NBC 7’s Derek Togerson proposes a tough trade for the Chargers in this commentary

This is depressing.

I am about to write something I never would have dreamt I would write and it hurts to have to do it. There’s really no easy way of saying this so let’s just rip the bandage off and not prolong the agony:

It’s time for the Chargers to trade Philip Rivers.

LaDainian Tomlinson said it on NFL Network and at first blush I thought he was nuts.  Who trades a franchise quarterback who is still among the best passers in the game and will be for a couple more years? That’s utter idiocy.

Shoot, just last year I was saying how dumb it would have been to trade Rivers for the chance to draft Marcus Mariota. But then the Bolts went 4-12 with him having another phenomenal season and things started to turn.

So I started to think about the idea L.T. threw out there and sure enough, it makes a whole heck of a lot of sense. Listen, I love Philip Rivers. He is one of my favorites of all time. He’s a borderline Hall of Fame talent, a true leader in that locker room who would be a better head coach than the one he’s playing for RIGHT NOW, and one of the best interviews in the entire NFL. I don’t want to see the man go. He’s the one thing that gives San Diego a shot at winning any game against any team in the league.

And yet they continue to lose. The Chargers have mastered wasting wonderful quarterbacks. If you look at the best QB’s of the Super Bowl era that never made it to the championship game, three names easily top the list:

Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, Philip Rivers. Two of those guys played for the San Diego Chargers and never got the supporting cast, from the coaching staff to the 53-man roster, to get to the pinnacle of their sport.

Rivers has given everything he has to this franchise, this city and these fans. At this point don’t we owe it to him to let him go? Rivers needs to be able to compete. The Chargers are in no position to compete. McCoy can’t turn this around. The ownership group can’t seem to get out of its own way.

Now that they’ve lost Keenan Allen, Jason Verrett, Danny Woodhead and Manti Te’o for the season and Antonio Gates and King Dunlap are dealing with injuries with no clear time table the Bolts are the NFL’s version of Sisyphus: no matter how close they get to the top they’re just not going to get over the hump.

Their next four games are against the 3-1 Raiders (in Oakland), the 4-0 Broncos (at home on a short week), the 3-1 Falcons (in Atlanta) and the Broncos again (in Denver). It will be a miracle if the Bolts don’t get through that gauntlet 1-7. So it’s time to let Rivers chase that elusive championship with a franchise that’s ready to do it now, while building the Bolts with more young talent.

I see two teams who are just one QB away from seriously contending. Here is the case for both of them and what the Bolts can get in return.

Los Angeles Rams

The Rams are 3-1 even though they have scored the second-fewest points in the NFL (just one more than the Titans and Bears). Jeff Fisher does not have the reputation for developing quarterbacks. He lucked out with a rare talent like Steve McNair in Tennessee but since then it’s been a deli line of guys who have had little to no impact in the NFL. They have decent pieces on offense, certainly enough for a guy like Rivers to have success with.

But, you ask, why would they trade for Rivers and his big salary when they just gave away a gaggle of picks to trade up and take Jared Goff first overall? Simple. Goff is not playing yet (possibly because of the previously noted lack of ability to develop quarterbacks) and it doesn’t look like he will any time soon. L.A. gave the Titans its first and third round picks for next year in the trade so the Rams don’t have a first round pick to offer until 2018.

But I’m pretty sure they’d offer up Goff right now, and toss in a couple of 2nd or third round picks in the next two years. The Bolts could get the top overall pick in the 2016 Draft, pair him with renowned QB guru Ken Whisenhunt, and possibly have their franchise guy for the next decade while the Rams would have their best QB since Kurt Warner left and make a serious Super Bowl run.

New York Jets

The Jets are 1-3 and a big problem has been their defense. But with Todd Bowles as head coach they’ll figure that part out. The bigger issue is Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has thrown nine interceptions in the last two games alone. Rivers has thrown nine picks in his last 15 games.

The Jets have a dominant receiver in Brandon Marshall, a developing wideout in Quincy Enunwa, and a reliable running back in Matt Forte who would only get better if other teams had to have even a shred of respect for New York’s passing game. Plus Rivers will take a lot of pressure off that defense thinking it has to be perfect to win. It’s not too late to make a postseason push for the Jets.

