Poway church music director says ‘Good Night’ to his father with choral requiem
When his father died in August 2022, John-Luke Addison — the director of music at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Poway — decided not to dash off a piece of...
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‘Bad stuff written all over him’: Inside the swaggering, scheming world of ‘Fat Leonard’
It was at precisely 6:12 p.m. on Sept. 16, 2013, inside a luxury suite on the 21st floor of downtown's Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina when the long and staggeringly...
Arson, vandalism force closure of Toby Wells YMCA
CLAIREMONT — The Toby Wells YMCA in Clairemont Mesa was closed Saturday in the wake of an arson and vandalism spree that damaged some of the facility's outdoor areas.In a statement on...
Lawsuit against federal government in killing of Oceanside woman headed to trial
A lawsuit alleging the Marine Corps failed to report a Marine to a federal firearms database of prohibited owners, therefore allowing him to purchase a gun that later killed an...
Local beer history is on tap at the San Diego History Center
It's that time of year when it's sunny, warm and clear (mostly). It's also peak time for beer, especially in San Diego, renown center for the craft beer movement that...
Judge in Midway District case says San Diego’s encroachment law doesn’t violate rights of homeless people
San Diego’s use of an encroachment law to charge homeless people living in sidewalk encampments does not violate the Constitution, according to a San Diego County Superior Court judge —...
Secretive nonprofit group of county probation leaders decides to disband
A group of probation chiefs from nearly every county in the state has decided to disband a secretive, nonprofit organization they set up to work out of the public eye...
Man being treated at hospital while in sheriff’s custody died from pneumonia complications
A 66-year-old man who was in the custody of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and died on Monday while at Alvarado Hospital succumbed to pneumonia complications, an autopsy concluded.Paul...
State boosts stipend for some foster youth in face of soaring housing costs
The news was daunting, but not surprising.The average rent in San Diego County in June was $2,417 per month, according to a survey by real estate tracking company CoStar. That...
Weird messages over loudspeakers advising people to remain in place awaken Scripps Ranch area residents
Neighborhoods in the vicinity of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar were awakened Saturday morning by a message advising people to remain where they were until further notice that appeared to...
Judge says San Diego’s encroachment law doesn’t violate rights of homeless people
A San Diego Superior Court judge has ruled that the city’s use of an encroachment law to charge homeless people living in sidewalk encampments does not violate the constitution, a...
H. Lee Sarokin, federal judge who opened tobacco records, freed Hurricane Carter, dies at 94
Former federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin, who died Tuesday in La Jolla at age 94, lived a life of astonishing range.He was educated in the Ivy League, then spent a...
Search launched for new San Diego County public defender chief
Katherine Braner, a veteran defense attorney who has spent nearly all of her career with the Office of the Public Defender, will be the interim leader of the office while...
A group of probation chiefs is planning how to adapt to new juvenile justice reforms – and doing it in secret
When Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation in September 2020 that took the state out of the business of incarcerating juvenile offenders, youth advocates hailed it as a long-overdue step toward...
That jury summons will now be done by postcard
If you are wondering where your jury summons is ... said no one ever.But if for some reason you are, you will have to be on the lookout for a...
Veteran San Diego defense lawyer collapses during court argument, later dies
Longtime San Diego criminal defense attorney Stephen Cline collapsed in a downtown San Diego courtroom Tuesday while arguing a pretrial motion in a 27-year-old homicide case, and later died after...
La convocatoria para participar en un jurado se realizara ahora por postal
Si te estás preguntando dónde está tu orden para participar en un jurado... dijo nadie nunca. Pero si por alguna razón te interesa, tendrás que estar atento a este cambio....
That jury summons will now be done by postcard
If you are wondering where your jury summons is ... said no one ever.But if for some reason you are, you will have to be on the lookout for a...
For 50 years, lawyers, judges and downtown power brokers have come to this restaurant to eat – and to make deals
The intimate, white-tablecloth dining room of the iconic Athens Market Taverna in downtown San Diego has long been the go-to hangout for the community of lawyers and judges who work...
Jane Dorotik sues San Diego County alleging litany of errors, misconduct that imprisoned her for two decades
Jane Dorotik, the former Valley Center woman who spent nearly two decades in prison convicted of killing her husband, is suing San Diego County — one year after the case...
La feria del condado de San Diego sigue bajo la sombra de una demanda por fraude de licitaciones
La feria del condado de San Diego comienza el 7 de junio, y mientras los organizadores de la Asociación Agrícola del Distrito 22 se centran en la restauración tras los...
