San Diego County

Save San Onofre Coalition Files 2 Lawsuits to Stop Foothill/Eastern (241) Toll Road Extension

The Save San Onofre coalition filed two lawsuits in San Diego Superior Court Wednesday aimed at stopping what it considers the first five-mile segment of a 16-mile toll road that would ultimately cut through a south Orange County park and up against a northern San Diego County beach.The complaints a ... More >>

In the Weird World of Water Politics, Some Men Serve Two Masters

In the slippery-when-wet world of water politics, irony abounds and things get confusing fast. Witness yesterday when Faubel Public Affairs President Brian Lochrie, a spokesman for Poseidon Resources Inc., stood before a small group of senior citizens at the Costa Mesa Historical Society. Lochrie is ... More >>

Recidivist Human Smuggler Wants Mexican Resort Probation

You've probably heard a lousy American economy has reduced illegal immigration passions from Mexico into the United States, but that story isn't the reality in ongoing human smuggling cases in Orange County. Consider the case of Ensenada, Mexico resident Timothy John Sweeney, a native of Rockfo ... More >>

Diane Harkey Seeks State Tax Board Seat as Husband's Company Goes Belly Up to Stop Suits

After many starts and stops, the day in court seemed to finally arrive Thursday for 80 investors who felt they'd been hornswoggled by the husband of Assemblywoman Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point).But now a fatal blow to the $43 million lawsuit against Dan Harkey and his Point Center Financial has likely ... More >>

Pedophile California Highway Patrol Cop Loses Federal Appeal

Stephen Robert Deck, an Orange County-based lieutenant in the California Highway Patrol, desperately craved illegal sex with underage girls and took numerous steps to achieve his fantasies.But Deck ended up nabbed in a 2006 Perverted Justice sting orchestrated with undercover officers at the La ... More >>

[UPDATED with Jail Release:] Peter Gregory Chadwick, Millionaire Accused of Murdering Wife, Has Charges Reduced

See the update at the end of this post about Peter Gregory Chadwick being released from custody.ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 19, 11:15 A.M.: The spousal murder charges against Peter Gregory Chadwick, the U.K.-born real estate investor whose name fits his monicled-millionaire status, have been reduced, accord ... More >>

Federal Judge Dismisses Inmate's Libel Lawsuit Against OC Weekly As Frivolous

A federal judge has dismissed a convicted felon's $75 million libel lawsuit against OC Weekly and a veteran staff writer after concluding the accusations had no merit.In his Nov. 6 ruling, Judge George H. King declared that Delecia Ann Holt, a convicted thief and failed Orange County and San Diego C ... More >>

[BREAKING:] California Coastal Commission Denies PG&E Seismic Studies Off Central Coast

See the breaking news update at the end of this post on the Coastal Commission's denial of PG&E's seismic studies proposal and foe Surfrider's reaction.ORIGINAL POST, NOV. 13, 12:02 P.M.: As the Coastal Commission considers Pacific Gas & Electric's Fukushima-inspired plan to fire underwater ... More >>

[UPDATED with Husband Blaming Painter:] Quee Chadwick, OC Homicide No. 39: Millionaire Peter Gregory Chadwick Held

See Update No. 5 at the end of this post about the husband blaming a house painter for his wife's death and why police aren't buying that story.See Update Nos. 1-4 with the charge against and possible motive of the suspect, the kind of car he was driving, what authorities are calling his false murde ... More >>

[UPDATED with Kreep Wins!] Did Dirty Trickster James Lacy Help Minuteman-Birther Gary Kreep Win Judge Race?

See update at the end of this post clarifying that Gary Kreep won the judge's race outright.Batshit birthers Gary Kreep and Orly Taitz famously split like Dick and Liz while trying to prove Barack Obama was born outside the U.S. While South County's birfer queen went on to lose her recent bid for a ... More >>

UPDATED with Capture: Federal Judge David O. Carter Orders Posse to Find Fugitive Brad Keith Lee

​UPDATE: Acting on the orders of a pissed off federal judge in Orange County, law enforcement officials this month arrested Brad Keith Lee in Washington state for probation violations; now he'll face the unhappy judge at a future date.ORIGINAL POST: 3/7/2012: David O. Carter is undoubtedly Orange ... More >>

