News Under the Radar
Carlsbad-based self-help guru Deepak Chopra is reportedly getting paid big bucks to appear in a new series of commercials for Microsoft that attempt to rebut those long-running Apple “I’m a PC and I’m a Mac” …
Many are predicting that next year’s state budget deficit will grow to $7 billion, but that hasn’t stopped the University of California from its habit of handing out big salaries to high-ranking executives. At their …
The battle between pro– and anti–gay-marriage forces continues. Among the latest to back Proposition 8, the proposed statewide ban on gay marriages, is Robert Bolingbroke of Rancho Santa Fe, who recently kicked in $25,000. The …
The 1990 Gulfstream IV executive jet owned by David Copley's once-proud Copley Newspaper chain, which is still trying to unload the Union-Tribune, is on the block. The luxurious aircraft — used by Copley to transport …
Democrat Lori Saldaña is busy campaigning for reelection to her third term in the state assembly, representing the 76th District, which covers such San Diego neighborhoods as Point Loma, Pacific Beach, and Clairemont. With GOP …
As a result of gerrymandering by the state legislature, San Diego’s congressional incumbents don’t have much to fear in their quest for reelection this fall. Democrats Susan Davis and Bob Filner, along with Republicans Brian …
La Jolla–based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., owned by La Jolla millionaires Linden and Neal Blue, has made millions of dollars on its best-known product, the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, which has seen service over …
When word broke two weeks ago that GOP presidential nominee John McCain had picked Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, among the few San Diegans to have actually met her was a small …
Just how ideologically polarized is San Diego’s state legislative delegation? Pretty much, judging from a recently released scorecard of how legislators voted on a series of critical bills. But some are more absolute than others. …
Late summer has been a busy fund-raising time for opponents and advocates of Proposition 8, the measure on November’s ballot to ban gay marriage in California. And, in what has become a regular theme of …
One of La Jolla’s most august and well-heeled institutions is throwing a fund-raising party inspired by the classic 1970s porno movie, Debbie Does Dallas. A flyer for the September 6 bash, “Debbie Does Disco,” put …
Where did San Diego’s most prominent political givers place their bets during this year’s California primary? Padres owner John Moores gave $15,000 to the ill-fated “Yes on Prop 93” campaign to loosen up legislative term …
Another top executive at utility behemoth Sempra Energy has given big money to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California. On August 1, Darcel Hulse contributed $5000 to the ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8 …
With the Union-Tribune up for sale, executives are rushing to clear the decks of as many unwanted encumbrances as possible. At least one is apparently now history, after a federal judge late last month dismissed …
The Gill Action Fund, a political arm of the Colorado-based Gill Foundation, which recently named ex–Jerry Sanders PR aide Fred Sainz its director of communications, gave $250,000 to the No on Prop 8 campaign last …
Sempra Energy, lobbying hard to build that controversial power line across Anza-Borrego state park, has taken its battle to the stomachs of legislators and their staffers. According to the company’s latest lobbyist disclosure statement, filed …