The former chief fundraiser for the San Diego Imperial County Chapter of the American Red Cross has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit that accuses the chapter’s CEO of unlawful and unethical conduct.

Former Chief Development Officer Joy Chesbrough says CEO William Earley shared confidential donor information with outside companies, including organizations with whom Earley had a special interest -- a violation of Red Cross policy, according to Chesbrough.

Red Cross Communications Director Courtney Pendleton provided a written statement to NBC 7 investigates:

"We are aware of the claims by Ms. Chesbrough. Her allegations are untrue. The Red Cross cannot perform its mission without the generosity of our donors and their personal information is not shared.

"The case with Ms. Chesbrough is in litigation and we cannot comment on the matter until it is fully resolved. With respect to Ms. Chesbrough’s departure, like many organizations the Red Cross considers personnel matters private and we do not comment on the reasons why someone has left the organization."

Chesbrough was employed as the CDO with the Red Cross from July 11, 2014, until January 5, 2015, according to the 29-page complaint, which was filed on April 17.

In her lawsuit, Chesbrough claims she took the job after being assured the Red Cross was financially sound, only to find out the organization was $600,000 in debt.

She says “she had stepped into an organization with poor management, dysfunction, and practices that reasonably appeared to be unlawful and were outright unethical in violation of the Red Cross’ private policy."

According to Chesbrough, she was wrongfully terminated for refusing to be a part of Early’s "improper, unlawful, and unethical attempts.. to disclose confidential donor information for his own personal benefit.”

She alleges other serious ethical violations and mismanagement, claiming at one point there were “over months of mail (about 400-800 envelopes) containing substantial donations from the community (that) had not been picked up."

She also makes allegations about a dysfunctional phone system, "routing donors to voicemails of personnel who no longer worked for the Red Cross, like a former employee who was deceased."

Chesbrough directed all questions from NBC 7 Investigates to her attorney, who has not provided a response or comment.

If the two sides can't settle the case, there could be a trial some time next summer.

Jeb Bush called his fellow Republican presidential contender Donald Trump's candidacy a "phenomenon," and said the business man has "appealed to people's anger."

"I was surprised that Donald Trump has surged. I think he's captured the deep frustration that people feel," Bush told NBC News' Lester Holt in an exclusive interview on Friday.

Despite Trump's campaign being controversial from the start—when he accused Mexico of sending its rapists and murderers to the U.S. during his kick-off annoucement—he has a large lead over the other GOP candidates, a Quinnipiac poll showed Thursday. 

Following the death of an elderly white rhino at the Dvůr Králové zoo in the Czech Republic, Nola, a northern white rhinoceros being treated at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, is now one fourth of the world’s northern white rhino population. It is now unsurprisingly the most endangered species in the world.

The Safari Park is using science to fight the rhino’s extinction. The Frozen Zoo, in collaboration with the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, is a genetic project to help save endangered species. The zoo has viable stem cells taken from twelve white rhinos to restore genetic variation. The rhino stem cells, first saved in 1979, can be used to reproduce any tissue in the rhino’s body, the zoo says. 

Through advancements in genetic research, the Safari Park hopes to use whole genome sequencing to learn about genetic diversity in the white rhino and hopefully one day repopulate the species.

“Multiple steps must be accomplished to reach the goal of establishing a viable population that can be reintroduced into the species range in Africa, where it is now extinct,” said Oliver Ryder Ph.D., Director of Genetics for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research in a release. “A first step involves sequencing the genomes of northern white rhinos to clarify the extent of genetic divergence from their closest relative, the southern white rhino.”

Poaching has brought the rhino to this desperate place. In Asia it has been widely hunted for its horns, which are believed to cure certain illnesses.

The zoo began collecting skin samples from endangered animals in 1972. When the Frozen Zoo started, genetic science was not advanced enough to make use of the genetic samples, but with the developments in today’s genomic research, scientists are much closer to breeding rhinos artificially.

