There is no night anymore. In or around cities, in suburbs and small towns, there is no night. It still gets dark, and the days still get longer or shorter. Lights are everywhere — large, …
Thursday, February 27
'They call it America's finest city, but I don't call it that," barked Ernie Abbit, a 72-year-old lessee at De Anza Harbor Resort. Abbit, president of the homeowners association, is agitated. Without the city's intervention, …
The San Diego Union-Tribune, which for years has been one of San Diego Unified school superintendent Alan Bersin's most unquestioning backers, may be changing its ways. During last year's school-board races, the paper missed much …
Tucked into the steep, north-facing slopes of the Santa Susana Mountains, just north of the San Fernando Valley, are comely Rice Canyon and East Canyon. The area containing both canyons is visible from nearby Interstate …
Hey Matt Man: When I'm out working in my wood shop, there are certain materials that need special handling. Things like glycerol ester of wood rosin just seem to scream out "avoid breathing fumes," "wear …
Matt: Are humans the only living creature that commits suicide? -- Morbid Mark, the net Intent. Can animals form intent in their feral little brains? Sit down and say, hey, man, this grubbing for food …
Hey, Matt: Some of us guys were discussing gasoline stations where we see backhoes digging up old leaking tanks and the contaminated dirt loaded into a truck. Our question is, just where does that dirt …
Dear Matthew Alice: I've heard that toothpaste should not be ingested or it can cause fever, nausea, vomiting and even death. There's even a warning on most toothpaste tubes. Is this like lab rats...you'd have …
“Amtrak employees are social people. Because it’s a travel thing, not many marriages work; most of her friends are single. Luckily, Laura got a steady route, so she has, more or less, a normal job.”
Thursday, February 20
When Judge William Mudd sentenced David Westerfield to death on January 3 of this year, Westerfield joined a special subset of San Diegans. Of the 616 inmates on California’s death row, 31, including Westerfield, were …
These days, oversized signs dance on street corners. Some promote housing developments, cell-phone companies, even pizza joints. All week, they twist, turn and bob musically, shouting for attention from hurried automobile drivers. They do not …
'It sure will take up a lot of room," says Allen Beddoe about the USS Midway mooring this fall at Navy Pier, where it is scheduled to become the permanent home to the San Diego …
Monday's Union-Tribune carried a story purporting to recount the recruitment of local Kurds as "volunteers" for war against Iraq. It quoted a man identified as the director of the "Kurdish Human Rights Watch's office for …
How would it be if, for example, you immigrated to the United States at the age of 18 or 20? If Spanish were an integral part of who you are? How would it be if you married someone who never learned your language?
Tucked into the fresh-scented folds of a high-desert canyon north of Interstate 8, Pepperwood Spring begins as a network of tiny rivulets issuing from damp pockets of sand. The rivulets conjoin, gather force, and divide …
Yo, Matthew: Since 1978 I've been parting my hair in the center. I'm sensing this may be a bit passe in 2003. What style of hair part is currently most politically correct: center, left, or …
Hey, Matt: Are the elves Catholic? Are elves Catholic? Oh, well. Heard there is a saint (active or defrocked, I'm not sure), that will help sell your home quicker and for a better price if …
Thursday, February 13
“We had the same physics class, and he asked me if I had the book. I was, like, ‘Of course I have the book! I’m in the class!’ He was just, like, ‘Oh, we should study together sometime.’”
On January 6, 2003, Suzee Vlk, a 49-year-old resident of Linda Vista, was walking her small dog around the plaza at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. It would be her last walk. The …
'Five years ago, stolen vehicles were a very big problem for insurance companies in California." Speaking is Angel Escobedo, owner of Recuperadora Internacional de Vehículos Robados, a private stolen-car recovery business based in the Rio …
San Diego city attorney Casey Gwinn's top honcho, Leslie Devaney, has opened a campaign bank account to run for her boss's job. Gwinn, who at one time or another has aspired to be everything from …
Monrovia Canyon Park rests serenely in a sheltered corner of the San Gabriel Mountains, just upslope from the stately foothill community of Monrovia. Nearly three years ago in this column (April 6, 2000), I wrote …
Heymatt: Please promote world peace and set my brother-in-law straight. Which is the preferred euphemism, "frickin" or "friggin"? I sent him a email that included "frickin," as in, "You don't know a frickin thing." He …
Thursday, February 6
17 January has come and gone and with it the 12th anniversary of the brutish, nasty, and short Gulf War. With Gulf War II looming, the media has sought out veterans of Gulf War I …
The county Civil Service Commission is seeking to investigate former district attorney Paul Pfingst for the last-minute promotion of prosecutors who supported him instead of Bonnie Dumanis. How many prosecutors were promoted? A. 15 B. …
With war brewing in the Middle East and new domestic terror strikes threatened, America is battening down the hatches. Targets are being hardened, nuclear power plants are under close watch, and all manner of precautions …
School-board member Katherine Nakamura has announced to her colleagues she will quit her job as an attorney to the board of directors of the University of San Diego. During Nakamura's often acrimonious campaign against ex-Navy …
"Now that Encinitas is a city, it’s an historic building, When old timers found out we were restoring it instead, they first couldn’t believe it, and then they started bringing me books and articles."
Lake Hodges has become the most popular destination for recreation within the 55-mile-long San Dieguito River Park, now taking form along the San Dieguito River watershed from the coast at Del Mar to the Volcan …
Wednesday, February 5
Matthew Alice: Why is bubble gum pink? -- Bobby, Vista Because the Fleer Co. employee who worked for 10 years-- day after day, gum batch after gum batch-- to develop a chaw that would hold …