A plane was forced to make an emergency landing on state Route 125 in San Diego on Friday morning, according to officials.

The incident happened just after 11 a.m. near Otay Mesa Road in South Bay, just north of Otay River Bridge.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration said the single-engine plane Cessna 150 lost power, which is why it landed on SR-125. The plane was flying from Ensenada to Brown Field.

There was one pilot on board and no injures have been reported. Emergency crews are at the scene.

Check back for updates on this story.

A graphic video that appears to show a man cursing at animal rights activists then fatally shooting a horse has sparked outrage and investigations, according to reports. 

The man in the YouTube video is said to be a former employee of a Roswell area-based meat company that is trying to open the first U.S. horse meat slaughterhouse since 2007.

Valley Meat Co. said in a statement to the Albuquerque Journal that it fired worker Tim Sappington after becoming aware of his appearance in the video. A lawyer for the firm told the Journal the video was posted a year ago, but it is now being touted by the Horse Plus Humane Society.

In the 51-second YouTube video, a man is shown leading a horse out on a dirt road.

“All you animal activists, [expletive] you,” he says before firing one shot at the horse’s forehead.

Warning: The YouTube video linked to here is extremely graphic.

The apparent shooting is being investigated by New Mexico’s Livestock Board as a possible act of animal cruelty, according to the Journal.

While Sappington has so far not commented on the video, Valley Meat’s statement to the Journal said he euthanized the horse “as was his legal right for his own consumption.”

KOB-TV reported that the FBI is now involved since Sappington and others connected to the plant have received death threats.

“I didn’t have anything to do with that video, that’s the honest truth, but like I said, people will make assumptions,” Valley Meat part-owner Rick De Los Santos told KOB.

The video has surfaced as Valley Meat is poised to begin slaughtering horses for meat despite opposition from animal activists.

Last year Congress decided not to extend a ban on USDA horse meat inspections, which had kept the meat from being produced in the U.S. for human consumption.

Valley Meat attorney A. Blair Dunn told Bloomberg News earlier this week that it could begin horse slaughtering in the next three weeks. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack did not confirm the timetable.

“We’re very close to getting the work done that’s needed to be done to allow them to operate,” Bloomberg quoted Vilsack as saying.

Chula Vista police have arrested two members of a local motorcycle gang for allegedly assaulting victims with knives during an altercation last month.

According to police, suspects Sadoc Sanchez, 53, and Lance Simpson, 46, were taken into custody Thursday after officers served a search warrant in the 200 block of Elm Avenue. The San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force assisted in the arrest.

Officers arrested the men on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from an altercation they were allegedly involved in during the early part of February.

Police say Sanchez and Simpson – who are currently members of the San Diego chapter of the Mongols motorcycle gang – allegedly used knives to attack some victims. The victims were not injured during the altercation. It is unclear where or why this alleged assault took place.

Police say Sanchez is the secretary and treasurer of the locals Mongols Nation Dago Chapter. According to the Mongols Motorcycle Club website, the San Diego chapter has been active since 1971.

Both Sanchez and Simpson were booked in San Diego Central Jail Wednesday on six charges each, including assault with a deadly weapon and felony participation in a gang.

They’re both scheduled to appear in court Monday.
 

A former chef who killed his wife and cooked her body for four days to dispose of her remains was sentenced on Friday to 15 years to life in prison.

David Robert Viens, 49, was convicted of second-degree murder for the slaying of his wife, Dawn, in 2009.

Before Viens was sent back into custody, the victim's sister, Dayna Papin, urged the court to continue to keep Viens locked up.

"He's going to continue to fight for his freedom, which I hope you don't give to him for a very long time," Papin said.

Viens attended his court proceedings in a wheelchair as a result of injuries suffered when he jumped 80 feet down Inspiration Point in Rancho Palos Verdes on Feb. 23, 2011, after a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy tried to stop his vehicle and Viens' girlfriend tried to stop him from plunging from the oceanfront cliff by grabbing his clothes.

Viens said he argued with his wife and bound her mouth, hands and feet with duct tape because he didn't want her going out driving while intoxicated, prosecutors said.

After he found her dead the next morning, he concocted a plan to cook her remains, prosecutors said.

"I took some, some things like weights that we use and I put them on the top of her body, and I just slowly cooked it and I ended up cooking her for four days," Viens said, according to audio released in court from an interview with deputies.

He jumped off a cliff in a botched suicide after being confronted by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies.

Defense attorneys argued that Viens did not intend to kill his wife.

