Greeks gave Alexis Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party a second chance to deal with the country's debt and push for reforms aimed at modernizing its government and economy, the Associated Press reported.

41-year-old Tsipras retained a coalition partnership with the small right-wing Independent Greeks, and was due to formally be handed the mandate to form a government later Monday.

Tsipras' party had 35.5 percent, with more than 99.5 percent of votes counted early Monday, while the center-right New Democracy trailed with 28.1 percent.

More than four in 10 Greeks stayed away from Sunday's poll, and 7 percent of votes went to the third-place Golden Dawn.

A pastor and members of his congregation have been hailed as "heroes" for disarming an alleged gunman who police say attempted to kill his girlfriend and infant son inside an Alabama church, NBC News reported. 

Pastor Earl Carswell was shot and injured while subduing 26-year-old suspect James Junior Minter, who allegedly opened fire Sunday at the Oasis Tabernacle Church in Selma. Minter — whose girlfriend and 1-month-old son also were injured — fled the church but was later arrested.

"There were several heroes in there," Lt. Curtis Muhannad, of the Selma Police Department, told reporters. "It takes a lot when you have someone with a firearm that's actually firing upon a person in a closed-quarters area, and you do whatever you can with regards to your own life to protect someone else's life."

Minter's girlfriend, 24, was shot in the shoulder and jaw and the couple's 1-month-old son was shot in the hand, police said. Carswell, 61, was shot in the leg, police added.

A blow-up doll sold as a gag gift is causing a stir at West Chester University near Philadelphia after the campus bookstore began selling the item.

Packaging on the doll boasts "perfect female specimen," "non-talking," and "no headaches."

Lisa Ruchti, director of Women's and Gender Studies at West Chester, said she was teaching a class on Thursday when a student brought the doll in as an example of sexism. The student was extremely offended, she said, and spread the word of the doll being sold in the campus bookstore.

News of the doll traveled quickly, reaching students from varying groups and majors. One student is gathering all of the people who had negative reactions and planning a protest.

The bookstore removed the doll from shelves and apologized on Twitter, writing, "We apologize for any offense this may have caused. We have removed the 6in 'inflate-a-date' from the sales floor." But, Ruchti said, that won’t stop the students from protesting.

"They want some kind of promise that something like this won’t happen again," she said.

Lauren Conwell, a student, said the doll made some students feel unsafe.

"It literally says you can punch it and manhandle it, and then says it's the perfect female," she said. "If that's the perfect female companion, then what does that mean for us?"

A representative from the university could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

The biological father of Baby Bella says he was "very concerned" for the 2-year-old girl he'd never met, who was allegedly killed by her mother's boyfriend in Massachusetts in June.

Joe Amoroso, Bella's biological father, spoke to reporters after Michael McCarthy was arraigned on murder charges in the slaying. He said he never saw billboards showing a computer-generated image of "Baby Doe" and didn't make the connection between her and Bella Bond.

"I would never have imagined anything like this happening to my baby girl," Amoroso said.

The mother of Bella Bond, the child who was dubbed as Baby Doe for almost three months after her remains were found, was ordered to be held on $1 million cash bond Monday, while the mother's boyfriend was denied bail.

Rachelle Bond appeared in court with Michael McCarthy Monday. McCarthy is charged with killing the Bella, whose body was found by a dog walker on Deer Island in Massachusetts in June. Rachelle Bond is charged as an accessory after the fact.

Authorities have said that Bella was identified thanks to a tip to the Boston Police Department's Homicide Unit.

Though he'd never met Bella, Amoroso said he loved her and was hoping to be a father to her when he went looking for her.

He said that after finding Rachelle Bond, she told him the "horrific details of what happened" to Bella, but he told reporters he did not want to discuss specifics. 

A composite image of the girl with deep brown eyes had been viewed by millions as authorities tried to identify her. The big break came last week when Boston police received a tip and a search warrant was executed Thursday at her mother's apartment.

Bond told a friend that Bella was dead, and the friend alerted a relative to the image of Baby Doe, who contacted police, according to the office of the district attorney prosecuting the case. Massachusetts state police detectives then spoke to the friend, then Bond, before making the arrest. 

