If a person is subject to the state public records act, emails are too, no matter if they are sent using a personal device or a city cellphone, former San Diego City Councilwoman Donna Frye told the city’s Rules Committee Wednesday.

Frye is active in transparency issues and is president of CaliforniansAware, a statewide organization that advocates for open government.

The group wants public records to include information like emails from public officials sent on personal devices or from private accounts

The organization is asking the San Diego City Council to support a measure for the June 2016 ballot, or amend the current law, to expand the public record definition.

Two previous attempts to get the city to agree to adopting an ordinance similar to this proposal failed. It never made it past committee, and city council members never had a chance to vote on it.

According to Frye, the City Attorney’s office has argued in court that the “public’s business that is maintained on the private accounts of city officials does not meet the definition of a record ‘retained’ by the city.” Therefore it’s not subject to the California Public Records Act.

During the meeting, the Rules Committee forwarded the proposal to the City Attorney’s office to complete an analysis of the issue. Sherri Lightner, the chair of the committee and City Council President, asked the office to “come back with proposed language” before June.

Click here to see the complete proposal from Frye and CaliforniansAware.

The proposal was supported by the San Diego Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Grocery store employees gathered around their new boss and applauded for the future.

The former Albertsons and Haggen workers will now wear "Gelson's" on their sleeves and aprons. That's because Gelson's is one of a number of grocery chains to buy the bankrupt Haggen stores.

But how can Gelson's succeed where Haggen failed? Gelson's CEO Rob McDougall says it will take advertising, store choice and customer service.

"A first impression is not enough," said McDougall. "I've got to get those customers in three times to make it a pattern."

Gelsons opens it's first San Diego store in Del Mar this month, then another store in Carlsbad and a third store in La Jolla. Gelson is not a discount chain. McDougall says quality costs more.

He says they are a notch above a Whole Foods and similar in quality to a Bristol Farms. So why is the Los Angeles based grocery chain the first to open in a Haggen location?

"I've got Haggen associates that I'm bringing back, which are old Albertson's associates that I want to get back to work," said McDougall.

Ted Cruz dismissed a New York Times report that he failed to properly disclose a loan from Goldman Sachs during his 2012 bid for the U.S. Senate, calling it a “filing error,” NBC News reported.

The Times reported that the Cruz family took out a low-interest loan from the bank. The loan didn’t appear in the reports Cruz filed with the Federal Election Commission during his 2012 run. Earlier Wednesday, the Cruz campaign called it an “issue of semantics.”

"If it was the case that it was not filed exactly as the FEC requires, we'll amend the filings," Cruz said. "But all of the information has been public and transparent for many years."

The story that’s often part of Cruz’s speech while on the road is his family’s decision to invest in the campaign with its own finances, saying that he and his wife “liquidated” their life savings to put into the Senate run.  

A shirtless man clinging to the hood of his brother’s car was sent flying into a police cruiser in Michigan, according to video of the incident recorded by the police, NBC News reported.

Police in Shelby Township, in Macomb County, responded to a domestic violence call last Thursday morning when a white car came rolling toward them — with a half-naked man hanging on the front of it.

In the dash camera video, the officer stops his car, but the other car continues until it crashes into the cruiser.

The man, identified, as Starvo Habib, 18, is then flung onto the street. Police said neither he nor the driver, his 20-year-old brother, were injured.  

"When you think you've seen it all, you have an incident where it's just another day," Deputy Police Chief Mark Coil told NBC station WILX.        

Kate del Castillo, the Mexican actress who Sean Penn said helped set up his Rolling Stone interview with Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, said some of the things being reported about her aren’t true, NBC News reported.

"Thank you for your support over the past few days," del Castillo wrote on Twitter in her first known comment on the case since the news made headlines around the world last week.

Mexican authorities arrested the fugitive Guzman in a shootout five days ago.

Rolling Stone magazine last weekend reported a secret interview that Guzman gave with Penn in October.  

A police operation is underway in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday morning local time, authorities said.

