A 62-year-old woman who vanished while hiking in California was found alive Saturday — more than a week after she was separated from the group she was traveling with, police said, NBC News reported.
Miyuki Harwood was spotted by members of a search and rescue team not far from where she went missing near the Courtright Reservoir, about 100 miles east of Fresno, according to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.
Police said Harwood was hurt, but they do not yet know the extent of her injuries. She was brought by helicopter to a nearby hospital, police said.
Harwood was last seen on Aug. 20 with a hiking group from the Sierra Club, based near Sacramento
A brush fire sparked in Alpine Saturday morning near the Viejas Casino & Resort, leaving three firefighters with heat-related injuries, officials confirmed.
The blaze was first reported around 9:50 a.m. off westbound Interstate 8 at East Willows Road, and one structure was threatened by the flames, according to Jason Kraling, a battalion chief with Cleveland National Forest.
No mandatory evacuations were put into place, but the fire crept within 50 feet of buildings nearby.
Three firefighters were taken from the scene with minor, heat-related illness. They have since been treated and are doing fine, according to Kraling.
"It's hot, it's dry, it's humid and it's just fatigue and heat-related," said the battalion chief.
By 4:30 p.m., the fire was about 50 percent contained.
California Highway Patrol officials said a passerby reported seeing sparks flying from a pickup truck that may have then ignited some nearby vegetation.
Fire crews began tackling the blaze, which officials said was spreading quickly as of 10:10 a.m. Officials shut down parts of westbound I-8 near the fire just before 10:30 a.m. so crews could begin making airdrops over the flames.
"We were able to utilize the SDG&E heavy heli-tanker, as well as the fixed wing aircraft out of Ramona, and then two sheriff's helicopters out of Gillespie," said Kraling.
At 10:30 a.m., CHP officials said a crash involving several vehicles happened near the scene of the brush fire. The injuries and severity of the crash was unknown.
Around 10:45 a.m., Cal Fire officials said crews were helping Cleveland National Forest firefighters with the wildfire. By 10:55 a.m., officials had issued a SigAlert in the area and the roads were blocked off to traffic for several hours.
Kraling said the freeway presented them with one of the biggest obstacles.
"We're right off the freeway, so we've had to close one lane of Interstate 8 going westbound, and on a Saturday, that causes some congestion and fast cars on the highway create some issues for safety," Kraling said.
Westbound lanes were being diverted to West Willows Road, while eastbound lanes remained open.
By 12:35 p.m., officials said the fire had been fully contained. Crews remained on scene mopping up hot spots.
Amid a late-August heat wave in San Diego, the temperature in Alpine was approximately 95-degrees when the fire sparked.
NBC 7 meteorologist Greg Bledsoe said hot temperatures were expected to drop off about five degrees at most Saturday, but temperatures would still remain well above normal, especially inland and in local deserts.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
A 59-year-old man walking near City Heights Saturday was seriously injured when a car accidentally hit him, sending him flying into the air, according to one witness.
The crash happened just before 10 a.m. on Altadena Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard.
The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) said a 27-year-old man was driving his 2012 Toyota Rav southbound on Altadena Avenue and made a left turn onto El Cajon Boulevard. As he drove eastbound, a pedestrian crossed El Cajon Boulevard and the driver struck him.
Witness Patrick Jones had just left a nearby Auto-Zone store and was driving home when he witnessed the crash. The Toyota Rav was right in front of him.
Jones told NBC 7 the impact threw the pedestrian into the air.
“He went up and he came down. That was it,” he explained.
Jones said he pulled over and ran to the victim, checking to see if he was still breathing.
“He was bleeding real badly from the ears and from the nose,” Jones recalled. “He lost a lot of blood. I hope he’s okay.”
Jones said he stayed with the pedestrian and tried to talk with him to get him to respond to his voice. However, the man remained quiet.
“He wasn’t saying anything. He was shaking a little bit,” he added.
Soon, police and paramedics arrived.
SDPD Sgt. Chris Velovich said the victim was unconscious and suffered a life-threatening head injury in the collision. He was rushed to a local hospital, but his condition is unknown.
Sgt. Velovich said the driver immediately stopped to help the victim after the crash, rendering aid as he called 911.
The accident is under investigation, but the sergeant said alcohol or drugs did not play a factor.