He said he and his mother had called the Department of Children and Families about Bella, but that the cases were closed.

"So, with my family and on my side, we were very concerned about Bella," he said. "We knew that she wasn't in a good situation. I was just trying to get back here to Boston as soon as possible to go get my daughter."

Vice President Joe Biden said he's still considering a 2016 presidential bid, but that he "may not get there in time to mount a feasible run."

Biden spoke with Catholic organization American Media and mentioned concerns over whether he feels "comfortable that this will be good for the family."

"We're just not - it's not quite there yet and it may not get there in time to make it feasible to be able to run and succeed because there are certain windows that will close," he said. "But if that's it, that's it. But it's not like I could rush it."

In considering a 2016 run, Biden has maintained that his priority is his family's well being. His son, Beau Biden died earlier this year.

However, according to NBC's Chuck Todd, Biden's wife, Jill, is not an obstacle to a presidential run. 

On the opening drive of the 3rd quarter of their first road game of the season Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Stevie Johnson, passing Dan Fouts to become the Chargers all-time leader in touchdown passes. But the 255th TD of Rivers’ career was one of the few positives the Bolts can claim from their trip to Cincinnati.

San Diego piled up the mistakes, many of them mental, in a 24-19 loss to the Bengals. The unfortunate tone was set in the first couple minutes of the game. The San Diego defense held the Bengals to a 3-and-out but wide receiver Keenan Allen muffed it, setting up Cincy at the San Diego 19 yard line. Two plays later quarterback Andy Dalton found wideout A.J. Green in the end zone for a 16-yard score and the Chargers never got out of the hole.

The Bolts had ample opportunities to get themselves back in the game but just kept making error after error. A quick rundown of the untimely miscues that haunted them after the Allen muff:

-    Rivers was sacked and fumbled near midfield, the Bengals recovered
-    Cornerback Jason Verrett was called for a facemask penalty on Green away from the play, erasing what would have been 3rd and long
-    Head coach Mike McCoy elected to NOT use any of his time outs at the end of the first half when the Bengals were punting, instead allowing nearly a minute to tick off the clock
-    Linebacker Melvin Ingram was called for an illegal contact penalty that gave the Bengals a first down when they would have had to punt
-    Rookie linebacker Nick Dzubnar was called for a personal foul after a kickoff return, moving the Chargers deep in to their own territory and they were really never able to flip the field position again
-    Various and sundry other penalties and missed blocking assinments

What’s crazy is, even with all that, the Chargers were still in the game because Cincinnati was playing every bit as sloppy a game as San Diego was. Both teams lost a pair of fumbles and the Bengals committed even more penalties. Both Dalton and Rivers had long touchdown passes (Dalton a 45-yarder to Marvin Jones and Rivers a 40-yarder to Malcom Floyd).

The difference in the game was the timing of the miscues and the great equalizer in professional football: the pass rush.

The Bengals were able to get in to the San Diego backfield with regularity, sacking Rivers four times while the Bolts did not record a single sack of Dalton. Bengals running back Giovani Bernard had a good day running the ball, carrying 20 times for 123 yards. His effort overshadowed a strong performance by Chargers rookie Melvin Gordon, who ran 16 times for 88 yards.
 

A merger may be in the works between San Diego-based Petco and another giant in the pet care industry, Reuters reports.

Petco’s private equity owners, TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners, have entered into preliminary talks with PetSmart, Inc., according to the report.

TPG and Leonard Green recently registered Petco for an initial public offering in August however they’re also looking into whether to sell the company.

Combining forces with PetSmart, Inc. could create a more lucrative deal, according to the report.

Petco was founded in 1965 and employs more than 25,000 people in the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico according to the company’s website. The company's 2014 sales reached approximately $4 billion.

PetSmart, Inc. is based in Arizona, employees 53,000 and reported net sales of more than $7 billion last year.

The widows of two pilots killed when a wave swept their helicopter off a destroyer filed suit in San Diego Monday against the U.S. Navy, asking them to declare the San Diego-based destroyer “unreasonably dangerous.”

