Hazard Construction Co. has broken ground on Civita Park, the latest element of the Civita mixed-use community in Mission Valley, being developed by San Diego-based Sudberry Properties.

Sudberry officials said the 14.3-acre public park, at the intersection of Civita Boulevard and Russell Parkway, is designed to serve as the centerpiece of the community, with input from consultants, residents and the city of San Diego.

The multi-level park will cascade down the former quarry site and was designed by Schmidt Design Group Inc. of San Diego. Planned elements include a large central plaza, rose gardens, an outdoor grassy amphitheater, and a military tribute with a 100-foot-tall flagpole.

There will also be a recirculating interactive water feature and a game area with chess, ping pong and other activities. Sudberry Vice President and Senior Project Manager Mark Radelow said new trails will link the park to surrounding neighborhoods.

The park is being built in four phases, with a casual sports field, basketball courts and community gardens now under construction in the first phase. The park’s southern and eastern borders will feature a tree-sheltered promenade, and a dry streambed and walking trail will run the length of the park along the western edge.

Radelow said the natural-looking streambed will function as a biofiltration system that will clean storm-water runoff before it reaches the nearby San Diego River. Upcoming park elements include a dog park, separate children’s play areas, picnic grove, interpretive gardens, scenic lookouts and restrooms, with a plaza showcasing the site’s mining-related history.

Sudberry Properties is the master developer of the multiphase, 230-acre Civita, which broke ground in 2010 and is expected to entail more than $2.5 billion in investment by Sudberry and its guest home builders over the course of 10 to 15 years.

Civita is slated to include more than 4,700 homes and apartments at full buildout, and several of those have been completed and occupied. Office, retail and other civic amenities are planned for future phases.

One of the first women to graduate from the Army's notoriously grueling Ranger School says she hopes her success will go toward proving that women in the military are capable of doing what men do.

Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut said her successful completion of the elite, two-month program show that women "can deal with the same stresses and training that men can."

Griest and First Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, will graduate at Fort Benning, Georgia, along with 94 men on Friday. Out of 19 women who began the program, Haver and Griest are the only two to finish so far.

Completing the course lets the two women wear the coveted Ranger black-and-gold tab. But for now they're still unable to join the elite 75th Ranger Regiment based at Fort Benning. The military's toughest jobs — including positions in infantry, armor and special operations units such as the Ranger Regiment — remain closed to women.

Haver and Griest — both graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point — not only finished the course they started in April. They both had to start from scratch, having failed two previous attempts.

"These two soldiers have absolutely earned the respect of every Ranger instructor," Cmd. Sgt. Major Curtis Arnold told reporters. "They do not quit and they do not complain."

Arnold said he suspects Haver and Griest had extra motivation to graduate "because you know everyone is watching. And truthfully there are probably a few folks who want you to fail. So you've got to put out 110 percent."

The families of the women gave a more modest assessment, saying in a joint statement that Haver and Griest, are "just like all the soldiers" graduating this week from the grueling two-month Ranger course.

Griest, 26, and Haver, 25, are "happy, relieved, and ready for some good food and sleep" before they line up Friday at Fort Benning alongside 94 male soldiers who also earned the coveted black-and-gold Ranger tab to adorn their uniforms.

The course tests soldiers' ability to overcome fatigue, hunger and stress during combat operations. The Army opened Ranger School to female soldiers for the first time this year as part of the military's push to open more combat jobs to women.

"This has been something she's wanted to do for a long, long time," Griest's older brother, Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Mike Griest, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "We're all very, very proud of her. It's a tremendous achievement not only for her personally but for the Army and women in the military in general."

Griest grew up loving to camp in the wilderness and test her endurance, making her a natural to take on Ranger School, her brother said. He noted she chose to become a military police officer because she felt it was the closest she could get to an Army combat job.

"If she had been allowed to go infantry out of college, she would have done that," Mike Griest said.

Haver followed in her father's footsteps to become a pilot of attack helicopters. He also served as a career Army aviator who flew Apaches, and said his daughter has always been mentally tough and incredibly physically fit. He said she has run marathons and competed in triathlons for West Point.

"She's kind of built for this thing," Chris Haver said.

