Free Republic

A landmark desalination project gained final approval from regulators Wednesday, bringing the promise of an entirely new supply of water to San Diego County ---- and perhaps one of many in water-short California. But opposition to the plant, including legal action, continues. And the company that wants to build the $300 million plant in coastal Carlsbad still needs to raise the money. On Wednesday, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control board unanimously approved a permit for the plant. It had already considered the proposal twice this year. The permit approves a plan by Poseidon Resources Corp. to reduce the...

As a newspaper monopoly crumbles, unorthodox upstarts storm the marketplace. Welcome to the future of journalism. If you want a glimpse of what local news may soon look like in big cities with shrinking newspapers, head to San Diego. Here you'll find a Web news venture that gives writers a cut of the ad money created by their own stories; another whose nonprofit founders raise money from readers to buy laptops for their reporters; and a third venture which, in spite of the $10 million it nets each year, faces a very uncertain future. All three are vying for the...

Rob Rossi loved baseball. Exiting the trolley near Petco Park, he admired all the new residential development around the stadium. Rob and his son Charlie took their seats and joined 42,000 happy San Diegans singing "Take me out to the ball game." Charlie cheered when the Padres scored their first run of the evening. Rob hardly noticed the small plane circling slowly overhead. On Saturday, Rob woke up with a splitting headache. His chest felt like it was on fire. Why is it so hard to breathe? And today is Charlie's Little League game! "Daddy," his son gasped from the...

Get the following stories, and much more by clicking the excerpt link below: 1. National Geographic News: “Lizards Rapidly Evolve After Introduction to Island” Rapid evolution—“evolving in ways that would normally take millions of years to play out,” says National Geographic News. How does it confirm the Bible? 2. AP: “Robots with Fins, Tails Demonstrate Evolution” Laboratory scientists designing robots, then making changes to improve the robots’ success—is that really evolution?3. BBC News: “Pigs Offer New Stem Cell Source”Week after week, scientists are reporting more sources and ways to produce embryonic-like stem cells out of adults cells. Now the stem...

San Diego County officials agreed Wednesday to rescind a cease-and-desist order issued to a pastor holding a small Bible study in his home. In a letter to the pastor, the county’s chief administrative officer apologized for the incident involving a code enforcement officer who issued the order after reportedly asking the pastor’s wife inappropriately probing questions about the study. The letter informed Pastor David Jones and his legal counsel Dean Broyles, president of the Western Center for Law & Policy, an Alliance Defense Fund allied organization, that the order was wrongfully issued and that the county would conduct a thorough...

SAN DIEGO -- A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines if they continued to hold Bible studies in their home, 10News reported. Attorney Dean Broyles of The Western Center For Law & Policy was shocked with what happened to the pastor and his wife. Broyles said, "The county asked, 'Do you have a regular meeting in your home?' She said, 'Yes.' 'Do you say amen?' 'Yes.' 'Do you pray?' 'Yes.' 'Do you say praise the Lord?' 'Yes.'"

Thousands of supporters of California's ban on same-sex marriage rallied in Fresno and San Diego on Sunday in what organizers described as a celebration of traditional wedlock and a thank-you to the California Supreme Court for upholding their voter-approved measure. The demonstrations followed Saturday's gathering of gay rights supporters in Fresno to renew efforts to reverse Proposition 8, which the high court let stand early last week. The dueling weekend rallies underscored the fact that, despite an election and a Supreme Court decision, the issue of same-sex marriage remains divisive in California. In San Diego, about 200 Proposition 8 supporters...

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a Bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County. "On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the Bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News. "We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a...

A San Diego pastor says county officials have told him he needs a permit to host a weekly Bible study in his home. Pastor David Jones and his wife, Mary, were hosting the weekly study near their church, when they say they were visited by a county code enforcement officer. According to Dean Broyles, an attorney for the Joneses, the county official asked the pastor if they hosted a regular weekly meeting in their home, and if they prayed and said "Amen" and "Praise the Lord" at those meetings. After replying in the affirmative to those inquiries, a subsequent citation...

