San Diego County

Matthew Weaver, Former Huntington Beach High Student, Uses Computer to Rig School Election in San Diego

A Surf City son has gone forth into the world and besmirched the good name of Orange County. While you're pondering how that could have happened, here are the facts: Authorities say Matthew Weaver, a 22-year-old former student at Huntington Beach High School, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud, access ... More >>

OC Annual Citizens' Report Shows We're in a Better Financial Place Than Our Neighbors

Orange Countians out earn and enjoy lower unemployment and higher home values on average than people in other Southern California counties, according to the County of Orange Auditor-Controller's Annual Citizens' Report released today. Only San Diego County employs fewer county government employees p ... More >>

John Moorlach, County Board of Supes Chairman, Goes Toe to Toes on the Nose with Surfrider Over Trestles Landmark Designation

It's unclear what's bigger news: that Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman John Moorlach is a "fan" of the Surfrider Foundation or that the longtime GOP conservative powerbroker is dubious of the San Clemente-based clean-water activists proposal to have Trestles declared a California His ... More >>

Frito-Lay Gets Huge Bill In California Sales Staff Wage Cheating Case

Frito-Lay, makers of the popular Fritos, Tostitos and Doritos chips, routinely cheated more than 2,100 sales employees out of money owed for overtime work in California, according to a class action lawsuit. Earlier this year, the Texas-based snack food company agreed to settle the case before a ... More >>

Katherine Ann Heinzel, Retired Newport Beach Police Officer, Guilty of Killing One, Injuring 2

A retired Newport Beach policewoman has been convicted of killing a dude and injuring three others in San Diego County.Jurors found Katherine Ann Heinzel, 51, of Winchester, guilty of three felonies, including vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, for a fatal drunken-driving crash last November ... More >>

The Udder Type Of Dairy: Camel Milking Arrives At The OC Fair

It's a sight you never knew was missing from your life: frothy, white liquid shooting out from the udders of a camel. But as luck would have it, you can see this unique occurrence at the OC Fair.    From now until Aug. 12, camel milking demonstrations are taking place in the fair's livesto ... More >>

Like Craft Beer? Head South This Weekend for the Tijuana Beer Fest

If your idea of Mexican beer is Corona (lovingly known in this house as meados de gato), Tecate, and Negra Modelo, you've got to get educated. Baja California has been spawning craft breweries at a rate not seen since North San Diego County, and the old days of beer-flavored soda water are ending.Fo ... More >>

Michael Burgin, One of Two Final Defendants in Crime Ring That Hit OC Jewelers, Gets 90 Years

The final two North San Diego County gang members who were part of a crime ring that robbed Tustin Village Jewelers and Baca Jewelers of Laguna Beach in 2009 received their sentences today--and one was the largest handed out in the case: 90 years to life in state prison. Michael Burgin, 32, received ... More >>

[UPDATED with Brain Doctor's Plea:] Junior Seau, Legendary NFL Linebacker, Apparently Commits Suicide

UPDATE, MAY 4, 8:03 A.M.: If San Diego Chargers great Junior Seau suffered from a brain injury that contributed to his suicide, he could have been saved, according to a Newport Beach psychiatrist who has conducted three clinical studies with 115 active and former NFL players.And Dr. Daniel G. Amen h ... More >>

Congressman Darrell Issa Launches Probe Into the California High Speed Rail Authority

San Diego County Congressman Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of a powerful congressional committee, yesterday told California High Speed Rail Authority officials to preserve records in anticipation of an investigation into potential corruption.Among Issa's concerns about the Authority include ... More >>

Aria International Supermarket to Open in Tustin

​Like a scene from The Game, where Michael Douglas searches for a company that doesn't really exist, Aria Supermarket is a little ambiguous with its public information. With a just-made Facebook page, we get address, hours and a ringing phone. And that's about it.Replacing the defunct Sears Essent ... More >>

Aida Arroyo, Michael Burgin and Adam Weick, Gang Members Who Hit OC Jewelers, Convicted

​Three more members of a San Diego street gang have been convicted for their roles in two Orange County jewelry store robberies, with two learning their fate from a jury today and the third having entered a guilty plea mid-trial. Aida Arroyo, 29, faces up to 15 years in state prison after pleading ... More >>

Two Earthquakes Strike Southern California

Feel that? The end is near.​Two 3.0-plus earthquakes rocked Southern California in a recent 14-hour period.According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the last one, a 3.5 "shallow" strike, hit just before 9 a.m. today in the mountains near Coachella.A Palm Springs newspaper is reporting that resident ... More >>

