Facebook beat Wall Street expectations, posting stronger earnings for the second-quarter, NBC News reported. 

The company reported $6.44 billion in revenue, according to a release posted at the end of the trading day. Analysts expected Facebook to earn $6.02 billion. The boost was due to strong user engagement and dominance in mobile and digital advertisements. 

The company reported 1.71 billion users. Daily active users were 1.13 billion on average for June 2016, amounting to a 17 percent increase year over year. Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook will now focus on expanding the community. 

"We have five billion people left to connect," Zuckerberg said. "The biggest thing we can do to help people and grow the business is to focus on improving and expanding this already dynamic and large community we have using the Facebook app."

After a few peaceful nights, Carmel Mountain Ranch residents were awakened by familiar construction noise.

An NBC 7 viewer complained of being woken up to the cacophonous sound of things being thrown into a nearby dumpster at the construction site. The noise continued for roughly half an hour, and no heavy equipment was used, he said.

While last week’s noisy construction turned out to be illegal, this time it appears to be simply annoying. A city spokesman said that although the overnight construction is a nuisance, it’s not necessarily breaking the rules.

In the previous incident last Thursday, the noise went on throughout the night and involved heavy equipment. A city code enforcement officer issued a formal warning to the contractor last week.

The city official said this time the noise was legal because no heavy equipment was used and it stopped within less than an hour. This time around, the NBC 7 viewer did not file a complaint with the city and he did not report it to police.

Construction crews aren’t legally permitted to make noise greater than sixty decibels for more than an hour at a time, said the city official.

However, if the Construction Crews violate the law again they could face fines and possibly be ordered to stop working on this project.

Another city official says it’s important to make a record of the noise, even when the legality is unclear.

If you have a similar story, record video of the noise, call the non-emergency line and notify police, and file a complaint with the city code enforcement.

The Democratic Party may be losing the beloved goofiness of "Uncle" Joe Biden, but they could be gaining a new cult hero.

Tim Kaine, who was tapped by Hillary Clinton as her running mate, introduced himself to the Democratic Party at large Wednesday night at their national convention. And upon doing so, he struck a chord with many for what they interpreted as his ability to crack a corny dad joke.

"We all should feel the Bern. And we should all not want to get burned by the other guy," Kaine said.

Kaine, a dad of three kids, also attempted an impression of Donald Trump, repeating "believe me" a popular line from Trump's stump speeches.

"It’s gonna be great—believe me!" We’re gonna build a wall and make Mexico pay for it—believe me! We’re gonna destroy ISIS so fast—believe me! There’s nothing suspicious in my tax returns—believe me! By the way, does anyone here believe that Donald Trump’s been paying his fair share of taxes?"

Many to took to Twitter to offer their commentary on Kaine's dad humor:

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One night before Hillary Clinton was set to address the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, a lineup of political heavy-hitters made the case for her to be the next president.

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Vice Presidential nominee Tom Kaine and Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg headlined Day 3 of the convention. 

Obama called Clinton the most qualified candidate ever. Kaine introduced himself to the country before questioning Republican Donald Trump's trustworthiness. Biden and Bloomberg both hammered Trump's judgment, temperament and qualifications for the job.

On social media, reaction was swift.  

Tuesday marked a historic moment as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated for president by a major political party. Clinton joined good company when she claimed the "first" title. Here are 13 powerful women who chipped away at the glass ceiling by achieving historic firsts.

Computer Scientist: Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is considered to be the first female computer scientist. She worked with close friend Charles Babbage on plans for a computing machine in 1834 — they were some of the first people to come up with the concept.

Editor of Major U.S. Newspaper: Cornelia Walter became the first woman to serve as editor of a major U.S. newspaper when she took over as editor of the Boston Transcript in 1842. She was 27 at the time.

American Doctor: In 1849, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to get a medical degree at an American university.

American Lawyer: Arabella Mansfield of Iowa became the first woman officially recognized as a lawyer in the United States when she passed the bar exam in 1869. Although she did not go on to practice law, she taught at several colleges.

Presidential Candidate: Though she received no electoral votes, Victoria Woodhull ran for president in 1872 as the People's Party candidate — nearly 50 years before women could even vote. She was jailed on Election Day on obscenity charges.

Prime Minister: Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the first female prime minister or president of a country when she was elected as prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1960.

In Space: Valentaina Tereshkova was the first woman to fly in space when Russia's Vostok 6 launched June 16, 1963. Almost exactly 20 years later, Sally Ride became the first American woman to accomplish the feat when the Challenger launched June 18, 1983.

CEO of Fortune 500 Company: Serving as CEO of The Washington Post from 1963 to 1991, Katharine Graham was the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 Company.

Boston Marathon Runner: When Bobbi Gibb's 1966 application to run the Boston Marathon was rejected because she was a woman, she decided to join in anyway. After sneaking into the starting gate, she ran the marathon in 3:21:40.

Military Academy Graduate: Andrea Hollen was the first of 62 women to graduate from West Point University in the class of 1980. She also received a Rhodes scholarship.