Dawn Viens was reported missing by friends and family members three weeks after she was last seen at the couple’s Lomita restaurant, the Thyme Contemporary Café, in October 2009.

A 15-year-old boy with a passion for sports and an infectious smile became the first person with Down syndrome to stand at the base camp of Mount Everest, and he’s returning to Southern California Friday night to what promises to be a jubilant welcome.

Elisha "Eli" Reimer is scheduled to land at Los Angeles International Airport Friday night after making the 70-mile trek, which was more than a goal – it’s what Eli’s father calls the family’s mission.

Bundled up against the frigid temperatures, Eli, his father and six others made the journey to benefit the Elisha Foundation, based in Oregon.

Named for the high school freshman who made the 17,600-foot climb, the Elisha Foundation was started in 2005 as a way to give families of children with disabilities "practical and emotional support" through free retreat programs, fully funded by donations.

The organization also raises awareness and money for orphans with disabilities.

And instead of seeing his son's Down syndrome as a disability, Justin Reimer calls it his "uniqueness." The Elisha Foundation seeks to impart that compassion in communities where Down syndrone causes families to be marginalized.

Dozens of well-wishers are expected to greet Eli and his hiking crew at LAX Friday night with balloons, signs and cheers.

"We will be screaming our heads off to welcome home Team Eli," wrote Kristen Isaacs, with the Eli Foundation.

The trek has generated $85,000 in donations so far. Their goal is $100,000.

Participants held a moment of silence, followed by the sound of 26 bell tolls, before kicking off the run in Hartford Saturday morning. Nearly 15,000 people participated in the 5k that raised money for the Sandy Hook School Support Fund.

Today, they are going to surround that town of Sandy Hook with love and support," said Beth Shluger, director of the Hartford Marathon Foundation .

Event organizers expect to raise more than $400,000. The money will go to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund.

Social media sites were buzzing about a bright streak of light spotted over the East Coast Friday evening. Meteorologists have confirmed that the flash was in fact a meteor.

Multiple reports began coming in around 8 p.m. People spotted the streak of light in both Maryland and Virginia -- and as far north as New York and Maine. Many said it appeared to be blue or green.

"Judging from the brightness, we're dealing with something as bright as the full moon," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environmental Office said, NBC 4 New York reported. "The thing is probably a yard across. We basically have (had) a boulder enter the atmosphere over the northeast."

The meteor was traveling about 10 miles per second, much faster than even a speeding bullet.

While meteors are not rare and come through the Earth's atmosphere every day, this meteor was larger than usual, which is what made it much easier to see, NBC Washington meteorologist Doug Kammerer said. That's why it had such a dramatic light.

"We got more than 400 reports in less than an hour, which is unheard of," Mike Hankey, an amateur astronomer and Operations Manager at the American Meteor Society, told Philadelphia's NBC10.

• WATCH VIDEO: Friday Night Meteor FAQ

On Twitter, @MisterNeek said, "[I] definitely witnessed what appeared to be a shooting star around 8 o clock, which then burst into a beaming red/green glow."

Karen Watson said on Twitter: "Yes, yes! Saw the meteor -- bright green -- in the sky over Kingstowne (Alexandria), Va."

"I live in the Croom area of Upper Marlboro and at approximately 7:55 this evening, I saw a rather large bright blue ball with what looked like a bright orange tail go soaring past our house.... It appeared to be just over the treetops,"  Jennifer Stymiest said.

Thomas Birchall said, "Meteor spotted streaking across the sky in Germantown, Md. It was greenish blue in color and could be seen disintegrating in the Gaithersburg direction."

The sighting comes five weeks after a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, injuring nearly 1,500 people and blowing out windows across the region.

Also in February, meteors were reported over the Bay Area and in Florida.

While it may seem like there's been an uptick in meteor sightings lately, Kammerer said it's more likely that the growth of social media has made reports of them more widely known.

A San Diego judge finalized his ruling Friday in the ongoing battle between the Tourism Marketing District (TMD) and the mayor’s office, ruling in favor of Mayor Bob Filner.

The basics of the battle go like this: hoteliers say they have the right to money raised through a special tax levied on lodging guests put in to place to promote San Diego as a tourist destination.

Filner, however, has refused to sign a contract releasing the funds without concessions that hotel owners have rejected.

In turn, the industry’s Tourism Marketing District  asked a judge to force Filner to release millions of dollars in room surcharges that it needs to bankroll promotional campaigns.

Judge Timothy Taylor issued a tentative ruling Thursday, but he says the parties may eventually end-up back in his courtroom.

