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NOVEMBER 12, 2009
SAVING GRACE: Kelly Wheeler, who’s been bureau chief of City News Service for 14 years, and before that had an impressive stint in management at KSDO radio, smiled broadly as he accepted the Pres Club’s Harold Keen Award for Outstanding Contributions in Journalism. “I want to just say thanks,” he quipped, “to everyone who discouraged me from being an on-air talent.”
THE NEWS NOSE: Our next-door neighbor Mexico now ranks with Pakistan atop the International Press Institute’s list of the World’s Deadliest Countries for Reporters. That distinction came this week with the death of Jose Bladmir Antuna Garcia, a crime correspondent for El Tiempo de Durango, whose body was discovered behind a hospital in Durango. Since the first of the year, IPI’s Death Watch counted seven journalists murdered in Mexico, equal to Pakistan’s count and ahead of civil-war-ravaged Somalia’s ... Revelations that former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean once starred in a sex video have prompted Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger to call for her firing as a paid spokeswoman for the National Organization for Marriage. In a letter to NOM president Maggie Gallagher, Karger, a proponent of gay marriage, notes Gallagher once called Prejean the “future of our movement and the future of America.” ... Fancesca Zambello, who directed the Broadway-bound The First Wives Club in its world premiere at the Old Globe last summer, has dropped out of the production of the musical in New York. The official explanation: “Prior scheduling commitments.” Producers are reportedly installing a complete new artistic team.
MATTERS OF TASTE: Urban Solace, one of resurgent North Park’s more conspicuous successes, is cloning the comfort food concept in North County. Chef Matt Gordon and partner Scott Watkins plan to open a second restaurant — dining, drinking and entertainment — in Main Street Encinitas in next spring. No name yet ... Tracy Borkum is swimming against the current again. While restaurants around her are trimming hours, she’s expanding to lunch service at her mega-successful Cucina Urbana in Bankers Hill ... Top Chef Brian Malarkey, who’s quit Oceanaire Seafood Room to partner with James Brennan in a new restaurant venture in the Gaslamp Quarter, says the new eatery on the site of the closing Z Gallerie won’t open until next summer.
SAN DIEGANS’ INK: San Diego-spawned Gary Puckett, who gained ’60s rock fame as lead singer with The Union Gap, is coming home for a November 21 charity gig at Harrah’s Rincon Casino. The six-time gold record crooner will be joined by comedian Steve Kelley, the former Union-Tribune political cartoonist who’s now with the New Orleans Times Picayune. It’s a fund-raiser for The Angel’s Depot (free meals for seniors) ... Ronne Froman, retired admiral and former top aide to Mayor Jerry Sanders, has been recognized by her home state’s governor Ed Randell as a “Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania.” Froman’s now with General Atomics ... Dr. Brent Eastman, a cofounder of San Diego’s trauma system and a key player in the development of trauma systems around the world, has been elected chairman of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons.
FINE LINE: “My life,” says Jim Bowers, “has a superb cast. It’s the plot I’m concerned about.”
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