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The eyes have it

The eyes have it

The Orange County Register has put up a new online search engine on its website, allowing lookups of the salaries of all employees of the University of California who make more than $25,000 a year. Some ...

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Crash and burn

Crash and burn

Earlier this fall, Dan Schroeder and his wife Lisa gave Union-Tribune real estate writer Roger Showley a VIP tour of their extravagant new La Jolla abode. Showley’s October 30 story described “a marvel in concrete, ...

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Fog of war

Fog of war

The sentencing of Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, who loomed large in the bribery scandal that brought down GOP congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, has been delayed until January 29 of next year while Foggo’s lawyers fight to ...

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After the fall

After the fall

The tarnished legacy of ex–University of California president Bob Dynes — the onetime UCSD chancellor who was forced from UC’s top job following a series ... More Post a comment

Low tech

Low tech

La Jolla’s General Atomics, which makes the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle and is working on a new generation of experimental nuclear-power reactors, has entered into ... More Comment (1)

Homies

Homies

The arrest last week of Esteban Núñez, the 19-year-old son of ex–Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, in connection with a murder during a late-night rumble near ... More Post a comment

Not retiring

Not retiring

The University of California has decided to take a closer look at hundreds of its pensioners who are double-dipping — receiving fat retirement checks while ... More Post a comment

Defense news

Defense news

Republican Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser in the first Bush administration, has emerged as a key defense adviser to President-elect Barack Obama. The ... More Post a comment

Hitting the road

Hitting the road

Democratic state senator Denise Ducheny has been taking it on the chin from newspapers around the state for jaunting across the Pacific while the legislature ... More Post a comment

Crimes and punishments

Crimes and punishments

When San Diego State University Associated Students president James Poet was busted last month by San Diego cops for driving under the influence and pot ... More Post a comment

Sempra fi

Sempra fi

As noted last week, employees of Latham & Watkins were the single biggest group of local law firm donors to the campaign of President-elect Barack ... More Post a comment

Tricky treats

Tricky treats

This week’s Fortune magazine is out with a story titled “Ten New Gurus You Should Know,” about what the magazine says is “a new generation ... More Comment (1)

Political holiday

Political holiday

Big-time Democratic politicians from around the country are heading to San Diego next month for a confab expected to bless whomever President-elect Barack Obama chooses ... More Comment (1)

Legal eagles

Legal eagles

No doubt the most prominent local position to be filled by President-elect Barack Obama will be that of United States attorney. The San Diego office ... More Post a comment

Lights out

Lights out

Utility giant Sempra Energy continued to pour money into local Republican Party coffers right up until the verge of the election, according to state campaign ... More Post a comment

Winners and losers

Winners and losers

Some San Diegans came out on top in this year’s electoral derby. Some didn’t. Among the biggest winners was La Jolla’s Christine Forester, the widow ... More Post a comment

Special assignment

Special assignment

Union-Tribune investigative reporter Brooke Williams has asked the office of San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders to turn over documents it has in its files on ... More Post a comment

On tour

On tour

Legislative-lobbying filings are in for the third quarter, and, as usual, utility giant Sempra Energy has been one of the big free spenders. The company ... More Post a comment

Doing dues

Doing dues

With the expected onset of a recession, the City of San Diego is facing mounting budget woes. But so far, at least, Mayor Jerry Sanders ... More Post a comment

Chicken hearted

Chicken hearted

Proposition 2, the measure that would lessen restraints of some kinds of farm animals, including chickens, has so far drawn $7000 worth of support from ... More Post a comment

Home stretch

Home stretch

It’s down to the final week of the campaign, the time when special interests that don’t want their contributions widely reported — at least not ... More Comments (20)

Loony

Loony

One of the oddest political websites this season is spikemike.com, a full-on — if not particularly artful — attack on San Diego city attorney Mike ... More Comment (1)

Trash talking

Trash talking

Allied Waste Services, the national waste hauler that operates the City of San Diego’s Sycamore Landfill off State Route 52 at Mast Boulevard near Santee, ... More Comments (21)

Love and money

Love and money

Rana Sampson, an ex-cop, law-enforcement consultant, and wife of San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, has given $1000 to the campaign against Proposition 8, the measure ... More Comment (1)

Up from Sudan

Up from Sudan

Speculation abounds about whether or not John Moores will have to unload at least a part of his San Diego Padres baseball team in order ... More Post a comment

Rich and famous play chicken

Rich and famous play chicken

The battle over Prop 2, the Humane Society–sponsored measure to limit allegedly cruel confinement of chickens and other animals on California farms, is heating up, ... More Comments (4)

That’s showbiz

That’s showbiz

North County GOP congressman Darrell Issa became a hero to those opposed to the $700 billion bad-mortgage bailout that was muscled through Congress two weeks ... More Post a comment

Indian giving

Indian giving

On another ballot front, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, proprietors of a big East County casino, gave $175,000 on September 16 to the ... More Post a comment

