A San Diego woman who stabbed her wife to death inside their San Carlos apartment and evaded capture for nearly 20 days was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison Friday.

Tiffany Nowden’s prison-bound fate was decided just one day before her 41st birthday, court officials confirmed. She was also ordered to pay restitution.

Nowden pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the deadly stabbing of her wife, Russina Vale, 38.

On June 5, 2014, Vale’s naked body was found inside an apartment unit at the Villa De Flores complex in the 7700 block of Mission Gorge Road.

Vale was found lifeless in her bed and, according to San Diego Police Department investigators, had suffered two stab wounds – one to her stomach and the other to her upper right arm and chest, which proved deadly.

After the grisly discovery by police, Nowden was nowhere to be found. She was dubbed a person of interest in the homicide case.

What followed were nearly 20 days of Nowden on the lam, evading authorities who wanted to question her in connection with her wife’s slaying.

U.S. Marshals officials finally tracked down Nowden in late June 2014 at a home on Market Street in San Diego. Nowden was then arrested and booked into the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry
Facility, where she has been in custody for the past year-and-a-half.

At the time of Vale’s killing, neighbors in the couple’s apartment complex said the two women lived together, but had recently been fighting and had broken up. In happier times, the women were often seen walking their dogs together.

Prosecutors later revealed the couple had gotten into a heated argument at Nowden’s place of employment, Barona Casino, shortly before Vale’s stabbing.

After that, the prosecutor said Vale sent emails to loved ones saying her relationship with Nowden was over, and that she planned to seek a divorce.

At Nowden’s pre-trial in October 2014, her aunt, Zanetta Moloi, of San Bernardino, Calif., testified that she was asked to pick up Nowden in San Diego following Vale’s murder because Nowden was in trouble.

Moloi said Nowden appeared stressed when she picked her up in San Diego. Moloi said her niece called an attorney but decided not to meet with him. Nowden took a shower at Moloi’s house and then left her aunt’s home without saying where she was going, the aunt testified.

Moloi said she didn’t learn about what had happened to Vale until several days after she saw Nowden.

At Nowden’s sentencing hearing Friday, two of her sisters spoke in court. The court also heard from one of Vale’s loved ones.
 

An Arizona woman on a so-called “booze binge” to San Diego drove her rental car the wrong way on Interstate 5, causing the death of a taxi driver, a prosecutor said at her sentencing Friday.

Amy Marie St. John-Smith, 44, originally faced a murder charge for the April 2014 collision that killed Anteneh Minassie.

The 42-year-old father of three was driving his taxi south on I-5 near Old Town San Diego State Historic Park when he collided with St. John-Smith’s vehicle as she drove the wrong way. As he stepped out of his wrecked taxi, Minassie was struck by oncoming cars and died at the scene.

After the crash, St. John-Smith made a U-turn and drove away. She was found in her hotel room with a blood alcohol level at three times the legal limit.

On Friday in a San Diego courtroom, Deputy District Attorney Lucy Yturralde described St. John-Smith’s stay in San Diego as a “booze binge.”

The defendant started drinking on the flight from Phoenix, according to Yturralde. She rented a car and drove to the store to buy more alcohol, which she consumed in her hotel room before going to a Midway District bar.

At the bar, St. John-Smith became so intoxicated the prosecutor said bartenders allowed her to stay after closing in an attempt to help her “sober up."

Yturralde added that the defendant tried to convince a police officer to drop her off that night at the U.S.-Mexico border so she could have a new life.

Instead of facing a murder trial, St. John-Smith pleaded guilty to four lesser charges ranging from gross vehicular manslaughter to driving under the influence. Before she was sentenced Friday, she tearfully told the court she believes the victim was a hero. She said he saved her life when he tried to warn her not to continue driving the wrong way on the highway.

Minassie was an Ethiopian immigrant who worked two jobs to support his wife and three children ages 8, 6, and 4 years old. An engineer in his native country, Minassie worked the graveyard shift for the West Coast cab company and served as a youth minister at his church.

His widow, Sara Tizazu, who was so emotional at times she could barely talk, said she forgave the defendant for the crash that took her husband’s life at St John-Smith's sentencing.

She described her husband as “a son, a husband, a brother, a father, a loving and caring sweet soul.”

“To hear our children say how much they miss dad every day brings up to the surface my own pain and loss, that I so much try to bury inside of me so I can carry on the task of my new life as a single mom,” Tizazu said.