[UPDATED with Irvine Call for Closure:] Tim Carpenter Back to "No Nukes" San Onofre with All His Old Progressive Pals

UPDATE, APRIL 25, 10:53 A.M.: As expected, the Irvine City Council Tuesday night called for the shutdown of the nuclear power plant 22 miles away, the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).Among the more than 200 people who turned out for the agenda item was Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear ... More >>

Two OC Starbucks To Sell Beer and Wine

Earlier this year, Starbucks reported plans to test-market beer and wine sales in a few, select markets across the country, and named Southern California as one such region. We learned the chain has chosen two Orange County locations where their baristi won't have to change their job titles, since t ... 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 >>

Orange County Register Eyed by Publisher South of the Border

​Someone south of the border may buy the Orange County Register.Clean up in whichever aisles old coot heads just exploded in.That's south of the Orange County border, not the Mexican one.

Christopher Ryan Smith, Missing Man Said to be Murdered by Business Partner, Subject of Search That May Have Yielded Clues

​Orange County authorities say items found during the search for the body of Christopher Ryan Smith in southern San Diego County over the weekend may be evidence tied to the Laguna Beach 31-year-old's murder in 2010.Edward Younghoon Shin, Smith's 32-year-old business partner, allegedly confessed t ... More >>

Michael Theodore Pines' Psychiatric Evaluation Gets in Way of Criminal Sentencing for Attorney Who Claims Home Foreclosures are Illegal

​San Diego attorney Michael Theodore Pines was supposed to be sentenced Friday for the conviction based on the bad advice he gave to an elderly man who broke into his foreclosed Newport Coast home--in front of the media and arresting police officers. But Pines now has to wait until Dec. 16 to lear ... More >>

As Ducks Die in OC, Are Gnatcatchers Next?

Small but deadly to land developers.​Readers of the Weekly before there was a Weekly may recall the California gnatcatcher, a cute little bird who managed to stop development in its tracks in Orange County in the early 1990s, cause Donald Bren to forever be saddled with a menacing Mr. Burns squint ... More >>

How Do You Fill the Empty Toll Roads? Raffles!

Rush hour​The country's economic woes have reportedly extended to Orange County's toll roads, where ridership is down as once-paying drivers opt to ply the public lanes and apply the savings to offset rising gasoline prices.The agencies that operate the toll roads have responded with raffles and d ... More >>

Orange County Is Top Gun in Crime Guns Traced Here on Per Capita Basis

​When it comes to the total number of guns used in crimes, more can be traced to Los Angeles County than any other in Southern California, but on a per capita basis, Orange County is tops.That's the conclusion of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and rep ... More >>

Gov. Brown's Proposed Budget Cuts Will Affect State Parks, Including Those in OC

Chasen Marshall/OC WeeklyIt's technically San Diego County, but OC treats San Onofre like its own​Jerry Brown hasn't held the governor title for long, but he's already worthy of our unsupportive scowl. Reasoning? Part of his current suggestions for budget cuts milk state parks for $11 million thro ... More >>

Congressman Darrell Issa to Oversee Federal Food Regulation: Good or Bad?

​With the newest Congress sworn in comes Capitol Hill's traditional musical chairs of parties switching leadership roles for committees and the like. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is charged with investigating the government's regulations to see if they're overreaching. Th ... More >>

Anaheim Mexican Charbroiled Chicken Restaurant Gets Busted for Cockfighting--But Why Mess with Their Rooster Pictures?

Good movie...​When word on the Mexican street emerged last week that the owner of an Anaheim chicken restaurant was getting busted for cockfighting, I knew which one: El Pollo Fino, the county's second-best place for Mexican-style charbroiled chicken after San Clemente's Surfin' Chicken. I wasn't ... More >>

[UPDATED WITH SENTENCE:] 3-Time GOP Congressional Candidate Delecia Holt Convicted for Defrauding Hotels, Stealing Car

Courtesy of Orange County District AttorneyDeleica Holt's booking photo.​Delecia Holt, the 48-year-old Aliso Viejo Republican who ran three times for Congress in Orange and San Diego counties, was released from the jail she's been sitting in since her Oct. 7, 2008, arrest for defrauding Orange Cou ... More >>

