Latest news with #SanDiego-area
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trucking company owner indicted in $2M credit card scam
A San Diego-area owner-operator was arraigned on Tuesday in an 18-count indictment charging him with bank fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. Hasan Korkmaz, who owns San Diego Logistics Group Inc. based in Santee, California, carried out a credit card 'bust-out' scam in which seemingly legitimate credit card accounts are established and then are 'busted out' by maxing out the credit line with no intention of paying the balance, according to the U.S. attorney's office representing the Southern District of California. Prosecutors allege that Korkmaz obtained names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and other personal information linked to real people and used the information to apply for numerous credit card accounts. After opening the fraudulent accounts, he allegedly used the cards to charge various businesses, including his own trucking company, with some charges as high as $18,500 for a single transaction.'To perpetuate the scheme, Korkmaz also made fraudulent payments, with checks drawn on accounts with insufficient funds or drawn on non-existent accounts, to the credit card accounts, thereby temporarily restoring the available credit limits,' according to the attorney's office. 'Korkmaz would then incur additional charges on the credit card accounts at or near the maximum credit limits for the accounts.' Korkmaz is also alleged to have laundered the bank fraud proceeds, including by transferring them to a Turkish bank account he controlled, causing two banks to lose $2.1 million. According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration registration data, San Diego Logistics Group specializes in hauling refrigerated meat and fresh produce with three tractors and five drivers. It is listed as having an 'inactive' USDOT convicted, Korkmaz faces maximum sentences of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for bank fraud, 20 years and $500,000 for money laundering, and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. South Florida trucking company owner gets long prison term for Ponzi scheme California freight forwarder charged with smuggling billions in goods California trucking company owner pleads guilty to PPP fraud Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher. The post Trucking company owner indicted in $2M credit card scam appeared first on FreightWaves.
Los Angeles Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Steve Perry on covering Journey's ‘Faithfully' with Willie Nelson: ‘You'd be silly not to drop in with him'
For a Bay Area band famous for selling out stadiums with immaculately dramatic '80s rock, Journey had some country roots too. 'I was raised in the San Joaquin Valley,' the band's former singer Steve Perry told The Times. 'My grandfather had two dairy farms. I remember getting ice cream made from that fresh cream at the top of that vat. I saw the commitment that farmers have to what they do.' That might explain a bit of Perry's new single, a duet with country godfather Willie Nelson, where the pair revisits 'Faithfully,' one of Journey's finest, high-lonesome ballads with a weary tenderness that leans into their respective ages (92 for Nelson, 76 for Perry). The single, out today, benefits Nelson's longtime go-to charity Farm Aid. But it's an unexpected return to the Journey canon for Perry, who left the group for good in 1998 and then disappeared from public life for two decades, give or take a prime 'Sopranos' sync. The Times spoke to Perry, from his San Diego-area home, about his long history with Willie Nelson and country music, how Teddy Swims' 'Lose Control' almost wrecked him and if he'll ever have a tour or follow-up to 2018's comeback LP 'Traces' in the works. This new version of 'Faithfully' with Willie was really moving. It takes on new gravity to hear this song from your perspective later in life. How has the the meaning of this song changed for you over the last 40 years? I think that the lyrics are so sound that they're timeless. But I must tell you that Willie Nelson set a tone when he sang it. That launched me in his direction, of how to interpret those lyrics and sing with him. It sets the tone and the watermark. Willie is the Sinatra of country music. When you sing laid back like that, like Tony Bennett does, he just says it like he feels it, and he puts it where he feels it. It takes a minute to really fall into that relaxed emotional expression. It was a new experience for me to sing with such a legend like this guy. You can hear the weight of everything that's happened in your life over the decades. There's a lot of personal loss behind lyrics like 'Wonderin' where I am lost without you / Being apart ain't easy on this love affair / I'm forever yours, faithfully.' Do you feel like the sound of your voice carries any different meaning now than it did 40 years ago? I think that back then, the interpretation of what it should be was a different approach. It was a band sound. It was sort of an R&B rock ballad thing, and I think that that was the template to drop into it and drive it vocally. This one is completely the other way. Wherever Willie goes, it's so definitive that you would be silly not to drop in there with him. This is your second country duet in recent years, after you sang with Dolly Parton on her 'Rockstar' album. Why is that such a fun format for you now? At this point in my life, I'm really enjoying doing anything that feels just emotionally