St. John-Smith's defense attorney said she was very remorseful about what happened and claimed she believed Minassie was a hero and died while trying to save her.

“She really wishes she could be the one that was killed instead of Mr. Minassie,” said criminal defense attorney William Nimmo.

Nimmo said his client decided to visit San Diego because it was Easter weekend and her former husband was denying her access to her two children.

In his ruling, Judge Louis R. Hanoian said he could not "fix" what had happened in this case for either side. He approved the plea agreement, sentencing St. John-Smith to 17 years, 8 months in prison.

Firefighters battled not only flames but flooding as they tried to control a coffee shop blaze in a popular Jersey Shore town Saturday.

As a winter storm continued to pound Sea Isle City with heavy winds and wet weather, firefighters tried to extinguish a fire at the Avalon Coffee Company at Landis Avenue and 42nd Street in Sea Isle City early in the afternoon.

Luckily no one was hurt.

The fact that the blaze broke out around low tide made things easier, but not easy, on firefighters.

“Luckily the tide was receding enough that all the other agencies that came to assists were able to get here… in efforts to put this fire out, said Lt. Thomas McQuillen of the Sea Isle City Police Department.

No word yet on what caused the fire.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has reportedly told advisers to work on plans for a potential independent campaign for president in this year's race, sources confirmed to NBC News.

The New York Times first reported the news Saturday, citing unnamed sources briefed on his deliberations, that the 73-year-old media mogul has indicated to friends and allies that he would be willing to spend $1 billion of his vast fortune on a White House bid. 

According to the source, Bloomberg has set a March deadline — the latest point at which he could qualify as an independent candidate on the ballot in all 50 states — and his decision will likely be contingent on the results of early primaries.

Sources close to Bloomberg tell NBC News that the former mayor is more likely to run if the nominees were Donald Trump or Ted Cruz on the Republican ticket and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side.

Rumors of Bloomberg's presidential aspirations have been swirling since 2007 when the then-NYC mayor left the Republican party and registering as an Independent. The billionaire and former CEO of his financial services company was a life-long Democrat before switching to the GOP for his first mayoral run. 

Bloomberg flirting with a presidential run in the past as a third-party candidate. 

As the everyday items we use in our homes change, so does the modern environment in which fires spark – and the challenges firefighters face when battling a blaze.

All firefighters with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) recently completed training on how to combat this modern fire environment. Compared to 30 years ago, fires burn much hotter and a lot faster due to what we keep in our homes.

“Our modern fire environment is the plastics and synthetics, the polyester and things like that, that create our new furniture and floors,” explained SDFD Battalion Chief and Training Officer James Gaboury.

Decades ago, the majority of household furniture pieces and items were made of wood and cotton fiber-type materials – a big difference when it came to the types of house fires crews encountered. Back then, that was known as the “legacy fire” environment.

Gaboury said blazes can double in size every 60 to 90 seconds, and firefighters try to fend off something known as “flashover conditions.” In today’s homes, flashover conditions become a challenge much faster for firefighters.

“It's where the incomplete combustion of smoke, which is in the atmosphere, reaches 1,128 degrees. It's basically a zero percent survivability rate for firefighters and victims,” the battalion chief told NBC 7. “The modern fire environment reaches flashover conditions in six to seven minutes, whereas the legacy fire environment reaches flashover conditions in 18 to 20 minutes.”

To prepare to combat this new environment and challenges, SDFD firefighters have trained over the past few months on the transitional attack of a fire, the initial phase of an offensive attack.

This strategy is used when flames are coming out of an open door or window when firefighters first arrive at a scene.

“By squirting water with the transitional attack, it helps reduce that flashover condition, where the whole room catches on fire and flashes down to the floor,” said Gaboury.

As crews try to gain the upper-hand at a fire and bring calmness to chaos, firefighters can quickly get trapped because of the way fires now burn. But one piece of very important equipment can help.

The Personal Escape System (PES) is a harness that allows firefighters to get out of a multi-story burning building in less than 30 seconds.

Currently, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Foundation is trying to raise $582,300 to equip all of its 873 firefighters with their own PES. In this day and age, it’s considered an essential piece of equipment for safer, more efficient firefighting.

“Our modern fire environment has outgrown a system that was developed over 25 years ago,” said SDFD Capt. Jafari Harris.

Today, San Diego firefighters work with an escape system that requires four firefighters to deploy.

“Typically with the old system, a crew of four can escape in four to six minutes. With this new system, a crew of four can escape in 30 seconds to a minute – all four of them,” explained Gaboury. “It also allows our firefighters to work independently as two separate units so they don't have to be attached to our old system.”

