San Diego State University is known the world over as one of America's biggest party schools. The academic playland has made the list of Playboy's ten most sexually active campuses twice over the past decade. …

A controversial member of the administration of ousted Democratic governor Gray Davis has turned up on the payroll of the San Diego State University Foundation. Rudy Murillo -- onetime aide to ex-congressman Lionel Van Deerlin, …

As the race for San Diego city attorney heats up, termed-out incumbent Casey Gwinn has gone to bat for his protégé Leslie Devaney, who is running against civilian attorney Mike Aguirre. Gwinn has been bashing …

President George W. Bush has his fat cat Texas "Rangers," who have corralled $250,000 or more each for the Bush cause. Now presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry can claim 171 "Patriots," each of …

Creepy silence surrounds the disappearance of $1 million to the San Diego Public Library Foundation.

One of the most prominent cultural institutions of that well-heeled bastion known as La Jolla is offering free tickets to attract left-of-center patrons to a pair of plays about liberal politics. "Enjoy the benefits of …

The last time the public heard from Elena Cristiano was two years ago, when the high-flying press secretary to Mayor Dick Murphy was abruptly fired. City hall was abuzz for weeks afterward about Cristiano's mysterious …

If San Diego City Council members and other city officials haven't been seen around town using their cell phones much lately, there may be a reason. According to a raft of recently released federal wiretap …

Last year, as the invasion of Iraq wound down and President George W. Bush and his party flew into Coronado for his well-remembered "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln, county politicos rushed to …

From January 2003, when he took control of the House Armed Services Committee, Duncan Hunter seemed like a man in the right place at the perfect time. "This century is going to be a very …

Critics of all that development activity over at SeaWorld, the burgeoning amusement park on Mission Bay, have long bemoaned the cozy financial connections between owner Anheuser-Busch and many of San Diego's elected officials. Last week, …

News that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to shoehorn legalized gambling into every corner of the state doesn't come as a surprise to ex-San Diego city councilman Bruce Henderson. For years he's been predicting to …

Despite the reputedly hot market in downtown condos, sales of those pricey units atop the Omni Hotel next to the new downtown baseball stadium are coming in at a trickle. As of early this week, …

With draconian staff cuts in the San Diego Unified School District, how much mad money could be floating around? Just two weeks ago, 616 jobs were axed and hours cut for another 2000 workers. Before …

It didn't take long for the San Diego City Council to take political advantage of the campaign "friend-raising" opportunities provided by the council's exclusive luxury suite at the new taxpayer-financed baseball stadium. Under a deal …

For a while last week, San Diego's own 60-something porn star, Dave Cummings, was sweating blood. Dozens of L.A. porn companies, including the industry's largest, Vivid, shut down their sets after actors Lara Roxx and …

In a memo dated April 2, the day after an item here disclosing the existence of the city council's private luxury box at Petco Park, stadium manager Steve Shushan outlined a new official policy for …

Act I Last week's surprise departure of Neil Morgan from the Union-Tribune after 54 years as a Copley scribe was shrouded in about as much confusion and contradiction as many of the columns he authored. …

For years, members of the San Diego City Council and their pals partied hearty in the so-called City Box at Qualcomm Stadium, chowing down on free hot dogs, steaks, chicken, wine, beer, desserts, and all …

Giovanna Chesler, Assistant Professor, Purchase Price: $305,000 U.C. Mortgage: $276,450. Filmmaker, writer, and cinematographer.. Her most recent film, attempts to address issues of sexuality and beauty through a significant moment in a lesbian relationship.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, fresh from his snowboarding getaway in ritzy Ketchum, Idaho, is heading for the warmer clime of La Jolla Farms. This coming Tuesday he's set to have a fundraising luncheon …

San Diego city councilman Jim Madaffer, whose campaign fundraising practices are already being investigated by the district attorney's office in connection with those tequila-drinking hijinks at the city-owned San Diego Data Processing Corporation, has been …

In the final days before last week's San Diego city primary election, some last-minute big money was quietly delivered to incumbent mayor Dick Murphy and deputy city attorney Leslie Devaney (running to succeed her termed-out …

The Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich didn't do all that well in this week's California primary, but he did get points from some for simply showing up in San Diego, which was largely ignored by …

Last June, San Diego assemblyman Juan Vargas received a brief, if dubious, burst of fame for his role in the failure of Senate Bill 1, a financial privacy measure sponsored by Democratic senate member Jackie …

The Las Vegas city council last week finalized its million-dollar deal with Cheetahs Las Vegas strip-club owner Jack Galardi, who took over after his son Michael, the previous co-owner, copped a plea to federal bribery …