Oscar-Winning Director: Winning an Oscar in 2010 for "The Hurt Locker," Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win Best Director at the Academy Awards. She was the fourth woman to be nominated for that award.

Head of Major U.S. Sports Magazine: ESPN hired Alison Overholt to be editor of ESPN The Magazine in January, making her the first woman to lead a major American sports magazine.

SEAL Candidates: In light of the recent law change that allows women to serve in more combat military roles, the first female SEAL candidates could start training in late August, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. That means a female Navy SEAL could be just a couple of years away.

Forrest E. Mars Jr., the billionaire scion of the Mars Inc., died Tuesday at the age of 84, the company confirmed in a statement Wednesday.

Mars is survived by his wife, four children, eleven grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

He inherited the business together with his brother and sister and grew it into a confectionery empire.

"Forrest was a great inspiration to all of us at Mars, Incorporated," said Grant F. Reid, CEO and Office of the President for Mars, Incorporated. "He was instrumental in building our business, while remaining committed to the founding principles of the Company. Forrest will be sorely missed, but his contributions and the legacy he leaves behind at Mars will be long-lasting."

Mars began his career in 1955 as a certified public accountant, working as an auditor for Price Waterhouse after serving in the United States Army for two years. He joined Mars, Incorporated - then, a business of less than $100 million in revenue - as a Financial Staff Officer for M&M's Candies in 1959.

Two years later, Mars was appointed General Manager of a new confectionery factory — now one of the largest chocolate factories in the world — in Veghel, Netherlands. Over the next two decades Mars exploded expanding Mars presence globally.

According to Forbes magazine, the Mars family, with an estimated worth of $78 billion, is the third-richest in the United States, behind only the Waltons of Walmart and the Kochs of Koch Industries.

The president headlined the night’s speeches, and a few of his boasts of his record headline our fact-checking report:

• President Barack Obama claimed that under his administration, “we finally began to wean ourselves off foreign oil,” but dependency on imported oil had begun to drop years before he took office.
• The president repeated a frequent boast that the U.S. “doubled our production of clean energy” during his tenure. Monthly renewable energy production has gone up 40 percent.
• Obama said deficits have “come down” under his administration. That’s true, but they are expected to rise again soon under his proposed budget.
• Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine falsely referred to economist Mark Zandi as “John McCain’s chief economic adviser during the ’08 race,” in touting an estimate of job loss under Donald Trump’s proposals. In fact, Zandi is a Democrat.
• Rev. Jesse Jackson wrongly said “we have not lost a single job, a single month” since Obama became president, and he was also off in saying the U.S. trades “more with Mexico than we do with China.”
• Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta falsely claimed that Trump “says he gets his foreign policy experience from … running the Miss Universe pageant.” Trump didn’t say that was his foreign policy experience.
• Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid claimed that the GOP ticket wanted to “gamble” Social Security “in the stock market.” But Trump’s campaign has called for making no changes to Social Security.
• Kaine claimed that Trump said he “wants to abandon” our NATO allies. Trump has said that he doesn’t want the U.S. to leave NATO, but has suggested he would not automatically defend NATO allies that do not pay their share of defense costs.

• DNC Day 3 Top Moments: Obama Backs Clinton, Knocks Trump

Note to Readers

This story was written with the help of the entire staff, including some of those based in Philadelphia who are at the convention site. As we did for the Republican National Convention, we intend to vet the major speeches at the Democratic National Convention for factual accuracy, applying the same standards to both.

• Tim Kaine Dad Jokes Take Twitter by Storm

Article

Foreign Oil Dependency

President Obama made a misstep when he said, “After decades of talk, we finally began to wean ourselves off foreign oil” under his administration.

Actually, U.S. dependency on imported oil had already begun to decline years before Obama first took office.

According to official figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, dependency peaked in 2005, when the nation imported 60.3 percent of the crude oil it consumed. But that percentage dropped to 57 percent in 2008, the year before Obama was sworn in.

It’s true that U.S. dependency had continued to drop during Obama’s time — down to 24 percent last year.

But the fact is the decline “began” well before Obama entered the White House. Also, dependency has now begun to rise again due to low oil prices and reduced U.S. drilling. The U.S. imported 26.6 percent of its crude oil in the first half of 2016.

And Clean Energy Growth

Obama also repeated his frequent, and inflated, boast that during his time in office the U.S. “doubled our production of clean energy.”

Monthly renewable energy production has increased by about 40 percent from January 2009 to April 2016, far from the 100 percent increase Obama claimed. While it is true that wind and solar power have more than doubled since 2008 (they’ve nearly quadrupled, in fact), they represent only part of the renewable energy picture. Less than a third of renewable energy consumption in April came from wind and solar.

As we wrote back in 2012 when Obama made a similar claim, the largest category of renewable energy is biomass, such as ethanol that is blended in gasoline. And the second-biggest category is hydropower — electricity generated from dams. Together, hydroelectric power and biomass accounted for nearly 70 percent of renewable energy consumption in April.