Nowadays, smoke can ignite in a matter of minutes, emitting poisonous gasses from the synthetics inside homes. A PES helps battle those challenges as well, and quickly.

“As soon as I put on my pants and clasp on this belt buckle, I'm protected. The escape kit is all contained in my right turnout pocket. It's pre-hooked up. All I have to do is reach down and pull it out,” added Harris. “It's like pulling the rip cord on a parachute. It's ready to go right now.”

SDFD crews will begin training on the new PES in April so they will be prepared to use the equipment, as more is purchased.

“It's our goal to be progressive, in the fire service in general. We want to be progressive and provide safety equipment and procedures and techniques to our personnel so we can make sure we're delivering a better service to the citizens,” said Gaboury.

Anyone who would like to donate money to help the SDFD purchase more of this equipment for local firefighters can do so through the San Diego Fire-Rescue Foundation’s website.

To see a demo of how a PES works check out this video below.
 

Family members of a woman killed in the San Bernardino terror attack are seeking $204 million in damages in three claims against the county.

The father, stepmother and sister of 27-year-old Sierra Clayborn filed claims of negligence and wrongful death against San Bernardino County on Thursday.

They also say the county fostered a hostile work environment and failed to provide a safe workplace.

County spokesman David Wert said in a statement Friday that "the county will carefully consider each claim and act in the best interests of everyone involved.''

Clayborn was among 14 people killed in the Dec. 2 massacre.

The husband-and-wife killers, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, died in a shootout with police the same day.

The Clayborns are the second family to file claims stemming from the shooting.

 National and local elected women and community leaders came together to rally for Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, supporting her bid for State Senate.

Atkins, who is running for the 39th State Senate District seat, is the first LGBT woman to serve as Speaker of the California State Assembly. She is the third woman to hold that position.

State Controller Betty Yee, Assemblymember Shirley Weber and community members came out to Market Creek Plaza on Euclid Avenue to talk about why they thought Atkins should be re-elected. 

“We need her leadership we need her commitment we need her effectiveness in the state legislature,” Weber said.

Her courage, commitment and tenacity has proven a key part of her leadership, Weber told those gathered.

“I want to say that’s it’s also in many ways, in my mind, it’s a selfish thing on my part that I’m supporting her for State Senate because this community needs a senator who’s going to fight for them,” Weber said, as the crowd behind her cheered. “This community needs a senator who’s going to be present, who’s going to be conscious of the issues faced in this district.”

Yee, who also spoke at the rally, said many parts of Atkins’ time in office, including her work on affordable housing and her collaborative efforts, have earned her the trust of the community she serves.

“She is someone who has really made affordable housing a cornerstone of her public policy work and she knows from firsthand experience right here in the San Diego region how important that issue is,” Yee said.

Atkins said she wants to fight for equal pay for women and immigrants, equality and better educational funding, in addition to other issues, when she is elected. “We have turned the corner” as California becomes more prosperous, Atkins said, but so many do not feel the progress yet.

“It’s not enough to support the status quo, you got to be willing to get in and do the fight and take the risk and sometimes we aren’t successful, but we don’t stop, we go back,” said Atkins, who spoke at the end of the rally.

Survivors of human trafficking united in San Diego Saturday for a street fair to raise awareness and education on the issue and provide resources to victims who may be suffering in silence.

Information booths and crowds lined the streets of North Park at the intersection of University Avenue and Ohio Street for the Freedom NOW Street Fair hosted by the Survivor Leader Network of San Diego, an organization that brings together survivors of human trafficking.

Organizers said the gathering was meant to unit allies and advocates of human trafficking victims and to mobilize the local community to be part of the solution to the rampant issue to human trafficking.

“Action is the antidote to despair. Demand freedom now,” organizers said.

The five-hour event was attended by several San Diego leaders, including State Senator Marty Block and Congresswoman Susan Davis.

The street fair also includes live music and poetry, including gut-wrenching spoken word readings from those who have survived a life of human trafficking. Emotional letters from child survivors saying goodbye to a life of prostitution were also read aloud.

NBC 7 spoke with one survivor, Marjorie Saylor, who said a family member abused her growing up and, at just 15 years old, she moved into a drug house. At 21, she was trafficked into prostitution, she said.

“In a life like that, you learn how not to trust,” Saylor said. “You learn horrible things happen in this world.”

However, now far removed from that life, Saylor said her outlook has changed.