There were few details immediately publicly available. New South Wales Police only confirmed on Twitter that an operation was ongoing in Sydney and the suburb of Manly. 

Reports in Australian media indicated that the Sydney Opera House had been evacuated, but that was not immediately confirmed by police.

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 A driver trying to find their lost dog did not put a parking brake on. letting the car crash into a neighbor's bedroom, officials told NBC7. 

The crash happened shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday when CalFire and California Highway Patrol officials responded to reports of a car into a building in Spring Valley. 

The impact of a crash caused a TV to fall on a woman in her bedroom, leaving her injuried, said CHP officer Mary Bailey. She was not transported to a hospital. 

There is structural damage to the house, though the extent is unknown, said Kendall Bortisser with CalFire. 

The Chevy pickup driver was trying to find a lost dog and forgot to put his parkign brake on. 

The investigation is ongoing. 

No further information was immediately available. 

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 A car hit a pedestrian in Coronado, police said. 

The incident happened at 4th Street and A just before 9 p.m. Wednesday. 

The victim was taken to UC San Diego Hillcrest in unknown condition. 

All units are on scene, police reported. 

No further information was immediately available. 

Refresh this page for updates on this breaking news story. 

A San Diego County Sheriff's deputy hit a child while driving home in an unmarked car, according to sheriff's officials. 

As the deputy drove by at 5:35 p.m., the boy was chasing a soccer ball into the street in the 200 block of Grapevine. The deputy could not stop in time and struck the child.

The boy fell on his backside, officials say, and was conscious and talking when taken to the hospital.

Emergency crews took him to Tri-City Medical Center and then transferred him to Rady Children's Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

The sheriff's traffic team is investigating the crash.

No further information was immediately available. 

Refresh this page for updates on this breaking news story. 

With renewed hope, Chargers fans rallied in Mission Valley Wednesday to support efforts to keep the team in San Diego.

Blue and gold-clad enthusiasts streamed into the Tilted Kilt for the event organized by the Save Our Bolts group. The rally comes as Chargers owner Dean Spanos mulls the option to move to Los Angeles with Stan Kroenke and his Rams.

The local Chargers fans said they are celebrating the fact that the “Los Angeles Chargers” are not a done deal.

"I've always told most of my peers and people that are lifelong Charger fans that they're going to stay. I've never doubted for some reason. It's been a gut feeling,” said Joe Lozano.

Despite the ups, downs and uncertainty of the past year, many of the rallying fans have not lost their team loyalty, even if they are skeptical of its management.

That loyalty will even travel to Inglewood, for some.

“If they go to Los Angeles, I think I’ll still be a fan,” said Sergio Alvarez. “I've been a diehard Charger fan since I was a little kid, so I think it's kind of hard to let go."

Others said their love is conditional on the Chargers staying put. One man told NBC 7 said if the team left, his loyalty would switch back to the San Francisco 49ers.

Much like watching the Chargers play, the fans said watching the NFL negotiations has been a rollercoaster ride, but the latest developments have left them hopeful.

On Tuesday, the NFL team owners in Houston granted Kroenke his wish to build a stadium in Inglewood and uproot the Rams from St. Louis to Los Angeles. During the same vote, the owners also gave Dean Spanos a year to work out a deal with Kroenke and decide if he wants to relocate the Chargers to the same stadium.

Spanos said he will need a few weeks to review his options and possibly form an agreement with the Rams.

But fans hope this delay means the Chargers can work out a stadium solution with the city of San Diego. City and county leaders have said they would be willing to restart negotiations, but only if the Chargers stop pursuing a move to LA.

"I'm gonna follow them no matter where they go because I am a Chargers fan, so whether they play here or play there, I will represent them,” said Red Vaughan. “But we're all the way to the end, until they have final say that they're leaving, I will support them. Save our Bolts."
 

A bank robbery suspect dubbed the “Hipster Bandit” by the FBI has struck again in San Diego, marking his fourth heist in the county since last summer, according to authorities.

