Republican North County congressman Darrell Issa today (January 10) announced that he will be retiring from his post in the 49th District this fall. The publication Politico called Issa’s move “the latest sign of a …
January 10, 2018
Back to profile
Stories by Don Bauder
North County congressman Issa to retire
The KKK peaked in San Diego in the 1920s
Some San Diegans joined the Ku Klux Klan to better their careers.
January 10, 2018
Do you really aspire to live in Rancho Santa Fe?
Timothy Chey, a Harvard business school grad, lawyer, and film producer, writer, and director of faith-based productions (David and Goliath, Suing the Devil) is suing the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation, its executive director Christy Wilson, …
January 6, 2018
Escondido accountant on probation
Donald Paul Jones, an Escondido accountant, has been put on probation for three years and suspended from practice for 45 days. The California Board of Accountancy announced the decision December 28 of last year. Jones …
January 4, 2018
San Onofre 2050: Tide’s in, nukes out
Edison’s greedy-risky radioactive waste burial plan at coast.
January 3, 2018
Fear of fire penalties belts Edison, PG&E stocks
Fear of fire losses has belted stocks of Pacific Gas & Electric, vulnerable to penalties due to the Northern California fires, and Edison International, which could be hurt financially by the Southern California fires. Stock …
January 2, 2018
Local unemployment keeps dropping
San Diego County non-farm unemployment dropped to 3.3 percent in November from a revised 3.7 percent in October and 4.3 percent a year ago. The big gainer was retail employment, a seasonal phenomenon. Retail employment …
December 25, 2017
San Diego's Merrill Lynch whacked
The mammoth brokerage Merrill Lynch, a unit of Bank of America, was slapped yesterday (December 21) with several charges of money laundering by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm was given cease-and-desist orders by …
December 22, 2017
Cop-whacked at an anti-Trump rally
Marco Amaral has filed suit in federal court, saying he was beaten up by San Diego cops when he shouted at four police officers thrashing a protester at an anti-Trump rally. Amaral filed the suit …
December 21, 2017
Ace Parking sued for printing TMI on receipts
A putative class-action suit was filed against Ace Parking Management on December 1 in federal court. Joseph Samo, and potentially others, get Ace credit and debit card receipts that give too much information, "subjecting them …
December 21, 2017
A crystal-ball view into San Diego’s 2018 economy
Despite labor shortage, San Diego is due for a good 2018.
December 20, 2017
Not on board: Conrad Prebys's live-in lover
The late real estate billionaire Conrad Prebys gave more than $300 million to San Diego nonprofits. Thus, the Prebys name is all over San Diego. Laurie Anne Victoria, his longtime second-in-command, was named trustee of …
December 15, 2017
Call him Dr. Kickback
Beverly Hills radiologist Ronald Grusd was convicted by a federal San Diego jury December 12th of paying kickbacks to get patient referrals from many clinics in San Diego and Imperial Counties. With the referrals, he …
December 15, 2017
Edison's San Onofre panel ejects voice of reason
Southern California Edison has a panel in San Juan Capistrano that is supposed to give balanced information on the controversial plan to bury nuclear waste near the ocean at the site of the shuttered San …
December 15, 2017
College Spanish teachers sue for hostility and more
Three Spanish-language instructors at the San Diego Community College District filed suit Tuesday (December 12) against the institution and two faculty members for civil rights violations, retaliation, hostile work environment, and other alleged infractions. The …
December 14, 2017
Navy contractor sued over big-money shell game
Back in August, Alfredo Liburd, chief executive of San Diego–based defense contractor NevWest, pleaded guilty in federal court to aiding and abetting Navy port engineer John Nasshan, who improperly administered projects in which he had …
December 14, 2017
Kill your boyfriend, go to jail
Twenty-seven-year-old David Enrique Meza of Imperial Beach was sentenced in federal court to life in prison today (December 11th). He had fatally stabbed and nearly decapitated Texas retiree Jake Clyde Merendino on May 2, 2015, …
December 11, 2017
In search of state utilities commission's jugular...
