News Ticker Entries for August, 2011

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Bank Recipient of Treasury Funds Announces Merger

First PacTrust Bancorp is back in the news today. Yesterday we reported that the parent company of Chula Vista’s Pacific ...

Smart Meters on Oceanside Streets

San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) is asking to pay the City of Oceanside $3000 in exchange for placing smart ...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry Stopping in San Diego

Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry will be stopping in San Diego on September 8 for a meet-and-greet ...

Oceanside Food Truck Fight

Two Oceanside councilmembers would like to take a look at allowing food trucks to operate in the City. However, it ...

Disaster Readiness in a Digital Age

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is urging citizens to add another tool to their emergency preparedness skill set: tech savvy. ...

FBI Busts S.F. Giants Worker Seeking San Diego Home Loan

A payroll manager for the San Francisco Giants has been arrested by the FBI for suspected embezzlement of more than ...

Goldsmith Quietly Drops DROP Appeal

On June 15, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith quietly dropped an appeal that he had filed with the 4th Appellate District ...

Treasury Dollars for Local Bank

First PacTrust Bancorp of Chula Vista, the holding company for Pacific Trust Bank, today announced a $32 million investment in ...

Group Wants Out of SDG&E Smart Meter Program

La Mesa resident Susan Brinchman says she has felt the consequences from having a smart meter on the other side ...

Ban on Styrofoam Bins

Restaurant managers across California might have to go and get some new to-go containers if state lawmakers approve a bill ...

Imperial Valley Announces Another Solar Farm

SunPeak Solar, LLC, and Suntech Power Holdings Co., LTD have inked a deal to build a 23 megawatt solar power ...

Mystery Thief Robs Unknown Victim

La Mesa Police are looking for any witnesses to a purse snatching that occurred last Saturday, August 27, near the ...

SD Home Values Rise Slightly in June

San Diego home values rose 0.2% in June from May, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller data released this morning (Aug. ...

Helicopters Hovering Over University Heights

Some residents of University Heights are "sounding off" regarding noise from police helicopters circling above. In the University Heights Community ...

UCSD Pulls Books from Library Shelves

Faced with another $3 million in budget cuts for 2011/2012, the UC San Diego’s libraries division is preparing to shutter ...

Chaldean-Mexican Drug Connection Explored

Sylvia Longmire, a former Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and ex-intelligence analyst for the California ...

Joel Anderson gives $10,000 to Anti-Redistricting Effort

GOP state Sen. Joel Anderson has become one of the first contributors to a newly-formed political committee trying to overturn ...

Nuclear Power and Earthquake Safety Debate Goes National

After decades of debate along the west coast, concerns regarding the safety and reliability of nuclear power in the face ...

Cyclists Push for Safety

Cyclists across the city and around the state are pushing for cooperation from authorities and legislation that will improve the ...

Cardroom Lobby Flexes its Financial Muscle

There's an interesting story on the possible fate of San Diego's last two remaining card rooms over on KPBS.org. Seems ...

Young Child Struck By Hit-And-Run Driver

La Mesa Police are seeking the driver of a vehicle that struck a young child and fled yesterday. Last night ...

Marti Emerald To Run For 9th District Council Seat

First term councilmember Marti Emerald announced that she is running for re-election to the city council, but this time around ...

Realtors' Short Sale Woes Continue

The California Association of Realtors, apparently backing away from previous statements pushing a generally positive outlook on the state’s housing ...

More Opposition to Cross-Border Power

The Imperial Irrigation District announced yesterday that its Board of Directors passed a resolution condemning Sempra Energy’s move to construct ...

Major Solar Project Approved East of San Diego County

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar gave his approval to connect a 250-megawatt solar power project located in Imperial Valley ...

Real World Bird Rock Releases Video Preview

The trailer for MTV’s Real World San Diego, the reality show stirring controversy in La Jolla’s tony Bird Rock and ...

Eleven Bay Area Papers Will Combine into Two

In what may be a precursor of a Southern California newspaper amalgamation, MediaNews Group announced this week that it is ...

State Prison Grants Medical Parole

Curtis D. Beauvais became the sixth state prisoner to be granted medical parole by the California Board of Parole Hearings ...

