One person in Texas has died after eating a cucumber contaminated with salmonella, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
This is the second reported case of a person dying from tainted cucumbers sold by a San Diego-based produce company.
The Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and state and local officials continue to investigate a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Poona linked to “slicer” cucumbers, supplied by Andrew and Williamson Fresh Produce and grown in Baja, Mexico.
This type of cucumber can also be called “American” cucumbers.
Medical records indicate that the Texas victim had serious underlying health conditions, but that salmonella was a contributing factor to her death.
The victim, who will not be identified, died late last month.
According to the CDC, as of September 8, 2015, 341 people infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella Poona have been reported from 30 states.
The number of ill people reported from each state is as follows: Alaska (9), Arizona (66), Arkansas (6), California (72), Colorado (14), Hawaii (1), Idaho (8), Illinois (6), Kansas (1), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (4), Minnesota (12), Missouri (8), Montana (10), Nebraska (2), Nevada (7), New Mexico (18), New York (4), North Dakota (1), Ohio (2), Oklahoma (8), Oregon (8), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (7), Texas (18), Utah (30), Virginia (1), Washington (10), Wisconsin (2) and Wyoming (3).
Illnesses started on dates ranging from July 3, 2015 to August 30, 2015. Seventy people have been hospitalized, and two deaths have been reported from California (1) and Texas (1).
What are the Symptoms of Salmonella?
Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment.
How Soon do Symptoms Appear After Exposure?
Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.
What are the Complications of Salmonella Infections?
In some people, the diarrhea may be so severe that they need to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.
Who is at Risk?
Children are the most likely to get salmonellosis. The rate of diagnosed infections in children less than five years old is higher than the rate in all other people. Children younger than five years of age, the elderly and those people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe infections. It is estimated that approximately 400 persons in the United States die each year with acute salmonellosis.
What Do Consumers Need To Do?
Consumers may return Andrews and Williamson cucumbers to the place of purchase or throw them out. If in doubt about your cucumbers, do not eat them.
The FDA encourages consumers with questions to call 1-888-SAFEFOOD Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Central, or to consult the FDA's website.
A notorious Al Qaeda magazine is encouraging lone-wolf terrorist attacks on U.S. economic leaders, including, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, and Warren Buffet, NBC News reported.
The magazine article begins with a photo illustration showing blood-spattered pictures of several leaders next to a dripping gun.
"Economic personalities" and "wealthy entrepreneurs" can get off the "list" by withdrawing all money from U.S. banks and investing outside of America, and denouncing Israel support, the magazine says.
"There is compelling evidence from the Boston Marathon bombings and other various thwarted terror plots that homegrown jihadists have specifically looked to the magazine for guidance on what targets to attack — and have taken that advice quite literally," Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Intelligence, an NBC News counterterrorism analyst, said about the magazine's content.
The laws are clear; people are only allowed to give a specific amount of money directly to political candidates. For races in San Diego, for example, the limit is $1,050. When people try to go around the law and stream more cash into political campaigns, it’s called money laundering.
Last year, the city found two associates of Jose Susumo Azano Matsura laundered $8,000 this way to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ unsuccessful 2012 mayoral campaign. The city also found the owner of NK Towing in Vista illegally used the names of four of his employees to donate $2,000 to Dumanis’ campaign.
Right now, city and state investigators are looking into whether tow company owners laundered money to campaigns supporting Dumanis and four other local politicians over the past six years. If proven, it could represent the largest effort by an industry to illegally influence San Diego political campaigns in more than a decade.
On this week’s San Diego Explained, NBC’s Monica Dean and Voice of San Diego’s Liam Dillon set up at a local laundromat to tackle the issue of campaign money laundering and talk about why it’s a problem.
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Scott Kelly, the astronaut spending a year in space, tweeted a video of the Aurora Borealis like it has never been seen before.
The video shows the spectacular changing colors of the northern lights from outer space.
Kelly has been active on Twitter while he completes his 342-day science experiment aboard the International Space Station.
Recently, NASA introduced a new game called, Where Over the World is Astronaut Scott Kelly?
