San Diego County Sheriff’s homicide investigators have identified a man found dead in a remote area of Fallbrook.

Gilberto Martinez, 57, also known as Gilberto Martinez Tinoco, was found along Via Del Gavilan Road near Ranchitos Road on Thursday, Feb. 18.

An autopsy determined Martinez died by blunt force trauma to upper body, homicide investigators said Monday.
If you know anything about this incident, call the San Diego County Sheriff's homicide detail at 858-974-2321, or after hours at 858-565-5200.

A mountain lion was seen on the California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) campus Feb. 21.

The animal was reported to be near the social and behavioral science building, according to the university’s release.

The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFW)  was contacted and upon investigation, the CDFW could not verify the sighting. However, the lack of physical evidence does not mean the sighting was false, explained CDFW.

No other sightings have been reported since Saturday.

There have been approximately seven other on-campus sightings over the past 10-years, according to the university. Despite these numbers, there has never been a serious incident with individuals on campus and a mountain lion.

These animals are not strangers to North County.

The university itself has a lot of open land surrounding it and students frequently see docile wildlife, such as deer, on campus, the university explained.

Nonetheless, the university warns students, faculty and staff to immediately report any sightings to university police at (760) 750-4567. They also warn individuals to avoid walking alone especially early in the morning and late at night.

If confronted by a mountain lion, do not run, the university advises. Try to make yourself as large as possible while making noise, waving your warms, and engaging in direct eye contact with the animal.

Sunny skies and free lunches aren’t the only benefits that attract transients to San Diego County.

Local advocates for the homeless confirm that for decades, government agencies, churches and social service agencies in other states have provided free transportation to San Diego and other California cities to help rid their own cities of transients.

According to lawsuit recently settled, a Nevada mental hospital was accused of sending 500 patients by Greyhound bus to San Diego and other California cities.

Christopher Earl Destrude was one of the patients from Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas who ended up in San Diego, according to the lawsuit.

Law enforcement records confirm Destrude was classified as a sex offender in Montana following his 2004 conviction for sexual intercourse without consent. According to the Montana records, Destrude’s victim was a 9-year-old girl.

According to news reports, Destrude fled Montana in January 2011 after failing to register as a sex offender. He made his way to Las Vegas where police arrested him, records show. Destrude was sent to the Rawson-Neal Hospital, but patient busing receipts obtained by the Sacramento Bee confirm the hospital bought Dustrude a bus ticket for San Diego on Jan. 26, 2011.

Dustrude’s aunt told the Sacramento newspaper that her nephew had no family in San Diego and no ties to our community.

Court records confirm the U.S. Marshals Service in San Diego tracked him down two weeks later at the county mental hospital in the Midway District.

“He’s in violation (for failing to report as a sex offender) in three different states,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Omar Castillo told reporters at the time.

“It pisses me off that they are sending their most infirm to other cities and not taking care of them themselves,” homeless advocate Bob McElroy said about government and social service agencies that give their homeless and mentally ill free bus tickets to other cities.

“We get two hundred new (transients) here every month from other cities,” said McElroy, executive director of the Alpha Project in downtown San Diego. “I’d say half of them are sent here without having any local contacts.”

When the Sacramento newspaper documented the extent of the problem in a series of stories about alleged “patient dumping” by Rawson Neal Hospital and the state of Nevada, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera took action.

In 2013, Herrera sued the state of Nevada and various Nevada state agencies, alleging that Rawson-Neal Hospital administrators sent a “substantial number of… mentally ill and indigent” patients to California, “despite the fact that virtually all the patients… required continuing medical care” were not residents of California and “were not provided any instructions or assistance in finding shelter… or basic necessities,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged the patients applied for and received a total of $500,000 worth of housing support, medical care and “basic necessities,” paid for by San Francisco taxpayers.

Court records reveal San Francisco prosecutors reached out to colleagues in other cities, including San Diego, to gauge their interest in joining the lawsuit.

Despite Christopher Destrude’s well-documented arrest in San Diego, a spokesman for City Attorney Jan Goldsmith told NBC 7 Investigates that legal investigators here “looked into reports of patient dumping in 2013 and could find no confirmation of it occurring in San Diego.”

McElroy strongly disputes that finding. He said homeless “dumping” is well known and openly discussed by social service agencies.

“Everyone does it, and everyone complains about it,” McElroy said.

