Articles by The Grapevine

Sanctuary: Defending faith and humanity against fear

The sun had barely risen, casting a pale, hesitant light over a land that seemed unsure of itself, when the news came down like a hammer on an old anvil. The announcement wasn’t made with fanfare, nor with the solemnity one might expect from something so grave. No, it was delivered with the cold efficiency of machinery, as if humanity were an afterthought in the…


Sheeeee’s baaaaack. San Diego GOP recycles old chair removed in April for DeMaio ethical vile-lations

The fetid stink of political theater hung thick in the air at the Legacy Hotel in Mission Valley on the night of December 9, as the San Diego County Republican Party Central Committee — much like the Soviet Politburo — convened to re-coronate Paula S. Whitsell as their glorious figurehead. Whitsell, a Chula Vista relic who first wormed her way into this backwater power circle…


Sheriff Kelly Martinez, protector of who exactly?

San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez is a politician dressed in a badge, pretending to uphold the law while peddling fear and dodging accountability. On Tuesday, in a move as predictable as the sunrise, she declared herself above the will of the people she supposedly serves, all in the name of bending the knee to ICE—Trump’s personal deportation squad. San Diego County supervisors made their…


Monarchs in flight: Saving our fluttering treasures

On a quiet Tuesday, U.S. wildlife officials, with an air of both resolve and regret, unveiled their intent to extend federal protections to the delicate monarch butterfly—a creature whose presence evokes a profound sense of wonder yet whose existence teeters precariously. For years, environmentalists have sounded the alarm, warning that the monarch’s numbers dwindle ominously, their shimmering wings an emblem of a vanishing world threatened…


La Niña looms. Will San Diego’s luck hold this winter?

San Diego County, as far as weather is concerned, often carries the smug air of a guest at the Thanksgiving table who neither brings nor takes too much—just clear skies and dry streets to boast about, while its neighbors to the north dabble in calamity. This week has been no exception. While Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo have been slapped about by…


Dance of the orcas: Awe and etiquette on the open seas

In the surging foam of the Pacific swells, where the boundless blue mirrors heaven’s depths, there came again to Southern California’s shores a band of oceanic hunters, their presence rare as an albatross amid the doldrums. These orcas, sovereigns of the sea, whose brief sojourns here once stirred both awe and marvel, now returned, their black-and-white heraldry glistening like banners of some ancient, aquatic knightly…


Daylight saving time running out of time?

Daylight saving time: It’s back when clocks step back one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov, 3, 2024. Don’t forget to do the right thing clockwise or you’ll be out of sync. Californians early Sunday will join most of the nation in the yearly ritual of switching their clocks an hour forwards and back on daylight saving time. Will they be allowed to keep them…


San Diego North County Japanese-Americans recall World War II internments

In San Diego County, which had a population of 2,076 Japanese-Americans in 1940, families were sent to Poston, 12 miles south of Parker, Ariz. Poston was one of 10 internment camps created during World War II after an executive order authorized the Secretary of War to designate specific areas as military zones and excluded certain people from living in them. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order…


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…


Why won’t scientific evidence change the minds of Loch Ness monster true believers?

You may have noticed a curious recent announcement: An international research team plans to use state-of-the-art DNA testing to establish once and for all whether the Loch Ness monster exists. And for those locally, check out The Grapevine’s consideration of our local monster wannabe, Hodgee, the friendly Lake Hodges Moster, posted  here… Regardless of the results, it’s unlikely the test will change the mind of…