Free Republic

A San Diego County Shriner group is seeking $20 million from the federal government, claiming it is responsible for the destructive brush fire that burned their Mount Laguna camp last July. The Al Bahr Shriners filed a complaint against the Bureau of Land Management Friday to recoup losses caused by the Chariot Fire. That blaze scorched 7,055 acres and destroyed or damaged 150 structures at the Al Bahr Shrine Camp, which included an 87-year-old lodge, two dormitories, five rental cabins and a dining hall, the complaint says. Last month, Cal Fire announced investigators had determined the cause of the Chariot...

Should San Diego match Seattle's $15 per hour minimum wage? Poll here

These cases, caused by nontuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM), are the first of this kind reported in San Diego Two San Diego residents who recently got tattoos were diagnosed with infections caused by a family of bacteria called nontuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM) – the first cases of this kind detected in San Diego, according to county health officials. The County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) said both San Diegans required medical care due to their infections. NTM has been found IN contaminated tattoo ink and in the water used to dilute ink to create gray areas of a tattoo. Contamination can also...

A wildfire roaring through Southern California has forced evacuation orders for more than 20,000 homes, but so far none have burned. San Diego's Emergency Operations Center says most of the homes are in the city and northern San Diego County.

Above: Afghanistan combat veteran Andrew Tahmooressi- by Brian Hayes | Top Right NewsSo our last report saw Mexican troops invading our borders -- even drawing weapons on our agents on U.S. soil -- and facing absolutely no consequences by the Obama Adminstration. But let one American make a wrong turn into Mexico -- and there will be hell to pay. That's exactly what happened to a U.S. Marine veteran last month, after he accidentally drove into Mexico with three legally owned guns in his truck. And he has been rotting in a brutal Mexican jail in Tijuana ever since.California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter...

Boys hurt by razor blades planted in park SAN DIEGO – More than a dozen razors were discovered planted in the grass at a children’s playground near Mission Bay after two brothers slashed their feet Wednesday, police said. San Diego police received a call from a parent around 7 p.m. stating that her sons, ages 7 and 15, were cut by razors at Bonita Cove in Mission Bay Drive. One boy suffered minor injures that required stitches. “Paramedics were able to pull the razor blade out [of the 7-year-old boy’s foot],” SDPD Lt. Paul Phillips said. Investigators using metal detectors...

Let's pretend you're a screenwriter assigned to develop a character to run for Congress in California in 2014. You need a compelling story, so you make him an orphan at 13 – wait, even better his dad leaves the family two weeks before his mother died – and then social services splits up his brothers and sisters leaving him alone in the world. Despite those challenges he perseveres, putting himself through a top-tier college and then building and selling two multimillion-dollar companies. Thus financially secure, he decides to dedicate himself to public service and runs for City Council. n his...

<p>DEER SPRINGS, Calif. — Six cars were disabled after running over a spike strip used to stop a stolen SUV during a high-speed chase early Monday, motorists said.</p> <p>The chase ended in on southbound Interstate 15 in the Deer Springs area after the California Highway Patrol deployed the spike strip to stop a stolen Toyota Highlander. After the SUV came to a stop, the four women inside refused orders to get out, so officers shot out the rear window with a bean-bag shotgun, the CHP said.</p>

Researchers say stem cells could lead them to the right drug to treat autismUC San Diego scientists say they've made a breakthrough in autism research. Researchers found using stem cells can help them find the right drug to treat the disorder. NBC 7's Liberty Zabala explains how the research could one day lead to a cure. Autistic stem cells are starting respond to experimental drugs in what San Diego researchers are calling a breakthrough in the disorder affecting one in 68 children. UC San Diego scientists took stem cells from children with autism and reprogrammed them into brain cells. “It...

A sailor playing with an air soft gun inside a Navy barracks prompted an alertA sailor playing with an air soft gun inside a Navy barracks prompted a security response and shelter-in-place order on Naval Base Point Loma, Navy officials confirmed to NBC 7 Thursday. Base Commanding Officer Scott Adams described the suspect as "a young, enlisted sailor" who lives on base. "He was actually firing shots of the air soft pistol out of the window toward a mirror in the parking lot," Adams said. A tenant of the base called security personnel and reported an armed person around 10...

