Today’s Big News

Prospects of a second American Civil War

The prospect of a second American Civil War has been a topic of concern among political analysts and citizens alike, particularly in the context of former President Donald Trump’s actions and rhetoric. While the likelihood of an actual civil war remains low, several factors associated with Trump’s behavior have raised alarms about potential civil unrest. Polarizing Rhetoric and Misinformation Trump’s tenure was marked by divisive…

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Going Postal: Dat A. Nguyen named new postmaster

Dat A. Nguyen will be installed this week as the new Postmaster of the Escondido Post Office.  In that position, Nguyen manages 175 employees and oversees retail services at the Escondido Post Officeand the daily distribution of mail to more than 5,700 PO Boxes and on 90 delivery routes in Escondido and Orange Glen. He replaces former Escondido Postmaster Todd McArthur, who moved on to…

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Trump and his supporters: A reckoning for democracy

As America continues to grapple with the legacy of Donald Trump, it has become increasingly clear that the former president and his loyal base are not merely disruptive forces in politics—they represent a deep and troubling erosion of the values that define democratic societies. From spreading baseless conspiracy theories to emboldening hatred, Trump’s rhetoric and actions have left an indelible mark on the American political…

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27 years ago, Heaven’s Gate couldn’t wait

Dateline Rancho Santa Fe. March 26, 1997. A 911 call came into the San Diego Sheriff’s Communications Center. It was treated as a prank call at first. From what turned out to be a nearby payphone, the caller said something so preposterous that dispatchers took their time in relaying the information to central command. “This is regarding a mass suicide. I can give you the address,” the…

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Three Dot Lounge gets jiggy with paella, then over to the local pizza and martini joint, the new Inn at RSF and …

Yes friends, Three Dot Lounge is breaking the publisher’s no posts until somebody actually supports this site rule to bring some important, and much needed, takes on the idiosyncratic, yet very f(l)avorable, local to The Grapevine culinary scene. BTW, if you support The Grapevine by donating throughPayPal: We exist to carry your voice. We do that for the good of the community. We are a…

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Move over D.B. Cooper for Geezer Bandit

People have been debating D.B. Cooper ever since his Thanksgiving 1971 leap into history and out of a commercial flight from Portland to Seattle with a whole bunch of money. The same, on a smaller scale, appears to be happening with North County’s own Geezer Bandit, so-called. He hit Vista — twice — Rancho Santa Fe, La Jolla — twice — Poway and 10 other…

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Popular Posts

American Indian Studies chair receives national honor

Joely Proudfit, the founding department chair of the American Indian Studies department at CSUSM, recently was a recipient of the 2024 educator of the year award, presented by the National Indian Education Association’s Lifetime Achievement and Cultural Freedom Awards. The awards recognize and honor individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the education of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people. Proudfit…


Columbus Day? ‘California Dream,’ indigenous peoples

The California Dream is a myth for many California Indian peoples and tribes. Since settlers arrived, California Indians’ reality has largely been one of land dispossession, cultural assimilation and even genocide. If California Indians were to design their own dream it would place decolonization at its core. Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, part of what I study as a scholar of Native American studies….


It’s National Fluffernutter Day. Hip Hip Hooray?

Every dog has its day, they say, and apparently so does every cause, effect and plain old thing. Welcome to Tuesday Oct. 8, 2024. It’s National Fluffernutter Day. Correct, National Fluffernutter Day is observed annually on Oct. 8, according to the National Day Calendar. This is a day set aside each year to make, and enjoy, the savory sandwich consisting of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Fluffernutter dates…


Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at Ground Zero following Sept. 11

Sept. 11, 2001: Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at “Ground Zero” following the terrorist attack. His major complaint in the years following concerned his inability to get correct, and affordable, treatment due to the costs involved, costs that Congress finally agreed to add funding to the 9/11 First Responders fund almost 18 years later. “Ironworkers worked every day,” Pursley said. “We went on 12-hour shifts…


Editor’s Picks

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps: He was a giant

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps: He was a giant Oh, what a long —- and sudsy —- trip it has been for Dr. Emmanuel H. Bronner and the soap he created, then popularized along with a cleansing dose of proselytizing. Bronner may be gone now, but nowhere near forgotten given the hundreds upon hundreds of Web pages devoted to his memory. These pages are devoted to…


San Diego’s losing avocado market grip

The Gist: Salty water turns avocado leaves brown, curbs root growth and can even stop trees from producing fruit at all. In the past three years, the amount of salt in the water used by most avocado growers in San Diego County has gone up by 20 percent, according to one expert. Like any plants, avocados need water to thrive. But lately, water has been causing a lot…


SD County flu cases drop, but deaths hit 57

The number of influenza deaths in San Diego County increased to 57 after seven more fatalities were reported last week, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced today. The ages of the new flu deaths ranged from 60 to 89 years of age and all had underlying medical conditions. A total of 1,548 lab-confirmed influenza cases were reported last week, compared to 1,689 cases…



