It's been a big convention for La Jolla Democratic billionaire Irwin Jacobs and his longtime political protégé Nathan Fletcher, the onetime Republican assemblyman–turned–independent and, finally, Democrat. Fletcher, who twice ran unsuccessfully for mayor of San …
Google Fiber, which is negotiating behind closed doors with San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer over the terms of possible high-speed internet system here to compete with cable operators and AT&T, has signed on the international …
Esoteric may not be the only word to describe the city’s latest tax-financed public arts project, but it could turn out to be the kindest. Numbers recently posted by San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer’s Open …
More than a year after the county grand jury called out San Diego police for critical lapses in handling the department's property and evidence storage units, major issues remain, with evidence integrity threatened by water …
The San Diego Union-Tribune's corporate owner, infamously known as tronc, may soon be sold — or not, depending on who is doing the talking — but one thing seems certain: tronc’s current honcho Michael Ferro …
In what might be a page from the script of a sci-fi action-adventure flick, a super-stealthy San Diego military contractor with big funding from U.S. taxpayers has emerged from the shadows at this week's Comic-Con …
Democrat-turned-independent Lori Saldaña, who placed third in last month’s race for San Diego mayor, is looking for more campaign cash for a low-five-figure post-election personal payback. “I will formally close my campaign account at the …
A high-dollar charity blow-out “honoring” San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer three days before San Diego’s June 7 mayoral election drew a bevy of the city’s wealthiest politicos and special interests, according to a behested payment …
Could this year's Comic-Con turn into a first-person shooter for real? Just how much overtime is being paid and what kind of technical wizardry is being deployed by San Diego police to keep the event …
Word that a son of La Jolla billionaire Democrat Irwin Jacobs is behind the port district's controversial plan to demolish Seaport Village has come quickly on the heels of the elder Jacobs's own backroom deal …
Longtime Rancho Santa Fe resident and Cayman Islands tax-haven figure Gerald Parsky, who in 2006 bitterly battled a new school in the wealthy enclave north of San Diego, is now in the crosshairs of a …
The political committee set up to defeat the Chargers drive to build a downtown, taxpayer-subsidized stadium and meeting complex finally has a name: “No Downtown Stadium – Jobs and Streets First!” More interesting to local …
Gone is the era when hacksaws were smuggled into prisons via cakes and other baked goods produced by wives and grandmothers. These days, the contraband items of choice are smartphones and the tiny subscriber identification …
General Atomics, a pillar of San Diego's lucrative military contractor economy and the source of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to federal, state, and local officeholders of both parties, has a nine-figure lemon on …
The best laid plans of lobbyists and politicos may come to naught as next week's Major League Baseball All-Star game arrives, with an alleged serial homeless killer on the loose, and San Diego cops scrambling …
An already well-traveled San Diego city retirement fund executive has hit the road again in 2016, picking up luxury hotel, airfare, and food freebies from real estate investment funds doing business with the city. Last …
A non-profit founded by Democratic state senator Steve Peace has just registered to lobby in San Diego. The Independent Voter Project is pushing for a charter amendment to require the top two vote-getters in city …
In July 2013, a new computer system was installed at the State of California’s veterans home in Chula Vista, and things quickly went awry. After repeated complaints from clinic staffers, the chief medical officer ran …
Irwin Jacobs, master of the big-money art of acquiring political influence, is looking to have his best-ever year in 2016. The billionaire La Jolla Democrat, cofounder of Qualcomm, was one of the first to fund …
Two years ago, Union-Tribune publisher, developer, and Republican kingpin Douglas Manchester put $356,000 into the campaign to make Kevin Faulconer mayor, and it didn’t take long for the political investment to pay off in a …
Former Democratic state assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, who has left the party and become an independent, came in third to mayor Kevin Faulconer and Democrat Ed Harris in this year’s race for San Diego mayor. The …
When it comes to big-money hospitality, California State University at San Marcos and its so-called auxiliary organizations don't stint, and that's become more than a minor problem, according to a report released June 17 by …
It's no secret that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is a little low on campaign cash at the moment, but some well-heeled San Diego County GOP contributors are coming to the rescue. Such is …
It’s almost summer, time for “Career Orientation and Training for Midshipmen West, 2016,” hosted by the Navy in San Diego for the latest crop of Annapolis midshipmen, who are being advised to avoid trouble during …
Former liberal Democratic House member Barney Frank of Massachusetts was set to host a June 18 $500-a-person fundraiser for Cori Schumacher, the one-time world longboard surfing champion currently running for city council in Carlsbad. “In …
