A man and woman who used a stun gun to steal a woman’s purse in the parking lot of a Toys “R” Us store in La Mesa have been arrested, police confirmed.

The La Mesa Police Department (LMPD) said suspects Dante Bahena, 18, and Katrina Frederickson, 24, were arrested Wednesday on several charges, including robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Police said the suspects used a stun gun on Nov. 5 to attack a woman while snatching her purse as she walked to her car in the parking lot of a Toys “R” Us store located at 8790 Grossmont Dr.

The victim, in her 50s, had just finished shopping at the toy store. As she walked through the parking lot, police said Bahena tried to pull her purse from her shoulder. The victim and Bahena struggled, and then Bahena used a stun gun to finally force the woman to give him her bag.

The woman suffered minor injuries in the robbery, but was not hospitalized, investigators said.

The LMPD said Bahena fled the parking lot with the stolen purse in a getaway car driven by Frederickson. Both suspects are transients, police said, and had been living out of the car.

Following the robbery, the suspect used the victim’s credit cards at several businesses in the South Bay. Investigators were ultimately able to trace the identities of the suspects and a countywide BOLO alert was issued across law enforcement agencies.

On Wednesday evening, a deputy with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department located the duo in their car on State Route 94 and College Avenue. La Mesa detectives responded and took the suspect into custody.

Both Bahena and Frederickson were slated to appear in court Friday afternoon.
 

Eater San Diego shares the top stories of the week from San Diego’s food and drink scene, including the winners of the 2015 Eater Awards, a visit from famed chef Rick Bayless and the opening of a new brewery in downtown’s East Village.

2015 Eater Awards Winners Announced
The winners of the annual Eater Awards – honoring the people and places that made our local restaurant and bar scene run wild over the past year – were revealed this week. “Restaurant of the Year” and “Chef of the Year” went to Bracero – the white-hot restaurant in Little Italy that’s shining a spotlight on all things Baja – and its dynamic chef/owner Javier Plascencia.

Chad White to Swap San Diego for Spokane, Closes Comun Taqueria
On the cusp of his debut on the television cooking competition, “Top Chef,” Chad White stunned the local food world by announcing plans to move back to his hometown of Spokane, Wash., next month to open a restaurant. As such, Comun Taqueria, which White opened last summer in downtown’s East Village, shut down this week.

Legendary Chicago Chef Rick Bayless Cooks & Shops in San Diego
Eater caught up with celebrity chef Rick Bayless as he stopped in town to cook at the gala kick-off dinner for the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival. While shopping for seafood at Catalina Offshore, Bayless shared his favorite places to eat in San Diego and Tijuana and dropped some tidbits on Red O, his Mexican concept in the works for the UTC area.

Knotty Barrel Expanding in the East Village, Adding Brewery
The East Village gastropub, which opened in 2011, will expand to include a game room and a new in-house microbrewery, Knotty Brewing. The craft beer-centric eatery is also planning a 2,300-square-foot outdoor space, dubbed Knotty's Backyard, that will have fire pits, water features and its own dedicated bar.

Find a New Breed of OTB at Striders, Downtown's Newest Sports Bar
Off-track betting has entered the downtown dining landscape with the opening of Striders, a swanky sports bar and lounge at the base of the Harbor Club. It's a flagship location for the new concept, which combines Las Vegas-style dining with wagering on horses and features a wall of TV screens that broadcast races as they happen.

A rare pygmy calf born just last week at the San Diego Zoo has died, zoo officials announced in a somber message on Twitter on Friday.

“Sad to announce the death of our pygmy hippo calf,” the zoo tweeted. “Please share your sympathy with our staff.”

The little hippo was born Nov. 11, weighing about 12 pounds.

When the zoo announced the hippo’s birth, no health issues were reported. However, zoo officials said it was the first surviving hippo birth at the zoo in more than a decade.

Zoo officials said Friday that the hippo calf had been nursing with its mother, but pathologists found evidence the calf may have not received enough nourishment.

"Additional tests are being conducted to determine whether or not other factors may have contributed to this loss," zoo spokeswoman Jenny Mehlow said in an email to NBC 7.

