A nationwide recall of sunflower seeds has been expanded amid continuing concerns over listeria contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

SunOpta, a Minnesota supplier, voluntarily recalled sunflower seeds, snacks and salad toppers earlier this month after a spot check indicated some of the seeds may have been contaminated. The recall also includes some Planter’s brand products. 

The recall was expanded last week to include products made between Feb. 1, 2016 and April 21, 2016, when SunOpta halted production. No illnesses have been reported, according to the FDA.

Affected products were sent to distribution centers in more than a dozen states in March and April and may have been sold nationwide. Kroger and Pittsburgh-based Gold Eagle are among the retailers to sell them.

"SunOpta is committed to ensuring consumer safety and providing quality products and ingredients to customers. The Company has completed its root cause analysis and is working with food safety experts to implement corrective and preventative measures," the company said in a statement. "In an abundance of caution, SunOpta is voluntarily extending the period during which it is recalling a limited number of sunflower kernel products that have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes."

The full list of affected products is available on the FDA's website.

The Del Mar Racetrack announced its 2016 summer concert series on Monday -- and as we've come to expect every year, it's pretty amazing.

The scenic track situated where the turf meets the surf will be hosting some of music's most iconic and in-demand artists come July, August and September.

As you may have seen when we reported it on May 20 -- Cold War Kids are track's big concert series opener on July 22. But the fun doesn't stop there:The next show scheduled is local indie-rock/soul favorites Fitz & the Tantrums on July 29, and capping off the month of July is the beloved Reggae Fest featuring Ziggy Marley (making another return to Del Mar) on July 30.

August and September hold even more in store as summer hits full swing. Girl Talk bring the mashup/dance fun on Aug. 5, while Brian Setzer gets in the swing of things the following day. The following weekend, 311 and Matisyahu head up a huge double bill of positive vibes on Aug. 13, and Pepper return to the track to deliver a one-two reggae/rock punch on Aug. 26.

The DMTC closes out the lineup with a huge finale: the classic reggae sounds of the inimitable Wailers on Sept. 2, and electro-pop superstar duo Chromeo on the decks on Sept. 3.

As always, the concerts take place after the last races of the day and are free for patrons of the track. Otherwise, tickets are $20 if fans get there after the last race has occurred. For more information, please visit here.

The 2015 Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Summer Concert Series

• July 22: Cold War Kids
• July 29: Fitz & the Tantrums
• July 30: Reggae Fest with Ziggy Marley
• Aug. 5: Girl Talk
• Aug. 6: Brian Setzer
• Aug. 12: Chris Young
• Aug. 13: 311 and Matisyahu
• Aug. 19: Thievery Corporation
• Aug. 26: Pepper
• Sept. 2: The Wailers
• Sept. 3: Chromeo

In the 40 years since fires sparked by lightning have been allowed to burn unabated in a section of Yosemite National Park, ecologist Scott Stephens has watched extensive conifer forests grow back as a patchwork of not just trees, but also meadows with wetland plants.

Places in the Illilouette Creek Basin that were typically dry are now covered with four inches of water, said Stephens, a professor of fire science at the University of California at Berkeley.

"And, amazingly a lot of these places maintain this wetness even during this four-year drought," he said.

Those wet fields are assuming even more importance as parts of California face a heightened risk of fire this summer. Climate change has left the state’s winters drier and springs warmer, and it is beginning the fifth year of a drought so harsh that it has killed more than 29 million trees. The severe weather is even threatening the iconic giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

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As the U.S. Forest Service revises how it manages its 193 million acres — with three forests in California's Sierra Nevada among the first to implement a new approach — Stephens and other fire scientists are urging it to go forward with plans to allow more fires to burn through dry vegetation. The accumulation of brush and grasses over decades makes it dangerous to try to put out every fire, he and six colleagues wrote in the journal Science last fall. Suppressing fires repeatedly simply promises more disastrous fires in the future. 

"We’ve got to change course in the way we manage fire," Stephens said. 

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week warned about a potentially fiery season not only in Southern California, but also in the Great Basin of Nevada, portions of the Southwest and Florida and Hawaii.

To prepare for the summer, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has hired 400 seasonal firefighters across the state whose focus will be on setting prescribed fires, removing dead trees, creating fire breaks, cutting back dense brush, and otherwise preventing fires.

Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for Cal Fire, said the department had already fought 900 wildfires since the beginning of the year. 

"All of those dead trees that are near homes are all fuel for wildfires," he said.

