Dateline Rancho Santa Fe. March 26, 1997. A 911 call came into the San Diego Sheriff’s Communications Center. It was treated as a prank call at first. From what turned out to be a nearby payphone, the caller said something so preposterous that dispatchers took their time in relaying the information to central command. “This is regarding a mass suicide. I can give you the address,” the…
By the time February rolls around, most of us – perhaps as many as 80 percent of the Americans who make New Year’s resolutions – will have already given up. Why does our self-control falter, so often leaving us to revert to our old ways? The answer to this question has consequences beyond our waistlines and bank balances. Psychologists and economists have traditionally fallen into…
Following the October approval of the Harmony Grove Village South (HGVS) project by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, the Elfin Forest / Harmony Grove Town Council and the Endangered Habitats League have filed a lawsuit challenging the County’s decision, citing serious wildfire safety risks and violations of state and local law. The approved project would allow more than 450 homes to be built…
Starting on Jan. 1, 2026, most undocumented adults in California1 will no longer be allowed to newly enroll in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program that provides comprehensive and primary health care to nearly 15 million low income Californians of all ages. The enrollment freeze is part of the 2025–2026 state budget that included a series of cuts to Medi-Cal for both undocumented immigrants and some…
Christmas and New Year’s are days of celebration in many parts of the world when people gather with family and friends. One thing many typically don’t celebrate on those days is a birthday. That’s because Dec. 25 is the least popular day in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand to give birth. In England, Wales and Ireland, it’s the second-least popular, behind Dec. 26, when…
Maybe it’s time for another Christmas miracle in 2025. ten years after the fact. Who was it, you, to whom Santa brought a very supercalifragilisticexpialidocious holiday bounty down the chimney on Christmas Eve, 2015? Or was it a discarded scrap sitting amiably in an unattended drawer somewhere along the Highway 78 corridor around the Great Grapevine? Only the Shadow, possibly Santa, Mary Poppins and state…
In the season when hearts grow tender and hopes seem brighter, there is always room for a miracle, even one wrapped in fur and tucked beneath the fragrant boughs of a Christmas tree. Such a miracle came to light in the rolling hills of Valley Center, where December breezes carried the mingling scents of pine needles and chimney smoke. Amid this tableau of holiday cheer,…
The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, also known as the “Festival of Lights,” began Sunday night running through Monday, Dec. 22. News 8 sat down with Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort to hear exactly how this Jewish holiday came about. Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after a small group called the Maccabees defeated the Greek Syrian army. During the battle, the Jews had…
No matter what holiday you honor in your home, we decorate our homes to please ourselves and to welcome family and friends during the holidays. Although this time of year seems to be hectic for most of us, transforming our homes with dazzling decorations for the tree, sprucing up the mantel (no pun intended), setting a new, inventive holiday table scape, or hanging an exquisite…
Congressman Darrell Issa, who’s made it through three districts in Southern California in his years of peddling a bundle of arrogant lies, is officially on the chopping block for the upcoming election in the 48th Congressional District. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has added Rep. Issa’s congressional district to its list of California targets. This move comes after voter-approved (65-35) Proposition 50 redistricted (on a…