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a bible study....

A San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home. The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people. "Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official...

The Coast Guard says a Navy helicopter with five people aboard has crashed into the ocean 13 miles south of San Diego near the Coronado Islands. More Navy Copter Down (from AP) Prayers up.prisoner6

The gruesome murder of four young Americans in Tijuana remains unsolved, and Mexican authorities are investigating the possibility that the killings may be linked to the country's burgeoning illegal drug trade. The bodies of the victims — who were reportedly beaten, stabbed and strangled — were found inside a van in eastern Tijuana on May 9, two days after at least two of them told relatives in Southern California that they were going to the border city for a night of partying. Charles Smith, a spokesman for the U.S consulate in Tijuana, identified the victims as Luis Gamez Chaves, 21;...

Did you feel it!

Prop. 1A foes protest ahead of electionBy Hiram Soto Staff Writer 2:00 a.m. May 17, 2009 DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO — Shrugging off warnings of deep cuts in state services and a gaping budget deficit, protesters turned out yesterday on the last weekend before Tuesday's special election to rally against Proposition 1A, the most contentious of the six state ballot measures. The crowd of about 200 gathered at a so-called “tea party” at Spanish Landing Park on Harbor Drive to protest the measure, which proposes a two-year extension of temporary increases in sales taxes, car registrations and income tax. Thousands of...

SAN DIEGO, May 14 /Christian Newswire -- San Diego mega pastors will unite their congregations during life demonstration this Sunday, May 17, revealing a powerful new force and revival of the pro-life movement, the same day as pro-abortion President Barack Obama addresses the University of Notre Dame’s 2009 graduating class. While President Obama delivers his commencement speech to the graduating class of the University of Notre Dame, San Diego mega pastors and their congregations will demonstrate unyielding support for life -- from conception to natural death -- at the "Choose Life!" Rally, Sunday May 17, at 1 p.m. at the...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Conference planned to help students ‘speak the truth’ on natural marriage San Diego, Calif., May 16, 2009 / 04:40 am (CNA).- A student conference on the importance of marriage and its defense is scheduled to take place this August in San Diego. It aims to bring together students and faculty who support natural marriage to help educate and motivate a new generation.The conference, titled “It takes a family to raise a village,” is co-sponsored by the Ruth Institute and the National Organization for Marriage. It will be held at the University of San Diego from August 6 to...

TIJUANA, Mexico — The bodies of four U.S. citizens were found strangled, beaten and stabbed in a van in this border city, two days after they reportedly left their Southern California homes for a night at the Mexican clubs, U.S. officials said Thursday. The victims, ages 19 to 23 years old, were found tied up on Saturday, but their deaths were not reported earlier because they were under investigation, said Fermin Gomez, an assistant state prosecutor in Baja California. U.S. consular officials in Tijuana said the victims — two men and two women from the San Diego and Chula Vista...

Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego will become the first counties in California to begin checking the immigration status of all inmates booked into jail Law enforcement officials will begin running inmates' fingerprints through federal databases this month to see if they have had any contact with the immigration system. Once the inmates have finished serving their sentences, they will be transferred to immigration custody for possible deportation

Los Angeles, CA (AP) -- Law enforcement agencies in three Southern California counties will soon be able to check the immigration status of arrestees when their fingerprints are taken. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday the so-called "Secure Communities" program is scheduled to begin this month in Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura counties.

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) joined forces to file a friend of the court brief asking the United States Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals penalizing San Diego Boy Scouts because of their “morally straight” values. At issue in the case are leases from the City of San Diego allowing the San Diego Boy Scouts to build and operate campgrounds and an aquatic center for use by the Scouts and the...

BISBEE — A recent court decision that held the Border Patrol liable for occupying private property in California might be applied to lands in other places near the U.S.-Mexico border, including Cochise County. Otay Mesa Property LP, Rancho Vista Del Mar and Otay International LLC filed a lawsuit in March 2006 seeking compensation for the use of 750 acres of valuable development land in San Diego County. Without permission from landowners, the Border Patrol buried numerous sensors, and then entered the property when the sensors indicated movement of potential illegal immigrants. On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held...

