Stories | City Lights News
No Picture-Perfect Vote
By Joe Deegan, Published March 10, 2010
American elections lore over the last 50 years is rife with tales of funny business, from charges of a Chicago graveyard vote in 1960 to the hanging chads count in 2000. But such anomalies in San ...
Strike Three at Copley?
By Don Bauder, Published March 10, 2010
Copley Press sold the Union-Tribune cheap but for good reasons: it was doing even worse than other ailing metro newspapers. Now the company, the last remnant of the old newspaper empire, is selling the rest of ...
Too Much Conflict, Too Much Interest
By Don Bauder, Published March 3, 2010
On April 23, 2007, two San Diego investigators, Gerald Cook of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Dan Vile of the San Diego Police Department, turned in a criminal investigation of wrongdoing in a local business ...
The Best Cure
By Joe Deegan, Published Feb. 24, 2010
Rey Knight’s easygoing persona serves him well Sundays at the Hillcrest farmers’ market as customers linger to sample exotic spiced meats. In the prepared-foods section, ... More Post a comment
Too Much Debt, Too Few Jobs
By Don Bauder, Published Feb. 24, 2010
If a railbird tout gives you a tip on a horse, and you learn that three of the nag’s legs are so fragile they will ... More Comments (42)
Why Your Pocket Is Empty
By Don Bauder, Published Feb. 17, 2010
The classic description of a city living off personal services, and bringing in too little outside money through activities such as manufacturing, is “a bunch ... More Comments (38)
Please, Put Me in Jail
By E.A. Barrera, Published Feb. 17, 2010
Last year, employees of Geo Group, a private prison corporation, contributed more than $2000 to the campaign fund of San Diego’s interim sheriff Bill Gore. ... More Comment (1)
A Town Left Dry
By Don Bauder, Published Feb. 10, 2010
People need money and water. Just ask Borrego Springs, the San Diego County desert town of only 2600 year-round residents. Through the years, it has ... More Comments (31)
Sweat Like a Rockstar
By Moss Gropen, Published Feb. 10, 2010
‘When the people in power are completely senseless with regards to human values and their ideal is a sweatshop, you are screwed.” That’s a man ... More Comments (4)
Football First, Water Last
By Don Bauder, Published Feb. 3, 2010
In his State of the City speech on January 13, Mayor Jerry Sanders devoted 434 words to the possibility of taxpayers shelling out hundreds of ... More Comments (45)
He Got Quite An Education
By Dorian Hargrove, Published Feb. 3, 2010
Every morning at seven o’clock, Rodger Hartnett starts his day. The 62-year-old law school graduate and county employee breakfasts inside his Tierrasanta home as he ... More Post a comment
National Football Liars
By Don Bauder, Published Jan. 27, 2010
It’s Big Lie season again. Super Lie. Specifically, Super Bowl Lie. It’s that giddy time of the year when the National Football League trots out ... More Comments (49)
The Mad Hatter’s Council Meeting
By Susan Luzzaro, Published Jan. 27, 2010
Communication at a Chula Vista city council meeting hit an all-time low on December 15. The council was besieged when one resident threw plastic eggs ... More Comments (5)
Hello? Hello? Can You Hear Me Now?