UCSD Launches Liver Fixit Clinic in Las Vegas

If you’re in the liver repair and replacement business, set up shop in one of America’s “drunkest cities.” In the ...

Loads of Crops

The annual San Diego County agricultural report says we have a total of 6687 farms — more farms than any ...

County Reminds Citizens of Terror Threat

The San Diego County Office of Emergency Services is reminding citizens of the need to continue watching for signs of ...

FBI Warns of Car-Selling Scam

The FBI issued a warning on August 23 to prospective car buyers looking online for a new ride. The bureau ...

Child Passenger Safety Day in Solana Beach

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Encinitas station has announced that it will be hosting a “Child Passenger Safety Day” on ...

U-T Wouldn't Print Issa Piece, Draws Criticism

At left: art from Poynter report On Aug. 15, the New York Times ran a long, front page story on ...

San Diego Alleged to Have Improperly Used State Lands Cash

The California State Auditor is out with a report citing charges by the executive officer of the State Lands Commission ...

"Are You Kidding Me" Moments with Assemblymember Brian Jones

"I have been in the Assembly all of eight months and it seems I have said "Are you kidding me" ...

Grant Money for New Alzheimer's Drug

UC San Diego announced today that researchers at the university’s School of Medicine have been awarded a $1 million, five-year ...

The Highwayman's Rig: Totaled

"I'm devastated by this," writes Thomas Weller, also know as "The Highwayman," in a August 23 email. Weller will likely ...

Amazon Pours More Into Anti-Sales Tax Campaign

Web retailer Amazon.com has funneled another $2.25 million into its “More Jobs Not Taxes” campaign to repeal California’s Assembly Bill ...

Tighter Times Ahead for California's Colleges

California Community Colleges and the California State University system are bracing for another round of cuts this winter. The college ...

DeMaio Accuses Fletcher of Lifting Ideas

"Fixing San Diego requires a mayor who will outline bold and fresh ideas and who can build consensus to implement ...

Navy: 'Smart Pigs' Are on the Case

The Navy says Point Loma residents shouldn't fret about that 57-year-old pipeline carrying more than 300 million tons of jet ...

General Atomics Faces Yet Another Uranium Cleanup Fight

The New York Times has reported via the Greenwire news service that Rio Grande Resources Corp., a subsidiary of La ...

SDSU Rolls Out New Wine Studies Program

San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies has announced it will be offering a revamped professional certificate program this ...

How Issa Raped Small Investors

Floyd Norris has a column in today's (Aug. 19) New York Times showing how North County's Rep. Darrell Issa screwed ...

Surfrider Appeals Decision on Desalinization Plant

The Surfrider Foundation filed an appeal to a decision to allow “open ocean” intake at a proposed desalinization plant in ...

SD Unemployment Rate Rises to 10.5%

San Diego County lost 6000 non-farm jobs from June to July as the unemployment rate rose to 10.5%, up from ...

Hookup the Hookah

More people are gathering around the hookah table and lighting up, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego ...

San Diego Ranks As 28th Most Dangerous for Pedestrians

The area of San Diego, Carlsbad, and San Marcos ranks as the 28th most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians, says ...

El Cajon Police Expose Iraqi/Mexican Drug Ring

SWAT teams from the El Cajon and La Mesa Police departments conducted a joint raid on the Chaldean Social Club ...

Wealthy San Diegans Back Charter School Politics

At left: Buzz Woolley Things don't seem to be going so well for the future of charter schools in California, ...

Mayor Dodges Second Deposition in Kessler Case

Mayor Jerry Sanders won't be deposed a second time in the Kessler vs. City of San Diego case, according to ...

KUSI News Anchor Dan Plante Transplants to Phoenix

KUSI's animated morning news anchor, Dan Plante, surfaced in Phoenix after months of speculation that the news anchor had been ...

Vintage Trolleys Populate New Silver Line

A large crowd gathered this morning outside the Metropolitan Transit System’s downtown headquarters to celebrate the launch of its new ...

Point Loma Residents Warn Navy Against Waking the "Sleeping Giant"

Some residents of Point Loma call it, the "Sleeping Giant." The 'it' being a 56-year-old Navy pipeline carrying jet-fuel that ...