expressive to me. It's a new freedom for me. You know, Willie used to come to the shows in Texas when we were touring in the early '80s, that's where I first met him. When we were doing the song 'Faithfully,' I swear to you, back then, I always wanted to hear his voice on it. This is the 40th anniversary of Farm Aid, so it was the perfect time to just for us to be together, and it's a bucket list thing to sing with Willie Nelson. You were raised in the San Joaquin Valley, I imagine that's a cause close to your heart. Farm Aid is close to my heart, because I know how difficult it is to be a farmer. You've really got to love it. You famously spent decades out of public life after leaving Journey. But at the behest of your late partner Kellie Nash, you eventually recorded a solo album 'Traces' in 2018, and put out some Christmas records more recently. Does being in public feel easier now than it did, say, a decade ago? That's an interesting question. I think I really do enjoy the solitude and privacy that my life has right now. I enjoy my studio. I'm staring at my speakers right now, and it's an environment that is so creative and so fruitful with all these other ideas that I have coming that need to be finished. So, I don't know. I think I really enjoy committing to this creative new buzz that I'm falling into with new music, new writing, new recordings. Whether it's two years or two decades, how do you know when it's the right time for you to reemerge? I think the emotion just came back to me to write and sing. I wasn't quite sure it was going to, because I had worked so hard for so many years touring and writing, and that's when I left Journey. I didn't even know I needed a sabbatical. I just took one. Then music returned to my soul. Some of the early music of my youth started to become something that rescued me emotionally, like when I was young. It came back to me and rescued me again. My dad was a singer, and he used to sing around the house, and I got to sing with him on the Christmas record — I found a cassette of him singing, so we put that together. I think it's always just been part of my life. Does writing or listening to music affect you in different ways now than it did as a child, or when you joined Journey? Songwriting is the most important thing to me, whether it's the Beatles or Led Zeppelin or, more recently, I love this guy Leon Thomas. He's got a song called 'Answer Your Phone.' When I hear him sing, it just resonates with what feels right, because the songwriting he's doing. 'Answer the phone / I need to talk to you' — it's an honest emotion in the lyric. I think that's always been something I've heard in country music too. Growing up in the San Joaquin Valley, with the Everly Brothers or Willie, there's just a certain believability to their performance and songwriting that I've always reached for, no matter where I was. It does seem like there are some young guys like Teddy Swims or Benson Boone that are drawing from your vocal style. Do you feel like young singers today are rediscovering the pleasure and nuance in the way you perform? I can't attribute it to anybody saying 'I think I like this guy, Steve Perry,' but I'll tell you what, when Teddy Swims is singing 'Lose Control,' when I first heard that, I had to pull the car over. The track is fantastic. His vocals are fantastic. When he hits that [singing] 'Contro-o-o-l,' he sounds just like you. Hey, that was nice, August. But yes, it's songwriting, songwriting, songwriting. There's certain newer artists like Leon Thomas and Leon Bridges that really are paying attention. Any desire to get on the road with all this new material? You know, I really don't have any plans for that at this moment. I'm really having so much fun recording, writing, mixing and mastering at this moment that I just don't want to break up the flow I'm in right now. Your music has always had a unique place in film and drama history — the 'Sopranos' final shot, obviously, but also inspiring the play 'Rock of Ages' and your friendship with Patty Jenkins, who used your music in 'Monster.' Ever given any thought to how you might want to handle a Journey biopic? I don't have any plans for it. It's hard to imagine what that might be. You reconnected with your old bandmates at your Rock Hall induction in 2017. I know they've been through some recent personnel challenges, but what's your relationship with the band these days? I mean, we're all good. We were great together. I think the material and our accomplishments stand the test of time, which proves that we were good together. I'm really proud of what we accomplished together, because we were kind of like soldiers in the trenches trying to do something together. We knew we could do what we believed in. But I really love new music, and when I'm writing here in the studio, I try to remove myself so I can continually chase after these new ideas, and not be influenced by anything except these new ideas wherever they show up. That's the thing that has always been a goal, to come up with the definitive version of something you've never heard before, the true struggle to make it that believable. There's also this timeless, yearning quality to your work in Journey. It's hard to imagine a world where those songs didn't already exist. I think that's why filmmakers are so attracted to them, or why 'Faithfully' can sound compelling today. You just nailed it. The believability of something that never existed before, but you have a familiarity like it did exist. It's not an easy thing to do, but it's reaching and never giving up, reaching for that definitive version that makes you or everyone else feel like they've heard it before.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
