A Texas state judge was in the hospital late Friday after being shot and wounded in the driveway of her home in Austin, according to police, NBC News reported. 

District Judge Julie Kocurek suffered an "extremely serious" injury but her condition is stable and not life threatening, Austin Police Department Commander Mark Spangler, told reporters.

Witnesses were being questioned but there was no information immediately available about the suspect, he said.

The department received a 911 call at 10:16 p.m. local time (11:16 p.m. ET) and officers found the victim at the scene.

"It is early in the investigation, however it appears that Julie had driven up into her driveway when the shooting took place," Spangler said, adding that other people were with her at the time.

Adnan Syed, whose case gained notoriety as the subject of the popular "Serial" podcast, has been granted a new chance to clear his name in the 1999 murder of his former high school girlfriend hae Min Lee.

A Baltimore judge granted a motion Friday to reopen Syed's case and allow new evidence to be presented, including allowing a jury to hear testimony from possible alibi witness Asia McClain, a high school friend whose account of seeing Syed in a library at the time of the suspected murder was documented on the podcast.

Syed's current attorney has argued that trial lawyer Cristina Gutierrez failed to contact McClain as an alibi witness. Gutierrez was later disbarred.

Police believe a mother killed her 5-year-old son before committing suicide early Saturday inside a Mesa, Arizona, hospital where the child was being treated.

The bodies of Lola Griffith, 27, and her son, Helious, were discovered in his room by hospital staff at Cardon Children's Medical Center at 2 a.m. local time, Mesa Police Department Det. Steve Berry told NBC News.

Mesa police are investigating the incident as a murder-suicide, Berry said. "We don't have any reason to believe that it is not," he added.

The mother of Tyshawn Lee, the 9-year-old who was shot to death in an alleyway in Chicago on Monday, has spoken out after rumors circulated on social media that she bought a new car with money from a GoFundMe account for Tyshawn's funeral.

Karla Lee told NBC 5 she did buy a new car, but not with the money from the GoFundMe account. She said she bought the car for protection after what happened to her son, and she used savings to make the purchase.

Accusations spread on social media this week following Lee's purchase of the car, and many claimed she used some of the money in the GoFundMe account for Tyshawn's funeral, which had raised more than $17,000 by Saturday. Lee posted several videos on Instagram addressing the claims, saying she bought the car for her protection to get to work and asking everyone to leave her alone.

Saturday marked the first time Lee spoke to the media since police announced her son was lured into an alley and murdered in what is believed to have been a "targeted" shooting. Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Thursday the shooting appears to have been gang-related.

"Tyshawn was murdered in probably the most abhorrent, cowardly, unfathomable crime that I've witnessed in 35 years of policing," McCarthy said.

Tyshawn, a fourth grader at Scott Joplin School, was fatally shot in an alleyway near his grandmother's home in Chicago's Gresham neighborhood around 4:15 p.m. Monday while still in his school uniform. Authorities said he was shot multiple times in the head and back.

On Tuesday, Lee addressed the media in an emotional plea asking for her son's killer to come forward.

"Please come forward and find whoever did this to my baby," Lee said as tears rolled down her face. "Oh my god I love my son. I'm going to miss him." 

The reward money for information leading to the arrest of Tyshawn's killer has grown to at least $54,600. 

Drought-stricken California has endured severe wildfires this year and over the summer, local firefighters, including a Chula Vista captain, were sent to Northern California to help battle harrowing flames.

Chula Vista Fire Department (CVFD) Capt. Andy Wilson, along with thousands of firefighters from across the country, spent weeks away from home battling the summer wildfires.

Wilson, who works out of Engine 55 at Station 5 in Chula Vista, was dispatched to the Rocky Fire in late July, a wildfire in Lake, Yolo and Colusa counties that burned for more than two weeks, scorched nearly 69,500 acres and destroyed 43 homes, 53 outbuildings and eight other structures.

Just as the Rocky Fire was beginning to wind down in mid-August and Wilson was preparing to return home to Chula Vista, the Jerusalem Fire broke out on the southern edge of the Rocky Fire. The Jerusalem Fire would eventually burn more than 25,000 acres and destroy six residences and 21 outbuildings.

Wilson was there on the first night.

"Initially, the fire had a very rapid rate of spread and just blew up, so there were a lot of unknowns about access issues, and where to insert crews and attack the fire. There were also issues for gathering that amount of resources in a quick fashion," Wilson recalled.

As a field observer, Wilson hikes through a wildfire area using GPS equipment.