The rules of the game are simple: Kelly will tweet a photo and trivia question every Wednesday during his mission. The first person to reply to @StationCDRKelly with the hashtag @spacegeo and the correct answer. Each winner will receive the tweeted image signed by the astronaut when he returns to earth in March 2016.
Earlier in August, Kelly invited Twitter users to ask him any question. To the astronaut's surprise, the president of the United States tweeted at him: "Hey @StationCDRKelly, loving the photos. Do you ever look out the window and just freak out?"
Kelly will be the only American who has ever spent this much time in space. This experiment is also the first time that scientist will compare an astronaut's health while space-traveling compared to his identical twin, Mark Kelly, on Earth over the course of the next year, according to NBC News. The Kelly brothers are the first siblings to have both traveled to in space, a NASA bio read.
After more than four decades in the entertainment broadcast business, longtime San Diego radio host Jerry Cesak announced his retirement Wednesday.
Cesak – half of San Diego’s famous “Jeff & Jer” radio duo – revealed the big news during his morning radio show, the “Jeff & Jer Showgram,” on KyXy 96.5.
Cesak said his final day on air will be Oct. 14.
In this letter to fans, he explained the reason for his retirement. In true Jer fashion, he couldn’t resist throwing a number of jokes and jabs at his fellow co-hosts in his “goodbye” announcement.
“The real reason I’m leaving radio can be told in 2 simple words, “It’s time,” Cesak wrote. “I think life comes in chapters, and in my life, the radio chapter is over. And that’s it. It’s just time.”
Cesak and his co-hosts assured listeners the KyXy “Showgram” will continue, even with one man down.
“Of course, it’s going to be awfully lame without me – but the ‘Showgram’ will still be on,” he razzed.
Cesak, who has been in radio for 45 years, admitted the transition into retirement will feel strange for him and said he will very much miss hosting the “Showgram.”
In his goodbye letter, he talked about what his fellow co-hosts mean to him, including his longtime friend and radio partner, Jeff Detrow.
“Jeff and I have been brothers and partners for 33 years. Professionally and personally we’ve shared so many life experiences. The greatest tribute to our partnership is this: since the beginning we’ve known that from the second we met, we’d be together,” Cesak wrote.
“On the radio, as long-haul truckers, running a bowling alley…whatever – we would have been doing SOMETHING together for the past 33 years. Hopefully, nothing religious. Before I met Jeff, I had a sister. Since 1982 I’ve had a brother,” he added.
The “Jeff & Jer Showgram” has been on the air in San Diego since May, 3, 1988.
Over the past 27 years, the show has been on several different local radio stations, including a four-year run on Clear Channel’s Star 94.1 where the duo had a contract dispute that took them off the air for a couple of years between 2009 and 2011.
Today, the show runs on the CBS Local radio station, KyXy 96.5.
In a post on the show’s Facebook page, “Showgram” longstanding producer and on-air sidekick Tommy Sablan reflected on the history of the morning radio show and Cesak.
“Jerry has had one of the most successful radio careers in morning radio history,” Sablan said. “The Jeff and Jer Showgram has been on the air in San Diego since May 3, 1988. That's over 27 years. We have been on the air for 5 U.S. Presidents.”
“We put on some memorable shows and we will continue to do so,” he added in his post. “Here's to the future and here's to Jerry.”
Despite Cesak’s departure, Sablan said CBS and KyXy 96.5 have signed the morning radio show for a few morning years. He said a new name for the show will be unveiled soon.
The “Showgram” will continue with Cesak’s co-hosts including Sablan, Detrow, Laura Cain, Randy Hoag and Emily Griffiths.
The San Diego man accused in the slayings of three people that began with a shooting on Christmas Eve 2013 outside Mission Valley mall will now undergo a mental competency trial.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s office confirmed Wednesday that Carlo Mercado, 30, was returned to San Diego Central Jail after evaluators from Patton State Hospital – a psychiatric facility in Southern California where Mercado had been receiving treatment – found him competent to stand trial.
