Worn and dirty bedsBorder Patrol outposts in San Diego County have been called out again, this time by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Homeland Security Department for worn and dirty detainee bedding, …

Masters of DeceitPadres' bribes of councilwoman Valerie Stallings“On December 14, 1999, despite urgings from the San Diego Taxpayers Association and others to delay its vote, the city council voted to push ahead with bonds for …

San Diego book clubs – what's the point?Perhaps it’s the idea of the book club book that we find unbearable. It brings to mind that women’s marketing motto, “Pink it and shrink it.” Pink it: …

Fungible exchangeA political action committee tied to Republican ex-San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer, largely funded by a Sacramento-based business lobbying group, has closed up shop, distributing its remaining cash to the county GOP. Officially known …

Public windfall for Castellanos?San Diego Unified Port District commissioners, fresh from a mysterious July scandal that led Chief Executive Officer Joe Stuyvesant to take an indefinite leave of absence, aren’t necessarily barred by state law from …

Dangerous bike spotsFriars Road, Nimitz Blvd, University Ave., Pershing Dr., Genesee, Pacific Hwy at Barnett Ave.Safer routes: SD River Trail, West Point Loma, Robinson, GovernorBy Dryw Keltz, Sept. 23, 2015The curvy road from Fallbrook to …

Heath Freeman’s bull ridersAlden Global Capital, the vulture investing outfit that in July took control of the San Diego Union-Tribune from Los Angeles biotech mogul and LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, is the target of …

A product of the 1950s Tiki culture“Special Tables for Spies, Espionage Agents to View the U.S. Fleet — Binoculars furnished to U.S. Citizens only,” said a 1950s advertisement for the restaurant. Dressed in one of …

Toni’s Sempra connectionThe biggest donor to California state legislators during the first half of this year was none other than San Diego-based utility giant Sempra Energy. So reports the Sacramento Bee in a September 28 …

Citizen pot bustI thought about the spring day my two hiking buddies and I were off-trail, crashing through dense thickets of tangled brush. It was growing dark, and the three of us had gotten separated. …

I live in Tijuana, SmugglersvilleI was hobbling back from the store with a liter of milk, when I saw three young men sitting on the steps in front of a house in my Tijuana neighborhood. …

Inspecting a gift horse’s mouthA number of questionable self-contributions to UCSD have been targeted for audit by the school’s Audit & Management Advisory Services. A June 16 report covers cash donations from UCSD faculty members, …

Fox newsMediaNews Group, the famously staff-slashing publishing outfit that took over the Union-Tribune from Los Angeles pharmaceutical billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong in July, is gradually putting its own people in charge of the San Diego daily. …

Pictographs of Cabrillo's San Salvador east of Jacumba"There’s some petroglyphs over in Pinto Canyon," Frank said as he passed me on the trail. Frank Johnson, a handsome 75-year-old man, with flowing white hair and a superb …

San Diego treasure hunters, not as nerdy as you think.“Start over there, where the sand is shiny.” For wet-sand hunting, Russ recommends the area of the beach kept perpetually wet by the tide, so that’s …

Agenda unsettingHave San Diego Republicans abandoned any serious attempt to unseat incumbent Democratic mayor Todd Gloria? Such a surrender could be indicated by the October 3 filing of a campaign committee calling itself the San …

Dining on the P-cardSan Diego County’s so-called P-Card program has been riddled with abuse, mismanagement, and improper spending, according to a report recently posted online by county auditors. “Out of 274,272 P-Card transactions made during …

The woman we never forgetBy Abe Opincar, Amy Gerstler, Barbarella Fokos, Deirdre Lickona, Ernie Grimm, Geoff Bouvier, Jeannette DeWyze, Jeff Smith, Jennifer Ball, Jim Morris, Laura McNeal, Mary Grimm, Matthew Lickona, Patrick Daugherty, RF Jurjevics, …

Un-retired slasherTom Karlo, who retired as chief of San Diego State University’s KPBS public broadcasting operation in 2020, received $172,206 in annual state pension benefits last year, according to the website TransparentCalifornia.com. “Karlo said he …

Voice of CateA self-styled “affordable housing” championing organization has agreed to pay a $1000 fine levied by the San Diego City Ethics Commission for repeatedly failing to report campaign contributions it made, including $25,000 to …

Pennsylvania newspaper sale contrasts with San Diego'sThe San Diego Union-Tribune, sold to Alden Global Capital by L.A. billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong on July 10, is no longer the most recent addition to Alden’s tattered collection of …

Tugboats of San Diego Bay“We got a call from a friend with the Navy on a Saturday morning before Easter, and he said, ‘How fast can you get to Camp Pendleton?’ We said we could …

Did Bin Laden's Brother Live a Secret Life in San Diego?What was Binladen, now 35, heir to a multibillion-dollar Middle Eastern fortune based on construction and Saudi oil, doing in San Diego? And why would …

Torch passingThe journalism power-shift away from the once-influential San Diego Union-Tribune — of late handed off to Florida-based vulture investing outfit Alden Global Capital by LA Times billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong on unrevealed terms — …