“It starts with briefing first thing in the morning, which usually gets underway at 6:30 a.m. or 7 a.m. Then we head out to the field,” he explained. “We're doing a lot of mapping, and helping provide the maps the troops use to fight the fires when they're out there.”

“We also have to be aware of where suppression lines are going. It could be where bulldozers are working, where hand crews are building fire lines, or where engine companies are bringing in hose lays," he continued.

Wilson takes the information back to the Planning team of the Incident Command System (ICS) at base camp, which uses the information to make maps for the next morning.

A field observer's duties change based on what the fire is doing.

"When the fire is still growing and expanding, we're monitoring fire behavior, locating access points, and also identifying work that's being done," said Wilson. "As the fire starts to transition into where it's not growing as much anymore, then we're doing more mapping, fire suppression efforts, and documenting fire behavior.

As the fire dies down, the field observer takes note of damage to structure, vehicles and property.

Local firefighters who are called in to help out on wildfires are usually there two to three weeks at a time.

Since the wildfires are generally in rural locations, accommodations to provide for thousands of firefighters are scarce.

"Typically as a field observer, we're working 12 to 14 hour shifts and we're off in the evening. Most of the time when I'm out there, we're sleeping in tents that are encamped. We're just on a bedroll in a sleeping tent," explained Wilson.

The Logistics team of the Incident Command System (ICS) sets up operations much like a small city, in whatever space is available, such as a school campus or fairgrounds.

"Occasionally, we do get the opportunity, if there are local hotels nearby, and there are rooms available, they'll put us up in a hotel room. That's definitely more the exception that the norm," said Wilson. "And sometimes there are sleeping trailers in the camp, that they'll provide, which is an air conditioned trailer where they can sleep up to 40 people."

It takes specialized training to take on the role of field observer. Wilson went on his first training assignment in 2009.

"I was looking for more opportunities to get involved, and it's a dynamic, diverse and physical position," he said.

Wilson said working as a field observer away from home also makes him a better fire captain for the city of Chula Vista.

"It adds to my ability to recognize potentially dangerous situations here that could get myself or any of my crew members hurt,” said Wilson. “It helps me make better decisions on where to put crews and what suppression efforts might be appropriate in certain situations."

Last year, Philadelphia based photojournalist Mark Makela took photos of Dr. Ben Carson in the republican presidential candidate's Upperco, Maryland, home. 

The Guardian called the decor of the home a personal "homage" to Carson.

Makela took photos of Carson's various awards and certificates on display, a picture of Carson with former president George W. Bush, gilded proverbs and a painting of the neurosurgeon with Jesus Christ.

This week Carson came under fire for writing in his autobiography that he received an offer for a scholarship to attend West Point when he was not, according to his campaign on Friday. 

"I guess it could have been more clarified," Carson said in an interview with Fox News to be broadcast Friday night. "I told it as I understood it."

Carson, who leads the GOP presidential run this week, sought to clarify a statement in his book "Gifted Hands." Apparently, Carson was told he could be accepted to the military academy based on his grades but the surgeon never applied. 

Operation Frequent Flyer, a project launched by the San Marcos Street Narcotics and Gang Detail has led to 39 felony arrests and 21 misdemeanor arrests over the past three months.

The San Marcos Street Narcotics and Gang Detail, North Coastal Street Narcotics and Gang Detail, Jurisdictions Unified for Drug and Gang Enforcement (JUDGE) and San Marcos Gang Enforcement Team participated in the effort to target repeat offenders – especially those involved in narcotics and gang-related crimes.

The arrests included possession of controlled substances for sale, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of stolen property, weapons violations, gang injunction violations, probation violations, possession of narcotics and being drunk in public.

The operation also led to the seizure of 158.93 grams of meth, 120.18 grams of heroin, $37,000 in counterfeit U.S. bills, 17.4 grams of cocaine and six stolen vehicles among other confiscations
 

San Diego Beer Week is underway. On Monday, the same day the Chargers play the Bears at Qualcomm Stadium, Bolts legend LaDainian Tomlinson and Oggi's pizza release a new limited edition craft brew.

So the timing of this story is just too perfect.

According to a new study by VinePair, a wine, beer and spirits website, Chargers fans are among the most inebriated fan bases in the NFL. San Diego ranked 6th in the league in Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). Now, before we start throwing too many jokes around it should be noted this study is far from scientific.

