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Recent Articles

• Man sentenced in deadly DUI hit-and-run

  VISTA, Calif. — An 11-year prison term was handed down today for a motorist who was drunk when he killed a marine biologist in a hit-and-run collision in Del Mar several months ago. Christopher “Chip” Stockmeyer, 41, pleaded guilty in April to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run for causing the March 28 death of Rachel Morrison. Witnesses said the 27-year-old pedestrian, a UCSD doctorate student who was studying at the Scripps Oceanographic Institution, was walking eastbound when Stockmeyer […]

• Neighbor found guilty in filmmaker’s murder

  VISTA, Calif. — An Encinitas man who shot and killed a neighbor with whom he’d been feuding over the cutting of bushes and trees on the defendant’s vacant lot in Olivenhain was convicted Friday of first-degree murder. Michael Vilkin, who was also convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, faces 35 years to life in prison when sentenced Aug. 27 for killing John Upton, a documentary filmmaker who gained fame for his crusade to rescue Romanian orphans living in nightmarish […]

• Watermelon drop falls short of UCSD record

  SAN DIEGO — The watermelon dropped from the seventh floor of a UC San Diego building Friday fell short of breaking the 40-year-old record for the farthest debris splatter. The school’s “Watermelon Queen” raced up to the seventh floor of Urey Hall and pushed the gourd over the side at noon in an attempt to break the record of 167 feet, 4 inches, set in 1974. However, UC San Diego officials said debris covered just 49 1/2 feet. The drops […]

• Three Mira Mesa teens burned in drug explosion

  SAN DIEGO — An explosion caused by an illicit drug-manufacturing operation injured three people at a Mira Mesa apartment complex Friday, authorities reported. The San Diego Police Department says three people, all 19-year-olds, were watching a video on extracting hash oil. They tried to recreate the process on the balcony of their apartment on the 10100 block of Camino Ruiz when the blast occurred at about 3 p.m. Medics took the three teenagers to UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest for […]

• Pedestrian in crosswalk killed by SUV

  OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A pedestrian was killed by an SUV while crossing an Oceanside roadway in a crosswalk, a police lieutenant said Sunday. The incident occurred at 10:25 p.m. Saturday at San Luis Rey Mission Expressway (SR 76) and Benet Road, said Oceanside police Lt. Sean Marchand. “Officers arrived on scene and determined that a Sport Utility Vehicle was traveling westbound on SR 76 approaching Benet Road. A pedestrian crossed the roadway in the crosswalk at this intersection. The SUV […]

• Drunk man shot while trying to break into house

  CHULA VISTA, Calif. — A drunken man tried to break into the wrong house and was shot by the resident, police said Sunday. Shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, the drunken 41-year-old man allegedly tried to break through the front door of a home in the 900 block of Rutgers Avenue, near Otay Lakes Road. He broke a side gate and tried to get in again through a sliding glass door, according to Chula Vista police. The homeowner, who was inside […]

• Firefighters deal with 2 brush fires Sunday afternoon

  SAN DIEGO — Fire crews held a brush fire to two acres today near the Gonzales Canyon open space area, north of Carmel Valley. The fire was near the dead end of Rancho Dorado Road, and was reported at 12:10 p.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. Fire officials said the about 2-acre blaze was knocked down in about 35 minutes. No injuries were immediately reported and the cause of the fire had not been determined, a city fire […]

• Power outage affects portion of SDSU campus

  SAN DIEGO — Power was knocked out Sunday to parts of the San Diego State University campus, and a few homes and businesses in the surrounding areas. The electrical outage struck at 10:40 a.m. and affected a large portion of the campus and a handful of San Diego Gas & Electric customers in the Kensington and Talmadge neighborhoods, according to utility and university officials. SDG&E crews attributed the outage to a combination of factors that caused a problem in the […]

• Armored car guard robbed at Fashion Valley Mall

    SAN DIEGO — Two thieves zapped an armored car guard with an electric stun gun at the Fashion Valley mall this afternoon and stole a money bag from him, authorities reported.   The victim suffered minor injuries during the robbery, which took place about 3 p.m., according to San Diego police.   The bandits fled the Friars Road shopping center in a silver or gray pickup truck, possibly a Toyota Tundra, SDPD public-affairs Officer Mark Herring said. Witnesses described […]