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Did Dominelli Study Ponzi?
By Don Bauder, Published Nov. 4, 2009
J. David “Jerry” Dominelli is famed in San Diego lore for one thing: his 1980s Ponzi scheme that bilked Southern Californians of $80 million. A full 24 years after Dominelli was sentenced to prison, and more ...
Local Fish Eat Our Sunblock, Deodorant, and Valium
By Dave Gregovich, Published Nov. 4, 2009
The dolphin skimmed down the face of a cresting wave mere feet from where I sat on my surfboard. Then, circling around, it joined up with three friends outside where the waves were breaking. The small ...
The Scariest Part of Halloween
By Sheila Pell, Published Oct. 28, 2009
On a blustery afternoon, just down the road from a Mission Valley lot that’s already advertising Christmas trees, costumed sign bearers point the way to a recently opened Halloween store. Every October “they just pop up,” ...
More Ballpark Lies By Don Bauder, Published Oct. 28, 2009
The Portland Beavers are a triple-A minor-league baseball team affiliated with the San Diego Padres. The Beavers want taxpayers to kick in bundles of money ... More Comments (39)
San Diego’s Loss Is…You Know By Don Bauder, Published Oct. 21, 2009
Economists say the United States should export its expertise. Scam Diego is doing just that. A couple of rascals who honed their skills in San ... More Comments (2)
Moving Out Is Hard to Do By Rosa Jurjevics, Published Oct. 21, 2009
A few years ago, after moving out of a condo in a desirable San Diego neighborhood, Jacquelyn and Dave Quinonez found themselves in a bind. ... More Comment (1)
Poles Apart By Don Bauder, Published Oct. 14, 2009
Everybody knows that Democrats and Republicans are barely speaking these days. But two political scientists at the University of California at San Diego are statistically ... More Comments (150)
Nowhere To Go By Joe Deegan, Published Oct. 14, 2009
While San Diego’s homeless people wait for the City to provide winter shelter, they need, among other things, to go to the bathroom. And there ... More Comments (12)
Make the Victim Pay By Don Bauder, Published Oct. 7, 2009
Comic Woody Allen once postulated that murderers should be given the death penalty before they commit the crime, thus sparing the life of the victim. ... More Comments (14)
Dogs’ Deathbed Gift By Sheila Pell, Published Oct. 7, 2009
At 2:00 a.m. on August 26, Donna Liebrich left San Diego and headed east on I-8 for the Mexican border. Mexicali, her destination, is a ... More Comments (4)
Pop Goes Pop Warner By Dorian Hargrove, Published Sept. 30, 2009
It’s Saturday morning, August 29. A crowd has gathered at Crawford High School’s football stadium for the San Diego Youth Football League’s season opener. On ... More Comments (2)
All Aboard for the Fairgrounds By Moss Gropen, Published Sept. 23, 2009
"This story isn’t about me!” Richard Eckfield, who’s been on a three-year crusade to get a train stop built at the Del Mar Racetrack, is ... More Comments (6)
Vegas Pays Do-Gooders Well By Don Bauder, Published Sept. 23, 2009
In San Diego, those who do good do not do well — from an income standpoint, that is. The professions devoted to helping people down ... More Comments (12)
Experts By Don Bauder, Published Sept. 16, 2009
The world’s experts on all topics are huddling in Washington, D.C. One chap proclaims that he is the world’s ranking expert on goldfish. Inquires a ... More Comments (68)
But After All, He Was a Man By Janice Donaldson, Published Sept. 16, 2009
I’m standing in front of a real human body at Body Worlds and The Brain — Our Three Pound Gem, currently on exhibition at the ... More Comments (29)
If We're the Best, Imagine the Worst By Joe Deegan, Published Sept. 9, 2009
Mark-Elliott Lugo, who is an energetic-looking 59 years old, might well be the poster child in the San Diego public transit system’s campaign to increase ... More Comments (118)
Chargers Won’t Fulfill Desires in San Diego By Don Bauder, Published Sept. 9, 2009
Experts say the San Diego Chargers could make the Super Bowl this year. However, the team’s desire to build a new stadium in San Diego ... More Comments (84)