Sixteen of the most historically significant wildfires on record, as designated by the federal government, erupted over the last 10 years, Vilsack noted. The most recent: The Rim Fire which burned 257,000 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest in the central Sierra Nevada in 2013, one of the largest fires in California’s history.

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"We keep setting records we don’t want to see beat," Vilsack said in a statement after a briefing from the U.S. Forest Service, the primary federal firefighting service.

Stephens was working in the Stanislaus National Forest at the time and recalls thinking how susceptible it would be to a high-severity fire. Nearly three years later, he compares its devastation to the landscape in the Illilouette — up to 20,000 acres of nothing but dead trees in the Stanislaus National Forest to small plots of only 3 to 5 acres on average of similar destruction in the Illilouette.

"It's small," he said. "The forest is able to maintain itself. That's the key -- just having forests being able to maintain themselves, regenerate, evolve. The Rim Fire, that’s really different, terrible."

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The National Park Service began allowing so-called lightning fires to burn themselves out in Illilouette in the early 1970s. Most run into each other, Stephens said, and if an area has been permitted to burn in the last decade, the chance that a new fire will not spread is 90 percent or more.

What was once an unbroken thick forest with a dense canopy now has gaps of up to 4 acres throughout, with sections of thinned woods that are more resilient to fire, he said. 

Lauren Ponisio, a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, looked at the types of wildlife present in the Illilouette, especially bees, the most abundant group of pollinators there. Over two years she and others caught about 8,000 individual bees, representing about 160 species.

"People don’t usually think of forests as really important places for bees," she said. "It is because when we think of forests, we think of these fire-suppressed forests, these closed canopy forests, but when you’re out in the Illilouette, it's just so heterogenous."

In areas where there had been a mix of how often fires had burned and with what severity, there was more diversity of flowering plants and pollinators, she said. For every 5 percent increase in the diversity of the fires, there was one additional species of plants and one species of pollinators, she said.

"One of the most widely supported theories in ecology is this idea that diversity begets diversity and so fire diversity begets habitat diversity which begets the diversity of wildlife," she said. "You have this nice relationship. And fire’s maintaining that."

The National Park Service, with its 84 million acres of parks, has led the way in allowing fires to shape landscapes like the Illilouette, Stephens said. Now as the U.S. Forest Service considers far-reaching changes -- with the 4.6 million acres of California's Inyo, Sequoia and Sierra national forests among the first up -- its goal is for similar benefits.

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"We hope that the landscape can be restored to conditions where fires are more variable, with some areas burning at different intensities to provide the best mix of ecological conditions and habitat diversity," said Don Yasuda, a regional analyst and forest planning biologist with the U.S. Forest Service.

The drought and devastating fires like the Rim Fire -- with their long-lasting consequences on old forests and the habitat of wildlife species like the Pacific fisher and California spotted owl -- have brought an urgency to the new approach, the service said in a statement.

The soaring costs of fighting fires are an added impetus. The Forest Service spent more than $1.7 billion fighting fires last year, amounting to half of its budget. That contrasts with just 16 percent in 1995. When it exhausted its firefighting budget, the service was forced to draw on funds it had hoped to use for restoration projects. 

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Under the new plans, which are still in drafts, fires would be treated differently in different zones — with the Forest Service focused on protecting communities in some areas and allowing fires to burn in others: both those sparked by lightning and controlled fires, some set along ridge lines and major roads. More prescribed, or set, fires would create more smoke but under controlled conditions that would affect communities less and for a shorter time than wildfires, it said. 

"Research has proven time and time again that fire can be beneficial and is responsible for shaping the landscape," said Jennifer Anderson, a fuels planner for the national forests in California. "We have a choice to suppress every fire or to manage some fires to meet resource objectives at the right place and time."

Among the biggest challenges is the enormous area that needs to be restored. Large fires are needed to periodically reduce vegetation — as opposed to intense fires that destroy large swathes of trees, it said.

The Forest Service will be constrained by the number of people who live in and near the forests and by campgrounds, power lines, cell towers and infrastructure within the forests. Fires may never be able to burn to the extent that they once did, it said.

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Stephens predicts some opposition as soon as fires are allowed to burn. Communities will be affected, recreation curtailed, and there will be uncertainty about what the fires will do, he said.

"But I’m convinced that if we don’t begin to do things like that, all we’re going to have is higher and higher vulnerability in our forests and eventually we’re going to have outcomes that are much worse," he said.

Videos posted to social media show people screaming and frantically running out of an apartment in College Park, Maryland, after University of Maryland police used pepper spray to break up a party early Saturday morning.

