Orange County Register Parent to File Bankruptcy: Report
Orange County-based Freedom Communications, publisher of the Orange County Register plus 32 other dailies and 77 weeklies, will file for bankruptcy this week, according to the Wall Street Journal. A spokesman for the company said it is "continuing to work …
Professor Tells How Convention Center Stats Grossly Mislead
Heywood Sanders, professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the ranking national authority on convention centers, has read the draft report by the mayor's task force purportedly studying convention center expansion, and concludes is it full of …
Convention Center Embarrasses Self, San Diego Again
In today's Voice of San Diego, Steve Johnson, flack for the convention center, calls Heywood Sanders, professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, "a whack job." In my blog item yesterday (Aug. 28), and in today's (Aug. 29) …
Scholar Says He Is "Misrepresented" in Convention Task Force Report
Heywood Sanders, professor at the University of Texas-San Antonio, and generally considered the ranking expert on convention centers, says he has been "misrepresented" in the San Diego Convention Center Task Force's annual report that has just been issued. Sanders has …
Rancho Santa Fe Mortgage Speculator Backs Out of Saab Deal
Mark Bishop of Rancho Santa Fe has stepped down from the board of Koenigsegg Group AB, a tiny upscale Swedish automaker that plans to buy Saab from General Motors, according to the Associated Press. It has been rumored for two …
SD's Leading Indicators Inch Up, but Not Encouragingly
The leading indicators of the San Diego economy published by University of San Diego economist Alan Gin, rose slightly in July from June -- to 101.7 from 101.6. The indicators have now risen for five consecutive months, but the gain …
Shipione Warns It May Be Too Late to Stop "Pension Mischief"
Diann Shipione, the whistle blower who exposed San Diego's pension fraud, yesterday warned the Governmental Accounting Standards Board that, "As a result of [accounting] fuzziness and imprecision, we now have many large systems that are essentially insolvent." Her testimony was …
San Diego Big User of Virtual Retail Coupons
A new study of shopping coupons by Scarborough Research finds that Sunday newspapers are still the dominant distributors with 51% of the market, followed by in-store coupons at 35% and mailed coupons at 31%. Coming on fast are virtual coupons …
Copley's Former Casa del Zorro, Financially Troubled, for Sale Again
Borrego Ranch Resort & Spa of Borrego Springs, formerly called La Casa del Zorro Desert Resort and owned by Copley Press, is back on the market again, and draining funds. Copley, which had owned it since 1960, put it on …
San Diego Home Prices Inch Up
San Diego home prices rose 1.6% from May to June, according to Case-Shiller home price indices published this morning (Aug. 25) by Standard & Poor's. The May/June increase was four times the 0.4% rise of April/May. Local prices, however, are …
Charlotte Russe Agrees to be Sold, Taken Private
Charlotte Russe, the San Diego-based young women's clothing retailer, has agreed to be purchased at a premium of 27% over Friday's closing price. An affiliate of Advent International private equity firm will pay $17.50 a share, or about $380 million …
Accused Ponzi Schemer LaChina Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Richard LaChina (also spelled La China and Lachina), called "a serial Ponzi schemer and career impostor" in a civil suit filed in late 2007, on July 30 filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy. The civil suit filed by irate investors …
County Unemployment Rises to 10.3%. Questions Abound
The San Diego County unemployment rate rose to 10.3% in July from a revised 10.2% in June. That's up from last year's 6.3% and above the 9.7% national rate, but below California's 12.1% rate, according to the state Employment Development …
PUC Restrains SDGE from Implementing Backcountry Power Shutoff until Sept. 10
The Public Utilities Commission today (Aug. 20) issued a temporary restraining order enjoining San Diego Gas & Electric from implementing its emergency power shut-off plan for the backcountry until the commission issues its decision on the contrroversial question Sept. 10. …
SEC Halts Phony San Diego Investment Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission today (Aug. 20) obtained a federal court order halting an alleged securities fraud orchestrated by Mohit A. Khanna of San Diego. Khanna claims to have raised $70 million from 300 investors through MAK 1 Enterprises …
CIA Hired Blackwater to Kill Jihadists, Says NY Times
In 2004, the Central Intelligence Agency hired outside contractors from the private mercenary firm Blackwater to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, the New York Times reveals in a story dated this evening (Aug. 19). The Times's sources …
Two Plead Guilty to Bribing SPAWAR Official
Elizabeth Ramos and her husband Louis Williams of Chula Vista today (Aug. 19) pleaded guilty in federal court to paying between $200,000 and $400,000 in cash to an official of the San Diego-based Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) …
Water, Sewer Ratepayers Will Get UCAN Notices in Bills
Beginning tomorrow, San Diego water and sewer rate payers will be getting statements in their bills from Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN). The inserts will be put in with bills three times a year for five years, according to Michael …
U-T to Stay in Mission Valley for Now; Vows Return to Profitability
The day after the axe fell at the U-T last Wednesday, the new management had meetings with employees. Among many things, the management said it will continue to print the paper at the Mission Valley headquarters. There had been speculation …
Union-Tribune Axe Falls Again. Kittle Reportedly Out
As expected, the Union-Tribune dropped some employees today (Wednesday). Supposedly, 20 people lost their jobs on the editorial side of the beleaguered paper. The company refused to discuss specific layoffs. According to internal sources, here are some who were severed …
SEC Got 45 Complaints on Ex-Hedge Fund Pequot, Target of Gary Aguirre
The Securities and Exchange Commission admitted yesterday (Aug. 11) that since 2005 it had received 45 tips about insider trading by the former hedge fund, Pequot Capital Management, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Pequot affair is one of …
Rumors: More Layoffs at U-T
Union-Tribune employees continue to talk about more pending layoffs. Pressmen have received a notice that there will be layoffs between August and October because of weakness in both advertising and circulation. These same factors are behind the rumors of more …
Mother of Quarterback Brees Dies after Getting Subpoenaed
Mina Brees, prominent Texas attorney and estranged mother of Drew Brees, former Chargers quarterback (now with New Orleans), has died in Colorado, according to Texas media. Her business records were recently subpoenaed by the Texas attorney general's office after she …
Platinum Bidding for Globe, May Want Business Week
Platinum Equity, the Beverly Hills buyout firm that owns the Union-Tribune, is one of three bidders for the Boston Globe and related assets, according to a story in the Globe. The New York Times owns the Globe and would like …
U.S. Jobs Losses Slow without Much Help from Phony Stats
The U.S. lost 247,000 jobs in July, the fewest in a year, as the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 9.4%, according to the Labor Department. Analysts had been expecting a loss of 320,000 jobs and a rise in the unemployment …
Mother Abby Sees New Bull Market. Time to Sell?
Abby Joseph Cohen, the perma-bull who is chairman of the Goldman Sachs investment policy committee, declared today that there is a new bull market. But keep in mind that she is ALWAYS bullish and very often staggeringly, pathetically wrong. For …
Blackwater Head Wants to Rid World of Muslims: Testimony
Erik Prince, head of mercenary firm Blackwater, "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," two former employees said in a sworn statement to a Virginia court filed Monday, according to …