San Diego County Fair still under cloud of bid-rigging lawsuit
The San Diego County Fair opens June 7, and while fair organizers at the 22nd District Agricultural Association are focused on rebuilding after the damage cause by the COVID-19 pandemic,...
San Diego County Fair still under cloud of bid-rigging lawsuit
The San Diego County Fair opens June 7, and while fair organizers at the 22nd District Agricultural Association are focused on rebuilding after the damage cause by the COVID-19 pandemic,...
Revised San Diego court rule addresses quirk that some said allowed ‘judge shopping’ in gun cases
Long before the U.S. Supreme Court upended Second Amendment law in June 2022, there was San Diego federal court Judge Roger Benitez. In a little more than two years starting...
La diocesis catolica romana de San Diego se declarara en bancarrota en noviembre
La diócesis católica romana de San Diego, bajo el yugo de las demandas de 438 personas que afirman haber sufrido abusos sexuales por parte de su clero en décadas pasadas,...
San Diego Roman Catholic diocese will file for bankruptcy in November
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, under a siege of lawsuits from 438 people who say they were sexually abused by its clergy in past decades, said it plans...
Search warrants outline early stage of child-porn probe of philanthropist Sanford
Investigators in South Dakota found three dozen images of child pornography in 2019 in email s connected to billionaire philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, according to search warrant affidavits made public...
Supreme Court to hear Poway case on whether public officials can block people on social media
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will take up a case from Poway Unified School District that tackles a contentious area of social media — when, and if, public...
Supreme Court to hear Poway case on whether public officials can block people on social media
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will take up a case from Poway Unified School District that tackles a contentious area of social media — when, and if, public...
9th Circuit rules horn-honking at Rep. Issa protest is not free speech
Honking your car horn for any reason other than warning of imminent danger is still illegal in California, a federal appeals court has ruled.In a 2-1 decision filed this month,...
San Diego County’s chief public defender to retire in June
San Diego County Public Defender Randy Mize has announced he will retire, ending more than three decades with the agency that represents about 90 percent of people charged with crimes...
State officials told in 2017 window-shattering in downtown courthouse would get ‘progressively worse’
Six months before the San Diego Central Courthouse opened in 2017, state court officials were dealing with a problem that would persist for years — windows spontaneously breaking in the...
‘Sad, distraught’: New court filing adds details to last weeks before ‘Fat Leonard’ escape
Lawyers for four former U.S. Navy officers convicted last summer in the only case to go to trial in the "Fat Leonard" bribery scandal say their clients got an unfair...
Fue fraude o coincidencia que la Diocesis Catolica Romana de San Diego redujera sus propiedades en 2019, ante nueva ley?
A principios de 2010, la Diócesis Católica Romana de San Diego tenía un impresionante imperio de la tierra en todo el condado, que contiene alrededor de 421 propiedades separadas que...
San Diego Roman Catholic Diocese landholdings plummeted in 2019 when new law ed. Coincidence or fraud?
At the start of 2010, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego had an impressive land empire across the county, containing some 421 separate properties that county records show it...
State commission approves two new San Diego appellate court justices
The state Commission on Judicial Appointments on Friday approved two new justices for the San Diego-based 4th District Court of Appeal.Longtime San Diego Superior Court Judge Julia Kelety was confirmed...
DOJ says San Diego prosecutor in ‘Fat Leonard’ case won’t be investigated for misconduct
The U.S. Department of Justice will not investigate a complaint that the lead prosecutor on the "Fat Leonard" Navy bribery investigation committed professional misconduct by withholding information from defense lawyers...
County agrees to pay $200K to diabetic who was kicked, shocked in Encinitas diner
San Diego County has agreed to pay nearly $200,000 to a pharmaceutical salesman who was put in a headlock and thrown to the ground, kicked and shocked with a Taser...
County agrees to pay $200K to diabetic who was kicked, shocked in Encinitas diner
San Diego County has agreed to pay nearly $200,000 to a pharmaceutical salesman who was put in a headlock and thrown to the ground, kicked and shocked with a Taser...
Senate confirms two judges to San Diego federal court
The U.S. Senate approved two more judges for San Diego's federal bench this week, confirmations that mean President Joe Biden has appointed nearly half of the authorized judicial seats on...
Ex-public defender who claimed she was ousted for political activism to get $900,000 settlement
San Diego County has agreed to pay $900,000 to settle a lawsuit from a former public defender who alleged she was forced to resign under duress as a lawyer at...
