Eagle Eyes, an experimental wireless camera system and software package devised by UCSD Professor Mohan Trivedi and his graduate researchers, is being used to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border crossing at Eagle Pass, Texas. If the software spots anything suspicious, it immediately flags the video stream, alerting security officials.

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While Westfield continues to evaluate plans for a major update and expansion to Horton Plaza, changes are ongoing at Downtown’s retail icon. Most significantly, Steve & Barry’s, a national specialty retailer offering licensed and unlicensed apparel for men, women and children, opened Sept. 20 in about 30,000 square feet within the vacant Robinsons-May building. Also new at Horton is J. Jill, a women’s fashion retailer. In other tenant news, Banana Republic has consolidated its men’s and women’s stores into a remodeled location and bebe along with Victoria’s Secret have begun remodeling.

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The eyes of Picasso, which ICON removed from the old Reincarnation Building to make way for its new condos, will shine upon generations to come from a building planned for adaptive reuse at 22nd and Commercial streets in Logan Heights. First painted by San Diego artist Mario Torero, the eyes are being projected by laser. Mary McLellan organized the lighting ceremony that unveiled the event. The building is part of the COMM22 development which includes 127 multi-family housing units, 70 senior housing units, 17 for-sale affordable town homes and 70,000 square feet of community-serving retail and commercial space. The 3.64 acre site is owned by the San Diego Unified School District.

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Hispanic Business magazine ranks Sempra Energy as No. 5, and the lone San Diego-headquartered firm, in its Top 50 Companies For Hispanics list. Bank of America is on top.

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Sweet suites like this will be pretty popular come Oct. 17 when the landmark 270-room US Grant Hotel reopens as the newest member of Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ elite Luxury Collection following a 20-month, $52 million restoration. The doors open to the public at 10 a.m. The Grant Grill, always a big Downtown favorite, reopens at the same time. Hotel guests and visitors will discover commissioned works of art, hand-made silk carpets, exotic woods and marbles, white gold leafing and custom-designed furnishings. The Grant’s owners are the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, the Native American tribe that originally settled the land that includes Downtown San Diego. It was President Grant who in 1875 signed an executive order setting aside 640 acres of land in eastern San Diego County for the tribe’s permanent reservation.

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Continuing to position itself as a defense-industry leader on the San Diego philanthropic scene, Northrop Grumman Corp. has donated $180,000 in cash to the San Diego Futures Foundation. The foundation delivers hardware, software, communications, training and education to disadvantaged communities.

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On Oct. 11, the San Diego World Affairs Council will hold a roundtable titled Rebuilding the Middle East: On the Road to Peace & Paths to New Markets.” It will feature four U.S. ambassadors: Jeffrey Feltman, Lebanon; James Oberwetter, Saudi Arabia; Michele Sison, United Arab Emirates; and Thomas T. Riley, Morocco. John Donvan, an ABC News “Nightline” correspondent, will moderate. Tickets to the dinner at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines are $75 for nonmembers of the council, less for those who belong. For more information, call (619) 325-8200.

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Greg Stein has joined Sandy Shapery in the business of trying to solve the region’s transportation problems. Stein, a civic activist and one-time Republican state Assembly candidate, recently completed his MBA through UCLA’s Anderson School. He joins Shapery as president of the newly-formed Southern California Transportation Solutions. “Traffic congestion, pollution, airport delays and inadequate government funding for infrastructure threaten our economy, our community and our health and lifestyle,” Stein says. “The time has come for the private sector to team up with academics, community and trade associations, and local, regional, state and federal government entities to identify promising technologies and see them through to implementation.” Stein will help investigate inductive charging technology for buses, electrification of railways and the construction of a very high speed Maglev (magnetic levitation) rail system between San Diego and L.A. airports.

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Concrete now has been poured for the Icon Skybox, which will sit 820 feet from home plate at Petco Park and atop the tallest residential tower at Icon, a 327-unit, four-building, multistory housing project in the Ballpark District. About 30 people can sit in the box, which is available only to residents and their guests.

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Three openly gay members of Mayor Sanders’ staff will take the podium at the LGBT Community Coalition Breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m. on Oct. 20 at The Center, 3909 Centre St. Speakers will include Fred Sainz, press secretary; Jeff Gattas, director of council affairs; and George Biagi, deputy press secretary. Sean Wherley, The Center spokesman, says the staff members will describe how their sexual orientation impacts their work and the work of the mayor. A full breakfast is available for $10. Coffee and tea are complimentary.

