Juan vs. Rashida Kyle Bligen, a staffer for South Bay Democratic Congressman Juan Vargas, took off September 3 on a free eight-day junket to Israel, thanks to the American Israel Education Foundation, according to a …

News that East County's Sycuan gambling tribe and an Egyptian billionaire are on the verge of bankrolling a major league soccer team in San Diego has set off a big round of huzzahs on the …

Jeff Silberman develops 87 apartments in East Village for La Jolla university A stiff price is being paid for the sprawling expansion of UCSD beyond its original boundaries; taxpayers remain largely in the dark, as …

What Twitches stays in San Diego It’s been said that San Diego media protects conventions here from getting bad ink, so it was the New York Post, the Manhattan tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, that …

The fate of traditional newspapers in San Diego appears to be on the line in more ways than one, as two North County colleges shutter their print editions and a chain of weekly county papers …

Will Cox’s Axios clobber the Union-Tribune? San Diego’s news and politics landscape may get a lot more interesting with the imminent arrival of an online outfit owned and bankrolled by Atlanta, Georgia-based Cox Enterprises, owner …

More unsettling news regarding hiring at Union-Tribune owner Patrick Soon-Shiong's array of business ventures, this time on the medical side. The Buffalo News is reporting that Soon-Shiong's ImmunityBio, Inc. will lay off 38 workers on …

Endowment of color The Reston, Virginia-based American Press Institute has jumped into the middle of November’s heated ballot battle over San Diego’s free trash pickup. The non-profit announced on September 28 that it is funding …

After getting badly burned by the 101 Street building scandal, San Diego's city council is looking to hire a real estate consultant to assist the city council's independent budget analyst to avoid such embarrassing financial …

Festival unseating The Journalism and Media Studies school at San Diego State University, widely criticized for stonewalling reporters’ questions about an alleged gang rape involving its football team, is cohosting a so-called Festival of Journalism …

A performance audit covering the period from August 2021, through last month has found that the U.S. Border Patrol, besieged by growing waves of immigration, has encountered big problems keeping track of more than a …

Influence greased On September 13, the same day the San Diego City Council rubber-stamped Democratic mayor Todd Gloria’s pick to redevelop the city-owned sports arena and environs, the chosen developer filed disclosure papers revealing it …

Championed by state Senate Democrat and drunk driver Ben Hueso, a legislative waiver signed September 13 by Governor Gavin Newsom will let alcoholic beverage makers pay to promote their wares to crowds at San Diego …

UCSD’s costly EXCITE tests It was supposed to be a genius move: take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic by offering virus testing to well-heeled private schools by the region’s biggest name in medicine. But now …

San Diego has come up significantly short against the San Francisco Bay Area regarding state funding for so-called respite family services, an August 30 report by acting California State auditor Michael Tilden says. "In fiscal …

Idyllic Spanish Village shaken by mystery stabbing “Then I heard male voices outside on the patio. I didn’t look up because I didn’t want to be noticed. The voices moved left to right. I never …

SDSU bars student fee vote A hefty hike of a “student success” fee by San Diego State University at its Imperial Valley campus has drawn scrutiny from California State University auditors, who say the school …

A wonderful life in burlesque “She told me, ‘Go over to the theater, knock on the theater door, and ask them if they need any chorus girls.’ The chorus producer came and questioned me, ‘Can …

Too Short’s Bash cut What used to be known as the Back to Session Bash changed its name to simply Bash this year, but the extravagant blowout, funded by special interests, still draws a big …

Yet another radical change may soon be in sight for one of San Diego's biggest news sources, depending on the outcome of a titanic battle in Washington, D.C. between a controversial hedge fund owner and …

It may be the dog days of summer, but San Diego's pro-Republican Lincoln Club is casting a wide net for cash with which to knock off an effort by Tiffany Boyd-Hodgson to unseat Fifth District …

Toni Atkins plays the NFL A political committee run by state Senate Democrat Toni Atkins has been spending lavishly on what is named by its semi-annual state disclosure report as fundraising. The fund, formerly known …

Fat cats’ voting scheme Proponents of an “instant runoff” voting scheme that once appeared destined for San Diego’s November ballot ultimately failed to convince the city council of its merits — despite the influence of …

When the flow of lease revenue once used by the city to maintain Mission Bay and its environs dried up during the Covid 19 pandemic, the cash wasn't replaced, leaving the one-time municipal jewel vulnerable …

Weeklies masquerading as dailies When is a daily newspaper no longer a true daily? That’s the too-close-to-home question that’s been raised by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. “Across the country, …