La diocesis catolica romana de San Diego se enfrenta a otra demanda: ahora de su propia compania de seguros
La aseguradora de la diócesis católica romana de San Diego presentó el viernes una demanda en la que sostiene que, debido a que la diócesis violó los términos de sus...
San Diego Roman Catholic diocese facing yet another lawsuit – now from its own insurance company
The insurance carrier for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego filed a lawsuit Friday contending that because the diocese violated the of its insurance policies, the company should...
Newsom’s criticisms of judges don’t earn same scolding as Trump’s
When then-presidential candidate Donald Trump came to San Diego in May 2016 for a campaign speech, he went on a 12-minute tangent about the lawsuit against Trump University, pending then...
Lawsuit accuses Roman Catholic Diocese of fraudulently transferring assets to foil sex abuse liability
A sweeping lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court accuses the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego of a scheme to fraudulently transfer hundreds of properties to avoid potentially large...
Sheriff’s Department won’t ban ‘maximum restraints’ but alters training following lawsuit
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department won't be banning the use of maximum restraints, sometimes known as hogtying, though it has altered its training on how to use them. The...
Number of windows in San Diego courthouse that broke ‘within industry norms,’ state agency says
State court officials say they now know why windows at the San Diego Central Courthouse have been spontaneously shattering since the gleaming, 22-story building opened five years ago. A consultant...
Jury rejects claim that patient woke up during surgery performed by UCSD Medical Center
After five weeks of testimony, a San Diego County Superior Court jury took just a day Feb. 16 to clear UC San Diego Medical Center and a former anesthesiologist of...
San Diego jury rejects claim that patient awakened during surgery
After five weeks of testimony it took a San Diego Superior Court jury just a day to clear UCSD Medical Center and a former anesthesiologist of accusations by a patient...
La diocesis catolica romana de San Diego se plantea la quiebra con demandas pendientes por abusos sexuales
La diócesis católica romana de San Diego advierte que es posible que tenga que declararse en quiebra en el futuro debido a las posibles consecuencias de cientos de demandas pendientes...
San Diego Roman Catholic diocese ponders bankruptcy with sex-abuse lawsuits pending
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is warning it may have to file bankruptcy in the future because of the potential fallout from hundreds of pending lawsuits alleging sexual...
Newsom picks San Diego Superior Court Judge Kelety to fill seat on appeals court
Gov. Gavin Newsom has nominated San Diego Superior Court Judge Julia Kelety to an open seat on the 4th District Court of Appeal in San Diego, selecting a jurist with...
State, local leaders gather for Community Climate Action Day
The Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve is on most days a quiet, lightly-visited piece of north Mission Bay that is blocked off on two sides by chain link fencing to help protect...
California reparations task force weighs long list of harms, remedies
SAN DIEGO — By nearly any measure — be it the 485-page interim report issued in June, the dozens of meetings, the hours of testimony — the work of the state Task...
Task force meets in San Diego, debates eligibility for California slavery and racism reparations
A state task force charged with studying and making recommendations for reparations to Black residents of California who have suffered harm from the effects of slavery and systemic racism met...
Secrecy shrouds probe of shattering courthouse windows
Since August, visitors to the San Diego Superior Court Central courthouse downtown have been greeted by the jarring sight of a canopy ed by steel poles above the sidewalks on...
County settles Phounsy in-custody death case for $12 million
San Diego County will pay $12 million to the widow and children of Lucky Phounsy, who died after being beaten, repeatedly shocked with a stun gun, and hogtied in a...
Truth or a simple dream? Lawsuit by man claiming he awoke during surgery at UCSD goes to trial
The dreams that began haunting Randy Dalo almost as soon as he recovered from neck surgery in January 2017 went on trial in a downtown San Diego courtroom Tuesday.Are they...
Judge throws out suit against state law, allowing sharing of gun owner information with researchers
A San Diego federal judge upheld a state law that allows the state to disclose some personal information of ed gun owners to research institutions, dismissing a lawsuit from gun...
San Diego police investigating downtown stabbing
San Diego police are investigating a stabbing in the Gaslamp quarter early Saturday morning that left one man with serious injuries.The 29-year-old victim was walking on the sidewalk down Fifth...
Federal court executive sidesteps Grassley queries about ‘Fat Leonard’ escape
Federal court s have conducted a "review" of some of the circumstances behind the escape of Leonard Francis last September from a luxury home detention setup in San Diego but...