San Diego did not join the San Francisco lawsuit but will benefit from the settlement won by San Francisco prosecutors.

According to the settlement, approved by a San Francisco judge on Dec. 17, the Las Vegas mental hospital will now provide travel assistance to California only for patients who lived in the area to which they’re being sent, who have a “family member or adult friend… willing and able to care” for them, or who have been “accepted for treatment at a medical facility or mental health program” in the community to which they are being sent.

The settlement also details that all patients must be accompanied on their journey by a chaperone, who will meet the patient in Nevada and travel with them to California.

Nevada, which did not admit any of the allegations in the lawsuit, will also pay San Francisco $400,000 in legal fees.

McElroy said he doubts the agreement will put an end to homeless and transient “dumping.”

“They only changed things in Vegas because they got caught,” he said.

Hundreds of roosters were rescued by animal services Sunday after sheriff’s deputies discovered an active cockfight in Pauma Valley.

Of the nearly 300 roosters seized 183 had to be euthanized. The rest were taken to county animal services.

“Cockfighting is a cruel and barbaric blood sport that is unacceptable in today’s society,” said County Animal Services Deputy Director Dan DeSousa. “Unfortunately, these birds are bred, trained and medicated for only one purpose, to fight, so they are not suitable for adoption.”

The property owner was cited for owning 85 cockfighting knives that are attached to the roosters’ feet for cockfights. He was cited for possessing 126 game cocks and the spectators were cited for attending the cockfights.

Another 154 roosters, to be used for cockfighting, were found in boxes at the site animal services said. Nearly 100 of the roosters were taken to Bonita and Carlsbad, but the rest had to be euthanized.

So far the owner has only been charged with misdemeanors, but animal services may refer a felony animal cruelty case to the district attorney for the death of two roosters found in a car on the site.

The owner could face up to three years in prison for a felony charge, and has 10 days to request a hearing to dispute the seizure of the animals.
 

One night before the Nevada GOP caucuses, Donald Trump made his final pitch at a Las Vegas rally where he also told the crowd he'd like to punch a protester in the face and fondly recalled the "old days" when "guys like that" would "be carried out on a stretcher," NBC News reported. 

One man held a sign that read "Veterans to Mr. Trump: End hate speech against Muslims." Another interrupted while Trump railed against Obamacare. But the demonstrator who drew Trump's wrath emerged when the Republican talked about unemployment and slow GDP growth.

"He's smiling. See, he's having a good time," Trump said before going on the offensive. "Oh, I love the old days, you know? You know what I hate? There's a guy, totally disruptive, throwing punches, we're not allowed to punch back anymore. I love the old days, you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out in a stretcher, folks. Oh, it's true."

Trump also called rival Ted Cruz "sick," criticizing him for what Trump feels were unfair and dishonest robo-calls and ads in South Carolina. "There's something wrong with this guy," he said.
 

North Korea showed interest in discussing a peace treaty with the United States, but pulled away after the U.S. insisted denuclearization be part of the negotiations, the White House said Monday.

"There was interest expressed by the North Koreans in discussing a peace treaty," Spokesman Josh Earnest told a news conference. "We considered their proposal, but also made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any discussions. The truth is that the North Koreans rejected that response."

The U.S. considered a proposal from the North Korea, which has long sought a peace treaty with Washington, said Earnest. The discussions took place before North Korea's recent nuclear test and rocket launch that have further strained relations.

Ben Carson said President Obama was "raised white" and can't understand the African-American experience the way he can, according to a Politico podcast published Tuesday. 

"He's an 'African' American. He was, you know, raised white," Carson said in the interview. "I mean, like most Americans, I was proud that we broke the color barrier when he was elected, but … he didn't grow up like I grew up … Many of his formative years were spent in Indonesia. So, for him to, you know, claim that, you know, he identifies with the experience of black Americans, I think, is a bit of a stretch."

Carson, who has been polling at the bottom of the GOP pack, long dismissed questions about race as divisive and downplayed his own race. But recently, he's been running ads against affirmative action in South Carolina and condemning black crime as "a crisis" that only he knows how to tackle.

Rallies were planned at Apple stores from Albuquerque to Munich on Tuesday to support CEO Tim Cook's refusal to help the FBI access the cellphone of a gunman who, along with his wife, killed 14 people in San Bernardino.