Deficits to Rise Again

Boasting of his post-recession record, President Obama said that “we’ve seen deficits come down.” They have, but deficits will soon begin to rise again under the president’s proposed budget unless his successor cuts revenues or increases taxes, or both.

It’s true that annual federal deficits have declined since peaking at $1.4 trillion in fiscal year 2009 — a deficit Obama largely inherited from a budget signed into law by his predecessor, George W. Bush. The decline was slow at first with deficits stubbornly remaining above the $1 trillion mark for four straight years.

Since then, the yearly deficits have declined markedly. In fiscal year 2015, which ended last Sept. 30, the deficit was $438 billion, a drop of 69 percent from FY 2009.

In an analysis of Obama’s fiscal year 2017 budget, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects deficits will continue to fall for two more years. But it also warned about the return of growing deficits in the 10-year period covered by the analysis.

CBO, March: Under the President’s proposals, CBO estimates, the deficit would total $529 billion in 2016. It would fall to $433 billion in 2017, fall further to $383 billion in 2018, and then increase in most subsequent years, eventually growing to $972 billion in 2026.

In its analysis of the presidential budget proposal, the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the plan would “stabilize the debt as a share of the economy,” but it “does not go far enough” to reduce the debt “from its current record-high levels.”

The CBO analysis showed that federal debt owed to the public was 73.6 percent of GDP in 2015, and will creep up under the budget plan to 77.4 percent by 2026.

Kaine Wrong on McCain Adviser

Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine repeated a shopworn Democratic falsehood when he referred to economist Mark Zandi as “John McCain’s chief economic adviser.”

Kaine: John McCain’s chief economic adviser during the ’08 race … estimates that Trump’s promises would cause America to lose 3.5 million jobs.

It’s true that Moody’s Analytics, where Zandi is chief economist, issued a report last month concluding that the combined effects of Trump’s policy proposals on taxes, government spending, immigration and international trade — if fully implemented — would cause “a decline of 3.4 million jobs” during the four years of a Trump presidency.

Zandi was lead author of that study, and he’s a well-respected business economist. But he wasn’t the 2008 GOP nominee’s “chief” economic adviser. He’s not even a Republican. Kaine and other Democrats have adopted the bad habit of referring to him that way in the hope that it will give added weight to whatever Zandi says that’s critical of Republican policy.

Kaine is a serial offender in this bit of petty deceit. Nearly six years ago, in September 2010, Kaine described Zandi that way in a Sunday talk show, when Kaine was chairman of the Democratic National Committee. What we wrote then still goes:

FactCheck.org, Sept. 7, 2010: Kaine got it wrong when he called economist Mark Zandi “John McCain’s chief economics adviser.” … It’s true that Zandi was one of those who offered advice to McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. But as we’ve reported before, he says he’s a registered Democrat, and he was just one of several economists who advised McCain. His chief economic adviser was Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

What we reported prior to that was that Zandi said in a 2009 interview: “I’m a registered Democrat.” Zandi said in that same 2009 Washington Post interview that he had agreed to advise McCain at the request of an old friend, McCain’s chief economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Zandi also advises Democrats.

And last year, Zandi gave $2,700 — the legal maximum — to Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign.

Jesse Jackson, Off-Script

Rev. Jesse Jackson — departing from his prepared remarks — made two false claims, about trade and about Obama’s record on jobs.

Jobs: Jackson said: “He came in office, we lost 800,000 jobs. We have not lost a single job, a single month since Barack has been president.”

That’s off by a mile.

It’s true that the U.S. was losing jobs at the rate of hundreds of thousands per month at the time Obama first took office, but that hemorrhaging continued for months afterward as well.

The loss in total nonfarm employment, officially measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, was 769,000 in November 2008, 695,000 in December and 791,000 in January 2009.

Every month of Obama’s first year in office showed losses, and there were five months in 2010 that also showed losses. In all, the U.S. lost close to 4.4 million jobs in the months before Obama took office, but it lost a little more than 4.3 million more in the opening months of Obama’s term — not hitting bottom until February 2010.

Trade: Jackson said, “We trade more with Mexico than we do with China and Japan every day.”

Not so. It’s true that the U.S. trades more with Mexico than with Japan — but not more than it trades with China.

Total trade in goods (the value of all exports plus the value of all imports) between Mexico and the U.S. was $214 billion in the first five months of this year, according to the U.S Census Bureau. That’s a bit less than the $216 billion total trade with China.

And that’s been true for years. Trade in goods with China has exceeded that with Mexico for all of 2015, and for all of 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010 as well. We had to go back more than a decade, to 2005, to find a year in which trade with Mexico exceeded that with China.

Foreign Policy and Pageants

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta falsely claimed that “Donald Trump says he gets his foreign policy experience from … running the Miss Universe pageant.”