VinePair gathered its "data" by using BACtrack, a device and app that allows people to test their own BAC. Anyone who did a tetst in the area of Twitter's NFL fan base map had the information recorded and added to the data pool.

Accodring to this report the most drunk fans in the league reside in Buffalo, where fans recorded an average BAC of 0.076, right on the edge of being legally inebriated. Also worth noting, five teams were not included in the results: the Buccaneers, Jaguars, Jets, Rams and Raiders (Yes, I know, it can't really be a study about drunk fans if the Raiders are not involved. HA HA HA).

It is worth noting, however, that nine of the teams that ranked in the Top 10 currently have a losing record. So maybe this study is accurate after all. You can see where every team ranked on the map below.

The San Diego Zoo Safari park got six early Christmas presents in the form of southern white rhinos Thursday.

The female rhinos, all between four and seven years old, arrived after a 22-hour flight from South Africa.

The rhinos were relocated from private reserves in a collaborative effort to help save the critically endangered northern white rhino from extinction.

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome these southern white rhinos to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and our new Rhino Rescue Center,” said Steve Metzler, interim associate curator of mammals, who accompanied the animals from South Africa to San Diego. “The animals did extremely well during the flight, eating normally and sleeping a good portion of the long trip. Our priority now is to ensure the rhinos are comfortable and acclimating to their new surroundings.”

Northern white rhinos have been poached to near extinction for their horns with only four remaining in the world; Nola, a 41-year-old rhino, lives in the Safari Park. The other three live in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

Facing extinction a decade ago, southern white rhinos now thrive in reserves with a population of more than 20,000.

The six female southern white rhinos will become surrogate mothers for northern white rhino embryos developed by researchers.

Researchers are optimistic within the next 10 to 15 years a northern white rhino could be born from these efforts.

San Diego Zoo Global has one of the most successful rhino breeding programs in the world. To date, a total of 94 southern white rhinos, 68 greater one-horned rhinos and 14 black rhinos have been born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

A man armed with a rifle robbed a gas station in La Mesa early Saturday morning, demanding cash and cigarettes from a clerk.

According to the La Mesa Police Department (LMPD), an unknown man walked into an AM/PM gas station at 3775 Massachusetts Ave. just before 1:30 a.m. He was carrying a rifle, similar to an assault rifle, investigators said.

A clerk behind the counter said the suspect pointed the rifle at him and a co-worker and demanded money. The clerk immediately handed the man more than $200 from the drawer. The suspect then demanded a box of cigarettes before fleeing on foot from the store.

The rifle-toting suspect was last seen running eastbound on Waite Drive.

Officers searched surrounding areas for the suspect – both by ground and helicopter – but were not able to locate him. As of Saturday morning, the robbery suspect remained at large.

The LMPD described him as a light-skinned African American man in his 20s, approximately 5-foot-9 with a thin build. He wore a blue and gray hooded sweatshirt, jeans and a baseball cap during the robbery. To disguise himself, he wore dark sunglasses and had the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head, police said.

No one was injured in the incident. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-TIPS.

Bids began at $300,000 on Saturday, Nov. 7, for John Lennon's long-lost guitar that turned up in San Diego earlier this year -- but no one expected the final price tag for the Fab Four acoustic to reach such monumental heights. The winning bidder paid a cool $2.1 million (plus a $300,000 premium to Julien's Auctions) for the Gibson J-160E.

That's right: $2.4 million has given the winning bidder the chance to play the same acoustic/electric guitar that Lennon and Paul McCartney used to write “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “From Me to You,” “All My Loving" and other Beatles hits, any time they choose to. 

Prior to the auction, the instrument was estimated to fetch at least double that amount, with some estimates putting the winning bid at over $1 million. However, the final selling price exceeded even the loftiest of expectations. 

In comparison, the highest amount a guitar has fetched at auction to-date was the "Reach Out to Asia" Fender Stratocaster that sold for $2.7 million in 2005 (auctioned by Sotheby's) to benefit the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. That guitar was autographed by a who's who of rock & roll legends: Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Tony Iommi, Paul McCartney, Sting, and many others. 

With a $2.1 million price tag, Lennon's acoustic ranks far above the next four entries on the list of high-priced guitars sold at auction over the years: Bob Dylan's 1964 Newport Festival Stratocaster (sold for $965,000 in 2013), Eric Clapton's "Blackie" Stratocaster (sold for $959,500 in 2004), Jerry Garcia's Doug Irwin Tiger guitar (sold for $957,500 in 2002), and Eric Clapton's 1964 Gibson ES-335 TDC (sold for $847,500 in 2004).

