Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Local Newsweek Correspondent Pleads to Chargers: "Don't Bolt!"
Most of the Fire Department's alleged call volume is totally bogus and unnecessary. The Fire Department continues to send fire engines to minor fender bender accidents where there are no injuries and the risk of fire is nil. The Fire Department also improperly dispatches fire engines to assist paramedics. In our neighorhood an elderly woman constantly calls the paramedics whenever she feels faint. The fire engine always shows up along with the paramedic van. The firefighters just stand around doing nothing while the paramedics load the women in the back of the van. I am sure there the Fire Department has many other strategies to improperly jack up the call volume in order to scare the public into believing the department is dangerously underfunded and cannot respond to emergencies. These tactics are used solely in an effort to increase the size of the department and create promotions and pay raises. The Fire Department is adequately staffed and equipped to handle legitimate emergencies. The City Council needs put the brakes on the Fire Department's inflated call volume.— September 4, 2008 8:24 p.m.
McCains Have Eight to Eleven Homes -- Two in Coronado, One in La Jolla, Says Blog
Barry Goldwater's residence was in La Jolla, off La Jolla Shores Drive. He kept a modest yacht at a marina in Point Loma. He spent most of his free time at his residence in La Jolla and only went to Arizona when it was absolutely necessary.— September 3, 2008 9:39 p.m.
Local Newsweek Correspondent Pleads to Chargers: "Don't Bolt!"
If there's a shortage of water for fire protection systems then the City should form special assessment districts to fund construction of reserve water tanks and water towers for use in fighting fires. For example, the City should form an assessment district for Scripps Ranch and force homeowners to pay for water storage tanks and other needed fire protection infrastructure. The canyons should be equipped with computer-controlled fire sprinkler systems that would quickly halt the spread of fire. The City should also form a special assessment district in Scripps Ranch to fund the fleet of fire fighting helicopters that residents demand the City buy and maintain for fires that occur only two or three times every thirty years.— September 3, 2008 9:07 p.m.
Local Newsweek Correspondent Pleads to Chargers: "Don't Bolt!"
The City should not be providing free fire protection to businesses like the Hilton. The City should bill Hilton for the costs of fighting the fire. I have no obligation as a taxpayer to provide unlimited fire protection to every clown who wants to build a high rise hotel, condo, or office building downtown. The City should levy an annual tax on owners of high rise hotels, condos, and office buildings to recoup the cost of the specialized fire fighting equipment needed to fight high rise fires, and the staffing required to operate that equipment. If the Fire Department needs $100 million to pay for staffing and new equipment the City should raise the money by taxing high rise property owners.— September 3, 2008 8:48 p.m.
Local Newsweek Correspondent Pleads to Chargers: "Don't Bolt!"
The City should force homeowners in fire prone areas to upgrade their homes and install fire protection systems. For example, the folks in Scripps Ranch should be required to install metal roofs and steel bolt-on fire proof doors and window shutters, no matter what it costs the homeowners. All eaves and roof overhangs should be also be sheathed with sheet metal. The City should also force commercial and residential property owners to install fire sprinkler systems in their properties. The City needs to do everything possible to avoid the cost of building dozens of new fire stations and hiring hundreds of additional firefighters to staff those stations.— September 2, 2008 7:10 p.m.
Union-Tribune's New Buyout Program Suggests the Company May Be Bought Out Soon, and May Be in Cash Flow Squeeze
David appears to have the option of financing his mother's estate tax liability over 14 years. At this point there appears to be no pressing need to sell the newspaper to pay taxes. Under the federal estate tax rules the first installment of estate tax is not due until the 5th year after the date of his mother's death. Then, the remaining estate tax must be paid in equal installments over the following 9 years. In exchange for the 14 year payment period, David has to pay Uncle Sam 2% interest annually on the unpaid taxes.— August 31, 2008 10:38 a.m.
Union-Tribune's New Buyout Program Suggests the Company May Be Bought Out Soon, and May Be in Cash Flow Squeeze
About a month ago I listened to a radio interview of a former LA Times executive who had recently been fired from the paper. He said that despite its problems the LA Times still has tremendous cash flow and would be extremely profitable were it not for the enormous debt load it services.— August 30, 2008 7:16 p.m.
Jack in the Box, Rubio’s, Charlotte Russe, WD-40, and Callaway Golf face a double whammy:
I remember the ecoli situation. Many investors thought Jack in the Box wouldn't survive. Don analyzed Foodmaker's financial position in his column and concluded it had enough cash to whether the storm and would survive. He was right.— August 29, 2008 5:37 p.m.
Union-Tribune's New Buyout Program Suggests the Company May Be Bought Out Soon, and May Be in Cash Flow Squeeze
Those who leave the paper would be much better off taking the lump sum and rolling it over tax-free to a self-directed IRA. While the Copley pension plan is probably insured by the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corp., employees would be lucky to receive 50% of the annuity they were promised in the event Copley goes bankrupt. It would be a fool's bet to leave that money with the company.— August 29, 2008 5:18 p.m.
Amount Moores Group Is Offering to Peregrine Victims is $55 Million; Originally, Plaintiffs Wanted Over a Billion
Moores' wife is going to clean him out financially in the divorce. He's going to have to sell assets at today's deflated prices to cash his wife out, and will likely suffer serious economic losses that he may never recover from. I doubt that Moores invested his largesse from his stock sales in conservative investments like US Treasury Bills. Not with his ego. He's probably heavily involved in esoteric and complicated financial investments of the sort hedge funds invest in, and he's likely facing large losses as a result.— August 29, 2008 4:53 p.m.