Circulate San Diego released its 2015 San Diego Regional Walk Scorecard Thursday, ranking 18 local cities on how they’re working to improve safe walking conditions.

Cities like Coronado or Del Mar might come to mind as the safest and most pristine, but both of those cities got lost in the middle. Coming in on top is National City for having the best walkability in the county.

The ranking of 18 cities is based on several factors that include safe crosswalks and sidewalks, as well as a willingness by city leaders to make policy changes.

In National City, there are bright crosswalks and stop lights with blinking red lights, which are both essential for pedestrians' and drivers' safety. The city also worked on improving multiple sidewalks and roads around schools, including implementing raised crosswalks in certain areas.

Following the South Bay city is Solana Beach, which lands in second place, and Encinitas in third place. To determine how cities were ranked, Circulate San Diego considered some unfortunate statistics. The group says on average, 900 people are hit by a car in San Diego County each year. This year alone, 18 pedestrians were killed.

So how do cities like Lemon Grove, San Marcos and El Cajon that made the bottom of the list improve sidewalk safety?

“They need to focus on the policies that will get the right infrastructure in place,” Jim Stone, executive director with Circulate San Diego, said. “They need to focus on education for kids, to make kids safer when they're out on the streets, and also for drivers. A lot of times it has to do with raising the awareness of drivers.”

Stone says his intent is to create a friendly competition among cities because it’s not that tough to make cities walkable and safe.

To see the complete list and where your city ranks, visit CirculateSanDiego.org.
 

A passenger injured in a head-on collision on State Route 78 ran from the scene, officials said.

At least two people were hospitalized Friday after three cars collided on SR-78, east of San Pasqual State Historic Park.

Four people were in the vehicles but officials say one passenger who suffered an injury to his hand left the scene.

California Highway Patrol officers will investigate the cause of the crash.

“If you drive this stretch of road please be safe and wear your seatbelts,” said Battalion Chief David Pilkerton with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

A third person was killed in the anti-terror raid that targeted the Paris attack ringleader, officials confirmed Friday as the hunt continued for a suspected accomplice, NBC News reported.

The unidentified body was in an apartment in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis along with that Belgian jihadi Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Hasna Aitboulahcen, a woman initially believed to be a suicide bomber who blew herself up as elite forces stormed in.

Later Friday, the Paris prosecutor's office said Aitboulahcen was killed during the raid but did not blow herself up.

The development came as the death toll in the Paris massacre climbed to 130. The interior ministry said police had conducted 793 raids in the wake of the atrocities.

Matt Adams has been appointed area vice president and general manager of downtown’s Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, property owner Host Hotels & Resorts announced.

A company statement said Adams will oversee all operations at the 1,628-room waterfront property, the San Diego region’s largest hotel by room count.

Adams previous worked in executive roles at hotels including Hyatt Regency Chicago, Hyatt Regency San Francisco and Grand Hyatt New York, and also as an operations vice president for Hyatt North America.

Most recently, Adams held the title of vice president for Hyatt’s operations in France, which included seven properties. He started his hotel career in 1983 at Hyatt Regency Long Beach.

The Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego originally opened in 1992 at 1 Market Place, with a second tower added in 2003. Operators during the past three years completed a multi-phase, multimillion-dollar renovation that updated the property’s guest rooms, lounges, meeting spaces and other common areas.

Gunmen stormed a hotel packed with foreigners in the former French colony of Mali on Friday, killing more than two dozen people and taking dozens of guests and workers hostage, NBC News reported. 

A U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the operation is still ongoing, told The Associated Press that initial reports from the field indicate that 27 people were killed in the attack. Another U.N. official said two attackers have been killed. 

Six Americans staying in the Radisson Blu in the capital Bamako got out alive, U.S. defense officials told NBC News.

A hotel receptionist working the front desk at the hotel told NBC News the siege appeared to be over. But a U.N. official said the hotel "hasn't been cleared yet" and officials warned the death toll could rise.  

Mali army commander Modibo Nama Traore told the AP that the gunmen had shouted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great," in Arabic before firing on the guards and taking hostages. 

An al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group claimed responsibility for the hotel attack, Reuters reported. NBC News could not immediately confirm that.

At least eight people are forced to sleep outdoors after their homes were destroyed by arson, according to Casas De Luz non-profit founder Kathy Faller.