Lt. Cmdr. Landon L. Jones, 35, of Lompoc and Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan S. Gibson, 32, of Aurora, Ore. died in the Red Sea when a helicopter they were piloting attempted to land on USS William P. Lawrence on Sept. 22, 2013, a destroyer based out of San Diego. Three other people were on board, but survived.

San Diego-based Pilot Law, P.C. filed the suit on behalf of Mrs. Theresa Jones and Mrs. Christina Gibson and their children, accusing the U.S. Navy, Gibbs & Cox Inc., Huntington Ingalls, Bath Iron Works Corp. and commanding officer Commander Jana Vavasseur of knowing about design flaws on certain Navy ships and their helicopter landing platforms.

The MH-605 helicopter landed on the deck, the lawsuit alleges, and shortly after it landed, the commanding officer changed the course and speed of the vessel, causing a wave to crash into the flight deck and knock the helicopter into the sea.

The Lawrence has a “low-freeboard” flight deck; the freeboard is the distance between the waterline and flight deck is smaller than usual. The lawsuit alleges a low-freeboard deck design defect the Navy knew about since 1983 was the result of the sailors’ deaths.

“Between January 2003 and March 2013, just six months before this incident, the Navy documented at least nine other mishaps involving waves washing over destroyer flight decks,” Brian Lawler, an attorney on the case, said in a statement. “This systemic disregard for the safety of its personnel places the culpability for the deaths of these two pilots, husbands and fathers squarely on the shoulders of the Navy and the designers and builders of these ships.”

From 1983 to Sept. 22, the Navy’s Safety Center documented at least 13 Hazard Reports regarding waves damaging helicopters and flight decks, the lawsuit alleges, nine of which occurred in the six months leading up to the crash.

The Navy systemically disregarded the safety of personnel, the plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit, and failed to train crews to maneuver the ships with helicopters operating on their decks.

NBC7 has reached out to the U.S. Navy for a comment and will update this story when requests for comment are returned. 

For one San Diego teacher, 31 years of guiding students wasn’t enough.

He’s now giving back even more. Literally.

William Wade, a teacher in the San Diego Unified School District over multiple decades, has established a $2.7-million endowment for undergraduate San Diego State University students.

Wade’s generosity is seemingly made possible from his investment in the stock market in the 1960s, which he continued to build upon over the ensuing decades.

He came to San Diego in 1946 after a tour in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and enrolled at San Diego State College.

He started in engineering before soon switching to business and eventually decided to become a teacher his senior year.

After graduating in 1950, Wade went on to teach math and business in four different junior high and high schools with the San Diego Unified School District and at Mesa Community College.

San Diego State officials say Wade will combine annual cash rewards with a large planned gift, so that the school can immediately begin awarding scholarships in his name.

“My plan is to contribute cash each year and then my estate will go mostly to the university,” he said in a SDSU news release.

San Diego Police are looking for someone who stole an ATM Monday from inside a pharmacy in Carmel Valley.

An employee discovered the burglary when he showed up to work at the Rite Aid on Highlands Place.

The front window of the store was smashed and the front door was broken.

Officers closed off large sections of the parking lot for two hours at The Village at Pacific Highlands Ranch to collect evidence scattered throughout the parking lot.
 

An alert warning U.S. Marines of an active shooter on Camp Pendleton was a false alarm, according to the Camp Pendleton Scout. 

The notification was sent to base employees around 11 a.m. Monday.

Soon after, the Scout Twitter handled posted that the alert was a false alarm.

Base officials say they are working on a statement to explain the incident.

Anyone who lives or works on base can sign up for the alert system.

The U.S. Marine Corps base is located near Oceanside, between San Diego and Orange County.

No further information was immediately available. 

Refresh this page for updates on this breaking news story. 

With Pope Francis set to begin his first-ever U.S. visit Tuesday, a document obtained by NBC News shows law enforcement is worried terrorists may impersonate police officers, firefighters and EMTs to launch deadly attacks inside the U.S.

A memo distributed by the Pennsylvania State Police's Criminal Intelligence Center to law enforcement warns that imposters pretending to be first responders could use false identification to enter secure areas and wreak havoc before slipping away undetected.