5 San Diego-area breweries earn medals at 2025 World Beer Cup
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Five craft breweries in San Diego County, plus one in Tijuana, took home medals after competing at the 2025 World Beer Cup. The World Beer Cup, which is often considered the 'Olympics of beer competitions,' was last Thursday in Indianapolis, IN. Unique self-serve ramen shop opens in San Diego's Convoy District A full list of the winners for the 2025 competition can be found on the World Beer Cup's website. Although no local breweries won gold, a total of eight medals were awarded for the region. With a total of three medals, Pizza Port Brewing Company in Carlsbad won the most awards for San Diego County. 'The overall results aren't what we're used to, but that doesn't take away from the extraordinary beers that did win medals this year,' said San Diego Brewers Guild Executive Director Erik Fowler in a statement. 'Some categories had more than 100 entries, and a few even had more than 200. The World Beer Cup is highly competitive year in and year out, and San Diego will keep bringing its best year in and year out.' The following is a list of all of the San Diego-area breweries that won awards at this year's competition: Silver Craft Coast Beer & Tacos, San Marcos – XPA, Australia-Style Pale Ale Pizza Port Brewing Co., Imperial Beach – Schwarzbier, German-Style Schwarzbier Pizza Port Brewing Co. Solana Beach – Oscar Wanted a Brown Ale, English-Style Brown Ale Bronze Coronado Brewing Company, Coronado – Guava Hard Cider, Fruited Cider Insurgente (Tijuana) – Dragula, Oatmeal Stout North Park Beer Company – House of Fu! Imperial IPA Pizza Port Brewing Co. Ocean Beach – Junk In Da Trunkel Dunkel, South German-Style Dunkel Weizen Taproom Beer Company (North Park) – Modern Love, New Zealand-Style IPA Pizza Port's 'Junk In Da Trunkel Dunkel' won gold at last year's World Beer Cup, while Craft Coast Beer & Tacos' 'XPA' won bronze. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
29-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Is About to Steal My Friend's Christmas — and Yours
I first met Dane Chapin, a San Diego-area entrepreneur, in 2012, when he gave me a ride in his Prius and told me I was dead wrong about climate change. We've been close friends ever since. Sometimes he's to my left politically, sometimes to my right. I've always admired his curiosity, optimism and independent thinking, especially when we disagree — as we did over his vote for Donald Trump in the last election. One hundred days into this administration, Dane isn't happy. 'With Trump I thought, maybe, there might be a method to the madness,' he told me on Saturday. 'I'm concerned now that there is madness to his method.' To hear from Dane now is particularly valuable for the insight he offers as to why a critical constituency — the business-minded but non-MAGA side of Trump's base — is beginning to sour on the president. It's not about deportations, foreign aid, federal funding of universities or any of the issues that animate Trump's usual critics. It's about the tariffs. 'I'm being forced into survival mode regarding my business and our 80 employees, who I care for like a family,' Dane told me. 'I have bigger things to worry about than what's going on with Harvard.' Dane's principal business, which his family started more than 30 years ago, is USAopoly, or 'the Op' for short. It makes themed versions of board games like Monopoly and Clue, and brings new ones to market, like a family party game called Tapple. His employees, he said, have excellent benefits and salaries ranging from the high five figures on up. He also told me that the company reviews about 2,000 game ideas a year. Between five and six make it to production. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Yahoo
Inmate dies in sheriff's custody at local hospital
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — An 82-year-old man in the custody of San Diego County Sheriff's died on Friday night at a local hospital, officials confirmed. The man was identified as Thomas Richard Heaven. According to a press release from the sheriff's office, Heaven was initially transported from San Diego Central Jail to a hospital on March 17, 2025, after experiencing low blood pressure and a high heart rate. His condition required continued medical attention and on April 7, he was moved to the Hospital Guard Unit at another area hospital, where he remained under sheriff's supervision. San Diego-area veterans tour key memorials in Washington, D.C. On April 24, Heaven's health reportedly took a turn for the worse due to declining oxygen levels. He was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m., authorities said. His family has been notified of his death, and a sheriff's family liaison officer has been assigned to provide support. According to the sheriff's office, Heaven had been awaiting sentencing, scheduled for May, on multiple charges of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14. The San Diego County Citizens' Law Enforcement Review Board has been informed of the incident. In keeping with department protocol, the sheriff's Homicide Unit has launched an investigation into the in-custody death. An autopsy by the Medical Examiner's Office is scheduled for April 26, 2025. The cause and manner of death remain undetermined at this time. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