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Paternity testing is one of the services David and Beverly Winters expect will be popular from their new DNA Services Of America franchise in El Cajon. With 35.7 percent of U.S. births out of wedlock, the company says all states now require hospital personnel to counsel unmarried parents on a document usually referred to as an acknowledgment of paternity. “Our passion is to help people find answers to their identification questions as quickly as possible,” says David Winters.

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Rob Weinberg’s Market-Building Team has been tapped as the preferred marketing agency for the San Diego Multi-Housing Corp. and the San Diego County Apartment Association’s 2,700 rental property owners, management companies and industry suppliers.

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Set to open late next month in the Gaslamp Quarter is The Witherby, a 7,400- square-foot event loft in the historic I.O.O.F. building on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Market Street and above the Side Bar. It is the latest offering from EnDev LLC, a partnership of James Brennan, Demien Farrell and Mitch Compton. The space will aim high end. “I’ve always wanted to open a space like The Witherby - a throwback to the days of pomp and circumstance when luxury was the standard in entertaining, no matter what the occasion,” says Brennan. “I remember visiting The Plaza in New York for my senior prom and love the idea of combining that kind of architectural elegance with something urban and new.” The venue is named after Oliver S. Witherby, San Diego’s first lawyer and state district judge.

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Fred Kent and Kathy Madden of Project for Public Spaces will speak on “34 Great Waterfronts Of The World” during an Oct. 12 breakfast meeting presented by Partners for Livable Places and the Harborfront Coalition. Cost to attend the 7:30-9:30 a.m. session at the University Club is $30. The breakfast will include brief updates on the Old Police Headquarters, Navy Broadway Complex and North Embarcadero Visionary Plan. E-mail sdinfo@livablesandiego.org for reservations.

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Sarbanes-Oxley? Electronic discovery? Board-authorized private investigation of officers? Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, Wal-Mart and Google are among the in-house counsel presenting such hot topics at the Association of Corporate Counsel annual meeting Oct. 23–25 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. More than 2,000 are expected to attend. Details are at acca.com.

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Last year, residents at the 218-unit Horizons Marina District at 555 Front St. and 510 First Ave. recycled more than 20 tons of recyclables — plastic, cans, glass, cardboard and newspapers — saving about $8,300 in disposal costs. That effort earned the high-rise the “Recycler of the Year Award from Councilwoman Donna Frye. The award was presented at the city’s 2006 Waste Reduction & Diversion Awards Program. Elmer Heap Jr., director of the city’s Environmental Services Department, says about 500,000 tons of commercial business waste is buried in the Miramar landfill each year that could have been recycled. Urban Property Services Inc., founded in 2004 by Rebecca Kim and Patrick Willette, is property manager for Horizons.

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Approval for this dramatic pedestrian bridge across Harbor Drive from just north of the Convention Center to outside Petco Park has been granted by the PUC. Construction should start next year and finish in 2008. The self-anchored suspension bridge design features a 500 foot curved span, stainless steel wrapped suspension cable railing, a two-car glass elevator tower, landscaped plazas and public art.

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Brinks Services and Curaflo of San Diego have landed a challenging $50,000 contract at Tri-City Medical Park. Working from 4 p.m. to midnight, Bill Brinks’ firm is installing epoxy linings to solve plumbing problems in six buildings that are home to 18 medical suites with up to 16 water connections per suite. In the past, Brinks says, the slab would have been jack-hammered, walls cut open and old pipe removed and replaced.

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The Gemological Institute of America holds its free annual jewelry career fair and open house from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 27 at the institute’s Carlsbad headquarters. Representatives from Tiffany & Co., Zale Corp., Ben Bridge Jewelers and Jewelers of America will participate. Speakers include Phil Blair of Manpower. For more, visit careerfair.gia.edu or call (800) 421-7250.

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The Grossmont College Foundation marks the East County community college’s 45th year with its annual dinner gala beginning at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at Barona Valley Ranch Resort. San Diego funnyman Dat Phan presides. Former Griffin, Aztec and Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Sipe and the late musician and critic Bernard “Buddy Blue” Seigal are the Grossmont alumni being added to the Walk of Fame in the campus quad. Tickets are $200. Visit grossmont.edu/foundation or call (619) 644-7109.