University police said officers were called to The Courtyards, located at 8500 block of Boteler Lane, around 1:45 a.m. after receiving a call about a loud party and a possible fight at the on-campus apartments.

When officers arrived, a person said there was a fight inside an apartment and someone may have had a baseball bat, according to police.

Officers told the partygoers numerous times to leave the apartment, but not everyone complied, police said. Officers used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

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Two people, Brittney Hunter, 21, of Waldorf, and Montee Hunter, 20, of Capitol Heights, were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, failure to obey lawful order and obstructing and hindering, police said. It's not clear if they have hired attorneys.

The fire department arrived to treat the people sprayed, police said.

As medics were providing care, a confrontation broke out in the parking lot outside the apartment complex, and officers used pepper spray a second time, police said.

University of Maryland Police Chief David Mitchell told News4's Darcy Spencer on Sunday the incident is cause for concern.

"First of all, let me say I'm very concerned about the perception that my students have of what happened," Mitchell said. "So far, what I see causes me concern — in some cases, on both sides. Students who just should have just left and perhaps we could've performed better in a couple instances."

Mitchell said several officers were wearing body cameras and the department expects to release some of that video.

"Of course, the question is, was this reasonable use of pepper spray?" Mitchell said.

The University of Maryland Police Department released a statement Sunday night saying police had completed an initial review of the incident an "a formal investigation is now underway to determine if the use of force was appropriate."

"President Loh and Chief Mitchell are committed to a complete and transparent investigation to determine the facts of the incident," the statement continued.

Video on Twitter from a person at the party shows the moment when pepper spray was used by officers.

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Controversy brewed at Saturday's San Diego Padres game when a recording of a woman singing the national anthem played instead of the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus, which had just taken the field to sing on Pride Night at Petco Park.

A technical error silenced the chorus, which was scheduled to perform the Star Spangled Banner at the game between the Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. The chorus was set to sing along to a pre-recorded track of the national anthem.

Saturday marked Pride Night at Petco Park, an event hosted in conjunction with the San Diego Pride organization's annual "Out at the Park" event to support the LGBT community. The chorus performed at Pride Night last year without issue.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the chorus said 100 volunteer singers took to the field for the ballpark performance, but an audio recording of a woman singing the anthem played over the loudspeaker — not the track the chorus had expected.

The chorus stood quietly on the field as the song played. The mix-up meant the chorus did not get to perform along with its own track, as scheduled.

"There was a really long pause — it took longer than normal. Then, all of a sudden, the music started but it was a young woman singing instead of the chorus and it just didn’t stop," Bob Lehman, executive director of the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus, told NBC 7 on Sunday.

Lehman said the chorus thought the audio mistake would be fixed on the spot, but the wrong track continued to play.

"They just played the entire song and we just stood there," he recounted.

He said the group didn't know what to do next. Out of respect for the national anthem, the chorus sang along with the woman's voice track.

"Nobody could hear us," Lehman lamented.

He said the chorus was humiliated. Many of them had invited loved ones to the game to watch the Pride Night performance.

The moment was captured on cellphone video by a fan attending the game and posted to Facebook.

The SDGMC addressed the incident on its Facebook page Sunday morning in a post titled "You Sing Like a Girl," which questioned the San Diego Padres’ relationship with the LGBT community and called for a "full and transparent investigation" by the Padres, Major League Baseball, the San Diego City Attorney’s Office and the city of San Diego Human Relations Commission.

According to a statement released by the San Diego Padres on Saturday night, the incident was the result of a technical glitch in the control room.

"This evening, during the pregame ceremony, a mistake was made in the Petco Park control room that prevented the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus from performing the National Anthem as scheduled. We apologize to anyone in the ballpark who this may have offended, and have reached out to the Chorus to express our deep regret for the error," the statement said.

A Padres spokesperson at Petco Park told NBC 7 the error was an "unfortunate and regrettable mistake." Once the wrong track started, the control room made a "heat of the moment" decision to let the song continue playing so as not to cut off the national anthem for the crowd, the spokesperson said.

The Padres followed up with a statement Sunday night saying an internal investigation "found no evidence of malicious intent" but that "we have terminated our relationship with the third-party contractor who was responsible for the error, and taken disciplinary action against our employee who was responsible for the game production on Saturday."

The team apologized and has invited the chorus back to Petco Park to perform again. The chorus, for its part, responded to the Padres' statement saying it was "pleased" and looking forward to "a constructive resolution to this issue."

"Our hope is to positively improve the relationship between the Padres and San Diego's LGBT community," the chorus said.

The San Diego Padres is the first MLB organization to hold a "Pride Night" in support of the LGBT community.