On Wednesday, FBI officials released details on the Hipster Bandit’s latest crime in his six-month spree: the Jan. 9 robbery of a Wells Fargo Bank located inside a Vons grocery store at 4725 Clairemont Drive.

During the robbery, the suspect wore black jeans, black shoes and a black “Star Wars” shirt with images of Stormtroopers on it and the word “STORMTROPPER” across the front.

According to investigators, on that day, at around 2 p.m., the Hipster Bandit walked into the bank at the grocery store and handed a teller a demand note asking for cash. According to the FBI, the note stated he was there to rob the bank, and gave instructions to the teller on how to act. The note also demanded bills in specific denominations.

After getting cash from the teller, the suspect fled the scene on foot. No one was injured in the robbery, investigators said.

The FBI said this bandit has been linked to at least four bank robberies, including the Jan. 9 crime, throughout San Diego County: one on July 2, 2015, at a US Bank located at 8920 Fletcher Parkway in La Mesa; one on Sept. 25, 2015, at a US Bank at 1133 Mission Rd. in Fallbrook; a Nov. 2, 2015, robbery at a Wells Fargo Bank located at 10675 Scripps Poway Parkway.

Each bank targeted by the Hipster Bandit has been located inside of a grocery store.

The Hipster Bandit is described by the FBI as a Caucasian man in his late 20s to early 30s with a skinny build, weighing between 110 and 140 pounds. He stands between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-5 and has brown hair. He also has a tattoo on his left bicep. 

At this point, investigators are still trying to determine the suspect’s identity, hoping someone recognizes him from surveillance photos. Anyone with information on who this man is should contact the FBI at (858) 320-1800 or San Diego Crime Stoppers at (888) 540-8477.

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Wednesday, pressured by low oil prices, as concerns about global economic slowdown weighed ahead of major earnings reports, CNBC reported.

Stocks opened higher but quickly turned lower as oil gave up initial gains following inventory data.

The Dow Jones industrial average traded about 350 points lower after briefly falling 393 points in afternoon trade with Home Depot one of the greatest contributors to losses. Goldman Sachs and Boeing were also among the top contributors to declines.

The S&P 500 traded more than 2 percent lower to below the psychologically key 1,900 level in intraday trade for the first time since Oct. 2, 2015.

"The fear of a slowing economy is taking over," said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital.

A San Diego man who posed as a modeling agent to lure women to take nude photographs and then threatened to share the photos online if they didn’t perform sex acts pleaded guilty in court, San Diego County prosecutors said Wednesday.

Maverick Mendez Rosales, 24, pleaded guilty to felony charges of oral copulation, sexual battery and human trafficking of a minor. Rosales was initially charged with extortion, two counts of oral copulation by duress, one count of rape by duress and sexual battery, to which he pleaded not guilty. However, some of those charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea in the plea deal. 

Rosales was accused of running a fictitious modeling agency for years.

He had two young women pose for photos – and then later threatened to release the photos on the Internet or to the women’s families if they didn’t perform sex acts or pay him money, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Rosales solicited the women using sites such as Craigslist and Facebook. One of the women was extorted for her nude photos for two years, said Doyle.

He is expected to be sentenced to 11 years and four months in prison on Feb. 11, Doyle said. 

The 30-year-old woman driving without a seat belt who died after crashing into a tree in Spring Valley has been identified as a Customs and Border Protection officer accused of killing her boyfriend.

Melissa Hayes-Spencer died Monday when she drove her Honda Civic off the road while trying to get onto State Route 125 from State Route 94. The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Officer identified the 30-year-old officer as the victim Wednesday. 

California Highway Patrol officials said she made an unsafe turning movement to the left at a "very high rate of speed" as she tried to make the exit. Her car flew down an embankment and hit a tree, killing Hayes-Spencer. She was not wearing a seat belt at the time.

In October, Hayes-Spencer was temporarily arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, accused of shooting her boyfriend Rayshaun Cole, 30, to death.