The birth had added to the world's smallest species of hippo which is currently on the endangered species list. There are approximately 2,000 pygmy hippos left in the world, according to the San Diego Zoo.

An alleged assault on a pregnant Muslim woman on the same night as the terror attacks in Paris does not appear to be a hate crime, San Diego police said Thursday.

The woman was wearing a traditional Muslim head scarf and pushing her child in a stroller in Mission Valley Nov. 13 when a man started making racially charged threats to her, according to Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Executive Director Hanif Mohebi.

The suspect then pushed the stroller toward her, which Mohebi said constitutes an assault.

SDPD spokesperson Lt. Scott Wahl said no final outcome of the investigation has been reached however the allegations are not consistent with this being labeled a hate crime.

The woman lives in the same apartment complex as the accused.

She was exiting an elevator with her stroller as the man was entering the elevator with a dog on a leash, Wahl said. At that point, the dog’s leash got tangled in the wheels of the stroller, he said.

When the man went to untangle the dog leash from the wheels, it appears the woman pushed the man with her stroller, according to Wahl.

The incident was captured on video without audio.

It is possible both people involved may face misdemeanor battery charges, Wahl said.

Officers were looking to interview the alleged victim using a certified translator.

Results of the investigation will be handed to the City Attorney’s Office.

Six Americans in the Mali hotel that was attacked by terrorists Friday made it out alive, U.S. defense officials told NBC News, while two U.S. Special Operations troops helped rescue hostages.

"U.S. forces have helped move civilians to secure locations, as Malian forces work to clear the hotel of hostile gunmen," Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo said.

The names of the Americans who were at the Radisson Blu were not released. 

The U.S. soldiers were thrust into the unfolding drama after gunmen shouting "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great," stormed the hotel, killing at least three and taking dozens of hostages.

A San Diego State University (SDSU) student was reportedly battered, pushed and verbally assaulted in a parking lot on campus in a disturbing incident being investigated as a hate crime, the university confirmed.

According to the SDSU Police Department, the crime happened around 1:45 p.m. Thursday in Parking Lot E on the university’s campus. That parking structure is located near Zura Way at East Campus Drive, as seen on this map.

SDSU police detectives said a female student reported that unknown man pushed her and pulled her by her scarf while making “hate-related comments and threats based on her ethnicity.” The exact comments made toward the students were not immediately released.

Following the aggressive encounter, the suspect left the area on foot and was last seen going toward the direction of Parking Structure 6, which is across the street, also on East Campus Drive.

The student was not physically harmed in the incident, investigators confirmed.

According to SDSU detectives, the victim described the suspect as a white man in his 20s. He was approximately 5-foot-11 with a thin build and wore a grey sweater, blue jeans and white shoes. He had dark black hair and either hazel or green eyes. No suspect vehicle was seen.

The SDSU Police Department said detectives are actively investigating this case. Anyone with information should contact detectives at (619) 594-1783 and reference the case number, 15-1669, or provide tips via email to police@mail.sdsu.edu. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous may also call Crime Stoppers at (619) 235-8477.

SDSU Police Department Lt. Mike O’Deane confirmed Friday the case is being investigated as a hate crime. He could not confirm the victim’s ethnicity.

SDSU said the campus prides itself on having a diverse student body and “community of people from all races, ethnicities, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds.”

“We affirm and reaffirm our commitment to providing a welcoming and supportive environment of opportunity for all students, faculty, staff and community members,” the university said in a media release Friday.
 

Service information about a former San Diego police officer involved in the shooting of an unarmed African American man in Minneapolis is not available in California due to strict state public records act exemptions.

Only the most basic information is available about Mark Ringgenberg’s performance as an SDPD officer. The department just released his years of service (July 2008 to March 2012), his rank (Police Officer II) and his annual salary ($69,000).

Any history of citizen complaints, compliments, discipline or awards is considered confidential, an SDPD media services employee said, because “Personnel files are exempt from disclosure under California State law."

Critics say Californians deserve to know more about the officers who patrol their neighborhoods.

