Entries
Ronne Froman Now Senior VP at General Atomics
Ronne Froman, the retired Navy admiral who abruptly quit as Mayor Jerry Sanders's top aide last June, has been named senior vice president of the energy group for defense contractor General Atomics. It was announced in the December issue of …
Biogen Idec Can't Find Buyer; Stock Plummets
Biotech Biogen Idec (the Idec is the San Diego part of the company), which put itself up for sale two months ago, announced after today's close (December 12) that it couldn't find a buyer. The stock plunged 28 percent to …
Blackwater Proponents Lose in Landslides
Potrero citizens voted overwhelmingly Tuesday (Dec. 11) to oust five members of the community planning board who had supported the attempt by mercenary firm Blackwater Worldwide to put a training camp in the little town in far East County. The …
Anti-Blackwater Activist Says Votes Going Strongly Against Mercenary Supporters
"It's a blowout -- 2-1 or 3-1," says Raymond Lutz, an admittedly biased anti-Blackwater activist whom I reached at the Registrar of Voters just after the voting closed tonight (Dec. 11). Five members of the Potrero community planning group who …
Accounting Firm Pays $1 Million for Letting Its Employee Inflate Ligand Pharmaceuticals' Sales
Deloitte & Touche, one of the Big Four accounting firms, has paid $1 million to settle charges that it permitted an employee it knew was an inferior accountant handle the books of San Diego biotech Ligand Pharmaceuticals. The story was …
314 City Retirees Getting $1 Million or More
The city attorney's office is putting together a study for San Diego taxpayers showing just what a burden the pension obligations are. Among other things, the office has calculated that 314 current retirees are enjoying retirements with the present value …
Federal Agency Charges Former City Auditing Firm with Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission today (December 11), settled a civil fraud action against Thomas J. Saiz and his accounting firm, La Mesa's Calderon, Jaham & Osborn, for helping to cook the books in City bond offerings of 2002 and …
Losers in Moores Case To Seek Review
Pat Meyer, San Diego attorney who handled the case in which Padres majority owner John Moores was recently vindicated in the Peregrine fraud case, on the grounds that he purportedly did not know of the fraud, said this morning, "Our …
Charges Against Moores Dismissed in Civil Suit
Padres' majority owner John Moores, who dumped $650 million of Peregrine System stock -- almost all he controlled -- before the company collapsed in fraud, was granted a motion for summary adjudication in a San Diego case, Bains vs. Moores. …
City Admits Error, To Include Information on Pension Overpayments in Documents
Mayor Jerry Sanders today (Dec. 5) said that the City will disclose information on the more than $8 million of payments to 102 retired employees in violation of Internal Revenue Service rules. The disclosure will be made in an attachment …
U-T's Bungled Buyout Will Probably Lead to Best People Leaving
In all probability, beginning tomorrow morning (Dec. 5), the best and brightest people in the Union-Tribune newsroom will line up to get first crack at ending their careers. The reason is the abysmal, hurry-up way in which the buyout was …
City's Outside Accounting Firm Told to Restate 2005 Financial Results
City Attorney Mike Aguirre today (Dec.3) told the accounting firm of Macias, Gini & O'Donnell to issue a corrected City 2005 financial statement. The City's report, certified in October, did not disclose that more than $8 million in pension overpayments …
U-T Announces Massive Buyout Plan
Merry Christmas to all. The Union-Tribune today (Dec. 3) announced a plan to reduce the staff significantly -- a total of 43 in the newsroom alone, along with other employees throughout the company. The plan is called "voluntary separation program," …
Union-Tribune To Lop 15-20 More Heads
Gene Bell, president of the Union-Tribune, sent a memo Wednesday in which, typical of the newspaper, the bombshell was concealed in Little Mary Sunshine prose. Bell told certain employees November 28 that the paper is making changes that are designed …
Are Gene Testing Kits a Fad? San Diego's Illumina Cares
People are paying around $1,000 to get a test that will give a glimpse of their genome -- whether they are prone to cancer, Alzheimer's, etc. San Diego's Illumina is one of the companies providing smart chips for these tests, …
Now Overstock.com Getting Sued
Overstock.com has made headlines by charging in a lawsuit that a hedge fund and a research firm conspired to drive down Overstock's shares. The research firm is Gradient Analytics, whose cofounder and research head, Donn Vickrey, works from Carlsbad and …
Port, Chula Vista Can't Afford Gaylord Giveaway
The deal has been slip-sliding, but some county leaders still want the Port and the City of Chula Vista to subsidize, massively, a waterfront hotel for Gaylord Entertainment. But Scott Barnett of TaxpayersAdvocate.org, following up on a study he did …
Environmental Groups File Suit Over City's Rose Canyon Move
Three environmental groups have filed to block the city council's approval last month of a $5 million design of a road through Rose Canyon Open Space Park. Friends of Rose Canyon, the San Diego Audubon Society, and Endangered Habitats League …
John Kern Not Among Those Paid Over IRS Limits
John Kern, former chief of staff to former Mayor Dick Murphy, was not among the ex-City employees who were compensated above Internal Revenue Service limits, as reported earlier on this blog. My apologies. Best, Don Bauder
Jack Continues To Make Turkeys of Fast Food Competitors
San Diego's Jack in the Box fast food chain is gobbling up the industry. In its most recent yearly financial report, Jack reported that same store sales, or sales in outlets open at least a year, rose 6.1 percent over …