The DA’s office said the defense requested a competency trial for Mercado. At that trial, the DA’s office says the defense has the burden of proving Mercado is mentally incompetent and that “as a result of mental disorder or developmental disability, the defendant is unable to understand the nature of the criminal proceedings or to assist counsel in the conduct of a defense in a rational manner.”
The DA’s office said Mercado will be held in jail for now until a readiness conference set for Sept. 28. A jury trial is slated for Nov. 12.
Mercado is accused of killing brothers Salvatore and Gianni Belvedere, as well as Gianni’s fiancée, Ilona Flint.
On Nov. 3, 2014, a San Diego judge ruled Mercado was not competent to stand trial in the triple killings, and ordered he be treated at Patton State Hospital for three years until he was found competent to assist in his own defense.
This ruling came after reports submitted by two psychiatrists and one psychologist diagnosed Mercado as schizophrenic, psychotic and suffering from catatonic depression, the suspect’s attorney said at the time.
On Dec. 24, 2013, Flint and Salvatore “Sal” Belvedere, both 22 years old, were found critically shot inside their car parked just outside a Macy’s department store at Westfield Mission Valley mall in San Diego’s Mission Valley area.
Flint, who called 911 to report the shooting and their location, died at the scene. Sal was hospitalized and died a few days later.
Flint’s fiancé and Sal’s brother, Gianni Belvedere, went missing around the same time of the Christmas Eve killings.
On Jan. 17, 2014, police found Gianni’s badly decomposed body stuffed into the trunk of his own car parked at a shopping center in Riverside, California, more than 100 miles away from San Diego. He, too, had been shot to death.
For six months, police reported no breaks in the baffling triple homicide case.
On June 20, 2014, the San Diego Police Department confirmed officers had arrested Mercado as the suspect in the three slayings. Mercado pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder.
At a pretrial in early September 2014, DNA evidence emerged linking Mercado to Gianni’s car and the bloody Riverside crime scene, while ballistics evidence linked a gun registered in Mercado’s name to the deadly shootings of Flint, Sal and Gianni. Prosecutors also presented evidence found on Mercado's phone and computers.
Also in early September 2014, search warrants obtained by NBC 7 revealed the exhaustive investigation into the triple homicide case, but no clear motive for the killings.
In December 2014 the families of the three victims filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Westfield, LLC, accusing the Mission Valley mall of negligence in the deaths of Flint and the Belvedere brothers, claiming the mall failed to provide sufficient lighting and monitoring security cameras in the area to keep patrons safe.
That lawsuit also listed Mercado as a defendant, accusing him of malice and oppression in the killings.
Three young brothers were found stabbed to death and covered in blood inside an SUV in South Los Angeles today, and their father, who is suspected of killing them, was taken to a hospital suffering from critical stab wounds.
Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said the three boys ranged in age from 8 to 12.
Police responded around 7 a.m. to an SUV parked in the 300 block of East 32nd Street on a report of an assault with a deadly weapon, Beck said. The three boys were found dead in the back seat, while the father was found bloodied and suffering from stab wounds, police said.
A man who works near the scene said he was walking by the SUV and saw the man in the front seat, and he appeared to have blood on him. He said as he approached the vehicle, he saw a boy he believed to be about 7 or 8 years old — motionless with his eyes wide open and covered in blood. The man said he then noticed at least one other body in the back seat, and he saw what appeared to be a box-cutter in the vehicle.
Beck confirmed that a knife was recovered at the scene.
Police said the father is suspected of killing the three children, and they were not searching for any other suspects.
"The biological mother of the children we believe to be deceased. We believe there is a stepmother and she is safe," Beck said. "These are horrific incidents,'' Beck said. "These are incidents that scar not only a community but the first responders who have to handle them. It is a sad day in Los Angeles, made only slightly better by the fact that we have a probable suspect in custody."
The bodies were found near Dolores Huerta Elementary School, but the children did not attend that school.
Los Angeles Unified School District Chief Deputy Superintendent Michelle King said the kids were all students in LAUSD schools, but she declined to identify them.
