Local development giant H.G. Fenton, battling against the incursion of proposed SoccerCity into the Mission Valley real estate franchise it shares alongside burgeoning Sudberry Properties, has spent a total of $1,502,865 this year as of …
Tax dollars at play Now that termed-out San Diego county supervisor Greg Cox has become president of the National Association of Counties, insiders are on the lookout for a flood of staff junketing. The first …
With one deep-pocketed exception, local labor unions prefer city hall incumbents, whether Democrat or Republican, based on the most recent campaign expense data on file with the city clerk's office. In the hotly contested Fourth …
Though locals would be none the wiser, the Union-Tribune may soon be stripped of its best longtime talents, signaling to worried insiders that the hometown daily could be on the precipice of being subsumed into …
Leaky drones U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which surveils San Diego from the skies with costly state-of-the-art drones, is not being mindful enough of the privacy and security of the citizenry below. So concludes a …
San Diego politics, not always considered a charitable calling, has of late been the source of thousands of dollars given to some local non-profits by committees as November's election time grows near. While most campaign …
It's fall again, time for some pre-election political shenanigans from the GOP Lincoln Club. The developer-backed group, famous for its direct mail hits on local Democratic hopefuls, has returned for a round of opponent bashing, …
Payoff for play A pair of staffers for state Assembly Democrat Todd Gloria of San Diego picked up some high-dollar tickets to a glitzy Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzman concert at downtown Sacramento’s Golden 1 …
A Mission Valley mental health clinic treating federal prison inmates has been operating steps away from a talent school, exposing unknowing neighborhood children to the risk of contacts with sex offenders, says a recently released …
Since late August, more than $1.7 million has poured into the coffers of forces battling the takeover of city-owned Qualcomm Stadium by SoccerCity, a group of wealthy La Jolla investors who have a friend in …
Could San Diego State University, a bastion of the local business establishment that has carefully guarded its political and financial perogatives, be in for a housecleaning, courtesy of donations from conservative billionaire Charles Koch's foundation …
Corn-fueled junket The Midwest farm lobby, trying to counter Donald Trump’s threats to water down federal biofuel mandates, is spending big to make its point to the administration and the Republican Congress. As reported by …
If anyone is still around who thinks San Diego's future won't be determined by big business from afar, a new bout of behind-the-scenes boardroom jockeying by Union-Tribune and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong may …
Agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement aren't getting sufficient training to handle the assaults they face along the Mexican border, including the San Diego region, which the government says …
Death of an ex-U-T journalist A former Union-Tribune reporter linked to investigative websites funded by the Koch brothers and allied conservative donors has died of unannounced causes in Houston, Texas at the age of 47. …
It cost taxpayers $92.6 million to build, but at least the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Regional Crime Laboratory — said by a recently released federal audit report to have experienced extensive security breaches at …
It's been a busy political season of beer drinking, free cocktailing and glad-handing for Sixth District San Diego city councilman Chris Cate, thanks in part to a torrent of charitable cash anted up by some …
A key lobbying arm of San Diego's business establishment has taken a direct hit from a well-connected member of its board over repeated incidents of alleged endorsement hanky-panky, possibly damaging the group's longtime ability to …
Cruel and unusual lack of showers Inadequate showering at the county jail has become a target for criticism at the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, where staff has sustained complaints that unidentified guards failed to …
Adela’s big fat salary It didn’t take long for new San Diego State University president Adela de la Torre, on the job for less than a week, to collect a tidy boost to her already …
San Diego city auditor Eduardo Luna, an eleven-year veteran of rooting out scandals at what insiders assert is an increasingly dysfunctional city hall, is heading for Beverly Hills to assume a similar role in the …
To San Diego campaign watchers, Kevin Faulconer's bid to hike taxes for expanding the city's convention center while lining the pockets of his friends in the public relations industry was an obvious non-starter, though true …
Summer with Susan Davis Democratic House member Susan Davis, accustomed to partaking of free travel to exotic world locations courtesy of the Aspen Institute, stuck closer to home for her most recent all-expense-paid junket, two …
What's a termed-out city councilwoman - or at least one whose reelection eligibility is being challenged in court - to do? In the case of Second District Republican Lorie Zapf, she sets up a legal …
U-T’s bitter medicine San Diego’s Union-Tribune, beset by plunging circulation and falling advertising, is filling its pages with display ads from a controversial new sponsor closely tied to billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, who acquired the struggling …
