Gary Grine, meets Wednesdays at Filter Coffee House. Grine formed this group when he decided that the Thursday discussion group he had founded became “too political and too liberal.” …

Last June, I wanted to sell a bicycle. Where else to unload it but on Craigslist, right? A potential buyer emailed me within hours asking for details beyond what I’d posted on the site. After …

Without complaining — audibly, at least — they leave the building to light up, even when it’s cold and raining. In some offices, that means taking a 15-floor elevator ride to the street. But remember …

Burning bright for seven years, a Depression-era venture in Tijuana lit up the blueprint that Las Vegas would follow. The old Agua Caliente is the subject of Satan’s Playground: Mobsters and Movie Stars at America’s …

If he’d take it as a compliment, I’d call him the Einstein of West Morena Boulevard. That’s where Tony Iaquinta holds forth in his restaurant, Bull’s Smokin’ BBQ. It’s mighty good food, the barbecued ribs, …

A Santee company has been trying since 2008 to buy a chunk of land along the north bank of the San Diego River. The property is situated on a little finger of eastern San Diego …

The San Diego planning catchword “infill” might sound nice in quiet hilltop homes. But daily life in the closer quarters below usually means ever noisier conditions. In the interest of more livable neighborhoods, those who …

Wayne Bamford knew more secrets about Linda Vista than anyone. It was the spring of 2007, and Bamford was helping me dig into the community’s ongoing squabbles. Two years later, in early May, I wanted …

Before dawn at SDSU on Tuesday, August 23, a "chill water" main ruptured under a large walkway on the east side of campus. One million gallons of water were released, flooding an area between between …

Should members of affluent communities blush when their leaders go scounging for federal assistance? Probably not in the view of Lynda Hunt, who was interviewed by the La Jolla Village News in May 2006. “San …

The 500 West Hotel located in the old Armed Services YMCA building in downtown San Diego, may only have several more years of life. In March 2013, the hotel operator, a company called 500 West …

I grew up in a religion that loved everything I would be taught to disdain in graduate school: America, authority, marriage, motherhood, and divine revelation. My father was a history-reading intellectual who treated me like …

On April 4, Easter Sunday, Blanca Quintero was driving in Mexicali to visit her mother’s crypt when the magnitude 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake began rocking her SUV. Cracks opened in the street before her, and …

Damon Lane County Park, two miles east of the Mount Helix summit, serves more than local residents’ needs for a peaceful commune with nature. “The park was put there,” says Jack Phillips, chair of the …

Before dawn on the morning of SDSU’s commencement last May, James Ziegler-Kelly climbed out of his tent under a bridge in Mission Valley. He dressed, folded the tent and his sleeping bag, and loaded the …

When the October 2007 Witch Creek fire, which began northeast of Ramona, advanced as far as Kim Crosser’s address in Rancho Santa Fe, there was a chance to save his home. It didn’t happen. Afterwards, …

Late last October, a man claiming to represent a deaf woman began calling the Saffron Thai restaurants on India Street near Washington. The lady wanted large amounts of food for her upcoming wedding. But Saffron …

American elections lore over the last 50 years is rife with tales of funny business, from charges of a Chicago graveyard vote in 1960 to the hanging chads count in 2000. But such anomalies in …

When Grace McGuire started taking flying lessons at 16, she had never heard of Amelia Earhart. So instructors teased the girl, especially because they thought she looked like Earhart. That was in the late 1960s, …

Rey Knight’s easygoing persona serves him well Sundays at the Hillcrest farmers’ market as customers linger to sample exotic spiced meats. In the prepared-foods section, Knight hawks sausage and salami. His white apron, stocky frame, …

Suppose colleagues often call the house, even in the early hours. This morning you’re half dressed and still sipping coffee when the phone rings. It’s an important business call, but your ride to a sales …

Brian Burke was agonizing over whether to appeal the court’s decision in the Mount Soledad landslide case. “Have you ever been too close to something to decide wisely about it?” he asked. He raised the …

While San Diego’s homeless people wait for the City to provide winter shelter, they need, among other things, to go to the bathroom. And there are precious few places to do it. Anyone who meanders …

"There will be no more predatory towing in the streets of San Diego," said district attorney Bonnie Dumanis at a news conference on August 21, 2006. Clark Waters shakes his head. He has now fired …

Mark-Elliott Lugo, who is an energetic-looking 59 years old, might well be the poster child in the San Diego public transit system’s campaign to increase ridership. Lugo has been taking San Diego buses for over …

In 1909, newspaper magnate Edward Willis Scripps began planting eucalyptus on the San Diego ranch he’d bought 11 years earlier. Those trees and their descendents have become the signature emblem of today’s Scripps Ranch. So …

Paul Bacon had long since advanced from detox to stints in jail. It was 2002 and he was incarcerated again, looking at 90 days. One morning, a public defender arrived at his cell to offer …

Asking that her name be withheld, a woman emailed us a few months ago about a liquor store that was “bad, bad news for the community and the south end of Balboa Park.” The writer’s …

Local solar power activist Bill Powers is crashing the pages of Natural Gas and Electricity. The industry journal’s August edition will feature an argument by Powers that photovoltaic arrays can be as effective and cost-competitive …

The history of wildfires in San Diego’s backcountry has yielded a vigorous volunteer firefighting subculture. Its foundations are self-reliance, strong community involvement, ingenuity, independence, and thrift. Today, those who embody the tradition feel threatened. They …

Call it blind loyalty, if you like. For a place to tell me his story, Clark Waters chose the Denny’s restaurant at the corner of Pacific Highway and Hawthorn Street. Only days earlier, he had …