29 Reader writers on their fathersBy Abe Opincar, Anne Albright, August Kleinzahler, Bill Manson, Deirdre Lickona, Duncan Shepherd, Eleanor Widmer, Ernie Grimm, Jangchup Phelgyal, Jeanne Schinto, Jeannette DeWyze, Jeff Smith, Jennifer Ball, Jim Eichel, John …

       •  Stephen Facciola's edible worldHe and Caplan started to swap names, to compare notes on big players in the exotic fruits and vegetables community. (“I’m sure you’re acquainted with Paul Thomas in …

Gloria’s fat funding loopholeSan Diego mayor Todd Gloria won’t have to recuse himself from vetoing any city council actions involving his bevy of campaign contributors, but he does have to disclose that he got their …

The murderous saga of Andrew CunananWhen Vulgar Favors, Maureen Orth's book about the murderous saga of Andrew Cunanan, hit the best-seller lists last month, a national audience was offered a sinister portrait of San Diego, …

San Diego's least-remembered great man – U.S. Grant Jr. On a Sunday in September of 1929, 15 members of San Diego’s elite gathered to carry the coffin of an old friend. Among the pallbearers were …

Rudder and stickA San Diego aviator whose company made the seaplane featured in Kevin Costner’s movie Waterworld has lost his appeal to the National Transportation Safety Board of an administrative judge’s ruling in June 2022 …

What happened? A pioneer family's tragedy There was nothing to do but walk back to the house. Eric and his wife walked 10 yards, 20 yards, 30. The sky was still pink in the west. …

La Jolla 1962 Dressed in long trousers and boat shoes and a white Lacoste tennis shirt, I accompanied Toby across Vista del Mar and Neptune Place to the Pump House and down concrete steps to …

Press lineTrue to their word, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong and vulture investor fund Alden Global Capital, operating under the name MediaNews Group, appear to be proceeding with their previously announced plans to print Soon-Shiong’s Los Angeles Times …

Bridges of San Diego County I drive the roads of San Diego County with an agenda: You don’t know when you might spot another canyon dancer, a concrete Nureyev. I hike gorges and find them …

Borderline helloBy coincidence or not, the May 22 hard landing of a U.S. Homeland Security helicopter at Brown Field Municipal Airport — an event which is currently under investigation by the National Transportation Board — …

Gloria’s glorious spy machineSan Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, up for reelection next year, is doubling down on the city’s burgeoning array of surveillance tools, acting in cahoots with his all-fellow-Democrat city council. “I’ve spoken out …

Like your road widened, Mister? In the pre-dawn gloaming, the roadbuilding machines are just black shapes lined up beside the southbound lanes of Interstate 15. From the overpass at Miramar Way, only the light from …

Fear and loathing at SDSU San Diego State University — back among the ranks of the Mountain West college athletic conference last week after agreeing to fork over legal fees resulting from a brief showdown …

Every dive around San Diego yields discovery One of the oddest of these noises, an irregular bumping sound heard frequently in the rocks and ridges off the beaches from the La Jolla Caves south to …

Sequester yourself in the Secret Ranch Welcome to “The Secret Ranch,” a 12-acre estate with more than 12,400 square feet of living space under roof located in the exclusive Covenant of Rancho Santa Fe. “This …

U-T’s culture wars The long-predicted sale of the Union-Tribune by Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong to vulture fund Alden Global Capital heralds an almost certain change to the once-mighty San Diego paper, including no more …

Cops step out San Diego cops are readying a barrage of TV spots and digital attacks against their Democratic city council nemesis Monica Montgomery Steppe, who is currently running to fill Nathan Fletcher’s vacated seat …

Raiding accounts The acting replacement for ex-San Diego County Counsel Lonnie Eldridge, who mysteriously exited his post almost a year ago after only twelve months on the job, has been called out by county chief …

Kevin F. gets religion While ex-San Diego Republican mayor Kevin Faulconer continues to brood about whether to run next year against his Democratic successor Todd Gloria, or for the District 3 San Diego County Supervisor …

LAT’s “disinformation” machine? A wave of sudden layoffs at the Los Angeles Times that sent ripples of fear through the San Diego Union-Tribune — which shares the same owner, LA biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong — …

Slapfisted Democrats State Senate Democrat Josh Newman, recalled from office in June 2018 thanks to big money raised by San Diego Republican politico and radio star Carl DeMaio, has picked up a free meal worth …

DNA’s TJ terror Border Patrol units in San Diego and El Centro rank high on the list of entities that collected the most DNA samples from detainees last year, with San Diego gathering 44,757 and …

Toni and Rupert’s political romance Controversial right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson is out of a job, and Fox News is poorer by $787.5 million, thanks to its settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over defamation charges arising …

Shelter Island’s Bali Hai was never some little grog shop “Special Tables for Spies, Espionage Agents to View the U.S. Fleet — Binoculars furnished to U.S. Citizens only,” said a 1950s advertisement for the restaurant. …

Sara’s care package It was off to Kenya for a week starting April 8 for House Democrat Sara Jacobs, who hasn’t been wasting any time catching up with her predecessor Susan Davis in the free …