New York has flexibility in the future, too. They are expecting two to three compensatory draft picks in 2017 so it would not kill them to ante up and trade a few for a guy who would be their best QB since Joe Namath, who was their quarterback the only other time they went to the Super Bowl. The Vikings gave up a first round pick and a fourth round pick for Sam Bradford. With that as the template, the Chargers should get the Jets first and third round picks in 2017, plus a fourth round selection in 2018. That’s steep, but for the chance to win it’s well worth it.

Dark Horse: Arizona Cardinals

Carson Palmer has a big contract but is also out with a concussion and the redbirds can’t afford to fall too far back in the NFC West. If they’re able to steal a win on Thursday night to get to 2-3 they might be in the market for Rivers. Pairing him with Bruce Arians (something the Chargers should have done in 2013 but they chose McCoy instead without so much as interviewing the reigning NFL Coach of the Year) would put the Cardinals back in the conversation of teams with championship aspirations.

The Broncos probably need a QB, too, but there's no chance the Chargers deal him within the division to let's not even go there.

The Chargers are at the crossroads. The NFL trade deadline is the first week of November, right around election time, and that plays a role in this, too. Trading away their best player is not going to generate a whole lot of goodwill among the fan base and there's no guarantee the extra picks will make the franchise a winner, especially given their recent history of player development. But they need to do something drastic to get the franchise back on the right track.

Plus, Philip deserves a shot at a winner. Let's do him a solid.

Police say a security video may be the best evidence they have in a series of almost 20 burglaries across San Diego and Riverside Counties.

On Monday, NBC 7 obtained the images of the person of interest recorded through a doorbell camera in Escondido. Just 35 minutes later, the home across the street was burglarized in broad daylight.

A construction worker who was making repairs to the home came across the suspect, who was also armed with a gun. Police say the man then ran out of the home and took off in a silver Ford Explorer.

The man identified in the video is still being called a person of interest in the case at this time. But, Escondido police told NBC 7 that his appearance is similar to the suspects' descriptions in other reported burglaries.

“In comparing notes, we believe this may be the same person responsible for 19 residential burglaries,” Escondido Police Lt. Justin Murphy said.

Murphy says since the break-in at the Escondido home, detectives have met with law enforcement investigating burglaries in not just Escondido, but San Marcos, Vista, Carlsbad, Murietta and Riverside.

Witnesses in the 19 burglary cases have reported similar suspect descriptions and observed similar methods used to choose which house to burglarize.

“If there is somebody home, they'll ask for a generic name and an address that is very similar to the house they are at," said Murphy. "If the person says 'no, that is not my home' they'll say 'oh I’m sorry, wrong house', then they'll walk off and go to another location."

Murphy told NBC 7 that the suspect is going to great lengths to avoid coming into contact with homeowners but they are concerned after he pulled out a gun.

“The fact that he is carrying a firearm is a little unsettling for us,” Murphy said.

Police are asking for the public's help to put a name to the suspect's face. They say he is after small things, like jewelry, cash and firearms. He also uses stolen cars are getaway vehicles.

The family of a man who's death remains a mystery more than four months later is asking for justice.

Victor Vega, 28, was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body on the evening of May 28. He was found on the corner of Brookhaven Road and Sears Avenue in Skyline.

Despite life-saving efforts by medics, Vega died at the scene.

Dianne Provencio, Vega's wife spoke to NBC 7 on Wednesday saying she needs closure for herself and her children.

"They're spitting images of him and it's so hard," Provencio said. "Every day, they still think dad is going to come home. He's not."

Investigators say Vega had been walking along Brookhaven Road when a dark colored sedan drove up next to him, firing several gunshots.

Provencio told NBC 7, her husband had left a child's party shortly before the shooting. Her mother-in-law, Laura Doyle, says they believe someone in their community knows who is responsible for Vega's death. 

"Victor deserves justice," Doyle said. "Our family deserves justice."

They told NBC 7 that the shooting may have something to do with the party Vega attended.

"It sucks just waking up every day thinking he's going to be there and he's not there. Its' hard, it's really hard," Provencio said.

Crime Stoppers is now offering a $1000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. Anyone with inforamtion is asked to call (619)531-2293.

Researchers have discovered a new fault line in Southern California that may impact the San Andres Fault which runs through the state, according to a study published on Wednesday by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from the University of California, San Diego.