On Oct. 17, Cole was found with a single gunshot wound to his chest in the Pinnacle Apartment complex in Chula Vista. Police said Hayes-Spencer and Cole had been living in the apartment together for just over a month.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office decided not to file charges against her, and Hayes-Spencer was soon released.

At the time of the crash, CBP officials said Wednesday, she was on administrative leave from her position. 

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a series of recent assaults in south San Diego that included victims having their pants pulled down or skirts lifted as they walked along sidewalks, police confirmed.

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) said Wednesday the teenage suspect was in custody for battery, accused in several assaults targeting women in the Otay Mesa West and Ocean Crest communities since mid-December. The latest assault was reported on Monday.

According to investigators, each assault shares these similarities: the suspect approached women from behind and tried to either pull down their pants or lift their skirts as they walked on the sidewalk or in front of a business. He then groped their bodies, police said.

Detectives have investigated at least four batteries that occurred after nightfall between Dec. 13 and Dec. 20 near Del Sol and Picador boulevards. At least two of those attacks took place in front of a 7-Eleven convenience store, while another was at a nearby Arco gas station and the fourth as a woman walked along a sidewalk in the area.

Last month, police told NBC 7 they were pursuing all possible leads on this case and didn’t want the assaults to “lead to something else.”

“We don’t know what he’s capable of,” SDPD Lt. Ernesto Servin said at that time.

Now, police said some of the alleged groping incidents involving the teen happened as early as 6:30 a.m., and some as late as 9 p.m. Investigators said Wednesday that the victims are all between the age of 18 and mid-20s. Because the suspect approached them from behind, many victims never saw the alleged attacker's face.

Investigators said they caught the teen after catching him on surveillance video. They printed out the suspect's photograph and distributed it to police officers in south San Diego, who were able to eventually track down the teen and take him into custody. Police said the teen's mother is being cooperative with the investigation.

Due to his age, the teen suspect’s name was not released.

The investigation is ongoing, but police believe there have been more than a dozen assaults tied to this series.

To that end, the police department believes there may be additional victims and unreported assaults linked to this series. Anyone who believes they may have been a victim is urged to contact the SDPD at (619) 531-2000. Witnesses should also call police with any information on assaults in this case.
 

San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos didn’t get what he wanted out of Tuesday’s all-day NFL negotiations and 30-2 vote. However, he does have four options when it comes to the team's future.

NFL owners decided the Rams will leave St. Louis for Los Angeles and they gave the Chargers the option to go as a second L.A.-based team.

The NFL gave the framework for an agreement that includes options for the Chargers to play in Rams' owner Stan Kroenke’s new stadium, including both lease and equity possibilities. The Bolts will have to negotiate the terms.

So, now what?

At a news conference Wednesday, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and County Supervisor Ron Roberts framed the NFL’s rejection of the Chargers’ Carson stadium plan as “an opportunity for a fresh start” on San Diego stadium negotiations. City and county leaders even appear to be backing-off their previous stance that they’d need some type of substantial commitment from the Chargers to stay in San Diego before further exploring a downtown stadium option.

That leaves Spanos son A.G. Spanos, the Chargers’ president of business operations, crunching numbers and weighing their options. In the simplest terms, what are those options?

Option 1:

The Chargers could go to L.A. as partners. This is a costly option but probably closest to what Spanos wanted in the first place. If the team moves now, the relocation fee are about $550 million. Plus, the team would have to factor in the cost of actually moving, and loss of revenue until the Inglewood stadium is complete. They could go now or in 2017, but if they wait, that leaves the Rams time to gain fans, corporate deals, sponsors, etc. (Not to mention another awkward season before San Diegans.)

Option 2:

The Chargers could go to L.A. as tenants. This gives the Rams an advantage on fans, corporate deals, sponsors and media deals. Spanos would have to negotiate terms with Kroenke, who clearly has the upper-hand because of his wealth and business experience.