Panetta was referring to a Trump interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier in May. As we’ve written before, Baier asked Trump whether he had talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump refused to answer, and went on to say that “I know Russia well” because “I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago,” referring to the 2013 pageant.

But Trump didn’t go so far as to say that the pageant was an example of his foreign-policy experience, and Baier never asked him that question.

Hillary Clinton has made similar claims, saying that Trump “says he’s qualified to be commander in chief because he took Miss Universe to Moscow.”

Reid’s Outdated Social Security Claim

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid dredged up an old Democratic talking point in claiming that, “Donald Trump and Mike Pence want to gamble with your retirement benefits in the stock market.” But Trump has said he wants to “leave [Social Security] the way it is.”

Pence supported a plan more than a decade ago that would have allowed younger workers to voluntarily invest part of their Social Security taxes in private mutual funds. Trump advocated something like that 16 years ago, but not now.

We’ve seen Reid’s claim over and over again, and it usually refers to a lawmaker’s support for President George W. Bush’s 2005 proposal for private accounts. And, in fact, Pence, then a congressman, did back Bush’s plan. But that called for voluntary private accounts and limiting how much workers could put into them — plus the accounts would have been government-approved mutual funds. The plan wouldn’t have forced anyone to have their Social Security taxes “gamble[d]” on the stock market.

Trump, however, hasn’t called for any such thing in this campaign. In fact, he said in a March GOP debate, “I will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is.” And in response to an AARP request for information on his stance, Trump said, “The key to preserving Social Security and other programs that benefit AARP members is to have an economy that is robust and growing.” He went on to talk about “tax reform” and “immigration reform.” He didn’t outline any changes to Social Security.

Back in 2000, Trump did advocate private Social Security accounts, writing in his book “The America We Deserve”: “The solution to the Great Social Security Crisis couldn’t be more obvious: Allow every American to dedicate some portion of their payroll taxes to a personal Social Security account that they could own and invest in stocks and bonds.”

But 16 years later, that’s not a plan he has pushed on the campaign trail.

Abandonment Issues

Kaine said that Trump said he “wants to abandon” our NATO allies. Trump has said that he doesn’t want the U.S. to leave the international security alliance. However, he has recently suggested that he would not automatically defend NATO allies that do not pay their share of defense costs.

Kaine: I want to start off thanking my wife, Anne, and my three beautiful children, Nat, Woody and Annella. … You know, my son, Nat, deployed with his Marine battalion just two days ago. He deployed overseas to protect and defend the very NATO allies that Donald Trump says he now wants to abandon.

Trump’s most recent comments on NATO came during a July interview with David E. Sanger and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times. Trump said that he would be willing to defend fellow NATO members, “if they fulfill their obligations to us.”

Sanger, July 21: My point here is, Can the members of NATO, including the new members in the Baltics, count on the United States to come to their military aid if they were attacked by Russia? And count on us fulfilling our obligations.

Trump: Have they fulfilled their obligations to us? If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes.

Haberman: And if not?

Trump: Well, I’m not saying if not. I’m saying, right now there are many countries that have not fulfilled their obligations to us.

Throughout his campaign, Trump has been critical of NATO, which was established in 1949 by the U.S., Canada and 10 Western European nations to defend against the former Soviet Union. One of Trump’s main criticisms of NATO, which now has 28 member nations, is that it is too costly to the U.S., which pays about 22 percent of direct spending by NATO, and an even larger share of indirect costs, according to budget information. In addition, only five member nations, including the U.S., spend the 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense called for by NATO guidelines, according to a CNN Money analysis.

But Trump didn’t actually tell the Times reporters that “he wants to abandon” allies that don’t make the required payments. He declined to say what he would do if countries had not fulfilled their financial obligations.

And as we wrote in May, Trump, despite his criticisms of NATO, has said that he doesn’t want the U.S. to leave the NATO alliance. Although, he also said that he would “certainly look at” doing so. But in his more recent interview with the Times, Trump at least suggested that he’s open to not defending those nations that don’t pay more.

— Eugene Kiely, with Brooks Jackson, Lori Robertson, Robert Farley, D’Angelo Gore and Zachary Gross

Sources

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Office of Management and Budget. “Fiscal 2017 Budget of the United States, Historical Tables: “Table 1.1—Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits (-): 1789–2021.” 9 Feb 2016.

Congressional Budget Office. “An Analysis of the President’s 2017 Budget.” Mar 2016.

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “Analysis of the President’s FY 2017 Budget.” 9 Feb 2016.

“DNCC Announces Third Night Program for Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.” Press release. Democratic National Convention Committee. 27 Jul 2016.

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “Board Members.” Undated, accessed 28 Jul 2016.

Zandi, Mark and Chris Lafakis, Dan White and Adam Ozimek. “The Macroeconomic Consequences of Mr. Trump’s Economic Policies.” Moody’s Analytics. 20 Jun 2016.

Henig, Jess. “Sunday Replay.” FactCheck.org. 7 Sep 2010.