San Diego attorneys Mike Aguirre and Maria Severson yesterday (December 7) wrote a letter to both houses of the state legislature, asking them to convene a joint select committee to investigate the California Public Utilities …
December 8, 2017
Otay motherlode: pounds of heroin, coke, fentanyl...
Oscar Vasquez-Alamilla, a Spring Valley resident, pleaded guilty in federal court today (December 7th) to smuggling narcotics through the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. He was using the Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Response Inspection, …
December 7, 2017
San Diego less vulnerable to, but not free of, fracking
Fracking is hydraulic fracturing, or horizontal shooting of water, sand, and chemicals into shale to bring up oil and gas. However, people complain of loud equipment, stealing of water, and widespread pollution through use of …
December 6, 2017
Ready to pay for the Raiders' Vegas stadium?
The Senate and House have passed their own versions of new tax legislation, and now they must reconcile their differences in a conference committee. Wisely, the House version eliminates federal bond subsidies for pro sports …
December 5, 2017
Mass layoff or furlough? Union, NASSCO differ
According to the website of the California Employment Development Department, employers should give a 60-day notice to employees and their representatives in advance of a "plant closing or mass layoff." The notices are in the …
December 3, 2017
Qualcomm's takeover-thwarting strategy
In the fall of 2016, the boards of Qualcomm and NXP Semiconductors agreed to merge the companies. It looked like a good deal all around: NXP is the biggest automotive chipmaker, providing diversification to Qualcomm, …
December 2, 2017
Junior Theatre reformer sues city
Matt Valenti, who has been battling San Diego Junior Theatre board over laxity in sex-with-minors incidents, filed suit in Superior Court this month to force the city to turn over documents he requested long ago. …
December 2, 2017
"Reform by red tape" slowing H-1B sharply
As H-1B reform bills, such as one sponsored by North County Representative Darrell Issa, work their way through Congress, the bureaucracy is slowing the process sharply. For years, foreign technical workers have gotten visas to …
November 30, 2017
Shocker! CPUC unanimously thumbs down SDG&E
After a battle that has gone on for a decade, the California Public Utilities Commission today (November 30) stunned observers by unanimously declaring that San Diego Gas & Electric cannot pass along to ratepayers $379 …
November 30, 2017
Ouch: 40 percent spent on rent
In this years's third quarter, San Diego County residents spent 42 percent of their income on rents, up from 34.7 percent in the 1985–2000 pre-bubble years, according to zillow.com. Nationwide, rents took up 29.1 percent …
November 30, 2017
Car won from casino still undelivered
Merida Manipoun filed suit in federal court November 16, claiming that she won a $134,000 Aston Martin Vantage GT in a drawing at Viejas Casino. The contest was arranged so that those who plunked the …
November 23, 2017
Accused of shooting up fentanyl on the job
Following up recent news of UCSD physician John Peter Serra pleading guilty to criminal charges, another staff doctor is in trouble. The Medical Board of California has filed an accusation against Bradley Glenn Hay, M.D., …
November 23, 2017
If there’s a vote on San Diego's convention center...
There is a new breeze blowing through the San Diego Convention Center Corporation. Unfortunately, it smells much like the last one. Since 2009, I have been interviewing Heywood Sanders, the Texas-based university professor who is …
November 22, 2017
Congresswoman claims a Filner groping (years ago)
Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado congresswoman, told the Denver Post and MSNBC today (November 20) that former San Diego mayor Bob Filner tried to grope her in an elevator. Both were in Congress at the …
November 20, 2017
Senator's bill to stave off utilities' rape of ratepayers?