NASA's Curiosity rover extended its robotic arm for another self-portrait on Mars, this time as it climbed a mountain towering above the red planet's plains.

The selfie snapped Aug. 5 is actually more than 90 component images pieced together for the low-angle shot, providing a view of the rover's belly. The Martian explorer is pictured above the "Buckskin" rock target, where it collected samples from a hole drilled in Mars' surface.

The two patches of white-gray material seen in front of the rover are powdery rock material drilled from the hole. The drill hole can been seen on top of the triangle-shaped patch.

Some of the material was delivered to the rover's onboard laboratory instruments.

Curiosity, which landed on Mars in August 2012, has been turning the camera on itself for several self-portraits during its journey to the site called Marias Pass in the foothills of 3.4-mile high Mount Sharp. The rover remained at Marias Pass for several weeks to study a zone where two different types of rocks meet.

High levels of hydrogen were measured beneath the rover's wheels in the area, meaning water molecules could be present in the area's rocks.

Curiosity is headed southwest up Mount Sharp after completing its mission Aug. 12 at "Buckskin" rock. The project now turns to examining layers of the mountain for ancient inhabitable environments.

The rover, built at Southern California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has logged nearly seven miles since its 2012 landing.
 

A 92-year-old woman faces a vehicular manslaughter for backing her vehicle onto a busy La Jolla street and hitting and killing a woman unloading her car last October.

Mary Catherine O'Neil, who now lives in a retirement home in eastern United States, will be arraigned on the charge later this month.

The victim in the case, Melissa Bonney Ratcliff -- who was the vice president of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce -- was running errands and had been unloading her car on Girard Avenue. The collision happened just before noon on Oct. 7, 2014.

That's when O'Neil backed out of a nearby parking spot on the west side of the street, crossed into the other side and rammed into Ratcliff, police have said.

She was then pinned between the moving vehicle and the back of her parked car.

O'Neil told police after the collision that she had not been using her rear-view mirror, city prosecutors said. She also faces a code violation alleging unlawful backing.

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said prosecutors aren't seeking jail time for O'Neil, but are requesting she surrender her driver's license, never drive again and pay restitution to the victim's family.

"Every older driver must make informed decisions about the increased risks of driving as their abilities decline," Goldsmith said in a statement. "Their friends and families have a moral responsibility to ask questions and to speak up when they recognize safety concerns."

Ratcliff, 45, served as vice president of marketing and events for the chamber of commerce.

She was described as a “nationally recognized leader in marketing and strategic communications” and previously worked as a press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. She also served in the White House in the 1990s as then-Vice President Al Gore’s deputy director of communications, according to the chamber.

The chamber issued a statement in October, saying members were "grief stricken over the tragic loss."

"She was a well-respected and valued member of the chamber team and will be missed by all of us," the statement said. "We're deeply saddened by her loss and send our thoughts and prayers to her family and friends."

An overloaded circuit caused an explosion at a marijuana growing operation in Otay Mesa, San Diego Police officials say.

Witnesses say at 2:10 p.m., a man holding his bloodied face with one hand ran out the front door of his building.

When San Diego Fire-Rescue crews arrived, they discovered there was some sort of explosion at the business, which officials describe as a fairly sophisticated operation with commercial-grade lights and two rooms filled waist-high with pot plants.

According to SDPD Lt. Jerry McManus, the explosion was sparked by an overloaded circuit inside.

"There's a couple big rooms that have some heavy duty lighting," he said. "It's probably drawing way more than it's supposed to. That's probably what caused the little explosion. In fact there's some wires that look like they were burned a little bit from being overused or too much power coming through them."

A Hazmat team was called in to test the area for hazardous materials and other dangers in the area. They cleared the building about two hours later.

The man with the bloodied face was taken to the hospital for nonlife-threatening injuries, officials say.

A woman who identified herself as a renter in the building said there is supposed to be a medical marijuana dispensary on the property. Police have not verified that.

"We don't know the extent of what violations might be involved, how illegal it is," said McManus. "As you know, some of the medical marijuana is legal. We still have to investigate that and see what, if any, violations there are."

NBC 7 Newschopper captured aerials showing at least five San Diego Police patrol cars near a warehouse building.