Lennon's Gibson J-160E has a storied past of theft and discovery -- one that dates back to 1963, when it went missing after a show in London. Lennon had played the Gibson for just 15 months on tour and in the studio, having picked it and another one up in Liverpool with George Harrison the year before. After being used to record multiple U.K. singles (including "Love Me Do") and full releases ("Please, Please Me," anyone?), Lennon's guitar would rest in comfortable obscurity for another 52 years before it would see the spotlight again -- right here in San Diego.

In June, NBC 7 reported that John McCaw, a San Diego building contractor, said that a friend had unknowingly bought Lennon’s Gibson in a local music shop a couple of years earlier. That friend sold it to McCaw for about $175.

Forty-five years later -- after decades of using it to teach his sons and strumming on it during amateur jam sessions -- McCaw began to realize what he had.

"[I] went through a lot of different emotions," said McCaw. "The first one was excitement. Then started to be overwhelmed, realizing what we did have, what it meant and could mean to the world.”

The realization dawned on McCaw when he opened a 2012 issue of Guitar Aficionado last year and saw a picture of George Harrison’s guitar between the folds. It matched McCaw’s.

Wanting to confirm his hope, McCaw and his friends reached out to international experts to authenticate that the Gibson was once Lennon’s. It helped that Lennon had played the guitar roughly, leaving behind marks as he slapped and strummed hard behind the strings. The scratches and scars led to a positive identification.

Hannah Lott-Schwartz, a San Diego native, moved back to the area after working the magazine-publishing scene in Boston. Now she’s straight trolling SD for all the music she missed while away. Want to help? Hit her up with just about anything at all over on Twitter, where -- though not always work-appropriate -- she means well.

Two people have died after their pickup truck smashed through a guard rail and ended up completely submerged in the Charles River, fire officials told necn.

Officials say the truck went off of Charles River Dam Road heading from Boston into Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The male and female patients were pulled from the water alive, but were pronounced dead a short time after being taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.

Witnesses told police the truck was driving irrationally up Nashua Street around 6:30 p.m. before turning, losing control and going through the guard rail, dropping into the water, passenger side down.

A state trooper on the scene jumped in to try to help. Boston Fire, Cambridge Fire, Boston EMS and Massachusetts State Police all assisted in rescuing the victims.

Boston Fire officials say when they arrived, they were able to break the driver's side window, pull the man out, then free the woman from the passenger seat.

Fire officials say the rescue was quick because there were so many witnesses.

Several roads in the area were closed after the crash.

Viewers across California and parts of the West Coast reported seeing a strange, large flash of light across the Pacific Ocean Saturday night.

Many viewers called in to NBC San Diego, NBC Southern California and NBC Bay Area reporting a green and blue colored streak of bright light through the sky, reported as far south as Mexico and as far north as the Bay Area. Some viewers even reported seeing it in Nevada, Colorado and Arizona. 

“It was really slow and then exploded really gray and there was some blue lights it just looked really weird,” Sokhom Thoeun who was walking on a San Diego beach with his family told NBC7.

“I'm like it's not a firework, it's not a falling star, it's not the moon...I don't know what it was...but it was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life,” witness Jessica Blecker said.

Cmdr. Ryan Perry with the Navy's Third Fleet said the Navy Strategic Systems Programs conducted a scheduled Trident II (D5) missile test flight at sea from USS Kentucky and that was the cause of the bright light. 

Read their full statement below: 

"Navy Strategic Systems Programs conducted scheduled Trident II (D5) missile test flight at sea from USS Kentucky, an Ohio Class SSBN, in the Pacific Test Range off the coast of Southern California. The tests were part of a scheduled, ongoing system evaluation test. Launches are conducted on a frequent, recurring basis to ensure the continued reliability of the system. Each test activity provides valuable information about our systems, thus contributing to assurance in our capabilities.

The missile was not armed. Strategic Systems Programs does not routinely announce missile testing. Information regarding the test launch of Trident II (D5) missiles is classified before the launch."

Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles confirmed through the U.S. Navy at Point Mugu that the light was a missile test. However, the location of where the missile was fired has not been disclosed, Captain Jonathon S. Spaner, commander of Sector San Diego and San Diego Captain of the Port, told NBC7's Bridget Naso. 

The Coast Guard sector confirmed that they spoke with the Department of Defense and confirmed it was a missile test. The Orange County Sheriff's Department tweeted the bright lights were confirmed to be a Naval test fire off the coast. 