Sgt. Velovich said investigators are still trying to determine who was at-fault. He said it appears the pedestrian was crossing the street outside the designated crosswalk.
The driver was not hurt. The streets were blocked off to traffic for just over an hour following the crash.
San Diego County health officials say they will conduct a follow-up inspection of the Chuck E. Cheese’s Grossmont Center location after “fresh and old droppings” from rats were found under storage racks and the children’s play structure area.
“The kids are crawling through there on their hands and knees and then after that going down to eat their pizza. So, they’re using their rat feces-covered hands to eat Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza,” concerned mother Colleen Adams told NBC 7 Friday.
She and friends went to the location in La Mesa on Aug. 21 with their children.
Adams agreed to help her friend’s 18-month-old son through the play area when she smelled urine and saw the rat feces. She took numerous pictures and reported the incident to the business’ manager.
Alexis Linn is with the public relations department for Chuck E. Cheese’s. She confirms rat droppings were found in the play area and says employees cleaned the mess right away.
“We sealed up a couple places near our pipes and since then we have had no issue with rats or droppings anywhere,” she explained.
Linn says there’s a larger rat problem with the shopping complex as a whole.
“[Grossmont Center] is an older shopping center. Multiple businesses have experienced rat problems,” she said.
NBC 7 spoke to a manager with the shopping center Friday, and he said the center had no comment.
Linn says the Aug. 21 incident was the first time something of this nature occurred at this location.
NBC 7 learned the Chuck E. Cheese’s location at Grossmont Center maintains an A rating with the county’s food inspection department. It has no major violations, but does have numerous minor violations dating back to March that involve vermin and maintaining facilities.
“We do mandate daily cleanings at our stores and I will tell you, you’d be shocked at the amount of stuff that can be accrued at a Chuck E. Cheese’s,” said Linn.
Adams says she is appalled by her experience.
She posted about it on an East County alert Facebook page and it’s been shared nearly 1.200 times as of Friday evening.
Health inspectors plan to visit the Chuck E. Cheese’s La Mesa location again next week.
A group of kayakers captured their heart-pounding close encounter with a hammerhead shark off the San Diego coast Saturday — a sighting that prompted lifeguards to close down crowded beaches nearby.
Their incredible video shows the 8- to 10-foot shark circling and swimming under the watercraft off La Jolla Shores. Stalking the kayakers, the hammerhead followed them back to the beach as they paddled away, according to San Diego Lifeguards.
When officials saw the footage and noted the shark was exhibiting "aggressive behavior," they took immediate action.
They decided to clear the waters between La Jolla Cove and Scripps Pier, announcing the closure over loud speakers to thousands packed onto the sand. The beach will be closed for the rest of the day, according to Lifeguard Lt. Andy Lerum.
"What we're going to do is evaluate tomorrow morning," he said at a news briefing Saturday afternoon. "If there's no other shark sighting by then, we'll probably lift the closure and open it as an advisory for the full 24-hour period."
People swimming near the shark were able to climb onto other kayaks and get safely to shore.
The animal was last seen just outside the surf line at the foot of Avenida De La Playa, at the south part of La Jolla Shores.
Lifeguard crews in boats and a helicopter soon began searching the waters for shark, but no more sightings have been reported. Officials say if they find it, they will track it and make sure it leaves the area before the waters are reopened.
The closure was a disappointment to many beachgoers, who sought the cool water on the unusually hot Saturday.
"They were just going to shut it down temporarily, but then they decided to shut it down for the entire day," said Gil Durazo, at La Jolla with his two sons. "So we kind of stuck it out for a little while but then decided, you know, we've been here long enough, we're just going to head home and jump in the pool for a little while."
Lifeguards say they brought the kayakers' footage to Dr. Andy Nosal, a marine biologist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. He said based on the size, species and behavior of the shark, lifeguards were right to close the beach.
"It's not uncommon for these types of sharks to be seen far off shore, but it's uncommon to see it so close to a popular beach like La Jolla Shores," said Lerum.
According to the lieutenant, a similar closure happened in La Jolla a couple years ago when a great white shark came concerningly close to the shore.
As for why the hammerhead was acting aggressively toward the kayakers, Lerum's best guess is food.