Four of those 30 rallies were planned in the San Francisco Bay Area, the heart of Silicon Valley and the stores closest to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. The rallies will take place at 5:30 p.m. local time in Corte Madera, Santa Rosa, San Francisco and Palo Alto, the store that Cook frequents the most. 

Rallies will also be held in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Connecticut, Houston, San Diego and Los Angeles County, among other locations.

"We're angry that the FBI is trying to make all of us less safe by undermining Apple's security," the group's organizers wrote on the "Don't Break Our Phones" website.

Organizers say their goal is to show lawmakers why decrypting Syed Rizwan Farook's phone would be "dangerous." They encourage protesters to bring signs that read: "FBI: Don't Break Our iPhones!" and "Secure Phones Save Lives."

A majority of Americans, however — including Bill Gates — side with the Justice Department in the agency's desire to unlock the iPhone of the Dec. 2 gunman, according to a Pew Research Center study released Monday. A total of 51 percent of those surveyed said Apple should unlock the iPhone, while 38 said the company should not.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym, based in Riverside, ordered Apple last week to help the FBI access the password-protected phone, but Apple has resisted, saying such a move could compromise the security of all iPhone owners' information.

Cook reiterated that position in a company email Monday.

"This case is about much more than a single phone or a single investigation, so when we received the government's order we knew we had to  speak out," Cook wrote. "At stake is the data security of hundreds of millions of law-abiding people, and setting a dangerous precedent that threatens everyone's civil liberties."

The U.S. attorney's office filed court papers in Riverside on Friday seeking an order compelling Apple to comply with Pym's mandate. Federal authorities argue in the court papers that Apple has the technical ability to access Farook's phone data.

According to the court papers filed Friday, federal authorities suspect that Farook, 28, may have used the iPhone, which was issued to him by his employer — San Bernardino County — to communicate with some of the people he and his wife, 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik, killed.

"The phone may contain critical communications and data prior to and  around the time of the shooting that, thus far has not been accessed, may reside solely on the phone and cannot be accessed by any other means known to  either the government or Apple."

Prosecutors also insist that their request will not compromise the data of other iPhone users.

"The order requires Apple to assist the FBI with respect to this single iPhone used by Farook by providing the FBI with the opportunity to determine the passcode," they said in court paperwork.

See the full list of rallies planned.

City News Service and NBC Los Angeles' Toni Guinyard contributed to this report.

New Jersey-based Best Foods Inc. is recalling two sizes of Deer brand cumin powder that may contain peanuts not listed on the labels.

The recall comes after the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets found peanuts in the product during a routine sampling, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Seven-ounce and 14-ounce packages of Deer brand cumin powder are being recalled. The affected products were sold in retail stores throughout New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia.

Although no illnesses have been reported, individuals with allergies could face serious life-threatening allergic reactions, the FDA warned.

Consumers who purchased these packages are urged to return to the place of purchase for a full refund.

The product comes in a clear and yellow plastic package, with no expiration dates. The 7 ounce packages are marked with UPC number 714760027497and the 14 ounce packages are marked with UPC number 714760027503.
 

Police armed with rifles and backed by air units surrounded a Southern California home overnight after receiving a 911 call of a woman gunned down inside the residence — only to learn that the call was a "swatting" prank on a teen whose viral "Damn, Daniel" video has captivated the Internet.

The caller reported just after 1 a.m. Tuesday they had shot their mother dead with an AK-47 assault rifle at a home in the 6200 block of Hamilton Drive in Riverside, prompting officers to swarm the neighborhood east of Los Angeles with guns drawn, said Lt. Kevin Townsend of the Riverside Police Department.

The family came out of the home and told police no one inside had been shot, and they had not placed the 911 call.

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While speaking with the family, officers learned that a teen who lives there is behind the "Damn, Daniel" viral video. The family told police they've been receiving phone calls from strangers ever since the online video gained fame.

Police cleared the scene and dismissed the call as a swatting hoax.

In the video, a teen repeatedly says "Damn, Daniel," marveling over another teen's fashionable footwear.

"Damn, Daniel. Back at it again with the white Vans!" the teen gushes.

The video, posted on Twitter on Feb. 15, has spawned numerous memes and parodies.

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They're not just for tech companies anymore, nap pods have come to the campus of UC Berkeley.

The pods are the result of an initiative led by students, who reached out to library and Student Union officials to designate four areas as “REST zones."

REST stands for Relaxation Enhancing Study and Tranquility. One of the zones is located in the student center in Eshleman Hall.

