Entries
Lame Duck Escondido Council Not Likely to Railroad Ballpark Through
Sam Abed, mayor-elect of Escondido, says that the lame duck council is not likely to try to ram the $50 million ballpark project through by Nov. 30 before the new council takes over. Ed Gallo, an opponent of the project, …
Moores's Personal Attorney Named to High Justice Department Post
Charles La Bella, one-time personal attorney for former majority Padres owner John Moores, has joined the fraud section of the Department of Justice as a deputy chief assisting on cases being investigated and prosecuted on the West Coast, a Justice …
Biogen Idec Whacks Idec, Its San Diego Wing
Massachusetts-based biotech Biogen Idec today (Nov. 3) severed Idec, its San Diego operation. The two companies merged in 2003. Biogen Idec is under pressure from billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn, who has three of his cronies on the company's board. …
Proposition D Thumbed Down Overwhelmingly
With half the vote counted, the no vote on Proposition D, the proposal to raise the sales tax, was 62.33% last night (Nov. 2). The yes vote was 37.67%. Clearly, San Diegans are having nothing of the proposal. Now pundits …
Fox Blasts Prop. 24, Doesn't Reveal Big Donation to Defeat It
Last week, Fox Business Network stationed a reporter for five consecutive hours at a small company in Gardena. The message was that Prop. 24, which would remove $1.7 billion in business tax breaks, would drive business out of California. One …
Escondido Council Candidate Smells Brown Act Violation
Attorney Janathan Allen, wife of Escondido council candidate Richard Barron, sent a letter today (Oct. 30) to Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, complaining that the council may have violated the Brown Act, which favors public accessibility to political meetings. Barron today …
Would Spelling Lessons Affect the Library?
One John McAllister, president of Friends of the San Diego Library, is sending out scare messages to San Diegans, warning, "Library services will be threatened if Proposition D fails." McAllister's second sentence reads, "The proposition calls for a temporary sales …
September Lead Indicators of San Diego Economy Fall
The lead indicators of the San Diego economy, compiled by economist Alan Gin of the University of San Diego, fell in September to 109.9 from August's and July's 110. They had risen every month from the 100.7 of March 2009 …
SEC: One Touchdown, One Fumble
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency that is being closely watched because of its egregious failures such as turning a blind eye to the Madoff Ponzi scheme, has recently done one laudable job and muffed another in San Diego. …
San Diego Home Prices Drop in August
Home values in San Diego County dropped 0.6% in August from July, according to Case-Shiller data coming out this morning (Oct. 26) from Standard & Poor's. July values had risen 0.7% from June. Fifteen of the 20 major metropolitan areas …
Union-Tribune Circulation Continues Falling; North County Times Edges Up
Union-Tribune circulation fell for the six months ended Sept. 30, according to data released this morning (Oct. 25) by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. North County Times was one of the few papers going up. According to Dow Jones, average …
Coronado Lawyer Shaber Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion
Coronado attorney Craig Shaber on Thursday (Oct. 21) pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 2000. According to the indictment and related documents, between 1999 and 2002, Shaber and accountant Steven Wright fraudulently acquired numerous shell companies, installed nominee officers, and …
Public Unions Funding Almost Two-Thirds of Yes on D Campaign, Says Aguirre
Police and fire unions, the Municipal Employee Association and the Labor Council have paid $276,000 of the $419,000 spent on the Yes on D committee, says former City Attorney Mike Aguirre, an opponent of the measure. Among private sector donors …
Three-Year SD Consumer Spending Drop Worst Since Great Depression
Taxable retail sales, a measure of consumer spending, plunged 17.4% the past four years, the greatest decrease since the Great Depression, says Kelly Cunningham, economist for the National University System Institute for Policy Research. However, consumer spending in the rest …
September SD Unemployment Stays at 10.6%
San Diego County's unemployment rate was 10.6% in September, unchanged from August's revised level. Government gained 2,100 jobs from August, but leisure and hospitality, which had shown some strength in recent months, lost 1,300. Some of San Diego's main industries …
Sanders's "Frighten 'Em" Prop. D Scam
Mayor Jerry Sanders is trotting out City officials to scare San Diegans into voting for Prop. D. He is having eight so-called town hall meetings to talk about proposed slashes in the City's budget. But the meetings are clearly blood-curdling …
Mayor a No-Show at Second Community Forum
Mayor Jerry Sanders promised to hold eight community forums to explain the budget cuts that will have to be made. Last night (Oct. 18) he made the first one in University City, but he was a no-show tonight (Oct. 19) …
Judge Permits Channel 10 to Use Videotape of Sanders Deposition in Kessler Case
Superior Court Judge John S. Meyer today (Oct. 19) turned down the City's attempt to block an open records request by Channel 10. The judge will permit the TV station to use the videotape of the deposition of Mayor Jerry …
Vexatious Litigant Loses Appeal
James M. Kinder made money suing under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act those who called his voicemail. Since the late 1970s, he had been involved in more than 600 lawsuits in superior and small claims court -- overwhelmingly as the …
Gay & Lesbian Times Definitely Dead
"I can assure you that Gay & Lesbian Times is dead," says Nicole Murray-Ramirez, who has been a San Diego columnist since 1973, including many years with the Gay & Lesbian Times. "One of the writers is looking at starting …