Jamul tribe denies casino imploding
Penn National removes Hollywood sign
Marty Graham 4:24 p.m., June 20
Carlsbad news & stories
Breaking news and stories about Carlsbad, California. For event listings, blog entries, photos, and places to go in Carlsbad, visit the Carlsbad neighborhood page.
Carlsbad resident James Panther Jr. charged in stock fraud
Offshore havens include British Virgin Islands, Seychelles
The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday (May 15) charged Carlsbad’s James P. Panther Jr. (also known as Jaime or James Suqui) and three accomplices with fraudulent sale of a penny stock, usiing offshore havens in ...
We're not L.A.
But still no more burnouts in the La Costa parking lot
Every Thursday night at the La Costa Town Square shopping center, a scene from the 1950s and 60s boulevard car cruses repeats itself. Instead of slow street cruising, 200 car enthusiasts park, hang out, talk ...
Woman who sells sensual massage accused boyfriend
Defense said she fears losing her child
The defense attorney said of the accuser, “She lies.” Michael Jonathan C., 33, is now on trial, accused of assaulting his 48-year-old girlfriend two years ago. Carlsbad police arrested C. the night of March 16, ...
Meh
Lunch at Green Dragon Tavern & Museum
A year and a half ago I attended a special dining event at Green Dragon Tavern & Museum, and I’d been meaning to get back to sample from the regular menu. But, because it's all ...
Carlsbad husband claims wife got bruised in jiu jitsu class
“Rear naked choke hold”
The attorney for Juan S., 40, suggested that his wife got those bruises on her throat during her Brazilian jiu jitsu classes. Prosecutor Jared Coleman alleged that Mrs. S. was injured when her husband choked ...
Who can save San Diego's airport from drowning?
State bill pits port cities against rest of county
There is a “very real threat of sea level rise that could leave our airport literally under water,” stated Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (CA-80) in a March 30 Union Tribune commentary. Gonzalez Fletcher wants to ...
Drones invade Carlsbad flower fields
Playing cat and mouse with guards
On the morning of April 8, many of the visitors inside the Carlsbad Flower Fields were distracted, despite the flowers still being in bloom. "OMG," yelled one of teens taking a selfie with her friend ...
Two more abuse victims in Carlsbad
District paid $1.8 million to two others
In 2010 third-grade teacher from Carlsbad, Raymond Firth, pleaded guilty to fondling two of his students. In exchange for the plea, the district attorney's office agreed to drop six counts of child molestation. In 2012 ...
Don't even think about hiking there
Carlsbad's Ridgeline Trail is ok, though
The Ridgeline Trail is a highly scenic trail through native chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitat. It has inspiring views of the Batiquitos Lagoon and the Pacific beyond as it takes you along a ridge ...
You want more chicken
Carlsbad Mexican broilers — yum
Three armed guys come through the door. They’re all chunky hardbodies, wearing what look like bulletproof vests. Written across their backs, one word: PROBATION. They head for the counter. Maria, Rosana, and Carmen face them ...
Easy trail near a tough golf course in Carlsbad
Golf-course trail connects to undeveloped habitats and parklands
The Crossings at Carlsbad Golf Course was designed by Greg Nash with the preservation of habitat and the city’s trail system being an important consideration in creating a challenging course. The holes for this city-owned ...
Original Pulp Fiction manuscript found in a Carlsbad garage
I also write introductions for art books
OMG: I’m holding it in my hand. A hand-typed script movie people would kill for. I just ran across it in this rare and ancient bookshop and literati haven, in an alley off Carlsbad Village ...
In search of mom's death certificate
“I’m about to go postal.”
Longtime Carlsbad resident Jim Majeski thought he had it all worked out for when either he or his wife of 65 years passed on. Prepaid and preplanned cremation, he thought, would help ease the family’s ...
Plans for 91-year-old Carlsbad theater unclear
“This is just what we need. Another brewery.”
“Where is the historical society?” That comment appeared February 7th on the Carlsbad Locals Facebook page shortly after the news broke of the sale of the Carlsbad Village Theater. The 91-year-old downtown theater was Carlsbad’s ...
Gas-tax repeal campaign prompts motorists to drive
Cars back up for miles to queue up for Shell station's $1.99/gal. fuel
News Radio 600 KOGO held a petition-signing event on February 5 as part of afternoon talk-show host Carl DeMaio’s Reform California campaign — an attempt to roll back the new 12-cent-per-gallon gas tax and up ...
Lovejoy and McDavid plead innocence before prison
“If I had intended to shoot Mr. Mulvihill, he would be dead.”
Diana Lovejoy, 45, and codefendant Weldon K. McDavid Jr., 50, both pleaded their innocence on the day of their sentencing, January 31. Judge Sim Von Kalinowski ordered McDavid to serve 50 years to Life, and ...
Up close to vernal pools
Water's End Rail Trail in Carlsbad
The Coastal Rail Trail is projected to become a continuous path following the Coaster commuter train line from Oceanside to San Diego. As of 2017, only discontinuous segments exist. The Water’s End Trail in Carlsbad ...