Local State Assembly Member Staff Salaries Listed

In September of last year Democratic state Assembly Speaker John Pérez announced he was posting the salaries of all Assembly ...

Escondido Officials Say They Are Not Throwing Money into BallPark

Escondido City officials say the $118,285 for consultant services on the now-delayed construction of a minor league ballpark are not ...

Local Bank Approves Merger

Shareholders of the privately-held Embarcadero Bank have approved a merger with Coronado First Bank. Holders of approximately 85% of the ...

The Pilfering of Historic Plaques Continues...

A thief, or some Mills Act-obsessed crook, continues to swipe the historic plaques from homes in Mission Hills. Since Monday ...

Operation Clean Sweep Prepares for 21st Year

The San Diego Port Tenants’ Association is gearing up for the 21st installment of its annual Operation Clean Sweep project ...

The County's Unclaimed Monies List

Unclaimed cash from property tax-refunds and miscellaneous payments is burning a hole in San Diego County Treasurer/Tax Collector, Dan McAllister's ...

Senator Vargas Moves to Block Cross-Border Power Project

State Senator Juan Vargas, whose 40th district spans the entire California/Mexico border, has introduced legislation to stop construction of a ...

Escondido Officials to Toss More Cash at Ballpark Consultants

On August 17, the Escondido city council will decide whether to spend an additional $118,283 on consultants for the the ...

Weevils Threaten Local Palm Trees

The County of San Diego has announced it will hold an informational meeting on August 18 to alert the public ...

Bankers Hill Residents Oppose St. Paul's Cathedral Project

Members of the Bankers Hill/Park West Community Association agree; the proposal from St.Paul's Cathedral to build two residential and commercial ...

J. Craig Venter: Savior or Charlatan?

Genetic engineering pioneer Craig Venter--whose foundation is set to build an elaborate new office and lab facility on a prime ...

Mortgage Processors Merge

Ellie Mae, a technology provider for the mortgage industry, announced yesterday the purchase of Del Mar DataTrac, Inc. The San ...

The Rise of Independents in San Diego

Nearly 41 percent of the 621,310 registered voters in the City of San Diego are registered under the Democratic party. ...

State Test Scores Up at San Diego Unified

San Diego Unified School District is trumpeting its successes today, as 2011 results for Standardized Testing and Results (STAR) testing ...

Free Airport Parking for County Pols Ruled Not a Gift

Lawyers for the California Fair Political Practices Commission have held that free airport parking enjoyed by members of the county ...

Del Mar Fairgrounds CEO Is Ready for Additional Race Meets

Tim Fennell, CEO of the Del Mar Fairgrounds, says that Del Mar Fairgrounds will see "very little impact" if additional ...

Developers and Trash Collectors Weigh In Big for Bill Horn

Freshly re-elected San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn took in a total of $56,037.93 in campaign contributions during the first ...

Millions to Join Medi-Cal Rolls

Law changes coming in 2014 will allow between 1.7 million and 3 million additional U.S. citizens and other legal California ...

NY Times Probes Issa's Business Deals

The New York Times today (Aug. 15) gives more details on North County Rep. Darrell Issa's "meshing of public and ...

Scripps Florida Stirs Hornets' Nest with New Hospital Plan

Back in 2003 and 2004, then-Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida seduced La Jolla's Scripps Research Institute into setting up an ...

Bar Closes Shames Investigation

The State Bar of California has closed an investigation of Michael Shames, head of Utility Consumers' Action Network. A whistleblower ...

San Diego's Parking Station Vendor hit by FBI Raid in Portland

The offices and residence of Portland, Oregon city parking manager Ellis K. McCoy were raided this week by FBI and ...

Imperial Beach To Sell Its Street Signs

Everything, every street sign in Imperial Beach that is, must go! On Wednesday, city councilmembers and the Mayor will authorize ...

Plumbing Parts Tempt Thieves

Helix Water District is warning its customers to be wary of thieves going after outdoor plumbing fixtures. Specifically, Helix is ...

Clarke Claims CIA Cover-Up of San Diego 9/11 Plotters

The Daily Beast is reporting that, in an interview for an upcoming documentary, ex-White House counterterrorism honcho Richard Clarke accuses ...

