Rancho Santa Fe

Madeleine Pickens, you are what you eat

Or what’s eating Madeleine Pickens? Rancho Santa Fe resident and ardent Donald Trump supporter Madeleine Pickens wanted the African-American chef she recruited from the Del Mar Country Club she owns in Southern California to cook “black people food” — not “white people food” — at her rural Nevada dude ranch and wild horse sanctuary, according to a federal lawsuit accusing her of racial discrimination. Armand…



No more Thyme in the Ranch for you, or is it?

Everybody loves the iconic Thyme in the Ranch breakfast and lunch deli that has been humming along with th finest delicacies for nearly a quarter of a century at Rancho Santa Fe. The question now, however, is will the tradition continue now that owners Shane and Dawn Pursell have announced their retirement from the business of making the best lunches and baked good anywhere in…



California Pacific Airlines going nowhere fast

After 10 years of effort, Carlsbad’s McClellan-Palomar Airport-based California Pacific Airlines finally took flight on November, 2018. It flew high for a whole month before being grounded, kicked out of the state of South Dakota and sued. A long-time pursuit of Ted Vallas, a 97-year-old Rancho Santa Fe businessman with an ambitious plan to pick up the traditionally failing Carlsbad passenger traffic market, the airlines may never…


RSF state rep. switches from Repub. to Dem.

If you can’t beat them, join them. State Assemblyman Brian Maienschein went from red to blue Thursday, Jan. 24. Maienschein announced at the State Capitol in Sacramento a switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, saying he had “shifted to the left” on key issues in recent years, specifically citing gun control, immigration, abortion and LGBTQ rights. The old switcheroo changed the state Assembly…


RSF’s Harold Brown, former Jimmy Carter Dept. of Defense secretary, dies at age 91

Harold Brown, who as defense secretary in the Carter administration championed cutting-edge fighting technology during a tenure that included the failed rescue of hostages in Iran, has died at age 91. Brown died Friday, said the Rand Corp., the California-based think tank which Brown served as a trustee for more than 35 years. His sister, Leila Brennet, said he died at his home in Rancho…


California’s ‘jungle primary’ sets up polarized governor’s race for November

Voters who took part in California’s innovative and anti-party “jungle” primary on June 5 delivered a typical and predictably partisan result in the governor’s race. They sent Democratic Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom as the heavy favorite into a November contest against Republican businessman John Cox, who now lists his residence as Rancho Santa Fe. With the liberal Newsom positioning himself as a Bay Area Bernie…


Disbarred RSF Casey Anthony attorney Macaluso gets jail for $13M cocaine scheme

Summary: The former attorney of accused-murderer Casey Anthony, who has since been disbarred, was convicted of drug smuggling. (Editor’s note: It is with great pleasure we present this tale of justice served in the case of Todd Macaluso, former Casey Anthony attorney and Rancho Santa Fe reprobate. As editor of various Rancho Santa Fe newspapers and websites, I had the “honor” of being threatened with…


Move over Banksy, RSF is popping art

Rancho Santa Fe this summer is channeling Buffalo Springfield: “There’s something happening here. What is is ain’t exactly clear.” It’s anonymously placed mysteriously at night in the manner of English-based graffiti artist Banksy. Some call it the ultimate in pop-art. Unfortunately, as quickly as the art pops up, it tends to pop down. The Ranch can be an unforgiving place when it comes to anonymous…