Oligarch at sea
Mega-yacht owned by controversial Russian billionaire ties up at the B Stret Pier
San Diegans who want to see how a Russian oligarch and one of Vladimir Putin's friends lives don't have to go far today. Just truck on down to the B Street pier, where a yacht belonging to Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich, …
Will Filner cotton to Chicago moneyman's cash pitch?
Wall Street lobbyist hits up San Diego city hall for private equity cash just before liberal Democrat takes control
It may not seem exactly a marriage made in heaven for new Democratic Mayor Bob Filner, but a big New York private equity outfit run by a headline-grabbing Chicagoan has signed up to lobby the city of San Diego regarding …
Report: UCSD's troubled cancer center deal collapses
Operation trumpeted a year ago as "a partnership between California and Nevada in offering lifesaving cancer care" may be near death
A plan to allow the UCSD Health System to partially exit its $18 million investment in the Nevada Cancer Institute of Las Vegas has unraveled, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/dec/09/36693/ As noted here last month, the R-J broke …
Norv Turner's $1.2 million beach pad
Reportedly soon to be fired Chargers coach purchased well-appointed South Mission Beach unit in April
Chargers head coach Norv Turner apparently has more confidence in San Diego real estate than the team-owning Spanos family ended up having in him, judging from a $1.2 million South Mission Beach condo purchase the floundering football figure made in …
Coyote hunts and Burning Man showers up for fair board backing
Pitch for funds by tiny Northern California "sister fair" also includes squirrel and bird hunts, plus "eccentric items"
Modoc County is about as far away as you can get from San Diego and still be in California, 744 miles by car, to be precise. But the cash-strapped Modoc District Fair, located in the tiny town of Cedarville, is …
New Peters chief of staff from Pennsylvania
Democratic congressman-elect hires chief of staff of Pennsylvania congressman defeated in April primary
Ex-San Diego city councilman Scott Peters, who narrowly beat out G.O.P. incumbent Brian Bilbray for California's newly formed 52nd district, has hired his chief of staff from the office of a Democrat who lost his own redrawn district primary race …
Fabiani and Filner’s Knife Fight?
Rob Lowe flick offers new juice to political battle over Chargers prospective move to Los Angeles
As speculation mounts over how new mayor Bob Filner will handle the billionaire Spanos family's push for a taxpayer-subsidized Chargers stadium, a movie screening in Sacramento tonight may shed some light. "Knife Fight is about sex, drugs, money and how …
Del Mar mayor hit with $1500 penalty
California Fair Political Practices Commission levies fine against former county supervisor candidate for campaign reporting violation
Carl Hilliard likes to watch the ponies at Del Mar. He even has a few of his own. But his luck off the track ran out earlier this year when the Del Mar GOP mayor was beaten by fellow Republican …
Predator maker's radioactive soil contamination level remains unknown
Stealthy cold war "TRIGA" reactor disassembly and storage on General Atomics Torrey Pines campus audited by Nuclear Regulatory Commission
These days, San Diego-based General Atomics is most famous for its Predator drones, deployed in theatres of war around the world. Controlled by wealthy La Jolla Republican brothers Linden and Neal Blue, the operation also dabbles in rail guns, nuclear …
Dumanis plea for post-election campaign cash
Report shows $50,000 in personal loans as fundraising hangover from costliest San Diego mayor's race in history continues after the election
As first reported here, Democratic mayor-elect Bob Filner is staging a fundraising bash at the Mission Bay Hyatt this coming Thursday, co-chaired by AFL-CIO honcho Lorena Gonzalez and Chamber of Commerce insider Mel Katz and his wife Linda. Entry-level tickets …
Filner inaugural roster revealed
Lobbyists, past political friends, and a vanquished foe and his big contributor on list of V.I.P. invites.
An invitation list to Monday's inauguration of Bob Filner as mayor of San Diego - furnished by the office of outgoing Republican mayor Jerry Sanders after a request made under the California public records act - boasts the traditional Who's …
Deep inside the Filner transition
Sanders office emails reveal stress of quick transition from GOP to new Democratic administration
Democratic congressman and San Diego mayor-elect Bob Filner hasn't been offering many details about his plans for the administration to come, but emails obtained from the office of departing GOP mayor Jerry Sanders following a request under the California public …
Jerry Brown's Del Mar appointees party in style
Governor's wealthy appointees, family, and friends partook of free Turf Club hospitality during Del Mar's summer race meet, records show
Since it opened in 1937, the racetrack in Del Mar has been a playground for the rich, famous, and politically well connected. The most notable habitué is probably the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, who in the 1950s partied at the …
San Diego State University foundation deal ripped by audit
University research foundation reaped millions in improper administrative fees from state taxpayers, audit finds
A deal between the San Diego University Research Foundation and two California agencies improperly used money that was supposed to be spent on prevention of childhood injury and abuse to fund a portion of the non-profit's massive overhead, according to …
Audit blasts Sanders for city maintenance meltdown
Administration of lame duck mayor gets poor marks for massive failure to fix falling-apart city facilities
Lame duck Republican mayor and local craft beer booster Jerry Sanders has been on a series of nostalgic victory rounds of late, throwing a lavish downtown farewell party, and being celebrated as San Diego's greatest mayor in history by a …
Copley foundation's steep fall from grace
IRS report for 2011 reveals Copley charity, once worth mega-millions, down to its last $5.4 million
The Helen K. and James S. Copley Foundation has continued its years-long downward spiral, according to the non-profit's public accounting for 2011, filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on August 23 of this year. The tax-free foundation, funded by …
Ambulance influence chasers
The lobbying firm of Bob Filner's political guru Tom Shepard gets an alarming new client
Public Policy Strategies, the city hall lobbying firm of Republican political maven Tom Shepard, picked up a well-funded new client in the days leading up to the city's mayoral election earlier this month, a recent disclosure shows. Shepard, who long …
David Copley, 60, dead in La Jolla car crash
Wealthy sole heir to a once-powerful newspaper chain, he presided over its dismantling
David Copley, the sole heir to the Copley newspaper chain of his adoptive father, has died in a La Jolla car crash, the newspaper formerly known as the San Diego Union-Tribune reported tonight. Copley, 60, apparently was the victim of …
Big labor and business interests to co-host Filner fundraiser
Labor boss Lorena Gonzalez and Chamber of Commerce insider Mel Katz will co-host post-campaign fundraising bash for Bob Filner
After a record-breaking political spending year, San Diego mayor-elect Bob Filner is still out looking for the big money, and as a newly sworn in incumbent, city hall observers say, he's likely to get at lot more of it. On …
Drone royalty
Predator maker and GOP financier Linden Blue reportedly to tie the knot with well-traveled ex-rear admiral
Republican mega-donor and fierce Barack Obama critic Linden Blue, whose closely-held La Jolla military contracting outfit General Atomics introduced the killer Predator drone to world warfare, is getting married to retired U.S. Navy rear admiral Veronica "Ronne" Froman. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/nov/19/35684/ The …