"Well sharks are very instinctive," he said. "Usually what causes them to act aggressively is their desire to eat, and so there may have been food in the area that we don't know of." He was not sure if the kayakers had fish on board.
Hammerheads rarely present a threat to humans, experts say. In fact, since scientists began keeping records in the 1950s, there have been just 32 documented hammerhead shark attacks, according to Mike Price, an assistant curator of fishes at SeaWorld.
However, a hammerhead bit into a local diver's hand earlier this month about 100 miles off San Diego's coast.
A memorial service was held at a Virginia church for two journalists who were slain on live TV this week.
WDBJ7, the station where Alison Parker and Adam Ward worked, said the interfaith service was being held at Roanoke's Jefferson Center, where station general manager Jeff Marks spoke.
"I've given many talks over the years, never with so heavy a heart," he said.
While they were filming a live segment on local tourism on Wednesday, August 26, Parker and Ward were fatally shot by a former employee of WDBJ, Vester Flanagan, who fled the scene and later turned his gun on himself. He died in a hospital later that day.
The jarring on-air shooting captured the nation's attention and deeply affected the Roanoke TV station where Parker and Ward worked – Ward's fiancee was working in the control room when the shots were fired.
At the Sunday service, Marks spoke about the need for American society to deal better and more directly with anger, and angry people, echoing comments he said he made to Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.
Anger untreated by mental health services can have "catastrophic" consequences, as evidenced by Wednesday's shooting, Marks said.
"Services exist and we must use them for ourselves and for those we know who have uncontrolled anger. We must learn to speak directly to anger: 'You are angry and that must make you feel awful.'"
He recounted his memories of Parker, a reporter, and cameraman Ward, who he said almost never got angry, and never let it fester. Their mission was to "awaken us as to what is good and fun in life," he said.
Ward liked to play a game where he hid a candy wrapper on set in the morning, waiting to see if weatherman Leo Hirsbrunner could uncover it, Marks said.
Hirsbrunner found one Wednesday, he added.
Marks spoke of the slain journalists's families, and ended with his own lament: "I want to play softball with Adam again, and I want to see Alison dance. And I will, in the wonderful memories they gave me; [that] they gave us."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Seven people were killed and more than 200 injured in a giant fire that tore through an oil workers' residential compound in Saudi Arabia Sunday, The Associated Press reported.
Officials said that residents of "various nationalities" were affected by the early morning blaze, which broke out in the basement of the Radium compound in the eastern city of Khobar.
The compound is used by the state oil giant Saudi Aramco, which oversees petroleum production in the country, and was the site of a 1996 truck bombing at a dormitory for U.S. Air Force personnel that killed 19 Americans and wounded 372.
The family of Alison Parker, the TV reporter shot to death during a live report Wednesday morning in Virginia, is asking that people donate to memorial scholarship funds and charities in her name to honor the young journalist.
Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, both journalists at WDBJ7 in Roanoke, both died when police say a disgruntled former employee shot them during a live report about tourism. A third person, a woman Parker was interviewing, was injured in the shooting but survived. The suspected gunman later fatally shot himself as police closed in on him.
Parker's family is asking that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the following scholarship funds or organizations:
Alison B. Parker Memorial Fund at James Madison University
James Madison University, 220 University Blvd., Office of Annual Giving MSC 3603, Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Alison Bailey Parker Memorial Scholarship
Patrick Henry Community College Foundation, 645 Patriot Ave., Martinsvile, VA 24112
Valley Stars and Salvation Army of Roanoke
A public celebration of Parker's life is expected to be held at a later date after a private memorial service. A viewing for Ward is set for tomorrow, and a service for him will be held Tuesday morning in Roanoke.
Pope Francis asked the faithful Sunday to work together to prevent crimes against people who are forced to flee their home countries in search of a better life, NBC News reported.
The pontiff made his remarks and urged prayers at St. Peter's Square in Rome three days after the decomposed bodies of 71 refugees were discovered in a truck on a highway in Austria.
Francis prayed for God "to help us to cooperate effectively to prevent these crimes, which offend the entire human family." The pope prayed specifically for the 71 refugees — including four children — found in the truck.
Officials evacuated some residents in Clairemont near Mt. Abernathy Avenue due to a gas leak.
The leak began at 11:57 a.m. Sunday, San Diego Fire-Rescue officials and SDG&E officials said.