“For me, I see the other side of that. I’m starting to see the good,” she explained. “Look at all these people who are coming out in this fight. There’s so much good. We want to stop this.”

Nationwide, Human Trafficking Awareness Month is in January.

The FBI currently ranks San Diego in the top 13 states for child prostitution. Saylor said predators know exactly who to target as victims of human trafficking.

Watch NBC 7 News at 6 p.m. for more on this important local event.
 

The four gunmen who attacked a university in northwest Pakistan were trained in Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani army, NBC News reported.

On Wednesday, the four militants stormed Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, killing 20 people.

General Asim Bajwa told reporters the militants crossed over into Pakistan from the Torkham border between the two countries. He said the siege was masterminded by Umar Mansoor, a Pakistani Taliban militant based in Afghanistan.

Video footage of the fighters was released by Mansoor on Friday. He also vowed more attacks on schools in the future.

Mansoor is also behind the Dec. 24 massacre of 134 children in Peshawar — the deadliest militant attack in Pakistan’s history.
 

A man suspected of killing his two teenage nephews in Arcadia, California, was taken into custody in Hong Kong on Saturday, officials.

Deyun Shi, 44, boarded a plane to Beijing, China, on Friday and was taken into custody after his plane arrived at a Hong Kong airport, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

Shi is wanted in connection with the double murder of two boys, ages 15 and 16, who were found beaten to death at a home in the 400 Block of Fairview Avenue.

The two boys were found with blunt force injuries just before 1 p.m. on Friday by their mother and father, officials said. The victim's names had not yet been released.

According to the sheriff's department, Shi's wife was hospitalized on Thursday after he allegedly attacked her with the head of a hatchet at a home in La Canada Flintridge. Shi became enraged upon finding out that his wife had filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order against him, officials said.

Investigators believe the uncle may have forced his way inside the Arcadia home while the boys' parents were away tending to the suspect's wife at the hospital.

FBI officials who were assisting LASD in the investigation said Shi was "pending further review by officials in the U.S. and Hong Kong."

Anyone with information was asked to to call the sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.

Michael James is no stranger to loss. He lost both his wife and son to Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a rare genetic mutation that increases a person’s risk for different types of cancer.

Saturday James held a celebration of life in Coronado for his daughter, Dolly James, the third person in his life to pass away from the disease.

Framed by the beauty of San Diego Bay, the former US Navy chief remembered the daughter he loved so much.

“She was the spitting image of me,” James said. “It was hard to lose her and I know she didn't want to go. She had a fighting spirit all the way to the very end."

After suffering several cancers that left her in a wheelchair, 19-year-old Dolly died just before Thanksgiving last year.

She's a special girl,” Dolly’s aunt Debra Fonger said. “She fought hard for a really long time."

Fonger said they didn’t realize what was causing Dolly’s health problems until her last diagnosis and by then it was too late.

“I'll never be a grandfather,” James told NBC 7. “There's a lot of things… I was lucky enough to see my daughter graduate high school, which was huge, but getting married, having grand kids and all that - I won't be able to see that so that's the hardest part."

James is now raising funds and awareness about the Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Association to help others going through the same disorder.

“There's no more pain. There's no more suffering. There's no more meds. She's in a better place."

A pedestrian who was hit by a car in Clairemont Mesa died at the hospital according to officials.

The woman was hit in the 7300 block of Convoy Street around 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

The accident was not a hit and run, but it is unclear how exactly it happened.
 

 More than 130 people paddled into the same wave off the coast of La Jolla Saturday, trying to break the record for most surfers on one wave at the same time.

Surfers from across San Diego came out to La Jolla Shores, paddling into the same wave.

The previous record was 110 in South Africa.

This morning’s group thinks they got 113 to surf the same wave, but they will have to wait until all the video and pictures can be analyzed over the next few days to verify it.

All the money raised is going toward the non-profit Boys to Men Mentoring Network in San Diego.

Councilmember Lorie Zapf along with the San Diego River Park Foundation and more than 120 volunteers helped clean up the San Diego River Estuary Saturday.

Recent rains washed trash into the estuary, threatening the habitat. Because of the sensitivity of the wetlands, events in the estuary are scheduled infrequently to protect the health of the environment.

As well as the shoreline, volunteers kayaked into the estuary to remove trash, electronic waste, and recycling from the wildlife area.

The estuary is a 330-acre critically important wildlife area with habitat for many sensitive species, including endangered birds that nest in the estuary, like the Ridgway's Rail and the California Least Tern.

