Massachusetts nails LPL Financial
SD firm will pay $2 million to investors plus $500,000 fine
San Diego's LPL Financial has been hit with an order by the Massachusetts Security Division to pay more than $2 million to investors who had bought shares of non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs). LPL will also pay a $500,000 …
Boxer, Markey demand San Onofre investigation
Senator, Congressman say new information indicates SCE overlooked safety
Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California and Democratic Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts today (Feb. 6) wrote the federal Nuclear Regulator Commission (NRC) urging it to investigate new information indicating that Southern California Edison (SCE) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries were …
One SDGE expense account: $71,158 in 2011
SDGE chief exec raked in $2.93 million in compensation; Sempra chairman $11.8 million
San Diego Gas & Electric executives were reimbursed for some fat expenses in 2011, according to the GO-77M report filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). One manager had an expense account of $71,158. A vice president had expenses …
Did you charge more than $100,000 on your expense account?
Four Edison executives did in 2011; one wrote off $192,402.
The Orange County Register has an excellent watchdog piece this week on pay and expense account reimbursement for Southern California Edison (SCE) executives. The data came from a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The best-paid 10% of …
Edison got huge rate boost although required filing still not made
Question was whether generator replacement program was cost-effective
San Diego attorney Mike Aguirre learned today (Feb. 5) that Southern California Edison (SCE) has still not made a filing that should have been critical in its California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) general rate case that ended late last year. …
Despite ills, UCAN raises $20,000
Board at monthly meeting discusses lawyer, accountant bills
Troubled watchdog Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN) has raised $20,000 from 1,000 contributors, its board learned today at the February meeting. Some expressed surprise that with the U.S. Attorney investigating UCAN, and civil suits cropping up, a certain number of …
Whalen Furniture fined for not reporting bed defect
Federal commission says company did not immediately report death of child
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced in a news release that San Diego's Whalen Manufacturing, dba Bayside Furnishings, has agreed to pay a $750,000 penalty. In 2007, Whalen learned that a 22-month old boy had died after …
Hilton Mission Valley to lay off 148
Has been scene of many labor disputes
The Hilton San Diego Mission Valley hotel has filed with the state its intention to lay off 148 workers on March 2. The hotel filed the notification under the state's WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) system run by the …
Filing: SDGE, SCE ratepayers getting shafted over San Onofre
CPUC head Peevey appears to be still cozy with former employer, SCE
San Diego attorney Mike Aguirre yesterday (Feb. 1) filed a paper with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), asking that Southern California Edison's (SCE's) original plan to replace four steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear plant be reexamined. Aguirre …
Mary Jo White fretted about "aggressive" regulator
Matt Taibbi has another revealing piece on her role in the Gary Aguirre firing
Today (Feb. 1) in Rolling Stone online, author Matt Taibbi asks more probing questions about the fitness of Mary Jo White, lawyer with a white shoe law firm, to be head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as President …
Economy adds 157,000 jobs but unemployment rate rises
Jobless rate goes to 7.9% in January, up from 7.8%
The nation's economy added 157,000 jobs in January, slightly below economists' expectations, as the jobless rate inched up to 7.9% from December's 7.8%. Job gains in November and December were revised substantially upward. All in all, it was a so-so …
Military contractors indicted for stealing medical equipment
Said to have stolen and resold more than $3 million of equipment
Henry Bonilla, Richard Navarro, and Michael Tuisee, employees of a medical logistics operation at Camp Pendleton, were arraigned today (Jan. 31) on charges of stealing more than $3 million of expensive medical equipment, transporting it to Southern California locations, and …
General Atomics worst in transparency, says watchdog
The drone maker also provides big bucks to politicians
Transparency International, the watchdog group that measures openness in the defense industry, has ranked General Atomics the worst of major world contractors, according to Wired magazine. The watchdog ranks companies on whether they have anti-corruption programs in place, whether they …
Defense contractor pleads guilty to tax offenses
She didn't pay government payroll taxes withheld from employees
Ildiko Pinero, owner of Alpha Machining Products & Development, pleaded guilty today (Jan. 31) to not giving to the United States payroll taxes she had withheld from employee paychecks. In the 2006-2008 period, she withheld $110,000 in employee taxes, but …
Don't believe bank reports, says Partnoy
USD prof says regulators encourage banks' dangerous opacity
University of San Diego Professor of Law and Finance Frank Partnoy, along with Pulitzer Prize-winning Pro Publica reporter Jesse Eisinger, say in the January/February issue of the Atlantic magazine that even the most discerning analyst cannot comprehend the financial reports …
La Costa's Merv Adelson admits mob ties
He is also just about broke, says Vanity Fair
For decades, Merv Adelson, a Vegas/Hollywood entrepreneur who financed the building of North County resort La Costa with three other dubious characters, has denied his organized crime ties. But in the March 2013 issue of Vanity Fair, Adelson -- who …
UC students, workers to protest fat executive pay
Union to picket, deploring huge top management pay, pensions
"They get golden handshakes when they retire, and we get cat food!" That will be the rallying cry tomorrow (Jan. 31) as University of California workers and students stage protests at UC medical facilities and all ten UC campuses. The …
Padres's Grandal linked to Florida drug lab
But bigger names such as A-Rod getting the most sports coverage
In November, Major League Baseball suspended Padres's catcher Yasmani Grandal for 50 games for testing positive to testosterone. He had taken over the starting job in the middle of the season and done well. His suspension applies to this year. …
National economy shrinks in fourth quarter
Defense spending plunges, but may not be bad portent for San Diego
The U.S. economy declined in the fourth quarter for the first time since the Great Recession, as growth inched down at a 0.1% annual rate. For the full 2012, the economy grew 2.2% versus 1.8% in 2011 and 2.4% in …
Mickelson gambling stories make rounds again
Callaway found he was a gambler, but had no outstanding debts
For years, the sports press has talked about golfer Phil Mickelson's gambling proclivities. Now that he has shot off his mouth about the excessive taxes on his $40 million+plus annual income, those stories -- some of which may be exaggerated …