The Mercury News

Orange County Register Wildfire Coverage Has a Huge Hole in It: Media Watchdog

Orange County fire officials recently held a press conference to go over their strategies and, more importantly, warn the public about an ever-earlier fire season. The Orange County Register covered this, as it did Southern California's recent wildfires, but a media watchdog saw a huge hole in the c ... More >>

Is Being Labeled a "Christian Rock" Band Toxic For Our Career?

By: Jessica Hopper Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She i ... More >>

Is Santa Ana Ready for Some Pro Football?

​Are the San Francisco 49ers moving to Santa Ana?An NFL Network reporter says the storied franchise is on the way.Sort of.

[UPDATED with 11 Becoming 10?] "Irvine 11" Case Heads for Trial

​UPDATE, JULY 21, 3:25 P.M.: The Irvine 11 may soon become the Irvine 10.If Hakim Nasreddine Kebir completes 40 hours of community service at the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa by Sept. 23, the 20-year-old will be removed from the controversial case pending in Orange County Superior Co ... More >>

Remembering a Buddy at Buddy Blue Festival V

Photo by Tim Ames/BuddyBlue.netBuddy Blue strikes a chord at Pete's Place.​My, how time flies when you're missing your buddy. Bernard "Buddy" Seigal was a former OC Weekly music editor, a connoisseur of subversive comics, disturbing porn and bottomless whiskey shots, and, under the stage name "Bud ... More >>

Orange County Has First Flu-Related Death. Don't Be the Next

​Coughing, the sniffles and a fever aren't joking matters. For those of you putting off getting your flu shot, now may be the time to consider finding your nearest vaccination provider.Health officials have reported that Orange County experienced its first flu-related death this month, but they wo ... More >>

OC Man Gets Huge Cell Phone Bill

T-Mobile's slogan: "Get more!"​We all know that cell phone companies are making a killing nowadays.But one Orange County man probably isn't happy that he was targeted to make T-Mobile's 2010 profit margin even larger.How much was his bill one month?

Le Van Ba, Founder of Lee's Sandwiches, Dies At 79

Flickr user evang​The San Jose Mercury News reported that Le Van Ba, a sugar baron from Vietnam and the founder of the omnipresent chain of Vietnamese sandwich bakeries, Lee's Sandwiches, died Tuesday from cancer at the age of 79.

Phony Products Grow in Garden Grove

​Federal and local officials swooped down on several Southern California locations to arrest 30 people and seize dodgy DVDs, phony jewelry, fake designer clothing and other items over the past week.The 47,000 goods confiscated had a total suggested retail price of more than $12 million. Yes, Oran ... More >>

Remembering Buddy Blue . . . With a Gig

BuddyBlue.netBuddy Blue tears it up in 2004.​If Bernard "Buddy" Seigal (stage name, "Buddy Blue") were alive today, and he hadn't left his post as OC Weekly music editor years earlier, he'd be in charge of the blog you are reading right now.

Governor Candidates, Humboldt County Pot Growers Agree: No on Legalization!

Jerry Brown: "I've already indicated that that's not a provision I am likely to support."​The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 was certified for November's ballot this week after backers turned in signatures from hundreds of thousands of California voters, but the three top candid ... More >>

Diane Harkey Tries to Kill High-Speed Rail Financing

One woman stands in its way...​State assemblywoman Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point, etc.) has proposed a law to stop California's high-speed rail project... in its tracks. To derail it. To cause it to lose steam. To, uh, poo-poo the choo-choo.

Hot Air, Mad Men and Hog Slopping at the California GOP Convention

Carly Fiorina--the former Silicon Valley CEO and current U.S. Senate candidate who ruffled the feathers of Irvine assemblyman and fellow Republican nomination seeker Chuck DeVore with her campaign's "demon sheep" ad--apparently scored a big hit at this past weekend's GOP state convention in Santa Cl ... More >>

One Paper Questions Poizner's Fitness to Govern, Another Makes Same Case Against Whitman

Steve Poizner photo by Jack GouldWhitman for sale; heil, Poizner!​From Los Angeles Times Capitol Journal columnist George Skelton: Steve Poizner's Wild-Eyed Accusations Against Meg Whitman Don't Bode Well: The GOP gubernatorial candidate alleges his opponent used attempted bribery and extortion to ... More >>

Dishney: Woman Groped While Riding Tower of Terror

Scott Brinegar/Disneyland​Anaheim Police are currently trying to identify a man who is suspected of groping a woman while riding Disney's California Adventure's thriller ride Tower of Terror on Fri., Jan 30. The Mercury News is reporting that the woman thinks the man sitting to the left of her on ... More >>