By Joe Deegan, Published Jan. 20, 2010
Suppose colleagues often call the house, even in the early hours. This morning you’re half dressed and still sipping coffee when the phone rings. It’s ... More Post a comment
More Community, Less College
By Dorian Hargrove, Published Jan. 13, 2010
On a warm September afternoon last fall, Scott Freeman sat at an outdoor table near the art department at San Diego City College. Dressed in ... More Comments (3)
Free Lunch for Banks
By Don Bauder, Published Jan. 13, 2010
Perhaps you are comforted believing that the U.S. government, Federal Reserve, and Wall Street are all working assiduously to provide you with a job. Ha ... More Comments (183)
Up, But Not Way Up
By Don Bauder, Published Jan. 6, 2010
Last year, the San Diego economy did poorly, although it was picking up a bit in the final several months. This year, it should do ... More Comments (50)
When the Horses Are Gone
By Jeannette De Wyze, Published Jan. 6, 2010
I asked Sergeant Bret Righthouse about the bad old days, back in 1994, before a cadre of mounted San Diego Police Department officers began routinely ... More Comment (1)
The Plaintiff Knew Nothing
By Don Bauder, Published Dec. 30, 2009
‘If I am guilty of anything, it’s of being a good lawyer and advocating for the rights of the disabled,” proclaims Lynn Hubbard III of ... More Comments (50)
Fabiani Talks
By Don Bauder, Published Dec. 23, 2009
The young son of a prominent government official boasted to his father that he had saved 25 cents by walking home instead of taking the ... More Comments (135)
The Logic of a Landslide
By Joe Deegan, Published Dec. 23, 2009
Brian Burke was agonizing over whether to appeal the court’s decision in the Mount Soledad landslide case. “Have you ever been too close to something ... More Comments (4)
Lobbyists Rule
By Don Bauder, Published Dec. 16, 2009
Some enterprises signal what’s going on inside by hanging a red light outside. Mayor Jerry Sanders has revealed what’s going on inside his administration by ... More Comments (30)
Great Whites Might Be Victims
By Alastair Bland, Published Dec. 16, 2009
Photo by Christie Fisher. In late 2007, when local shark researcher Michael Domeier teamed up with a television crew and National Geographic to tag great ... More Comment (1)
The Mayor and the Dirty-Money Guy
By Don Bauder, Published Dec. 9, 2009
Did Mayor Jerry Sanders get his money out of a scandal-ridden private equity group whose chief executive has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy? It’s ... More Comments (26)
The Pall on the Mall
By Moss Gropen, Published Dec. 9, 2009
Window-shopping at Helzberg Diamonds in Westfield’s North County Shopping Mall, Grace, the manager of nearby John’s Fifth Avenue Luggage, says, “I’d think twice before plunking ... More Comment (1)
War at La Jolla Farms
By Don Bauder, Published Dec. 2, 2009
Life should be peaceful at La Jolla Farms, that tony area of 100 superluxury homes adjacent to Torrey Pines State Park.But war has broken out ... More Comments (20)
Play the Sneaky Development Game
By E.A. Barrera, Published Dec. 2, 2009
An Orange County developer who led the effort to delay San Diego’s general plan update until his own project could be approved is one step ... More Comments (4)
Barnyard Brew
By Alastair Bland, Published Nov. 24, 2009
At Bernardo Winery, 50 large redwood vats have resided in the warehouse for more than a century. Until the 1960s they were used as fermenters, ... More Comments (8)
No Cure, No Shutdown (Yet)
By Don Bauder, Published Nov. 18, 2009
After an agonizing wait of more than 40 years, science may come up with a treatment for lupus. But the two companiesworking together on the ... More Comment (1)
Nine Miles of Nothing
By Susan Luzzaro, Published Nov. 18, 2009
Conflict has surrounded the South Bay Expressway, the southern extension of State Route 125, since its inception. Prior to groundbreaking in 2003, the privately held ... More Comments (3)
Can Feds Thwart Runaway Pay?
By Don Bauder, Published Nov. 11, 2009
The pay of American top corporate executives is obscene. About the only people who don’t agree with that statement are the executives themselves. In 1980, ... More Comments (87)
East Village Lowdown
By Nathaniel Uy, Published Nov. 11, 2009
Lured in by the promise of large-scale development in East Village, to be anchored by a state-of-the-art baseball stadium and filled with high-rise luxury condominiums, ... More Comments (16)
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 ... More Comments (89)
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 ... More Comments (3)
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)
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 ... More Post a comment
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 Comments (2)
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 (13)
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 (15)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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 (117)
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)
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)
- « View Older City Lights News Articles
- View Newer City Lights News Articles »
