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Scam Diego
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Amylin Strock Plunges 13 Percent As Deaths Reported in Use of its Diabetes Drug
By Don Bauder - August 18, 2008, 6:45 p.m.
Stock of Amylin Pharmaceuticals plummeted 13 percent today (Aug, 18) to $29.76 as the Food and Drug Administration said it is seeking a stronger warning for the company's Byetta diabetes drug. Last year, the drug accounted for 80 percent of the biotech's revenue. Amylin's partner in the drug is big ...
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San Diego Continues Losing Jobs; Unemployment Rate in July Was 6.4 Percent, Above Nation's 6.0 Percent
By Don Bauder - August 15, 2008, 11:29 a.m.
San Diego County continues to lose jobs, according to the report for July issued today (Aug. 15) by the state's Employment Development Department. Nonfarm employment declined by 9,100 between June and July of this year. The county lost 4,600 jobs from July of 2007. Construction jobs were down 7,500 over ...
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Bad News for Copley, Good for KUSI: Cox Selling Austin, Other Papers Amid Gloomier Newspaper Environment
By Don Bauder - August 14, 2008, 2:41 p.m.
Cox Enterprises has put the Austin American-Statesman up for sale, along with ten papers in smaller cities such as Waco. That will leave Cox with only three papers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Austin is generally considered a market quite similar to San Diego, where Copley Press, owner of the Union-Tribune, ...
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Co-Counsel in District Attorney's Pension Conflict of Interest Case Takes Job with Superior Court
By Don Bauder - August 14, 2008, 10:32 a.m.
Will La Fond, who has been co-counsel with Steve Robinson on the district attorney's conflict of interest case against six former City employees and labor leaders, has taken a new job coordinating research lawyers in Superior Court. Deputy District Attorney Robinson, the main D.A. lawyer on the case, says that ...
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U-T Continues To Overstate Its Circulation Publicly, but a Potential Buyer Won't Be Fooled
By Don Bauder - August 8, 2008, 6:39 p.m.
On April 28 of this year, the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the official statistics-keeper on newspaper circulation, reported that the Union-Tribune's Monday-Friday circulation was 288,669 for the first six months of 2008. The U-T told its employees recently that June 2008 daily circulation was 276,829, down from 281,105 In June ...
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Recession Hitting San Diego's Superrich; Some Socialites Wearing the Same Gown Twice; Jewel Ball Doesn't Sell Out
By Don Bauder - August 7, 2008, 10:26 a.m.
The bear market and economic downturn are taking their toll on San Diego's Beautiful People, reports Margo Schwab, who covers the social scene through "The Social Diary.com." Says Schwab, "Events that always sell out are not. Auction items are less grand, and frankly, some of the rich are wearing the ...
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Wealthy Local Citizens Discuss Buying U-T, Combining It with KUSI-TV, Possibly Having 24-Hour News Program
By Don Bauder - August 5, 2008, 12:03 p.m.
A group of wealthy local citizens has approached the Union-Tribune about buying the newspaper, I have confirmed. Michael McKinnon, who along with two sons owns 82.5 percent of the station and its parent, McKinnon Broadcasting, is a major member of the group, I have learned, although he has not confirmed ...
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Mission Hills Nation's 5th Most Overpriced Neighborhood, Says Forbes.com
By Don Bauder - August 3, 2008, 9:49 a.m.
San Diego's Mission Hills is the country's fifth most overpriced area, according to the new Forbes.com article, "America's Most Overpriced Zip Codes." To be ranked as excessively priced, homebuyers must pay the highest prices relative to what they could pay to rent similar properties in the same area. Forbes.com notes ...
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Moores's JMI Knocks Condos Out of Austin Project, Citing San Diego Failures
By Don Bauder - August 1, 2008, 1:32 p.m.
John Moores's JMI Realty has reduced the size of a planned Austin, Texas building, Hotel Van Zandt, to 16 stories from 29, according to the Austin Business Journal. JMI has scrapped plans for 55 condos in the building that were to be priced from $500,000 to $2 million. JMI Senior ...
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Biogen Idec, Elan Report Tysabri Brain Disease Cases; Stocks Plunge in After-Hour Trading
By Don Bauder - July 31, 2008, 3:20 p.m.
Biogen Idec and Elan today (July 31) notified regulators of two confirmed cases of a potentially deadly brain disease among patients being treated with the companies' multiple sclerosis (MS) drug, Tysabri. Biogen, based in Cambridge, Mass., several years ago bought Idec, a successful San Diego biotech, to form Biogen Idec, ...