"The schools they attended have been notified, and crisis counselors have been provided," King said.
Police did not identify the father or the boys. A memorial set up by family members, however, identified the boys as Luis, Alex and Juan Fuentes.
Residents in South Los Angeles held a memorial Wednesday night for the slain brothers at 32nd Street near the scene where they were found dead.
Family members said they were shocked to learn from police that the father allegedly murdered his two sons.
"He loved his kids and it's hard for me to see him do something like this. It's unbelievable. I don't know what drove him to do something like this," said Rene Chanquin, the father's cousin.
Xiomora Mena, the boys' aunt, said the father and his new wife had gotten into an argument, and she begged him not to take the boys. The boys' mother died of an anuerysm in 2008.
The killings occurred amid a rash of deadly violence in South Los Angeles that police have attributed to a raging war between rival gangs. Police have responded by sending more officers from the LAPD's elite Metropolitan Division into the area.
"I take this personally," said City Councilman Curren Price, who represents the area. "I live right around the corner, and I pass this way many times, been to the school many times. And to know that the kids that are back and forth here -- full of life, full of vibrancy -- and that these three are gone.
"We're going to be working closely with the community, with the police, others in the community to create a fund in memory of these youngsters and provide some support to the family and we ask the community to join us providing resources as a way of expressing our condolences but also providing assistance for the future."
An online fundraiser has been set up for the children. Anyone wishing to donate can do so here.
A pilot on the brink of retirement saved the lives of dozens of passengers on a burning British Airways plane and said it was the first time in 42 years of flying he'd ever faced a life-threatening emergency.
"It's safe to say I'm finished flying," Chris Henkey told NBC News by phone on Wednesday.
Henkey, 63, has been praised for remaining calm under pressure.
Henkey is credited for slamming the brakes and steering the Boeing 777 to safety after its left engine caught fire during takeoff from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas after a 10-hour flight to London Gatwick.
Visitors looking for fresh water at Torrey Pines State Beach have one option: a single drinking fountain.
Amid the fourth straight year of unprecedented drought conditions, some beaches have shut off their beach showers in an effort to conserve.
That measure poses a problem for some beach goers at Torrey Pines State Beach. Not only are the beach showers off, but some water bottle refill spots and the bathroom sinks have been shut off as well.
“You would expect, coming to a preservation like this and you’re paying a fee for $12, that you would be able to wash your hands,” said tourist Joe Cavaliere.
Those embarking on a hike, swim, bike ride or leisurely walk have been sharing a fountain with drinking water, and for some that fountain has become a sink and even a shower.
Becky Black, a visitor to the beach Wednesday, said as a born and raised Californian, she’s been through many droughts.
“I’m used to the need to conserve water,” Black said. “So I don’t have a problem with them shutting the water off.”
What did shock her was how much of it was shut off in the area.
“I don’t have a problem with them shutting that off, as long as they leave drinking water for people,” Black said.
Others, however, said the lack of water at beaches, even after Labor Day, was an inconvenience.
“We can’t wash our hands after the bathrooms, we can’t wash our feet after we walk on the sands, so we’re using the water fountain here to get our water which works but it’s unfortunate,” said Karen Doyle, a frequent visitor.
To her, shutting off all the water is “taking it a little too far.”
Cavaliere, a tourist in the area, said having most of the water off just shifted water usage to houses instead. To him, the change seemed less efficient.
“I used to just spray my feet over there for like 10 seconds and now it takes two pints to clean my feet,” Cavaliere said.
Others said they would still refrain from washing their feet where others drank.
“If people are going to be drinking out of there, I won’t wash my feet in there,” Black said.
For those looking to hike the area, there is running water at The Lodge and a drinking water fountain one trail, called Fleming.
Read the latest: James Blake Asks for Apology From NYPD in Interview
An NYPD officer has been placed on modified assignment following claims by former tennis professional James Blake that he was thrown to the ground and then handcuffed while mistakenly being arrested Wednesday at a Manhattan hotel, police said.