Los Angeles International Airport officials warned residents earlier that overnight air traffic patterns would be altered due to Saturday night and continuing into next week due to activity from a nearby military base.

LAX officials said it would deviate from its "Over-Ocean Operations" that are typically in effect from midnight to 6:30 a.m. During those hours, incoming flights normally land at LAX from over the
ocean to reduce noise for residents living east of the airport.

"Due to the military airspace activity, however, incoming flights will use the overland westerly route when approaching the airport," according to LAWA.

Outbound flights will continue to take off to the west, over the ocean. The change in overnight operations will continue through Nov. 12, according to LAWA.

The lights prompted a flood of phone calls and police called news outlets to tell them to tell residents not to panic because 911 was inundated with reports. 

NBC 7 continues to investigate the bright light. Did you see the light? If so, tell us where you were below in the comments thread. 

A Santa Claus display at a mall on Long Island, New York, is prompting some shoppers to accuse the managers of being Grinch-like in their holiday decorations.

The Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City rolled out what it calls a "uniquely modern and interactive Santa experience featuring cutting edge artistic design."

The design places Santa in an "enchanted glacier," where children can play games within an artificial snow bank before hopping on the bearded fellow's lap for the traditional holiday photo op.

However, shoppers complained that the display lacked traditional decorations, namely a Christmas tree.

Simon Properties, owner of the mall, quickly responded to the complaints.

"Key elements are still being added to the Glacier experience at Roosevelt Field over the coming week – and after hearing early customer feedback, one of those elements will be a traditional Christmas tree alongside the Glacier experience," mall management said.

Simon Properties installed the display in seven of its malls nationwide. 

A UFO, a meteor shower or a government cover-up. Twitter lit up on Saturday night after a what looked like a meteor that exploded into a spotlight before fading into the fog.

The mysterious lights that appeared around sunset prompted lookiloos from as far away as Nevada and Arizona to take out their cellphones, shoot videos and pictures, call 911 and flood news media with questions.

The bright light that streaked across the state turned out to be an unarmed missile fired by the Navy from a submarine off the coast of Southern California.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has cast her ballot in Myanmar's elections. 

Suu Kyi voted Sunday in a polling station near her home in Yangon, NBC News reported.

She is running for a seat she has held in the lower house of Parliament, which she's expected to win easily. Her opposition party, the National League for Democracy, is also expected to win in a race against the ruling Union Solidarity Development Party, made up largely of former junta members.

Suu Kyi's party won just over 80 percent of parliamentary seats in the 1990 general election, even though she and her top deputy were under house arrest.

A shocked army refused to seat the winning lawmakers, with the excuse that a new constitution first had to be implemented — a task that ended up taking 18 years to accomplish.

Suu Kyi was again under house arrest for the next general election in 2010, which the NLD boycotted because it considered election laws unfair.

Just days before Veterans Day the children of military service members who gave their lives in combat received something special.

Volunteers in Mira Mesa helped build two playhouses for military children Saturday. The houses were decorated in military theme, including camouflage and were given to two families in Santee.

Habitat for Humanity told NBC 7 the playhouses are part of a program to show gratitude for those who’ve been killed in action.

"It's a really neat opportunity for sponsors to meet the children,” Shandy Arwood of Habitat for Humanity said. “And the children when they see these playhouses, we’ve made several of them, they get so excited especially cause [the children are] telling us the themes ahead of time. So when they see it it’s just kind of their dream come true.”

Habitat for humanity partnered with the military organization "Courage to Call" to make the playhouses with the goal of completing them in November so families can enjoy them in time for the holidays.

A 6-year-old child fatally shot during in a troubling encounter with city marshals in Louisiana this week was remembered as a "happy kid" as his family prepares for the funeral Monday. 

Jeremy Mardis will be buried in Mississippi Monday following a 1:30 p.m. in Hattiesburg, according to his grandmother and the funeral home.

The boy was killed after city marshals fired into a vehicle driven by his father in Marskville Tuesday, officials said, and two of those marshals have been arrested on charges of second-degree murder, NBC News reported.

Miranda Sigler, who babysat Jeremy for more than four years, remembered the boy as "a very outgoing kid, always had a smile on his face."

Jeremy was shot five times and was struck in the head and chest, the coroner said. His father, Chris Few, was also wounded in the shooting, which occurred at around 9:30 p.m. after what officials described as the end of a pursuit. Few remained in serious condition Saturday.