Petition circulating for Hunter town hall

A petition asking Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-50th District) to hold a town hall meeting attracted more than 100 signatures in less than a day, a number that keeps growing. Circulated Sunday at Change.org, visit here, by San Marcos resident Brina Bujkobsky, the petition said: “We, constituents of California’s 50th Congressional District, are petitioning our representative, Congressman Duncan D. Hunter , to hold a public Town…


Women, addiction: Critical health issue

Women and Addiction: A Critical Health Issue in the U.S. By Regina Huelsenbeck, Ph.D.   When you think of addiction, who do you picture? It’s unlikely you think of a woman, much less a well-educated, mid- to upper-class woman. Yet, this demographic is on the rise in addiction. While rates of substance abuse in women is less than men, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health…


Breaking News

End of an era for Champion’s Restaurant

Tough to cull the sweet from the bitter on Wednesday Jan. 20, 2016 as customers at Grand Avenue’s landmark, iconic Champion’s Family Restaurant ate their last meals with tears flooding food-splashed eyes. Like the condemned with no remaining reprieve, customers bade sad farewells to all that tasty comfort food with final portions of signature corned beef hash topped off by to-die-for cinnamon rolls. Come to…

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Politics

What President Biden said at Rancho Santa Fe event

The White House Tuesday released a complete read-out of formal remarks made by President Biden from 6:47 p.m. to 7:25 p.m. Monday at the Rancho Santa Fe residence of tech entrepreneurs Allan and Megan Camaisa. He made those remarks during a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Grassroots Fund in which he reportedly raised $1 million. This was Biden’s final stop after a…

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Who invented the Electoral College?

The delegates in Philadelphia agreed, in the summer of 1787, that the new country they were creating would not have a king but rather an elected executive. But they did not agree on how to choose that president. Pennsylvania delegate James Wilson called the problem of picking a president “in truth, one of the most difficult of all we have to decide.” Other delegates, when…

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Vote ‘NO’ on Governor Recall, ACLU says

The executive directors of the ACLU of Northern California, ACLU of Southern California and ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, and the board chair of ACLU California Action issued a joint statement Thursday, July 29 in strong opposition to the gubernatorial recall. This marks the first time in the history of the ACLU in California — which stretches back to 1923 — that the…

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John “Clown” Cox investigated by Humane Society for bear abuse in gubernatorial joke

Leave it to the political clown that is John Cox, laughed out of Illinois, and now debasing Rancho Santa Fe with his circus of stupidity as he pretends to run for governor — again — and definitively loses, again. Cox’s latest brush with political stupidity of the Bozo type apparently ran afoul of the authorities, the animal control authorities, that is to say. His bizarre…

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Escondido

Going Postal: Dat A. Nguyen named new postmaster

Dat A. Nguyen will be installed this week as the new Postmaster of the Escondido Post Office.  In that position, Nguyen manages 175 employees and oversees retail services at the Escondido Post Officeand the daily distribution of mail to more than 5,700 PO Boxes and on 90 delivery routes in Escondido and Orange Glen. He replaces former Escondido Postmaster Todd McArthur, who moved on to…

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Surprising and Strange

27 years ago, Heaven’s Gate couldn’t wait

Dateline Rancho Santa Fe. March 26, 1997. A 911 call came into the San Diego Sheriff’s Communications Center. It was treated as a prank call at first. From what turned out to be a nearby payphone, the caller said something so preposterous that dispatchers took their time in relaying the information to central command. “This is regarding a mass suicide. I can give you the address,” the…

Click Here or title to read more

Move over D.B. Cooper for Geezer Bandit

People have been debating D.B. Cooper ever since his Thanksgiving 1971 leap into history and out of a commercial flight from Portland to Seattle with a whole bunch of money. The same, on a smaller scale, appears to be happening with North County’s own Geezer Bandit, so-called. He hit Vista — twice — Rancho Santa Fe, La Jolla — twice — Poway and 10 other…

Click Here or title to read more

It’s National Fluffernutter Day. Hip Hip Hooray?

Every dog has its day, they say, and apparently so does every cause, effect and plain old thing. Welcome to Tuesday Oct. 8, 2024. It’s National Fluffernutter Day. Correct, National Fluffernutter Day is observed annually on Oct. 8, according to the National Day Calendar. This is a day set aside each year to make, and enjoy, the savory sandwich consisting of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Fluffernutter dates…

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Dock Ellis 6/12/70 San Diego LSD no-hitter

It’s been 54 years. Welcome to Lysergic World San Francisco, April 16-19, 1993 presentation of one of the most infamous days in San Diego sports history. Los Angeles, April 8, 1984- Former Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitcher Dock Ellis says he was under the influence of LSD when he pitched a June 12, 1970 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. Ellis, later co-ordinator of an anti-drug program in Los…

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Featured Content

Light’s (out) at the end of Via de la Valle: Knorr’s Candle Shop minding its own beeswax (Closing Oct. 31, 2023)

