online community journalism

Newsom State of the State goes homeless

Gov. Gavin Newsom made a bold move Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. In his second State of the State address, an annual speech that usually focuses on political wins or the state’s booming economy, Newsom dedicated 35 of 42 minutes to the urgent but unsexy issue of homelessness. By proclaiming homelessness the most “pernicious crisis in our midst,” the first-term Democratic governor staked his political reputation…


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…


Community news for the rest of us

People, but mainly PR agents, send stuff all the time to our e-mail account. Sometimes we publish, many times we don’t because, you know, that’s how we roll. When PR agents, known in old-time journo lingo as “flacks,” send us material, we send them back our ad rates, which are $100 a month for sidebar ads, $200 a month for banner ads below the top…


Drive Tales: ‘It’s upside down, so what?’

Drive tales One of my many jobs right now is delivering packages for Amazon Prime Now. It’s a little different from Amazon Prime where packages are delivered at Amazon’s choosing by USPS, UPS, and FedEx. With Prime Now, YOU choose when you want your goods delivered. You can choose any two-hour window between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., seven days a week at no extra…


Closed door policy at Issa’s Vista office?

(Note: Updated 2 p.m. Thursday with quotes, information.) It was a case of meet — sorta —  and definitely no greet on Inauguration Day at the Vista office of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-49th District), according to representatives of 26 constituents in a group calling itself Courageous Resistance Encinitas who tried to deliver a letter protesting Donald Trump’s installation to staff there. Newfound public political action met a…


SD County farmers: Let them grow pot

For local jurisdictions, cannabis farming can generate significant new tax revenues, create jobs and help reverse course for the region’s declining agricultural sector. In the weeks and months ahead, county and local officials will be taking steps to implement medical and recreational marijuana regulations, including cannabis farming. The local farmers I’ve talked to think the time is ripe. In the last 16 months, the state…


Charges pressed against Hunter for art slam

“I’d hang it on Duncan’s door if it was up to me. But what I don’t want to do is deflect from the fact that all this is a diversion so people talk about Duncan Hunter removing a painting and picking on an 18-year-old and being a bully as opposed to talking about the fact that he continuously takes things that don’t belong to him….


Seaside Courier (of Encinitas) bites the dust

Another attempt to bring local independent news in the form of a print newspaper failed at Encinitas as the 2-year-old Seaside Courier announced that’s all folks, quietly fading into the dust bin of history last month. Thomas K. Arnold, who also has contributed stories to The Escondido Grapevine reported the news to another Grapevine friend Roman Koenig, who worked with us at North County Times…


Poverty in San Diego County higher than during Great Recession

When Jim Floros started his job as president and CEO of the San Diego Food Bank at the beginning of 2013, he says the nonprofit served about 330,000 people a month. The divergence between poverty and employment points to deeper problems in the San Diego region’s economy. That number has since grown to 370,000. That might seem odd given that San Diego County’s unemployment rate fell…


73-year-old Escondido man suspect in Fontana triple homicide

A long-simmering family feud over money boiled over early Wednesday when a 73-year-old Escondido man killed three relatives and critically wounded a fourth, according to police. Ali Zafar, of Escondido, was arrested on suspicion of homicide shortly after the shootings inside an apartment in Fontana, police Sergeant Kevin Goltara said. The 73-year-old shooting suspect surrendered to authorities at the property, police said, adding that the…