The Frozen Zoo has samples from 8400 animals, representing over 800 species. The animals include Gobi bears, pandas, mountain gorillas, condors and the California gray whale.

“The reproductive system of rhinos is very complex and there is still so much we do not know,” said Barbara Durrant Ph.D, reproductive physiologist at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research in a release. “We will meet the challenge to save this beautiful animal by combining recent advances in genetic and reproductive technology with our expertise in animal care and welfare.”

Sudan, a 42-year-old rhino, is the only living male known in the world. Sudan lives in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, under 24-hour armed guard. In an effort of discourage poachers, the conservancy has cut off Sudan’s horn.

Those who want to help can click here to donate to help build a Rhino Care Center at the Safari Park.

A Georgia sheriff is hoping drug dealing "cutthroat" rivalries lead to arrests, NBC News reported.

"They are cutthroats and they will turn on each other all the time," Country Sheriff Stephen Jessup said Friday.

In a local ad put out by Jessup, it touts a "free service" to remove competition from drug dealing.

"Is your drug dealing competition costing you money?" the advertisement reads. "We off a FREE service to help you eliminate your drug competition!"

While no dealers have turned in any rivals yet, Jessup hopes this puts a dent in the small town's large drug problem: the 12,000 population garnered around 600 drug related arrests last year.  

An overpass above southbound State Route 163 that was struck by a semi-truck will need substantial repairs, which will require long-term lane closures, Caltrans confirmed.

On Thursday, around 7:15 a.m., a flatbed semi-truck carrying a backhoe construction machine crashed into the bottom of a bridge overpass on SR-163 at Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

Concrete debris fell from the overpass into at least one freeway lane below and officials shut down traffic on the right lane of SR-163 and the left lane of westbound Clairemont Mesa Boulevard during the morning commute.

Caltrans structural engineers were then called out to inspect the bridge for safety and assess the damage.

Caltrans said engineers found the overpass had sustained damage to a pair of concrete girders on its northwest quadrant, which will now require repairs.

Caltrans District 11 Director Laurie Berman said this process will come with some closures and impact to local traffic.

“Lane closures on both the overcrossing and freeway will be needed to make the necessary repairs,” Berman said. “We are expecting delays on both the freeway and city streets through the area during peak commute hours, so motorists should seek alternate routes for the next few weeks.”

Meanwhile, Berman assured the remaining open lanes of the overpass and freeway are safe.

Caltrans said the repair work will begin as soon as possible. The cost of repairs is undetermined at this time.

No one was injured in the accident.
 

An heirloom of a baseball player that is over 150 years old was sold at an auction in Chicago Thursday. 

The baseball card was passed down in the family for generations, until being sold for $179,250, according to NBC News. The Brooklyn Atlantics card was from roughly 1860. It was sold at a sports collector's auction.

The card had remained in the family of Archibald McMahon, an outfielder for the Atlantic Baseball Club of Brooklyn. The team was one of the first of baseball's first organized league. 

Among other things sold at the auction included shoes worn by Muhammad Ali and a Yankees jersey worn by Mickey Mantle. 

While the U.S. has been hit hard with high temperatures, it pales in comparison to Baghdad, Iraq.

The city is the hottest city in the world, climbing temperatures upward of 120 degrees Friday, according to NBC News. The city felt closer to 159 degrees. 

And Iraqis don't have air conditioning to cool off. Citizens have said they have to go sometimes up to six hours without electricity due to power shortages. 

Update: A spokesman for the company, Josh McColough, said the recall was issued on May 1 and is no longer in effect. 

"All packages related to this recall have been recovered," McColough said. "This was a re-release of an old recall that is no longer in effect."

Sanfilippo & Sons, Inc., announced a voluntary recall on May 1 of Fisher brand chopped walnuts packaged in 10 ounce plastic bags over concern they may be tainted with salmonella.

The voluntary recall is the result of a routine sampling program where the Food and Drug Administration found salmonella in one of the 10 ounce bags. All affected bags have since been recovered, according to a company spokesman. 

