As the role of police labor unions has come under increasing scrutiny in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the financial means by which the organizations wield power and influence comes under the …
June 12, 2020
Latest News & Stories
Gonzalez leads legislative pack in cop union cash
Ted Kooser: where poetry meets insurance sales
Selecting a Reader First, I would have her be beautiful, and walking carefully up on my poetry at the loneliest moment of an afternoon, her hair still damp at the neck from washing it. She …
June 12, 2020
Claude Sautet: melodramatic throwback
It’s been almost four decades since Romy Schneider’s career was cut short by cardiac arrest at the unripe age of 43. Schneider made her acting debut when she was 15, and during her time spent …
June 12, 2020
George Spencer: pious relative to Winston Churchill and Princess Diana
Ignatius of St. Paul (George Spencer) What right then, thought I, had Luther and his companions to set themselves against the united voice of the Church? I saw that he rebelled against the authority of …
June 12, 2020
Beer tasting rooms are back, but are taster flights history?
Effective tomorrow, Friday, June 12, bars are allowed to re-open in San Diego County, which means brewery taprooms can pour beers again, regardless of whether they serve food. However, beer fans should expect a few …
June 11, 2020
Popular music is untrue and inauthentic
I’ve been sitting in on some voice lessons at the studio of a good friend. In the course of the conversation between lessons, the topic of sports performance came up, and then we realized the …
June 11, 2020
La Mesa stays strong at Farmer’s Table
La Mesa, six in the evening. This is 48 hours after “the events.” People are still cleaning up, boarding up, cheering each other up. After the human tsunami that swept through downtown La Mesa, it’s …
The King of Staten Island: after the disaster
The real Scott Davidson, Pete’s father, was a New York firefighter and first-responder who died in 2001 when the World Trade Center collapsed around him. Anyone familiar with his son’s Comedy Central appearances knows how …
June 11, 2020
Rules for a cuddle party
Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, Lyla Jett says she moved to San Diego in 2017 to expand her musical opportunities. She’s gone on to perform at local venues such as the Music Box, Sea World’s Seven …
June 11, 2020
Virgin and child, with Kathryn Hatmaker on violin
The delicate, and little practiced art of hooking up musicians with paintings, doesn’t occur to a lot of people. But to Kathryn Hatmaker, San Diego violinist as well as artistic director for the Art of …
June 11, 2020
LP and the Vinyl: Leonard Patton meets the Danny Green Quartet
“We were strongly encouraged to come up with a band name,” says singer Leonard Patton, discussing the new cooperative group he formed with Danny Green, Justin Grinnell and Julien Cantelm, who dropped their debut album …
June 11, 2020
Joe Ditler’s great white shark encounter
“WARNING. Shark sighted. Enter at your own risk.” A silhouette of a shark drives home the point. It’s a yellow sign planted in the sand at Center Beach, Coronado, near the lifeguard tower. “Lifeguards decided …
June 10, 2020
A San Diego dumpster diver's honor
“We’re a wasteful country. A study by the USDA from 1997, but still in wide use, reports that ‘5.4 billion pounds of food were lost at the retail level in 1995.’ The ‘retail level’ applies …
June 10, 2020
Tennessee ambulance company hires Clay and Mercury to hustle San Diego pols
Lobbyist chasers A big-money battle over who will be San Diego’s next ambulance and paramedic service has heated up with the hiring of downtown super-lobbyist Clay Company by Knoxville, Tennessee-based Priority Ambulance, per a May …
June 10, 2020
Electrocute the sewage with Dan Hendrickson
Dan Hendrickson wants to save IB, and TJ. If they’ll let him. He’s talking about the ages-old problem of Mexican sewage overwhelming treatment plants on both sides of the border. Politicians have been throwing money …
June 10, 2020