State High Court Debates Free Speech Issue with SD Roots
This week, the California Supreme Court debated whether a shopping mall can keep union members and others from passing leaflets to shoppers urging a boycott. The case originated in 1998 when members of a Teamsters affiliate working for the Union-Tribune …
Issa's Foot Lands in Mouth Again
San Diego County Congressman Darrell Issa has managed to expose his cerebral deficiencies in public again. Rep. Henry Waxman's House Committee is investigating the violent activities of Blackwater USA in Iraq. Said Issa, "If Henry Waxman today wants to go …
Blackwater Opponents Energized
The weak defenses of Blackwater USA at the hearings by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are delighting those battling the company's plans to put a training facility in East County's Potrero. The committee has found that since …
Sanders's Scam Flying Under Radar
Mayor Sanders's scheme to pack a so-called charter review committee with pro-establishment lawyers and lobbyists has thus far not been detected by the San Diego public. A poll by the San Diego Institute for Policy Research reveals that less than …
Wade Says Reynolds Fired for Warning Mayor's Aides of Dangerous, Unethical Conduct
Last week, the Sanders administration's assistant chief operating officer, Rick Renolds, and purchasing and contracting director, Lance Wade, were abruptly fired. This morning, Wade confirmed an extremely disquieting story that is making the rounds. Wade confirmed that Fred Sainz, the …
City Attorney's Office to Probe Computer Unethicality by Mayor's Office
The city's attorney's office has launched an investigation into whether the mayor's office committed an egregiously unethical -- and perhaps illegal -- act, in helping a Union-Tribune blogger. The blogger, the pathetically infantile Chris Reed, had posted an item suggesting …
Blackwater Cancels Expansion Plans
Mercenary firm Blackwater USA, under investigation for its alleged role in the killing of 11 Iraqis, has called off a $5.5 million deal to buy 1,800 acres near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for a training facility. Blackwater wants to put …
What's Behind U-T/Sanders Assault
A few weeks ago, City Attorney Mike Aguirre requested documents from the local public radio/TV station, KPBS. Those documents, which Aguirre has posted on his website, show poignantly how the Copley family's donations have slanted KPBS's news reports. (The station's …
Topside Shakeup at Copley?
Is the man who knows where the bodies are buried at Copley Press on the way out? Or out? According to a good source, attorney Karl ZoBell, who is on the Helen K. Copley revocable trust along with David Copley …
San Diego Slowly Grasps Water Crisis
San Diego imports about 90 percent of its water and big issues such as global warming and small issues such as tiny smelt make the situation perilous. Slowly, residents seem to be grasping the crisis. A poll by San Diego …
State Department Shields Blackwater
Blackwater USA, the mercenary firm that wants to build a training facility at Potrero in East County, is getting protection from the U.S. State Department. The company has been charged by the Iraqi government of killing 11 people in Baghdad. …
Why Sports Owners Deserve Welfare
John W. Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, has paid $16 million for an 18,000 square-foot home in tony Brookline, Massachusetts, not far from where Larry Lucchino, former Padres honcho, lives. For Henry, the $16 million home is a …
Sudden, Deep Slashes at U-T
The Union-Tribune suddenly slashed its newshole by 20 percent on Thursday of last week -- effective immediately. Stories in the works for Sunday were eviscerated. The Monday personal technology section, sports features and financial agate were slashed without notice. The …
Qualcomm Cheers; Market Yawns
Qualcomm says chip and phone sales will increase in its fourth quarter. This morning (Tuesday), it raised its earnings per share fourth quarter forecast to a range of 52 cents to 53 cents. Earlier, it had looked for 49 cents. …
In the Rough?
Stock of Callaway Golf lost 4 cents Monday to $15.81, even though Wedbush Morgan Securities said that the company's new products in 2008 should sell briskly, and the stock could hit $24. On the other hand, the Motley Fool notes …
Seattle Looking Like San Diego
Seattle Supersonics owner Clay Bennett has been hinting he will move the NBA team to Oklahoma City. He just filed to get arbitration. He says the KeyArena (completely rebuilt in 1994) is obsolete. The real complaint is that too much …
La Jolla and the Missing $9 Billion
Famed reporters Donald Barlett and James Steele report in the October 2007 issue of Vanity Fair how in the first fourteen months of the Iraq war, $12 billion in U.S. currency was shipped from the U.S. to the Coalition Provisional …
Four San Diegans Among Nation's Richest 400
Four San Diego County residents make this year's list of the 400 richest Americans as compiled by Forbes Magazine. Number 165 at $2.5 billion is Charles Brandes, the highly-successful money manager. Number 220 at $2.1 billion is Ernest Rady, who …
Filner Introduces Bill to Block Blackwater USA
Representative Bob Filner today (September 20) introduced a bill that, if passed, would effectively block mercenary firm Blackwater USA from building a training center in Potrero in East County. Potrero is in Filner's district, athough Blackwater has been getting a …
Shipione the Hero, San Diego the Goat -- Again
One again, Diann Shipione, the former whistle-blowing member of the City's pension system, has been proved right and her establishment San Diego critics proved wrong. On September 19, the Securities and Exchange Commission slapped pension adviser Callan Associates with a …