American Ninja Warrior Season 8 brings competitors from around the country to select cities to see if they have what it takes to tackle a series of challenging obstacle courses.

Flora Hyacinth, a San Diego Chiropractor and Fitness Studio owner, is among them.

"I've watched the show off and on a couple years and you're like, ah do I think I can do it? And I don't know why, but last year, I thought I can do this," Hyacinth said.

She certainly had the resume to grab the show producers’ attention. Hyacinth is a three time Olympic Long Jumper who competed in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney for U.S. Virgin Islands.

"I think, once an athlete, always an athlete and the idea of being able to compete at that level again was something I really couldn't pass up," Hyacinth said.

At 50 years old, the former track & field star, still looks like she can compete against athletes half her age.

She credits her recent fitness level to a workout routine called “Flo Fusion”, which she invented, and turned into a business: “Flo Fusion Fitness”.

Hyacinth uses the combination of yoga, pilates, and resistance training inside her Mission Valley studio to help clients who may have underlying knee and hip pain to lose weight and gain muscle tone.

“So this allows them to get a really great workout, burn a lot of calories, but not put any additional stress on those joints," she said.

A non-disclosure agreement kept her from saying how well she did in the Los Angeles qualifying rounds.

Filming of the show’s finals round in Las Vegas still hasn’t started.

"I had a blast, tried my hardest and I'm in it till I can't do it anymore. I'm a ninja for life," she said.

American Ninja Warrior Season 8 premieres Wednesday June 1st at 8 p.m. on NBC 7.

Six people were injured in a crash on the northbound Intestate 805 in City Heights Tuesday night, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) confirmed.

The accident happened around 9:53 p.m., just south of University Avenue. 

According to CHP, there were multiple vehicles invovled in the crash.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) says three people were transported to Scripps Mercy Hospital and one person was taken to UCSD.

One of the vehicles involved reportedly took off from the scene, SDFD officials said.

The Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista is used to hosting athletes from around the world and this week one of the most inspiring teams is in town. The U.S. Paralympic National Soccer Team (USPNT) is getting ready for the Rio games with two local guys on the club.

Rancho Bernardo’s Mason Abbiate and Chula Vista’s David Garza get to stay close to home this week for training camp. The two are midfielders on the club looking to go for gold in Rio de Janeiro. While their skills on the soccer pitch are impressive, it’s nothing compared to what these two went through to get here.

Abbiate was born with cerebral palsy, a movement disorder with symptoms that include weak and stiff muscles, poor coordination and tremors. Garza was in a serious car accident in 2012 that left him with a traumatic brain injury.

Neither let their situations define them and now they’re on the USPNT working with Coach Stuart Sharp to end the team’s medal drought at the Paralympics.

You can watch Mason, David and the rest of Coach Sharp's USPNT when the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games kick off on September 7^th on NBC and NBC Sports Network.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, said Europe has allowed too many refugees into the continent, NBC News reported.

In an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, the Dalai Lama said "we feel the misery" of each refugee and have a "responsibility to help," but that Europe has been overwhelmed by the number.

"Europe, for example Germany, cannot become an Arab country. Germany is Germany," the Dalai Lama said in the interview. "There are so many."

The Dalai Lama said "from a moral standpoint" he thinks refugees should "only be accommodated temporarily" — with the goal of them returning home to rebuild their countries.

A man accused of behaving aggressively while carrying a cinder block was tasered by deputies in Lakeside Tuesday morning in an odd encounter, officials said.

According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDSO), deputies were called at around 6:45 a.m. to a Jack in the Box located at 12155 Woodside Ave. after an uncooperative customer was escorted out of the fast food restaurant. After being removed from the business, the woman walked into the middle of the street.

A deputy walked the woman from the middle of the street to his patrol car. As he tried to handcuff the woman, she resisted, officials said, and a struggle ensued next to the deputy’s car.

Just then, an off-duty deputy drove by the scene and got out of his car to help the fellow deputy.

As the deputies tried to handcuff the woman, a man carrying a large cinder block approached the scene and told the deputies to let the woman go.

A deputy drew his service weapon and told the man to drop the block. After several seconds, the suspect dropped the cinder block but continued to be aggressive toward the deputies, the SDSO said.

