Stockton can be a mean town. Just ask Poway resident Cynthia Niswonger. Niswonger’s family vacation return trip from Oregon took a detour of the worst sort about 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11 outside the McDonalds at 611 West Charter Way, Stockton. That is when a thief broke the lock on her green 2000 Ford Focus hatchback and stole the car. Complicating the theft was the…
Among Americans that is, but the government under the Trump Administration is out of sync with their views… Since its start, the Trump administration has implemented policies to step up immigration enforcement and reduce the number of immigrants admitted into the U.S. Many of these efforts – like the border wall, the travel ban, family separations, DACA termination and detention centers – have received wide…
Summer and its joys of passage are among us. People are frolicking. Pools are swimming. Snoballs and softballs are popping. Good stuff, but consider the fact that rust never sleeps. People are going to do what people are going to do. For your consideration then, the dark underbelly of the human condition. The Grapevine is, er, proud (?) to present the seasonal summer edition of…
Welcome to the sounds of silence. Like stars disappearing in a black hole, one of San Diego’s leading radio stations suddenly disappeared just after noon Wednesday, April 10 with a whisper, then white noise rather than a bang. The Mighty 1090 had been the top-rated San Diego sports talk station for the last 16 years. “We have lost our connection in Mexico and are working…
Anything following an ellipsis is a friend of mine for the night. It’s code for ‘you didn’t hear it from me, but. … ‘” — Mark Pargas, “A Visit to the Three-Dot Lounge” It’s been over 20 years since famed San Francisco journalist Herb Caen (1916-1997) died. For journalists and San Franciscans, Caen was a superstar. Known as “Mr. San Francisco,” his columns were a…
It is a story of corruption that will stay secret, politicians who will need fewer votes to win, even dangerous communicable diseases that will spread faster as our best scientists struggle to fight them. The story is the slow and painful demise of local newspapers, a story whose ending is not yet written but which — without bold intervention and strong reader support — could…
After six weeks of trying to get answers about Escondido Assistant Manager Jay Petrek’s appointment to the San Marcos City Council, Escondido Councilwoman Olga Diaz sent answers to The Grapevine on Thursday, Feb. 28. That leaves Escondido Mayor Paul McNamara, Deputy Mayor Consuelo Martinez and council members John Masson and Michael Morasco to go. Thank you. As the Washington Post states on its masthead: “Democracy Dies…
This week promises a new overload. Michael Cohen testifies for three days before Congress, including a public Wednesday slam-fest. Donald Trump goes on formerly busted heel spurs to Hanoi to hold another fake summit with the evil murderous North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Congress will pass a resolution blocking Trump’s fake national emergency. It goes to the Senate. Former national security advisors from across…
Journalism needs an audience to survive, but isn’t sure how to earn its loyalty Journalism is in the midst of an existential crisis: the profession has undergone decades of declines in readership, revenue and public trust, with no obvious end in sight. Many in the industry believe that the best way for newsrooms to recover both revenue and public trust is to improve their relationship…
Mensch (Yiddish: מענטש mentsh, cognate with the German word Mensch meaning a “human being”) means “a person of integrity and honor”.[1] Highly savvy in the ways of journalism, and a brilliant analyst of the ways of the world, Bruce Kauffman was the very epitome of a mensch. He always was ready to lend an ear to a friend’s tale of joy or woe and help…