How the least tern was rescued at Batiquitos Lagoon
See what restoration can do
The North Bluff Trail is on a coastal plateau at an elevation of 60 to 100 feet above sea level, overlooking the Batiquitos Lagoon. The plateau once was almost entirely covered by coastal sage scrub ...
Mountain-bikers don't want illegal trails either
Open-space protectors and riders do lap around compromise
The future of public access to the Carlsbad Highlands Ecological Reserve for the recreational set appears to be up in the air once again. After trails were closed last summer, an unofficial truce seemed to ...
Contenders list is long for Rocky's seat
New blood for North County's 76th Assembly District
Election season is heating up in coastal North County with incumbent Rocky Chávez (R-Oceanside) not running for re-election in the 76th Assembly District. He was elected to the seat in 2012. The district runs from ...
Link two trails in La Costa, get a four-mile hike
Experience different habitats on La Costa Valley and La Costa Glen trails
La Costa Valley and La Costa Glen are Carlsbad City trails that are near each other and relatively short. They are within or in close proximity to similar riparian and coastal chaparral/sage scrub habitats, but ...
Eucalyptus Trail — between backyards and Batiquitos Lagoon
Leafless does not mean dead
Start hiking up the short, steep trail through somewhat degraded coastal sage scrub habitat. If making this journey after a long rainless summer, many of the shrubs will be leafless or nearly so. They are ...
Gaze at oaks from your business park
There are scrub oaks and there are scrub oaks
The trailhead is south of the parking area, on the east side of El Fuerte. To reach it, walk about 0.1 mile up the sidewalk to the sign pointing to the trail going east. The ...
Tough to sell craft beer in Carlsbad
Failed brewery’s owner blames city, Brewery Igniter
With a September 30, 2017, Facebook post, Carlsbad’s Wiseguy Brewing Co. announced its “Last waltz,” with a photo making it clear that the Saturday would be its last in business. Brewery closures in San Diego ...
One of the Kings Men down
Car-club members remember drag-strip buddy John Scheunemann
In the 1950s and ’60s, the Kings Men Car Club of Solana Beach dominated the Southern California drag-racing scene. Most of the club’s members, at one time numbering up to 30, caught the racing bug ...
Okay, California Pacific Airlines ready again
FAA-certified, but start dates out of Carlsbad airport uncertain (psst, April)
Ninety-six-year-old Rancho Santa Fe millionaire Ted Vallas held a meeting of the stockholders and supporters of his-yet-to fly California Pacific Airlines on November 16. His announcement was the first piece of good news since 2013 ...
Lovejoy and McDavid guilty of attempted murder
Defense story was too far-fetched, says juror
After half a day of deliberations, a jury declared both Diana Jean Lovejoy, 45, and Weldon Kermit McDavid Jr., 50, guilty of the attempted murder of her husband, Greg Mulvhill, 47, during a bitter divorce ...
Case of alleged assassin and cheating wife with jury
"I believe he was aiming center mass.”
A two-defendant trial in which a Carlsbad woman is accused of hiring her gun instructor to shoot her husband after a years-long divorce battle was given to the jury to deliberate on November 9th. The ...
Case of the new-moon shooter
Did Weldon McDavid schedule shooting for the month's darkest night?
The criminal case against Diana Lovejoy, 44, and Weldon McDavid, 50, in which she is accused of hiring him to shoot her estranged husband, made another step forward late yesterday afternoon (Wednesday, October 18). Judge ...
Army and Navy Academy sex-abuse case cavalcade
Two new lawsuits against departed and incarcerated former staff
Two former cadets at the Army and Navy Academy have filed lawsuits against the Carlsbad military academy over sexual assaults they suffered by former administrators. According to its website, the academy has operated for 100 ...
Devil in details of Carlsbad divorce case
Split involved shooter in bushes and young boy
A divorce between a Carlsbad couple that began in 2014 was interrupted by gunfire more than two years later. Diana Jean Lovejoy, 44, is set to go on trial tomorrow (October 17). She has pleaded ...
The bomb diggity brisket
Campfire avoids fusion confusion
A friend in Los Angeles had the day off and wanted to cruise south to catch up over a meal, so I figured I'd meet him half way. I hopped on the Coaster in Old ...
County sees golf carts as viable future transportation
"Local jurisdictions need to allow people to use these vehicles on the roads.”
The San Diego Association of Governments has noticed a big increase throughout the county in the use of golf carts and low-speed vehicles — golf carts being two-seaters and LSVs, as they’re called, being four-seaters. ...
It's the weather, stupid
I can't imagine a single New Yorker who wouldn't rather be here.
If you read a certain misguided Food & Wine article recently, you know that San Diego's dining scene is good enough to backhanded compliment, but "not the sort of thing you travel for." To that ...