The deputy drew his Taser and, as the man continued to ignore commands to get on the ground, the deputy deployed his Taser. 

The man and woman were both taken into custody. The man was booked into jail for assault with a deadly weapon, while the woman was admitted to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation.

The sheriff’s department said no deputies were injured in the incident. It is unclear, at this point, if the man knew the woman or why he chose to approach deputies.

A man became trapped after he drove into high water in Dallas in an effort to help a woman who was also stranded Wednesday morning.

The man's boss, Craig Chapman, said the driver was on his way to work when he saw the woman, whose van was stuck in knee-deep water near the intersection of California Crossing Road and Wildwood Drive. His vehicle became trapped when he drove over to help.

Authorities arrived at the scene just before 6:30 a.m. and helped the woman walk to safety. The woman was treated at the scene and released.

Responders then helped the man, who was sitting on his nearly submerged vehicle. Paramedics evaluated him at the scene and released him.

Chapman said the man, who does not speak English, called asking for help. Chapman and others at Complete Landsculpture saw him on live footage from Chopper 5.

"We were looking at him on the TV, trying to figure out where he was so we could get to him," Chapman said. "We kind of figured out where he was, pinpointed him and came to see what we could do to help him out."

The woman, who also doesn't speak English, declined an interview request.

Texas has been inundated over the past several days, with heavy rain bringing the Brazos River to record levels on Tuesday. Nine weather-related deaths have been reported.

The area near California Crossing Road and Wildwood Drive is known to flood along Elm Fork of the Trinity River and nearby Daniel's Creek.

North Texas remains under a flash flood watch through Thursday.

NBC 5's Chris Van Horne contributed to this report.

A passenger plane landing at Newark Airport bounced up and down on a runway, causing ceiling panels to fall into the aisle, before a pilot canceled the landing and took off back into the skies above New Jersey, witnesses said.

The rough ride caused panels in the Boeing 767 to fall from the plane’s ceiling onto the aisleway below as flight attendants rushed to check on passengers. 

United flight 557 was traveling from Houston on Tuesday afternoon with 214 passengers aboard when it made the hard landing, according to airline officials. 

A passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, said the plane came down and skipped on the runway, so the pilot lifted it back into the air. The pilot then tried to land again but the plane came down even harder and rebounded several times before it took off again. 

"The pilot jerked the plane up to cancel the landing entirely," the passenger said.

The passenger said that it was during the second series of bounces away from the runway that ceiling panels fell, revealing what appeared to be mechanical boxes and other parts of the plane that are normally hidden away.

"One of the panels fell right next to my seatmate and I," the passenger recalled.

He said the panels collapsed into the aisle and that no one was hurt when they came down. The passenger said people didn’t appear to be afraid and helped hold the fallen panels.

As the plane was flying away from the airport an announcement came over the intercom saying, "It's our pleasure to welcome you to Newark Liberty International Airport," sparking chuckles from the cabin.

Another announcement asked flight attendants to return to their seats. A third announcement apologized for the bumpy ride. 

The plane circled over Newark Airport for about 30 minutes before finally landing to the cheers of passengers. 

"My seatmate and I were joking that we were gonna be the next season of 'Lost,'" the passenger said.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, United Airlines confirmed that paneling came loose. The airline company said the plane landed safely and there were no injuries. 

The plane was taken out of service to be evaluated and repaired, airline officials said.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday filed a lawsuit that would allow them to seize the life insurance policies held by one of the San Bernardino shooters, NBC News reported. 

The two policies, owned by Syed Rizwan Farook, were worth a total of $275,000. Farook's mother, Rafia Farook, was listed as the beneficiary.

Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, died in a shootout with authorities after the Dec. 2, 2015, terror attack at the Inland Resource Center that left 14 people dead.

Under federal law, assets derived from terrorism are subject to forfeiture. A federal judge must approve an application before the government can seize the money.

Just as Donald Trump is starting to make up ground in polls against Hillary Clinton, he faces a new problem: third parties.

Over the holiday weekend, the threat advanced on two fronts. First, the Libertarian Convention in Orlando, and then 'Never Trump" activist Bill Kristol.