UC San Diego partnered with the Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada in Reno for the study. 

The San Andreas Fault is the longest in California, unleashing a magnitude-7 earthquake every 175 to 200 years, according to the study. But there have not been any major quakes in the last 300 years.

Last week, a cluster of small earthquakes near the southern end of the San Andreas Fault raised the probability of a magnitude-7 quake hitting Southern California in the near future.

Now, researchers have discovered the Salton Trough Fault, which runs parallel to the San Andreas Fault.

Neal Driscoll, a geologist at Scripps and the coauthor of the study says that the fault was not detected earlier because of two reasons—its location and lack of seismic activity in that area.

But the study states that further research is needed before the relationship between the two faults can be determined.

“Based on the deformation patterns, this new fault has accommodated some of the strain from the larger San Andreas system, so without having a record of past earthquakes from this new fault, it’s really difficult to determine whether this fault interacts with the southern San Andreas Fault at depth or in time,” said Nevada State Seismologist Graham Kent, a coauthor of the study and former Scripps researcher.

The city is launching a campaign to crack down on illegal marijuana dispensaries and ask residents to only buy medical marijuana at shops operating under city-approved legal licenses.

On Thursday morning, the "Buy Safe, Buy Legal" campaign was launched through the partnership of the United Medical Marijuana Coalition (UMMC) and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. 

The goal of the campaign is to help medical marijuana patients understand which dispensaries are legal and which are breaking the law by operating illegally without any supervision from the city.

Legal dispensaries must follow strict health and zoning regulations, which includes paying taxes, regulating products and following city laws.

Just last week, an illegal dispensary operating on University Avenue within 300 feet of an elementary school was raided by police.

City officials say to beware of illegal dispensaries that operate outside the law with no respect for the community. Often these shops pose dangers to anyone who walks through the doors.

About 300 illegal dispensaries have been shut down by the city attorney. Some have refused to close, forcing the city to obtain search warrants on 12. Nine illegal shop owners have been charged and may receive jail time.

Inside these illegal shops, police have discovered illegal weapons, drugs and employees with criminal records. To make matters worse, the City Attorney says it's impossible to know what you're truly buying.

In order to avoid these risky shops, the city asks residents to familiarize themselves with the 14 legal dispensaries and make sure to look for a UMMC logo.

Fourteen medical marijuana dispensaries are currently operating legally in the city, with six remaining under construction. The city urges the community to only support these businesses, and stay away from illegal pot shops. 

UMMC is an industry organization representing the 14 San Diego dispensaries that have followed all City laws designed to provide medical marijuana patients with safe access and protect the character of the neighborhoods where dispensaries operate.

Thirty former Republican members of Congress have published a letter against Donald Trump, NBC News reported.

"Sadly, our party's nominee this year is a man who makes a mockery of the principles and values we have cherished and which we sought to represent in Congress," they wrote.

Their letter constitutes the largest public announcement against Trump by previously elected officials from the Republican party.

Some of the members had previously announced their displeasure with the candidate, including Rep. Tom Coleman of Missouri, but nearly half of the signatories are doing so for the first time.

A 73-year-old woman has died of the flu, marking the first flu-related death of the season, according to the County Health and Human Services Agency.

The woman was not vaccinated for the flu, and had previously been diagnosed with medical conditions, said county health officials. She tested positive for influenza A and after being hospitalized briefly, she died Wednesday morning.

The first flu death to occur last season happened Oct. 28. This was followed with the deaths of 67 other San Diego County residents, including two children, said county health officials.

"This is one of the earliest deaths from seasonal influenza ever reported in the county," said Sayone Thihalolipavan, M.D., M.P.H., County deputy public health officer, in a statement.

Compared to 68 cases last year, there's been sixty lab-confirmed cases of influenza reported at the same time this year, according to the County Health and Human Services Agency.

"The seasonal influenza vaccine is widely available and we urge everyone six months of age and older to get it before flu activity increases," said Thihalolipavan.

Influenza activity is currently considered low on a nationwide scale, despite outbreaks in limited areas, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Now, the current vaccine protects against pandemic H1N1, influenza A and B H3N2 strains. The CDC encourages everyone six months and older to get vaccinated for the flu each year. 

It's especially important for high-risk people, who are more likely to develop serious complications, such as people with medical conditions, pregnant woman and anyone age 65 and older, according to the CDC.