 The homes are in Tijuana and were built by San Diego volunteers from around the county. Many were from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito in Solana Beach. Each home is made possible by thousands of dollars of donated money and goes to needy families. 

Faller said the arson incident happened Wednesday. An angry evicted tenant set one of the homes on fire which then spread to two other homes. One of the homes housed numerous families including children. No one was injured. 

She said the children are staying with relatives, but many adults are forced to sleep in the elements.

 The UUFSD community is donating supplies to the families, but more is needed. Immediate needs include a large tarp for the adults sleeping outdoors.

 Faller said she’s determined to build new homes for these affected families. She hopes it can be done before the holiday season ends.

 More information on how you can help can be found at Casas de Luz's website. 

A couple of car thieves who stole a San Diego woman’s van also nabbed something from her 12-year-old daughter: a flute worth $500, which they tried to pawn off at a shop – twice.

According to the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD), a woman’s van was stolen on Oct. 25. The vehicle was later recovered, but the woman noticed something was still missing: a brass-colored Yamaha flute belonging to her daughter. The instrument had been left in the backseat.

“I really do love playing. It just means a lot to me, Josephina De LaCruz said of her missing instrument. “It's  a part of my life now.”

Following the flute theft, police said the mother went to a pawn shop in the 300 block of Broadway in Chula Vista to see if someone had tried to sell the stolen instrument.

“To know my car was stolen and my daughter's flute was taken – I know it was devastating to her," Josephina's mother told NBC7.

The manager of the shop told the woman an unknown man and a woman did try to sell it on Oct. 26, the day after the van was stolen. The owner refused to buy it because after noticing a bar code sticker had been removed from the flute, he believed it was stolen, police said.

The couple left the shop and was seen driving away in a silver or light colored, four-door compact car. Police described the man as being 30 to 40 years old, with thinning hair and a goatee, wearing a Chargers shirt. The woman, a redhead between 20 and 30 years old, was wearing a black dress at the time of the visit to the pawn shop.

According to investigators, the manager of the pawn shop showed the mother and her daughter images captured on surveillance video of the attempted flute transaction and the girl immediately knew it was her instrument. The middle school student recognized the unique box the flute was in, which the male suspect was carrying.

The man and the woman weren’t the only people who tried to pawn the flute.

On Oct. 28, the owner said a different man came back into his pawn shop attempting to get money for the flute. Once again, the manager did not buy it. The manager described that man as walking with a limp.

For her band pageant Thursday night and her weekend performances with  San Diego Youth Symphony she's been using a borrowed flute.

“It’s  good and everything but once in a while the screws will come off, " Jospehina said.

Her mother is worried about the $500 she'll have to pay for the stolen flute they signed out from Chula Vista Middle School.

“I’m hoping they won’t ask me for the money until after the new year. $500 dollars is a lot of money. I’d  like to be able to buy stuff for my children."

“Even though they say finders’ keepers don’t keep something that is very valuable to someone's life," Jospehina explained.

Despite her loss, she's got some good news. The Pawn Shop is planning on getting her another flute.

The CVPD is handling the case. The flute remains missing. Anyone who knows anything about the alleged suspects is encouraged to call investigators at (619) 409-3875.

Republican presidential candidates swiftly condemned Donald Trump's call for requiring Muslims in the United States to register in a national database, drawing a sharp distinction Friday with the GOP front-runner.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called Trump's proposal "abhorrent." Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Trump was trying to "divide people." And Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has largely avoided criticizing Trump throughout the 2016 campaign, said that while he was a fan of the billionaire businessman, "I'm not a fan of government registries of American citizens."

"The First Amendment protects religious liberty, and I've spent the past several decades defending the religious liberty of every American," Cruz told reporters in Sioux City, Iowa.

The rebuke followed Trump's call Thursday for a mandatory database to track Muslims in the U.S. In a video posted on MSNBC.com, Trump was asked whether Muslims would be required to register. He replied, "They have to be."

On Friday, Trump said on Twitter that he didn't suggest creating such a database but instead was answering a question from a reporter about the idea. However, he did not disavow the prospect of a database on social media or at an event Friday morning.

Civil liberties experts said a database for Muslims would be unconstitutional on several counts, while the libertarian Cato Institute's Ilya Shapiro said the idea also violates basic privacy and liberty rights.

Marci Hamilton, a Yeshiva University legal expert on religious liberty, said requiring Muslims to register appears to be a clear violation of the Constitution's protection of religious freedom.

