Basilio Ceravolo on homeless shelter at WTC
Basilio owns a tapa restaurant less than a block from the World Trade Center downtown, which has been proposed as a new homeless shelter. He thinks it could be bad for his business and the city’s financial district and hopes alternatives or other solutions are sought.
Cleda Rodriguez, El Cajon police got medals for shooting her son
Jeromiah Paul Davis was a health nut and athlete who served his country at Guantanamo Bay. He was also had a difficult past and a meth habit.
Likely suicidal, last March Davis ran a mile up Avocado Blvd with a knife in his hand. After trying non-lethal methods to stop him, when he reached the [...]
Charles Johnson, closing Magnolia’s
“Everybody who left has gone frustrated, in debt and disappointed.”
Charles and Bessie Johnson opened Magnolia’s Authentic Southern Dining five years ago at Market Creek Plaza, part of a group of local business owners asked to open shop in the new shopping center. Last month they closed their doors for the last time. Here Charles shares [...]
San Diego County Fair 2010, complete with fried butter and chocolate covered bacon
Also on sdnn.com
SD County Fair 2010 – Images by Khari Johnson
Googins, Faigin face tough battle for first city attorney
Also on sdnn.com
Up to now, the city attorney in Chula Vista was appointed by the city council but Proposition Q — a 2008 ballot measure — changed city charter to make it an elected position and Chula Vistans will go to the polls Tuesday to choose between Glen Googins and Robert Faigin as their first [...]
Judge’s accusations on colleagues denied in appeals court
Also posted on sdnn.com
A mandate (known as a “Petition for Writ of Mandate and Prohibition”) filed by Judge DeAnn Salcido was denied Tuesday by the 4th District California Court of Appeals.
Salcido, who will face re-election next month, filed the writ against the San Diego Superior Court and her former boss Peter Deddeh, the presiding judge [...]
Musical icon Nina Simone lives on in ‘Nina’
Also posted on San Diego News Network, sdnn.com
Calvin Manson — writer and director of the musical “Nina” — saw Nina Simone perform while he was a student at UCSD in 1972.
When it came time for the outspoken icon to sing “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” she asked all the black students in the large [...]
Spin it to win it
Also on sdnn.com
Greg Hakanson, 20, used to “sign” (an informal term for standing on corner and holding and advertising sign for a local business or service) for a nutritional supplement company. About a year ago, he heard about AArrow Advertising, a firm that teaches people tricks to spin and flip signs, and started coming to [...]
Voices of San Diego’s Refugee East County
As part of an application for a federal grant to increase coverage of San Diego’s East County refugee community put together in part by the Heartland Foundation and eastcountymagazine.org, I helped shoot, edit and produce interviews of several members of the community.
The application was unfortunately denied, but along the way, interviews were done with several compelling people like Majur Malou from Sudan. A student activist at the start of the country’s civil war, he was imprisoned and tortured and upon release fled the country. Since coming to the U.S. more than a decade ago first painting golf club shafts for Callaway Golf. Today he is the executive direct of Episcopal Refugee Services, but his family lives in Phoenix where things are cheaper.
Majur Malou from East County Magazine on Vimeo.
Chorbishop Bawai Soro organized a celebration of the Synod of Mar Isaac, the beginnings of a process to stop persecution of Christians in the region in 410 A.D. San Diego has become the number one city of relocation for Iraqi refugees by the UNHCR and federal government since the start of the war in Iraq. Chaldeans or Chaldo-Assyrians have been Christians since the arrival of Thomas the apostle, and have suffered a disproportionate amount of the violence and refugees since the start of the war in Iraq. If trends continue, Christians will be out of Iraq in 10 years.
Bettercourtsnow.com continues fight against ‘activist judges’
Also posted on sdnn.com
Bettercourtsnow.com, a Web site and political action committee concerned with “activist judges,” released its list of endorsements Friday, backing candidates in four of the five Superior Court Judge races being contended for in the June’s primaries.
The group’s Web site, launched December 2009, includes video posted at the beginning of the year of [...]
Cox, Castaneda continue to trade blows in Chula Vista mayoral race
Story also on sdnn.com
A year before the city’s centennial, Chula Vista will consider its future in what may be a pivotal election.
Though several candidates are vying for two council seats, the most heated race is for mayor with three candidates—the current Mayor Cheryl Cox (Republican), Councilmember Steve Castaneda (Democrat) and Southwestern College trustee Jorge Dominguez [...]
International Pillow Fight Day San Diego
Today was International Pillow Fight Day, with fights organized in dozens of cities around the world, said the event organizer’s website.
It’s the next morning and I’m still picking feathers out of my hair, but I had a great time.
The event kept its energy when charges were made by organized factions of the crowd of [...]
Judges get ready for ‘big fight’ against conservative challenge
Also on sdnn.com
Pastor Chris Clark of East Clairemont Baptist Church was involved in the fight to keep the cross on Mt. Soledad and helped rally hundreds of religious leaders statewide for the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign.
He saw judicial activism in both cases and Proposition 8 “may have been the straw that broke the camel’s [...]
Woman’s death after chemical spill leads to search for answers
Also posted on sdnn.com, San Diego News Network.
Hope Goodwin moved to Valley Center to retire with her mother, Joye, two decades ago.
Together, the two raised championship horses and Great Danes, grew dozens of organic fruits and vegetables and were about to go into the business of farming organic garlic and Sea-buckthorn.
It was a return to [...]
Microloans help San Diego refugees grow businesses, jobs
Osman Osman, 38, is a security guard who works 40 hours a week at construction sites, then cleans houses and businesses.
He took out a $10,000 loan to expand his company American Cleaning Expert, $7,000 for more carpet and window cleaning equipment.
The last hour with Dr. King
Also published on allvoices.com
The San Diego County YMCA hosted its 25th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Human Dignity Award breakfast Friday with more than 1,000 people in attendance.
The morning’s keynote speaker was Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, the last person alive who was with Dr. King an hour before an assassin fired a fatal bullet and [...]
Casual Encounter Show at Kava Longue Brother Nature
Brother Nature and Broken Dreams performing in the Casual Encounters Show at the Kava Longue – Images by Khari Johnson
San Diego Alpha Phi Alpha Holiday Ball
To see all photos or buy images from the ball, click the slideshow.
2009 Alpha Holiday Ball – Images by Khari Johnson
Turks contemplate European Union
Turkey – Images by Khari Johnson
Story written Oct. 2005
Turkey consists of 69 million potential EU-citizens. We spoke to some of them about their future with or without the EU.
By Khari Johnson and Per Christian Selmer-Anderssen
46 years after first applying for European Union membership and three weeks after the start of a ten to fifteen year [...]
A Life of Struggle and Service Ended Violently on Avocado Blvd
Also posted on voiceofsandiego.org
On the corner of Avocado Boulevard and Fuerte Drive stand flower bouquets and a wooden cross typically placed on the busy street corner to remember a fatal car accident. But that’s not what happened here. Less than 10 feet from the memorial lies a makeshift sign broken into pieces on the ground [...]