The nuts were sold nationwide and in Puerto Rico. Consumers who have purchased the nuts with "Best By" dates of Mar. 3, 2016 were asked to return them to the store for a full refund.

Salmonella, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sickens 1 million every year in the United States. Of those 1 million, 19,000 require hospitalization and 380 are killed.

"Most persons infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.The illness usually lasts four to seven days and most people recover without treatment. However, in some, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized," the CDC reports.

Consumers or customers who have questions about the above recall may contact John B. Sanfilippo and Son, Inc. customer service toll-free at 800-874-8734 Monday through Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. CT

Police activity has shut down both sides of the Coronado Bridge Friday afternoon, California Highway Patrol officials confirmed.

The closure started just before 2 p.m., west of the bridge's center.

The activity was cleared about 30 minutes later, and CHP is working on reopening traffic. 

There are MLB expert analysts who thought this week would turn the Padres into ancient Rome: All trade roads would lead to San Diego. Given the off-season spree that General Manager A.J. Preller went on, that thinking was certainly not unfounded.

But all the speculation fizzled in to a giant "meh." The Major League Baseball trade deadline passes at 1 p.m. Pacific time on Friday and, despite having multiple pieces to deal, the only move Preller pulled the trigger on was sending reserve outfielder Abraham Almonte to the Indians for left-handed relief pitcher Marc Rzepczynski, who has a lot of strikeouts in a small sample size this season.

At times over the last seven days, the Friars were rumored to be in talks to trade OF Justin Upton, RHP Craig Kimbrel, RHP Tyson Ross, RHP James Shields, RHP Andrew Cashner, RHP Joaquin Benoit, RHP Ian Kennedy, 2B Jedd Gyorko and OF Will Venable. The only guy on that list to leave the team is Kennedy, but that's so he can be with his wife as she delivers their fourth child. On a related note, Odrisamer Despaigne will make Kennedy's scheduled start on Friday night in Miami.

Of course, the lack of a blockbuster deal does not mean the Padres will not make a deal. They have the month of August to swing a waiver-wire deal, which is more complicated but not at all uncommon.

So, for the time-being at least, the Padres are who the Padres are. Perhaps Preller has seen enough during their recent hot streak (10 wins in 14 games) to think the season is not lost and they can make up the 7.5 games between themselves and a Wild Card spot. Or maybe he just did not think any of the offers made would get enough of a return on his investments.

Whatever the reasoning, the rookie GM is once again the talk of baseball. This time, though, it's for what he did NOT do instead of what he did.

San Diego police were called to the Mid-City region Friday after receiving reports of shots fired in the area.

The investigation began around 1:30 p.m. at a shopping center in the 5900 block of University Avenue near University Square, the San Diego Police Department said.

Police say three men were in a black Lexus heading east on University Avenue. Just then, two men in a sedan pulled up and started firing a gun at the Lexus.

The vehicle was hit at least five times by the gunfire, police said. A passenger in the back seat suffered a graze wound to the shoulder.

An employee at one of the shops in the area told NBC 7 he saw three police cars in the parking lot, as well as police questioning shoppers, asking them if they has seen or heard anything.

The SDPD's gang unit is investigating the incident.

National Heatstroke Prevention Day, Friday, reminds parents what a danger hot weather can be for kids.

Eleven children across the county have already died this year after being left in hot cars. Over 600 children have died since 1998, according to the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose University.

On a hot day, a car acts like a greenhouse, rising 20 degrees in just 10 minutes. The temperature can rise 10 degrees each 10 minutes after that . Children are much more susceptible and less tolerant of heat than adults. A child’s body temperature rises five times faster than an adult, and can prove fatal at a 107-degree body temperature.

“Heat stroke deaths have been recorded in 11 months of the year. We have to remain vigilant about this every single month,” Kate Carr President and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide told NBC at a Baltimore event to raise awareness about hot car deaths.