"What the First Amendment does and what it should do is drive the government to use neutral criteria," Hamilton said. "You can use neutral criteria to identify terrorists. What it can't do is engage in one-religion bashing. That won't fly in any court."

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League in New York called Trump's proposal "deeply troubling and reminiscent of darker days in American history when others were singled out for scapegoating."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned as "Islamophobic" comments from both Trump and fellow GOP candidate Ben Carson, who on Thursday compared blocking potential terrorists posing as Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. to handling a rabid dog.

"If there's a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog," Carson told in Alabama. "It doesn't mean you hate all dogs, but you're putting your intellect into motion."

Said CAIR's Robert McCaw said in a statement, "Donald Trump and Ben Carson are contributing to an already toxic environment that may be difficult to correct once their political ambitions have been satisfied."

In New Hampshire on Friday, Carson said the U.S. should have a database on "every foreigner who comes into this country," but he rejected the idea of tracking U.S. citizens based on their religion.

"One of the hallmarks of America is that we treat everybody the same," he said. "If we're just going to pick out a particular group of people based on their religion, based on their race, based on some other thing, that's setting a pretty dangerous precedent."

The controversy followed the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility, elevating fears of attacks in the U.S. and prompting calls for new restrictions on refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton took to Twitter Friday and challenged all Republican candidates to disavow Trump's comments. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called Trump's words "outrageous and bigoted."

"This is shocking rhetoric," Clinton wrote. "It should be denounced by all seeking to lead this country."

Several did just that.

"You're talking about internment, you're talking about closing mosques, you're talking about registering people, and that's just wrong," Bush said Friday on CNBC.

A spokesman for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the candidate "does not support databases based on one's religion."

Kasich, the Ohio governor, said requiring people to register with the federal government because of their religion "strikes against all that we have believed in our nation's history." Kasich had faced criticism following the Paris shooting for saying he would set up an agency with a mandate to promote what he called "Judeo-Christian values" overseas to counter Islamist propaganda.

Trump spoke Thursday a few hours after the House passed legislation essentially barring Syrian and Iraqi refugees from the United States. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has slotted the bill for possible Senate consideration, though it's unclear whether the chamber could get enough votes to override a veto by President Barack Obama, who opposes the measure.

The unified pushback against Trump was rare. Republicans have vacillated in their handling of other inflammatory comments from him, wary of alienating his supporters but also increasingly concerned that he's managed to maintain his grip on the GOP race deep into the fall.

The first reference to a database for Muslims came in Trump's interview with Yahoo News published Thursday in which the billionaire real estate mogul did not reject the idea of requiring Muslims to register in a database or giving them special identification cards noting their religion.

"We're going to have to look at a lot of things very closely," Trump told Yahoo News.

According to Yahoo, he also suggested he would consider warrantless searches, saying, "We're going to have to do things that we never did before."

Asked by reporters Thursday night to explain his Yahoo comments, Trump suggested his response had been misconstrued. "I never responded to that question," he said.

San Diego Police say they've been in contact with the driver accused in a fatal hit-and-run collision Thursday in the Bay Ho community.

A Ford Fusion struck a woman in her 60s just before 9 p.m. as the woman was crossing the Clairemont Drive north of Balboa Avenue near Hiawatha Way.

San Diego Police found the suspect's car abandoned less than a mile from the collision at the end of Chippewa Court. The vehicle had front end damage, police said.

According to officials, they've been in contact with the driver described as a woman in her 20s, 5'4" to 5'5" with a ponytail.

Her identity has not yet been released but officers say they expect to have a warrant for her arrest sometime today.

The victim's name has not been released.

One week after the terrorist massacre that shook France, Parisians on Friday were set to hold noisy and light-filled memorials even as large public gatherings were still barred over security concerns, NBC News reported. 

On Friday, residents left flowers, lit candles or held quiet vigils outside the restaurants, cafes and concert halls hit in the attacks.

A group of artists and cultural figures called on people to mark the one-week anniversary with an outpouring of "noise and light" at 9:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET), the moment the assaults began.

"Let's make some noise and have some light so that they understand they have lost," one Twitter user said using the hashtag #21h20.

A man has been arrested in the death of Gabriella Doolin, a 7-year-old girl whose body was found 25 minutes after she was reported missing. 