Evacuations began at 12:10 p.m. on the 4800 block of Mt. Abernathy Avenue near Canning Drive.
Police will control traffic in the area.
A second Hammerhead sighting off the San Diego coast Sunday prompted lifeguards to extend a shark advisory for beachgoers until the end of the day.
On Saturday, A group of kayakers captured their heart-pounding close encounter with a hammerhead shark off the same stretch of San Diego coast — a sighting that prompted lifeguards to close down crowded beaches nearby for the day.
The stretch of shoreline between La Jolla Cove and Scripps Pier reopened Sunday morning with a shark advisory and lifeguards warned people heading to the water about the shark sighting so they would be able to decide for themselves whether they would want to swim.
At 12:10 p.m. Sunday, minutes before the initial shark advisory was set to expire, lifeguards confirmed a single, experienced kayaker out fishing, with fish on him, had encountered a 6 to 8 foot hammerhead shark a mile and a half to two miles off shore.
The shark swam by the kayak in a non-aggressive manner, lifeguards said, and was likely attracted by the bloody fish water.
When the kayaker paddled toward the shore, the shark followed. Two hundred and fifty yards off shore, the man flagged down a lifeguard boat and pointed out the shark and a nearby swimmer.
Lifeguard saw the shark and said it swam toward the swimmer before suddenly turning away. He then swam back out to deeper water and has not been spotted since.
The encounter was further off shore than the Saturday sighting and for that reason, it is considered less significant. The shark's behavior was also less aggressive, lifeguards said.
Lifeguard crews in boats and a helicopter searched the waters for shark on Saturday, but no more sightings were reported for the rest of the day.
Hammerheads like the one spotted Saturday rarely present a threat to humans, experts say. In fact, since scientists began keeping records in the 1950s, there have been just 32 documented hammerhead shark attacks, according to Mike Price, an assistant curator of fishes at SeaWorld.
However, a hammerhead bit into a local diver's hand earlier this month about 100 miles off San Diego's coast.
At least one person has been detained in a drug bust in Lakeside.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to a domestic violence call at 12:20 am at Rancho Laguna Estates Mobile Home Park early Sunday morning.
The argument turned out to be between two siblings.
After entering the home deputies found over 100 bottles of new and used butane and a mason jar filled with suspected hash oil in plain sight.
The Lakeside PD was called as well as the fire department around 2 am. The fire department had left the scene just before 3 am.
A full hazmat response was called because of the high combustibility of the substances.
Three neglected and emaciated horses were discovered earlier this month with over-grown hooves after Maryland officials called animal welfare workers to check on the animals, NBC News reported.
A chestnut mare with hooves over three feet long was euthanized at the site because her legs were badly damaged after years of neglect, the Days End Farm Horse Rescue explained on its website.
The three horses had to have been locked in a stall for at least 15 years, the animal rescue stated.
Two other stallions had their excess hooves removed and a vet took x-rays of their feet to plan for rehabilitation. Both animals are still in critical condition and will need months to become healthy again, the website explained.
In the video put out by NBC News, a horse appears to be in good-spirits, prancing around outside.
Police are looking for a suspect responsible for shooting a man twice in the leg.
The shooting happened on the 4200 block of Highland Avenue in Terelta East at 4 p.m., San Diego Police said.
The man suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The circumstances of the shooting were unclear.
No further information was available.
The Chargers have until Tuesday to get their roster down to 75 players. They got a head start on that process on Sunday afternoon, releasing the following 11 men from the roster:
CB Manny Asprilla
DL Cameron Botticelli
WR Titus Davis
RB Jahwan Edwards
LB Curtis Grant
LB Brock Hekking (injured)
T Forrestal Hickman
TE David Paulson
QB Chase Rettig
DL Luther Robinson
TE Logan Stokes
That puts the Bolts at 79 so they still need to trim four by 1:00 Pacific time on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bolts play their final preseason game on Thursday in Santa Clara against the 49ers then have another two days to get down to their 53-man roster. They will also get to sign 10 to their practice squad.
New legislation, backed by California State Assembly Speaker and former San Diego City Councilwoman Toni Atkins, would seek ways to close loopholes that allow businesses to get away with wage theft.