Keily, Eugene. “Sunday Replay.” FactCheck.org. 9 Aug 2010.

Murray, Shailagh. “Moody’s Economist Has Become a Go-To Guy on Stimulus Plan.” Washington Post. 3 Feb 2009.

U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Table 3.3a. Monthly Energy Review.” 26 Jul 2016.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National); Total Nonfarm Employment, Seasonally Adjusted.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Census. “Top Trading Partners – May 2016.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Census. “Top Trading Partners – December 2015.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Census. “Top Trading Partners – December 2014.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Census. “Top Trading Partners – December 2013.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Census. “Top Trading Partners – December 2012.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Census. “Top Trading Partners – December 2011.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Census. “Top Trading Partners – Total Trade, Exports, Imports; Year-to-Date December 2010.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Census. “Top Trading Partners – Total Trade, Exports, Imports; Year-to-Date December 2005.” Data extracted 27 Jul 2016.

U.S. Energy Information Administration. Total Energy: Monthly Energy Review.

Jackson, Brooks. “Obama’s Numbers April 2016 Update.” FactCheck.org. 06 Apr 2016.

Robertson, Lori. “Renewable Energy ‘Doubled’?” FactCheck.org. 14 Sep 2012.

U.S. Energy Information Administration. Biomass Explained.

Robertson, Lori. “A Decade-Old Democratic Claim.” FactCheck.org. 31 Aug 2015.

Washington Times. “House conservatives harden backing for Social Security plan.” 4 Feb 2005.

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AARP Bulletin. “Trump & Clinton: Find Out Where They Stand On Social Security.” 27 Jun 2016.

Excerpts from “The America We Deserve.” Ontheissues.org. accessed 28 Jul 2016.

New York Times. “Transcript: Donald Trump on NATO, Turkey’s Coup Attempt and the World.” 21 Jul 2016.

Gore, D’Angelo. “What’s Trump’s Position on NATO?” FactCheck.org. 28 Jul 2016.

Kottasova, Ivana. “These NATO countries are not spending their fair share on defense.” CNNMoney.com. 8 Jul 2016.

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Rucker, Philip and Costa, Robert. “Trump questions need for NATO, outlines noninterventionist foreign policy.” Washington Post. 21 Mar 2016.

New York Times. “Transcript: Donald Trump Expounds on His Foreign Policy Views.” 26 Mar 2016.

The Padres avoided a sweep in Toronto with an 8-4 victory in Wednesday’s getaway game.  

Despite the win, San Diego finished its 10-game road trip a disappointing 3-7.

San Diego did receive homers from Adam Rosales, Brett Wallace and Alex Dickerson Wednesday. 

The biggest storyline for this team (other than trade rumors) is that somehow the offense has homered at least once in a franchise-record 25 consecutive games.

The Padres are just two more games away from tying the MLB record, and can break the mark this weekend when the Reds come to town.

Here’s some interesting numbers during the streak:

- The Padres are 11-14 during their last 25 contests.

- The ball club is 6-4 against division rivals.

- San Diego has hit 42 total home runs during this hot streak.

- Second baseman Ryan Schimpf has the most homers (9) over this stretch.

- Schimpf is followed by Matt Kemp (7), Yangervis Solarte (6), former Padre Melvin Upton (5 – including a walk-off vs the Yankees), Alex Dickerson (5 - including 4 in a row!), All-Star Wil Myers (3), Brett Wallace (2), Derek Norris (2), Adam Rosales (2) and catcher Christian Bethancourt with one.

- Schimpf, Upton and Kemp have each homered twice in a game during the streak.

San Diego hosts Cincinnati to kick off a six-game homestand Friday evening at 7:40 p.m.

Edwin Jackson is slated to start against Reds pitcher Brandon Finnegan.

A Santee gymnastics coach convicted of having sex with an underage gymnast has been sentenced. 

Patrick Wehrung, 25, will spend 365 days in jail in jail, 132 of which he has already completed. He will spend three years on probation, will be fined and will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. 

He previously pleaded guilty to statuary rape, oral copulation and digital penetration.

If Wehrung ever contacts the victim again, he will go to prison. In court Wednesday, it was revealed Wehrung continued to contact the victim again after the court ordered him not to contact her. 

For more than four years, Wehrung worked as a boys’ gymnastics coach at Champion Gymnastics and Cheer in Santee, where the victim is a gymnast.

Deputy District Attorney Nicole Roth said Wehrung carried on a sexual relationship with the 15-year-old girl that spanned one month, starting on Dec. 19, 2015. 

On four occasions, Wehrung allegedly picked the girl up and took her to La Jolla Shores to engage in sexual activity, Roth said.

Wehrung was fired from his position on Jan. 22 and arrested on Feb. 9 after the girl’s parents called investigators, San Diego Police say.

A mysterious light that streaked across the sky Wednesday night, igniting a social media firestorm from California to Nevada and Utah, was a Chinese rocket re-entering Earth's atmosphere, according to U.S. Strategic Command.