"The impersonators' main goals are to further their attack plan and do harm to unsuspecting citizens as well as members of the emergency services community," said the bulletin, titled "First Responder Impersonators: The New Terrorist Threat."

The document — which does not mention the papal visit but was issued just days before the event — cited instances at home and abroad where suspects donned or were in possession of police uniforms in a bid to carry out an attack. It was based in part on Homeland Security and FBI reports.

San Diego police are trying to figure out how a suspect on a Moped thought he could escape officers in a pursuit down City Heights streets, putting young children in his way at risk, officials said. 

The pursuit began at about 5 p.m. Monday when police tried to pull the man over for not wearing a helmet. But instead of obeying the officers, the man took off with a passenger in tow, driving into oncoming traffic. 

"I was actually laughing in my head. It's sort of stupid because he tried to run away from the cops in the little motorcycle," said young witness Maximiliano Quintana.

Near 51st Street and Polk Avenue, the suspect diverted into a soccer field behind Fay Elementary School.

Quintana, one of the kids playing on the field, said a little girl froze when she heard the sirens and Moped.

"Then we saw the guy go into the park and he was like going straight at her, but then he just turned," said Quintana.

According to police, the female passenger fell or got off at the soccer field, while the man got off and started running into the backyards of nearby homes. 

Officers pulled over and chased after the suspect, who jumped a fence and tore his pants. 

The suspect was taken into custody around 5:20 p.m. on the 4000 block of 51st Street. Police say they found a knife and narcotics on him.

They found the Moped soon after.

The suspect faces several charges, which include evading a police officer and other misdemeanors. The woman with him was not charged.

A failed generator forced San Diego Gas & Electric to cut power to more than 115,000 customers amid record-breaking heat Sunday afternoon, the company said.

The widespread outage occurred just after 1 p.m. when SDG&E said they received a call from the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), a group that controls the state’s power grid, telling them they needed to immediately cut power to 115,000 customers after the generator went offline unexpectedly.

SDG&E told NBC7 they didn’t have time to warn people of the outage, later adding customer safety and safety and satisfaction is their number one priority.

Eleven minutes after the received the message from CAISO, they cut the power. SDG&E said they were ordered to drop 150 megawatts of load.

The outages ranged from Mission Valley to Clairemont to Escondido to as far north as San Clemente and lasted from approximately 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. A spokeswoman for CAISO said they are investigating what happened, but said the incident was unplanned.

They added that they could not share what power plant went offline for “reliability and security reasons”, but said the plant was in the San Diego area and it serves SDG&E customers. According to a tweet by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, the power plant that went offline is the Otay Mesa plant, although SDG&E and The California ISO wouldn't confirm that.

During the outage, many rushed to check the SDG&E outage map, but the website reportedly crashed for many customers looking to find outage information. An SDG&E spokesman also said they had not received complaints about their website issues Sunday.

In May, SDG&E said it would have enough resources to meet the summer power demand.  

The Escondido Police Department said during that outage, so many people called 911 that the department experienced a 100% increase in 911 calls.

“Nearly all of these calls were not emergencies, and were simply inquiries as to why the power was out,” the department said in a statement.

Instead of calling 911, the department recommends calling 211 instead or checking the SDG&E website.

Officials will not reveal why the generator failed, what the problem was, whether or not SDG&E is responsible for the losses or damages caused from the outage or if there was any other way SDG&E could have made sure their customers received power.

The outages come amid record-breaking heat across San Diego County. Montgomery Field's previous record of 87 was broken earlier Sunday when temperatures were recorded as high as 96.

SDG&E calls the incident very rare and says they do not expect it to happen again anytime soon.

During his first visit to the U.S., Pope Francis will canonize Junipero Serra, a Catholic missionary with strong ties to San Diego.

Serra started the first California mission in San Diego in the late 1700s and continued with eight more across the state.

"And it was the start of the first permanent European settlement in what is now the state of California,” said Matthew Schiff, who works for the Junipero Serra Museum in San Diego.

Pope Francis’ canonization ceremony in Washington D.C. Wednesday will honor Serra's work, and the San Diego Diocese said more than 140 local parishioners and staff members are making the trip to see it.

At the museum, employees have seen an increase in visitors recently because of Serra’s upcoming sainthood.