Former San Diego Padres player Billy Bean, who is openly gay and serves as MLB’s first Ambassador for Inclusion, released a statement Sunday addressing the incident, saying he does not think the Padres purposely meant to embarrass the chorus:

"This past Saturday night, it was very unfortunate that there was a technical error during the National Anthem at Petco Park. However, I want to convey that my former team, the San Diego Padres, have supported our inclusion message at MLB without hesitation even before my return to baseball in 2014. They have led by example by inviting me, numerous times, to speak with their players and employees. I have also worked very closely with their owner Ron Fowler and team CEO Mike Dee, and I can assure you that they have made every effort to include the LGBT community, and champion equality in MLB for each and every one of us. I’m so proud of the Padres organization for hosting an LGBT Pride event during the season, and I would hope that the community recognizes that error and intent are not related."

According to the SDGMC website, the group is one of the 10 largest GALA choruses in the U.S. and features more than 130 singers.

The original chorus was first founded in San Diego in 1992 and presented its first concert one year later. In December 2009, the original SDGMC and the Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego merged to create the new San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus.

The group’s mission statement is "to create a positive musical experience through exciting performances which engage our audiences, build community support and provide a dynamic force for social change."

Crews were working on Monday morning to rescue a man who fell 4 to 6 feet down a trench at a construction site in Little Italy, officials said.

The incident happened just before 10 a.m. in the 1800 block of State Street. The man was on a ladder when he fell down into a 40-foot trench and suffered a leg injury, San Diego fire officials said.

Crews were working at about 10 a.m. to rescue the man.

No other information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story. 

San Diego soccer fans have been pining for a Major League Soccer franchise for years. While that dream may still be a long way off, another version of professional outdoor soccer may be returning soon, and it could lay the foundation for MLS in San Diego.

According to multiple sources close to the situation, the United Soccer League (USL), one of the top professional leagues in America, is negotiating to put an expansion franchise in San Diego. It’s possible the new team could start play as early as April of 2017.

The USL is not ready to formally announce a new team in San Diego but does want to have a presence in America’s Finest City.

“San Diego is a thriving market with a millennial population and considerable interest in soccer,” said John Griffin, Vice President of Communications for the USL. “The USL’s recent success is built on three core tenets: strong local ownership, an attractive market and plans for a soccer-specific stadium. Those three tenets will position our teams and the league for long-term success.”

The first two components would seem to be easy to fulfill. San Diego has consistently ranked among the top markets for World Cup soccer ratings and has a passionate fan base. The Club Tijuana Xolos of Liga MX also have a strong following north of the border.

Just this year San Diego saw a pair of National Premiere Soccer League (NPSL) teams start play, the Albion Pros SC and North County Battalion. Both are enjoying successful inaugural seasons on the field and in the stands. It’s the third part of the equation that may be the sticking point.

The USL has had discussions with the University of San Diego to potentially play home games for at least the inaugural season at Torero Stadium, a facility that has hosted the College Cup and the USA Women’s National Team. Of course, the league has eyes on what happens in the November, 2016 election and the potential vote on a new Downtown stadium for the San Diego Chargers.

The USL would like to have a soccer-specific stadium to eventually move in to, which could be possible when the Chargers move out of Mission Valley (either Downtown or to Inglewood). Former Padres owner John Moores and his JMI Realty have already offered a plan for redeveloping the Qualcomm Stadium site, including the construction of a new, smaller stadium that could host a professional soccer team and the Aztecs football team.

If the USL ultimately decides not to come to San Diego, it will likely be because of this final stadium hurdle. If they do eventually come, the MLS is very likely not far behind. Several USL teams are affiliated with Major League Soccer franchises. Current Major League Soccer club Orlando City SC was able to successfully transition from the USL to MLS and is in the process of constructing a new, soccer-specific stadium. Orlando City is the model the potential San Diego franchise would follow closely.

Balboa Park placed second on Thrillist magazine's list of the 15 Best City Parks in America.

Thrillist, which bills itself as a leading men’s lifestyle brand, picked Balboa because of the sheer number of museums, the Zoo and opportunities for hiking.

“It's a bit unreal how much ground this park covers with arts and culture attractions,” Thrillist said of the Park.

The magazine also cited the Zoo’s pandas, Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, the Japanese Friendship Garden and WorldBeat Center as reasons for the ranking. 