Videos and photos from across Southern California poured into NBCLA's Twitter feed after the light went streaking across the sky. The light was seen in skies around 9:30 p.m. PST over the Inland Empire, Ventura County, Orange County and beyond. Social media users also reported seeing it in Nevada and Utah.

Matt Holt, a Bay Area resident, shot video in San Jose of a large cluster of lights shooting across the sky to the bemusement of a large crowd.

U.S. Strategic Command spokeswoman Julie Ziegenhorn wouldn't say if the Chinese CZ-7 rocket ever posed danger to people on the ground. She said the command often sees re-entries.

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, told the Los Angeles Times the Chinese rocket launched on June 25.

"Anytime you have a report of a luminous object, it's a fair bet it's a natural event," said Ed Krupp, Griffith Observatory's director of 45 years. "It's likely space debris or a meteor produced by interplanetary debris."

Krupp said it wasn't so much what the object was composed of that caused the light, but what the atmosphere around it was doing.

"Typically a small pebble that enters the Earth's atmosphere at that high altitude and is heated up by the friction that it encounters will become so hot that it will in fact cause the air around it to glow -- kind of a tube of glowing air -- maybe as much as 10 miles in diameter."

For over a decade and a half, Warren Sapp was a force to be reckoned with in both the college game with the University of Miami Hurricanes and later during his Hall of Fame career in the NFL.

This week, the former defensive lineman met something with just as much bite as he had on the field – all while trying to catch his dinner.

Sapp posted a photo on his Facebook page showing a bite he received from a shark while fishing for lobsters in the Florida Keys during mini-season (warning: some may find the image disturbing):

Jack Carlson, the captain of the charter company Two Conchs that Sapp used for his mission, said the boat was about seven miles away from Marathon in nine feet of water. Sapp reportedly reached into the water for a lobster when the shark, believed to be a nurse shark about four feet long, attacked.

Carlson told the Tampa Bay Times that Sapp may need some stitches, but the group kept fishing after the incident.

"We bandaged it up, put some gauze on there, some black electrical tape and hit a couple more spots, then headed in," Carlson said.

Sapp posted a photo to his Twitter page confirming that one bite wasn’t going to stop him from continuing on his journey to stock up on the delicacy:

Shark got a little chuck of Me. We got Dinner! #Winning pic.twitter.com/prZ4NWpcWS

— Warren Sapp (@WarrenSapp) July 27, 2016

A 65-year-old Bristol, Connecticut, woman working at a local business was abducted, blindfolded and held hostage while her captor robbed a bank on Wednesday, police said.

Robert Duperry, 51, allegedly walked into the Bristol business with a gun before tying up and blindfolding the only employee there, Bristol police said.

Duperry placed the woman in her own car and used her cell phone to make false bombing threats to Hartford police, saying several municipal buildings were in danger, police said. The victim told officers that Duperry told her several times that he had bombs with him.

After driving around, Duperry pulled into the drive-thru of the TD Bank at 414 Broad Street with his gun aimed at the victim's head and told the teller that if she did not hand over money, he would kill his hostage, police said.

The teller handed over an undisclosed amount of money.

Police located a car that matched the description of the victim's car and Duperry led officers on a pursuit into Wolcott, police said. At one point, he slowed down and ordered the victim out of the car. Eventually, Duperry abandoned the vehicle and ran off, police said.

Bristol, Wolcott and Southington officers were able to locate Duperry in a heavily wooded area and took him into custody. No bomb or materials used to make bombs were found.

The hostage sustained minor scrapes and bruises. 

Duperry was charged with two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree larceny, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree assault, assault of victim over 60, criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, carrying a pistol without a permit, first-degree burglary, first-degree threatening, engaging an officer in a pursuit and reckless driving.

Police said the charges do not include the bomb threat allegations.

Duperry is being held on $750,000 bond and will be arraigned in Bristol Superior Court today. It was unclear if he had a lawyer. 

At least four people have reported being shot at while driving on a North Texas highway, according to police in Anna.

Investigators believe the shooter is using a high-powered pellet gun, but they are not ruling out the possibility a low-caliber rifle was used.

The shootings occurred along Texas Highway 5 between Anna and Melissa.

The first report came in Monday morning, and three more victims have since come forward, Anna police said.

None of the victims were injured.

"Someone is playing with people's lives," Anna Police Lt. Jeff Caponera said. "I've seen pellets kill people, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility it could've done some serious damage. We're not ruling out that it could've been a small-caliber .22."

Doug Page was driving to lunch on Monday when his SUV was shot.

"It sounded like somebody hit it with a hammer," Page said. "Any number of things could've happened. It could've been way worse than a ding on the side of the vehicle."

Although the shootings occurred in a rural area, police don't believe the shootings were accidental.

"This isn't shooting at birds and accidentally hitting a car. This was four vehicles and they were hit intentionally," Caponera said.

Anna is about an hour's drive northeast of Dallas.