Next week, the City Council takes up a new resolution to close the loophole the judge cited in ruling for Filner. The resolution, tabled last week, would mandate that Filner sign the document, rather than leave it at the discretion of the mayor. 

If approved, the mayor could veto that resolution, and then the City Council could override the mayor's veto with the approval of six councilmembers.

Attorney Michael Colantuono for the hoteliers said he is very confident that the City Council will approve the resolution, but Filner's attorney disagreed, saying the court should let the political process play out.

Meanwhile, a commercial promoting San Diego as a tourist destination is on hold, until the money is available to buy airtime.

"The damage is already done," said Lorin Stewart, the executive director of the Tourism Marketing District. "I just reviewed the numbers from the Smith and Travel Report and San Diego has one of the lowest average daily rates and one of the lowest occupancies right now."

Colantuono added that several employees have turned in their resignations amid the turmoil, and the others have been issued pink slips. Neither he nor Stewart could provide exact budget data on how much the employee compensation budget totaled at the Tourism Authority, after the resignations.

The $435,000 salary of Tourism Authority CEO Joe Terzi has become a sticking point in the negotiations. Filner has said he doesn't want public money flowing to any marketing group that pays employees more than $160,000 a year.

In Thursday’s tentative ruling, Judge Timothy Taylor denied demands from the TMD to force Filner to sign an agreement to release those millions of dollars.

Judge Taylor ruled that even though the City Council approved the establishment of an agreement with the TMD, it never mandated that the mayor sign a contract with the organization.

“…it is as least arguable that former Mayor Sanders did not consider the Council's action to have placed him under a mandatory duty to sign the contract…He did not do so, and no party has explained why,” Taylor wrote. “The inference is strong that he considered the matter discretionary.”

Based on this, Judge Taylor denied the request to force Mayor Filner to abide by the unsigned agreement. The entire tentative ruling can be read here.

Filner said it was time to go back to the negotiating table.

"I feel vindicated for what I said for the last three months," Filner said. "I didn't want to sign the existing agreement, but I'd be happy to negotiate it ... "

About the hoteliers he added: 

"But they are so use to getting their way, frankly. They have (had) a compliant mayor; they have (had) a compliant City Council. They could not even imagine that someone would question what they were doing." 

Friendship Park at the U.S.-Mexico border will be closing in two weeks because of sequester cuts.

The Border Patrol says they have been forced to downsize their budget, which means they will need to close the park.

The park draws big crowds from the U.S. and Mexico, where people chat through a chain-link fence separating Imperial Beach and Tijuana.

Opponents to the closure say the park is a necessary part of the relationship between the Mexican and American border.

“You see families really typical at Friendship Park,” said James Brown with Friendship Park Coalition. “They have families come from many days bus ride in Mexico and even Central America, to visit relatives in the U.S. and the meeting place is Friendship Park.”

Brown said they have worked with the Border Patrol to keep budget low, only opening park on the weekend for a couple hours a day which only requires one border agent.

Customs and Border Patrol issued the following statement to NBC 7 San Diego:
"The automatic budget reductions must be applied to virtually every program, project, and activity that DHS has and will negatively affect the mission readiness and capabilities of the men and women on our front lines.”

The Friendship Park Coalition plans to meet with Border Patrol in the coming weeks to negotiate keeping the park open and supporters said they have hope their park will stay.

It is expected to officially close on April 6.

View Friendship Park in a larger map

Police are searching for at least three suspects who burglarized a Harley-Davidson retail store in Kearny Mesa early Thursday morning.

According to police, the suspects – who were driving a dark-colored, two-door extended cab, 1980s Ford full-size pickup truck – broke into the shop located at 5600 Kearny Mesa Rd. at around 3:40 a.m.

They ransacked the store, stealing empty cash registers and multiple items of clothing. The group was last seen driving away from the shop in their truck.

On Friday, the San Diego Police Department released images of the suspects’ vehicle that were captured by a surveillance camera at the Harley-Davidson store.

Police are hoping the photos generate more leads and help investigators locate and identify the burglary suspects.

Police are asking anyone with information on this case to call (858) 495-7957 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

Two air traffic control towers in San Diego are slated to close as part of a nationwide shutdown of 149 federal contract towers announced Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The FAA says the 149 towers – which include an air traffic control tower in Ramona and one at Brown Field Municipal Airport in Otay Mesa – will close beginning April 7 as a result of budget cuts from sequestration.

The closures will be made over a four-week period, according to the FAA. For the full list of closures, click here.