There, a nap pod is open for all students in the meditation room. Comfy chairs have been placed in three other buildings: Bechtel Engineering Center, Wurster Hall, and the Tang Center.

The university hopes students will use the areas to nap and rest in between their studies.

Many students are grateful the REST Zones arrived a few weeks before mid-terms.

“Sometimes, where we live is really far from campus so it's really hard for us to take naps so having these stations Is a lifesaver,” student Grace Mendoza said.

“It’s important to have this kind of facility so that we can take a rest in the middle of the day, or de-stress,” sophomore Andrew Tu said.

University administrators expect several more rest zones will be designated throughout the year.

The zones are funded by student fees. the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Student Services and Fees, according to campus newspaper the Daily Californian.

Surveillance video obtained exclusively by NBC Connecticut shows the frightening moment a minivan slammed into a West Hartford home Tuesday morning, causing part of the second floor to collapse into a heap of rubble.

The video shows a minivan jump a curb and smash into 240- 242 South Quaker Lane just before 7 a.m. The force of impact brought down several porches, burying the hood of the car under a pile of splintered wood.

"All of a sudden, I heard a big crash and I looked over this way at the house and both porches, all of a sudden, came down," said Darrel Strickling, who watched the crash while getting coffee at a gas station across the street.

Police said the woman who was driving the minivan hit the corner of 244 South Quaker Lane, then hit the three-family home at 240-242 South Quaker Lane.

Emergency crews at the scene said people were in the house when the minivan hit, but they were not injured and some didn't even realize what had happened.

Police believe a medical condition might have contributed to the crash and the woman who was driving the minivan was rushed to Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford to be checked out. Strickling said she was able to get out of the car and appeared to be OK.

"She said she just blacked out. She was coming home from a workout and the last thing she knows she was coming from that light. She doesn’t remember anything else," he explained.

The property manager responded to secure the building's front doors and make sure no one could accidentally walk outside and get hurt.

Officials from the building department were also called in to assess the damage, but neither building was condemned.

The road was closed for around half an hour. Police officers and firefighters have since left the scene.

A woman upset about being asked to stop smoking on an MTA bus stole the vehicle and drove it for several blocks on a busy Manhattan street, according to MTA officials and police. 

Officials said the woman hijacked an M101 bus Tuesday morning near the East 96th Street stop in East Harlem, then drove it for about three blocks. 

The incident unfolded when the woman, in her 50s, lit a cigarette on the back of the bus, authorities said. When the driver asked her to put it out, she allegedly got upset and refused to get off the vehicle.

The driver pulled over at East 97th Street and Third Avenue and let the other passengers off so they could catch another bus. He also called police. 

The woman got behind the wheel and sped off as the driver was helping other passengers off the bus, authorities say.

A second bus blocked the woman's path at East 100th Street and Third Avenue. Police arrived a short time later and took the woman into custody.

Police say that the woman allegedly said "people were following me."

She was taken to Metropolitan Hospital for evaluation. Charges against the woman weren't immediately available.

The 10-year-old girl hospitalized after she and a friend were hit by a driver in San Diego's Tierrasanta neighborhood is “a silent warrior,” her judo instructor told NBC 7.

Raquel Lee Ann Rosete has been in critical condition at Rady Children’s Hospital since Saturday, when driver Julianna Little, 30, drove onto the sidewalk on Santo Road and struck the girls, according to San Diego police.

Raquel’s family did not want to release information about her condition, only saying it was critical Monday. Her friend suffered serious, non-life threatening injuries.

David Newcomb teaches Raquel judo at Naval Air Station North Island. Raquel’s father just retired from the Navy, and the family was planning to move from Tierrasanta soon.

"Just kind of portray how awesome of a girl she is. She's a real good fighter,” said Newcomb. “She's a warrior, super intelligent. Usually came back first place from her competitions and stuff. So it's very hard to see her in this state right now."

Her injuries are life-threatening. But Newcomb hopes the little warrior will fight her way out of danger.

"She's very attentive. She has got a great personality and very respectful,” the instructor said. “She's like a silent warrior. She doesn't speak that much in class, but man, she knows how to put on a good show."

Newcomb helped set up a GoFundMe page for the family, and a vigil for the girls is planned for Thursday.

After the crash that injured the victims, Little – the accused driver – fled the scene and later returned with her father. Police said she told them she fell asleep at the wheel.