Lisa with an L

Lisa with an L

San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders has entered the fight against Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage measure on next month’s ballot, at least by proxy. The ... More Comments (3)

A piece of hot air

A piece of hot air

On Thursday, September 4, viewers by the millions tuned in to see Republican presidential nominee John McCain make his acceptance speech. But those watching KNSD, ... More Comment (1)

Lifestyles of the pets and Copley

Lifestyles of the pets and Copley

As the Union-Tribune hovers closer and closer to possible death, awaiting a buyer to rescue it from oblivion, parent company Copley Press has been rushing ... More Post a comment

Campaign moola

Campaign moola

The pro- and anti-gay-marriage campaigns continue to rack up prodigious contribution totals. Last week the Yes on 8 forces, seeking a constitutional amendment to ban ... More Comments (2)

Flip-flop

Flip-flop

Back in 1997, Chargers owner Alex Spanos didn’t have anything at all good to say about voter referendums. That was when the multimillionaire developer was ... More Comment (1)

Marriage scouting

Marriage scouting

The battle between pro– and anti–gay-marriage forces continues. Among the latest to back Proposition 8, the proposed statewide ban on gay marriages, is Robert Bolingbroke ... More Comment (1)

Rich get richer

Rich get richer

Many are predicting that next year’s state budget deficit will grow to $7 billion, but that hasn’t stopped the University of California from its habit ... More Comments (4)

Palin’s progress

Palin’s progress

Carlsbad-based self-help guru Deepak Chopra is reportedly getting paid big bucks to appear in a new series of commercials for Microsoft that attempt to rebut ... More Comments (2)

Wings clipped

Wings clipped

The 1990 Gulfstream IV executive jet owned by David Copley's once-proud Copley Newspaper chain, which is still trying to unload the Union-Tribune, is on the ... More Comment (1)

Keeping it in the family

Keeping it in the family

As a result of gerrymandering by the state legislature, San Diego’s congressional incumbents don’t have much to fear in their quest for reelection this fall. ... More Comments (3)

In transit

In transit

Democrat Lori Saldaña is busy campaigning for reelection to her third term in the state assembly, representing the 76th District, which covers such San Diego ... More Comments (2)

No cigar

No cigar

When word broke two weeks ago that GOP presidential nominee John McCain had picked Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, among the few ... More Comments (8)

Overtaxed

Overtaxed

La Jolla–based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., owned by La Jolla millionaires Linden and Neal Blue, has made millions of dollars on its best-known product, ... More Comment (1)

Extremism in the defense of politics

Extremism in the defense of politics

Just how ideologically polarized is San Diego’s state legislative delegation? Pretty much, judging from a recently released scorecard of how legislators voted on a series ... More Comments (7)

Marriage vows

Marriage vows

Late summer has been a busy fund-raising time for opponents and advocates of Proposition 8, the measure on November’s ballot to ban gay marriage in ... More Comments (4)

Anything for a buck

Anything for a buck

One of La Jolla’s most august and well-heeled institutions is throwing a fund-raising party inspired by the classic 1970s porno movie, Debbie Does Dallas. A ... More Post a comment

Schmooze and Partake

Schmooze and Partake

Another top executive at utility behemoth Sempra Energy has given big money to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California. On August 1, Darcel ... More Comments (21)

Game Over

Game Over

With the Union-Tribune up for sale, executives are rushing to clear the decks of as many unwanted encumbrances as possible. At least one is apparently ... More Post a comment

Criminals Decriminalized

Criminals Decriminalized

Where did San Diego’s most prominent political givers place their bets during this year’s California primary? Padres owner John Moores gave $15,000 to the ill-fated ... More Post a comment

Summer Fun

Summer Fun

The Gill Action Fund, a political arm of the Colorado-based Gill Foundation, which recently named ex–Jerry Sanders PR aide Fred Sainz its director of communications, ... More Post a comment

Electrifying

Electrifying

Sempra Energy, lobbying hard to build that controversial power line across Anza-Borrego state park, has taken its battle to the stomachs of legislators and their ... More Comment (1)

Blasts from the Past

Blasts from the Past

Ex-KFMB Channel 8 TV weathercaster and part-time Mission Beach stand-up comic Larry Mendte has been making the wrong kind of headlines in his adopted hometown ... More Post a comment

Meet and Confer

Meet and Confer

How will the convention business hold up in an oil-starved world? Will video conferencing start to trump air travel and hotel stays? Nobody yet knows, ... More Post a comment

Showboating

Showboating

Last week’s announcement that publisher David Copley is looking for someone to buy the Union-Tribune marks the end of an era for San Diego, which ... More Comments (2)

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Win Movie Passes to Hotel for Dogs!

When their new guardians forbid 16-year old Andi (Emma Roberts) and her younger brother, Bruce (Jake T. Austin) to have ... More