Dueling Dishes: Temecula Sunrise Edition

Living in California and drinking locally, alcohol-wise, is by no means difficult. From the world-famous wine regions in Northern California to the craft beer Mecca of San Diego County and a few other noteworthy sources of wine, beer and booze (SF's Anchor Distilling makes thoroughly interesting and ... More >>

Know Nothing Leaders Jeff Schwilk and William Gheen Add Homophobic Slurs to their Rolodex of Racism

We're all accustomed to hear anti-immigrant loons rail:  illegal alien SAVAGES, PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH, TWO FOR SPANISH, and other priceless couplets. But, until this new wave of Know Nothings, there was at least a bit of class. Sure, Barbara Coe and her minions would spew all sorts of vitriol abo ... More >>

Incoming: Hoobastank, Unwritten Law Play Acoustic at Sutra

Sutra Lounge in Costa Mesa has been changing its image since changing ownership last November, and the latest new haps over there is the "Unplugged Concert Series" that started earlier this month with Jason Reeves. The acoustic fun continues this summer, with gigs from Hoobastank on June 10 and Unwr ... More >>

Chocolate-Covered Cheese? There Is A God

I met Cathy and Elliott Pavlos, architects-turned-restaurateurs, and owners of Irvine's Lucca café and deli, during their Wine and Cheese Pairing 101 at Bloomingdales on Saturday. I had been envisaging a low-key gathering of shoppers and foodies (not that they're mutually exclusive, I hasten to add ... More >>

Interesting Op-Ed Pieces on FBI Informant, Toll Roads

In "Breach of Trust: FBI Wants It Both Ways," the editorial board of UC Irvine's New University student newspaper takes issue with the indictment of a Muslim resident of Tustin and the use of a controversial government informant. (Background is here and here.) The case is bound to have a chilling ef ... More >>

Picking Weeds Over in Rainbow

It takes quite the personality to motivate about 10 suburbanites to get up early Sunday morning, drive an hour and a half to San Diego County, and end up in the unincorporated community of Rainbow for the honor of picking weeds for nothing, but that's the type of gal Donna Buono is. The San Clemente ... More >>

Not Trickie Dick's Western White House But an Amazing Facsimile

Variety columnist Bashirah Muttalib has a fascinating piece about the Herculean task the Frost/Nixon location manager had in trying to film key Orange County locations depicted in the film, which is set in the late 1970s.The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda opened its doors for lo ... More >>

Ex-Owner of Santa Ana Abortion Clinic May Be Jail Bound

LifeNews.com reports the owner of a chain of women's health clinics that caters primarily to Latinas - which until recently included Clinica Medica Para La Mujer at 120 W 5th St., Santa Ana, the site of an alleged assault by a physician on a pro-life photographer we blogged about in August - is like ... More >>

Toll Road Warriors

Do San Onofre Nudists Stand a Stitch of a Chance Against the State's Efforts to Cover Them Up?

Sinners and Saint Onuphrius

R.I.P., Ike Turner

Ike Turner died this morning at his home in San Marcos, in northern San Diego County, according to Scott M. Hanover of Thrill Entertainment Group, the company that managed Turner's musical career. Cause of death is unknown at this time. Turner was 76. Please see our sister paper Riverfront Times' bl ... More >>

Bates: Fishy

If only it were a smile contest... I thought the Transportation Corridor Agencies were getting desperate when I saw their ads on cable. But now it looks like they're going so far as to cobble together campaign mailers for supporters. I say this because Pat Bate's latest mailer, which uses TCA endor ... More >>

Commie Girl

Got Genocide?
Give us your tired and your poor

'Carpetbaggers, Thieves and Land-grabbers'

Toll road officials raise the dead in their war with local Native Americans

Re-Stoked

OCMA presents the least beautiful loser of all

Re-Imagining Retro

Again.

The Darkish Side

UCIs Observatory No, really

The Big Chill

The Reagans takes a right hook

George Bushs Joint

Rebecca Schoenkopf takes on the presidents drug war

We Love to See You Wretch!

Trout Season

Duck and Cover-up

"Atomic City" Doesn't quite reveal the whole truth of our curious relationship with Nukes

Bitter Pill

Anti-radiation pills may never be fashionable in California

He's Back