She was booked into Las Colinas Detention Facility on three felony charges, including driving under the influence causing bodily injury. She is being held on a $1 million bail, and her arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday.

The driver's attorney, Anthony Solare, said this has been hard on Little.

“Obviously these cases are tragic for everybody,” said Solare. “My client, I spoke with her yesterday, is absolutely devastated over what happened. Both her and her family have asked me to express their deep concern and best wishes and prayers for those two children."

Solare told NBC 7 there is important information about his client’s culpability that is still unknown.
 

A Sikh comedian and YouTube star who was performing at UC Berkeley over the weekend said that the Transportation Security Administration made him take off his turban in private during the screening process, then walk in public with his bare head to retie the traditional head covering in the bathroom.

Jasmeet Singh, also known as Jus Reign, began tweeting late Sunday night about his experience at San Francisco International Airport. He injected some self-deprecating humor into the situation, joking online about his public embarrassment. Sikh men are required to cover their hair at all times.

"I've flown many times before and never been asked to remove my turban," Singh said.

"I asked if it's okay if I leave it on" and the agents could "pat it down," he said. They refused.

By Tuesday morning, his story had been picked up all across the globe, mostly because of his stinging Twitter comments, such as: "Hey dude, a shoe is not a turban. All I asked was for a mirror bruv."

In a Skype interview from Ottowa, where he was on his way to perform a comedy routine Tuesday night, Singh reiterated his story, saying he had no problem with taking off the turban but felt a "lack of respect" by agents who didn't seem to realize that forcing him to put the head covering back on in public is "embarrassing" for most Sikhs.

"I felt frustrated," he said."It's like having someone ask you to take your pants off."

Then he added:  "Unlike a hat or a shoe, a turban takes more time. I gotta make sure I look crisp."

Harry Singh, who owns Tom's Outdoor Furniture in Redwood City, agreed.

"It's not simply that we just wrap it up like this," he said. "It has to be well, nicely cleaned, and proper. We can only do in front of a mirror."

TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said the agency is looking into the matter and had not received a formal complaint from Singh. The TSA manages the private company, Covenant Aviation Security in South San Francisco, whose employees do the baggage screening at SFO.

But according to documents provided by the Sikh Coalition, the Department of Homeland Security received a similar complaint from a Phoenix traveler in 2008, and promised in 2012 that the TSA would provide mirrors in these booths across the country.

"They agreed, and they didn't do it here," coalition senior staff attorney Gurjot Kaur said by phone from New York City. "For a Sikh to be without their turban in public is akin to being naked. It's very humiliating."

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Singh's experience is the second in less than a month during which a Sikh-American was stopped at the airport for wearing a turban.

Waris Ahluwalia said attendants at the airport in Mexico City barred him from boarding his Aeroméxico flight back to New York City on Feb. 8 because he didn't want to take off his turban in public.

The airline has since issued an apology.

"This incident inspires us to make sure that we strengthen the customer service protocols," the statement read in part.

Singh said he had Ahluwalia's experience in his own mind when he simply put his long hair in a bun and covered it with a bandana when he walked along the public airport terminal to put his turban back on. He's shown his hair before, but thought it would be more horrifying for those more observant than he is.

Sikhism, a 500-year-old religion founded in India, requires its male followers to wear a turban and beard and keep their hair uncut. Many members of the Sikh community have objected to the practice of frisking turbans, calling it unnecessary in a world with machines for body scanning and metal detection.

"Considering all the screening that they do and all the technology, you'd think they'd be able to use it to look through our turbans and see if there is anything in there," Harkeeret Kaur said. "It's just our hair." 

As of 2010, U.S. guidelines no longer require air passengers to remove turbans if doing so makes them uncomfortable. They may, however, be subject to additional security screening, including pat-downs by TSA officials.

The Toronto-based comic said he had never been asked to take his turban off, but eventually relented because he was told he couldn't board if he didn't. The agents let him take off his turban a private room, he said, where his head cloth was sent through an X-ray machine for "safety" reasons.

"After finding absolutely nothing wrong because a turban is just cloth and the whole thing is stupid I ask for a mirror to tie it back again," Singh tweeted.

Singh said the agent then told him he could put his turban back on if he walked to the bathroom.

"FAM WHAT WAS THE POINT IN TAKING ME TO THE PRIVATE ROOM IF U JUST TELL ME TO WALK OUT TO THE NEAREST RESTROOM TO PUT IT BACK ON AGAIN," he tweeted.

