In September 2003, Brian Burritt rode the elevator down to the basement of the San Diego Police Department where the "murder books," the binders of the department's cold cases, many decades old, are kept in …

The origins of the Friday the 13th superstition are, as any reader of The Da Vinci Code now can tell you, the events of 13 October in the year 1307. On that day, "French authorities …

Blackout. Then I'm awake. Blackout. Aware. I'm fading in and out, piecing together a weekend gone without me. My girlfriend screaming at me and shoving me. We were in San Diego then. Peanuts and Beer, …

The training is gone into in some depth and at even greater length.

'I remember going to the drugstore on Ingraham Street in Crown Point. They used to have yo-yos displayed in boxes. You'd go up to the shelf and pick up a yo-yo. They let you try …

Wizard 6: A Combat Psychiatrist in Vietnam (Texas A & M University Military History Series, 104) FROM THE JACKET: In 1969, six psychiatrists were assigned to combat divisions in Vietnam. Captain Douglas Bey, "Wizard 6," …

Thirty Years Ago Billboard advertising used to describe Greenwood as the "biggest Bible mausoleum in the world." When Merle Hamilton became a general manager a year ago, he was skeptical. "I knew that Franco had …

Polished pop filled the vast, low, pale-gray box that housed The Rock Church. On stage behind the band stood mock highway signs, highlighting the book of Numbers as a road trip: a caution triangle warning …

The shorter fall and winter days of low-angle sunshine, clear blue skies, and pleasantly mild temperatures are perfect for exploring any of Anza-Borrego Desert's lowest, hottest, and driest regions. The Truckhaven Rocks, out past Borrego …

When I was four, my parents decided to take me to "the happiest place on earth," Disneyland. At the time, I had been pretending I was a princess, like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. For …

Few things are more repugnant than wannabe alpha males. They're like high school boys snapping locker-room towels at each other. In the financial world, hedge funds are the youthful towel snappers -- barking and boasting …

Free education to all children stands among the most hallowed provisions in Mexico's federal constitution. But according to a state human rights official, it may be one of the most threatened. Francisco Javier Sánchez Corona's …

Employees of the county's troubled retirement system have been wined and dined by some of the very same people who have contracts to manage the system's investments, according to personal financial disclosure forms on file …

Staffers at the county's pension system aren't the only ones consorting with those in the investment business. Back on May 28, 2004, records show, county treasurer Dan McAllister, then chairman of the retirement board, collected …

Campaign season is in full swing, and the mail is heavy with fund-raising invites. Democratic state insurance commissioner John Garamendi, in a close race with GOP state senator Tom McClintock, dropped into town last Tuesday …

If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child. -- Linda Sunshine We had …

A mischievous elf has been marking up my leather. First, it was our chair in the family room, a red armchair now graffitied with blue ballpoint pen. Then, a few weeks later, he was back, …

Funny Aliens My husband Andy and I had only recently arrived from the UK to Belize, Central America, and were trying to figure out how to make friends here. Inviting one or two local cowboys …

'With clinical improvisation, patients make spontaneous music, and then we do some therapeutic processing," says Colombian-born Alfonso de la Espriella, who has a degree in music therapy from the Berklee College of Music. "Sometimes treatment …

For a party at the Coronado Yacht Club, I would be picked up by a dinghy and taken to a yacht. Tourists crowded Coronado that weekend, and I had trouble finding the place. When I …

"We want to conquer every San Diego karaoke bar with our costumes and choreography," says Danie Caw of the Leo-TARDS. In spandex, corsets, sequins, and fur, the karaoke quartet incorporates into their act dancing, air …

Destroy the Runner, a Carlsbad metal-core band, just returned from a six-week tour that followed the release of Saints, their first CD on Solid State. The Seattle indie label distributed by EMI is known for …

It's spelled "grimmie" but pronounced "grimy," and when it comes out of TV-show host E-Low, it sounds like, "That shit is GRIIIII-ME!" E-Low is the driving force behind The Grimmie Wreck Show, 30-minute episodes of …

In 1984, Tony Suraci was a 17-year-old Fallbrook High senior who sang in local bands and acted in school plays. He remembers the day he became part of a "sobriety cult." "I had the lead …

"We hung out with different crowds at Crawford High and hardly ever spoke, so I don't know why all of a sudden he's badmouthing me," says rapper Professor K of the "diss track" by DJ …

'Five people had this letter from the chief of staff, General Ryan of the Air Force," says William Guenon. "It said, 'To Whom It May Concern: The person who hands you this letter will request …

'Premium wine grapes don't thrive where ice plants and salty sea foam happily commingle.'

Maybe I've got Moroccan stardust in my eyes, but I think I've found the ideal neighborhood restaurant. The food at Kous Kous is delicious, authentic, and healthful -- and a bit too exotic to readily …

Heymatt: I seem to recall as a child always hearing about citizen's arrests. If someone did something wrong, you could "arrest" them. As an adult now, and more than happy to buy a pair of …

Heymatt: Is it true that you crap your pants when you die? If so, why? And is there any way to avoid it? -- Lisa, the net How pathologically fastidious you are! You will still …

“Hi! Good morning. How are you? Take a seat, please.”