Postal Service to Slash Costs, Employees

The United States Postal Service is planning to cut 220,000 jobs, or about a third of its workforce, between now ...

"Stroller Precinct Strolls" For Nathan Fletcher

"Women for a New Generation of Leadership," is what assemblyman Nathan Fletcher's campaign is calling a coalition of female supporters. ...

B of A Settles With HUD, Hosts Modification Seminar

Last week Bank of America, one of America’s largest home loan servicers after its acquisition of Countrywide Financial in 2008, ...

Sempra and Spanos Family Gave Big Bucks to Rick Perry

Non-profit investigative journalism site California Watch is out with a list of California donors to conservative Texas governor Rick Perry's ...

SDUSD Reports Dropout Rate

According to new figures from California's Department of Education, San Francisco Unified School District was the only large district in ...

Oceanside Councilmember to Run for Mayor

In recent years, conservative Oceanside city councilmember Jerry Kern has sound himself in the middle of some pretty ugly political ...

MoveOn Rallies for Jobs

The liberal activist website MoveOn.org sponsored a series of demonstrations nationwide yesterday under the banner “Jobs Not Cuts,” including one ...

Roberts 2014 Re-election Bid Funded by North County Cash

Barely done defending his seat in 2010, county supervisor Ron Roberts spent the first six months of this year raising ...

A Candlelight Vigil in Santee

On August 22, Tracy Moe plans to return to the same Santee neighborhood where her seventeen-year -old daughter, Kelsea Lyn, ...

Jack in the Box: More Burgers, Fewer Bucks

Local fast food burger peddler Jack in the Box announced third quarter earnings today. For the company’s fiscal quarter ended ...

More Race Meets Coming to Del Mar?

There's no question that Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood is closing. Currently, a land development company waits for the right ...

OB Residents Unhappy with Increased Density

A group of about 30 local residents gathered at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center for a public meeting concerning the ...

AEG Raises Farmers Field Lobbying Ante

Earlier today, AEG, short for Anschutz Entertainment Group, got the green light from the L.A. city council to proceed with ...

San Diego Is iPad Friendly

San Diegans love the iPad and other computer tablets, at least that's what a survey conducted for the September issue ...

Platinum Equity Buys Publishing Software Maker

Platinum Equity, Beverly Hills-based private equity firm that owns the Union-Tribune, has bought Denver's Quark, a software company that revolutionized ...

Fed Comes to Market's Rescue

As expected (but in an unusual way), the Federal Reserve came to Wall Street's rescue today (Aug. 9). After the ...

Defense Contractors Look to Cash In

Locally based GreenHouse Holdings, Inc. expects to reap profits from Department of Defense cost cutting efforts. The company, described in ...

Santee Considers Backyard Chickens

On Wednesday, members of Santee's city council will ask city staff to come up with new regulations that would allow ...

"Secure Communities" Program No Longer Voluntary

Last Friday, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement announced it was terminating memorandums of understanding it had entered into with 39 ...

San Diego Does Less Bad Than Nation in Zillow Numbers

San Diego metro area home values continue to drop, but at a slower rate than the nation's, according to numbers ...

Christian Science Monitor Investigates Mojahedin-e Khalq

At left: head of MEK, Maryam-Rajavi The Christian Science Monitor is out with a lengthy investigative piece today about the ...

El Cajon Looks To Reduce Abandoned Shopping Carts

On Tuesday, El Cajon's city councilmembers and mayor will consider a new law aimed at reducing the number of abandoned ...

Bayshore Bikeway Expands

Ground broke Friday on a 1.8 mile long extension of the Bayshore Bikeway, a planned 24 mile cycling route that ...

The Talk of the Town (Car Wash) in Escondido

For nearly eight years, residents of the New Tradition subdivision in south Escondido have spoken out against a proposal to ...

For Piece of the Action, UCSD Hypes the Chargers (Updated)

It may seem like a strange alliance to some, but state-run UCSD Health System, the hospital giant expected to gross ...

Canine "Annie" Star Orphaned, Seeks Home

County Animal Services are once again looking for a home for Mocha, described as “[a] talented and friendly terrier-blend who ...