Singh said the ordeal, which garnered media attention across the globe, won't deter him from honoring his faith, or from cracking jokes.

"I know dudes that don't even wear turbans to airports anymore," he tweeted, "because they have to deal with this bull---- but I choose to cuz i look swanky." 

NBC Bay Area's Peggy Bunker contributed to this report.

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San Diego County added 711 hotel rooms at six new properties in 2015, up 115 percent from new supply added in 2014, according to hotel brokerage and research firm Atlas Hospitality Group.

In a newly released California development report, Irvine-based Atlas said the local region had 1,091 rooms under construction at the end of 2015. San Diego County has 48 hotels and 11,157 rooms in various stages of planning.

The largest local hotel to open in 2015 was the 179-room Hilton Garden Inn Old Town San Diego. The largest currently under construction is the 317-room Pendry San Diego, in downtown’s Gaslamp Quarter.

Atlas Hospitality Group President Alan Reay said California continues to see “very healthy” increases in revenue per available room (RevPAR), with many of the hotels opened in 2014 and 2015 operating at or exceeding forecasted budgets.

“The big concern is whether we’re now overbuilding,” Reay said in the report. “Atlas doesn’t believe so, mainly due to the fact that a lot of the new supply is simply making up for the total lack of new hotel rooms from 2009-2013.”

However, the Atlas report called for caution, noting that turmoil in financial markets is having an impact on capitalization rates and buyer/lender expectations. “This will undoubtedly have an impact on developers looking for permanent financing upon project completion, as well as those looking to obtain construction financing.”

Atlas officials said California overall saw hotel property values in 2015 exceed record highs seen in 2006-07, leading developers to re-enter the market. California saw 34 hotels with 4,395 rooms completed in 2015, with 98 hotels totaling 15,833 rooms under construction at year’s end.

There are 495 California hotels with more than 74,000 rooms in various planning stages. Los Angeles County leads the state in hotels (122) and total rooms (19,854) in planning.

An asteroid traveling about 34,000 miles per hour is expected to whiz past Earth on March 7. Astronomers are confident the warehouse-sized space rock will not impact the planet, but at the same time are not sure exactly how close it will come.

“It could be as close as 20,000 miles or as far as 10 million miles, so it’s a pretty big window,” astronomer Gerald McKeegan said.

McKeegan confirmed the existence of asteroid “2013 TX68” at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, after scientists in Arizona spotted it in October 2013. He says it likely came from the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, and has been passing Earth about every couple of years.

This time, however, it’s coming much closer.

He estimates the asteroid to be 80 to 170 feet in length, and will pass by the planet sometime between 5:30 a.m. and 4:06 p.m. PST on March 7.

“The asteroid is not going to hit us. There’s no concern about that. It will miss us. It’s just a matter of by how much,” McKeegan.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory agree the asteroid will not impact Earth, but say they have a new, straight-forward technique in case an asteroid veers course in the future.

“And that’s just slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid traveling at high speeds,” post-doctoral researcher Megan Bruck Syal said of Kinetic Impact. Syal is the lead author of a recent paper on the diversion technique, published in January.

Syal says researchers are on track to test the powerful method on an asteroid in 2022; however, scientists say they need years of notice to implement the technique.

McKeegan says at the moment, notice consists of days, not years.

Scientists estimate there are 14,000 near-earth objects and believe there are a million more out there, according to McKeegan. More than 40 tons of pebby-to-fist sized rock falls on the earth daily, but burns up in the atmosphere.

However, he says the worry is if a larger asteroid such as 2013 TX68 does make impact, it could create damage like a meteor did in Russia in 2013.

“Because it exploded in the sky, the shock wave from the explosion did a lot of damage, injured quite a few people. That asteroid is smaller than the one we’re talking about now,” McKeegan said.

Researchers at Chabot say the best chance to see the asteroid will be the weekend before March 7; however, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to observe.

A statewide amnesty program for overdue traffic fines and non-traffic offenses went into effect in San Diego last October, but court officials say few people have taken advantage of the opportunity.

There are tens of thousands of people potentially eligible according to county officials, and although they prepared for long lines, less than 2,700 people have requested to have their fines reduced.

Comparatively, around 7,000 people have used the program in Orange County.

“The penalty could include suspension of your license, you could have your tax refund taken by the state of California to satisfy that obligation,” Michael Roddy San Diego Superior Court Executive Officer told NBC 7.