A fire engine was parked outside one of the garages and crime scene tape blocked access to the driveway.

In 2004, San Diego Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered 11,500 pounds of marijuana in a vacant warehouse at the same address, according to a DEA news release.

A man admitted Wednesday to donning scuba gear and taking vacuum-sealed packages of drugs through an underwater tunnel from Mexico into the U.S., according to the defendant's plea deal.

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Evelio Padilla-Zepada, a 28-year-old Honduras immigrant who came to the U.S. illegally, was arrested in the unusual operation on April 25. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherry Walker Hobson, who prosecuted the case, told NBC 7 she has never seen a smuggling scheme so complicated. It involved a tunnel that led to a canal.

A video surveillance operator had alerted Border Patrol agents to a man standing along the All-American Canal, just east of Calexico and north of the border.

There, agents discovered Padilla-Zepada soaking wet, dressed in a wet suit, prosecutors say in an Aug. 18 statement of facts against him.

Padilla-Zepada was taken into custody, and agents began searching the area nearby. Several feet from where the suspect was arrested, they uncovered scuba diving gear — including two rebreather tanks — and packages of cocaine with weights attached to them. The rebreathers would keep bubbles from rising to the surface, Walker Hobson said.

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All 25 packages were covered in “Toy Story”-themed wrapping paper and vacuum-sealed, officials said. The cocaine inside totaled about 55 pounds, with an estimated street value of $1,774,400.

Continuing their search, Border Patrol agents came upon an underwater drug tunnel. The U.S. attorney's office says the passageway started in Mexico on dry ground, descended into water and exited directly into the south bank of the All-American Canal.

In the dry section, the smugglers had built a rail system to transport the drugs, according to prosecutors.

“Drug traffickers always try different ways to go over the border, under the border and through the border. And this was a creative way. But they got caught," said Walker Hobson.

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In his plea deal, Padilla-Zepada admitted his intention was to swim 1.5 miles up the canal, drop off the cocaine at a meeting point farther down the canal and then return to Mexico, but he was caught before he reached his intended location.

On Wednesday, Padilla-Zepada pleaded guilty to one charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. At his Dec. 7 sentencing, he faces 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

NBC 7 reached out to Padilla-Zepada's defense attorney, Manuel Ramirez, but he said they will not comment until possibly after the defendant's sentencing.

The tunnel's exit point into the U.S. is about two miles east of Calexico, where Barbara Worth Road ends and turns right into Anza Road.

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Health officials have identified a cooling tower at the Opera House Hotel as the source of the Legionnaires' spike that has sickened more than 120 people in the Bronx, killing 12 of them, since July, marking the largest outbreak of the disease in New York City history.

The tower at the Opera House Hotel was disinfected Aug. 1, authorities said. The last case reported in connection with the outbreak was reported two days later. Local, state and federal officials tested samples from 25 patients linked to the outbreak, including some who died, and in each case found a match to the strain of Legionella found in the cooling tower at the Opera House Hotel.

Health Commissioner Mary Bassett made the announcement at an afternoon news briefing Thursday as she declared the outbreak was "over."

Since July 10, 128 cases of Legionnaires' have been reported. No new cases have been reported in nearly three weeks.

"We have not seen anyone become sick in the area of the outbreak since Aug. 3 and we are now well past the incubation period of the disease," Bassett said.

City, state and federal officials canvassed more than 700 sites in the south Bronx, where the outbreak was focused, in their search for the source. In total, 14 of 39 buildings with the type of cooling towers that lend themselves to Legionella growth were found to be contaminated.

The Opera House Hotel said in a statement that it was disappointed to learn its cooling tower was the source of the outbreak.

"It's particularly disappointing because our system is 2 years old, has the most up-to-date technology available and our maintenance plan has been consistent with the regulations that both the city and the state are putting in place," the statement said. "We have worked closely with both the city and the state since this issue first arose and have done everything requested to address the situation."

Concerns about prevention and safety prompted the city to develop and pass new legislation to regulate cooling towers, one of the locations where Legionella, the bacteria that causes the potentially severe pneumonia-like disease in people who are exposed to it, is likely to grow.