Jury finds former public defender was discriminated against, orders county to pay $2.6 million
A former county public defender was awarded $2.6 million by a San Diego Superior Court jury this week which found he was wrongly terminated after he complained about a racist...
San Diego federal judge blasts appeals court, steps down from pair of drug-smuggling cases
Nearly every day in the downtown San Diego federal courthouse, drug couriers are charged, convicted or sentenced for trying to smuggle narcotics across the international border with Mexico just over...
State high court says being a ‘cheerleader’ on social media not enough to gang conspiracy verdict
More than a decade ago, the rivalry between two San Diego street gangs broke out into a simmering street-level war that lasted nearly three years and included at least four...
Biden nomina a la jueza Gaston para el Tribunal Superior de San Diego
El presidente Joe Biden nominó el miércoles a la jueza del Tribunal Superior de San Diego Marian Gaston para ocupar un puesto en el tribunal federal de San Diego, continuando...
VA Medical Center in La Jolla is renamed in honor of Army nurse killed in Afghanistan
The San Diego VA Medical Center in La Jolla was renamed this week in honor of Army Capt. Jennifer Moreno, a San Diego native who was killed in Afghanistan in...
Biden taps Superior Court Judge Gaston for seat on San Diego federal bench
President Joe Biden nominated on Wednesday San Diego Superior Court Judge Marian Gaston to a seat on the federal bench in San Diego, continuing a historic trend of placing former...
San Diego VA medical center renamed in honor of Army nurse killed in Afghanistan
The San Diego Veterans Affairs medical center was renamed this week in honor of Capt. Jennifer Moreno, a San Diego native who was killed in 2013 in Afghanistan.Moreno was an...
At the downtown Rescue Mission, a free holiday meal for the city’s growing number of marginalized
SAN DIEGO — Just before 1 p.m. Saturday the line waiting to get into the annual holiday dinner at The San Diego Rescue Mission went halfway down Second Avenue, hugged the corner...
Three months after Fat Leonard escaped, feds remain mum on details
Three months after the corrupt defense contractor known as "Fat Leonard" brazenly, and easily, escaped from his luxury home detention arrangement in San Diego, the circumstances behind how the Malaysian...
He says he woke up during surgery. Lawsuit blames it on fentanyl use by anesthesiologist
Almost as soon as he woke up from surgery, Randy Dalo began to feel something was off.He was in a lot of pain, more than he anticipated. And, even worse,...
Jury awards $6.55 million to Valley Center landowners impacted by solar project
A San Diego Superior Court jury awarded two landowners in Valley Center $6.5 million in damages they suffered from the construction of a solar farm on adjacent property, which altered...
Weber leads by 1 million votes in secretary of state race
Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat from San Diego, has won more than 1 million more votes in her successful campaign to win a full term in the office...
Top U.S. senator demands details on ‘Fat Leonard’ house arrest and escape
The fallout from the September escape of Leonard Francis from house arrest in San Diego continued this week, when the ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a...
Cash-rich investors surged into San Diego’s hot housing market. Here’s where they bought
The blistering housing market in San Diego County last year saw home prices increase at an astonishing pace, fueled by a variety of factors that include low supply, high demand...
Sentencing put off for ‘Fat Leonard’ while he sits in a Venezuela jail
It was meant to be the culmination of nearly a decade of revelations about corruption at the highest levels of the U.S. Navy, where Leonard Glenn Francis — the mastermind...
Fat Leonard es detenido en Venezuela, dando fin a 16 dias profugo
Leonard Glenn Francis, el contratista de defensa malayo conocido como Fat Leonard, fue detenido el martes por la mañana en Venezuela cuando se disponía a embarcar en un avión en...
‘Fat Leonard’ arrested in Venezuela, ending 16 days on the run
Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian defense contractor known as "Fat Leonard" who fled home arrest in San Diego earlier this month, was arrested Tuesday morning in Venezuela as he attempted...
Despite ‘clean bill of health’ for some medical issues, ‘Fat Leonard’ stayed out of jail
In late 2020, Leonard Francis was given a "clean bill of health" by a doctor who had been treating the notorious Malaysian defense contractor for more than two years, under...
Charges dismissed against top intelligence officer caught in ‘Fat Leonard’ bribery case
Federal prosecutors in San Diego dismissed all charges against retired Rear . Bruce Loveless in the "Fat Leonard" corruption scandal, deciding not to pursue a second trial on conspiracy, bribery...