“I don’t believe there’s any other state that has a complete, mandatory blanket over that information,” said attorney Terry Francke, General Counsel and Executive Director of Cal Aware, a public interest group that lobbies for open records and open government. “In many states, particularly the more populous, larger states, there’s no confidentiality at all.”

Francke said no other public employees in California are protected by a state law that prohibits the release of information about their job history. In California the public does have access to complaint and discipline information about professionals licensed by the state.

“You can find out about complaints against doctors in this state, against lawyers, against public employees who have been disciplined seriously. But there’s no recourse (to get similar information about peace officers), and there’s no exception to this rule,” Franke said.

Francke, who advises media outlets, including NBC 7, on how to obtain public records and get access to public meetings, said laws protecting the employment history of California peace officers is a result of the “enormous power in the legislature of (labor) unions generally, and police unions specifically.”

He said the Democratic Party’s majority at the state capitol is “very responsive to union priorities and concerns” and both political parties are “concerned about law enforcement priorities” as voiced by labor unions that represent peace officers.

Federal court records do reveal that Ringgenberg was the target of a civil rights lawsuit filed in San Diego.

The alleged victim, Fred Clark, Jr., alleged Ringgenberg and two other SDPD officers used excessive force when they arrested him in 2010 in the Gaslamp Quarter.

In his nine-page complaint, Clark claimed Ringgenberg “violently grabbed him from behind” after Clark got into a shouting match with another man in the Gaslamp Quarter. Clark said Ringgenberg “locked (his) arms behind his back” and arrested him. He also said Ringgenberg and another officer failed to read him his Miranda rights after they “seized, handcuffed and eventually booked (Clark) at San Diego County jail,” according to the court documents.

Ringgenberg and the other officers strongly denied the allegations. The city attorney asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that “the facts do not support, as a matter of law, a constitutional violation of the U.S. Constitution.” The city attorney also argued that the officers’ had probable cause to arrest Clark and that “The use of force by defendants was reasonable under the totality of the circumstances.”

But before the judge ruled on the city’s motion for summary judgment, the two sides settled the case.

Clark, who was visiting from New Jersey, claimed he “endured emotional damages as he spent over twelve years in jail and missed part of his sister’s wedding.” He demanded the payment of $200,000 for the officers’ alleged use of excessive force and other civil rights violations. Clark acted as his own attorney in the lawsuit.

According to the “Joint Motion to Dismiss” filed with the court, each side absorbed their own attorney’s fees and costs. There is no mention of any payment made to Clark by the city or any of the police officers, as a result of the settlement, and the city attorney’s office confirmed Friday that Clark did not receive any money in return for dropping his lawsuit.

 A San Diego tow truck driver is looking for people who helped him pull two women out of a burning car on the side of the highway and hopes the power of social media will help.

The incident happened Thursday around 6 p.m. on southbound Interstate 5 between State Route 163 and State Route 94. While dozens of drivers passed by, a group of seven risked their own lives to save others.

Tow truck driver Larry White was one of the first people on the scene of the fully engulfed car.

“I immediately grabbed my fire extinguisher and went over there not knowing that there was people trapped inside the vehicle at the time,” White said.

It was only after he pulled out the first victim that he realized another person was trapped inside.

“At that time, once we got the second victim out, that’s when the car was completely engulfed in flames,” White said.

White says he doesn’t really consider himself a hero, and wants to give credit to the others who helped out that night.

“It was a team effort, and if it wasn't for all the people out there trying to help those two ladies, they wouldn't be alive,” White said. “That's definitely a guarantee, that car was fully engulfed by the time the fire department got there. They were physically trapped, the car was mangled.”

White says the others left before emergency crews arrived, so he’s taken to his personal Facebook page in an effort to reach out to them.

“I posted there just so I could put out a word, if they read my Facebook page, they would know those ladies are alive because of their efforts too, not just mine, but theirs,” White said.

For now, we only know the women are hospitalized in serious condition, and their injuries are not considered life threatening.

The CHP continues to investigate the cause of the accident.

After a week off the pets of San Diego are back in action to predict who is going to win the AFC West showdown between the Chargers and Chiefs at Qualcomm Stadium this Sunday.