WTH?

Another case of swine flu was reported Wednesday just as the Geneva-based World Health Organization Wednesday raised its alert level for the fast-spreading swine flu to its next-to-highest notch, signaling a global pandemic could be imminent. There are now eight cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) in San Diego County,” Health & Human Services Agency spokesman Tom Christensen said. More details were expected to emerge about the latest case at a 3:30 p.m. news conference at which San Diego County Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten will provide an update on developments around the county. Watch the news...

“Somalis, FBI in other U.S. cities on alert for terrorist recruiting” “While Minneapolis is the core of an investigation, leaders elsewhere want to keep youth from being drawn to violence.” COLUMBUS, OHIO - SNIPPET: “”No one has disappeared,” said Ahmed Hosh, who works with Somali youths in Columbus. “But if those who did the recruiting were individuals talking to someone alone, the scary thing is it could happen here.” The Twin Cities area has been at the center of the federal investigation ever since a 27-year-old from Minneapolis blew himself up in a suicide attack in Somalia last fall. But...

Below are the different San Diego area post office locations participating in the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party on April 15, 2009SAN DIEGO - COUNTY REGIONAL POST OFFICE2535 Midway Dr.San Diego, CA 921106:00-12:00pmSAN DIEGO - CARMEL MTN POST OFFICE11251 Rancho Carmel Dr.San Diego CA 921285:00 - 8:00pmEL CAJON - POST OFFICE401 W. Lexington Ave.El Cajon, CA 920205:00 - 6:30pmOCEANSIDE - OCEANSIDE CITY HALL300 N. Coast HighwayOceanside, CA 920546:00 - 7:00pmESCONDIDO403 N. Escondido Blvd.Escondido, CA 920255:00 - 7:oopmThis information is correct to the best of my knowledge. If anyone has any information to add, please feel free to do so.

SAN DIEGO — Hope is the political message of the moment, courtesy of President Barack Obama. Tell that to Lincoln High School students Jennifer Astudillo, Sakeenah Shabazz and Alex Velarde, a trio of increasingly polished political activists. Sakeenah, 16, said hope isn't part of her political equation. “Always go in prepared for the worst, not with your hopes up,” she said. What they've displayed instead is persistence, as they've led a group of high school students in persuading the San Diego Unified School District board to shelve campus air-rifle marksmanship programs. The board confirmed the decision Tuesday, although members eased...

LA DDA Desallis ("You can be detained") RutledgeYou know District of Columbia Attorney General Peter Nickels, right? The man who upon being sued for refusing to register guns based upon their color said "he is confident that the D.C. regulations are 'completely appropriate' under the Second Amendment." Well perhaps Nickels should take a trip to San Diego, CA and see how a city legal office is supposed to work. Last December the Los Angeles District Attorney issued an erroneous legal opinion stating that police officers could detain persons openly carrying guns in order to run serial numbers of guns, and...

All 28,000 applicants who had been rejected received an e-mail congratulating them on their acceptance, only to receive another notification admitting there was a mistake. Cole Bettles had been rejected by a raft of universities when he received an e-mail from UC San Diego on Monday congratulating him on his admission and inviting him to tour the campus. His mother booked a hotel in San Diego, and the 18-year-old Ojai high school senior arranged for his grandfather, uncle and other family members to meet them at the campus for lunch during the Saturday orientation. "They were like, 'Oh, my God,...

San Diego County agent and blogger Jim Klinge revels in exposing the greed and excess blamed for the housing crunch.Sometimes the truth hurts. Real estate salesman Jim Klinge doesn't care. Cruising through the sunny hills of Carlsbad in a massive silver Mercedes-Benz, he looks like any other pitchman of the California dream. But Klinge, 50, has become a notorious Internet chronicler of the real estate crash in north San Diego County, where he has lived and worked for decades. Rather than downplay the greed and excess that caused the region's travails, he revels in exposing them. He surveys the wreckage...