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Bond Law Firm Settles City Attorney's Suit for $2.875 Million
By Don Bauder - July 29, 2008, 7:59 p.m.
City Attorney Mike Aguirre revealed today (July 29) that the law firm of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe agreed to pay $2.875 million to settle a pension-related suit filed earlier by the City. Five service-providing firms have now settled pension cases for a total of $13.375 million. The City netted $9 ...
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San Diego Home Prices Now Back to October '03 Levels. Prices Decline in May, but at Slower Pace
By Don Bauder - July 29, 2008, 7:16 a.m.
San Diego existing family home prices were down 1.4 percent in May from April, according to the Case-Shiller home price indices released today (July 29) by Standard & Poor's. Only four of 20 major metro areas did worse: Phoenix (down 2.5%), Miami (-3.6%), Las Vegas (-2.9%), and Los Angeles (-1.9%). ...
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Westfield Exec Took Fifth Last Friday. Will Shopping Center Developer Take San Diego to Cleaners?
By Don Bauder - July 28, 2008, 9:29 p.m.
Last Friday (July 25), Peter Lowy, LA-based head of U.S. operations for Australia's Westfield shopping center empire, took the fifth amendment before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Earlier this month, the subcommittee had issued a report charging that Peter Lowy and his father Frank Lowy, Australia's second richest citizen, ...
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Money Flows Out of Brandes's Investment Firm, As Stock Portfolio Fails To Perform
By Don Bauder - July 28, 2008, 4:50 p.m.
In the second half of last year, the San Diego money management firm of Brandes Investment Partners had $125 billion under management. According to the firm's website, that total was down to $86.4 billion at midyear 2008. The institutional/private client fund had $65.1 billion at midyear, down from a peak ...
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A.H. Belo, Initially Considered Candidate To Buy Copley, Reports Big Loss, Layoffs
By Don Bauder - July 28, 2008, 9:19 a.m.
When Copley Press announced last week it was putting itself up for sale, some analysts thought a logical buyer would be Dallas-based A.H. Belo. The company owns the Dallas Morning News and the Riverside Press-Enterprise, among other newspaper assets. Analysts thought a combination of San Diego and Riverside could create ...
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The Question on Nancy Graham: Why Was She Hired in the First Place?
By Don Bauder - July 26, 2008, 4:06 p.m.
Nancy Graham, who recently resigned as head of Centre City Development Corp., has left the state, supposedly to be with her ill mother. The city attorney's office has been investigating her for a month, and now CCDC will hold its own investigation, supposedly by an outside lawyer. Questions abound on ...
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Note to U-T Employees: You Think You're Angst-Ridden? Look at Your Former Ohio, Illinois Colleagues
By Don Bauder - July 26, 2008, 3:18 p.m.
Union-Tribune employees are walking around semi-catatonic. The company has announced it is looking at "strategic alternatives," which probably means it is up for sale in a miserable market for newspapers. New York's Evercore Partners will assist the company. Evercore also helped Copley Press last year when it sold 15 papers ...
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Union-Tribune is up for sale, company tells employees
By Don Bauder - July 24, 2008, 2:10 p.m.
The shoe finally drops. Long time rumors are coming true. The Union-Tribune has put itself up for sale. In an announcement to employees today (July 24) Union-Tribune president Gene Bell said, "the Copley Press is announcing today that it is exploring strategic alternatives, a phrase usually associated with putting a ...
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San Diego Unemployment Rate for June Leaps to 5.9 Percent; County Lost Jobs Over Last 12 Months
By Don Bauder - July 18, 2008, 12:14 p.m.
The San Diego County unemployment rate surged to 5.9 percent in June, up from a revised 5.5 percent in May, and well above the 4.6 percent of a year ago, according to the state Employment Development Department. The county lost 4,900 jobs from June of 2007, a decline of 0.4 ...
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More Wall Street Socialism: SEC Wants to Thwart Short Selling of Fannie, Freddie, Brokerage Stocks
By Don Bauder - July 15, 2008, 11:39 a.m.
It is simply hilarious that Wall Street genuflects at the altar of free enterprise, free markets, rugged individualism, etc. The nabobs believe in free enterprise as long as they are making money, but when they start losing, they want a handout or protection from the government they proclaim should not ...