Dishney: Woman Groped While Riding the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Scott Brinegar/Disneyland​Anaheim Police are currently trying to identify a man who is suspected of groping a woman while riding Disney's California Adventure's thriller ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror on Fri., Jan 30. The Mercury News is reporting that the woman believes that the man sitti ... More >>

Today in Music News: Bono, Sting, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Coldplay, Blink, Bloc Party, Joan Baez, Weezer, Jermaine Dupri

"George Clooney says the 'Hope for Haiti' benefit for victims of the earthquake in Haiti will include performances from Bono, Sting, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keys," reports Billboard.com."Coldplay, Blink, Bloc Party Call for Haiti Relief," reports Spin.com"Joan Baez kicks of ... More >>

[Summer Guide] Elliott Almond Brings an OC Native's Eye to His How-to Book About Surfing

Elliott Almond on the Breaks of OC, Life and Journalism

Photo by Tim Harvey You might have seen Elliott Almond on his board in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach or San Onofre. Here he sits on a mini-mal at Ocean Beach, San Francisco.Today's OC Weekly Summer Guide features a Q&A with Elliott Almond, who spent several years covering surfing and ot ... More >>

OC Politicos Harsh San Mateo County's Bailout Mellow

Campbell, financial cock blockerSan Mateo County officials who went to Congress Tuesday seeking a federal bailout of funds lost in its investment portfolio with Lehman Brothers, which the Bush administration allowed to fail in what would become the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, got the financi ... More >>

[Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'Citizen McCaw,' 'Absurdistan,' More

As State OK's Tough Global Warming Rules Should Diesel Be Next?

As expected, the state this afternoon put teeth in its landmark regulations enacted in 2006 to combat global warming, adopting the nation's most comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Such emissions must be cut 30 percent by 2020. But that is not enough for the editorial board ... More >>

The Register in talks with MediaNews about sharing content

OC Weekly Wins National Award

Judges at the Missouri School of Journalism considered more than 1,200 entries and yesterday awarded OC Weekly second place nationally for General Excellence in our circulation category among both daily and alternative newspapers. The judges had this to say: "The Weekly contains all the usual alte ... More >>

Your Multi-tasking Governor

"Schwarzenegger had proof of some multi-tasking dexterity," writes LA Times columnist George Skelton, after having a cozy chat with Schwarzenegger in the governor's smoking tent in Sacramento. The column isn't really worth reading, since it mainly recounts Schwarzenegger's very high opinion of Schw ... More >>

Them That's Got

If you belong to one of the groups targeted for a good squeezin' called on to sacrifice in the governor's budget plan-- college students, public school teachers, families on welfare-- rest assured that the truly needy will still be well taken care of. Kate Folmar reports in the San Jose Mercury New ... More >>

Commie Girl

Madam Chairwoman: Rock on!

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 >>

43 vs. 43

On On Politics, the San Jose Mercury News' political news blog, Kate Folmar reports: An internal poll conducted by Democratic pollster Mark Mellman of The Mellman Group out of Washington, D.C. recently found that the governor's race was a dead heat, I'm told. Forty-three percent of respondents favor ... More >>

What Lies Beneath

Proving once again that the internet is good for something other than pornography and pirating music, one of the more useful state agencies you've never heard of, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, has created EnviroStors, an online database of contaminated sites throughout the s ... More >>

Stories That Made a Difference

And some we regret

Dead End

Feds deny connection between CIA and ex-Laguna Beach cop and drug dealer. So why are his files secret?

Kill the Messenger

Gary Webb, 1955-2004

Total Recall

Schwarzeneggers business scams

Diary of a Mad County

Diary of a Mad County

Our Man in San Salvador

Notorious generals U.S. ties ran through an ex-OC cop

Mr. Googie

Diary of a Mad County

Crack Cop

New FBI documents add to the mystery surrounding a former Laguna cop who says he ran coke for the Nicaraguan rebels

Im a Puss

But sos Governor Gray Davis

The Gifts That Keep Giving

Crack Cop

FBI documents link an ex-Laguna cop and drug runner to an Irvine executive with ties to the CIA

True Lies?

Ken Bucchi says he was a drug-running spook. The CIA says hes an impostor

Rate Rape

Electric Light Orchestra

The states biggest newspapers continue to defend the power companies

Too Nice to Minorities?

Critics charge Reg has abandoned whitey

Revolting

Reg attack on insurance reformer produces a counterattack

Big Brother Award

A Gray Area

OC judge is wild card in Citizens Drug Inquiry