SEC Enters Hard Rock Hotel Appeal

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a friend of the court brief in favor of those suing Tarsadia Hotel, ...

U.S. Loses AAA Rating from S&P

Standard & Poor's today (Aug. 5) downgraded the rating on United States debt from the highest AAA to AA+, and ...

Novatel, Mad Catz Stocks Walloped

Two San Diego tech stocks got thumped today (Aug. 5). Shares of Novatel Wireless, maker of modems and wireless networking ...

Local Law Firm Focuses on WebMD

In a press release issued today, Robbins Umeda LLP announced it is commencing an investigation of WebMD Health Corporation. San ...

Fletcher Backer and Pot Foe Faces Uranium Cleanup Woes

At left: Cotter uranium mine The cleanup of an old uranium processing mill in Colorado owned by La Jolla-based defense ...

Sempra to Quadruple Nevada Solar Generation

San Diego-based Sempra Generation announced a 25 year deal yesterday to sell 150 megawatts of solar-generated electricity to northern California ...

Jobs Report Better Than Expected. Market Relieved

The U.S. created 117,000 jobs in July, more than the 85,000 economists expected. The Labor Department reported that the unemployment ...

Bridgepoint's Debt Ratio Staggeringly High

Education Sector, a think tank, has come up with a ratio to measure the burgeoning debt problems in higher education. ...

Stocks Plummet. Next Up: More Liquidity

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 513 or 4.31% today (Aug. 4). The Nasdaq swooned 5.08%, and the Standard & ...

County to Offer Free Whooping Cough Vaccinations

The San Diego County Health and Human Services agency is planning six clinics in the coming week to provide free ...

Uptown Residents Call for An End to Illegal Demolition

Residents in the Uptown communities of North Park, Hillcrest, University Heights, and Mission Hills have long called for increased city ...

Special Interests Raise Big Cash for "Voice of Downtown"

The Downtown San Diego Partnership, which calls itself "the Voice of Downtown" on its website, will be able to turn ...

Shopping Cart Bandits

La Mesa Police are looking for two females suspected of preying on elderly women in supermarkets. The pair are suspected ...

Chamber of Commerce Backs Pension Reform

The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, speaking on behalf of its members and also “representing over 400,000 chamber members' ...

SDPD Intelligence Hires ex-CIA Agent, Targets Somali Community

San Diego's growing community of Somali refugees and its alleged links to Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin, a revolutionary group said by ...

Brown Vetoes Paid Petitioner Restrictions

Governor Jerry Brown on Monday vetoed SB 168, which would have placed a ban on pay-per-signature petitioners. In recent months ...

SOHO Sues City Over Plaza de Panama Plan

Two weeks after San Diego's city councilmembers voted to enter into a partnership with Irwin Jacobs and his Plaza de ...

Cockfight Crackdown

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is set to pass a law limiting the number of roosters that an ...

Leap, Bridgepoint Shares Creamed

On a day (August 2) in which the overall market tanked, shares of Leap Wireless and Bridgepoint Education were among ...

Plundering Historic Plaques

Owners of historically-designated homes in Uptown are on the lookout for thieves. The thieves are not the run of the ...

"Dallas' Most Evil Genius" Funds La Jolla Super PAC

Americans for Rick Perry, the La Jolla-based independent super PAC backing the GOP Texas governor's possible presidential bid, collected a ...

Operation Tidal Wave Targets North County Gangs, Drugs

Over 250 personnel representing 21 local, state, and federal law enforcement groups joined forces on Saturday for Operation Tidal Wave. ...

No Fear Sells Out

Carlsbad-based No Fear has found buyers for both its trademarks and intellectual property and its inventory and store operations. Because ...

DeMaio Filing: $541,990 Includes $2000 from Molasky Family

GOP candidate for San Diego mayor and city councilman Carl DeMaio raised a total of $541,990 during the first half ...

Maienschein Collects $43,600 For Assembly Bid

Though new district lines aren't officially cast in stone, GOP ex-San Diego city councilman Brian Maienschein has raised $43,600 in ...

CPUC Decision Blocks Data Sharing on Consumer Energy Use

The California Public Utilities Commission last week approved rules that would prohibit utility companies from disclosing customer information gathered via ...