Aida Arroyo, Michael Burgin, Adam Weick: Final Defendants in Wild Gang Crime Spree

Arroyo​The beginning of the end of an Orange County crime ring came with the late August 2009 arrest of a man, who was hiding near a shed in Oceanside, for being involved in a Laguna Beach jewelry store robbery. What authorities did not know at the time was he would be tied to another robbery earl ... More >>

[UPDATED: Lights On!] Life in South Orange County; CUSD Schools Closed Friday

​UPDATE, SEPT. 9, 9:43 A.M.: While most of South Orange County was already asleep or elsewhere--seeing as how the power had been out for hours and SDG&E was expecting the blackout to extend into Friday--the lights came back on in Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and parts of Laguna Niguel, shor ... More >>

Cinépolis of Mexico Brings the Luxury and Low-End Jobs to Hoity-Toity OC ZIP Codes for a Change

See, the Spanish juxtaposed with Captain America ... oh, never mind.​Mexicans have taken over your menial jobs, your shitty apartments and your marijuana-delivery options, America.Prepare to have our amigos south of the border take over your movie theaters next.Like an endless wave of, oh, whateve ... More >>

Meet Roosterhead's Technicolor Astro Van

​Some bands just ride vans; Huntington Beach psych rock duo Roosterhead recently painted their Astro van all sorts of fluorescent colors (to match their instruments). Then they gave it its own webpage, www.roosterheadmusic.com/van.It's in keeping with their odd aesthetic; as we said in a story las ... More >>

Best Online Coupon Sites

[Trendzilla] Gilt.com, Groupon.com, LivingSocial, Market for Drama and Rue La La Allow You to Get Your Coup-On

Ismael Calixto Ortiz, Wanted in '05 Santa Ana Rape, Apprehended After Hopping Border

​In a brushy area of Imperial Beach in San Diego County early Monday, a Border Patrol agent confronted two Mexican nationals who illegally entered the United States. The agent managed to detain one man but the second resisted. Just as a second agent arrived, the combative man tried to yank the fir ... More >>

OC Outspends San Diego County for Firefighting

​Remember those killer fires that have engulfed huge swaths of San Diego County in recent years? Orange County has suffered its own (a shout out to the '08 Freeway Complex Fire, yo!), but our neighboring county to the south has had to put it up with repeated massive wildfires that past few years ... More >>

[UPDATED] Devendra Banhart Deejaying at Mesa Tonight!

www.myspace.com/devendrabanhartUpdate: you can pay a $10​ membership fee to get in if you don't R.S.V.P. Check out the flyer after the jump.Today, the S.U.N. group is hosting  "CAMM Tuesdays" at Mesa (725 Baker St., Costa Mesa) featuring a DJ set by folkie Devendra Banhart. First, a glos ... More >>

Wheat Beer Showdown

cogdog / CC BY 2.0Mothership Wit​With the masses of craft beers now widely available--many coming out of our southerly neighbors in San Diego County--American beer doesn't have quite the same stigma as it once did. There is certainly still the watery, cheap swill to uphold that stereotype, but wit ... More >>

Nuke Plant, Feds, Drugs. Oh, No.

Jay Brockman​If you live or work within 10 miles of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), a.k.a. "the giant pair of boobs," the Feds would like to have a word with you about a little thing called radiation poisoning. EVERYONE PANIC!

Return of the 241 Toll-Road Extension: South County Officials Pen Scary Letter to Feinstein

Also known as "a concrete cage without walls."​The 241 extension saga in a nutshell: Transportation Corridor Agencies propose extending a toll road from Rancho Santa Margarita to the Interstate 5 in San Diego County, environmental groups flip out at the prospect of a freeway potentially encroachin ... More >>

OC Impacts Some of Country's Worst Commutes

​No stretch of Orange County freeway winds up on The Daily Beast list of America's 75 worst commutes, but vehicles originating from, destined for or passing through here certainly contribute to three of those bad drives--including the No. 1 place holder.