“We heard from communities across the country about the importance of their towers and these were very tough decisions,” said Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Unfortunately we are faced with a series of difficult choices that we have to make to reach the required cuts under sequestration.”

“We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of safety at non-towered airports,” added FAA Administrator Michael Huerta on Friday.

The proposal to close dozens of air traffic towers nationwide was first announced in early March. At that time, the FAA proposed the closure of 189 towers as part of a plan to meet the $637 million in cuts required under budget sequestration.

The Ramona tower was included in that proposal because the FAA said it is not considered crucial to national use. The tower was built in 1995 after three people died when two forest service planes collided in the area.

The local airfield serves as “ground zero” during San Diego’s fire season, with Cal Fire using the runway for air tankers that fight wildfires.

Earlier this month, local fire chiefs and county supervisors gathered to voice their concerns over the control tower’s potential closure, arguing that closing it would put public safety at risk and would essentially be an invitation for disaster.

Meanwhile, Brown Field -- which is located 1.5 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border – is considered a busy general aviation airport. According to the City of San Diego’s website, the types of aircrafts that operate at Brown Field include private, corporate, charter, air ambulance, law enforcement, fire rescue, flight training, cargo, skydiving, banner towing, and airships.

The City website says the FAA has classified Brown Field as a reliever airport for San Diego International Airport. Since it opened in 1918, it has also been used extensively by the military.

Friday’s announcement from the FAA did not sit well with San Diego County Supervisor Diane Jacob.

Jacob said the keeping the tower in Ramona open is a matter of public safety, considering it’s the central hub for Cal Fire’s air resources during wildfire season.

Jacob told NBC 7 there are 155,000 general aviation flights out of the Ramona airport, in addition to 400 calls for service directly related to local firefighting efforts.

The FAA’s decision to close certain air traffic towers was based on national interest considerations that included significant threats to national security as determined by the FAA in conjunction with the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security, significant, adverse economic impact beyond the local community and significant impact on multi-state transportation, communication or banking and financial networks.

Additional air traffic control towers that the FAA will close in California include: the Fullerton Municipal Airport tower; the Castle tower in Atwater; the Oxnard tower in Oxnard; the Riverside Municipal Airport tower; the Sacramento Executive tower; the Salinas Municipal Airport tower; the Southern California Logistics tower in Victorville; the Whiteman tower in Los Angeles; and the General William J. Fox Airfield tower in Lancaster.
 

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) crews from San Diego and Sacramento worked together to rescue an ailing cruise ship passenger in need of medical attention earlier this week.

The cruise ship, Zaandam, was traveling approximately 200 miles southwest of San Diego Thursday afternoon when a 71-year-old passenger began experiencing a serious internal medical condition, USCG officials said.

The ship was en route from Hawaii to Ensenada, Mexico, and quickly changed course to reduce its distance to San Diego. The ship’s crew contacted the Coast Guard and asked for an emergency medical evacuation for the passenger.

USCG officials say an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew took off from San Diego to meet the ship. A C-130 Hercules airplane crew from Air Station Sacramento also launched to provide coordination support and communication during the rescue.

The USCG helicopter crew hoisted the ailing woman into the aircraft from the ship and transported her to Sector San Diego. Emergency medical crews then transported her to a local hospital. Her current condition is unknown.
 

Upcoming April deployments have been cancelled for a San Diego-based Navy ship and submarine, the U.S. Pacific Fleet public affairs office confirmed Friday.

According to the Navy, the deployments of USS Rentz out of Naval Base San Diego and submarine USS Jefferson City out of Naval Base Point Loma have been cancelled due to budget cuts imposed by sequestration.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet office says the Secretary of Defense has approved the cancellations.

Additionally, the deployment of San Diego-based guided-missile frigate USS Thach will be cut short, also due to sequester cuts.

The ship left San Diego on Jan. 8 for what was scheduled to be a six-month deployment in Central America, but Navy officials say USS Thach will now return home in April. The 220 sailors aboard USS Thach have been leading anti-smuggling operations targeting drug traffickers in Central America during this time.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet office says the Navy has been preparing to cancel some April deployments since early March.

Each respective chain of command has started notifying impacted sailors, and the U.S. Pacific Fleet says the commands had been previously told to prepare for these cancellations.

“The Secretary of Defense has directed, and U.S. Pacific Fleet is ensuring, that constrained resources are being prioritized to support forces operating forward, and to those being trained to relieve them,” the U.S. Pacific Fleet office said in their announcement.
 