We have a first with Runey the Betta fish and his human Lauren. Not to ruin your daydreams about any upcoming Thanksgiving feasts, but Runey picked between blood worms in front of the Chargers and Chiefs logos. Let’s just say things are looking swimmingly good for the Bolts.

Our friends at the Helen Woodward Animal Center (AnimalCenter.org) had a very special prognosticator this week. LT the dog was adopted from the shelter two-years ago but came back to help honor Chargers great LaDainian Tomlinson who gets his number 21 retired at the game Sunday. While LT isn’t up for adoption, they have plenty of other animals looking for forever homes at HWAC.

Want to be part of next week’s Pet Predictions? Send a video of your pet predicting the showdown between the Chargers and Jaguars by Friday 11/27 4 p.m. via email to Becki.Schildhouse@nbcuni.com or Twitter/Instagram @BeckiSSD.

On behalf of the NBC 7 SportsWrap family I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.

*NBC 7 will not use any video where it appears as though an animal is being forced to do something it does not want to do.
 

San Diego was the first city in California to declare a local state of emergency in anticipation of El Nino, and it did so in part to speed up clearing clogged storm drains.

There is a 95 percent chance the upcoming El Nino will soak San Diego and the rest of Southern California through spring 2016, weather experts told San Diego City leaders at a preparation hearing last month.

However, extensive regulatory red tape has slowed down the preparation process.

State officials said declaring a state of emergency, which will allow the city to access state and federal funding faster, is unusual.

San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman said the city hasn't been clearing out debris in some storm channels, even ahead of El Nino, because it can be difficult to get the permits.

"To give you an example, Alvarado Creek, which we just cleaned last month, dredged all the way back down to its natural concrete state, so to speak," Sherman said. "I started working on that the day I got into office three years ago. It's taken us that long with all these different regulatory agencies to get the permits."

City Spokesman Bill Harris said a state of emergency declaration may not help at all -- city officials just aren't sure. He said it remains unclear if the different regulatory agencies are going to recognize San Diego's state of emergency as El Nino approaches.

"What we’re hoping this will do is two-fold really. It’s helping our city staff get the permits in place so when the state of emergency comes, we’re ready to go," Sherman said. "Also, it gets word to the governor that hey, we need a statewide state of emergency to make your end of the permitting process go much smoother and quicker."

One problem the city has is since a lot of trees and brush have grown in in places like Chollas Creek and Alvarado Creek, all that growth now makes it, under the law, essentially a fresh water wetland.

"The only reason this so-called wetland even exists in the first place is because we haven’t maintained these, for budgetary or whatever reasons, these concrete channels for a long time. So the dirt builds up, bushes start to grow, and it’s considered a wetland and then we have to go through all this regulatory process," Sherman said.

The city has to go through a lengthy environmental regulatory process to return the channels to their natural state of cement. 

For every one acre that's removed, the city has to buy and reserve wildlife habitats for four additional acres. Environmental advocates say it's that way because the city neglected the channels for so long that they do become habitats.

Another issue can be channel ownership. If the city does not own the channels, the process can be a lot longer.

For a property owner to get the required permits to clean out a storm water drain, it has to go through at least five different regulatory agencies: the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the State Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Storm Water Division and the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

"Just to fix it, that’s what they want and that’s what we’ve been trying to do, and there have been occasions where we’ve had to go in on an emergency basis after a flood and just hope we don’t get fined," Sherman said. "Hopefully this will make it so we don’t have to go to those drastic steps when El Nino gets here."

Residents with questions about El Niño can check a special website by clicking here. The site has many resources for city of San Diego residents, including maps of high-risk areas.

 A winter storm was forecast to dump up to 8 inches of snow on much of the Upper Midwest Saturday, disrupting travel in Chicago after giving many areas their first major accumulation of the season, NBC News reported.

Winter weather advisories were posted for much of Lower Michigan and far northern Indiana, including Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing, the Weather Channel reported.

Parts of the Sioux City, South Dakota metro area picked up over a foot of snow Friday from a band of weather that spread across northern Iowa and Illinois overnight.

