Flit About with Butterflies
Butterfly Jungle at San Diego Zoo Safari Park Signals Spring
There’s something magical about the idea of being besieged by brightly colored butterflies. But despite my love for all things magical, every spring I have managed to miss the exotic experience that is the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Butterfly …
Hotel/worker battle escalates as cops arrest 20
Long-running Hilton Mission Valley fight could portend more labor discord
Twenty hotel workers were arrested last night (March 1) at the Hilton Mission Valley. By one account, 250 workers, community activists, and clergy members were there to protest low wages and job insecurity. The workers represent Local 30 of the …
Tonight We Improvise at UCSD
"He who lives, while he is living, does not see himself live," wrote Luigi Pirandello. "If one can see his own life, it is a sign he is no longer living it." People want to define themselves, he adds, to …
Oceanside couple deny holding 12-year-old as sex slave
Hearing in San Diego North County Superior Court to continue next week
An Oceanside couple were in court last week, accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old niece, and arranging for the girl to be paid for sex acts with another man. The alleged victim also claimed the pair kept her as a …
Three killed in Tijuana drug violence
Alleged drug dealers gunned down in street violence
During the late hours of Thursday, February 28th, and into Friday morning, three homicides occurred across Tijuana. According to authorities, all three are tied to local drug sales. The first victim, 27 year old Jorge Luis Ramírez Cisneros, was shot …
Psychologist surrenders license after having sex with patient
Simmone Ballinger admits to Arizona tryst
The state's Board of Psychology, Department of Consumer Affairs, has entered into a stipulated surrender of license and disciplinary order with Simmone Ballinger, PhD, who admitted that she had sex with a patient during a trip to Arizona. This is …
Padres beat the Dodgers 7-5 in Cactus League play
In their first meeting in the Cactus League in 2013, Padres beat their division rivals
Zack Greinke didn't look much better than Freddy Garcia on the mound on Friday afternoon, and the Padres took care of the Dodgers 7-5. The game was very much back-and-forth until the Padres put a lid on it in the …
First sentencing in South Bay corruption scandal
Henry Amigable, program manager for bond construction at Southwestern College and Sweetwater Union High School sentenced with misdemeanor
Henry Amigable was sentenced March 1 with a misdemeanor in a South bay corruption case. The case is related to Southwestern's proposition R and Sweetwater Union's proposition O bond construction monies. Amigable will be on probation for three years, spend …
Animalized! First Bar Downtown delivers $1 IPAs, sensational sprouts
Happy hour deals in the finest bar you’ve never heard of.
I thought I knew downtown. But here I am walking up First Avenue from Broadway, heading past the Bristol Hotel for the trolley when something at the bottom of a sign on the sidewalk stops me. You could miss it …
Consumer's guide to finding movie reviews in The Reader
There seems to be some confusion over where to find movie reviews on The Reader. Reader regular, Monaghan, has been on us like a cheap suit the past couple of weeks. Yesterday he wrote, "Reader readers are DYING for some …
Bonkfest: Tiny Telephones, Secret Fun Club, East of Sweden, Mike Delgado at The Void
A benefit for musician Nathan "Bonk" Joyner, who is recovering from life-threatening injuries after being struck by car in Hillcrest.
Walking home from work last September, multi-instrumentalist Nathan “Bonk” Joyner (All Leather, Some Girls, Hot Nerds, Ese' & Zain) was hit by a car while crossing Washington Street at Cleveland in Hillcrest. His girlfriend and bandmate Alia Jyawook (Hot Nerds, …
Former USD athlete gets six months for game rigging
Brandon Johnson took bribes, gamblers cleaned up in Vegas
Brandon Johnson, former University of San Diego basketball hero, today (March 1) was sentenced to serve six months in custody for conspiracy to commit sports bribery. He had pleaded guilty last November. He influenced the outcome of USD games during …
Tourism Marketing District board seeks to intervene in hospitality union's case against city council
The board of directors of the San Diego Tourism Marketing District decided in a closed session meeting on March 1 to apply for intervenor status in the lawsuit filed last week by Brigitte Browning against the San Diego City Council. …
California Border Patrol agent guilty of battery got probation
Prosecutor will not retry either defendant on two misdemeanor counts
Three weeks ago, on February 11, a jury declared a female Border Patrol agent guilty of misdemeanor battery for slugging another woman in the head, three times. Today, Kallie Lamb Helwig was sentenced to three years unsupervised or “summary” probation, …
Time Stands Still at North Coast Rep
Sarah's a photojournalist renowned taking award-winning shots of international atrocities. When we first see her she can barely move. A roadside bomb killed her "fixer" - interpreter - and blasted her with shrapnel. Her arm's in a sling, a leg's …
City Attorney Goldsmith attracts ire of convention goers
"Busting a Hotel Circle establishment for allowing prostitutes? Has he forgotten why people come to conventions?"
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/01/40945/ Okay, so maybe calling your establishment "Hard Johnson Prostitute Parlor" is a little much. HOLDING DOWN MY END OF THE BAR, ALBIE'S BEEF INN, MISSION VALLEY - "Honestly, I don't get it," says John Smith, an insurance salesman from …
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone trolls The Avengers
Go ahead, tell me this isn't intentional. This: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/01/40942/ Plus this: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/01/40943/ Equals this: http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/01/40944/
New releases opening this week
No. Just No. Scott busts out the rare five-star rating for this retro experiment in matching new film to archival footage, mostly because he misses the good old days of VHS. Kidding! Here's the thing about scheduling releases: The Gatekeepers …
Beer of the Week: Karl Strauss 24th Anniversary Flanders-Style Ale
Uncle Karl celebrates the big two-four with a celebratory sour
As we age, we start to pay more attention to time…or at least the passage of it. Such is the case with San Diego’s oldest operative brewing company, Karl Strauss. Twenty-four years in, they’ve established an artful, interesting way to …
Drug war spillover at border "highly underreported," says GAO
Report to Congress by Government Accountability Office speculates on possibility drug war in Mexico may escalate and cross the Southwest border into U.S.
Heads are rolling and bullets flying in the United States-assisted drug war south of the border, but - so far at least - stateside collateral damage has been minimal, if "highly underreported." http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/01/40938/ And getting drug war soldiers and victims …