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
The casino's been built — Jamul is still fighting it
A few things that come to mind in reading this piece and the voluminous comments in no particular order: You can describe Jamul in many ways, but "beautiful" has never been the case. Rocky, rugged, brushy--those are words that come to mind. But I'll concede that many of its residents must find some beauty there, which explains their dedication to stopping the casino. The situation with the highway is very much like what happened when Pala and Pauma went in, with access off I-15 on Highway 76. It was a 1930's, at best, piece of highway that has 20 mph curves and a roller coaster profile past some dairies that are no longer active. Designed for low speed access by limited amounts of traffic, it was and still is a disaster when all the casino traffic hits it. How different is that than the situation on 94? That highway is of an old design, not meant for heavy use, and not to serve an urban area. Mike Casinelli will, I think, find the description of him as in his late 50's or early 60's rather amusing, maybe a bit flattering. I know him, and he's always been a reasonable guy in my estimation.— February 4, 2018 5:33 p.m.
The ol' annual Super Bowl shakedown
I had a strong hunch you meant "police." But then, that is more outrageous than just some polite young folks, most of them attractive young women. I can only assume the local cops love this, because they are all called out for the game, and many are getting overtime at three times the regular rate of pay.— February 4, 2018 4:28 p.m.
The ol' annual Super Bowl shakedown
These examples are just a recitation of the abuse the NFL heaps on its "host" cities, as the cities beg for more. Really makes you wonder, doesn't it? The "honor" of hosting the Super Bowl is nothing a rational city government would ever bring upon itself. But who says those NFL cities behave rationally? San Diego is now going through the withdrawal pangs of a city that lost its team, and some folks will never recover. Oh, BTW, did you mean polite escorts for the billionaire team owners, or "police" escorts? The latter is as likely as the former. What better fanfare for a team owner than to have squad cars escort his limo to the stadium, and have uniformed cops walk him and his entourage to his seats?— February 4, 2018 3:31 p.m.
New SDSU president withheld email from investigators
That makes sense. If there was any chance that the mascot would survive this round of criticism, it is gone now.— February 2, 2018 10:17 a.m.
Green-haired Black Mountain residents file lawsuit
This is an odd one. I'm wondering if the development decided to avoid the costs of hooking up to an established water district. If so, that would mean drilling well(s), and then using the well water to serve the residents. While I claim no knowledge of how that would work, I think it would make this shared water system into something like a water district. So, if the well water were contaminated, it could corrode pipes for sure. With no special knowledge of the situation of these people, I can guess that they could easily be suffering with poor-quality water. I have an acquaintance who has a home not far away, east of Fairbanks. In the water woes times about four years ago, he had a well drilled on his property. He had no intention of using the well water for household purposes; it was just for irrigation. The well found plenty of water, but it was loaded with iron. So, to use the well water, it had to be treated, and so he had a reverse osmosis purifier put in, at considerable cost. Iron and copper can engage in an electrolytic reaction called a single-replacement, where one replaces the other. With just a little knowledge of that reaction, I'd think it could be due to a process that replaces copper with iron in the plumbing, corroding the copper pipe and loading the water with copper. If that's what is happening, it is nasty and the plaintiffs deserve some relief.— February 1, 2018 8:17 p.m.
Lovejoy and McDavid plead innocence before prison
Those motions were to be expected, and as expected the judge denied all of them. Her protests were too little and too late, as the judge pointed out. So, the court was treated to the usual claims of innocence. As to an appeal, it might succeed, although few do. If one or both manages to get a reversal, the DA should retry the case. These excuses just don't wash. McDavid claims that he was such a good shot that if he'd been trying to kill he would have. In the dark, and especially with a light pointing at him, his aim could easily have been off. But the bigger matter is just why he would lure the victim out into the dark countryside and then meet him armed with a rifle. Oh, that was for self-protection. They must think people are utter fools. A few might buy that story, but the jury sure didn't. Stupid, stupid, stupid.— February 1, 2018 4:49 p.m.
New SDSU president withheld email from investigators
Today's (2/1/18) U-T has a story on this new president at the top of the front page. The byline is of Gary Robbins, and it's so nice to see the free press hard at work. There is no mention of this scandal at UC Davis anywhere in the piece! It is full of rah-rah comments from here and there. Adam Day, San Diego's sole member of the CSU board of trustees raves about her qualifications. I must remind readers that Adam Day is the son of the notorious Tom Day who served as SDSU president for many years. He was beloved by few stakeholders in that university, and was finally pushed out to pasture due to his abrasive style and accumulated grievances.— February 1, 2018 7:35 a.m.
tronc to San Diego: drop dead?
tronc now will know, and block your backdoor access. Thanks for nuthin'. Just kidding of course.— January 31, 2018 8:41 p.m.
Proposed settlement will cost SDG&E, Edison $873 million
Sad, but there's another interpretation of all this. Maybe Mike and Maria sold us all out for $5 million. And with what we know at this moment, that doesn't seem all that unreasonable picture of events. Let's hear what they have to say about this before condemning the deal. But let's make all the feet are held to the fire.— January 31, 2018 8:35 p.m.
New SDSU president withheld email from investigators
No, no, Matt, say it ain't so! This woman at the center of a campus scandal at UC Davis that involved cronyism/nepotism and poor judgment on the part of the chancellor (campus CEO) is now going to be the new president of SDSU. She was the subject of an "investigation" that involved her salary and other improprieties, and was part of the scandal that resulted in the firing of Linda Katehi, excuse me, her "stepping down." That was one of the nastiest such events in UC history, and De la Torre skated clear of it all with her magnificent salary intact. Now the CSU system is hiring her to run SDSU? I'm (almost) speechless. That campus needs someone with a squeaky-clean reputation to come in and restore confidence. Hirshman, Weber and Day all took their toll on the reputation of the operation. Now we get this "agricultural economist" with all her negative baggage. If that mess at UC Davis had been handled properly, she would have "stepped down" along with her boss, Katehi. Had she not blocked the investigation, it is likely she would have been removed. There's plenty of reason to suggest that the president of the UC should have been fired recently. Instead, after she had been caught red-handed in manipulating some performance measures, the regents admonished her. This whole edu-administration cabal in California is utterly corrupt, and De la Torre is part of it. The result is that SDSU gets a new president who comes to town under an ethical cloud, with no particular qualifications to run the CSU's up-and-coming "research university." Just when you think it can't get worse, it does.— January 31, 2018 8:06 p.m.