The lucrative business of peddling city hall influence has never been busier, according to a recently released tally of lobbyist activity by San Diego’s ethics commission. “During the 2013 calendar year, 69 lobbying firms and …

More questions involving relatives and conflict of interest have arisen at the San Diego Unified Port District, but attorneys for the state's political watchdog, asked for their opinion by port lawyer William McMinn, say the …

The late pop superstar Michael Jackson, celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, and U-T San Diego publisher Douglas Manchester don't appear to have that much in common. Now, however, they share a famous source of cash — …

Yet another San Diego politico is set to head off for a free fact-finding trip to Israel, thanks to the American Israel Education Foundation, an offshoot of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, also known …

It's been a remarkable week for San Diego media watchers, with KNSD TV taking on Douglas Manchester's U-T San Diego over its editorial coverage of GOP ex–city councilman Carl DeMaio's bid to unseat incumbent Democratic …

Tom Ham was the god of good times.

UCSD is looking for a new chief for its Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies. “The Director will design, plan and execute a strategic vision for the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies,” says a recent online job notice, …

Former first lady Hillary Clinton has a long-term relationship with San Diego. Back in the 1990s, when husband Bill was president, she spent leisure time with him hanging around with Democratic donor and Hotel del …

Ex–city councilman and former weekly newspaper owner Jim Madaffer has turned to a new trade. According to an October 10 lobbyist disclosure statement filed at city hall, he’s now peddling influence for real estate developer …

Word that the FBI has entered the case of Republican congressional candidate Carl DeMaio versus a talkative former staffer, as reported by NBC affiliate KNSD here, may mean an interesting post-election period for both GOP …

How safe from nuclear smugglers is San Diego's border with Mexico? Not enough, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which has released a censored version of a report to Congress. The document, entitled "Combating …

The departure of Bill Fulton as city planning director at the end of August was taken as a given by a host of San Diego inside political watchers. The renowned land-use expert, author of the …

In the midst of the international panic spawned by the Ebola epidemic, it’s hard to tell what is going on at the top of America's biological warfare pyramid and whether it is having any effect …

Democratic Assembly speaker Toni Atkins has been getting plenty of special-interest love from local car dealers of late. The New Car Dealers of San Diego kicked in $4100 to her reelection campaign on September 23. …

UCSD has hired its very first “vice chancellor and chief financial officer,” according to an October 6 message from chancellor Pradeep Khosla, and the new employee is from Canada. Pierre Ouillet, formerly vice president of …

The real-estate development business is booming in Mission Valley, at least on paper. U-T San Diego publisher Douglas Manchester is leading the way with plans to build 200 residential units in the parking lot of …

After July’s demise of San Diego Unified Port District honcho Wayne Darbeau at the hands of waterfront developer Douglas Manchester’s U-T San Diego, port officials apparently aren’t taking any more chances. Though he denied wrongdoing, …

GOP mayor Kevin Faulconer has taken a quiet step toward privatizing the sell-off of "surplus" city real estate, which a U-T San Diego columnist recently estimated could be worth a billion dollars. "The City has …

The death of Charles Hostler, a longtime contributor to the financial wellbeing of San Diego State University, has been marked by tributes at the highest levels there. “Charles Hostler was a visionary and a true …

As the U.S. military readies 4000 troops to deal with the growing emergence of the Ebola virus in West Africa, a little-known biosecurity lab on Point Loma could find itself playing a key role in …

U-T San Diego’s publisher Douglas Manchester, known as “Papa” whenever the paper writes about him, has decided to downsize his proposal to build residential units next to the U-T’s Mission Valley headquarters. The new 200-unit …

Democrat Fabian Nuñez — the San Diego born-and-bred ex-speaker of the California Assembly who obtained an abbreviated prison term for his son by being friends with GOP governor Arnold Schwarzenegger — has come up with …

The San Diego Unified Port District is reporting yet more dinner freebies for its board and executives. According to a July 11 disclosure only recently posted online, commissioners Marshall Merrifield and Bob Nelson, along with …

Jerry Brown may have sworn off political cash from Pacific Gas and Electric, but one high-flying San Diego ex-legislator is doubling down with the giant Northern California utility's money. The Democratic governor's reelection campaign reported …

Irwin Jacobs, the Democratic La Jolla billionaire who founded Qualcomm, is in the thick of the battle over California's school chief with a $4000 contribution on October 2 to the campaign of charter school advocate …

In January 2013, Douglas Manchester cut a deal with the City of San Diego to remedy years of permit violations at his Grand Del Mar resort, which included illegal grading and destroying natural habitat. In …