It reminds you of a scene out of "1984" or "Brave New World", a scene where people are wearing small digital cameras on their clothes that take pictures during every part  of their day.   It is a camera that takes pictures without you ever pushing a button.

In reality, this is how a new set of small digital cameras will work that could become very popular in social media circles.  In fact it has a name, "LifeLogging", where people can post pictures or slide shows from their daily life.

"It's basically eliminating the human element of taking pictures," said Scott Peterson withGap Intelligence.  This digital analyst is talking about the cameras created by Memoto and OMG Life that can be worn around your neck or attached to your jacket, pants or purse and will automatically take pictures throughout your day.  The pictures can then be turned into a fast moving slide-show.

"The more we are in tune with Facebook, the more people want to share," said Peterson.  But Digital Media Professor Rebecca Nee from San Diego State University says technology like this should come with a warning label.

"My biggest concern would be young people who see the world of social media as a big playground and don't see the repercussions or consequences," said Rebecca Nee.

But not every young person likes the idea.

College student Taylor De Klerk says it sort of "creeps" her out, adding: "I don't want people recording me when I'm meandering through my daily life." 

But student Kevin Herr says he would give it a try.

"It would be very fun to get a good log of your life and really categorize it," said Herr.

 The Memoto camera is taking pre-orders for $279 dollars and could be on the market by May.

A 14-year-old Santee student was arrested and booked into Juvenile Hall after allegedly threatening to kill a fellow student via text message, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Friday.

According to deputies, the principal of Cajon Park School located in at 10300 N. Magnolia St. called the Santee Sheriff’s Station on Thursday after a female student reported receiving an anonymous, threatening text message that said she would be killed at school.

A second female student also received a text message in reference to the first student’s killing which described a body being hidden somewhere, San Diego County Sheriff's Detective John Whiteman confirmed.

Sheriff’s detectives traced the source of the text threats to a 14-year-old male student at Cajon Park. Detectives took the teenager into custody without incident on Thursday.

Det. Whiteman says the teen did not have access to firearms and there is no indication anyone else was involved in making the threats.

This is the fifth incident in a string of recent threats of violence at local schools since early February.

On Feb. 9, authorities arrested a 12-year-old student who allegedly sent a threatening email to a Twin Peaks Middle School administrator stating he planned to shoot a teacher and 23 fellow students at the school on Feb. 11.

In that incident, numerous rifles and handguns were seized from the boy’s family home, but his parents insisted the pre-teen never had access to the firearms.

Less than two weeks later, school threats were reported at Pershing Middle School and Coronado Middle School.

On Feb. 28, a 14-year-old freshman at Poway High School was arrested after allegedly threatening to bring guns to school and shoot another student.

Officials from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department say these are tense times for schools in San Diego and across the nation.

Officials want to remind students, parents and school employees about the seriousness of making threats. Local officials say they will take action on any types of threats since student safety is top priority.

“It's not something to joke about and there is nothing funny about going to Juvenile Hall,” the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department stated in a release Friday. “Making a threat is a felony.”

"All threats are taken seriously. What we don't want to happen is that one time that we say, ‘You know what, it's a kid being a kid,’ to find out that kid is actually going to take steps,” Det. Whiteman told NBC 7. “We can’t take a chance.”

Local parents say they’re thankful for law enforcement’s swift action on this matter, but the idea of violent threats at their child’s school still leaves some parents feeling uneasy.

“That terrifies me. Terrifies me,” said parent Jae McCabe. “I think it is appropriate for him to be arrested, especially since Andy Williams did the shooting at Santana and he was about the same age.”

Father Doug Shea said law enforcement’s vigilance regarding school threats gives him some peace of mind.

“Knowing that things like that are going to be watched, and that his peers are going to be watched, kind of gives me some sort of security,” Shea told NBC 7.

Mother Tami Ferrari hopes teenagers begin to understand the seriousness associated with making these types of violent threats.

“If they're going to be sending these text messages about things that I don't even think they truly understand the depth of, maybe it's enough to scare them,” she added.

Det. Whiteman says parents also need to be proactive in this day and age – especially when it comes to what they’re children are texting, emailing or browsing for on their cell phones and computers.

“Kids have electronic devices. They have their own passwords. The parents need to get those passwords from the kids to check on them. See what they are doing. Make sure that the kids aren't giving information like this, or sending text messages like this,” he added.

 

There may soon be a way to diagnose a so-called "medically unexplained illness" that affects thousands of veterans of the First Persian Gulf War.