PUC Loves SDG&E By Don Bauder, Published Sept. 2, 2009
Wall Street absolutely loves the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC). That’s a major reason why backcountry folks may have to swallow San Diego Gas & ... More Comments (16)
They Have No Concrete Proof By Dana Wyant, Published Sept. 2, 2009
On April 12, 2007, I did some concrete work in the backyard of my Rancho Peñasquitos home with the help of my wife, son-in-law, and ... More Comments (8)
I Blow Smoke on Your Law By Dorian Hargrove, Published Aug. 26, 2009
Sitting on a park bench at Prescott Promenade on a hot July afternoon, John stares at a brawny tattooed man in his 50s smoking a ... More Comments (65)
Clearing the Bases By Don Bauder, Published Aug. 26, 2009
Back in 1998, then–Padres majority owner John Moores promised that if taxpayers would pour more than $300 million into a ballpark, he would produce teams ... More Comments (273)
Get the Union-Tribune — For Almost Nothing By Don Bauder, Published Aug. 19, 2009
How would you like to buy a whole year’s home-delivery subscription to the Union-Tribune, Thursday through Sunday,for $29.95? That’s particularly enticing, because if you want ... More Comments (12)
An End to the Evil Euc By Joe Deegan, Published Aug. 19, 2009
In 1909, newspaper magnate Edward Willis Scripps began planting eucalyptus on the San Diego ranch he’d bought 11 years earlier. Those trees and their descendents ... More Comments (2)
Tijuana Tailspin Hurting San Diego? By Don Bauder, Published Aug. 12, 2009
It wasn’t so long ago that the Convention and Visitors Bureau, hotel marketers, and San Diego ad agencies “would utilize Tijuana in advertising,” recalls Jack ... More Comments (29)
The Park After Dark By Joe Deegan, Published Aug. 12, 2009
Asking that her name be withheld, a woman emailed us a few months ago about a liquor store that was “bad, bad news for the ... More Comments (34)
Unappealing Banana Trucks By Dorian Hargrove, Published Aug. 5, 2009
On a Tuesday afternoon in June, Barry Jung, Dole Food Company’s general manager of West Coast operations, drives his white Ford pickup toward a green-and-black ... More Post a comment
Swine Fear By Rosa Jurjevics, Published Aug. 5, 2009
Dina is 11, slight in her turquoise hoodie, and dark-haired. She’s finishing up the fifth grade at a private North County middle school where, she ... More Post a comment
Sticky Finger Season By Don Bauder, Published July 29, 2009
Recessions always bring out the vultures, and these days they are a step ahead of technological trends, as scam haven San Diego is learning once ... More Comments (49)
Was Andrew Nice to You? By Anonymous , Published July 29, 2009
May 10 must be the year’s hardest day for Mary Ann. In 1997, her son, Andrew Cunanan, went on a killing spree that ended with ... More Post a comment
Bang! Bang! Pay Up By Don Bauder, Published July 22, 2009
"Looking better dead than alive.” Morticians boast of it. So do Mafia hit men. Now, it appears, holders of some corporate bonds are secretly putting ... More Comments (8)
Big Agency Burns Little Volunteers By Joe Deegan, Published July 22, 2009
The history of wildfires in San Diego’s backcountry has yielded a vigorous volunteer firefighting subculture. Its foundations are self-reliance, strong community involvement, ingenuity, independence, and ... More Post a comment
If You Use This, I'll Sue By Don Bauder, Published July 15, 2009
If you go to the website of the Los Angeles law firm of Lavely & Singer and click the bio of cofounder Martin Singer, you ... More Comments (38)
Who's Harassing Whom? By Don Bauder, Published July 15, 2009
There is no question that executives at Platinum Equity won’t back down from a fight. The Beverly Hills–based buyout firm, which is willing to purchase ... More Comments (35)
What’s Wrong with Family Visitors? By Don Bauder, Published July 8, 2009
Visitors to downtown hotels are a piddling few. Residents of downtown condos are a piddling few. But that won’t stop the establishment from diddling taxpayers ... More Comments (72)
Eat Here and Get Towed By Joe Deegan, Published July 8, 2009
