Local Home Prices Dropping at Slower Rate
San Diego County home values declined 0.1% between March and April, compared with a 1.5% decline between February and March. For the last year, San Diego home values are down 20%, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home indexes, released …
Watchdog Institute Puzzles Union-Tribune Staffers
On Friday, June 26, U-T editor Karin Winner sent an enigmatic message to the staff. Her very close friend Lorie Hearn, who heads the investigative team (and was formerly the number two person on the staff), is leaving to form …
San Diego Lead Indicators Rise for Second Month
The lead indicators of the San Diego economy, compiled by Alan Gin of the University of San Diego, rose for the second straight month in May. The index went up from April's 100.9 to 101.2. Figures for building permits, stock …
SEC Charges Chula Vista Resident with Running $14.7 Million Ponzi-like Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged in federal court today (June 24) that Moises Pacheco of Chula Vista has fleeced more than 200 investors in a Ponzi-like scheme. Pacheco raised $14.7 million through five hedge funds over a three and …
San Diego's Hotel Business among Nation's Worst
San Diego hotel/tourism statistics are looking horrible, particularly when compared with performance in other cities. According to Smith Travel Research, local hoteliers' revenue per available room in the week of June 7 to 13 was down a stunning 42.3%, the …
Whistleblower Shipione Heads to Harvard
Diann Shipione, the former member of the City pension board who exposed the frailty of San Diego finances and the dishonesty of pension information provided by the government, has been admitted to the Harvard Kennedy School Masters Program in Public …
San Diego Unemployment Rises to 9.4% as Job Losses Grow
The unemployment rate in San Diego County jumped to 9.4% in May, up from a revised 9.2% in April and well above the 5.4% of a year ago, according to the California Employment Development Department. The May rate was below …
CNBC Features Tom Gores, Mike Aguirre -- Separately
A CNBC news report tonight (June 18) at 5 p.m. put the spotlight on Tom Gores, the Beverly Hills financial swinger whose firm now owns the Union-Tribune, and Mike Aguirre, the former city attorney who was endlessly smeared by the …
Whitacre Wrong Choice for GM, Says Graef Crystal
Former San Diegan Graef Crystal, one of the ranking experts on executive compensation, says on his website (GraefCrystal.com) that Ed Whitacre is a bad choice to be non-executive chairman of General Motors. The government recently appointed him. Whitacre became the …
U-T "Deeply Mediocre," Says Columnist Discussing Globe
Is the Boston Globe worth $250 million, or should its owner, the New York Times, pay someone up to $40 million to take the newspaper off its hands? That's how wide the spread is in a David Carr column in …
Bailout Bubble -- Watch Out
The Saturday/Sunday (June 13-14) Wall Street Journal has a "must read" article, and I am not saying that because the Journal is agreeing with the thesis that I have been propounding on this blog and in columns for some time. …
Why Haven't State Regulators Gone After AIG?
The government has pumped more than $150 billion into bailing out American International Group (AIG), the big insurance conglomerate that has gambled with derivatives, been charged with cooking its books, and admitted that it would not be a going concern …
Platinum's Juicy, Subsidized Deal for Delphi Runs into Snag
Platinum Equity, the Beverly Hills private equity firm that bought the Union-Tribune for a song, has been trying a similar caper with bankrupt Delphi, the auto parts maker that once belonged to General Motors. GM, the government's auto task force …
Appellate Court Says DROP Not Vested Benefit
The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals posted today (June 10) its decision that the City's Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) is not a vested benefit protected by the federal constitutional contracts clause. The appellate court was ruling on a …
Generation Y Likes San Diego for Job Prospects
This year's 2.3 million college grads were asked in a poll what locations would be the best for job-hunting. San Diego was in 9th place, according to BusinessWeek.com. Despite the financial industry depression, New York City was a runaway number …
Waring Named to Housing Commission by 6-2 Vote
Jim Waring, who championed Sunroad while he was Mayor Jerry Sanders's real estate czar, was approved for a seat on the Housing Commission today (June 9) by a 6-2 vote of city council. Councilmembers Donna Frye and Sherri Lightner voted …
Market Slices Callaway Golf Stock
Stock of Callaway Golf is down 13.19% this morning (June 9) to $6.32. Yesterday, the maker of golf clubs and balls reduced its second quarter dividend to 1 cent a share from 7 cents. It will also issue $110 million …
Boston Globe Union Rejects Cuts; Owner NY Times to Slash Unilaterally
A classic battle that may play a role in the future of daily newspapers took place today (June 8). The Boston Globe's Guild members voted 277-265 to turn down a package of concessions, including an 8.4% pay cut, unpaid furloughs …
Posh W Hotel to Default, Go Back to Lenders
The super-upscale, 258-room W Hotel at 421 B St. will go into default this month and go back to its lenders, Sunstone Hotel Investors, a San Clemente-based hotel real estate investment trust, said today (June 7). Sunstone said the hotel …
Copley Building Sold for $4.75 Million Advertised for $6.5 Million
You may flip your wig over this one. In today's (June 7) Union-Tribune is a quarter-page ad for a building at 7701 Herschel in La Jolla. Asking price: $6.5 million. On May 4, the County Assessor's office reported that this …
Once-Imprisoned Philip Lochmiller in Trouble Again
On Sept. 20 of 1985, Philip Lochmiller of North County's by-then-bankrupt Lochmiller Mortgage was sentenced to three years in state prison on securities charges. His brother, Stephen Lochmiller, and mother, Joe Alice Lochmiller, had already been sentenced on similar charges. …
U-T Gets New Sales VP from Paper It Once Owned
The Union-Tribune has hired Mark Ficarra to be vice president of sales and marketing, according to an article in the Daily Breeze of Torrance. Ficarra had been publisher of the Daily Breeze and allied papers in the Los Angeles area. …
Was Employment News Good or Bad? Er, Yes
The Labor Department announced this morning (June 5) that the nation lost only 345,000 jobs in May; economists had expected 500,000 or more. However, the unemployment rate jumped from 8.9% to 9.4%. Puzzled? The jobs data come from a survey …
Waring Up for Housing Commission; Protests Abound
On June 9, the city council will consider appointing Jim Waring, the former real estate czar for Mayor Sanders, to the Housing Commission. San Diegans are protesting. Waring was the one who fretted about Sunroad's possible loss of money when …
Countrywide's Ex-Chief Mozilo Charged with Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission today (June 5) charged Anthony Mozilo, former chief executive of the former Countrywide Financial (now part of Bank of America) with securities fraud. Mozilo and former president David Sambol and former chief financial officer Eric …
Newspapers Suffer Worst Quarter in Modern History
Last Thursday, the Newspaper Association of America quietly posted almost unbelievably grim news on its website. Advertising sales plunged by 28.3% in the first quarter of 2009. Print ads were down 29.7%. Classified ads, the big money makers in the …
Raider Icahn Says He Won Two Seats on Biotech Board
Corporate raider Carl Icahn this afternoon (June 3) said he has won two of 13 total seats on the board of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech Biogen Idec. The Idec part of the company has been one of San Diego's biotech success …