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Francis Parker School’s Linda Vista campus opened last month with 29 new classrooms and eight science labs for its high school students. The architectural firm of Lake/Flato of San Antonio, selected in a juried competition, created a series of outdoor rooms, structures and transition spaces. Project architect Greg Papay says, “Classroom walls slide into pockets, opening directly to the outdoors, while the rooms are bathed in filtered natural light and are naturally aspirated... increasing the students’ abilities to engage and learn.” The new buildings outperform state Title 24 energy targets by 32 percent. The campus will open from 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 15 for visitors with reservations to Lara Falkowski at lfalkowski@francisparker.org.

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The San Diego Opera Ensemble will bring a school full of young people their first opera experience in a special concert Oct. 11 at the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee Community Charter School in Chula Vista.

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Jung-Ho Pak, the newly appointed conductor of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, is conducting a new radio program as well on XLNC1 90.7-FM — “The Tasting Room with Jung-Ho Pak” — a fresh approach to classical music. The San Diego station produces and airs the hour-long program at 10 a.m. the fourth Sunday of the month (Oct. 22). It repeats at 2 p.m. the following Thursday and a week later at 10 p.m. Wednesday.

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The management tables turn on Oct. 18 at Loews Coronado Bay Resort when the company hosts Now Who’s Boss Day. Executives at all 17 Loews hotels across the country will spend their day doing line level jobs – everything from housekeeping to dishwashing. Here are some of the assignments for San Diego execs: Kathleen Cochran, g.m., housekeeper; Barbara Vale, human resources, steward (dishes); Ellen Van Slyke, food and beverage, laundry attendant; Elizabeth Edmonds, controller, guest desk clerk; Debi Besmer, marketing, line cook; Kristian Champion, spa, busperson; John Price, assistant executive manager, storeroom attendant; Bob Hutton, security, engineer; Brian Manning, engineering, spa attendant; Jill Bricnet, conference management, concierge; and Lety Pirronello, revenue management, housekeeper.

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CCDC will open bids Oct. 10 from general contractors interested in building Tweet Street Park on Cortez Hill where the hill hugs I-5. The 1,800-foot-long parcel is a remnant of Balboa Park, which once extended to the Cortez area before construction of the freeway. The park will have an aviary theme with whimsical birdhouses that combine function and art. The birdhouses were designed to attract birds native to San Diego, particularly the Bewick’s wren. The birdhouses will be constructed by artists, designers and architects under the guidance and direction of bird experts.

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As the new owner of the 24-year-old Gold Chiropractic in Mission Valley, Dr. Jason Morrison brings to his practice the skills he learned the last 10 years while working in sports medicine. He knows his stuff, having earned a bachelor’s in sports medicine from Colorado State University and a doctorate from the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. Hardly a one-approach guy, Morrison says he develops different strategies and fitness programs for all his patients to better target physical, biochemical and emotionally derived pain. Patients also can take advantage of four free classes a month. Topics include prevention of neck and back pain, stretching, detoxification and weight loss. “Education is key,” says Morrison. More information is at goldchiropractic.com.

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Women with absolutely no firearms experience will have their hands on the trigger of loaded pistols and rifles Oct. 28 in Dulzura when the National Rifle Association sponsors an instructional shooting clinic for women only from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Bay Rod & Gun Club. All necessary equipment is provided. Cost is $20, with registration required by Oct. 14. Call (619) 504-2066 or e-mail wot.dave@sbcglobal.net.

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The largest croquet tournament this side of the Mississippi is set for Oct. 13-14 in Balboa Park as a fundraiser for Community Options. Sanctioned by the United States Croquet Association, the event will include 24 pro-am teams, 81 all-comer teams and 27 kids teams. Community Options provides employment and independent living services each year to 1,600 people with disabilities and economically-disadvantaged seniors. More information is at communityoptions.org.

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The Shops at San Miguel Ranch, a 10-acre, 103,000-square-foot neighborhood commercial center halfway through construction at Proctor Valley and San Miguel roads, will be anchored by a 52,000-square-foot Albertsons, to open in April 2007. Center leases already signed include USA Federal Credit Union, FirstBank, Starbucks, Carvel Ice Cream and others. Leasing agents are Rob Ippolito and Nick Alford of Burnham Retail Advisors. The Mediterranean-style center is designed by Benson & Bohl. McMillin Commercial is the developer.