When it comes to new San Diego city hires, filling the high-profile job of chief of police is always most contentious, with supporters and detractors emerging from the municipal woodwork to expound their opinions of …
A newly-arrived principal in a homeless consulting outfit run by the spouse of state Senate leader Toni Atkins has been told by a San Diego ethics official that work for the firm on city contracts …
Bums away Kept under wraps at city hall are punishments meted out to miscreant employees caught by complaints to the city auditor’s hotline. “An allegation regarding a City employee parking at a restaurant for extensive …
It's been a busy few months for veterans of the tumultuous San Diego Union-Tribune newsroom, which has now seen two former managing editors move into influential positions at two of America's most famous, if deeply …
Critics who have suspected San Diego city hall of being in cahoots with electric scooter interests may raise their eyebrows at an email response by mayoral staffer Almis Udrys regarding a California bill allowing scooter …
Murder at the Meridian? Downtown’s Meridian condo tower on Front Street is getting some help from San Diego cops in covering up the details of a mysterious death at the building, fueling growing speculation that …
Following disclosures here regarding cash from private prisons making its way into campaigns of both local Democrats and Republicans — and San Diego GOP mayor Kevin Faulconer's convention center tax hike bid — California Democrats …
With its main newspaper in the hands of a Los Angeles billionaire and its TV stations mostly acquired by national mega-corporations — the latest KFMB, the venerable local broadcaster taken over by Virginia-based Tegna last …
Norm’s staff omissions Seventy-five-year-old ex-Time Magazine honcho Norm Pearlstine, who took charge of the Los Angeles Times when it was finally purchased by billionaire physician Patrick Soon-Shiong last month, has handed the San Diego Union-Tribune, …
A deputy commanding general of the First Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton – an ex-Marine Corps Inspector General - has been called out for breaking ethics rules by using a female officer aide to …
The convention center expansion tax hike initiative backed by Kevin Faulconer has gotten some last-minute cash from an Airbnb-funded political committee, weeks after the San Francisco-based short-term rental outfit pronounced its satisfaction with the mayor's …
County’s nepotism An investigation by San Diego County’s Chief of Audits Juan Perez has found that certain unnamed key employees have failed to disclose their financial holdings, as required by state conflict of interest law. …
The late Democratic boss and Assembly Speaker Jesse "Big Daddy" Unruh got credit for the aphorism "Money is the mother's milk of politics" back in the 1970s, but its truth has never been more painful …
Pete Wilson grins at a homeless man sprawled near Horton Plaza mall, the downtown shopping center he muscled through city hall in the late 1970s.Wilson’s eyes never blink; the coattails of his tailored suit don’t …
Soon-Shiong’s Chargers suite Now that Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has finally secured control of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune from the Chicago newspaper chain tronc (which is said to be about …
County auditors had to do some detective work in the District Attorney's office to find a range of missing county property after they were called in to conduct a changing-of-the-guard review triggered by the departure …
On June 17, after the announcement that billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong had closed a $580 million deal to take over the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune, USC journalism professor and former Wall Street Journal …
Big contributions, bar none GEO group, the controversial private prison outfit from Boca Raton, Florida that operates a downtown lockup called the Western Region Detention Facility for the United States Marshal’s Service and the Midway …
CoreCivic, the private prison-owning giant out of Nashville, Tennessee that runs the Otay Mesa Detention Center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been drawing heat as a result of president Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, but …
While a granddaughter of a La Jolla billionaire Democrat spent a chunk of her sizable inheritance coming in third in the North County open primary to replace departing Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, a fund with …
Big Oil and gas A group of well-heeled oil companies from Texas had a mixed record of success in last week’s California primaries after spending nearly $400,000 in the Golden State on campaign hits against …
Trump lobby San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors, which voted in April to back president Donald Trump’s legal war against California sanctuary laws, is seeking to acquire more muscle for its battle to boost federal …
The newspaper dreams of Rancho Santa Fe's colorful John Lynch, one-time vice-chairman and CEO of the Union-Tribune under Republican kingpin Douglas Manchester, appear to have been shattered by the latest development in the tortured saga …
As a bitterly fought primary campaign for county supervisor finally grinds to an end, a pair of high-ranking San Diego legislative Democrats have been loading up on last-minute campaign cash from two of America’s mightiest …
The day before San Diego city councilmembers Chris Ward and Barbara Bry rolled out a sure-to-be-controversial proposal to ban so-called expanded polystyrene food and beverage containers in the city, an American plastics heavyweight weighed in …