Over 100 different species of birds use the area to rest during their yearly migrations between Alaska and Mexico.

Last year volunteers removed 151,983 pounds of trash from the river.
 

A man and a woman were arrested near David’s Bridal in La Mesa Saturday for stealing a Penske rental truck.

The truck is registered to Indiana, but the suspects stole it from Oceanside.

“The male is actually a parolee at large, so he’s going to be going back into custody for the possession of a stolen vehicle,” CHP officer Enrique Bermudez said.

The woman told police they have been living in the truck.

The truck was reported stolen around Thanksgiving last year.

CHP is investigating.
 

A sig alert has been issued southbound on the 163 after a deadly accident between a car and a motorcyclist.

The accident happened at University Avenue in Hillcrest around 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

The motorcyclist was killed and the driver of the car is cooperating with police.

CHP is investigating.

Jerrod Cardae graduated from Monte Vista High School in 2009. He was a high school football star with his whole life ahead of him.

Saturday night Cardae’s family and friends met at the high school to remember the promising athlete gone too soon.

Cardae and another woman were killed in an LA-area double homicide on January 17th.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles Police arrested the woman’s ex-boyfriend Brian Anthony Gonzalez in connection with the shooting.

“His smile brightened up the whole room,” Destiny Ladue, the mother of Cardae’s youngest son said. “You couldn't see that smile and not smile yourself, it really was contagious.”

For many like Cardue’s cousin the shock of his death was still too much.

“I've known him ever since we were in diapers,” she told NBC 7. “He was amazing.”

“His spirit will forever love through his sons, his family, and I'm just forever grateful to be a part of his life and to have something so special – a piece of him that I will just cherish forever,” Ladue explained.

While loved ones grieve the police investigation continues in LA.

Glenn Beck officially endorsed Ted Cruz for president on Saturday while campaigning for the Texas senator in Iowa, NBC News reported.

"I am here to announce that I am officially endorsing Ted Cruz," Beck said as he introduced the GOP hopeful in Ankeny.

The Conservative media personality also lauded Cruz’s “principles” on Twitter.

It comes days after Sarah Palin endorsed GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.  

Iowa’s largest newspaper has endorsed candidates from both parties a little more than a week before the state caucuses.

The Des Moines Register’s editorial board endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Marco Rubio on Saturday, nine days before voters in the state start the nomination process.

The board said it faced “tough decisions” and made its endorsements after six weeks of candidate interviews and independent research.

“Our goal was to select two candidates who have the skills and experience to lead their parties, and ultimately, the country,” the newspaper wrote.

It called Clinton an “outstanding candidate” who “has demonstrated that she is a thoughtful, hardworking public servant who has earned the respect of leaders at home and abroad.”

Clinton took to Twitter, saying she was “honored to have the @DMRegister’s support.”

This is the seventh newspaper — the second in Iowa — to endorse the former secretary of state in her bid for the Democratic nomination. The Storm Lake Times endorsed Clinton earlier this month, calling her “the best choice for Democrats in 2016.”

Four current cabinet members have thrown their support behind Clinton. She has also received support from national organizations — including Planned Parenthood and Human Rights Campaign — and a number of high-profile celebrities like Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga and Lena Dunham.

In endorsing Rubio, the newspaper’s editorial board said the Republican party could head into a new direction under his leadership. According to the newspaper, “he represents his party’s best hope.”

The Des Moines Register is the first publication to endorse the Florida senator. 

Rubio has also received endorsements from four current senators, and more than a dozen House representatives including South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy.

While Rubio did not mention the endorsement during his town hall in Indianola, Iowa, on Saturday, he did speak to reporters after the event, saying he hoped it would boost his support in the state. 

"I think they have recognized that ours is an issues-based, ideas-based, solutions-based campaign," he said. "We are excited and grateful that they recognized that and hopefully that influences more people to caucus for us.” 

The latest poll, conducted by CNN/ORC, puts Rubio in third place in Iowa with — 14 percent support — behind GOP frontrunner Donald Trump who sits on top at 37 percent, and Ted Cruz with 26 percent. Meanwhile, Clinton is in second place in the Iowa CNN/ORC poll with 43 percent support — 8 points behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has 51 percent support in Iowa. 

The Des Moines Register's endorsements come as Conservative media personality Glenn Beck officially endorsed Ted Cruz on Saturday, who was campaigning with the Texas senator in Ankeny, Iowa. 

The Iowa caucuses take place on Feb. 1.