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Forest Park in Saint Louis, Missouri won the top spot. Other parks on the list included (in order), LA’s Griffith Park, Beacon Food Forest in Seattle, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Prospect Park in New York City, Falls Park in South Dakota, New Orleans’ City Park, Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Baltimore’s Patterson Park, Humboldt Park in Chicago, Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Portland’s Forest Park, Encanto Park in Phoenix and Forsyth Park in Savannah, Georgia.

Balboa Park received a “Great Places Award” last fall from the American Planning Association, one of six parks highlighted by the association.

The park recently celebrated its centennial of the Panama-California Exposition in 1915 and the San Diego Zoo is celebrating its centennial this year.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has made a big priority of tackling infrastructure issues. 

But his two main re-election challengers aren't impressed with the results, and hope he can be forced into a November runoff. 

Ed Harris and Lori Saldana have been bashing the incumbent over emergency dispatch delays and police retention issues. 

Faulconer's financial team is pointing to major troves of money freed up for neighborhood improvement projects citywide. 

One that got particular attention during Monday morning’s special meeting of the City Council’s Infrastructure Committee is a funky athletic complex in Kearny Mesa. 

“The dust is so thick, and of course that's getting on everything everywhere -- and some people don't even like parking in here,” says Steve Hartman, turf manager for Hickman Field Park. 

Hartman is one of many volunteers who look after the park’s baseball and soccer fields, with the city covering no expenses except for water. 

That's due to change before long, as bureaucratic reforms that Faulconer is touting have produced upwards of $130 million in "savings and efficiencies" over the past year.   

So Hartman was pleased to learn that Hickman Field is now in the spotlight, with city officials talking up the need for real restrooms to replace Porta Potties, and numerous other amenities.

“Just getting paving, that alone (is important), and all the infrastructure that has not been here,” Hartman told NBC 7. 

Right now, substandard city  streets are being re-surfaced at the rate of 300 miles a year. 

But the mayor's opponents say much of the work is mostly superficial, and far behind the curve of nearly $2 billion worth of deferred maintenance and construction.  

“Kevin is part of the national problem  that we see, bureaucrats wanting to go somewhere else; they're not solving problems,” said Harris, a former interim council member and longtime leader of the city’s lifeguards union.  “ The fact that's he's pulling a rabbit out of the hat two weeks before an election shows you that he's covering for what he hasn't done." 

NBC 7 reached out Monday to the Faulconer's aides, but they didn’t offer an opportunity to get his view of things. 

His other main rival, Lori Saldana, referred to him with the phrase "political expediency", and added these observations in a statement to NBC 7:  “Many of these issues would not have been on the public radar without re-election challengers to peek beind the thick, expensive wall of mayor public information officers.   Reallocating a few of those PIO salaries would also be a good step.

In response, Francis Barraza, Faulconer’s campaign manager, shot back with this statement: "Just look at the numbers. Mayor Faulconer has doubled infrastructure funding and nearly tripled road repair funding since he took office. Infrastructure investments are at the highest level of the decade. In contrast, Mayor Faulconer's opponents have offered no concrete plans or solutions."

Five people died Monday morning in a small plane that crashed in Hawaii, NBC News reported.

The plane was carrying four skydivers and the pilot. Four of the victims were pronounced dead at the crash site, in an open field near Port Allen airport on Kauai, state and local officials said.

A fifth person was transported to a local hospital, where he later died.

NBC affiliate KHNL identified the plane's operator as Skydive Kauai. A message seeking comment was not immediately returned.

A man was tased and arrested after he attempted to cash a faudulent check at a Payday Loans store and got into an altercation with officers Monday evening, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) confirmed.

It happened around 6:09 p.m. on the 4400 block of Convoy Street just south of Balboa Avenue.

SDPD say they got an alarm call about a man inside the store, possibly attempting to rob it.

The suspect had allegedly attempted to pass a faudulent check. When officers tried to arrest him, he resisted arrest and officer tased him.

Police say the suspect and the officers are okay.

They believe he was under influence of narcotics.

No other information was immediately available.

Major League Baseball will investigate why a recording of a woman singing the national anthem inadvertently played instead of the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus at a Saturday Pride Night Padres game.

“We are pleased that MLB will look into this matter and the Padres will cooperate fully,” Padres CEO Mike Dee tweeted on Monday morning. “Based on our own investigation and the decisive action that we took yesterday, we are eager for all the facts to come to light surrounding this unfortunate incident.”

Meanwhile, the DJ implicated in the technical error has been terminated, as the team continues to investigate what led to the mishap, officials said Monday.

Social media erupted shortly after the game between the Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers, when a technical error silenced the chorus. The group was set to sing along to a pre-recorded track of the national anthem when a recording of a woman singing played instead.