Senate Bill 558 would allow the state Labor Commissioner to go after businesses that are not paying wages owed to overworked and underpaid employees, such as Sandra Ortega.
“The hardest part for me throughout this whole time was seeing how dehumanizing my paycheck was. I couldn't afford anything,” she said.
Ortega, a victim of wage theft, told her story in front of Atkins and a room full of 300 other workers during a town hall at St. Paul’s Cathedral in San Diego Saturday.
Many in the room face the same challenges as Ortega.
“I wouldn't get paid overtime, I wouldn't get breaks,” Ortega said. “I would never get my check on time. I would get paid less than minimum wage."
According to a joint study by San Diego State University and the Center on Policy Initiatives, 77% of workers in the food industry reported having been victims of wage theft during the past year. One third of those surveyed said theft from their paychecks occurs regularly.
“When I would bring these issues to the owner of the company he would just ignore me he would be like oh just do your job as a supervisor just ignore it but I couldn't because when payday came and I saw my workers with tears in their eyes, I felt bad,” Patricia Marquez a former Supervisor to NBC7.
Marquez filed a complaint against her company and won.
“I was granted $25,000, but because the way the laws are at this moment, I cannot collect any money,” Marquez said.
Common forms of wage theft include paying less than the minimum wage, paying workers for fewer hours than were worked, misclassifying workers as independent contractors, or failing to pay overtime rates as required by law. Wage theft drains billions of dollars from California’s economy each year.
The bill goes in front of the Assembly floor next week.
Lifeguards have temporarily called off the search for a missing swimmer at Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach.
Brian Wilson, 23, was last seen around 5:30 pm Sunday. He was swimming with friends and family when he went missing.
"It's terrible. We come down here all the time to swim," said Lauren Lubrano an Ocean Beach resident. "It's just really kind of scary to hear that happened to someone."
Family and friends told authorities Wilson was out swimming with a friend and never came back, but by the time they called lifeguards officials said there was a 30 minute delay from when he went missing.
"There's a likeihood that he had a situation where he came in contact with some of these rock reefs," an official said.
Lifeguards had skin divers, scuba divers and a helicopter searching for Wilson, but as of 7 pm the search was called off due to rough water and becasue it was getting dark.
"Our divers had a hard time seeing anything," the same official said.
Sunset Cliffs is a popular place, but since there are no lifeguards officials warn against swimming there.
Lifeguards say they will resume the search tomorrow morning depending on conditions.
Check back on this breaking story for updates.
Heartbreak surrounds the P.F. Chang's in Peabody, Massachusetts, after one kitchen worker was stabbed to death Saturday evening, allegedly at the hands of another.
On Saturday evening, 38-year-old Elivelton Dias was working in the restaurant at the Northshore Mall when he was attacked. Police say 23-year-old Jaquan Huston is responsible for the homicide and is charged with murder.
"Just like the show called "Snapped," my son snapped," said Shawn Maron-Huston. "That is not him. He's not a murderer."
Fighting back tears, the suspect's mother told necn her son didn't deny stabbing Dias. She knew something was wrong when he came home from work earlier than usual. She gave Jaquan money for bus fare and went to watch him leave her Salem home from her window. Instead of seeing him get on the bus, a police cruiser came to pick up her youngest child.
"When I went downstairs, I said, 'What happened, what happened? I thought you were going to Lynn?' Police said, 'Your son was involved in a stabbing,'" said Maron-Huston. "And I said, 'Really?' I said, 'What happened, Jaquan?' He said, 'He threatened me, Mom. He threatened to stab me and I did what I had to do.'"
Maron-Huston says for years, she has tried to work with her son and his anger issues. Raising four kids on her own, she worked hard to give her children the best, even encouraging her son to enroll in anger management classes.
His first one was scheduled in a week. But it didn't come in time stop Saturday's tragedy.
"The sad thing is that the individual is gone, and I feel sad for him, I really do. If I could change anything, I would change that," said Maron-Huston.
Even knowing her son could face jail time, she wants the public to learn, from the pain this incident has caused, a lesson she says she's tried to teach her own child.
"Whatever you're going through, even if you can't come to your parents, confide in somebody," she said. "Get it out. Because when you keep it bottled in, it causes nothing but stress and for you to snap and make a decision that is going to cost you a lot of years of your life."