Speculation about the ultimate fate of the San Diego Union-Tribune is once again raging though the U-T newsroom, Mission Valley watering holes, and all other traditional haunts of old and new hands who've worked at …

The three San Diego city councilmen under indictment for bribery and other alleged nefarious activity in the Cheetahs strip-club scandal have been raking in the big money for their legal-defense funds from an array of …

Some residents of North County are upset about a delay in disclosure of a potentially dangerous crack in a radioactive water pipe discovered at the San Onofre nuclear-generating Unit 3 two weeks ago. The incident …

By almost any measure, UCSD's Larry Smarr is a superstar of science and technology. Hardly a week goes by, the record shows, when the onetime astrophysicist-turned-Internet-guru isn't out jetting around the country, speaking before trade …

San Diego's District Three city councilwoman Toni Atkins, who's up for reelection this year, has been picking up some interesting campaign money from out-of-town contributors. Particularly noteworthy: a series of at least nine $100 checks …

National City mayor Nick Inzunza filed an amended personal statement of economic interest after a complaint to the district attorney last fall from local government watchdog Mel Shapiro. Inzunza had failed to list a raft …

Ex-San Diego city councilman Bruce Henderson, who has already taken on two multimillionaires, Alex Spanos and John Moores, in his never-ending battle on behalf of truth, justice, and taxpayers' pocketbooks, now finds himself facing off …

It was a banner season for Chargers star running back LaDainian Tomlinson -- who makes a reported $1.75 million or so a year and could get as much as $38 million over the course of …

The year 2003 was a busy news year. But more than a few interesting developments somehow eluded that bastion of the local establishment, the Union-Tribune: The Arts San Diego Symphony president and CEO Douglas Gerhart, …

I see Asian gang cars some nights, in a long caravan down the Mira Mesa Boulevard. They meet at In-N-Out Burger before heading off for illegal street races on Kearny Villa Road or in Sorrento Valley.

A tarnished little plaque is embedded in the sidewalk at the corner of Fifth Avenue and J Street. It bears a small legend: “Shirley Bernard, Gaslamp Pioneer.” Thousands of extravagantly attired feet heading for bars, …

That strange deal locking the Union-Tribune and San Diego State University together in creating a "forum for civic engagement and journalism" is raising eyebrows among longtime observers of the city's political scene. As described by …

The Union-Tribune's Bob Kittle fired the first volley last week in what is widely expected to be the paper's rough treatment of city attorney candidate Michael Aguirre. Kittle used his position as perennial member of …

Over the past couple of weekends, the new Dr. Seuss movie, The Cat in the Hat with Mike Myers, has raked in $80 million or so, despite being labeled "an uninspired poisoned lump of eye …

When 36-year-old San Diego native and longtime Pete Wilson operative Margita Thompson was named press secretary to new Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger two weeks ago, nothing was said in local media about her father, Barnard …

For years, Helen Copley, her son David, and the other powers that be at the San Diego Union-Tribune have wanted to replace Lindbergh Field, no matter how much money it might cost, no matter how …

It's no secret that officials from many agencies of local government are cracking down on taxpayer access to public information. The latest evidence is the refusal by departing San Diego city attorney Casey Gwinn to …

Before the big fires, ex-county supervisor Jack Walsh cut brush around his mountain retreat without talking to the forest service. He ended up paying a $4000 fine ... The San Diego City Schools Police Officers …

The man who ran San Diego's vice squad during the Cheetahs undercover operation that netted this summer's indictment of three city councilmembers, along with guilty pleas from Cheetahs' owner Mike Galardi and manager John D'Intino, …

What do ex-convicts do when they get out of the joint? In the case of one famous San Diego money-laundering felon, he becomes a lobbyist for a big San Diego defense contractor angling for a …

Charles Steinberg has had a pretty good year. Until last week, the one-time Baltimore dentist and his lawyer pal Larry Lucchino were riding high on this season's storybook success of the Boston Red Sox, of …

As the clock ticked down this summer on the final campaign for Gray Davis, the embattled California governor turned to some old friends from La Jolla for some last-minute financial support. Campaign-disclosure records show that …

The late Johnny Alessio, who died five years ago at age 87, rose from shoeshine boy to czar of Tijuana's Caliente racetrack, as well as C. Arnholt Smith's bagman, friend of Richard Nixon, and border- …

Is there a cover-up in the works over the strange doings of the city of San Diego's well-connected retirement board? That's the word among some skeptics in the wake of the appointment by Mayor Dick …