An American Airlines flight landed safely back at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport late Wednesday after sparks were seen shooting from one of its engines.

American Airlines Flight 438 had taken off for Seattle at about 11 p.m. Wednesday when it experienced a mechanical issue with an engine compressor, according to an AA spokesperson.

Cellphone video from one of the 139 passengers on board the flight shows heavy sparks coming from what appears to the wing on the left side of the Airbus 321.

“The engine was not on fire,” an AA spokesperson emphasized in a statement to NBC DFW.

However, Lynn Lunsford, of the Federal Aviation Administration, appeared to indicate otherwise in a separate statement.

“The pilot reported an engine problem that was causing compressor stalls, which would shoot flames out the back of the engine and definitely be visible,” Lunsford said.

Matty Hops was a passenger on Flight 438, who tweeted multiple times during and after the ordeal.

“Flight to Seattle just had catastrophic engine failure…. So, love you guys,” Hops tweeted.

“It’s just a big concerning when there is an explosion on takeoff and then you see the one of the plane engines on fire. Not the best look,” Hops tweeted minutes later, once on the ground.

A statement from American Airlines, and subsequent tweets from the airline’s official account, indicated that the airline was rebooking passengers on other flights.

“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience, and we are working to get them to Seattle as soon as possible,” the statement noted.

A 16-year-old girl died of an asthma attack after witnessing a shooting at a block party in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood that also left two others dead and two wounded, police said.

Police say a group of people were gathered near West 50th Place and South Halsted Street just after midnight Thursday when an argument broke out and someone started shooting. 

A 33-year-old woman and 25-year-old man were both killed by gunfire, according to authorities. Police say both are documented gang members.

Jacarra Reeves, 21, of Harvey, was among the other two wounded. She was hit by two bullets in the hand and transported to Saint Bernard Hospital, police said. A 25-year-old woman was also injured after being shot twice in the back. 

The 16-year-old girl who witnessed the shooting managed to escape the gunfire but suffered an asthama attack shortly after, police said. She was pronounced dead after being rushed to Saint Bernard Hospital.

An unruly man attending a concert at Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista died Wednesday night while in police custody, officials confirmed. 

According to the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD), security officers at the concert venue told police the man began acting disruptively around 7:30 p.m. during the Dead & Company show. The man – described as heavy-set and in his late 50s – appeared to be intoxicated and was moving from seat to seat, the CVPD said.

Security officers asked to see the man’s concert ticket.

When he couldn’t show them his ticket, the officers escorted him toward the exit. The CVPD said that’s when the man tried to flee, leading to a brief struggle with security officers.

CVPD officers were also at the venue and were called to the scene of the struggle. According to investigators, the man was screaming incoherently and acting irrationally.

Police officers handcuffed the man and took his to a security office at the venue. Again, police said the man tried to run away and another brief struggle with authorities ensued.

He was detained once more and evaluated by medical personnel at the scene. The CVPD said that, at that point, the man did not show signs of any serious injuries.

The man was arrested for public intoxication. As CVPD officers completed paperwork on the suspect, he sat upright in a chair and fell asleep, snoring.

At 8:40 p.m., the CVPD said an officer noticed the man had stopped snoring. When the officer checked on the suspect, the man was unresponsive, police said.

Medical personnel were called to the office, but the man was pronounced dead at 9:15 p.m., the CVPD said.

Several law enforcement units are now investigating the deadly incident. The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s (ME) office will conduct an examination to determine the man cause and manner of death. His name has not yet been released.

Meanwhile, per standard operating procedure in cases involving deaths that occur while a person is in police custody, the CVPD’s Crimes of Violence Unit is also investigating the case.

The CVPD said the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office was also notified of the man’s death, per protocol, and a DA investigator was called to the concert venue Wednesday night.

The CVPD said members of the department’s Professional Standards Unit are also conducting an independent investigation, per standard procedure.

No further details were immediately released.

This is the second time Sleep Train Amphitheatre has made headlines this month.

In the early hours of July 16, two women were involved in a deadly crash as they headed home from the Chula Vista concert venue after a Dixie Chicks show. In that case, the driver was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol. Her passenger, Kendra Carpenter, 39, died in the suspected DUI crash.

The concert venue is located in San Diego’s South Bay, about 16 miles south of downtown San Diego.

The United States will send three Olympians to compete in the Men’s Triathlon in Rio De Janeiro, and two of them live and train in Poway.

Something in the water, you ask?

Perhaps, just don’t drink it, because the two Olympians swim daily in the same pool as hundreds of local kids at the Poway Community Pool.

“It seems like we're a juxtaposition here," said Greg Billington. "We're training for the Olympics, and it's kind of a regular pool."

While some athletes train in secured facilities off-limits to the public, 27-year-old Billington and 30-year-old Joe Maloy quietly go about their business in the middle of suburbia.

They are surrounded by teenagers jumping off the high dive on one end and toddlers learning to swim on the other.