On Friday, Timothy Madden, 38, was arrested in the girl's death which was ruled a homicide, Kentucky State Police announced. 

Doolin went missing in the crowd during a peewee football game at Allen County High School in Scottsville, Kentucky, on Saturday night. Her parents asked officials to announce her name over the loudspeakers and the school was locked down during the search. 

Two San Diego-area school children say there was an air gun on their school bus Friday, claiming the student holding the air gun pointed it at them while they were on the way to school, NBC 7 has learned.

San Diego Unified School Police officials are investigating the report made by two students at Longfellow K-8 School.

The students claim a third child pointed an air gun at them on the bus to school.

An air gun is also known as a pellet or BB gun. In the city of San Diego, it's illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to have an air gun in public except for those involved in a supervised or lawful activity.

Officials told NBC 7 that as of 11:30 a.m., there was no weapon and no injuries reported.

Officers were trying to determine what occurred.

The school is a K-8 Spanish Immersion Magnet School located on July Street in the Bay Park community of San Diego.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

A 16-year-old boy was charged with murder Friday in the slaying of a Downey, California, police officer who was shot to death as he sat in his car, prosecutors said.

The teen, identified as Abel Diaz, was charged with one count of murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Diaz was set to be arraigned Friday afternoon. Prosecutors will ask that his bail be set at $1 million.

If convicted, Diaz faces up to life in state prison, prosecutors said.

On Wednesday night, 29-year-old Officer Ricky Galvez was shot and killed as he sat in his personal car in the Downey Police Department parking lot in what investigators described as a botched robbery attempt.

Two adults and a juvenile were arrested in connection with the slaying after a pursuit and manhunt in the nearby community of Montebello.

Galvez was a five-year veteran of the Downey Police Department.

Refresh this page for updates on this developing story

University of Illinois officials are fighting a new social media group that declares itself the "Illini White Student Union" and has called for the monitoring of African American students, saying it planned to organize against the "terrorism" of Black Lives Matter activists.

The Facebook group, created Wednesday, called itself a "page for white students of University of Illinois students (sic) to be able to form a community and discuss our own issues as well as be able to organize against the terrorism we have been facing from Black Lives Matter activists on campus."

The page, which the school said was removed within hours but has since resurfaced, also called on members to share photos of black protesters in the campus quad "so we know who antiwhites are."

"That anyone on our campus would think it’s appropriate to create such a site is extremely disturbing," Interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson said in a message to students Thursday. "We recognize the right to free speech, and we encourage you to exercise that right when you see examples of racism, discrimination or intimidation on our campus."

Wilson added that the site’s call for monitoring of African American students has some on campus feeling "unsafe."

In a separate message to students, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Renee Romano said the school notified Facebook of the page and asked for its removal, noting that it violated the company’s own standards. She also said school officials reached out directly to those responsible for the posting as the group’s name is "in violation of (the university’s) trademark rights" and the school has ordered them to cease and desist.

"Posts and pages such as these stand in complete opposition to the values of mutual respect and community that define the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign," the message read. "While they may be protected exercises of free speech, they are offensive, divisive and stunningly narrow-minded expressions. Just because someone has the power to make a statement does not mean that we should give those words weight or value."

In an anonymous message to the News-Gazette, the original page’s administrator said Black Lives Matter protests "disrupt student daily life and activity far too much," adding, "We are in the United States and not Africa and we don’t desire to have an African flag on campus."

A similar page bearing the group's name has garnered more than 780 likes since it resurfaced.

Posts on the latest version of the group have included one saying, "Inclusiveness and cultural diversity is when every race has their organization on campus. Racism is when white people have one."

Commenters on the page have voiced messages of both support and disappointment.

One commenter wrote, "you have every right to say what you feel is right without being labeled."

Another said, "By grouping people into white or black groups we are digressing back to segregated ways and days but black lives do matter just as well as latino and aglo saxon (sic)."

Lauded for its great food, cool places to stay and unique border crossing, the San Diego/Tijuana region has been named one of the best trips to take in 2016, according to “National Geographic Traveler.”

The region where south San Diego meets the U.S.-Mexico border to cross into Tijuana was chosen among the world’s 20 “go-now,” must-see travel destinations for the New Year.

National Geographic says the region is home to the “coolest border crossing,” one side home to sandy, sunny San Diego, the other side home to Tijuana which, according to the list, is “turning over a new leaf,” with drug cartel violence subsiding while tourism rises.

