OB Rag

In potentially gamechanging news, the New York Times broke the story Thursday night [Sept 1] that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the federal overseer for mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is filing a pretty big lawsuit against more than a dozen big banks, alleging that they “misrepresented” the quality of the mortgage-backed securities they sold during the height of the housing bubble–the same securities that were made up of predatory subprime loans rolled in with regular mortgages and sold to investors as AAA bonds.

Banks named in the suits include Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Deustche Bank, and our old friends Bank of America.

UPDATE: Medical Examiner’s Office has declared that Steve’s death was an accident caused by drowning. Also that he died around 1:41pm on August 31.

A local OBcian by the name of Steve Marquez- an OB regular at Lucy’s and the Tilted Stick – was found floating in Mission Bay near the Ingraham Street bridge yesterday, August 31st by police. His body was in a state of decomposition.

According to someone who knew him as a regular at these bars told us today that Steve had been missing for the last couple of days.

Jill Green was the founding principal of Explorer Elementary Charter School – a K-5 school located in the same building complex as High Tech High School in Point Loma. That was until she resigned at the end of April this year.

Until she resigned, Green earned $110,277 annually. But allegations made by the charter school’s governing board that Green abused her expense account were raised, and these concerns ostensibly led to her departure. The board alleged that she spent thousands of dollars on business meals, wine, gifts, and even dog treats over the last two years on her credit card, expenses that were covered by taxpayers.

San Diego County on Wednesday released two proposals to establish a supervisorial district where the majority of the population is made up of ethnic minorities, a month after abandoning its original plans amid legal threats from civil rights attorneys.

The county’s two alternative maps, scheduled for consideration by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, [Sept 6th] would create a South Bay district where Latinos and African Americans constitute a majority of the voting-age population.

There have been numerous shark sightings along San Diego’s coast lately – including Sunset Cliffs – to give ocean-goers second thoughts. Or I should say, some ocean-goers.

Today, Thursday, September 1, around 9 a.m. a visiting Kentuckian reported spotting a dorsal fin slicing through the ocean off Sunset Cliffs, along the 1200 block of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. A guy near her checked it out with binoculars and followed the fin as it moved around offshore.

This possible sighting has not been confirmed, and lifeguards stated it was not “credible.”

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department filed suit Wednesday to block AT&T’s $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile USA on grounds that it would raise prices for consumers. The government contends that the acquisition of the No. 4 wireless carrier in the country by No. 2 AT&T would reduce competition.

By Steven Greenhouse / New York Times / Originally published August 26, 2011

At Woodstock, Joan Baez sang a famous folk ballad celebrating Joe Hill, the itinerant miner, songwriter and union activist who was executed by a Utah firing squad in 1915. “I never died, said he” is the song’s refrain.

Hill’s status as a labor icon and the debate about his conviction certainly never died. And now a new biography makes the strongest case yet that Hill was wrongfully convicted of murdering a local grocer, the charge that led to his execution at age 36.

By John Lawrence / Will Blog For Food / August 30, 2011

Grover Norquist has never been elected to office yet Republican politicians are pledging their obeisance to him. Norquist is one of the most powerful unelected men controlling US politics.

His motto is “I want to shrink government down so small that I can drown it in the bathtub.”

by Lucas O’Connor / Issa Exposed / August 29, 2011

Questions have been swirling for months about Darrell Issa’s purchase of the office building at 2067 West Vista Way. In addition to previous questions about the property, it appears that one of the principals who negotiated the deal also made his only federal political contribution ever to Issa’s campaign.

The number of San Diegans using food stamps to help supplement their income has increased by 89 percent since January 2009, according to the County’s Health and Human Services Agency.

For several years the number of people using food stamps, also known as the CalFresh program, in San Diego, in comparison to other cities across the country was extremely low. In January 2009 San Diego’s food stamp program had 122,878 recipients. In July 2011, there were 232,255 food stamp recipients in San Diego almost double the number in less than two years.

For most of last week, the OB Rag ran our latest San Diego mayoral election poll, and Bob Filner won it easily hands down. He garnered 46.7% of the vote which included 169 respondents.

“None of the above” was also a choice, and it came in second with 17.2%.

Among the Republicans running, Carl DeMaio topped the field with a meager 13.6%, followed by Nathan Fletcher with a single-digit of 8.3%, and then Bonnie Dumanis bringing up the rear with 7.1%. Combined, the GOP candidates won 29% of the vote.

See this blast from the past! Originally published Aug. 29, 2011. A decade ago and redistricting was the thing.

Well, it’s now official. The neighborhood of Ocean Beach will remain in District 2. This is significant, as it means that OB will remain in a district with other beach neighborhoods that have similar interests and needs.