Another elementary school teacher is being accused of molesting a former student. This time it's happened at Rosa Parks Elementary School in City Heights. The teacher, 35-year old Adrienne Feistel, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy she befriended. The molestation allegedly occurred while the boy was in 7th grade. Feistel's neighbors are in disbelief. "She's always seemed very sweet. Very nice to me. Very loving at her son. This doesn't seem like something she would do," says a neighbor who did not want to be identified. At one point Feistel was reportedly living with the boy's family. She no...

There is no legal way to ban a controversial anti-illegal immigrants group from participation in the state's Adopt-A-Highway program without shutting it down entirely, state Transportation Department chief Will Kempton said Monday. "The bottom line is there is no way to deny these folks regardless of how we feel about them," Kempton said in a meeting with a dozen Latino legislators and representatives of minority organizations. "We will lose in court if we try to eliminate these folks." Latino lawmakers are angry that Caltrans issued a litter pickup permit to the San Diego Minutemen for a stretch of Interstate 5...

San Diego police fear there may be a growing number of gun activists who want to carry their weapons openly. The trend is part of a national "open carry" movement keen on exercising gun rights. KPBS Reporter Amita Sharma has more. Last month, about 40 people gathered at Mission Beach wearing unloaded guns on holsters. Panicked beach goers called police but no one was arrested because carrying unloaded firearms is legal in California. Paul Cooper is an attorney for the police department. He says the practice is dangerous to the public, the people carrying the weapons and to officers. "We...

More from San Diego Tea Party (02/27/09).... "We hear you Rick Santelli. The Nation heard you. ...And those that DID this to our Country are hearing from ALL of us, now!!! Thanks for the quote, W!

Hold the date!Organized by TCOT in California...San Diego April 15, 2009 We will be holding a huge Rally/Protest before our demonstrations at the open Post Offices across the County! Let your voice be heard around the Nation! We will be SILENT NO MORE!

Expected 10,000 to gather in San Diego on April 4th WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 /Christian Newswire/ -- On April 4, 2009, Joel C. Rosenberg, the "New York Times" best-selling author of "Epicenter: Why The Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future," will host the 2009 Epicenter Conference at Cox Arena in San Diego, Calif. This free event will examine rising global geopolitical and economic crises in light of Bible prophecy. Rosenberg will be joined by Lt.-General (ret.) Jerry Boykin, the former commander of the Army's Delta Force and the former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence; and Pastor...

Reporting from San Diego -- A U.S. citizen was one of the three men who were found decapitated this week in Tijuana, Mexican authorities said Friday. The body of George Harrison, a 38-year-old former Chula Vista resident, had been dismembered and mutilated and was dumped in a vacant lot near Tijuana's beachside bullring. Harrison had several drug-related convictions in the United States and was suspected of drug trafficking in Mexico, Baja California Assistant Atty. General Rafael Gonzalez said.

Deferred maintenance, faulty decisions by controllers and the pilot of a fighter jet contributed to an aircraft's fatal crash into a San Diego, California, neighborhood in December, the Marine Corps announced Tuesday. The commander of the fighter squadron involved in the crash, its top maintenance officer and two others have been relieved of duty as a result of the crash investigation. The pilot has been grounded pending a further review, Maj. Gen. Randolph Alles announced. Grace Yoon, 15 months, was killed after a military jet crashed into her home.

Buyers are worn out on high house prices. The successful sellers have homes priced at less than 6 times per capita income.

way to go san diego! crowd of about 200, lots of honking, keep up the good work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekAC-iz_KeE

San Diego, Calif., Feb 19, 2009 / 09:45 pm (CNA).- A California jury found on Tuesday that four firefighters, who were ordered by their superiors to participate in the city’s “gay pride” parade were sexually harassed, and awarded them monetary damages from the city. The case dates back to July 2007 when four San Diego firefighters were informed by their superiors that they would be participating in San Diego’s annual “Gay Pride” parade.  Though the four men protested, they were ordered to dress up in full uniform and ride on the fire engine along the parade route. During the...