What's known as "Gulf War Illness" affects a quarter of the veterans who served in the first Persian Gulf War, according to the Veteran’s Affairs office.

For both patients and doctors it's frustrating because there’s been no clear way to diagnose it, or treat it.

Kahili Schucht was a Navy medic with the Marines during the first Persian Gulf War. He remembers being exposed to a number of chemicals, and a year and a half later he started noticing unexplained symptoms. 

“I’ve had a lot of things going on.  My hands are hurting , my head hurts, my knees my back, my intestines, so it’s just a combination of a lot of stuff that’s all in one,” said Schucht.

Gulf War Illness has been linked to chemical exposure, but the exact cause is unknown.  Now, new research has found evidence the illness is caused by damage to the brain.     

The study was conducted at Georgetown University using an FMRI machine; a common device available in most hospitals.  Dr. Jennifer Javors is an environmental affairs physician at the San Diego VA Hospital.  She sees this new evidence, as a ray of hope. 

“This is potentially a big step forward to have a way to diagnose the problem for the veterans,” said Javors.

As for Schucht, he hopes it will lead to a more comfortable future for him and others. 

“The hope is maybe finding a cure, or at least finding an answer,” he said. “Because we all know there's something there, but there's not a definitive answer on what it is.”

Javors says while this research is positive, it's still very preliminary because the study only involved a small number of patients.  She also says there's a need for research directed at finding a treatment, but this is a step in the right direction.

A staff member at a local elementary school has contracted meningococcal disease, officials with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) confirmed.

The staff member works at Porter Elementary School in the San Diego Unified School District and was last on campus on Mar. 15.

The HHSA has notified people who may have come in close contact with the individual and told them they should take antibiotics to ward off any possible infection. The infected individual is being treated at a local hospital.

According to the HHSA, meningococcal disease is spread through close contact with the person infected, such as sharing drinking glasses, eating utensils, cigarettes or water bottles.

Symptoms may include fever, intense headache, lethargy, stiff neck and a rash that does not blanch under pressure. The time between exposure and onset of symptoms can be between two to 10 days.

The HHSA says the disease can be treated with antibiotics or vaccination, which is highly recommended for children and teens between 11 and 18 years old.

This case of meningococcal disease at Porter Elementary School is the third of its kind reported in San Diego in 2013. Last year there were eight cases total.

Earlier this week, an unexpected increase in meningitis in Mexico prompted the HHSA to alert officials at San Diego County schools.

Tijuana has reported at least 18 cases of meningococcal disease since Jan. 4 involving patients ranging in age from a baby to 27 years old. There have been six related deaths, an HHSA official told NBC 7.

Last week, health officials reported two meningococcal cases in San Diego. A 39-year-old man died of the disease. A one-year-old child was hospitalized and recovered. The cases were unrelated and it's believed the patients had not traveled to Tijuana.

As the current popular saying goes, it's a good time to be an Aztec.

San Diego State beat Oklahoma 70-55 in the NCAA Tournament round of 64. The Aztecs got 21 points from Jamaal Franklin and 17 off the bench from James Rahon. It was a dominating performance. Just look at the box score.

The Aztecs led the Sooners in almost every statistical category. They shot better from the field, the 3-point line and he free throw line (SDSU only missed one of its 17 foul shots). The Aztecs also had more rebounds, assists and blocks, plus committed fewer fouls.

To be honest, it was somewhat unexpected from a team that lost 5 of 9 games before Friday night.

"Well, it is definitely a bigger stage," said Rahon, who played the best game of his senior season. "I think we all raised our level of play a little bit."

Especially in the second half. The Aztecs' bug-a-boo has been letting games slip away after halftime. This time they outscored the Sooners 39-22 after the break.

"Today our second-half defense was superior to our first-half," said head coach Steve Fisher, "and that's why we won."

This is just the second time San Diego State has advanced in the NCAA Tournament. The other was two years ago, when they lost to eventual National Champion Connecticut.

"We've got veteran players here that are part of the only NCAA Tournament wins we've ever had," said coach Fisher. "So we are hungry to add to it and proud of the fact that we got one tonight."

To reach the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years, the Aztecs will have to go through Florida Gulf Coast. The Eagles, in just their second year as a Division-1 program, shocked 2nd-seeded Georgetown 78-68. FGCU is the seventh 15-seed to beat a 2.

All six of the others failed to win their next game.

Sunday night at 4:10 San Diego time (the game is on TBS again) we'll see if number 7 is lucky, or the Aztecs get a trip to Texas next week.