The moment was captured on cellphone video by a fan attending the game and posted to Facebook. It went viral shortly thereafter.

On Sunday, the team announced the firing of an outside vendor — the DJ hired to play music — and disciplined a team employee.

NBC 7 has learned through multiple sources that the DJ, known by the moniker DJ ArtForm, failed to upload the pre-recorded music file sent in by the group. Instead, a pre-recorded version used the previous night was played.

The DJ has expressed remorse offering his "sincerest apologies and deepest regret.”

Saturday marked Pride Night at Petco Park, an event hosted in conjunction with the San Diego Pride organization's annual "Out at the Park" event to support the LGBT community. The chorus performed at Pride Night last year without issue.

The chorus sang along with the woman's vocal track out of respect for the national anthem, according to Bob Lehman, executive director of the chorus, who said the incident was humiliating.

The Padres later issued a statement apologizing to the chorus and asking them to come back to perform at a later game.

Dee reiterated this message on Monday.

“We deeply apologize to the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus and anyone else who was offended by our mistake,” he tweeted.

The chorus addressed the incident on its Facebook page Sunday morning in a post titled "You Sing Like a Girl," which questioned the San Diego Padres’ relationship with the LGBT community and called for a "full and transparent investigation" by the Padres, Major League Baseball, the San Diego City Attorney’s Office and the city of San Diego Human Relations Commission.

Lehman tells NBC 7 he believes the music was an accident, but is concerned with how the team immediately reacted to the mistake.

He said the chorus' 100 members were left on the field, with no announcement, apology or explanation of what happened at the time. And to make matters worse, Lehman said, the group was jeered by some people when they walked off the field. He’s concerned over any perceived problems between the LGBT community and the Padres.

“I want to see something good come out of this so that the relationship can be examined, and find out why the community feels that way and how we can fix it,’ Lehman said.

Lehman said he plans to meet with Dee later in the week. But he’s also concerned that the Padres didn’t completely respond or take action until the story took off on social media and publications around the nation, and the world.

“I’m sure they (the Padres) felt like we did on Saturday night. When that happened, we were shocked and didn’t know what to do. That’s what happened to them yesterday. The entire world came after them and said, hey something’s wrong here,” Lehman said.

Lehman said he wants to meet with the team before accepting the offer to return to return to perform at a later date.

Here is DJ ArtForm's full statement on the error:

“My deepest apologies and sincere regret toward the entire San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus & the LGBT community for the incident that occurred during the National Anthem. It was a very unfortunate mistake but it was just that, an error. I in no way, shape or form directed any type of hate, bad intent or discrimination towards the chorus or anyone involved. The incident was not a representation of myself, San Diego, & it’s amazing Baseball fans. I have felt the consequences of my mistake as a dream job has dissolved before my eyes which does not take away that I am extremely sorry for the horrible mistake that occurred. I have family members & friends that are a part of the LGBT community and I have always been a supporter of Equal Human Rights, so it pains me greatly to see that I am being accused of acting intentionally. As a former high school and college baseball player, I understand the importance of ensuring equality for all in sports and am appalled by some of the negative, homophobic comments made by fans related to the National Anthem incident. I have reached out to LGBT leaders in San Diego and am currently in discussion regarding a meeting with the Chorus and LGBT leaders personally in order to be as constructive as possible about the error. I’ve let down my city, my family and everyone who had faith in me. Once again, I’m truly sorry for this entire ordeal.”

San Diego State forward Malik Pope announced on twitter Monday that he plans to withdraw from the NBA Draft and return to school for his junior season.

In a tweet posted around 6:30 p.m on Monday, Pope explained, “I’ve decided after talking with my mom and my coaches that I’m gonna withdraw my name from the NBA draft tomorrow, 5/24.”

Pope averaged 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore last year.

However, he raised his game down the stretch and scored in double figures in nine of SDSU’s last 13 contests. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 11.7 points and just under seven boards per game during those last 13 games.

This is the first season players could enter their names for the NBA draft and participate in the combine but also withdraw their name by a certain date and not lose their college eligibility. 

As long as prospects do not sign with an agent and remove their name from the draft within 10 days of the completion of the combine, they can return to school.

So after gaining more information on his potential draft status as well as the draft process, Pope returns for his junior campaign and combines with Trey Kell to form a formidable scoring tandem for the Aztecs. As I predicted a few weeks ago, Pope believes this is the best decision for his long-term NBA future.

Dakarai Allen and Matt Shrigley also will be back for their senior seasons, along with redshirt-sophomore-to-be Zylan Cheatham and sophomore point guard Jeremy Hemsley.