Under the new legislation, cooling towers across the city must be tested regularly for Legionella bacteria; any found to be contaminated must be disinfected immediately. The regulations specify penalties for violations, and the legislation makes New York City the first major city in the United States to regulate cooling towers.

Prior to the recent outbreak, no city records were kept as to which buildings had cooling towers.

The Opera House Hotel said it fully supports the new regulations.

"We believe they are appropriate and will enhance the protection of public health. That said, we intend to go beyond the requirement to test our cooling tower every 90 days by testing every 30 days when the tower is in operation," the statement said. "Given recent evens, we have decided to be especially cautious going forward."

Legionnaires' disease usually sets in two to 10 days after exposure to the bacteria and has symptoms similar to pneumonia, including shortness of breath, high fever, chills and chest pains. People with Legionnaires' also experience appetite loss, confusion, fatigue and muscle aches.

It cannot be spread person-to-person and those at highest risk for contracting the illness include the elderly, cigarette smokers, people with chronic lung or immune system disease and those receiving immunosuppressive drugs. Most cases can be treated successfully with antibiotics.

An outbreak last hit the Bronx in December. Between then and January, 12 people in Co-op City contracted the potentially deadly disease. Officials said a contaminated cooling tower was likely linked to at least 75 percent of those cases. No one died in that outbreak.

Three sea lions and an elephant seal were rescued after the Refugio oil spill in May have been returned back to ocean near San Diego, officials said this week.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife rescued a total of 62 animals following the ruptured pipeline near Santa Barbara, and took them to SeaWorld San Diego. There, they were cleaned and rehabilitated.

The four animals were deemed ready to be released into the wild, officials said.

The animals were hurt at the Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara, where a broken oil pipe spilled about 105,000 gallons of oil into the ocean.

Many have been rehabilitated, but sadly some have died.

California sea lions wear satellite tags as they swim free so scientists can track their activities following rehabilitation.

Department of Fish and Wildfire officials said they do not release animals back into the wild until they are in the best condition and have the best chances of living a normal lifespan in the wild.

While some school districts across the nation are facing teacher shortages, San Diego Unified School District said staffing should not be a problem for the upcoming school year.

Several media outlets including the New York Times have been reporting on a teacher shortage affecting districts in several states including California. Across the nation, 21,500 positions need to be filled before the 2015-2016 school year, the newspaper reported last week.

Prompting concerns are enrollment in teacher training programs and the number of credentials issued.

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing issued 11,497 new credentials for the 2013-2014 school year to teachers trained here. That is down from 16,401 in 2009- 2010 according to figures released in April.

EdSource, a non-partisan not-for-profit that focuses on education issues, reports that enrollments in teacher preparation programs are down 75 percent over the past decade.

In San Francisco, district officials were down to the wire filling open positions. The San Francisco Chronicle, described the hiring as a “scramble.”

NBC 7 has learned the number of teacher positions still open within the San Diego State Unified School District is not as significant.

There are approximately 40 positions for certified teachers in Math/Science, Multiple Subject and Special Education still unfilled.

SDUSD spokesperson Ursula Kroemer said the number is approximate because the district bases staffing on projected enrollment and not actual numbers.

SDUSD decided to begin its hiring process early in the year to avoid any dire situations, she added.

The district has 117 elementary schools, 25 middle schools and 24 high schools. Full-time teachers on staff number close to 5,700. Close to 1,900 substitute teachers are employed by the district.

The first day of school for approximately 130,000 K-12 students is September 8.

The boys of Bonita’s Sweetwater Valley Little League All-Stars will have to wait to hit the diamond in the Little League World Series.

Games at Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, PA were suspended Thursday because of rain.

SVLL was scheduled to play against the team representing Kentucky’s Bowling Green Eastern Little League, the Great Lakes Regional Champions. That game now will start at 11 a.m. PT on Friday.

“There is a chance of thunderstorms, starting at 1 p.m. and lasting through 1 a.m. Friday,” said NBC 7 Meteorologist Jodi Kodesh.

Friday’s forecast in Williamsport calls for 80 degrees, with a 20% chance of a shower.
 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Movie theater chain Regal Entertainment Group has begun to check bags in response to shootings at theaters around the country, a procedure it acknowledged on its website was "not without flaws" and would inconvenience guests but provide better security.