"The best protection against the flu is to get vaccinated, and the time to do it is now," Thihalolipavan said.

No other information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story. 

Hundreds of nurses who work for Sharp Healthcare rallied Thursday in downtown San Diego, fighting for better pay.

Currently, the nurses are working without a contract and many nurses are leaving the company. The nurses say this makes it more difficult to properly care for patients.

In the past three years, Sharp has lost about 1,300 nurses. Some nurses have said their hospitals are so short-staffed, nurses can’t take lunch or even bathroom breaks during their shifts.

“We’re really concerned about the patient safety. We’ve had a lot of nurses leave with the last year – lots and lots of our co-workers – and it’s creating an issue with patient safety due to nurse retention,” explained Karen Battenberg, a clinical registered nurse at Sharp.

Sharp says their company policy does not condone skipping breaks, and if a nurse is experiencing this, they should bring the issue to a manager’s attention.

The local nurses rallied at the San Diego Convention Center hoping to send a strong message to Sharp executives: Sharp nurses want a competitive wage to keep skilled nurses in the company’s healthcare system, as well as better working conditions.

At a news conference Thursday, Sharp Healthcare said the company's nurse turnover rate is not excessive compared to hospitals across San Diego and California.

Sharp Healthcare said the company is offering a pay increase to nurses of 16 to 26 percent over the span of a three-year contract.

The nurses' union said their group hopes to have another negotiation meeting the Sharp executives over the next few weeks.

Santa Ana winds and warmer, drier weather is on the way as San Diego County rides out conditions that could fuel wildfires over the next few days.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a Fire Weather Watch for San Diego County at 3 a.m. Thursday, in effect through 3 p.m. Saturday. NBC 7’s weather team says warmer temperatures, dry conditions and Santa Ana winds will begin early Friday.

A moderate Santa Ana event will last through the weekend. It has already prompted a Red Flag Warning and High Wind Advisories for all counties to our north. San Diego can expect dry, warmer conditions today with the winds entering the county from the north and northeast sometime overnight or early tomorrow morning.

These 25 to 50 mph gusts, in conjunction with the escalating temperatures and plummeting humidity levels in the 5 to 15 percent range, all combine to put San Diego in a critical danger for wildfires.

During these conditions, all it takes is one spark from machinery, the heat emanating from a vehicle that pulls into dry brush, a discarded cigarette or a small fire accidentally or intentionally set, and within minutes flames explode into a firestorm.

San Diego witnessed that exact scenario in the October 2003 Cedar Fire, the largest wildfire in state history and again in October 2007, when the Witch Fire charred nearly 200,000 acres in the East County, destroyed more than 1,100 homes and killed two people.

Rush hour took on a whole new meaning for one San Diego woman Thursday who went into labor on busy Interstate 8 in the middle of the morning commute.

Dispatchers said the mother began delivering her baby at around 7:35 a.m. on westbound I-8, near Waring Road. Medics rushed to the scene to help the woman during her roadside childbirth.

Lee Swanson, of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD), said by the time a crew arrived to help the woman, she had already delivered her newborn -- a baby boy. He said the mother and baby were taken to a local Kaiser Permanente hospital. California Highway Patrol officials said the scene was cleared by 8 a.m.

No further details were immediately released.

NBC 7 reached out to Kaiser but the hospital said the mother and family would not be doing interviews at this time.

A mother in Wisconsin, awakened in the middle of the night by a chilling phone call from her daughter in San Diego, heard the final moments of a struggle that led to the killing of her daughter, a prosecutor revealed Thursday.

San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Melissa Vasel said Ann Nielsen, the mother of murder victim Jhordann Rust, 26, heard her daughter screaming during a late-night phone call from a hotel room in downtown San Diego on Dec. 12, 2015.

Vasel said the final words Nielsen heard Rust say before the line went dead were, “That hurts!”

Vasel said Rust had called Nielsen three times the night she was killed. That final phone call came just after midnight, San Diego time -- 2 a.m. in Wisconsin. The mother was sleeping but was jarred by the call.

Vasel said Rust asked her mother, “Do you ever feel like you’re in a nightmare that you can’t wake up from?”