Amtrak won’t stop in Encinitas or South Carlsbad
Agreement with North County Transit District to end October 9
Encinitas and South Carlsbad will be losing Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train service. Both stations receive six daily Amtrak train stops — three northbound and three southbound. The move, effective October 9, ends a four-year “Rail-2-Rail” ...
Crowlers are changing the way we take beer home
Pint-size advantage for the nanobrewery
I recently reported that San Diego's breweries have begun favoring cans over glass bottles, but that's only half the aluminum story. The same trend has been taking hold in the way tasting rooms offer growler ...
Councilwoman Zapf dodges financial hardship
Husband's Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharged following real estate deal
Eric Zapf, husband of councilwoman Lorie Zapf, has been discharged from a Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy he filed in May of this year. In 2014, the Fourth District Court of Appeal found that Eric Zapf ...
American Vandal mockumentary of Oceanside High doesn't ring a bell
Except that Lukas Gage went to San Dieguito
Former Encinitas resident, Lukas Gage, credits his past as a local surfer with helping him land a leading role in the upcoming Netflix series, American Vandal. The eight-episode show uploads to the online network on ...
Jeffrey Barton gets maximum sentence yesterday, Aug. 8
Barton, 59, gets 48 years for molesting boy
Jeffrey Barton spoke to a judge this morning, August 7, complaining and denying for more than 30 minutes, before he was sentenced to 48 years in prison for molesting a boy in his care. “This ...
Will Carlsbad allow drinking and driving?
Aug. 22 decision on K1 Speed kart beer and wine
A group of Carlsbad residents fighting to keep K1 Speed kart racing from getting city permission to serve wine and beer to onlookers includes the teenager who holds the top scoring position nationwide for performance ...
Carlsbad beachcomber got too close to their property
Thrown to sand with metal detector
A 70-year-old Carlsbad resident said he was attacked by a stranger when he was beachcombing earlier this month. Paul, who asked that he be identified only by his first name, said he was alone the ...
Speed limits to be lowered on La Costa Avenue, Quail Gardens Drive
But increased on El Camino Real
Some major streets in Encinitas are scheduled for speed limit changes, mostly downward by five miles per hour, but some will be increased, based on a little-known California law. Last week, although some residents protested ...
There was fontina, scamorza, buffalo mozzarella, jamón serrano…
Every neighborhood deserves a gourmet Italian market
Vigilucci’s several restaurants are familiar to me, but I might never have noticed Vigilucci’s Gourmet Market except for an empty parking space I found next to its sidewalk patio. Being next door to the larger ...
Man suspected of heroin sales at Carlsbad shopping center
Attorney suggested it was just personal use
Carlsbad police arrested a man suspected of possessing heroin for sale, in the parking lot of the Carlsbad Plaza South Shopping Center in the 2500 block of El Camino Real, the early morning hours of ...
Fish and Wildlife squeeze bikers from Carlsbad's Lake Calavera
Locals told "they don’t need to experience it"
Retired firefighter Rick Minnick has been riding and hiking the trails in the open space near Carlsbad’s Lake Calavera for about 25 years now. In the early days, Minnick and his buddies were able to ...
Rancho La Costa Preserve was full of mines
Between Batiquitos Lagoon and Lake Hodges
The Rancho La Costa Preserve, located in the cities of Carlsbad and San Marcos, is a popular destination for both hikers and mountain bikers. Situated between Batiquitos Lagoon and Lake Hodges, the preserve serves as ...
San Diego County school boards — do they need training?
And should they defer to staff on matters of teaching?
The county’s grand jury put out two reports in May concerning school boards. One discusses elections and term limits while the other points to inconsistent training of both school board members and superintendents. California is ...
Visitors bend rules at Carlsbad's Flower Fields
Enforcement staff wearing dark glasses doubled
“This day (April 8) that you are here,” said Fred Clarke, “is the best absolute day of color right now.” Clarke is the general manager of The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch. “The color is ...
Try the zwiebelrostbraten
Tip Top European lunch on the cheap
“I’m going to send a lot of money here,” I thought to myself as I entered Tip Top Meats. The Eurocentric market and counter service restaurant has been operating in some form since 1967. It ...
Rouleur pedals into Carlsbad
Cycling enthusiast plans a tour de flavor in his brewery
"I'm way into cycling and way into beer," says Rawley Macias, brewer and sole proprietor of Rouleur Brewing Company, the latest craft beer maker to open in Carlsbad's budding scene. While the branding of Macias's ...
Park-starved Carlsbad wins one
Council votes for peaceful place — to be paid for by developer
The Carlsbad city council on Tuesday night (March 14) unanimously approved a settlement plan that will create a new park at the chain-link-fenced Buena Vista reservoir and will resolve a lawsuit against the city over ...
Barrio Carlsbad endures
“People stay here if they can, because it’s a walkable neighborhood with little crime.”
From the beach, walk inland up Carlsbad Village Drive. Pass the beach bungalows that rent for $4000 a month and beach mansions listed for sale at $7 million. Check out the pricey condominiums with floor-to-ceiling ...