“We found Poway as kind of the perfect little hidden gem," said Maloy. "We've got a great pool here, we’ve got good access to the ocean for open water training, the roads are great, and there are trails everywhere for running."

Both men moved to the small town several years ago to train under coach Paulo Sousa and his “Triathlon Squad”.

Maloy and Billington, who will compete against each other in Rio, train together using the same formula: work your body to the point of exhaustion and then wake up and do it again.

"All those workouts make you really tired and they make your brain work really slow sometimes and they make you really grumpy sometimes," said Maloy.

A typical day includes a three-mile swim, an eight to 10 mile run, and a two hour bike ride, with lots of physical therapy along the way.

“There's like nothing else we do, and I think that's really hard for a lot of people to grasp, we don't have another job, we don't have any real hobbies, all we do is train hard and try to become the best athletes we can be," said Billington.

The Rio 2016 Olympics air on NBC starting August 5, 2016. 

A jogger running through San Diego's University City neighborhood was approached by a man in an attempted kidnapping, San Diego Police (SDPD) said. 

The incident happened shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday near Cargill Avenue and Nobel Drive in University City, just blocks from the Westfield UTC Mall, San Diego Police (SDPD) said. 

Police initially told NBC 7 San Diego the woman was running when a man with a Taser approached her, trying to hold the Taser to her chest. Half an hour later, investigators on scene could not confirm that detail. 

The woman managed to escape and run away. 

"A male sitting in a passenger side of a black sedan assaulted her reached out and grabbed her she was able to fend off her attacker and run off and make it home where she called police," said SDPD Lt. Adam Starki.

The victim told police the man was driving a black four door Sedan with a Lyft sticker. Police could not say whether the suspect was a Lyft driver or not. 

Officers are in the area investigating the attempted kidnapping. 

No other information was immediately available.

A statewide flex alert that was issued Wednesday for California residents has been extended through Thursday.

The California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO) issued the extension just after 4 p.m. Wednesday due to continued high temperatures in the state.

The alert is a request for Californians to use less electricity - especially during peak demand time from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The demand for energy across the state is expected to be high until after 9 p.m. Thursday, according to Cal ISO.

It's suggested that consumers set their thermostats to 78 or higher and turn off unnecessary lights and appliances.

For information, go to Cal ISO's website.

Their political fates now entwined, President Barack Obama implored with voters Wednesday to elect Hillary Clinton, appealing to the women, minorities and young people who powered his rise and are now crucial to hers.

Obama told delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia there has never been a man or a woman — "not me, not Bill" — who's more qualified than his former secretary of state to be president of the United States and endorsed her as the woman to finish the job he started eight years ago. 

"Nothing truly prepares you for the demands of the Oval Office. Until you've sat at that desk, you don't know what it's like to manage a global crisis, or send young people to war," Obama said. "But Hillary's been in the room and knows what's at stake."

Exactly 12 years to the day after the obscure Senator from Illinois delivered a rousing speech to the Democratic convention, Obama defended his White House legacy and argued that the former secretary of state would be the best choice to bequeath those policies.

Obama cast Clinton as a candidate who believes in the optimism that fuels the nation's democracy and warned against the "deeply pessimistic" vision of Republican Donald Trump.

"America is already great. America is already strong," he declared to cheering delegates Wednesday night at the Democratic convention. "And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump."

In addition to party loyalty, a big motivation for Obama's robust support is deep concern that the Republican nominee can win in November and unravel the president's eight years in office.

Obama acknowledged the economic and security anxieties that have helped fuel Trump's rise, but he argued they don't define the country.

"Through every victory and every setback, I've insisted that change is never easy, and never quick; that we wouldn't meet all of our challenges in one term, or one presidency, or even in one lifetime," Obama said, adding that he's "more optimistic of the future of America then ever before."

Wednesday night's Democratic lineup was aimed at emphasizing Clinton's own national security credentials, a shift from two nights focused more on re-introducing her to voters as a champion for women's issues, children and families. Among those were former Pentagon and CIA chief Leon Panetta, who served alongside Clinton in Obama's Cabinet.

Panetta, citing his experience working alongside nine U.S. presidents, said he believes, in this election, Hillary Clinton "is the only candidate that has the experience, judgment and temperament to be Commander in Chief."

Obama, too, was vouching for Clinton's national security experience, recalling their work together during trying times and saying she won't relent until ISIL is destroyed.  

"And she'll do it without resorting to torture, or banning entire religions from entering our country," Obama said. 

Touting Clinton's experience and judgment, Obama's speech was a direct rebuttal to Trump's attacks on Clinton at last week's Republican convention in Cleveland, when he claimed her tenure as secretary of state was marked by "death, destruction and weakness."

In a statement, Trump's campaign called the Democratic Party "disconnected from what's happening in our world," and said Democrats described a vision of America that "doesn't exist for most Americans."

"They resorted to the politics of fear, trying to convince Americans not to vote for change — they spoke on behalf of the big banks and the big elites, not on behalf of suffering Americans," Trump's campaign said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.