Whatever Ernie wants "I call it economic feudalism,” she says. Mondot contends that the successful redevelopment of the western portion of downtown, with Hahn’s Horton Plaza shopping mall as its crown jewel, was accomplished at …

Three days after a dispatch here Monday about the long-delayed naming of a permanent Chief Operating Officer by Mayor Todd Gloria, the San Diego Democrat has finally revealed his pick to run the city. The …

Does San Diego scromit? London’s tabloid The Daily Mail, which spends considerable time and ink on Britain’s royals, has a new target: San Diego pot users. “How California’s legal cannabis dream became a public health …

Last week's San Diego city council vote to hand out $15,000 hiring bonuses to cops poached from other government agencies is just the latest public money-throwing action of a costly panic over diminishing police ranks. …

San Diego Unified’s wall of stone The San Diego Unified School District’s board of trustees has been playing fast and loose with Covid-19 testing money handed out by the federal government. But despite its best …

Olaf Wieghorst trusted the wrong man Almeida got his start at George Thackeray’s gallery in the late ’50s. He and his wife Grace agreed to talk to me at their house in Ocean Beach, a …

An ex-coordinator of the San Diego County Office of Education's Pre School for All program is set to pony up a $5000 conflict-of-interest fine to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission, but one witness argues …

Late mail call As Christmas approached last fall, an upbeat account of mail handling at the U.S. Postal Service’s huge Margaret L. Sellers Processing and Distribution Center on Rancho Carmel Drive appeared on TV station …

Sometimes Child Protective Services works “When I got back to Stepping Stones from Vista Hill, I decided, ‘Okay, this is it.’ All the people there were the only friends I had. I got in drug …

Todd Gloria’s $350K public culture vulture Seeking to culture up his political future, San Diego mayor Todd Gloria is out looking for a “qualified consultant or team of consultants” to run a “comprehensive cultural planning …

ICE’s absconders Immigration and Customs Enforcement is spending $2.2 billion on a contract to make sure undocumented migrants waiting for immigration court don’t “abscond” before their legal fate is decided. But flight risk is growing, …

Digital World Acquisition Corp, a company with deep San Diego ties seeking to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group Corp in a deal valued at $1.3 billion, has disclosed in a regulatory filing that …

Why the mother of Balboa Park is the mother of us all Sure, there’s a school and park named after her, and careless admirers credit her, rightly or not, with planting any large tree growing …

Getting audit done Facing a possible torrent of negative ink over a pending audit of the city’s so-called Get It Done app, the administration of Mayor Todd Gloria has turned to the Union-Tribune to paint …

Another somber bit of news for locals hoping to see the San Diego Union-Tribune remain independent of its northern big sister, the Los Angeles Times, has come via the departure of U-T digital creative director …

After months of gossip predicting an impending shutdown, the Union-Tribune ran a house advertisement on Sunday, January 19 with a bombshell: on July 4, the U-T will skip the first print edition of its 153 …

Billionaires served One of San Diego’s most politically influential couples has had a notable run of late, thanks to a campaign contribution of nearly $100,000 from billionaire Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs and his wife Joan, …

Can a Ventura County supervisor legally use campaign money to sue a San Diego company called Dick at Your Door to force it to identify the sender of a chocolate penis during a nasty recall …

CSU San Marcos’ wayward sabbaticals California State University San Marcos has allowed its professors to take off on inadequately reviewed sabbaticals, says a March 18 audit report from California State University vice chancellor and chief …

Is an eye-popping scoop by the Los Angeles Times regarding allegations of gang rape involving five unnamed San Diego State University football players another sign that San Diego's hometown Union-Tribune is on the ropes? Labeled …

Lincoln Club’s Little Nikita money man Some of the big money players during this year’s political season have yet to play their hands, as evidenced by a committee calling itself The Community Leadership Coalition, sponsored …

Who is behind a political committee aiming to throw second place in San Diego's city council District 2 election to a Republican? The Union-Tribune isn't saying, or somehow missed the information posted on the campaign …

Deputies under cover The GOP-dominated Lincoln Club is, as always, among the big spenders this campaign season, with $16,242 spent May 16 on a mail piece on behalf of Sheriff’s office hopeful Kelly Martinez, and …

When giant Sempra Energy, which maintains one of Sacramento's biggest influence peddling operations, quietly funds a campaign group mailing out anti-lobbyist hit pieces, it must be political season. At the center of the latest political …

Editorial sex talk A Pulitzer Prize to the Union-Tribune recognizing the newspaper’s long string of exposes regarding ex-Sheriff Bill Gore’s jail deaths debacle wasn’t to be. But a controversial former editorial chief at The Evening …