SDNN Was Effervescent Until Drop Dead Day
San Diego News Network, the local online news operation that had raised $3.18 million from investors, and was talking of an expansion to 40 markets and a possible stock offering, was bullish just about to the day (May 28) when …
Letter Suggests SDNN to be Bought Out
I have received a copy of a letter allegedly sent to free lancers working for San Diego News Network yesterday (May 28) at 5:12 p.m. The letter purports to be from Nicole Rockstead, on behalf of Neil Senturia, head of …
Proposition D: How to Buy an Election
The group touting Proposition D, the so-called strong mayor initiative, have reported their donations and expenditures for the two months ended May 22. The election is June 8. The group is known as "San Diegans for Accountability at City Hall, …
SEC Charges, Forced into Open by San Diegan, Show Wall Street Corruption
The Securities and Exchange Commission today (May 27) put out a bland press release saying that Pequot Capital Management, once the largest hedge fund, and its head, Arthur Samberg, have agreed to pay $28 million to settle agency insider trading …
Lead Indicators Inch Ahead in April
The lead indicators of the San Diego economy, compiled by Alan Gin of the University of San Diego, rose moderately in April from March, rising to 109.2 from 109. The indicators have been in a fairly steady, if modest, uptrend; …
"Little Dominelli" Gets Nine Years in Slammer
Mark Todd Hauze, whose foreign currency Ponzi scheme had similarities with the J. David Dominelli scam of the 1980s, was sentenced today (May 25) to 9 years in prison and three years of supervised release. According to the U.S. attorney's …
SDNN Closes Orange County Operation
The Orange County News Network, which was to be a launching pad for a 40-city expansion of the San Diego News Network online journalism model, has closed down after only four months, according to the Orange County Business Journal. Chris …
Neurocrine Zooms as Rest of Market Wilts
Stock of biotech Neurocrine Biosciences is up 37.36% this morning in an overall market slaughter. U.S. stock are down more than 2% this morning following big selloffs in Europe and Asia. Neurocrine said a mid-stage study of its drug to …
San Diego Shines in Wobbly Case-Shiller Numbers
There are signs of weakening U.S. housing prices in the March data from Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller, but San Diego is the star. San Diego area home values rose 1.5% from February to March. That tied San Francisco for first place …
April Unemployment Dips to 10.4%
The San Diego County unemployment rate dropped to 10.4% in April from a revised 11% in March, according to the state Employment Development Department. This compared with 12.3% for California and 9.5 for the U.S. during the same period. Construction …
Graham Claims She Was "Spotless" in Florida. Hogwash!
Nancy Graham, former head of Centre City Development Corp. now under investigation by the Ethics Commission, claimed yesterday that "I had a spotless record" before coming to San Diego. The Union-Tribune printed her assertion apparently without searching the record. I …
Six Charged in Alleged $20.8 Million Mortgage Scam
Six individuals from the San Diego area have been charged by the U.S. attorney's office with wire fraud in an alleged attempt to submit fraudulent mortgage loan applications to lending institutions to induce them to make 36 loans of a …
Will L.A., Arizona Go to War?
Los Angeles and the State of Arizona are bracing for hostilities.The Los Angeles city council, with support from Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, voted to boycott Arizona and Arizona-based companies because of the state's recently-enacted SB 1070 act dealing harshly with …
Canadian Doctor Charged with Smuggling Treated Athlete in San Diego
Anthony Galea, a Canadian doctor charged in U.S. federal court Tuesday with smuggling and drug offenses, frantically traveled the U.S. last summer and injected professional athletes with human growth hormones (HGH) and other drugs, according to ESPN. Galea was charged …
Union-Tribune to Shrink Width of Paper
According to the trade publication News & Tech, "The San Diego Union-Tribune is narrowing the web width of its four Goss Metro presses from 50 inches to 44 inches -- with provision for 42-inch production." The project will be completed …
Bersin Unconvincing in Describing His Self-Confessed Goofs
The Senate Finance Committee yesterday (May 12) released a five-page document describing how San Diegan Alan Bersin, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, tried to explain his confessed mistakes in his hiring of household help. Bersin, who was given a …
Slurp! Slurp! SERP Propels Felsinger's Pay
Donald Felsinger, chief executive of Sempra Energy, "is way overpaid," says Graef (Bud) Crystal, former San Diegan who is one of the world's ranking experts on executive compensation. The recent proxy statement for the San Diego-based utility listed Felsinger's total …
Economists Exult over Job Gains. Be Wary
Economists are rhapsodizing this morning (May 7) over April's rise in 290,000 jobs (224,000 after temporary Census workers are excluded). March job gains were revised upward to 230,000 from 162,000. The unemployment rate rose to 9.9% from 9.7% because, said …
Psssst! Wanna Make 4 to 12 Times Your Investment?
The Securities and Exchange Commission today (May 6) charged Dennis Lee Keating II, a former broker and part owner of Torrey Pines Securities, with swindling more than 100 investors by giving them false information in encouraging them to invest in …
Dow Plunges 348 -- but Recovers from Near 1,000 Drop
It was a wild day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 348, or 3.21%. The NASDAQ was down 3.44% and the Standard & Poor's 500 down 3.24%. At one point, the Dow was down almost 1,000. The …
Stocks Crash in Panic Selling, Volatility
U.S. stocks crashed this afternoon, then bounced part of the way back. Pundits blame the Greek situation, although it is much more complicated than that. At one point, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down almost 1,000 points. At just …
Dumanis Gives the Green Light to Corruption
Today (May 5), District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis officially stated that San Diego will be tolerant of abuse of power. Since 2008, it has been an open secret that prosecutors will not go after the establishment for any kinds of economic …
Padres's Attendance Was Better When Losing at Qualcomm
Remember when John Moores said the Padres couldn't survive economically playing at Qualcomm Stadium? This year, the team has an excellent record and is in first place in the National League West. Attendance is averaging a mere 22,381 a game. …
SanDiego.com to Be Auctioned May 7
Assets of SD Acquisitions LLC, owner of the SanDiego.com domain name, will go up for public auction at 5 p.m. Friday, May 7 at 610 West Ash Street, Suite 1405, according to DN Journal, a publication covering the domain industry. …
Saks Closing Fashion Valley Store
Retailer Saks Inc. said Monday (May 3) that is closing its Saks Fifth Avenue store in the Fashion Valley shopping center by July 17. The company statement indicated that the San Diego store was not one of the company's more …