Kristol's efforts to draft a third party conservative candidate to rival Trump may have paid off, NBC News reported.

The payoff could be a less-than-well-known candidate, however, in David French, a decorated Iraq veteran and staff writer at National Review.

Several sources confirmed to NBC News French's interest, but it's not clear whether a bigger name might take the plunge instead.

A third party would give conservatives ideologically opposed to Trump a megaphone to carry on their message in exile. For his part, Trump has warned Republicans flirting with a third-party bid that they'll hand Clinton the White House if they go through with it.

Police are searching for the gunman who shot a teen girl in front of the 3-year-old she was baby-sitting, then left her for dead in her Brooklyn apartment.

Shemel Mercurius, 16, was baby-sitting her young cousin in her sixth-floor apartment in East Flatbush on Tuesday when she was shot multiple times, police said. 

Officers were called to the Brooklyn Avenue apartment building just before 6 p.m. following reports of gunfire.

Police found Mercurius semi-conscious in her apartment with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said. Mercurius was taken to Kings County Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Mercurius' aunt told NBC 4 New York her 3-year-old son witnessed the shooting. She also said Mercurius was able to describe the gunman to police before she died. 

The 3-year-old was unharmed.

There have been no arrests. Police have not released the name or description of any possible suspect.

The U.N. children's agency warned Wednesday that 20,000 children are trapped in the Iraqi city of Fallujah as coalition-backed Iraqi troops fight to retake the city from ISIS, NBC News reported.

UNICEF said food and medicine are running out and clean water is in short supply. 

UNICEF's Iraq representative Peter Hawkins called on all sides to provide safe passage for those wishing to leave the city. The U.N. has already raised concerns that ISIS has been using families as human shields.

Iraqi government troops — backed by air support from the U.S.-led coalition — launched a military operation over a week ago to recapture Fallujah, which has been under ISIS control since 2014.

San Diego International Airport saw total passenger traffic rise 1.8 percent in April from the same month a year ago, to nearly 1.7 million, according to the latest monthly numbers from the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Departing passengers totaled 855,297 for the month, up 2.5 percent from a year ago, with arriving passengers totaling 837,445, for a 1.2 percent increase.

The domestic passenger count topped 1.6 million for the month, up 2.1 percent, with the international passenger total declining 5 percent, to 56,831.

For the January-to-April period, total passenger traffic was up 4.4 percent from a year ago, at nearly 6.4 million. The departing traveler count increased 4.5 percent, to 3.19 million, with arriving passengers increasing 4.4 percent, to 3.18 million.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be visiting San Diego Thursday to deliver a speech criticizing Donald Trump's foreign policy agenda.

Clinton's campaign team said in a statement that her speech would "make clear the threat that Donald Trump would pose to our national security and to put forth her own vision for keeping America safe at home and leading in the world."

She will speak at 11:30 a.m. at The Prado at Balboa Park Ballroom.

The Clinton campaign has announced there will be several visits by the Democratic presidential candidate and President Bill Clinton in the days leading up to the June 7 primary.

California Gov. Jerry Brown announced yesterday that he plans to support Clinton next week in the state's presidential primary election.

Brown said he is "impressed" with Clinton's rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but called on Democrats to unite around Clinton.

Clinton is 72 delegates away from the magic number needed for a majority of delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

Both Democratic candidates made campaign stops last week in California, hoping to rally support ahead of next week's primary. Sanders spent Memorial Day in the Bay Area with a stop in Emeryville planned for Tuesday as he looks to close Clinton's 2-percentage point lead in California.

When San Diegans request a ride via uber, where do they go?

According to data released by the ride service company, that destination is likely Pacific Beach, Little Italy or downtown San Diego.

Using trip data, Uber recently released a list of the Top 10 Uber Destinations in San Diego where riders go for food and drinks – from Happy Hour to dinner.

Those spots include:

• Backyard Kitchen in Pacific Beach
• Barleymash in the Gaslamp Quarter
• Ballast Point in Little Italy
• Kettner Exchange in Little Italy
• PB Shore Club in Pacific Beach
• Rustic Root in the Gaslamp Quarter
• The Headquarters at Seaport near Embarcadero
• C-Level & Island Prime in Harbor Island
• Moonshine Flats in East Village
• House of Blues in Downtown San Diego

Check out our map below or here to make your way from spot to spot.