Should the United States deport people for entering the country illegally? A stupid question, and one that should not have to be asked. But there it is. Poll Here

Wow, hard to believe Eric Holder and Obama are coming to the defense of this cross at a San Diego war memorial! http://americanmilitarynews.com/2014/04/department-justice-defends-war-memorial-cross-appeals-court-decision/

<p>The Justice Department says a 29-foot war memorial cross on a San Diego mountain is not an unconstitutional promotion of Christianity and should remain on federal property.</p> <p>The Obama administration said an appeals court ruling declaring the cross on Mount Soledad a violation of the constitutional separation of church and state undermined an act of Congress and conflicted with recent Supreme Court decisions.</p>

<p>SAN DIEGO — A San Diego man and an antique shop owner in La Jolla have entered a legal battle with the U.S. government over a penny.</p> <p>When Randy Lawrence brought his rare penny to the La Jolla Coin Shop he was pleasantly surprised. The coin is one of a kind; a Denver minted, aluminum penny, estimated to be worth about $250,000.</p>

Photo Credit - (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) Living in the Tarnished State is a gift that just keeps giving. A most amazing, but not terribly surprising event was reported in varying degrees of detail over the last 24 hours, about a California Democrat State Senator – a major gun-control advocate. The Los Angeles Times summarizes the headline: State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and a San Francisco figure known as "Shrimp Boy" were arrested Wednesday as part of a public corruption probe after a series of raids by federal and gang task force officials, the FBI confirmed. Yee,...

Has Nancy Pelosi seen a newspaper lately? (Pro tip, hon: Like the Obamacare monstrosity, you have to read it to find out what's in it.) I'd love to see her face in the wake of the veritable epidemic of Democratic corruption now sweeping the country. Pelosi's blink count must be off the charts. I'm going to make it easy on Pelosi and put all of the latest cases in one handy rogue's gallery reference list. But let's not be naive. It's clear to me that the Barack Obama/Eric Holder DOJ is clearing the decks before the midterms. Prediction: The FBI's...

On April 1, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray was denied a second term, defeated in the primary by upstart city councilwoman Muriel Bowser. The beginning of the end came on March 10, when U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen struck a plea bargain with a wealthy businessman who confessed he'd spent $668,000 on an illegal "shadow campaign" to fund get-out-the-vote efforts that helped Gray win the mayoral office in 2010. So the corrupt mayor of America's most important city is thrown out. A political scandal? The same networks that were utterly breathless over the local story of Gov. Chris Christie's aides slowing traffic...

The Vatican’s Congregation for Education has said that a drag show that occurred last year on the campus of the University of San Diego (USD) caused “scandal,” according to a letter revealed by the group Alumni for a Catholic USD.Nevertheless, the student organization PRIDE at USD will again be hosting a drag show next week called “Celebration of Gender Expression: Supreme Drag Superstar” on the campus of the Catholic institution, according to the group’s Facebook site.“Transgender & Transsexual? Gender expression & gender identity? Drag queen & drag king? What do these terms mean?,” the group asks. “At this Changemaker event,...

Three rampaging pit bulls attacked three Bay Terraces residents and sent them scrambling for safety Tuesday morning before a San Diego police officer shot the dogs. ... A 78-year-old retired Navy chief was bitten first, when he went outside to get his newspaper. The animals then charged a woman and bit her ankle before she could scale a neighbor’s 4-foot fence. Then the dogs turned on 19-year-old Michael Ward, who stepped out of his Petal Drive house to find out why a woman was yelling. “She was trying to get away from three large pit bulls,” Ward said. “Then they...

A retired deputy turned 100 MondayOne hundred years old, and it’s the best day of his life. Retired San Diego Sheriff’s Capt. Leland McPhie turned 100 years old Monday, and his old department did not miss the chance to celebrate the remarkable birthday at the Sheriff’s Museum. In honor of the centenarian, officials declared March 10 to be “Leland McPhie Day” in San Diego County. Among many gifts presented to him, McPhie was awarded a retired badge from the sheriff’s department with a special number on it: 100. The captain started with the department in 1940, working in the old...