A tightly held audit report by the Defense Department's Office of Inspector General says that the Air Force did not properly justify the planned acquisition of 401 so-called Reaper drones costing an estimated $76.8 billion. …

A political action committee going by the name of Team Republicans for Utilizing Sensible Tactics (TRUST) picked up a $5000 contribution from San Diego chip-making giant Qualcomm’s PAC on August 22. Other major givers to …

Dry ice and flying don’t mix. That’s the word from Los Angeles, where two ex-airport workers were each sentenced to three years’ probation and 480 hours of community service for setting off dry-ice bombs at …

September has been a tough month for layoffs in San Diego, according to an online bulletin posted by the state’s Employment Development Department. The biggest unemployment numbers were generated Microsoft-owned Nokia, with 378 permanent layoffs. …

San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer had a grand time in Washington DC with the local chamber of commerce, fellow politicos, and the nation's infrastructure lobby earlier this month, based on an official itinerary of the …

It's almost election time, usually the season Douglas Manchester opens his checkbook wide for favored GOP causes. As if not to disappoint, the mega-millionaire developer and U-T San Diego publisher came up with $25,000 for …

How much did it cost to stage this year's Sun God, the annual drug and alcohol-plagued rock festival at the center of an ongoing internal controversy at UCSD over the May 17 drug overdose death …

At first glance, stranger bedfellows couldn’t be had than ex-San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, the voluble Democratic ex-Assembly speaker, and Kevin Faulconer, the former public relations diva who is San Diego's GOP mayor. But in …

It’s nothing compared to the thousands of dollars of special-interest money spent by San Diego congresswoman Susan Davis on junketeering over the years, but the office of fellow Democratic House member Juan Vargas has also …

Some subscribers to U-T San Diego, the daily newspaper and website operation run by Republican kingpin and hotel developer Doug Manchester, recently received an unsettling reassurance. Customers using the so-called EasyPay service of automatic credit-card …

The San Diego Lincoln Club, locally famous for its takedown of Republican-turned-Democrat Nathan Fletcher during last November’s mayoral primary, has gotten involved in a campaign with lesser stakes but greater apparent spirituality. On September 8, …

Word that San Diego financier and philanthropist Malin Burnham is organizing a bid to take over U-T San Diego through a nonprofit corporation, as reported here Saturday, has local politicos and participants in the city's …

Downtown financier and philanthropist Malin Burnham has confirmed that he is organizing a nonprofit corporation to take over U-T San Diego, the city’s daily newspaper and website, as first reported here earlier this week by …

It may have taken a bit longer than expected, but taxpayer-funded UCSD has finally launched a national search for another pricey vice chancellor of "equity, diversity, and inclusion." "The desired outcome of these efforts," according …

The for-profit University of Phoenix has been taking its lumps of late, but not with the San Diego Unified Port District, which has a deal to promote the controversial school among its employees, according to …

The Sycuan Indian tribe, which runs an East County casino and also owns two downtown hotels, has turned up as a contributor to the GOP Lincoln Club — waging political war on behalf of downtown …

Criminal defense attorney Bob Brewer of Del Mar, who ran a lackluster campaign against Republican District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis this spring, has finally folded his campaign committee. A disclosure statement filed with the county Registrar …

Democratic state senator Ben Hueso, busted for drunk driving after a well-publicized bender on a capitol balcony during which he was photographed by fellow Latino Caucus legislator Lorena Gonzalez, is perhaps not a surprising magnet …

The May 17 drug-overdose death of UCSD undergraduate computer-science student Ricardo "Ricky" Ambriz continues to quietly shake the foundations of UCSD, with administrators in a behind-the-scenes struggle over the fate of the Sun God Festival, …

San Diego Democrat Susan Davis, traditionally the county's top junketeering member of Congress, has not disappointed this summer. In the past, the Kensington resident has been off to Vienna, Tokyo, Barcelona, Canada's Whistler Resort in …

“If one vice doesn't work, try another” appears to be the motto of the Del Mar fair board, the gubernatorially appointed body that runs the state's 22nd District Agricultural Association. After years of dismal financial …

How certain is UCSD that its employees and volunteers aren't ex-convicts? Not as sure as it should be, according to a report by the school's audit and management services department critical of lapses in university …

Twitter addicts now have their very own job description. That’s the word at UCSD’s Rady School of Management, which is looking for a social-media director. Applicants must have “experience thinking creatively to identify topics for …

The top contributor to Republican Darrell Issa’s reelection committee this campaign cycle is internet search giant Google, Inc., with $22,145. Next is the Washington law and lobbying firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, …