It's unclear when the policy began, but several local TV stations reported online that customers noticed the change in Texas, Virginia, Florida and Ohio beginning earlier this month.

Regal spokesman Richard Grover did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. The Knoxville, Tennessee, company operates some 570 theaters around the country.

On its website, the company says "security issues have become a daily part of our lives in America" and says that bags and backpacks are subject to inspection before entering.

National Amusements Inc.'s Showcase chain, which runs about 30 theaters in the northeastern U.S., says on its website that it has banned backpacks and packages and reserves the right to search purses and bags. It says the policy, which began Aug. 7, will be in place "for the time being."

AMC Theatres spokesman Ryan Noonan said, "we don't comment on security measures publicly." Other chains, including Cinemark and Carmike, did not respond to requests for comment.

Earlier this month, a man with a history of mental illness and armed with a pellet gun, hatchet and pepper spray attacked guests at a mostly empty movie theater in Antioch, Tennessee, before being shot dead by police.

Two weeks before that, a man shot and killed two people and wounded nine others before fatally shooting himself during a screening of the movie "Trainwreck" at a theater in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The latest attacks came the same month that Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was sentenced to life in prison by a jury for killing 12 and injuring 70 theatergoers three years ago at a midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Last week, security was tight at the Los Angeles premiere of "Straight Outta Compton," with invited guests made to navigate various barricades and pass through metal detectors before picking up their tickets.

A woman made quite the scene in a Broward courtroom this week when she flashed the judge.

Susan Surrette, 54, of Fort Lauderdale was arrested on Wednesday for disorderly intoxication.

When Judge John Hurley asked Surrette what she does for employment, she said she works as an escort and porn star named Kayla Kupcakes.

While the judge was reading her charges in bond court, she lifted up her top and flashed him.

Video shows her showing the judge injuries from when she was "beaten up," and while showing her apparent bruises, she lifted up her shirt.

Her bond was set at $100. She did not appear in court with an attorney.

Surrette has been in and out of court 10 times over the past few years for minor offenses. The judge ordered a mental health evaluation.

After four rockets were fired into Israel from Syria, the Israeli government launched airstrikes and artillery attacks against 14 targets in the Syrian Golan Heights.

The rocket attack was launched by a group calling itself Islamic Jihad, which was an Iranian proxy force commanded by Saed Isadi, an Israeli security source claims.

"For us, this is a clear act of aggression and was meant by the Iranians to use the chaos inside Syria to escalate tensions in the region," the security source said. 

A Carlsbad physician accused of sexually assaulting a patient following a surgical medical procedure will face multiple felony charges, according to Riverside officials.

Dr. John McGuire, 44, was booked into the Southwest Detention Center Wednesday and charged with sexual battery, sexual penetration by force and sexual exploitation by physician, Riverside County Sheriff’s officials said. The first two are felony charges and the third a misdemeanor. 

The arrest stems from accusations made in July, when Temecula police officials began investigating allegations that McGuire sexually assaulted a patient at Temecula Valley Hospital. Investigators found evidence to support the allegations, Riverside County Sheriff’s officials said.

Temecula Valley Hospital said in a statement that the safety and well-being of their patients in their highest priority.

"The allegations being made were not reported to Temecula Valley Hospital at the time of the alleged incident. However, we intend to cooperate fully with the Sheriff's Department in their investigation of this matter," the statement said. "Dr. McGuire was never an employee of Temecula Valley Hospital. He resigned from the medical staff in June and is no longer treating patients at the hospital."

McGuire maintains a practice at Graybill Medical Group in Escondido. The Graybill Medical Group had no knowledge of the arrest when NBC7 reached out. 

Bail was set at $3 million.

Temecula Police officals will not disclose what charges the doctor is facing. Police coud not comment on whether the doctor had other victims. 

Anyone with information is asked to call Investigator Pemberton at (951) 696-3000.

Plans for a controversial housing, retail and office project in Carmel Valley are moving forward, and a community meeting was held Wednesday to get input on several new options.

The previous plan for the One Paseo project from Kilroy Realty Corp. was met with much opposition from Carmel Valley residents concerned about increased traffic and large building that would change the North County neighborhood’s aesthetic.