More than a dozen gang members connected to the Mexican Mafia prison gang were arrested early Friday and accused of attempted murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking in San Diego County, authorities said. Officials have charged 40 people – 17 of whom were arrested early Friday – in connection with the nearly year long investigation, dubbed “Operation Keys to the City”, that targeted the notorious prison gang, officials said at an afternoon news conference downtown. Two criminal complaints charge 36 defendants with federal racketeering, firearm offenses and drug trafficking violations. U.S. Attorney General Karen Hewitt described the Mexican Mafia and its...

SAN DIEGO — Former President Bill Clinton will likely cross a picket line when he delivers a keynote speech at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on Sunday. For several weeks, union officials and gay-rights activists behind a boycott of the hotel urged Clinton to cancel his appearance before the International Franchise Association – or at least move the address. But a spokesman for the former president said Thursday that Clinton will keep his commitment to the trade group. “He's obviously sympathetic to this cause,” Clinton spokesman Matthew McKenna said. “I don't think you can name a leader...

San Diego County filed papers this week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to erase California's medical marijuana law, arguing that federal prohibitions outlawing the substance supersede California's law allowing sick people to use it. The county is asking the nation's highest court to overturn a state appellate court's July decision upholding the voter-approved law legalizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes. "You have a conflict here between federal and state law, and we are in the middle," 5th District Supervisor Bill Horn said Friday. "What we have been asking all along is which takes precedence here. We will take it as...

Guys, Tomorrow, on Saturday, 1/17/09, Hamas supporters are organizing their demonstration again. However, those supporters of Israel who are observant Jews cannot counter this demonstration because of Shabat. So, let's respond with our own demonstration in support of Israel on Sunday, 1/18/09, at 12:00 noon. Let's gather at the same place the Hamas people were the last time: the big water fountain in front of the science museum in Balboa Park. Please spread the word. Best regards, Eric.

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pittsburgh, and Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-San Diego, don’t just differ on what direction the country should go. No, their partisanship runs much deeper than that. Their juggernaut is over who wins the critically important Steelers-Chargers playoff game that will be held in Pittsburgh this Sunday. At stake is a "friendly" wager that will mean lunch for the legislative staffs of whatever team comes up on top. If the Chargers win, Doyle will buy Primanti Brothers sandwiches and Iron City Beer for the meal. If the Steelers win, Bilbray will buy Rubio’s Mexican Food and Stone Brewery Beer....

Majority settle in east, which caters to growing Middle Eastern population San Diego County has long been a haven for Iraqi refugees, most recently for a record wave of new arrivals. The 2,356 Iraqis, mostly Chaldean Catholics and other Christian refugees, who arrived in the region last fiscal year are part of a nationwide program to resettle refugees from the war-torn country. It is the largest number of Iraqi refugees who have arrived in San Diego County during a single year. An additional 3,600 are expected this year. Many of the newcomers are refugees like Salah Saour, 45, an engineer...

It is a short notice, but tomorrow, 1/4/09, there will be a pro-Hamas demonstration in San Diego, in Balboa Park. Let's show support for the true ally of America - Israel - by countering this pro-terrorist demonstration. Let's get together near the El Cid statue in front of the Museum of Art (the horseman where Prado becomes pedestrian only). Let's meet tomorrow, 1/4/09, at 12:30pm. Please bring signs, American and Israeli flags etc, if you have any. See you there. Eric.

Editor's Note: WARNING – Some content in this article is graphic. EXCERPTED BY FRPR - NO GRAPHIC MATERIAL Four San Diego firefighters who say they suffered sexual harassment when they were ordered by the city to participate in the obscenity-laden "gay" pride parade in 2007 are going to trial for a second time.... ...it was in July 2007 when the firefighters, all Christian and two Catholic, were ordered to participate in uniform on their city fire engine in San Diego's annual "Gay Pride" parade.... ..."The city of San Diego subjected these firefighters to sexual harassment rather than take reasonable steps...

(AP) Mexico City - Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was arrested in 2002 and convicted on organized-crime and immigrant-smuggling charges. Boughader, a Mexican of Lebanese descent, ran a cafe in the city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California.