However, the canonization has garnered much criticism because of subsequent missionaries’ treatment of the native California population.

Valentine Lopez, chairman of the Amah Mutson Tribal Band, said Serra founded a system that exploited and abused the state’s native people.

"We're not saying that Serra himself did those whippings and the raping,” said Lopez. “We know he didn't do it. But Serra is the one who set up the mission system. He's the one who setup the policies to capture and enslave the Indians."

The California Association of Tribal Governments wrote a letter to the Monterey Diocese, requesting the pope cancel the honor for Serra, and an online petition has been circulated to ask Gov. Jerry Brown to oppose the pope’s choice.

Groups have also held several protests at California missions over the past several months.

Travel journalist Maggie Espinosa has a different view of Serra’s canonization. For her new book, she traveled in the soon-to-be saint’s footsteps, trekking 796 miles to visit each of Serra’s missions from San Diego to Sonoma.

While she said Serra was not the focus of her trip, anything she posts about him gets immediate reaction. Though the pope will be thousands of miles away, Espinosa said his trip will have a big effect on the state.

“I’m very excited for the recognition that [Pope Francis is] bringing to California,” she said.

Those at the Junipero Serra Museum do not take sides in the controversy. Schiff said their goal is to lay out as many facts as possible for people to learn about the missionary.

The attention, however, is quite a boon for business.

"I think the attention is good,” Schiff said. “I think anytime you can start a conversation about anything in history and it gets people interested, it's a good thing."

The museum will be open extended hours this week because of the ceremony.

It's been said – perhaps most famously by the late, longtime House Speaker Tip O’Neill -- that "all politics is local."

But there are times when local politics also gets personal, with little love lost.

That apparently, is now the case with a State Senate race here in San Diego.

The dustup is between Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and Senator Marty Block.

Both are Democrats, and intra-party rivalries like this are never welcome in Sacramento.

Fierce fussing and feuding already is under way.

Atkins says Block told her long ago he wouldn't run for re-election after his first term, a signal that his 39th District seat was hers to target in 2016.

He claims he never promised that.

"There was never any deal, no back-room deal,” Block told NBC 7 in an interview Monday. “We discussed in vague terms the fact that I may or may not retire after my first term."

But in a separate interview, Atkins recapped what’s become a series of disagreements over what transpired between them as follows: "He did come back to me and tell me 'Well, I meant it when I said it. I've change my mind, circumstances have changed.' He said that directly to me."

Atkins said she was "shocked, surprised and "disappointed" -- but determined to go ahead with plans to run for Block's seat anyway.

Her tenure as speaker is up in January; she'll be termed out of the Assembly late next year.

But Atkins told NBC 7 she wants to keep representing San Diego in Sacramento: “Now is the time that I should be able to do the work that I have done, the leadership that I’ve gained, to be successful for San Diego.”

Block takes the challenge as an affront to himself, their party and the Senate – and so do his backers in the upper house.

Atkins has accumulated $600,000 in political donations, more than five times what Block has in ready money.

"Frankly, the people who gave to her thinking she was going to run in 2020 will probably be asking for their money back, many of them -- because this is kind of a bait-and-switch,” Block said. “They gave to her not thinking she was going to run against me. Many of them are my friends."

This response, from Atkins' campaign spokeswoman: "We haven't heard any such concerns from anyone other than Marty. If he's so concerned about Democrats running against Democrats, then perhaps he should keep his word and not run."

Either way, the campaign figures to be a costly, divisive bloodbath from now until the presidential election cycle is over in November 2016.

Pope Francis arrives Tuesday from Cuba for his first trip to the United States, a six-day visit that will take him from the White House in Washington, D.C., to the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. He will speak to the U.S. Congress, address the United Nations in New York and give a speech on religious liberty at Independence Hall before heading back to Rome.

Here’s what to expect on Tuesday when the Pope lands just outside of Washington, D.C.:

Arrival at Joint Base Andrews, 4 P.M.

Pope Francis will be greeted by President Barack and Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe and Dr. Jill Biden at Joint Base Andrews, which is located in Prince George's County, Maryland.