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The overall death rate in the United States ticked up in 2015, according to new federal data, NBC News reported. 

Nearly 730 deaths were reported for every 100,000 people in 2015 compared to 723 deaths in 2014, according to initial data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Experts aren't sure why the death rate has been rising and need to analyze the data which shows that suicides, Alzheimer’s and gun deaths increased in 2015. 

The last complete report on deaths in the U.S. came in 2013, when 2.6 million Americans died. The crude death rate was 821.5 deaths per 100,000 and the average life expectancy was 78.8 years. The crude deaths rate — not adjusted for age — was 841.9 per 100,000 people in 2015.

Students scrambled to safety or crouched quietly in classrooms at the University of California, Los Angeles, on Wednesday after two people were killed in a murder-suicide on campus.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said two men were found dead in the engineering building Wednesday morning. Police are investigating the shootings as a homicide and suicide.

The campus was deemed safe about two hours after an emergency alert sent students running for cover.

UCLA senior Bahjat Alirani was getting ready to take an exam in the building where gunfire erupted when he encountered police in the hallway.

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"As soon as I got off the staircase, I saw a SWAT-looking police officer and he was pointing a big gun and and said for everyone to run and get out of the area," Alirani recalled. "I look at my phone and see that the alert was saying 'shooting at Engineering 4.'"

Alirani said he tried to find a hiding place away from the building.

Alex Darouie, a sophomore, told NBC San Diego he was walking from a parking garage on campus when he received an emergency alert from the university.

He rushed to the school music building, just a few hundred feet away from the engineering lab, where he hunkered down in a dark classroom with about 20 other students.

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"Everybody is trying to keep it quiet. The lights are off," he said in a phone interview with NBC San Diego. "Everybody is trying to not freak out right now."

Darouie said he could hear little from inside the classroom — just the sound of students running for cover and police units swarming outside.

Another student, Carrie Rapaport, spoke with NBC San Diego on Twitter while huddled with classmates in the Broad Art Center. She tweeted a photo of a peer using her belt to secure the door.

"Everyone is sitting on the floor in the dark," she told NBC San Diego, adding she could hear helicopters circling overhead.

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Pranasha Shrestha, who also tweeted from inside a classroom, posted a photo showing desks and chairs propped against the door.

"Doors open outward with no locks so we had to improvise our own locking mechanism," she captioned the image.

San Diego firefighters are getting a raise, but not until 2019.

It's one of the terms of a four-year tentative agreement the city reached with its firefighter union. Firefighters could see more immediate increases to their pay through another benefit in the new contract - a lower threshold for when they hit overtime.

The city also announced deals with its skilled workers union, the union representing Deputy District Attorneys and lifeguards.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer said the firefighter agreement brings all city employees under contract extensions that uphold pension reform, approved by voters in 2012. Known as Prop B, the measure shifted most city employees from a guaranteed benefit pension to a more 401k style retirement plan. Prop B left all new hire firefighters without a defined death and disability benefit.

"These agreements are fair, and they're a good deal for our taxpayers and our neighborhoods," Faulconer said. "These agreements invest in the dedicated and hardworking city employees that I am so proud of as mayor."

Union President Alan Arrollado said the new contract doesn't deal directly with pension reform. 

"I think it's pretty clear to most people that the mayor and I disagree on pension reform," Arrollado said. "However, the professionalism of the mayor and with the honesty and dialogue we were able to have, reasonable people can disagree. So we set aside the issue of pension reform and worked on this deal for several weeks. It's a fair deal for both the employees and the citizens."

Terms of the new contract include increases to uniform allowances, a 6.6 percent raise by 2020, parental leave and a shift in overtime calculations.

Previously firefighters had to work 212 hours in a 28-day cycle to receive pay and a half. Now that threshold has been knocked back considerably to 56 hours a week.

Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said calculating the overtime pay has been a challenge for payroll staff, and overtime isn't always welcome by firefighters, especially in a department that has been understaffed for 10 years.