Option 3:

The Chargers could go “all in” on a San Diego stadium initiative. This is the riskiest option for the Chargers. If the ballot measure fails, there may not be time to still cut a deal with the Rams to share the Inglewood stadium. The Raiders might jump at the chance to go to L.A., so that would leave the Chargers hanging without many options left. The NFL is offering $100 million to the team (the Chargers or the Raiders or both) that will stay in their home market.

Option 4:

Chargers wait and see how a stadium initiative goes, and in the meantime, negotiate L.A. as a back-up plan. The dilemma for the Chargers here is that their leverage is waning. They haven’t been talking with city and county officials because they want a downtown location and the city is pushing the idea to build a new stadium on the Mission Valley site where Qualcomm now sits. The city will be unlikely to abandon that position unless they get a better sense of commitment to stay from the Chargers.

The Chargers met with the NFL late Tuesday night, to go over details of their option to move to Inglewood with the Rams. After that meeting, and a follow-up meeting early Wednesday morning Spanos says he still doesn’t know what he’s going to do.

In the light of day, there are still no clear answers on which way the Spanos are leaning. Chargers Special Counsel Mark Fabiani sent NBC 7 the following statement after the mayor’s news conference today:

“The Chargers have been approved by the NFL to relocate to Los Angeles, and now that the NFL meetings are over Dean is going to take a few days to evaluate the franchise's new options.”

That clear things up?

The only certainty in this week’s news is that after telling San Diego they’re leaving for 14 years, the Chargers are still here.

Transportation workers used dynamite to blow up a massive boulder that blocked traffic on Highway 50 for hours Tuesday.

Crews drilled holes and shoved dynamite inside the boulder to break it into smaller pieces.

The explosion, which sent a shot of electricity through the boulder before snapping it in half, was caught on camera by the California Department of Transportation.

The boulder stalled traffic for six hours on Highway 50 in El Dorado County, about 30 miles west of Lake Tahoe.

San Diego Fire-Rescue crews rushed to University City for the report of a gas leak.

A gas line was broken and blowing at an office park at 4350 La Jolla Village Drive and Genesee Avenue just before 11 a.m.

Firefighters requested San Diego Gas and Electric crews and San Diego Police to help with traffic. 

The leak was fixed by noon Friday.

No further information was immediately available. 

With more than 1,300 homeless veterans living on San Diego’s streets, the city clearly has a problem helping those who already gave up so much.

Homeless experts say San Diego is falling behind other cities in calling on landlords to rent to homeless veterans. There are plenty of rental subsidies, according to experts, but not enough landlords willing to rent to homeless people.

Thursday evening during his State of the City address Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced the ‘Housing our Heroes’ initiative, which takes aim at that problem – calling on landlords to rent to homeless veterans.

Sean Sheppard, the founder of Embrace, an organization that works with homeless veterans, told NBC 7 many of those he helps never had the problems that contributed to their homelessness before they enlisted.

“So, with that being the case, serving our country helped contribute to them being homeless. Our government, our society owes it to those individuals who took that step to give up their lives for this country,” Sheppard said.

After serving in Iraq, Eddie Rivers spent seven years as a homeless veteran until he finally found his way ‘out of the rain’ as he puts it.

“The feelings of despair is almost impossible to describe to you,” Rivers explained of his time living on the streets. “I can vividly remember nights of praying not to wake up the next day: just a simple prayer, ‘God, if I could just not wake up tomorrow, that would be okay with me.’”

NBC 7 contacted the mayor’s staff for more details on his plan, but were directed to the Housing Commission, a quasi-government agency that receives around $235 million annually in public funds to address homeless issues.

The Housing Commission said they plan to do landlord outreach. Veterans still living on the streets told NBC 7 they’ll believe it when they see changes.
 

San Diego police on Friday morning have responded to a report of an armed man making threats in North Park.

Officers converged in the 3400 block of Vancouver Avenue just after 11 a.m. Fire officials reported that the man was making threats to first responders, police said.

Officers have the area surrounded.

No further information was immediately available. 

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