The storm system was moving east and will last through Saturday evening, when it tails through Michigan, according to Richard Otto, lead forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Prediction Center.

An al Qaeda-linked extremist group has claimed responsibility for the deadly hotel attack in Mali's capital on Friday that killed at least 21 people, including one American, NBC News reported.

Al-Mourabitoun, a group formed by notorious Algerian militant Moktar Belmoktar, alleged it was behind the siege and said it was done in cooperation with al Qaeda in the Great Sahara region in a statement translated by Flashpoint Intelligence, a security consulting firm and NBC News partner.

The claim came as security forces hunted "more than three" suspects and the government in Mali declared a state of emergency.

"The search has started and I can tell you that we are looking for more than three people at the moment," the country's military commander Maj. Modibo Nama Traore told The Associated Press.

Are Syrian refugees in the U.S. likely to be affiliated with ISIS? So far, the math suggests native-born Americans are a far bigger source of concern, NBC News reported.

The most comprehensive survey of Americans who've been charged with attempting to help ISIS finds that none of the 68 are Syrian or Syrian-American and that only three were refugees of any kind.

"ISIS Cases in the United States," compiled by Fordham University Law School's Center on National Security, notes instead that to date four out of five U.S. residents charged with supporting ISIS are American citizens and almost two-thirds are U.S.-born. 

Key findings of the report, which the Center continually updates, show that the alleged ISIS supporters come from a variety of backgrounds, with only a few having ties to the Middle East.

Friday marked the deadline for feedback on whether San Diego's Board of Education should rename Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Paradise Hills.

Next week, results of the community-wide survey will be released.

The issue, simmering for years, became hot-button after the racially motivated church massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, back in June.

Since then, questions have arisen about how a California grade school came to be named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee in 1959?

"In that time period, leading up to the '60s and the civil rights movement you had a strong period of reaction to the growing civil rights movement in the United States," explains Trevore Humphrey, a historian with the San Diego Unified School District.

"And so during the '50s and '60s as well, San Diego Unified had a huge explosion of schools,” Humphrey continued in Friday’s recording session for Sunday’s edition of NBC 7’s “Politically Speaking. “So they were building schools very rapidly at this time, and they had a list as they went along through that list -- and they weren't necessarily as thoughtful as we might consider today when naming a school.”

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-80th District) co-authored a Legislature-approved bill to remove vestiges of slavery and the Confederacy from public facilities.

But the measure recently was vetoed by Gov. Brown on grounds that such decisions should be made locally.

Gonzalez hopes the Lee school will be renamed for the late Archie Buggs, a San Diego police officer who grew up in Paradise Hills and was murdered during a traffic stop in 1978.
 
"I think it's time. Clearly, 1959, we know that's in the heart of a rebellion against school desegregation,” Gonzalez said in the “Politically Speaking” Q&A session. “And you know, we would never consider naming a school after Robert E. Lee, so why do we continue to have one?"

The votes of the school community -- current staff, families and students of Lee Elementary -- will be weighted 2 to1 residents in the final tabulation of all votes from within the San Diego Unified District.

If renaming is recommended when the results are revealed at a Dec. 2nd community forum, the process turns to the School Names Committee and then the Board of Trustees.
 

Four people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally on jet skis were taken into custody near Mission Bay, officials said. 

The incident began in the Mission Bay jetty at 3:28 p.m. when a jet ski failed to stop for law enforcement officials, said Jackie Wasiluk with CBP Public Affairs.

Local San Diego law enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol agents, and agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (CBP AMO) responded to the incident and took two people into custody.

Two others tried to flee, but were taken into custody and their jet ski seized. The incident was initially reported as a pursuit. 

U.S. Border Patrol agents will process all four suspects. 

No further information was immediately available. 

An American woman who lived in Takoma Park, Maryland, was killed in the terror attack Friday inside a hotel packed with foreigners in Mali's capital, State Department officials and family members say.

Anita Ashok Datar died in the attack that killed at least 20 people, officials said.

Datar, the mother of a young son, worked in global health and international development and devoted her life to service, her family wrote in a statement. She was 41, according to The Washington Post.