Southern California has had its share of hot car related deaths.

A Pomona girl died after being left in the family van over Father’s day weekend last June. The family had returned to the house after running errands, and went to take a nap; each thinking another had brought the girl inside.

The family eventually found the girl unconscious in the car, and attempted unsuccessfully to resuscitate her before police arrive. Kiara Li never regained consciousness and later died at the hospital. The case was ruled a tragic accident.

A couple in El Cajon was arrested in August 2013 after leaving their 4-month-old baby in their car overnight. The mother was convicted of child endangerment last month.

The NHTSA also unveiled a new technical report Friday to help manufacturers innovate technology that would help prevent more deaths.
 

 Still hoping for the day airlines let all customers check bags and make reservation changes for free?

Forget it, said United Continental Holdings Inc.'s Chief Executive Jeff Smisek at an industry lunch on Thursday, defending airlines even as they reap billions in profit and face federal probes into pricing practices.

Some travelers are "having difficulty recognizing that we're now a business," Smisek told attendees, recalling the bankruptcies and mergers that reshaped the loss-making industry in the decade after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "They criticize us if we charge for more legroom. Let me tell you though: That's what businesses do."

Dozens of emails that traversed Hillary Clinton's private, unsecured home server contain national security information now deemed too sensitive to make public, according to the latest batch of records released Friday.

In 2,206 pages of emails, the government censored passages to protect national security at least 64 times in 37 messages, including instances when the same information was blacked-out multiple times. Clinton has said she never sent classified information from her private email server, which The Associated Press was first to identify as operating in her home in New York.

The Friday release brings the volume of emails publicly released by the State Department to roughly 12 percent of the 55,000 pages Clinton had turned over to department lawyers earlier this year. That falls short of the 15 percent goal set by a court ruling in May, a lag the State Department attributed to interest by the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community in the possible compromise of classified information.

There were no obviously stunning revelations in the emails released Friday, which reflected the workaday business of government. Some of the documents could reflect favorably on Clinton, such as a message in August 2009 about a 10-year-old old Yemeni girl who had been married and divorced, and had been portrayed as unhappy in a CNN story.

"Is there any way we can help her? Could we get her to the US for counselling and education?" Clinton asked an aide, who began making calls.

Others could be controversial, such as 2009 messages from former national security adviser Sandy Berger about how to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over negotiations with Palestinians.

Some emails show the extent to which her closest aides managed the details of her image. Top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, for example, sent her an early-morning message in August 2009 advising her to "wear a dark color today. Maybe the new dark green suit. Or blue." Clinton later held a joint news conference with the Jordanian foreign minister. She wore the green suit.

Clinton's decision not to use a State Department email account has become a political problem for her, as Republicans seize on the disclosures to paint her as untrustworthy and willing to break rules for personal gain.

There is also the matter of the classified information that found its way onto her insecure email system.

Memos sent by the inspector general of the intelligence community alerted the FBI to a potential security violation arising from Clinton's use of a private server located in her home.

The inspector general said his office has found four emails containing classified information while reviewing a limited sample of 40 of the emails provided by Clinton. Those four messages were not marked as classified but should have been handled as such because they contained classified information at the time they were sent, the inspector general said.

Clinton has repeatedly defended her email usage, saying her private server had "numerous safeguards" and placing responsibility for releasing the documents on the State Department.

"They're the ones that are bearing the responsibility to sort through these thousands and thousands of emails and determine at what pace they can be released," she said after meeting with labor leaders Thursday in Maryland. "I really hope that it will be as quickly as possible."

Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said they were concerned that Clinton's attorney, David Kendall, apparently holds thousands of Clinton's emails — including some that may contain classified information — on a thumb drive at his Washington office.

Grassley wrote a letter to FBI Director James Comey asking him to explain what the FBI is doing to ensure that classified information contained on Kendall's thumb drive is secured and not further disseminated.