How do you hunt a wealthy, well-connected fugitive like ‘Fat Leonard’? Find his weakness
Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian military contractor known as "Fat Leonard" who spent years bribing and corrupting high-ranking U.S. Navy officials, has long believed he could outwit and outmaneuver the...
El gobierno federal no se pronuncia sobre la busqueda de Fat Leonard, que huyo semanas antes de la sentencia en el caso de soborno de la Marina
SAN DIEGO — Con 6 pies y 2 pulgadas de altura, un peso de más o menos 300 libras y una resonante voz de barítono, Leonard Glenn Francis es difícil de pasar...
Feds mum on search for ‘Fat Leonard,’ who fled weeks before sentencing in Navy bribery case
SAN DIEGO — At 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing somewhere north of 300 pounds, and with a resonant baritone speaking voice, Leonard Glenn Francis is hard to miss. But missing he...
Air conditioning in downtown San Diego courthouse partly broken amid heat wave
SAN DIEGO — More problems with the downtown San Diego Superior Court Central courthouse could make for an uncomfortable day for workers, jurors, lawyers and anyone doing business in the building, officials...
‘Fat Leonard,’ set to finally be sentenced in long-running Navy bribery scheme, is on the lam
The military contractor known as "Fat Leonard," the mastermind behind the worst public corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history who was three weeks away from being sentenced in the case,...
‘I felt so betrayed.’ Gina Champion-Cain launches a $400M Ponzi scheme that ensnares her closest friends
For years, Bruce Smith happily invested in what seemed a wise and lucrative business opportunity. But when a friend finally warned him the venture was likely bogus, it was too...
The woman who swindled San Diego: Inside Gina Champion-Cain’s empire of lies
On a cool spring morning in April 2014, Gina Champion-Cain sat inside a Boston courtroom where for more than an hour a federal prosecutor questioned her about an $8 million...
Firefighters battling 4,400-acre East County blaze make progress in blistering heat
EAST COUNTY — Firefighters were working in scorching heat Thursday battling a wildfire in the East County that so far has burned more than 4,400 acres, destroyed three homes and left two...
Guerrero, taking reins of state Supreme Court, isn’t seen shifting from its consensus path
It is 600 miles from the sunbaked city of Imperial, where Justice Patricia Guerrero grew up, to McCallister Street in downtown San Francisco where the state Supreme Court building stands.The...
Last defendant in fraud scheme of ex-Poway rabbi sentenced
A San Diego lawyer, whose participation in the tax-fraud scheme hatched by former Chabad of Poway Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein allowed him to avoid paying $500,000 in federal taxes, was sentenced...
Judge throws out record $85 million civil rights verdict against San Diego County
A federal judge this week threw out the record $85 million civil rights verdict against San Diego County stemming from the death of Lucky Phounsy, who was beaten, tasered and...
Sidewalk canopy to be built around high-rise state courthouse after ‘spontaneous glass breakage’
On three separate occasions since May, tempered glass s at the downtown state courthouse have shattered, forcing court officials to construct a canopy around the high-rise building to protect people...
San Diego appellate court Justice Haller to retire
Longtime 4th District Court of Appeal Associate Justice Judith Haller announced on Monday that she is retiring after 28 years on the San Diego-based court. Her final day will be...
Newsom picks former San Diego judge Guerrero to be next chief justice for state
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday chose state Supreme Court Associate Justice Patricia Guerrero to be the next chief justice of the state's highest court, marking another milestone in the rise...
Wait goes on for a U.S. attorney nomination for San Diego
Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, he has filled five open seats on the San Diego federal court and has one more nomination to make — a...
Sale goes bad, man shot
CITY HEIGHTS — A 20-year-old man was shot and injured while he tried to sell some items to another man Friday evening in City Heights, according to San Diego police.In a news...
County ‘acted in bad faith’ by not turning over evidence in sheriff’s dog bite case, judge rules
For the second time in six months, a federal judge in San Diego has penalized county lawyers for not turning over evidence in a civil rights lawsuit — this time...
Public officials could be violating speech rights by blocking social media posts, appeals court rules
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in a case from the Poway Unified School District that public officials who use social media s to discuss official duties can violate free...
Public officials could be violating speech rights by blocking social media posts, appeals court rules
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in a case from the Poway Unified School District that public officials who use social media s to discuss official duties can violate free...
Small plane crash in Fallbrook leaves enger dead, pilot injured
FALLBROOK — One person died and another was injured when a single-engine plane crashed at a plant nursery in Fallbrook early Saturday afternoon. The crash happened on Olive Hill Road just west...