Step off cheesy regular burgers, Pechanga Resort Casino can tell Jose Mendoza is going for the glory as the only local chef dishing it out in the prestigious participating in the James Beard Foundation’s 2019 Blended Burger Project. The competition, which has drawn burger entries from 266 chefs nationwide, asks restaurants to create a menu burger that is made with at least 25 percent chopped…
A man who allegedly shot his friend three times in the back over a woman, then fled to Mexico and remained on the lam for three decades, is finally set for trial. Simon Loredo Mayo, 58, faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted of the Dec. 12, 1988, shooting at Luna De Miel in Rancho Santa Fe. Mayo fired at least five times…
On July 4 and 5, two major earthquakes, followed by several thousand smaller ones, struck Southern California. Their size and the damage they caused captured attention around the country. What tends to get much less notice from the public is what can be done to prevent catastrophic damage from big quakes. Had the epicenter of these latest large California earthquakes been closer to downtown Los…
The Escondido Creek Conservancy (Conservancy) has secured $4.2 million in grant funds from the State of California to protect the 282-acre John Henry property near Lake Wohlford—now known as George Sardina, MD Preserve. The Conservancy took ownership of the property on July 2 and is already making plans to restore areas damaged by past uses. Between the George Sardina, MD Preserve and the 693-acre Mountain…
Like millions of parents over the last half-century, Tom Holm read “Island of the Blue Dolphins” to his daughter when she was in elementary school. The classic 1960 children’s novel by Scott O’Dell chronicles the tale of a 12-year-old girl named Karana who’s stranded alone for years on an island off the coast of Southern California. Holm’s daughter, Jacqueline, enjoyed the book so much that…
While 1-in-8 Americans are considered to be “food insecure,” an estimated 40 percent of the nation’s supply of fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat goes to waste, discarded by farmers, retailers, restaurant owners and households. Three federal agencies have agreed to work together to cut that food waste in half by 2030. But a recent government oversight report found that the agencies – the Environmental Protection…
With all the talk of how great the economy is and how anybody who wants a job can get a job, San Diego County’s neighbor to the east is suffering from sky-high unemployment numbers. To visit California’s Imperial Valley is to enter a sleepy place worlds away from the glamorous boom towns of California’s coast. Pickups outnumber BMWs. Vast farms irrigated by the Colorado River…
Spirit is where it’s at for Southeast Escondido couple Kerstyn and Michael Zepeda. Spirit as in enthusiasm for an unique product that has turned their business into the headwinds of an up-and-coming lifestyle. Featured recently at the 13th Annual Coeur de Cuisine benefit at California Center for the Arts, Escondido, the Zepeda’s recently launched Bella Mar Spirits vodka went down smoothly with the gala set….
Margaret Hunter, a co-defendant in a federal fraud case with her husband Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Vapeville), changed her plea to guilty Thursday at a change of plea hearing in front of U.S. District Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan, at the San Diego courthouse. The couple misused about $250,000 in campaign donations for personal expenses, according to Hunter. In one incident, Rep. Hunter planned on buying a pair of…
Strap on the fried food feed bag, bundle up the kids and get down to the Del Mar Fairgrounds — It’s San Diego County Fair go time again. “Wizard of Oz” is this year’s theme at San Diego County Fair, harkening to its origins as an agricultural fair in 1880. The location moved from place to place for several years, finally settling on the Del…