"Anita was one of the kindest and most generous people we know," her family said. "She loved her family and her work tremendously. Everything she did in her life she did to help others -- as a mother, public health expert, daughter, sister and friend." 

Datar worked in Washington, D.C. for Palladium Group, Inc., an international development firm, according to her LinkedIn page. She was a founding board member of the nonprofit Tulalens, which works to connect women in developing countries with health services.

She had served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and earned degrees from Rutgers University and Columbia University. The Massachusetts native raised in New Jersey is survived by her son, parents, brother and friends around the world, her family said. 

"While we are angry and saddened that she has been killed, we know that she would want to promote education and health care to prevent violence and poverty at home and abroad, not intolerance," her family said.

The Radisson Blu hotel was stormed by Islamic extremists who killed at least 20 people and briefly took scores more people hostage. An al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group claimed credit for the attack, Reuters reported. NBC News could not immediately confirm that.

The Malian ambassador to the United States, Tiena Coulibaly, denounced the violence in his home country.

"Islam is peace. Mali is maybe 85, maybe 90, maybe 95 percent Muslims -- that is peaceful Muslims," he told News4. "What we want is the American people to know that, to understand that, and not make any confusion between the jihadists and the Muslims."

Family members of a Navy service member killed in a suspected road rage crash cried in court as investigators revealed black box results that showed the driver accused of plowing him over did very little to stop the car prior to hitting him. 

Chief Petty Officer Zach Buob, 39, died on May 28 when his motorcycle was hit over by driver Darla Renee Jackson, 26, California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers said. Investigators say Jackson ran over Buob intentionally, though she has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge against her.

In court Friday, the CHP detective who investigated the case described the witness accounts of the crash where Jackson was seen accelerating into the motorcycle, which had slowed down prior to the impact. 

CHP Detective Brad Clinkscales explained how Jackson's story changed throughout the investigation regarding how she ended up hitting the motorcycle. Clinkscales said one thing was clear: she told police she was in face chasing the driver before the crash. 

"She stated as soon as the motorcycle hit her and flipped her off, she said she wasn't going to let him do that and not, she wanted to get his information," Clinkscales said. 

Black box results from the car show Jackson did "very little" to stop from the 95 miles per hour she was driving six seconds before the crash, investigators said. When she hit the motorcycle, she was driving 81 miles per hour. 

CHP officials also spoke about their conversation with Jackson's ex-boyfriend Caesar Valdecino, who said he had four different run-ins with her where she tried to run him off of the road. 

"When she would see him, she would go after him in her car," an investigator said. 

California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers said Jackson and a Buob, driving a red Ducati motorcycle, got into some type of disagreement on the roadway. According to Clinkscales, Jackson said Buob slowed down, shook his head, and hit the right side of her car for no reason.

The two drivers transitioned from I-5 to eastbound State Route 54 and passed National City Boulevard, Jackson hit the Ducati from behind and ran over the rider, CHP officers said.

Jackson's attorney, Stephen Cline, said the fatal crash was an accident. That day, Buob sped past her and kicked her car after getting back about something, the attorney said.

Buob died a short time later at the hospital.

 Fellow service members and bikers alike have said Buob was a kind, loving person. 

“He was sweet, and he was funny, and he was crazy, and he loved his country,” said friend Kathy Cramer. “He loved his family; he loved his friends; he loved God and he loved his bike.”

Gary Klopp, who often rode with Buob on track days, told the crowd you would never think his friend was with Navy Special Warfare — an elite group that takes on dangerous missions — because he was so relaxed.

Klopp recounted his most recent trip to the track, when he stalled while taking a corner.

“My last memory of Zach coming up, and he stops and he goes, ‘Ha ha ha,’ like that,” Klopp described, pointing his finger. “And he just took off. That was Zach, always finding a joke, a humor, a moment.”

Buob served 20 years in the military, and his friends mourned the fact that despite carrying out so many tours, he died in his home country.

Jackson is being held on a $1 million bail. 

The homeless population in downtown San Diego has increased since last year, but police and outreach workers say it’s too early to tell if Proposition 47, a measure that changed some low-level felonies into misdemeanors, could be the reason.