Police said undercover investigators were probing a theft ring that uses fraudulent credit cards to make cellphone purchases use a deliveryman to deliver the packages, and that deliveryman has been helping law enforcement by identifying suspects in the ring.
On Wednesday, he pointed out Blake as a suspect in the ring as Blake was standing outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel on East 42nd Street, police said.
Blake, 35, was waiting for a car to take him to Flushing Meadows when the undercover officers approached him, slamming him to the ground and cuffing him, The Daily News reports.
Blake told reporters outside the hotel Wednesday evening that the officers said nothing to him as they swarmed him.
Internal affairs investigators are reviewing surveillance video of the incident.
Blake, who was born in Yonkers and grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, told NBC 4 New York he planned to speak to the media Thursday, after he has a chance to hear what police have to say on the matter.
"It shouldn't have happened. It's something we'll deal with with the police and we'll find out what they have to say internally," he said. "Hopefully there's video of it and people can see what happened."
Blake told The Daily News he had just answered a few questions from a magazine writer and was texting when he looked up and saw someone in shorts and a T-shirt charging at him. He assumed the man was perhaps an old acquaintance who wanted to greet him, so he smiled at the man.
But the man allegedly threw Blake down on the sidewalk and yelled at him to roll over, telling him, "Don't say a word," according to the Daily News. Several other officers swarmed him and told him he was identified as a suspect in an identity theft probe.
A retired NYPD officer who was working as a security guard at the hotel recognized Blake and told the officers, "That is James Blake, the tennis player," according to the Daily News. Blake urged the officers to look at his license and his U.S. Open credentials in his pockets.
That's when the officers realized their mistake. They apologized, according to the Daily News, but the first officer who tackled him never said a word.
In a statement to NBC 4 New York, NYPD spokesman Peter Donald said a cooperating witness had misidentified Blake.
"Once Blake was properly identified and found to have no connection to the investigation, he was released from police custody immediately. In regards to the alleged improper use of force, the Police Commissioner directed the internal affairs bureau to investigate," the statement said.
Blake, who is biracial, told the Daily News: "In my mind, there's probably a race factor involved, but no matter what there's no reason for anybody to do that to anybody."
He says he wants an apology from police.
Speaking on the NY1 cable television news station, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said Blake "has a right to be upset." Bratton vowed to aggressively address Blake's allegations.
"It's very disturbing," Bratton said. "The nature of what he described is not what we do; it's not what we're supposed to do."
Bratton said internal affairs detectives were sent to the hotel and have already identified "a number of witnesses." He says investigators are also looking to obtain surveillance video from the hotel that may have captured the arrest.
At the peak of his tennis career, Blake was ranked No. 4 in the world. Knee problems and other injuries affected his playing and he retired from tennis after a three-set loss at the 2013 US Open. The Harvard-educated player was known for his charity work throughout his career.
While San Diego Police Department Chief Shelley Zimmerman again stressed that her department will not release body camera video of officer-involved shootings unless legally ordered to do so, she did say Wednesday there may be exceptions to that non-disclosure rule.
Zimmerman said she might, for example, release body camera video if, in her judgment, doing so could calm public outrage after a shooting by showing that the officer’s actions were justified.
“And that would be for public safety of our community, after careful consideration, balancing public safety with the due-process rights of that individual (who is shown in the video),” Zimmerman explained.
She referred to other law enforcement agencies, many of them outside California, where there are different laws and regulations governing the public release of body camera video.
“It could be as we have seen in other cities, where public safety's at risk, where people are damaging property, assaulting people, in a riot-type situation,” the chief explained.
Zimmerman also said citizens who file a formal complaint against an officer might be allowed to view body-camera video of the alleged incident.
According to the chief, that decision would be made by the department’s Internal Affairs office, which investigates citizen complaints against officers.
Zimmerman said body-camera video also might be shared with the city's Independent Police Review Board, her department's Shooting Review Board and other public agencies.
The U.S. Justice Department has issued new guidelines that focus on prosecuting individual executives in white-collar crime cases, and not just their corporations.