The Aztecs have won a Mountain-West high 10 conference titles and are 3-time defending regular-season conference champions.  

After not earning a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time in seven years, the Aztecs made the NIT last season and advanced all the way to Madison Square Garden. After making it to NYC, the Aztecs lost in the NIT semifinals to the eventual champions from George Washington.

The NBA Draft is June 23 in New York City.

San Diego Police Department (SDPD) were investigating a armed robbery at a massage parlor in Kearny Mesa Monday night.

The incident happened on the 7400 block of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard just west of Convoy Street.

SDPD says an armed suspect, wearing a mask, robbed L'Amour Spa around 9:34 p.m. Monday night.

The suspect took off with an unknown amount of money or merchandise.

Police say the suspect got away before units arrived on scene.

Officers and employees at the parlor say no one was injured.

No other information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story. 

Phase three of Chargers voluntary workouts kicked off Monday morning at Chargers Park. Even though we’re months away from the start of the season, it was still exciting to see the players actually play a little football. This was the first time the offense and defense shared the field since off season workouts started last month.

A standout out at Chargers Park today was rookie tight end Hunter Henry. The Bolts second round NFL draft pick out of Arkansas made quite an impression during rookie minicamp a few weeks ago. His ability to advance the running game is a huge bonus to the Chargers, but quarterback Philip Rivers says his mindset is equally impressive.

“Some guys have a demeanor, and I know it’s early and it’s OTA’s but, they have a demeanor like I’ve been around here for four or five years and he has that demeanor” Rivers said of Henry. “ Not in a cocky way, it’s just like, yeah I’m a pro football player and here’s how you’re supposed to act, and he kind of carries himself in that way.”

If this outing was any indicator, the Chargers will see changes when it comes to their offensive scheme. The majority of the snaps during Monday’s workout came from under center, which is a very different look from what the Chargers did last season when Rivers was usually waiting for the ball in the shotgun formation.

In that center position today was new veteran Matt Slauson. The former Chicago Bears offensive lineman joined the Chargers in early May. Rivers says he’s still getting to know Slauson but is impressed with what he’s seen on and off the field. “He seems like he’s played a lot more at center than the five games he played last year” says Rivers. “You’d think he’s been playing center his whole career. He’s got way more starts obviously at guard. He reminds me of a couple of the guys who have been here in the past: Clary, Hardwick and Dielman with his personality, just the little I’ve been around him and that part’s exciting.”

There’s still a lot of work to be done but the atmosphere on the field today was that of a team that’s ready to get to work. Chargers Head Coach Mike McCoy knows there’s a long road ahead saying, “This really is a time period for everyone to learn our system and each day try to find something to get better at. There are plenty of mistakes we’re going to learn from on film today, but this is the first step.” And just to add a little motivation the team had the Kansas City Chiefs tomahawk chop blaring from the speakers on the practice field. That’s one way to get in game day mode. The Bolts face the Chiefs in Kansas City in week one of the regular season. Chargers minicamp is set to being on June 14th at Chargers Park.

The Padres just cannot seem to solve the riddle that is the San Francisco Giants. 

Or Johnny Cueto for that matter.

San Diego fell to 0-7 against the Giants this year after a shocking 1-0 loss at AT&T Park Monday night.

A seemingly harmless pop-up by Hunter Pence with two outs in the 9^th inning should have sent a scoreless contest into extra innings.

Instead there was a miscommunication between Matt Kemp and second baseman Alexei Amarista and the ball dropped in safely after Kemp attempted a late dive but could not make the catch. 

Brandon Belt provided the winning – and only – run of the ball game by hustling around from first base on the bizarre play.

Drew Pomeranz was stellar for the Friars. The lefty pitched 7 shutout innings and only allowed 2 hits but received a no-decision.

Cueto also only gave up 2 hits but did so over 9 innings of work and punched out 6 batters during his latest complete game masterpiece. 

With the exception of a Matt Kemp single and a base hit by Alexei Amarista, the San Diego offense was non-existent. 

It’s the unfortunate theme of this season: The Padres keep getting shutout. This latest setback means San Diego has been blanked a ridiculous 10 times in its first 37 games.

Wrap your head around this one: Cueto has already beaten the Padres three times this season – and in each victory he has gone the distance. He has silenced the Padres to one single run over an eye-popping 27 innings.

But this time the pitcher’s duel by the bay wound up being decided by a miscommunication in right field.

The Padres will try to snap their 7-game skid against the Giants Tuesday when they send Andrew Cashner to the mound against Jeff Samardzija. 

