County makes a disaster of the Brown Act

Unified Disaster Council meeting turns into a brief battle over open government

By Dave Maass

The Ralph M. Brown Act was passed in 1953 to protect the public’s right to attend and speak at government meetings.

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Wednesday, June 27,2012
Shenanigans

Shenanigans: Owning drones

Can you match the drone aircraft to its proposed acquisition cost?

By Dave Maass

Last week, Bloomberg reported that three drones made in San Diego are the most accident-prone aircraft in the Air Force’s fleet.

Wednesday, June 20,2012
News

Brian Bilbray strays from the party line

Republican member of Congress will face moderate Democrat Scott Peters in November

By Dave Maass

As the House debated several enormous appropriations bills, Bilbray, usually a reliably conservative soldier, cast more than two dozen votes against his party that seemed, for a lack of a better word, erratic.

Wednesday, June 20,2012
Shenanigans

Shenanigans: Rope the dope

Can you match the athlete to their dope of choice?

By Dave Maass

Pick your poison: steroids, blood transfusions, human growth hormones.

Tuesday, June 19,2012
Drink Issue

Ode to the glory of Guinness

How I joined the cult of the Irish stout

By Dave Maass

Maybe everyone has a Guinness story, but before I tell you mine, let me define it in case aliens scorch the Earth and not a single keg is left for posterity. Guinness is a 4.1-percent Irish dry stout that’s thicker than blood and older than the U.S. Constitution.

Wednesday, June 13,2012
News

Wednesday morning in San Diego

Looking back at what happened on Tuesday, June 5

By David Rolland, Kelly Davis, Dave Maass

Lest you bemoan San Diego’s poor turnout on election night June 5, estimated somewhere between 27 and 37 percent, consider this: Only about 23 percent of the population of the United Kingdom watched the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert, and that featured Paul bloody McCartney.

Wednesday, June 13,2012
Shenanigans

Shenanigans: Actronyms

Rearrange the jumbled phrases to reveal acronymous bills introduced by the 112th Congress

By Dave Maass

With his REPAIR initiative (big breath: Repave and Eliminate Potholes through Accountability for Infrastructure Repairs), Carl DeMaio continues the great American tradition of legislating through tortured acronyms.

Wednesday, June 6,2012
Shenanigans

Shenanigans: Veep Search!

How many potential running mates for Mitt Romney can you find?

By Dave Maass

Can you find all Mitt Romney's potential running mates lurking in the shadows... er, word search?

Wednesday, May 30,2012
Shenanigans

Shenanigans: Lincoln Club Logic

Tweet us the most creative claim about Lincoln Club's candidate, Scott Sherman

By Dave Maass

By Lincoln Club's logic, anything a candidate doesn't deny must be true by default. We'll give a prize to the most creative claim about Lincoln Club's City Council candidate, Scott Sherman, as determined by our editorial staff.

Wednesday, May 23,2012
News

San Diego County’s new propaganda machine

While news organizations practice austerity, county communications team splurges on its own news website

By Dave Maass

CountyNewsCenter.com was launched in September as a separate website from the county’s main hub, sdcounty.ca.gov and costs more than what KPBS, Voice of San Diego and CityBeat paid for their sites combined.