“For the first time media is the least trusted institution globally,” Edelman, the global PR and marketing firm concluded in its annual worldwide study on trust in institutions like the media, business and government. These international findings are in line with recent data coming out of the U.S. A 2016 Gallup poll reported that just 32 percent of Americans trusted the mass media, while an…
By now, Americans know the strange math of minting: Each penny costs about 4 cents to make. Chances are you have some in a jar, or scattered among pockets, purses and car ashtrays. As small as it is, the penny punches above its weight culturally. If it ever disappeared, so too might the simple kindness of “take a penny, leave a penny,” alongside timeless classics…
As Thanksgiving Day 2024 dawned over San Diego County, the holiday’s veneer of tranquility was marred by a series of unsettling events, each unraveling the threads of peace. In the heart of Spring Valley, a domestic disturbance escalated into a fatal encounter. Deputies responded to a trespassing call involving a 34-year-old man, Victor Rendon Jr., reportedly armed and erratic. After ensuring the safety of children…
It rained a lot this past winter. However, as we all know, that hasn’t always been the natural state for the arid San Diego region. It took Charles Hatfield to make it rain 109 years ago in San Diego. The only problem was he couldn’t make it stop. A deep dive through the San Diego Historical Society archives courtesy of the OB Rag reveals the…
Hail Estonia! Wait. What? Estonia opened an honorary consulate at La Jolla on January 24, 2019, later moving it to downtown San Diego. The Estonian honorary consul in the San Diego area is Dr. Michael Corey Chan, and the address of the consulate is 330 13th Street #2111 San Diego, CA, 92101. Give him a shout-out at 858-717-6379. “Honorary consuls with their energy and network…
What happens now? That may well be the question being asked by “No Kings” protesters, who marched, rallied and danced all over the nation on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. Pro-democracy groups had aimed to encourage large numbers of Americans to demonstrate that “together we are choosing democracy.” They were successful, with crowds turning out for demonstrations in thousands of cities and towns from Anchorage to…
Governor Gavin Newsom today said that President Trump’s federal government shutdown will likely delay food benefits for millions of Californians who rely on CalFresh cards to feed themselves and their families. If President Trump and Congress do not reopen the federal government by October 23, or take action to fund benefits, CalFresh benefits will likely be delayed in November. This afternoon, the California Department of…
Starting Nov. 1, just in time for Thanksgiving, people using the Calfresh food assistance program known as SNAP nationally, will have three months to find work before they are kicked off of the program. The new work requirements are part of President Donald Trump’s One Big (Bad) Beautiful Bill Act. A memo published last week by the United States Department of Agriculture notified states of…
Christian Ramirez was on his way to school 35 years ago when a Border Patrol agent approached him at gunpoint. Then just 15 years old, the San Diegan was apparently handcuffed on the streets of the Nestor border community, wrongly and racially profiled. Ramirez recalled the incident in a Facebook post recently after the Supreme Court broke with lower courts in a major immigration enforcement…
The California Department of Food and Agriculture declared a new citrus quarantine in northern San Diego County and part of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Sept. 9. State officials declared the quarantine after finding Huanglongbing, a bacterial disease that is fatal to citrus trees, in one citrus tree in a residential neighborhood in the San Clemente area during regular inspections. Huanglongbing (HLB) is also known…