The prosecutor said Nielsen, hundreds of miles away, felt powerless as her daughter cried out. After the line went dead Nielsen called the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) told police her daughter had called her and she had heard her say she was being attacked by a man named Jason.

The disturbing details of Rust's murder emerged Thursday as opening statements were delivered in the trial of Jason Lewis, 41, the man accused of killing Rust at the 500 West Hotel and Hostel and leaving her body in a communal shower area.

When Nielsen made that first 911 call, she asked police to conduct a welfare check on her daughter. Officers could not find Rust that night.

Over the next few days, Nielsen heard nothing from her daughter.

On Dec. 15, police Rust's body in that shower area on the second floor of the hotel.

Lewis, a registered sex offender with a criminal history that includes sexual battery and felony domestic violence, was arrested a few days later.

A witness said that the day before Rust’s slaying, she and Lewis had gotten into an argument in front of the hotel. The pair had met just before her killing.

Rust and her boyfriend had checked into the hotel on Dec. 12, 2015. Soon thereafter, the woman's boyfriend was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and the woman from Wisconsin was left alone in San Diego.

After Rust was killed, Vasel said Lewis took steps to conceal the woman's body, including purchasing a suitcase at a local store on Dec. 14, 2015, to use to move the woman’s body from a hotel room into the shower area at the hotel.

If convicted, Lewis faces 56 years in prison.

A Brazilian brewery in Chula Vista will throw a party for local Olympic athletes returning from Rio de Janeiro Thursday.

From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Novo Brazil Brewing Co., located at 901 Lane Ave., plans to host a lively homecoming for Olympians, keeping the spirit of Rio alive. The bash will boat Brazilian-inspired craft beer, live entertainment and raffles all in honor of the top-notch athletes that made the 2016 Rio Games so enjoyable.

The brewery makes a Pale Ale named "Rio" and, during the Rio Games, hosted several viewing events to root for local Olympians.

Novo Brazil Brewing Co. is located less than three miles away from the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center (OTC), where many Olympians competing in Rio 2016 trained, including men’s long jump gold medalist Jeff Henderson and men’s triple jump silver medalist Will Claye.

Novo's event coordinator, Gustavo Alvarado, told NBC 7 that every once in a while, OTC coaches will stop by Novo Brazil for a brew. He said the Novo crew hoped that once the coaches and athletes returned from the Rio Games, they'd stop by the brewery for a celebratory beer, too.

“We’re really close to the Olympic Training Center and, you know, the athletes have to play hard, work hard. Every once in a while, they should stop by and have a beer,” Gustavo Alvarado, event coordinator, told NBC 7.

Thursday evening, that will happen as Olympians toast to the Rio Games and remember Brazil.

Novo Brazil offers 15 beers on tap that Alvarado said are “Brazil-inspired but San Diego-brewed.” Many of the beers boast notes of citrus, floral or fruit.

“Think about the tropical flavor,” Alvarado said of the Brazil-inspired brews.

Novo’s Rio Pale Ale is a medium-bodied, floral and citrus brew with a light finish. Alvarado said it’s an easy beer to sip and was very popular on tap during the 2016 Olympic Summer Games.

Novo Brazil Brewing Co. is open daily from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. The brewery hosts teacher and U.S. military appreciation days, offering special deals to those who serve the community. The business is family-owned and operated under the helm of Eduardo Pentagna, with lots of help from Colorado-based brewing pro Mauricio Lima.

Authorities on Thursday released surveillance video that shows the September stabbing rampage at a mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, that left 10 people injured before the attacker was fatally shot by police, NBC News reported. 

FBI investigators now say the suspect, 20-year-old Dahir Ahmed Adan, was likely radicalized in the months before the attack.

He "went from being an excellent student with a GPA to flunking out of college almost overnight," FBI Special Agent Rick Thornton said, adding that witnesses said they heard Adan ask victims if they were Muslim.

The video released Thursday shows Adan with a knife stabbing a clerk, who runs away, and an officer confronting and shooting Adan.

The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) has partnered with Google on a mission to streamline online collaboration between students and teachers in the district.

Google Chief Educational Evangelist Jaime Casap started a two-day tour through San Diego schools on Thursday morning, sharing news and gaining feedback from students, parents and educators.

