heART on CenterMonday, Feb. 9 Beer enthusiasts rejoiced as the San Diego City Council voted to allow alcohol imbibing in the parking lot of that new downtown baseball stadium with the dumb name. But only on game days.
Tuesday, Feb. 10 San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne announced that people who say they were victims of crime in Tijuana can report those crimes to cops in San Diego-but here's the thing: now the police will do something about it.
Wednesday, Feb. 11 San Diego County supervisors voted to conduct background checks of people who receive Section 8 government housing assistance. Under old rules, people were checked for criminal history when they first applied for vouchers, moved or added a family member. Some of them will now be checked annually when they come up for review.
Thursday, Feb. 12 The mayor's race degenerated into an argument over who's responsible for maintaining a children's playground. Candidate Peter Q. Davis chose to attack Mayor Dick Murphy by staging a photo-op at a Scripps Ranch park containing play equipment in need of repairs. Murphy responded with glee that the park is maintained through an assessment district, not directly by the city. Davis countered that the assessment district is part of the city, so, therefore, it's all Murphy's fault. Meanwhile, voters across the land rolled their eyes in disgust.
Friday, Feb. 13 A couple dozen protesters made an awful racket in an attempt to pester U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as he told a roomful of people in Balboa Park what the world would be like if he were in charge. Antonin's antagonists serenaded him with a cacophony of duck calls, a sarcastic reference to the justice's foolish duck-hunting trip with Vice President Dick Cheney. Critics say Scalia shouldn't pal around with someone who'll soon be under Supreme Court scrutiny for shaping energy policy in secret.
Saturday, Feb. 14 Mayor Dick Murphy gathered the press together to say city officials would not play hard-to-get when the feds come a-callin'. The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission is curious about why, over the past eight years, the city, which is teetering on a financial precipice, has submitted erroneous documents related to municipal bond sales. The predicament has also attracted the attention of the FBI, which, in response to a question posed by the U-T's Phil LaVelle, confirmed it was engaged in a preliminary investigation.
Sunday, Feb. 15 And you thought John Daly was washed up years ago. Daly won the big Buick Invitational golf tournament at Torrey Pines, beating Luke Donald and San Diegan Chris Riley in a playoff to score his first PGA tour win since 1995.
