City Lights
Banks and companies commit massive fraud at will. Until recently, regulators have just looked the other way. Corporate lobbyists have greased the palms of politicians of both parties, who have passed legislation sheltering plutocratic thievery. …
In May 2009, councilmembers Kevin Faulconer and Todd Gloria sent a letter to Carol Schultz, executive director of Uptown Partnership, the agency responsible for increasing the parking supply, enhancing pedestrian use, and easing traffic flow …
Damon Lane County Park, two miles east of the Mount Helix summit, serves more than local residents’ needs for a peaceful commune with nature. “The park was put there,” says Jack Phillips, chair of the …
On May 4, PBS’s Frontline show interviewed a former recruiter for Ashford University, the online college that is part of San Diego’s newest corporate darling, Bridgepoint Education. She complained about the pressure to enroll students. …
It’s true: God did tilt the world on its axis, and all the nuts rolled into Southern California. Proof: entrepreneurs in Los Angeles are discussing a billion-dollar retractable-roof football stadium downtown. Not to be out-loose-screwed, …
Before dawn on the morning of SDSU’s commencement last May, James Ziegler-Kelly climbed out of his tent under a bridge in Mission Valley. He dressed, folded the tent and his sleeping bag, and loaded the …
Fore!! Callaway Golf — the big maker of golf clubs, balls, and other accoutrements — has hit an errant shot that may plunk its shareholders on the head. The blog Footnoted.org says Callaway is “taking …
Bidders at the auction of the now-dissolved James S. Copley Library, held at Sotheby’s in New York City on April 14, drove the price of a 75-word letter signed by one Button Gwinnett to a …
‘Not my responsibility’ is the answer I get wherever I turn. When a government agency incorrectly collects taxes, why will no one accept responsibility?” said Kathy Casey, as she peered through black-rimmed glasses at the …
In the financial industry, deregulation has been a disaster. So has regulation. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. In the past decade, the big Wall Street banks have concocted one highly complex swindle …
When the October 2007 Witch Creek fire, which began northeast of Ramona, advanced as far as Kim Crosser’s address in Rancho Santa Fe, there was a chance to save his home. It didn’t happen. Afterwards, …
The young and still-untamed St. Augustine supposedly said it: “Oh God, make me chaste, but not yet.” That should be the City of San Diego’s slogan. In February of 2008, independent budget analyst Andrea Tevlin, …
Those euro-zone countries get everything backward — working to live instead of living to work. That’s what we smug Americans think. Take Greece. It has promised too much too soon to its pensioners, whose average …
Chris Faust thinks San Diego Gas & Electric’s approach to installing the new, much-ballyhooed smart meters isn’t “smart.” In fact, he alleges, it’s dishonest — part of the utility’s campaign to raise rates whenever possible …
Late last October, a man claiming to represent a deaf woman began calling the Saffron Thai restaurants on India Street near Washington. The lady wanted large amounts of food for her upcoming wedding. But Saffron …
Short sellers are getting short shrift at a time they should be getting tall praise. They borrow a stock, sell it, and hope to replace the borrowed shares later at a lower price. They make …