Voters approved Prop 47 on Nov. 4, 2014. It changed some low-level felonies into misdemeanors in an effort to reform the criminal justice system. It also requires misdemeanor sentencing for certain crimes including petty theft, receiving stolen property and forging/writing bad checks when the amount is $950 or less.

Last year, opponents raised concerns that people released from jail could end up on our streets.

In downtown San Diego, according to the latest numbers, there are 130 more homeless people living on the streets than there were a year ago.

NBC 7 Investigates found 50-year-old Lorne Nathan outside the Subway restaurant on 6th Avenue and C Street downtown.

"I'm a certified fiber optics technician,” he said. “I can cut glass like diamonds."

He's not cutting glass when we met him. Today, Nathan is homeless.

"I went to prison for a narcotics offense," he said.

Nathan has a criminal history spanning 28 years. Last March, he pleaded guilty to a felony drug possession charge. The Public Defender's office filed a Prop 47 petition asking the judge to reduce that felony to a misdemeanor, and his request was granted in January.

Since his release, Nathan has been arrested twice, charged with misdemeanor counts of drug possession.

Before Prop 47 those facing a felony drug charge were given a choice: go to prison or participate in drug court, which usually meant 18 months of treatment. According to San Diego Deputy District Attorney, many chose drug court and entered into rehab. But without the threat of a felony, Prop 47 opponents say there is little incentive to get treatment.

"I started to bail out and I went to court and they told me time served," Nathan told NBC 7 Investigates.

Before Prop 47, Nathan's charges would've been considered felonies and there's a good chance his sentencing would have kept him in jail today.

Since Prop 47 passed last November, the homeless population in downtown San Diego has increased by nearly 24 percent. Documents obtained by the Downtown San Diego Partnership show the current homeless count downtown is 677.

San Diego Police Department call records show the number of sleeper calls, when someone is sleeping where they're not supposed to, is up by 30 percent in East Village alone.

"Initially they opened up just one additional staff that they added on to the program, and just this last year they've opened another position, and a couple months ago they hired a third outreach worker,” said Lucky Michael, a homeless outreach coordinator for the Downtown Partnership’s Clean and Safe Program.

She's one of three members monitoring and assisting the homeless for the downtown neighborhood group.

"There are those who are situationally homeless, those with severe mental illness, and those with criminal justice involvement such as AB109-ers and Prop 47,” Michael said.

She said it's too early to tell if there's any link between the increased homeless population and Prop 47 -- a sentiment mirrored by San Diego Police and the former Police Chief William Lansdowne, who co-wrote the measure.

"The homeless population is going up because of some of the economic issues going on and the inability to get into treatment programs. This is designed to begin to fund that," Lansdowne said.

He estimates roughly $100 million from Prop 47 will be available for programs like substance abuse treatment.

Right now, the Downtown San Diego Partnership works with a variety of partners like the Police Department's Homeless Outreach Team and Connections Housing.

Nathan told NBC 7 Investigates he would be willing to enter a detox program if one became available.

Court records show in March of last year, Nathan had been ordered to report to a residential drug treatment program, but when Nathan's felony conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor due to Prop 47, he was put on an informal probation. That means a probation officer isn't checking up on him and there are few, if any, consequences for not fulfilling the terms.
 

The FBI said Saturday that it's aware of a terror threat made against a WWE event in Atlanta on Sunday — but with no "credible information," organizers want the show to go on, NBC News reported.

"While we take all threats seriously, we do not have specific or credible information of an attack at this time," J. Britt Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI Atlanta Field Office, said in a statement.

The threat claim was made by the hacktivist group Anonymous, which said Atlanta was one of several sites where ISIS is supposedly planning assaults on Sunday, including in Paris. NBC News has not immediately verified that report.

The world wrestling organization in response said it will continue with its Survivor Series match up at 8 p.m. ET at the Phillips Arena, where the Atlanta Hawks also play. 

Earlier in the week, an Anonymous spokesperson wearing the group's signaure Guy Fawkes mask said the group of hackers would use its expertise to wage "war" on the militant group in response to the Paris attacks.