The event is closed to the public, but there are a few other fortunate people who will join the official welcoming party, including some D.C.-area Catholic school students.

Chance of Traffic Delays: Moderate to High

Rolling road closures will precede the presidential motorcade out to Andrews and back to Washington.

The Pope does not have any public events Tuesday. However, Massachusetts Avenue, the busy road outside the Vatican's Apostolic Nunciature, or embassy, will close to southbound traffic Tuesday afternoon and stay closed through the visit. See all road closures here.

Washington, D.C., Forecast

Highs of 70°- 75°, according to Storm Team4. There is a 30 percent chance of morning rain, but sunshine is set to return to the area Tuesday afternoon in time for Pope Francis’ arrival.  

Want to watch the arrival?

We will cover the Pope's arrival live, including livestreams on our website and in our app.

If You're in Town

Check out these tips on how to get around. Still have questions? Here's what you can and can't do during Francis' visit to D.C. 

In Case You Missed It 

• Full Itinerary for Francis' Historic 6-Day Trip
• What You Can and Cannot Bring to a Papal Event
• Papal Evolution: How Francis Is Different
• Watch: Moments From Past Papal Visits

A San Diego Police lieutenant claims she was punished for complaining about aggressive and offensive behavior, including verbal outbursts and physical pushing, by one of her bosses.

Lt. Natalie Stone details the alleged behavior by veteran SDPD Capt. Brian Ahearn in a complaint filed on her behalf by her attorney Dan Gilleon on Sept. 18 against the city of San Diego.

In the 19-page lawsuit, obtained by NBC 7 Investigates, Stone said she was essentially demoted when she was given an unwanted transfer after complaining about Ahearn’s allegedly offensive and intimidating actions.

The civil complaint claims Ahearn violated the state criminal code, civil assault and battery law and SDPD rules and regulations earlier this year as the two officers worked in the SDPD recruit training program.

According to Stone, Ahearn created a hostile work environment. She said she witnessed Ahearn repeatedly lose his temper and once saw him repeatedly push a subordinate in the chest outside a training class.

"I was uncomfortable working with his outbursts, which frequently involved loud yelling, pounding his hands on desks and flailing hand gestures,” Stone wrote in a Sept. 1 memo filed with the court. “The hostile environment caused me to have medical issues related to stress."

In her lawsuit, Stone alleges that when she requested a change in assignment in May, SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman and Asst. Chief Sarah Creighton mishandled the issue, wrongly demoted her and retaliated against her after she complained about Ahearn's reportedly disruptive behavior.

Stone claims in her memo that her superiors transferred her to a lesser, entry level position in Patrol Command.

"This was done to embarrass me and show other members of the Department that if you make a complaint against someone at the Commanding Officer level, you will be 'put in your place,'" she wrote.

The lawsuit also names Zimmerman and Creighton as defendants.

"She's worked so hard for that department and done everything right," said Gilleon, "and for them to take her, after five months at the academy and put her in an entry-level position for a lieutenant, is really telling her, 'You know what? You mean nothing to us, because you're someone who complained.’"

Ahearn, Creighton and Zimmerman did not respond to NBC 7 Investigates’ request for comment, made earlier Monday through the SDPD’s Public Information Office.

A department spokesperson did send the following statement:

“The allegations contained in the lawsuit relate to a personnel matter. Under state law, personnel matters are confidential and we are prohibited from commenting. As per policy, we take all complaints and allegations of misconduct seriously, and we investigate thoroughly. Any questions relating to the litigation should be referred to the City Attorney’s Office.”
 

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a court motion on Monday saying that Rowan County clerk Kim Davis is interfering with deputies who are issuing wedding licenses to same-sex couples, NBC News reported.

Davis is accused of confiscating “all the original forms” and of providing “a changed form” that didn’t mention Rowan County, according to the motion. The new form, the motion said, didn’t mention Davis’ name nor that of the deputy clerk.

The ACLU is representing several couples suing the county and is asking that older, unmodified versions of the county's licenses be used. 

Davis, who returned to her job on Sept. 14 as the county's clerk, spent a week in jail for refusing to provide same-sex couples with marriage licenses. Davis pledged she wouldn’t interfere with deputies issuing marriage licenses.