After hosting three events on Thursday, Casap’s last stop will be at the Innovation Center at Crawford High School in El Cerrito on Friday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Casap and SDUSD Chief Innovation Officer Dan Stoneman will be demonstrating the use of Chromebooks in local schools.

The school district recently deployed 47,000 Google Chromebook devices throughout its schools, and in some cases allows students to take the laptops home at the end of the day.

Casap’s first Thursday stop was Creative Performing Media Arts Middle School in North Clairemont where he discussed the partnership with district principals and technology teams. Attendees also heard from SDUSD Superintendent Cindy Marten and Stoneman.

Later in the afternoon, Casap and SDUSD Executive Director of Information Technology Greg Ottinger hosted a Twitter Town Hall at Madison High School in North Clairemont and discussed district innovation and technology. You can follow up on the conversation by searching #loveSDSchools on Twitter.

To close the day, Casap and IB Steam Magnet Jefferson Elementary School in North Park invited parents and students to campus for an open house. Parents got a change to test Google Apps and Chromebooks for themselves and experience how the tools facilitate learning in the classroom.

Vanilla Ice is back with a brand new invention: extreme weather live-tweeting.

The rapper famous for the 1990 hit single "Ice Ice Baby" said on Twitter Thursday that he rode out Hurricane Matthew at his home in Palm Beach. The onetime "Dancing With the Stars" contestant also used the opportunity to tweet out live updates on what he saw as the Category 4 storm swirled through The Sunshine State.

"This hurricane is going to be serious, and it's coming right at me," he said in one tweet before Matthew passed through. "I am going to ride it out."

The rapper, whose real name is Robert Matthew Van Winkle, later tweeted Friday morning that "It looks like a mess with debris and some flooding, but overall Palm Beach handled it very well."

Vanilla Ice's decision was in direct opposition to Florida Governor Rick Scott's call for residents to evacuate parts of the state. 

"We can rebuild homes, we can rebuild businesses … we can't rebuild a life," Scott said.

Officials in Palm Beach County also urged residents on barrier islands including Palm Beach to evacuate before Matthew hit.

It's the most powerful storm to threaten the U.S. Atlantic coast in more than a decade, and had already left more than 280 dead in its wake across the Caribbean. The National Weather Service warned it could have "potentially disastrous impacts for Florida."

The rapper has spent most of his life in South Florida. His home is about 72 miles north of Miami and was under hurricane warning from Thursday to Friday. Most of the storm was north of the county by  Friday morning.

Space funerals are no longer a thing of science fiction. Companies such as Celestis and Elysium Space offer space funerals, NBC News reported.

Celestis, a subsidiary of Houston-based aerospace company Space Services, offers an array of options for those who want to launch human remains in space. And these voyages range in price, depending on how far in the celestial heavens you want to go.

Its most popular services, which place remains into payloads on third-party commercial rockets, are Earth Rise, where cremated remains are transported suborbitally for a cost of $1,295 and returned to Earth; and Earth Orbit, where remains travel around the Earth and then released into space for a fee of $4,995.

It also plans to offer a DNA service for those who don't choose cremation next year. The company will take a person's DNA sample and bond it with a silica-type agent to create a fillable capsule that can be transported into space.

A minority owner of the San Diego Chargers died on Thursday at age 98, a family member confirmed to NBC 7.

George Pernicano became one of five original minority owners of the Bolts in 1991.

Pernicano died on Thursday morning around 7 a.m. after suffereing from a long lillness, the family member said.

In a statement released by the San Diego Chargers, current Chargers Owner-Chairman Dean Spanos shared his condolences with the family.

“Everyone in NFL circles loved George and he loved being around the team and the players. He was always upbeat and fiercely proud of this team and his handle-bar mustache was famous as his calling card around the NFL," Spanos said.

You can read the full statement here.

He was well-known in San Diego for his restaurant Pernicano's on Robinson and Sixth avenues in Hillcrest, which closed it's doors in 1985. More than 30 years later, the restaurant is still vacant.

Pernicano was inducted into the Chargers' Hall of Fame in 1996.

At the time of his death, he owned three percent of the team.

An apartment fire in Serra Mesa has left residents from two units displaced.

The San Diego Fire Department received reports of a small apartment fire on the 9200 block of Village Glenn Drive near Ruffin Road just before 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

No Injuries have been reported at this time.

Firefighters were able to rescue an infant puppy from the flames.

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