"Every fire department I'm aware of has a constant staffing responsibility, meaning when someone calls in sick or is on vacation, or injured or whatever it may be, we have to fill behind them," Fennessy said. "It's vitally important that we show up for these emergencies fully staffed.

In 2014, the city's top recipients of overtime pay were almost all firefighters, a review of city payroll data shows. Many of the top OT recipients made more than six figures on top of their base pay for the extra work. 

The city is also changing the way the fire department does vacations, which a mayoral spokesman said is expected to about even out, if not reduce, the total amount of OT. No longer can firefighters store up three weeks of vacation, and take it all at once during the summer, leaving a staffing shortfall.

The firefighter contract is tentative, pending City Council approval in coming weeks.

The new contract leaves out death and disability benefits for new hire firefighters. Faulconer said an agreement to fix that issue is coming to the City Council on June 14.

Sergeant Ed Harris of the San Diego Fire Department said he's concerned about the fiscal impact of the OT.

“You know these are the type of sweetheart deals that got us in trouble in the past and we can’t ignore history," Harris said.

Nearly 200 firefighters worked throughout the night battling a brush fire burning near Pala.

The fire scorched 45 acres and was 15 percent contained as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, Cal Fire confimed.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered on Temepa Road, west of Pala Temecula Road Tuesday evening after a house fire spread to surrounding brush.

The fire first sparked at 1:55 p.m. in a two-story home located at 38850 Pala Temecula Rd., Cal Fire officials said, approximately 57 miles north of downtown San Diego.

Soon, the flames extended into vegetation surrounding the property.

Crews from several agencies were called to the scene to help knock out the fire and provide traffic control for the area.

According to Cal Fire, there were seven air tankers, three helicopters and 25 engines on scene during the peak of the fire. There were also eight to nine hand crews, with around 15 firefighters per crew.

By 2:45 p.m., Cal Fire officials said 25 acres had burned in the blaze heavily fueled by brush. Officials said there was potential for the fire to grow to 200 acres as it continues with a moderate rate of spread.

According to Cal Fire, as of 4 p.m., the fire had burned 45 acres and mandatory evacuations were ordered.

Evacuees were directed to go to Great Oak High School on Deer Hallow Way in Tememcula or Vallecitos Elementary School on Fifth Street in Rainbow.

Mandatory evacuations were lifted as of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Pala Temecula Road will be closed off for everyone except resident between Pala Mission Road and Pechanga until at least 10 a.m. Wednesday, CHP said.

About 1200 gallons of retardant was used to slow down the spread of the fire.

There have been no injuries reported.

Two former employees of Trump University called the courses offered by the for-profit real estate school “fraudulent schemes,” saying they focused on making money instead of educating students, according to court testimony, NBC News reported.

Ronald Schnackenberg, a Trump University sales manager from 2006-2007 said in his testimony that “it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.” 

Jason Nicholas, a sales executive from May to October of 2007, said he felt the courses "did not provide a legitimate real-estate education" and Trump University was "just selling false hopes and lies."

New documents unsealed by a court order issued last weekend, include testimony from a former executive about high satisfaction rates from its students. Mark Covais, Director of Operations for the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, collected data, showing “97 percent of TU students” rating the programs “4.85 or higher on a scale of 1-5.”

The Kashi Company is voluntarily recalling some snack bars and granola sold in the U.S. over concerns the products may contain sunflower seeds contaminated with listeria.

The two affected products are the Trail Mix flavor of Kashi Chewy Granola Bars and the Cinnamon + Sunflower Butter flavor of Bear Naked Soft Baked Granola.

The company said the products contain sunflower seed ingredients distributed by SunOpta, a Minnesota-based company that has recalled dozens of products sold around the country.

The ingredients may contain listeria monocytogenes, bacteria that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly and other people with weakened immune systems. Pregnant women are also at risk.

There were no reports of illness as of May 31, according to Kashi. No other Kashi or Bear Naked products are impacted by the recall, the company said.

Those who purchased the recalled products should discard them and contact Kashi for a full refund. The consumer hotline is 1-877-747-2467.

For the UPC codes and expiration dates of affected products, go to Kashi’s recall page.