In May, an agreement was reached on a scaled-down version of the controversial development project that reduced the scope of the office and retail components while still providing the needed housing, according to Kilroy Realty Corp.

The changes included a height limit of seven stories on office buildings and the elimination of one traffic signal on Del Mar Heights Road.

Those compromises were discussed in Wednesday’s meeting.

“So we wanted to make sure that we brought down the size of the buildings and oriented them on the property so the larger and higher building were on the lower portion of the property and get the right mix of uses so the traffic would be reduced,” explained Rachel Laing, spokesperson for Kilroy Realty.

The changes to the plan are being well-received by some residents, including Ken Farinsky.

“I think people want more shopping, more housing, more office space,” Farinsky told NBC 7 at the community meeting. “I think all these things are important to the community and I think building a great development in Carmel Valley that includes all those pieces in a proper mix can give us a great center.”

Following this most recent meeting, developers are expected to map out a design that incorporates some of the community’s ideas. Then, a community planning board will need to approve the plan before sending it to the city council.

In May, as part of the scaled-down deal, the San Diego City Council agreed to rescind an earlier approval of the $750 million project met by opponents with much hesitation, petitions and lawsuits.

The 1.4-million-square-foot One Paseo plan includes the construction of stores and eateries, the expansion of a movie theater and the addition of more than 600 family apartments and a parking structure in Carmel Valley. Sixty of those apartment units will be affordable housing, the city council mandated.
 

A man accused of stealing a car led deputies on a pursuit from Lakeside to Lemon Grove Thursday that ended in the parking lot of a Home Depot store.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said a bystander reported a suspicious man breaking into a parked car and stealing it in the 1000 block of Barona Road in Lakeside just before 12:30 p.m.

Deputies searched the area and spotted the suspect driving the stolen car, and a pursuit ensued. The chase hit speeds of 90 mph on the freeway, officials said, and 30 mph on residential streets.

The chase ended about 20 miles later in the parking lot of a Home Depot in the 7500 block of Broadway in Lemon Grove, but officials said the man refused to come out of the car.

Deputies surrounded the stolen vehicle and secured the area, keeping shoppers back, as they feared the suspect may have been armed.

Officials deployed pepper balls and bean bag rounds towards the car, but the suspect did not budge. K-9 deputies were then sent toward the vehicle and the suspect came out.

The man – appearing a bit disheveled but acting calmly – was surrounded by deputies and taken into custody without incident. Handcuffed, deputies sat him on the ground and patted him down.

He was then led to an ambulance where he was evaluated by medics for some injuries sustained from the contact with K-9 officers. Aerial footage showed the suspect being interviewed by deputies.

No one was injured. By 1:20 p.m., deputies began clearing from the scene at the Home Depot parking lot.

Deputy Lorenzo Ortiz said the car involved in the chase had been reported stolen two days ago out of Spring Valley. He said investigators are looking into the suspect's background to see if he has a criminal record. The suspect’s name was not immediately released.

Alana Snyder, a shopper at Home Depot, told NBC 7 she witnessed roughly 15 deputy vehicles descend on the parking lot near the home improvement store and surround the suspect's car.

Snyder said she heard some "pop" sounds as deputies tried different tactics to get the suspect to surrender and said she was shocked by the law enforcement action during what was, for her, a quick, 15-minute trip to the store.

Heroin use is rising in San Diego County to the highest rate the county has seen in 15 years.

Last year, 13 percent of male arrestees and 15 percent of female arrestees tested positive for heroin or opiates, the highest rate since the Substance Abuse (SAM) Program started tracking the numbers in this format in 2000.

These percentages are a sharp increase from the previous year, when only 5 percent of arrestees tested positive for heroin in San Diego, which was much lower than the percentages in Chicago, 25 percent, and New York, 13 percent, according to SANDAG.

Still, San Diego’s percentage in 2012 was 10 percent, which was closer to the percentages for Chicago and New York.

In terms of heroin-related deaths, the San Diego County Medical Examiner has seen heroin increasingly contribute to deaths since 2005.