Indictment: Jewelry Store Robberies Lead to Wider Crime Ring

​Alonso Jose Lopez, a 31-year-old resident of Vista in San Diego County, got Navel Gazing mentions here and here, but he'd no doubt prefer those over the his latest mention: in an Orange County grand jury indictment unsealed today that identifies him as one of nine San Diego criminal street gang m ... More >>

$3 Million Emerald Arrives at Height of Jewelry Heist Season

Palagems.comEl Itoco: object of desire.​In a small room near the front desk of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana rests El Itoco, a 472-carat emerald crystal that is considered one of the finest in the world and valued and is valued at more than $3 million.The emerald that was dug up from black shale ... More >>

Long Wait For Waves at San-O

Photo by Jacob RepkoWaiting to get to the waves, around dawn outside San Onofre State Beach. Forecasts of an abnormally large summer swell in Southern California, particularly the southern parts of Orange County, northern San Diego County and northern Los Angeles County, have caused surfers to ... More >>

Why Do More Latinos Settle in OC Than Closer to the Border?

You'd think San Diego County's closeness to the Mexican border would make it a natural place for Latinos to call home, but according to the U.S. Census Bureau, San Diego County continues to have the lowest concentration of Latinos among Southern California counties. That's because, immigration tr ... More >>

Potential Unlikely Swine Flu Victims THIS Close to OC (Updated!)

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that recent two deaths in LA County are being investigated by the coroner as possibly resulting from swine flu. The location of the two suspected flu victims? Long Beach and La Mirada, two Orange County border towns.With most of the previously reported Southern Cal ... More >>

[This Hole-in-the-Wall Life] Fire Water at Ostioneria Playas de Sinaloa

Say You Will Build It, and They Will Come . . . If the 'It' Is a Toll Road Over Trestles Parkland

State Park Scare Tactics 2

The Southern California Association of Governments has issued a warning that the California Coastal Commission's veto of the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road extension could spell doom for our air quality. Or at least our air quality credits. It's hard to imagine how a road which would increase cars ... More >>

Hot Ticket

Los Angeles County firefighters who traveled the distance to fight recent blazes in San Diego County are being charged $100 for using the toll roads without paying the fee, the Register reported today. It seems that these "heroes" think they are the kings of the world who are magically exempt from ... More >>

Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: Can The Borg Show Compassion?

Car Booting Violence: The folks over at Universal Guaridan Holdings, Inc. in Newport Beach are smiling today because their Cobra StunLight (pictured) “was successfully used to help disable an armed assailant” recently in downtown Atlanta. They say Jeremiah Day was booting illegally parked cars ... More >>

OC Weekly's Fire Forum (Updated)

In the wake of the deadly, devastating fires burning from Ventura County down to San Diego County, one can't help but feel for the victims. OC Weekly and LA Weekly have teamed up to give a voice to these victims as well as those close to them. Below, we have provided an area for you to share your ... More >>

Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: Safer Teen Sex in OC?

Lots of Unprotected Fornications in SD: The San Diego Union-Tribune reports this morning that youths ages 15 to 24 in our southern neighbor county had a whopping 85,000 cases of chlaymdia, gonorrhea and AIDS in 2005. How’s that rank? Well, according to the newspaper, researchers at the Cali ... More >>

Donna Buonos 7 Favorite Things

Morning Song Farmer

Beatallica: Because the Beatles & Metallica Need the Money

Ever wonder what Beatles songs done in Metallica's heavy, hyper style would sound like? Me neither. But the clever buggers in Beatallica thought this would be a smashing concept; hence the forthcoming release of Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band (out July 10 on Oglio Records). The group consist ... More >>

San Diego: Screw Trestles

San Diego has no business in San Diego County. At least, that's what their City Council seems to think. In our Best "Best of OC" Issue yet, Dave Wielenga eloquently described one of the major problems with the Save Trestles campaign: apathy. Surfers and the surf industry pay lip service to their be ... More >>

Smart Kids, Not So Smart Adults, and DNA for Dinner

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, "School-age children from Spanish-speaking households in San Diego County and throughout California are gaining English fluency at record rates". While this is excellent news, the news for adults is a little ... More >>

Ask Not for Whom the Toll Blows

San Diego wakes up, finds an Orange County freeway in its yard

Sk8er Bois

Get a chance to howl at the Dogtown casting call

Somebody Call Roto-Rooter!

San Onofre nuke plant ranks No. 3 for possibility of meltdown

Driving Through the Valley of Malls

Go with the Flow

Packards Pork

OC congressman proposes neat idea: Let taxpayers clean up developers messes

Train Trash

Lights! Camera! Reaction!

Supes give Springer a run for his money

Ron Packard, Military Whore

Beneath the South County Congressman's Mr. Vanilla exterior beats the heart of an old-fashioned, log-rolling, back-scratching, pork barreling special-interest pol