A charity football game between members of the FDNY and the NYPD was meant to be a family-friendly outing in Coney Island but quickly turned into a bloody brawl when a verbal dispute escalated on the field. 

New York's Finest and New York's Bravest met on the field at the MCU Park Saturday for a friendly football game, the proceeds of which would go to help families in both departments. But the Fun City Bowl ended with fists flying. 

"I think one of the FDNY guys exchanged words with the NYPD player and then from there, I couldn't see what was happening, I just saw the crowds come around the player," said Angel Zayas, a freelance photographer who was filming the game on the sidelines. "I heard it happening before I saw it happening." 

Zayas watched one of the firefighters walk away with blood dripping down the side of his face.

"He was pulled out of the crowd, the FDNY guy," he said. "It was trickling out the side, you could see the blood on the side of his head." 

Moments later, a second fight broke out, and players on the sidelines ran to the center of the field to jump in as families watched from the stands.

Zayas described another FDNY member being tackled, "and then they surround him and everyone jumps into the center of that."

Then the arguing, fighting and tackling subsided, and the crowd cheered and applauded in an attempt to encourage the goodwill. Handshakes and hugs were exchanged between the red and the blue, and a man could be heard telling one of the teams: "Listen up. Don't embarrass yourselves, you hear me?"

"At the end, they were all talking, it was like water under the bridge," Zaya said. 

The NYPD said in a statement, "Football is a competitive sport, whether it is the NFL Super Bowl or the annual NYPD-FDNY challenge. It is part of the spirit of the sport, but it all ends on the field."

The game ended with the NYPD winning 29-13. 

It's not the first time the teams have brawled during a charity game. Last year, members of the NYPD and FDNY fought on the ice during a hockey match at Nassau Coliseum. 

A man who was badly injured during last year’s Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia finally met the group of first responders who saved his life.

“Finally, I know the identity of these brave individuals and have been able to thank them – even have lunch with four of my guardian angels,” said Robert Hewett. 

On May 12, 2015, Hewett, 58, was sitting in the first car of Amtrak 188 when it derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight people and injuring more than 200 others.

“Right before I lost consciousness, I crashed head-on with another gentleman,” Hewett said. “I woke up laying on a pile of rocks. All my clothes had been ripped off. I couldn’t move my legs. I couldn’t see out of my right eye.”

Hewett said fires burned in the field near where the train careened off the tracks, but he was too badly hurt to move himself to safety. So he waited.

"I was scared laying there," Hewett said. "I couldn't move, I couldn't get away. I started yelling for help."

Eventually, that help came. First responders carried Hewett away from the scene.

"I remember [the rescuer] saying, 'This guy's gotta go now or the whole back of his head's coming off,'" Hewett recalled.

Hewett was the first derailment survivor to arrive at Hahnemann Hospital but the last to leave. He suffered several fractures, a collapsed lung and spent seven weeks in a medically induced coma. The severity of his injuries required lengthy and extensive medical treatment.

After watching Hewett recount his rescue on the one-year anniversary of the crash earlier this month, Lisa Hogan knew her husband, Philadelphia Fire Lieutenant James Hogan, was one of the men who rescued him. Hogan then reached out to Hewett and helped identify all of the first responders who came to his aid and rushed him to Hahnemann Hospital, including Lt. Hogan, firefighter Michael Flacco, Philadelphia Police Officer Padraic Feeney, Officer Kevin McGorty, Officer Bryan Turner and Officer Sean King. Hewett, his wife and their two children met with all of his rescuers except for Turner and King and had lunch with them in Center City back on May 18.

“We all now share a very special bond and I look forward to continuing to stay in touch,” Hewett said.  “We are forever grateful for what these first responders do every day.”

The Padres have made a change to their player-development staff. Lance Burkhart is the new manager of the Single-A Lake Elsinore Storm.

Burkhart takes over for Francisco Morales, who resigned last week for undisclosed reasons. Morales was suspended by the Padres organization for the start of the 2016 California League season because of an incident that took place at San Diego’s academy in the Dominican Republic. It is unknown if his resignation is related.

The 41-year-old Burkhart gets the promotion to Lake Elsinore after serving as the Low-A Fort Wayne TinCaps hitting coach since 2015. He was part of the staff that helped the TinCaps to a Midwest League Eastern Division championship. Burkhart’s only managerial experience came in 2014 when he skippered the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs to a 68-72 finish in the independent Atlantic League.

A 15th round selection by the Montreal Expos in 1997, Burkhart played eight seasons of affiliated baseball, reaching as high as Triple-A.