National Geographic Traveler says the region is great to visit year-round – with the exception of the “June Gloom” period between Mid-May and early-July. It lists the San Diego Trolley as an effective way to get around the area, given the Blue Line’s final stop in San Ysidro, just a short walk to the pedestrian bridge leading toward the border crossing.

As for lodging, the list suggests staying at retro-chic Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows in Uptown. For a memorable meal, grab some homestyle Mexican food at the tiny Barrio Logan spot, Las Cuatro Milpas, an iconic San Diego institution and favorite among foodies since 1933.

For shopping, National Geographic Travel recommends a visit to Make Good in San Diego’s hip South Park neighborhood – a little shop that exclusively carries items made my both San Diego and Tijuana regional artists, including jewelry and home goods.

Other top travel destinations around the globe that made the cut for this list include the Philippines, Poland’s Masurian Lake District and the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean. Click here for the full list.
 

The San Diego Union-Tribune will move downtown after spending more than 40 years at its Mission Valley location.

Newsroom staffers are scheduled to move to 600 B Street in May 2016, according to the company that manages the downtown high rise building.

The paper will occupy four floors of the building, the Lincoln Property Company announced Thursday.

It will be a big change for those San Diegans who are used to seeing the newspaper's building on Camino de la Reina, just north of Interstate 8 near the junction with State Route 163.

BBL Commercial Real Estate purchased that 13-acre site, with its five-story office building and printing plant, in September for an estimated $50 million, according to the newspaper.

Tribune Publishing Co. purchased the only daily print newspaper in San Diego from real estate developer Douglas Manchester for $85 million in May.

The company immediately announced the elimination of 178 positions, many from the UT’s printing and delivery divisions. Employees at the company’s Los Angeles printing facility handle those duties for San Diego County customers.

Manchester initially purchased the newspaper and its real estate holdings in 2011. In an interview with voiceofsandiego, Manchester said he paid above $110 million for the newspaper which he reportedly said was less than the asking price.

A development concept to potentially replace the nearly 50-year-old Terminal 1 at the San Diego International Airport has been selected, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority Board announced. 

In July, airport officials began considering five alternatives on the table for the new Airport Development Plan (ADP), which seeks to meet airport demand through 2035 by finding ways to rework its 661 acres to hold more travelers

The board unanimously selected Alternative 5 as their preferred concept Thursday, a plan that features a unified terminal concept with central federal inspection for international flights and minimal projects so Terminal 1 will be up and running faster. The concept also features more space for parking and critical infrastructure and flexibility for future runway reconstruction. 

Of the five initial concepts on the table, Alternative 5 will be built in the shortest period of time, the board said. The plan is estimated to cost $2.2 billion. 

Over the next 20 years, the main goals are to replace Terminal 1, keep the newly revamped Terminal 2 open as long as possible and grow international travel, officials say. 

Despite the many plans on the table, all five had a few things in common.

Each would create a passenger processing center on the airport’s north side, near a planned SANDAG transit center by Washington Street and Pacific Highway. Every alternative would have overnight aircraft, expand Terminal 2 West to create six new gates, build a new road to take traffic off Harbor Drive and include extra space for a parking garage if needed.

Lindbergh Field’s website has more information on the plan.

The Airport Authority also began an environmental review, which they expect will take one and a half years.

A red flag warning is in effect this weekend for Southern California.

The National Weather Service out of San Diego issued the fire warning from Saturday at 1 a.m. through Sunday at 6 p.m. for Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Winds between 15 to 25 mph are expected in those areas with gusts estimated between 35 and 50 mph, according to the warning.

A red flag warning means fires are likely to spread rapidly.

So the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection will bring in an additional 15 engines from Northern California to support local resources in Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, Cal Fire Capt. Mike Mohler said.

Residents traveling through Southern California should stay connected to NBC 7 mobile apps for updates on conditions.

Winds will begin to subside Sunday evening, and humidity levels will rise early next week.

Former U.S. Navy analyst turned Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard, was released on parole in the United States after 30 years in prison. 

"The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard," Israel's Prime Minister Ben Netanyahu said in a statement. "After three long and difficult decades, Jonathan has been reunited with his family." 

Pollard was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 1987 of passing reams of classified information to Israel. Now 61, he wants to move to Israel and receive substantial Israeli government back-pay.