Not long after my brother died and was buried in Oregon, I found myself in the depósito de cadáveres, or morgue, at Tijuana’s Autonomous University of Baja California. My hand rested on the handle of …

Mr. Alice: Once in jail, one receives issued clothing, to include underwear. What is the average life of that one-issued daily underwear, from one inmate to another, having been washed and worn for each inmate? …

During the past few years, San Diego's rural tree squirrel population has nearly reached extinction. Their population is apparently coming back, even though few people seem to know exactly why they died off in the …

The name police have given the crashes is "vehicle versus bike." Dave Rierson, who works at Mission Hills Bikes on West Washington Street, has been in three of them in the last six months. And, …

In the final weeks before next Tuesday's election, downtown real estate mogul Malin Burnham has been pumping big money into the Lincoln Club of San Diego County, a Republican campaign committee that, according to its …

By poring over the account book and analyzing the entries in it, Crosby eventually deduced the identities of all 36 of the soldiers in the first and second expeditions. (Previously, only 8 had been conclusively identified.)

It was the biggest mystery of the most controversial and expensive schoolboard election in San Diego history. Why would two obscure East Coast liberal foundations unite with some of the most conservative and wealthiest of …

Heymatt: Traveling down the freeway of life, the latest wrinkle on the road are sand and gravel trucks with a sign claiming, "Not responsible for damage to windshields." Huh? Did the truckers' lobby manage to …

To: Heymatt From: Foxman Re: FW: Interesting Trivia! 1. Leonardo DaVinci invented the scissors. 2. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. 3. Shakespeare invented …

Matt: This is probably a really weird question, but when I work up a sweat at the gym, there's always some yellowish stain around the collar of my white T-shirt. Why does the sweat make …

Matt: Who are you? I find no Matthew Alice in the staff listing. A nom de plume? An alias? Are we more than one person-- "Matthew" and "Alice"? I am plagued with doubt and can …

In San Diego County, treated sewage is discharged four miles out to sea from six treatment plants dotting the coast from the border to San Onofre. In Mexico, one treatment plant at San Antonio de …

Sarah Wells and Elizabeth Moore got a lesson in the way an American election works by assisting this year in the California primaries at their Spring Valley polling place. Neither could vote at the time, …

While Union-Tribune editorial page editor Robert Kittle is busy on KPBS radio and Cox Cable, boosting the downtown business establishment's candidates for San Diego school board and flaying their foes, reporters for the newspaper have …

Although Garnet Peak isn't the highest peaklet along the steep eastern escarpment of the Laguna Mountains, its exposed position makes it a fine place to view both the pine-clad high country and the raw desert …

The roots of the San Diego music scene run deep. Musicians who began gigging around town in the mid- to late 1980s later became the bedrock of the diverse early ’90s scene, which included bands …

"Luria Sukenick, professor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State, refused to teach Dickinson because of the horrible things that students say. She was upset by the things that people said about Dickinson’s poems."

Matt: I have a question for you-- do ants ever sleep? Bill Goehring, San Diego Rust never sleeps, but ants do. At least that's what bug researchers say, and we'll have to take their word …

Hey, Matthew: My friend swears that he heard that all goldfish are born female but some of them eventually turn into males. Could this possibly be true? -- Ron, Santee I hope your pal's quit …

Matthew Alice: As a member of the San Diego press, I hope you will be able to answer this. Why can't the Union-Tribune obtain the correct starting times for many cable channels. All of their …

Where are we going, Mommy?” my oldest son Johnny asked me this past Friday morning. We had already dropped Johnny’s three older sisters — Rebecca, Angela, and Lucy — at school. We had driven home. …

As we drove through the San Felipe Valley, Ann and Tom Keenan pointed out a lone house ringed with greenery on the blackened hillside. A small circle, saved. It's one of several hundred homes that …

As election time nears, campaign contributions continue to pour in from the rich and locally famous. In the race for district attorney, Joseph Wambaugh -- the ex-cop and crime novelist from Point Loma who, along …

Elongated Ryan Mountain rises above the boulder-studded plains of Lost Horse and Queen Valleys in Joshua Tree National Monument. The view from the top is arguably the best in the national park, encompassing the blocky …

“On the morning of January 20, 1974, the police came. The neighborhood’s name was Tierra y Libertad, ‘Land and Liberty.’ The police marched right into the neighborhood. Perhaps they were state police. I’m not sure. …

"I think Chateaubriand is the only man who met both George Washington and Napoleon. He came to the United States and wrote about Niagara Falls. He may be the first person who described the falls for a European audience."

"One of the trustees I talked to was moppin' the floor near Westerfield's cell. He [said Westerfield] was totally bummed out. The trustee's exact words were 'shot out.' He was down the tubes.”

Last summer's revelations about ex- port commissioner David Malcolm's conflicted relationship with Duke Energy should be instructive. It's no secret that developers have been in Chula Vista for a while; South Bay developers seem willing …

Matthew Alice: Who created the marriage vows "to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till …

My Friend Matt: Why don't I ever see cashews in the shell? Do cashews have shells? Peanuts in the shell are cheaper than peanuts out of the shell, so wouldn't cashews be? Why can't I …

The strange case of Kotaro Nakamura got a bit stranger last week with the latest denial by the San Diego Unified School District of a reporter's requests for records outlining Nakamura's company's financial dealings with …

Hi Matt: Halloween is coming up. What's the healthiest kind of candy for me to eat? I like salt water taffy, but I've heard that jelly beans are your best bet. I'd like your opinion. …

Some of the loftiest -- and loneliest -- mountain country in San Diego County lies on the 25,000-acre Los Coyotes Indian Reservation. You won't find any casino here, but you will discover San Diego County's …

In recent years, the 855 employees of the San Diego Water Department have faced scandals, alleged mismanagement, media scrutiny, and the rebuke of the city council. All this began in 1999 when news stories appeared …

Why Rossetti asked that Siddal’s body be exhumed was that, in a melodramatic gesture, he’d tossed into her coffin the manuscript of his poems. When he decided he wanted the manuscript back, he had the body dug up.

By all accounts, Archie Moore was more or less an old-fashioned kind of guy. The "Old Mongoose," who died on December 9, 1998, just short of his 85th birthday, was the world's light heavyweight champion …

No matter how troubled or dysfunctional its educational policy may seem, the San Diego Unified School District is still big business. With an annual operating budget of just over a billion dollars and another $1.5 …

This hasn't been the best of years for San Diego State president Stephen Weber. Budget Group, the big Florida-based rental-car outfit on whose board he sits, was forced into bankruptcy, and the company's stock fell …

Hey: How was the border between Nevada and California determined? Basically, it's an imaginary line drawn in the sand. -- Peter Torrance, San Diego For an imaginary line, it sure caused a ruckus. When Spain …

Hello, Matt: I saw a documentary about kangaroos, and they said the baby kangaroo spends about six months in the mother's pouch before it comes out into the world. The one thing they didn't tell …

Matt: I read somewhere that California has an official state dance, the Western Swing. Can this be possible? -- Wondering, San Diego In Sacramento, all things are possible. But right at the top, to fend …

Rebecca loves Nickel Creek. We all love Nickel Creek. When our family odyssey into country music began early this year, Nickel Creek was one of the first groups that caught our collective ear. Listening to …

Walnut Creek and its associated parkland stretches through the San Gabriel Valley communities of San Dimas and Covina. A wide and well-traveled equestrian and hiking trail goes the length of the park, crossing the streambed …

"I went through the window, But anytime you do a window gag, if you have exposed skin and that skin hits the ground, you’re going to get cut My hand hit the ground and I got some cuts."