The memo came as a response to criticism that the Obama administration's handling of the financial meltdown and housing crisis of 2008 to 2009, the New York Times reported.
By going after individuals, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said the Justice Department wanted to "change corporate culture to appropriately recognize the full costs of wrongdoing, rather than treating liability as a cost of doing business."
"We're not going to be accepting a company's cooperation when they just offer up the vice president in charge of going to jail," Yates told the Times.
In their first year wearing body cameras, San Diego Police officers saw a dramatic drop in citizen complaints against them, though use of force instances rose, according to a department analysis released Wednesday.
SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman said the program, which has outfitted officers with 871 body worn cameras, is a model for cities across the country — and possibly the world.
The cameras were rolled out in July 2014, given first to the Southeastern Central and Mid-City divisions of the SDPD. For that reason, the one-year analysis looked just at data from those three divisions, comparing July 2013 — June 2014 statistics to July 2014 — June 2015 numbers.
The study found that citizen complaints against officers dropped 23 percent, allegations decreased 44 percent, and “not sustained findings” fell 84 percent. “Not sustained findings” mean an allegation could neither be proven nor disproved due to lack of evidence.
The SDPD credits the body cameras with reducing ambiguity and allowing investigators to make conclusive findings.
“I think body worn cameras are a win-win for everybody,” said Zimmerman at a news conference Wednesday. “I think they've been very positive. I appreciate the community that's here. I appreciate all the feedback. Also, I appreciate the officers talking about de-escalating things, building on our community trust because that's so important to have.”
Over the past year, overall use of force by officers grew by 10 percent. However, the nature of that force changed. Officers were able to use “lesser” controlling force to get suspects to comply, rather than harsher, “greater” controlling force, according to the SDPD. The analysis shows greater controlling or defending force incidents dropped 8 percent, while lesser controlling force jumped 17 percent.
Zimmerman said the increase in use of force may be due to more officers reporting those incidents, now that they have to wear the cameras.
The SDPD has recently terminated 11 officers, and several others have resigned pending termination, because they were not willing to get with “this new culture of excellence," the chief said.
Meanwhile, assaults against officers grew 36 percent in the past year. From July 2013 to June 2014, there were 154 attacks, compared to 210 between July 2014 and June 2015. According to the analysis, body cameras do not help de-escalating situations during mental health calls, aggravated assaults and adult narcotics-related bookings under Proposition 47.
“Although this is a one year analysis, we are cautious to draw any definitive conclusions,” an SDPD release reads. “Further analysis and data collection will be conducted as we continue to expand our body worn camera program.”
Another 1,000 body cameras will be put on officers over the next four months.
Still at issue is what the department does with the footage once it is recorded. Zimmerman has said her department will not release any body camera videos to the public unless ordered by a judge or legal ruling to do so. However, Zimmerman clarified that stance Wednesday, listing some exceptions that could arise.
Local residents can pick up recycled water at a newly opened recycled water fill station in 4S Ranch courtesy of the Olivenhain Municipal Water District.
The new station opened Wednesday at the corner of Campania Avenue and Camino San Thomas, just west of Rancho Bernardo.
Residential customers can get free recycled water through self-serve pumps on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The water can be used for watering ornamental gardens, vegetables, and trees, but cannot be used as drinking water.
The station is the first of its kind in San Diego County.
The University of California San Diego is ranked the 9th best public university in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2016 Best College guidebook.
UC San Diego has consistently made it to the top ten public universities list for more than a decade.
“It is an honor for UC San Diego to be recognized once again as one of the nation’s top public universities,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla in a press release. “At UC San Diego, we are committed to providing a world-class education for our students and conducting research that benefits our society and world.”
U.S. News and World Report also ranked UCSD the 39th best university in the U.S. among more than 200 public, private and for-profit institutions.
The rankings are based on faculty resources, financial resources, academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, student selectivity and alumni giving.
Just weeks ago, Washington Monthly ranked UC San Diego the number one public university in the nation. This is the sixth time the university has topped the list consecutively.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine seized almost 500 pounds of marijuana hidden on a pleasure boat Sunday.