Editor’s Note From Nextdoor….. “I just learned today that Knorr’s Candle Factory on Via de La Valle is closing 10/31/23 and they are having huge sale, including holiday decor, to cut inventory. It was always one of my favorite places to shop and such a local tradition. Please support them and stop by. Everyone loves beautiful candles!!” — Chari Chanin   As the world, and…

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Mom’s Kitchen serves slice of Vista history

A slice of Vista’s past was being served Tuesday over biscuits and gravy at Mom’s Kitchen, once knows as Allen’s Alley Cafe. While a lot has changed over the last 70 years around Vista, Mom’s Kitchen has not. So, the biscuits and gravy were flowing at the town’s oldest, continuously serving restaurant much as they have since, at least, 1950 when it was known as…

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Vick Vannucci comes back to Mother Earth

Former tennis prodigy, model and TV presenter Maria Victoria “Vick” Vannucci lived through the photograph, then figuratively died by the photograph. Former owner and chef at Normal Heights’ Pachamama Restaurant, Vannucci pursues a new socially aware image featuring her tale of personal redemption centering on giving back to the community and educating people about healthy food and animal conservation. “My story is a special story,”…

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Re-booting the past: Escondido shoe repair shop one of the few left around North County

Not a lot of us are left, Doart Shoe Repair owner Lucia Capuano says before jumping out of her lunch to wait on yet another customer. Capuano’s talking cobblers, not customers. A steady stream of the latter enter the 35-year-old fixture at 103 S Broadway, just south of the 100 block of W Grand Avenue, constantly interrupting her attempt to lunch. Not to worry, time…

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Bringing mid-20th Century modern furniture aesthetics to early 21st Century lives and homes

Applying an international twist to the American Dream, the globe-trotting French native Aymerick Rondeau, 44, now scours the world for authentic 1960s Scandinavian mid-century modern furniture, bringing it all back to his San Marcos warehouse and home. Like Cher and Oprah, the effervescent Rondeau is known by first name only as Aymerick. He followed the sun as a young man working in the hospitality industry…

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Grid and Bear It

Last but not Least

American Indian Studies chair receives national honor

Joely Proudfit, the founding department chair of the American Indian Studies department at CSUSM, recently was a recipient of the 2024 educator of the year award, presented by the National Indian Education Association’s Lifetime Achievement and Cultural Freedom Awards. The awards recognize and honor individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the education of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people. Proudfit…

Click Here or title to read more

Columbus Day? ‘California Dream,’ indigenous peoples

The California Dream is a myth for many California Indian peoples and tribes. Since settlers arrived, California Indians’ reality has largely been one of land dispossession, cultural assimilation and even genocide. If California Indians were to design their own dream it would place decolonization at its core. Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, part of what I study as a scholar of Native American studies….

Click Here or title to read more

It’s National Fluffernutter Day. Hip Hip Hooray?

Every dog has its day, they say, and apparently so does every cause, effect and plain old thing. Welcome to Tuesday Oct. 8, 2024. It’s National Fluffernutter Day. Correct, National Fluffernutter Day is observed annually on Oct. 8, according to the National Day Calendar. This is a day set aside each year to make, and enjoy, the savory sandwich consisting of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Fluffernutter dates…

Click Here or title to read more

Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at Ground Zero following Sept. 11

Sept. 11, 2001: Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at “Ground Zero” following the terrorist attack. His major complaint in the years following concerned his inability to get correct, and affordable, treatment due to the costs involved, costs that Congress finally agreed to add funding to the 9/11 First Responders fund almost 18 years later. “Ironworkers worked every day,” Pursley said. “We went on 12-hour shifts…

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Before Babe Ruth, there was Gavvy Cravath

(Editor’s Note: Gavvy Cravath was an Escondido native, perhaps the first Major League Baseball star from San Diego County. Patrolling right field at the historic Baker Bowl for the Dead Ball Era Philadelphia Phillies, he led the National League in home runs six times in the years just prior to Babe Ruth’s arrival on the scene. Later, a Laguna Beach municipal judge, the crusty Cravath,…

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Lynn Marrie hats help rock for Sublime’s Bradley House

A Sublime Life Sobriety Festival attracted a host of fans and sober living proponents to Oceanside Civic Center on May 11 where a supportive community immersed itself in a variety of activities including live music, insightful speakers and interactive activities. Inspired by late Sublime front man Bradley Nowell, the Nowell Family Foundation sponsored the event to acquaint folks with its Bradley House addiction recovery project….

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Three Dot Lounge visits Rancho Santa Fe: $20 ice cream pints, crying about the spilt Inn and foie gras lawsuits

We are going to consider a few outstanding three-dot items stripped from below, well below, today’s sundry headlines. But first, a reminder and salute about he who pioneered the three-dot way… It’s been 25 years since famed San Francisco journalist Herb Caen (1916-1997) died. For journalists and San Franciscans, Caen was a superstar. Known as “Mr. San Francisco,” his columns were a vital piece in…

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