Ten years ago, fires swept San Diego County. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) and an investigative body of the California Public Utilities Commission agreed that San Diego Gas & Electric's …
November 20, 2017
Report: Bridgepoint and Arizona colluded for GI Bill funds
The Phoenix New Times, reporting on an investigation by the Chronicle of Higher Education, says that controversial for-profit education firm known as Bridgepoint Education colluded with officials in Arizona to get GI Bill funds that …
November 17, 2017
County unemployment falls, jobs gain
San Diego County unemployment fell to 3.7 percent in October from an adjusted 4.1 percent in September and 4.7 percent from a year ago. Non-farm jobs rose by 13,800 in the month. More than half …
November 17, 2017
Cory Briggs sues Navy, Edison, SDG&E, Dept. of Defense
Environmental lawyer Cory Briggs, working for consumer protection group Public Watchdogs, today (November 16) filed suit against the United States Department of Defense, the Navy, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric over …
November 16, 2017
UCSD doctor guilty of attempted criminal threats
Dr. John Peter Serra pleaded guilty October 18 to attempted making of criminal threats, according to the district attorney's office. He was tried in Superior Court by judge Polly Shamoon. According to a document attached …
November 16, 2017
Qualcomm surely worth more than $70 a share
San Diego-based telecom giant Qualcomm will not take the $70 per share offer of Broadcom Ltd., offered last week. However, large institutional investors may want Qualcomm to accept $80, according to TheStreet.com The total bid, …
November 14, 2017
Disposal of nuclear waste: think Camp Pendleton
Ray Lutz of Citizens' Oversight has published a new study suggesting that nuclear waste should possibly be disposed of locally, with each state responsible for its own spent fuel. Lutz says moving the waste long …
November 9, 2017
Community Choice Energy programs gaining popularity
For a decade and a half, California’s investor-owned utilities — Sempra Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and Edison International — have controlled their purported regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission. Legally, it should be …
November 8, 2017
Dead dad's Social Security benefits bilked
Abel Jose Perez was sentenced yesterday (November 6) to a year and a day in prison for cashing in his father's Social Security benefits after he died. Perez raked in $271,925.60 after his father's death …
November 7, 2017
Broadcom plots $100 billion bid for Qualcomm
Broadcom, perhaps as early as Monday, is planning to make a $100 billion bid for San Diego-based Qualcomm, which has been having troubles and knock-down fights with its big customer, Apple, this year. Before rumors …
November 3, 2017
Get nervous, team-owning robber barons
The tax bill proposed by the House of Representatives Thursday (October 2nd) has one great feature: it would end the use of tax-exempt bonds issued to construct professional sports stadiums. The Joint Committee on Taxation …
November 3, 2017
Dad embezzled $275,000 from Disney ship
Renan Dias Da Rocha Gomes, a citizen of Brazil, was arraigned in federal court yesterday (October 30) on a charge of embezzling $275,000 from the Walt Disney Company. He was a host in merchandise stores …
October 31, 2017
Where's Cuba? The beverage company. Where?
On March 27 of this year, an alleged San Diego enterprise, Cuba Beverage Company, announced that it was launching its "new all-natural alkaline spring water." Said the company's chief executive, Alex Procopio, "With the launch …
October 26, 2017
Kratomystic enhancers sold from Mission Gorge mailbox
Feeling feebleminded? Take a smart pill. For more than 60 years, I thought smart pills were a joke, as in, “Darn! I forgot to take my smart pills today.” Only lately did I realize there …
October 25, 2017
Jobs-dropping September in San Diego County
The unemployment rate in San Diego County in September was 4.1 percent, down from a revised 4.7 percent in August and down from 4.6 percent a year ago, according to the California Employment Development Department. …
October 20, 2017
Tackled in the stands at Qualcomm
A football tackle can be a thrilling thing to see, but not in the stands when the police are tackling a fan, says a suit filed in federal court October 16. Jason Walker is suing …
October 19, 2017
Dr. Lizerbram heading prestigious Jewish fund
Dr. Sol Lizerbram this fall takes over as president of the Jewish National Fund — the first person west of the Mississippi River to attain that post. The fund raises money to help Israel. He …
October 16, 2017
So, Monster won't be coming for Starship Snacks?
Two San Diegans, Lisa Bershan and Barry B. Schwartz, have been charged with a stock fraud that can only be called outrageous. On Wednesday (October 11) in federal court in the Southern District of New …
October 13, 2017
Don’t expect Florida and Caribbean tourists to flock west
Can San Diego and other West Coast metro areas make money because of the hurricane-prone eastern U.S. and the Caribbean? Florida and Caribbean islands are tourist havens. Now some of those areas lie in ruins …
October 11, 2017