Other results of the SANDAG research include the fact that the most common drug among those between 20 and 39 years old is heroin.

Three men were injured, one seriously, in a head-on crash in Rancho Santa Fe, North County officials say.

A Ford F150 and another pickup truck collided in the 5800 block of El Montevideo just after 5 p.m.

One of the drivers was trapped in his truck, so firefighters had to extricate him so they could treat his major, life-threatening injuries.

Rescue crews called in a helicopter to airlift the patient.

However, no medical choppers were available, so San Diego Fire-Rescue's helicopter had to fly up to Rancho Santa Fe to pick up the patient.

He was taken to Scripps La Jolla Hospital. One other patient was taken to the same hospital by ambulance.

A third man was treated at the scene.

Check back here for details on this breaking news story.

A woman flew into a rage when a fellow subway rider tried to sit in a seat that had her bag on it, allegedly pushing, scratching and biting the rider before running off the train and fleeing the station in Queens, New York, police said. 

The 45-year-old victim was riding the Manhattan-bound F train from Queens at about 9:45 a.m. last Friday, Aug. 14, and she asked another woman to move her bag from a seat so that she could sit, according to police.

The woman sitting in the seat did not respond, and when the standing straphanger tried to sit anyway, the seated woman became enraged, police said. She pushed the victim, scratching her on the chest, and pulled her hair and bit her forearm, causing her to bleed. 

The suspect ran off the train when it stopped at the 21st Street and Queensbridge station in Long Island City. 

The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition.

Police are attempting to identify and locate the suspect, who's pictured above. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS. 

Ads from a "Courtesy Counts" public service campaign launched by the MTA in January, still posted in trains across the city, specifically remind riders to keep personal items off seats, stating: "Keep your stuff to yourself. The less space your things take up, the more room for everyone." 

A jury will be asked to decide next week if a San Diego County nurse committed a crime or just an act of poor judgment when she left her 3-year-old child in a car to visit a restroom and shop.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of Myngan Thi Le, a 32-year-old Escondido woman who faces one misdemeanor count of cruelty to a child by endangering her health.

According to her defense attorney, Brian White, Le began to feel sick as she drove with her 3-year-old girl on Jan. 14. She decided to stop at the Westfield North County Mall for a bathroom break and left her daughter in her car seat.

However, the Macy’s restroom was closed, White said, so Le spent the next 30 to 45 minutes shopping until it reopened.

When she returned to her parked car at about 2 p.m., she found police had smashed the window and recovered her child from inside.

Escondido police said they found Le’s daughter crying and soaked in sweat with red, flushed skin. The girl had an “extremely elevated pulse,” officers said.

White argues that the girl’s crying and elevated heart rate were due to strangers looking into the car and shattering the window.

“It’s almost as if the responders, even though they meant well, but under the circumstances, they probably caused more harm to the child to put her in that situation,” said White, though he added harm was probably overstating the matter.

While the temperature that day was 72 degrees, temperatures in the car were “significantly higher,” police said.

White told NBC 7 Thursday that his client exercised bad parental judgment but does not deserve prosecution. "The child was not harmed at all; she was fine,” he said. “She was back in custody with the parents that night.”

According to White, Child Protective Services came to Le’s house the following day to look around and do interviews. The officials told Le, “You guys are great parents; you have nothing to worry about. Case closed,” White said.

The attorney believes this case is about hype surrounding the issue of leaving kid or pets in cars, not an actual criminal act, he said.

“Not every parental mistake in judgment is a crime,” White told NBC 7. “If you've been a parent, you've made a mistake in judgment, and that's just part of being a parent.”

White confirmed Le currently works as a nurse in the obstetrics unit of Kaiser Permanente.

Her employer sent NBC 7 the following statement Thursday:

“Kaiser Permanente is aware of recent allegations against an employee. The charges against this individual are unrelated to her work at Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser Permanente does not speak to personnel issues, and cannot comment publicly due to privacy laws."

Le faces six months in jail if convicted of child cruelty.

Thursday evening, NBC 7 asked shoppers if they agreed with White in his defense.

"Probably bad parenting in a way, but a crime? No," said Dean Antibus.

Dee Moyes disagreed: "It is a crime to leave your child in a car unattended."