Wanted Fugitive: Kevin Manriquez

San Diego County Crime Stoppers is working with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Fugitive Task Force to find and arrest 24-year-old Kevin Manriquez. He has two outstanding felony arrest warrants. One of the warrants is for robbery and the other warrant is for manufacturing of a controlled substance and child cruelty. Manriquez is known to frequent the Spring Valley Area. […]

2017-08-10

Escondido woman won’t rest until treatment is found for Alzheimer’s

Rosie Barnett of Escondido knows the heartache that comes with Alzheimer’s disease. Fighting this disease is personal for Barnett, acutely personal. She watched her mother decline, each day losing a small part of what made her mother who she was. Barnett witnessed her mother change from a vibrant woman to one barely recognizable as the woman who raised her. Miriam […]

Soon newly seated Supervisor Gaspar will be the most senior on the board

In office six months, Kristin Gaspar is already looking towards her legacy. In a few years the newly seated 3rd District Supervisor will be most senior member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. To put that into perspective, Mrs. Gaspar just got all the furniture for her office along Pacific Highway, overlooking San Diego Bay. It is hard […]

Escondido engine company helps fight fires throughout California

Since late June an engine company of the Escondido Fire Department (EFD) has been moving throughout California helping to battle the myriad wildfires that have broken out from Riverside nearly to the Oregon border. This is not unusual. For years Escondido has sent crews to fight fires throughout the state as part of the California Mutual Aid Agreement. “We have […]

Activists worry library privatizing already decided

Activists who have organized to fight the privatization of the Escondido Library are worrying out loud that the City of Escondido has already made up its mind to make this change, while saying that the decision isn’t made yet. On Tuesday at 2 p.m. they demonstrated outside of the library at Escondido Library Board of Trustees meeting. The demonstration was […]

Southpaw: Damning the river

~ a leftie living in a ‘rightie’ world

When it comes to leaks to the media, there are basically two types: ones that disseminate critical information that compromises national security (military strategy, troop information, agents in the field, etc.) and non-critical “palace intrigue” type leaks (insider gossip, rumors, embarrassing flubs and faux pas). The Trump administration is on the warpath to conflate the two, likely because the torrent […]

Former city librarians urge: keep the Public Library Public


There are those who argue that government is a waste of money and that it should be run by private business. Such seems to be the view of the City of Escondido regarding the Escondido Public Library, as they consider privatizing our library with a for-profit company. Like all government departments since the recent recession the Escondido Library has examined […]

Women in today’s California


Only 26 of the California Legislature’s 120 members are women — nine Senators and 17 Assemblymembers.  Women serve at all levels of leadership, including my position as Minority Floor Leader and Senator Patricia Bates, the current Senate Minority Leader. Surprisingly, no woman was elected to the State Senate until 1976, and none were elected to the Assembly until 1918, having […]

Rush to judgment on library privatization?

The opponents of the privatization of the Escondido Library have claimed from the start that the City of Escondido has made up its collective mind ahead of time to privatize that venerable institution. At first, I was inclined to think that this was a little too much “conspiracy theory,” but I’m detecting in the hurried pace of the approval of […]