If the due date for bail or fines on an unpaid ticket was before 2013 the court may lower the debt 50 to 80%, and any driver’s license holds may be released. Others may also be eligible to have ‘failure to appear or pay’ notifications cleared from their driving record.

“We've seen a much Greater response from other counties throughout California and that's where the concern arises,” Roddy explained. “Maybe we're not getting the word out effectively to the public and so again we are doubling our efforts.”

People who believe they are eligible should fill out the Amnesty Program Participation Form on the court’s website. More information can be found on the Judicial Council amnesty page.

Parking tickets and misdemeanors offenses such as DUI and reckless driving are not eligible.

A $50 Amnesty Program Fee will be charged for each eligible participant, which will be added to the first payment or lump sum amount. In addition, the DMV will also charge a $55 Driver’s License Reinstatement fee, if it applies.

President Obama on Tuesday released his long-awaited plan to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer the remaining detainees to a facility in the United States, NBC News reported.

In announcing the plan, Obama said “it has been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security—it undermines it." He said the prison is counterproductive to the fight against terrorists because they use it as a recruiting tool.

The plan is the administration's last-ditch effort to make good on Obama's campaign vow to close Guantanamo and calls for up to $475 million in construction costs, according to The Associated Press. The cost would in part cover the transfer of some of the remaining 91 detainees to facilities in the U.S., but Obama said the plan would ultimately save money. 

The president said some 30 detainees will be transferred to other countries and he hopes to work with Congress to find "a secure location in the U.S" to transfer nearly 60 detainees. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday it would be “illegal” for Obama to “transfer any of these terrorists into the United States.”

An attorney for the family of a 21-year-old University of North Texas student fatally shot by a campus police officer in December says she has evidence proving the shooting was not justified and is worried the case is being pushed through the system without a full and fair investigation.

Ryan McMillan was killed at the intersection of West Oak and Fry streets, just north of the UNT campus, Dec. 13, 2015. Dashcam video released by the university showed McMillan, while holding a hatchet in his right hand, advance on UNT Police Cpl. Stephen Bean while repeatedly saying "shoot me."

McMillan continued advancing despite Bean's orders to "back away." Bean then shot and killed McMillan, police said.

Prior to the shooting, McMillan was suspected of using the hatchet to smash the windows of several parked vehicles in the area, according to police.

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Renee Higginbotham-Brooks, the attorney for McMillan's parents, released a statement saying, "police have failed to review all the evidence in the case" before an upcoming grand jury hearing into the shooting.

During a news conference in Denton Tuesday morning, Higginbotham-Brooks and Dexter Simpson, a criminologist and former police officer, addressed the media, saying they had several witnesses to the shooting who said the officer overreacted and had not been threatened by McMillan.

According to Higginbotham-Brooks, witnesses said McMillan was killed while he had his hands to his side, with his wrists up, while holding a Boy Scout hatchet in a non-threatening manner.

Higginbotham-Brooks said the officer should have used non-lethal means to detain McMillan, whom she added was acting like a typical, reckless college student out celebrating his 21st birthday.

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"There are things that are ordinary. Ryan McMillan did what an ordinary college student would do — all college students do. He became intoxicated on his 21st birthday. In his extreme intoxication, he committed vandalism," Higginbotham-Brooks explained. "Vandalism is normal behavior throughout this country on college campuses. What is not normal is for an agent of a university to immediately use deadly force against a student when there are other non-lethal forms of force that should have been used."

"No Tasers, chemical sprays or tolerance were afforded this young man," said Simpson, who also spoke repeatedly about the Use of Force Continuum, a policy that guides a police officer's acceptable use of force.

Higginbotham-Brooks said her team has talked with "four key eyewitnesses who witnessed Ryan McMillan’s killing, and all four witnesses do not believe Ryan McMillan threatened UNT Police Cpl. Stephen Bean before he was killed."

"The four witnesses further believe that Officer Stephen Bean had ample time to use non-lethal force and that he overreacted," she said in a press release.

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Simpson said during Tuesday's news conference that the police department has not commented on what kind of non-lethal weaponry Bean may have had at his disposal.

Higginbotham-Brooks said neither she nor the family have been granted access to McMillan's autopsy, saying officials refused to release it citing the ongoing investigation. Toxicology reports can take up to 60 days from the date of autopsy to receive.

The Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.