Call it blind loyalty, if you like. For a place to tell me his story, Clark Waters chose the Denny’s restaurant at the corner of ... More Comments (8)
Will Generations X and Y Buy? By Don Bauder, Published July 1, 2009
As the recession grinds on, how much will Generation X and Generation Y spend? Will it be Z, as in zilch? It looks that way ... More Comments (8)
The American Board of Nonexistence By Ernie Grimm, Published July 1, 2009
You know those framed certificates and diplomas that hang in your doctor’s office? It’s reassuring to see them, isn’t it? It’s nice to know that ... More Comments (50)
Sticking with Stocks By Don Bauder, Published June 24, 2009
How do you rebalance when the economy is so unbalanced? That is the question facing all money managers and particularly the fiduciaries that run pension ... More Comments (10)
Fallbrook’s Mine — A Hit or the Pits? By Cindy Winslow, Published June 24, 2009
A pristine wilderness area northeast of Fallbrook is at the center of a heated controversy, pitting local residents against a multibillion-dollar Fortune 1000 construction company. ... More Comments (2)
Stomp Off-Leash Park Romp By Dorian Hargrove, Published June 17, 2009
Bella, Jeff’s five-year-old Labrador mix, crouches five feet from her owner at a park in San Carlos. She stares at the rubber ball inserted in ... More Comments (15)
Penny Foolish By Don Bauder, Published June 17, 2009
The old aphorism “penny wise, pound foolish” has been revised to “penny-stock wise guys get pounded.” San Diego has reams of penny stocks: don’t get ... More Comments (2)
Keep on Truckin' That Gas By Joe Deegan, Published June 10, 2009
If ever a scheme needs a good euphemism, it’s the Beneficial Use of Digester Gas. Nevertheless, the plan passed its first smell test. The City ... More Comments (6)
Convention Liars By Don Bauder, Published June 10, 2009
The sugar daddies that could be expected to bankroll the convention center expansion are on the sidelines. But watch out: the backers of the proposed ... More Comments (115)
Cold Case Gets Hot By Larry Harmon, Published June 3, 2009
It was shortly after 2:00 a.m. when Gerald Jackson finished his closing shift at the Barbary Coast, a downtown gay bar at the corner of ... More Comments (4)
El Cajon Scam By Don Bauder, Published June 3, 2009
Matthew “Beau” La Madrid, no longer a registered investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), nonetheless convinced 300 people that he had a ... More Comments (22)
Portraits of the Perps By Joe Deegan, Published May 27, 2009
A mural at the San Elijo Retail Center in Cardiff-by-the-Sea has gone away. Local artist Kevin Anderson completed the four-by-seven-foot painting a year ago at ... More Comment (1)
Obama: Waiting for the Sunrise? By Craig D. Rose, Published May 27, 2009
What began as a local backcountry struggle over San Diego Gas & Electric’s proposed Sunrise Powerlink is now a national issue, one that opponents of ... More Comments (21)
Hi There! You Shoplifting? By Ernie Grimm, Published May 20, 2009
Marco Mitrowke, loss prevention manager for the local retail clothing chain Everything 5.99, was not what I expected. The job title “loss prevention manager” conjured ... More Comment (1)
Californians Get Less Gas By Craig D. Rose, Published May 20, 2009
There was a moment, or at least it seems like a moment now, when you could roll into the filling station as the gauge fell ... More Post a comment
Cold Condos By Craig D. Rose, Published May 13, 2009
The stunning 50 percent plunge in Phoenix’s home prices has attracted national attention. By contrast, San Diego’s condominium market, which has seen values fall by ... More Post a comment
The Voices Online By Joe Deegan, Published May 13, 2009
In January, I began teaching two philosophy classes, one in the classroom and the other online. “The thing I don’t like about online classes,” says ... More Comments (12)
Here Comes the Sandman By Craig D. Rose, Published May 6, 2009
It’s not even Memorial Day and people are arguing over sand on the beach. But this isn’t just any sand. The argument is over new ... More Comments (2)
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