Among Clinton's exchanges now censored as classified by the State Department was a brief exchange in October 2009 between her and Jeffrey D. Feltman, then Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. Clinton emailed Feltman about an "Egyptian proposal" for separate signings of a reconciliation deal with Hamas after the militant organization balked at attending a unity ceremony. Both Clinton's email and Feltman's response are marked B-1 for "classified" and completely censored from the email release.

A longer email sent the same day from Clinton to former Sen. George Mitchell, then the special envoy for Middle East Peace, is also censored as classified despite the fact that Clinton did not send the original message on a secure channel. Mitchell later responded to Clinton that "the Egyptian document has been received and is being translated."

Other now-secret material involved a battle over whom to appoint as the head of the United Nations cultural agency.

The September 2009 issue was over the candidacy of an Egyptian official who had once threatened to burn Israeli books. Abedin on Sept. 22 forwarded to the Secretary of State a chain of emails from department staff summing up the maneuvering over the issue. One sentence in that chain was released redacted, with a code for national security interests as the stated reason.

Previous emails released by the agency revealed that Clinton received information on her private account about the deadly 2012 attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, that was retroactively classified as "secret" at the request of the FBI.

The emails released Friday raised new questions about Clinton's stated reason for routing all her work-related emails through a private server. On several occasions, Clinton received messages not only at her home email server — hdr22@clintonemail.com — but also on a BlackBerry email account through her cellphone provider.

In March, a Clinton spokesman said the only reason Clinton had her own account is because she "wanted the simplicity of using one device" and "opted to use her personal email account as a matter of convenience."

There was no indication from emails released so far that Clinton's home computer system used encryption software that would have protected her communications from the prying eyes of foreign spies, hackers or any other interested parties on the Internet.

Current and former intelligence officials have said they assume the emails were intercepted by foreign intelligence services.

Earlier this year, a district court judge mandated that the agency release batches of Clinton's private correspondence from her time as secretary of state every 30 days starting June 30.

The regular releases of Clinton's correspondence all but guarantee a slow drip of revelations from the emails throughout the Democratic presidential primary campaign, complicating her efforts to put the issue to rest. The goal is for the department to publicly unveil all 55,000 pages of her emails by Jan. 29, 2016 — just three days before Iowa caucus-goers cast the first votes in the Democratic primary contest.

Police and fire crews were called to the San Diego Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) Friday to investigate a suspicious package discovered in the mail room that turned out to be sesame oil, officials said.

By 10:10 a.m., bomb squad officials were preparing to enter the mail room and inspect the package at the facility located at 4181 Ruffin Rd. in Kearny Mesa, about 10 miles from downtown San Diego.

No evacuations had been ordered, officials said.

By 12:20 p.m., officials confirmed the suspicious item was sesame oil, and there was no danger. Investigators began clearing the scene.

The San Diego MEPS facility processes individuals for enlistment or induction into the armed services and determines an applicant qualifies for enlistment based on aptitude, physical qualifications and a background evaluation screening.

The Department of Defense commissioned the San Diego MEPS facility as its own separate command on Oct. 1, 1979. The facility has been housed in different locations over the decades, including downtown San Diego, until it moved to its current location on Ruffin Road in August 1997.

The military's most costly weapons system and latest stealth fighter jet, the F-35B is combat-ready,  officials announced Friday.

F-35B Lightning II aircraft landed in San Diego at MCAS Miramar on Wednesday.

“There's no other airplane in the world that I would want to be in especially if I had to go to combat than this airplane right here - bar none,” said pilot Lt. Col. Chad Vaughn.

Ten jets are ready for world-wide deployment and a Yuma-based U.S. Marines air squadron is the first to become operational, the Commandant of the Marine Corps announced Friday.

"The F-35B's ability to conduct operations from expeditionary airstrips or sea-based carriers provides our Nation with its first 5th generation strike fighter, which will transform the way we fight and win," Gen. Joseph Dunford said in a written release.

Lt. Col. Vaughn is one of 50 pilots trained to handle the aircraft that can hit speeds of 900 to 1,000 miles per hour.