The costly legal battle between UCSD and the University of Southern California over a disputed Alzheimer’s Disease research program that could ultimately be worth billions of dollars in pharmaceutical patents, may come down to a …
During the glory days of the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune, publisher Jim Copley often boasted how his papers had turned out the vote for Richard Nixon, and the Republican president concurred, designating San …
Stan Herzog of St. Joseph, Missouri, onetime Eastern terminus of the Pony Express to California, has long been a financial angel to San Diego Republicans and pro-trash causes, including fallen-mayor-turned-talk-show-host Roger Hedgecock. Herzog is chairman …
A week after winning reelection in a big-money campaign that swamped the opposition with the help of cash from the American Petroleum Institute, San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer has disclosed that a major player in …
A San Diego sheriff’s department commander is the latest county employee to partake of a free trip to Israel courtesy of the Anti-Defamation League. Investigations honcho Peter Callewaert ran up a $5627 tab going to …
The star of one of Rancho Santa Fe’s messiest divorces is taking her tales to network television as the creator of a new ABC series aptly called Notorious. “It’s the thrill of a lifetime, said …
A San Diego gun-owners’ group financed by a wealthy Santee-based assault-weapons magnate that drew a June primary bead on county supervisorial candidate Kristin Gaspar may now be open to a change of mind. From the …
With North County Republican congressman Darrell Issa facing a tight reelection race in the fall, Washington special interests are expected to ante-up major cash for his Darrell Issa Victory Fund 2016. So far this election …
Thousands of items of San Diego bibliophilic history are headed for the auction block this coming Saturday, June 11, at the old downtown library at 820 E St. "The Historic San Diego Central Library — …
Downtown’s Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel has just gotten rid of 70 radioactive “self-luminous exit signs,” according to an inventory sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “Exit signs that glow in the dark often contain a …
Super-rich Democratic congressman Scott Peters of La Jolla has gotten up close and personal for some dirty work with a wealthy Mission Valley hotel owner. The meet-up came at the newly opened Holiday Inn Express …
A star political analyst on KNSD, KUSI, and other spots around San Diego’s television news dial has been taken to task by the city’s ethics commission for being repeatedly late to disclose his lobbying activities. …
As California prepares to vote in next week’s presidential primary, one of America's richest residential enclaves is embroiled in a big-money political fight that some fear may finally mark the death of its genteel, semi-rural …
Though it ultimately takes its orders from Chicago, the fate of the struggling Union-Tribune is being increasingly linked to big-money battles involving San Diego connections. Last week, Los Angeles biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, who has …
Two members of San Diego’s Democratic congressional delegation have been picking up some big-money love from a controversial Washington DC lobbyist tied to the real estate development business. First it was La Jolla’s Scott Peters, …
Downtown Johnny Brown’s, whose location across the San Diego Concourse from City Hall made it a dingy watering hole for San Diego city hall politicos, folded earlier this year. Now the site is up for …
Whether by coincidence or not, a lavish high-society fundraising bash for the USO has been turned into a well-timed campaign tribute to San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer, thanks to his longtime patron, Republican kingpin Doug …
Stockton born-and-bred Dean Spanos will likely spend well north of $10 million to get his $1.8 billion taxpayer-subsidized Chargers stadium and meeting complex on the ballot in November, ordinarily making him the prohibitive favorite to …
"The noblest motive is the public good," is San Diego County's motto, but when it comes to keeping track of the county's smartphones, it might better be replaced by “watch your back," a newly released …
Hillary Clinton has been conspicuously absent from San Diego’s hustings during the weeks leading up to the California primary. Instead, her husband, former president Bill Clinton, is doing the heavy lifting here. His latest trip …
The corps of lobbyists haunting San Diego’s city hall didn’t pull down quite as much money in 2015 as they did the year before. An accounting by the city’s ethics commission reveals that registered influence-peddlers …
More twisting in the wind seems ahead for the besieged staff of the Union-Tribune as yet another Los Angeles billionaire joins the cast of characters on the big-money merry-go-round otherwise known as Chicago's Tribune Publishing. …
How much will Chargers owner Dean Spanos end up spending to place on the ballot his proposed $1.8 billion stadium, subsidized by a tax hike on San Diego hotel rooms? Likely a number to blow …
It wasn't very long ago that Fox News media mogul Rupert Murdoch was predicting that the L.A. Times and San Diego Union-Tribune would soon be in the hands of fellow billionaire Eli Broad. But Murdoch's …
SeaWorld, besieged by animal-rights proponents who have forced a radical change in course for San Diego’s venerable whale emporium, remains popular as a free ticket destination for California lawmakers and staffers. As controversy over captive …