Agents were on patrol in Mission Bay when they saw the boat docked in a campground. A K-9 detected the drugs on the boat.
When agents physically searched the boat, they found 95 bundles of marijuana, weighing about 482.46 pounds. The estimated street value is around $290,000.
Three men, ages 19, 22 and 55, were arrested in connection with the alleged smuggling attempt. CBP says all are Mexican citizens. One is a legal permanent resident of the U.S. and the other two have Border Crossing Cards.
All three men were booked into the San Diego Metropolitan Correctional Center and face federal charged.
Agents also seized the boat and the truck and trailer used to tow it.
Pope Francis' Understated Style
Esquire magazine picked Pope Francis as its Best Dressed Man of 2013 but the title didn’t go to him because of bold fashion choices. In fact, it’s the pared-down sartorial decisions that earned him the distinction. Francis ditched the ornate vestments and fancy jewelry of his predecessors for plain clothes. His humble fashion sense was on display minutes after his election as the next pope. Francis rejected a red cape with ermine trim presented to him by a monsignor and came out to greet the faithful at St. Peter’s Square wearing a simple white cassock.
Francis Passed on Papal Apartment
Pope Francis chose to live in a Vatican guesthouse — officially known as The Domus Sanctae Marthae — instead of a papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace. That made him the first pope in 110 years to live outside the papal apartments. He takes meals in the common dining room and celebrates a 7 a.m. Mass with Vatican employees in the main chapel of the residence.
Francis Prefers Open Popemobile
The pope eschews a bulletproof popemobile and has been using an opened vehicle with a shield in the front and above him to move through crowds. The first bulletproof popemobile was introduced following the attempted assassination of John Paul II in 1981 and was later used by Benedict XVI. But traveling in a bulletproof popemobile is like being confined to a “sardine can,” one that cuts him off from other people, Francis said in a 2014 interview with Vatican Radio. “It’s true that anything could happen,” he said, “but let’s face it, at my age, I don’t have much to lose.” One version of a popemobile he used in Naples was open on the sides, which allowed a local pizza maker to make a special delivery to Francis. Francis has used a number of different car brands as popemobiles during his trips: Mercedes, Toyota, Isuzu, Kia, Hyundai, Land Rover and Jeep, according to the Vatican. While in the U.S., he will use a Jeep Wrangler.
Francis Is Known for Saying and Doing Things No Other Pope Had Done Before
From divorced Catholics and abortion to climate change and gay marriage, Pope Francis has not shied away from tackling sensitive topics in the church and the society.
"His whole papacy should really be seen as refocusing the church,” according to Austen Ivereigh, a Pope Francis biographer. "He is willing to confront the things that get attached to religion: power, wealth, ego, status. Those things, which get in the way of the proclamation of the gospel, he is fearless in confronting.”
The People’s Pope
Francis was dubbed “The People’s Pope” by Time magazine for his preaching of humility and his defense of the poor. By choosing cardinals from some of the poorest nations and preaching against “selfishness and individualism” while visiting a slum in Brazil, he has stressed helping the poor as a core part of the church’s mission.
Phoenix is on edge after a string of shootings that has turned drivers into moving targets — and police say there may be more than one gunman.
The 10th attack was reported Wednesday — a pickup truck that had a rear window blown out as it rolled along Interstate 10. Nine other vehicles have been hit with bullets or other projectiles on or near the interstate, day and night, since Aug. 29.
Police say drivers have been lucky so far: The only injury was a 13-year-old girl who was cut by flying glass when the window of her car was shattered by a bullet.
A brush fire in Grantville left one acre charred as crews hosed down the surrounding area.
The fire broke out around 3:46 p.m. on Twain Avenue and Fairmont Avenue.
Heavy brush surrounds the fire, San Diego Fire officials said.
From NBC 7 Chopper footage, the fire did not appear to threaten any structures.
No further information was immediately available.
Refresh this page for updates on this breaking news story.