While the jet is stealth, Vaughn says its sensor capability can identify short and long range threats and ability to pass on that information on that sets it apart.

Critics have cited cost overruns for the $391 billion weapons program and the repeated delays

Marine pilots say the delays have allowed them to work closely with Lockheed Martin making changes to complicated software, essential so that the planes are operating safely and effectively from the start.

The aircraft was cleared following a five-day Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI), which concluded July 17. It’s also undergone testing for seven weeks at sea aboard an L-Class carrier.

The jets are expected to replace the AV-8B Harrier, the F/A-18 Hornet and the EA-6B Prowler.
 

A SWAT team arrested a suspected shooter who refused to come out of his Chula Vista condo after witnesses say he shot at a building, police say.

The incident started at 4:02 p.m., when officers got a report that a man was shooting into a home in the 1500 block of Oleander Avenue. Witnesses told officials that the shooter had an AR-15 type of weapon.

"I was sitting in the front yard, and a bunch of gunshots went off. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, really loud," said Suzi Schutzman, who lives about five doors down. No one inside the home was injured, according to Chula Vista Police Capt. Vern Sallee.

The suspect then returned to his condo in the 1500 block of Brandywine Avenue, which sits near Olympic Parkway.

Officers shut down eastbound Olympic Parkway at I-805 as they called in a SWAT team and crisis negotiators. 

Family members were in the condo with the suspect, but they left before police arrived. They later told officers the man was suicidal, alone in the home with a rifle and pistol, Sallee said.

A negotiator was able to get the man on the phone, and after a half an hour, the negotiator talked the suspect into surrendering.

At 6:20 p.m., he was taken into custody, but officials are concerned there may be others inside the condo.

Schutzman told NBC 7 she rushed over to the damaged house to see if anyone was injured. She saw a woman badly shaken up.

"The windows were shot, the upstairs of the house was shot. Big holes, big holes, and then bullet casings all over their driveway," said Schutzman.

She was relieved to find no one hurt.

Another neighbor who spoke to those inside the home said the victim knows the alleged shooter and considers him a friend.

A motive for the shooting has not been released.

California Highway Patrol officers have closed two lanes of westbound Interstate 8 through El Cajon because of a hole in the road.

The hole, described as four feet by three feet, appears to be degraded concrete.

Caltrans workers say water may have gotten underneath a temporary patch placed to repair a hole and the pressure from cars caused it to crumble. A permanent repair was planned to take place in the next couple weeks.

Crews were called out to patch the hole. The far two right lanes of I-8 from Johnson to Main are being blocked off and may be closed for four hours. Crews hope to have work finished by the start of the evening commute.

The concrete didn't land on any cars on the street below the bridge.

Dr. Walter James Palmer, the American dentist who sparked outrage after killing Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, has reached out to U.S. authorities, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials said Friday.

A representative for Palmer "voluntarily" reached out to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement on Thursday, the service said in a statement. 

On Thursday, officials had said efforts to contact Palmer had been unsuccessful and urged him on Twitter to get in touch.

Palmer has not been charged with a crime and has said he trusted his local guides to obtain necessary wildlife hunting permits. 

In Zimbabwe, the illegal killing of a lion is punishable by a fine of $20,000 and up to a decade behind bars, and Zimbabwe's environment, water and climate minister said Friday that officials would appeal for the extradition of Palmer, who has since returned to the U.S.

Syrian rebels, recently trained by the U.S. military, came under heavy fire Friday in northern Syria and for the first time called in U.S. airstrikes to repel the enemy.

U.S. military officials tell NBC News the Free Syrian forces were attacked Friday morning by about 50 al Nusra fighters. Under siege, the Syrian moderates issued a desperate plea to the U.S. military.

American warplanes quickly responded, launching airstrikes driving away the enemy forces. U.S. officials would not provide the number of U.S.-trained Syrian rebels or the location of today's attack.