The driver of a dark green SUV led authorities on a pursuit down an isolated road through Lancaster Tuesday.

The pursuit started at 11:06 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. California Highway Patrol was also assisting with the pursuit.

The suspect was wanted for assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Around 12:10 a.m., a patrol car attempted a pit maneuver to stop the vehicle, sending the SUV spinning into a dirt bank on the north side of the road. 

A man wearing a red hat exited the vehicle and walked away from officers before sprinting away from a line of oncoming patrol cars.

Officers exited their cars, chasing after the man on foot and one officer tackled him to the ground.

Additional information was not immediately available.

This is a developing story, please refresh for updates.

Samantha Taylor's 3-year-old was evacuated with other pre-schoolers at her Jewish Community Center in Florida when the center received a bomb threat last month, and at first Taylor was impressed.

Within minutes the campus was evacuated and the children thought they were off on a nature walk, she said.

But as threats kept coming, she and other parents became more worried. 

"Our security director held meetings after every bomb threat where parents could voice concerns," she said. "And one of the concerns after especially the second time was that our evacuation plan was becoming routine. And that was shared by the security director. This was not something they hadn't thought of before."

Now the JCC's security is evaluating each threat to determine how best to respond, a plan devised with the assistance of the FBI and local law enforcement, she said. 

It is a tension Jewish organizations across the country are facing since more than hundred bomb threats have targeted community centers and day schools since the beginning of the year. The rash of phone calls has prompted evacuations across the country and in Canada, even as safety experts say automatic evacuations can inspire copycats and pose their own dangers.

The most recent threats came in Florida, Illinois, New York and Wisconsin on Tuesday, and included several offices of the Anti-Defamation League. A voluntary evacuation took place at the organization's national headquarters in New York City.

"Bomb threats are about intimidation, harassment, disruption and the more you're able to accomplish by doing that, that just encourages additional bomb threats," said Paul Fennewald, an adviser to the Missouri School Boards Association.

Few actual bombings are preceded by threats, he and others say.

On Friday, a former journalist was arrested in connection with some of the threats. Juan Thompson, 31, who was fired from The Intercept last year after the publication said he made up quotes and sources, was allegedly harassing a former lover when he called in bomb threats against the Anti-Defamation League and seven other Jewish centers around the country, authorities said.

But Thompson is not believed to be responsible for most of the threats, according to authorities.

The JCC Association of North America did not comment on whether to evacuate or not but said in a statement released on Friday: "JCC Association of North America is gratified by the arrest made in connection with the large number of anti-Semitic threats that have targeted JCCs and other Jewish institutions over the past two months."

Fennewald said that an immediate evacuation was critical if someone saw a suspicious package or there was some other indication that a threat was real. But absent that evidence, he recommends more investigation — interviewing people, assessing a building's security — before evacuating.

"I know immediately parents are going to say, 'Oh my gosh there's a bomb in that school. If there's a threat I don't want my kids there.' But you've got to think that through," he said.

He and others cautioned that the places people evacuate to — a parking lot or a city street — could be more dangerous. A bomb could have been set there or armed attackers could be waiting.

"I might be able to get into an elementary school and place a small device in that school but it's a lot harder for me to get into that facility with a relatively large device," said Michael Dorn, the executive director of Safe Havens International, a campus safety organization. "Whereas if you're evacuating through or to a parking lot or down a city street, I may be able to put a much larger device in a vehicle or in a culvert or in a trash bin."

Of the 642 bombings reported across the U.S. in 2014, 15 were in schools, according to the U.S. Bomb Data Center.

Jewish groups nationwide have been coordinating with law enforcement over how to best respond to the threats, which have been made by a mix of people and robo-calls and some of which law enforcement officials say could be coming from overseas. The Anti-Defamation League expanded its security training programs in response.

The FBI and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division are investigating possible civil rights violations as a result of the threats, security advisers from the Department of Homeland Security are offering their expertise and the Federal Communication Commission is temporarily allowing the JCC to trace telephone calls from blocked phone numbers, USA Today reported.

Dorn said schools and other targets should have three options prepared beforehand — from relying on staff to notice anything out of place, then evacuating students to a place that has been checked for bombs or weapons, to checking a building while students and staff remain where they are, to moving everyone to a gymnasium or auditorium that has been checked first, then going through the rest of the building.

Several choices makes it harder for an attacker to predict a reaction, he said.

The JCC bomb threats have come in six waves in 33 states and two provinces in Canada. No bombs were discovered at any of the JCCs, which offer preschools and sports, arts and other programs across the country.

Nancy K. Kaufman, president of the National Council of Jewish Women, said the bomb threats as well the recent toppling of headstones in some Jewish cemeteries have "deeply shaken the Jewish community." 

"We are outraged by the recent bomb threats attempting to strike at the very core of our communities, where our children go to preschool and our parents lay to rest," she said.

A 2015 study of 800 shooting and bomb threats to schools found that too many were reacting first and then assessing the threat, said Ken Trump, the president of the National School Safety and Security Services, which directed the study. Thirty percent of the threats resulted in the evacuation of schools, 10 percent in the schools' closures. Many were done prematurely and unnecessarily, Trump said.

"While emotionally it is understandable why administrators and parents jump to evacuating students out of the school that received the threat, when administrators send children out of the school they risk exposing them to other threats outside of the school," the study said.

"In cases of threats with questionable credibility, the best place for students may be for them to remain in school under heightened supervision and security while the investigation moves forward," it said.

Jewish community centers and other Jewish groups have seen deadly violence in the past. A 14-year-old Eagle Scout and his grandfather were shot to death outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in 2014, by a Ku Klux Klan member who then gunned down a woman at a nearby retirement community. A man who identified himself as a Muslim-American angry at Israel forced his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in 2006, shooting six women, one fatally, And a white supremacist opened fire in the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, California, in 1999, shooting five people, including three young boys.

"Unfortunately, threats like this are nothing new for the Jewish community," the national director of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, said in a statement in February. 

Meadowbrook Middle School in Poway was briefly placed under a shelter-in-place order Tuesday morning after two suspects attempted to break into a home near the campus, officials confirmed.

The school, located at 12320 Meadowbrook Ln., was told to shelter-in-place at around 10:10 a.m.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDSO) Lt. Mike Munsey said two suspects had attempted to break into a home on Eisenhower Avenue, about a block from the school. The suspects escaped on foot and deputies launched a search in the area.

During the active investigation, the lieutenant said Meadowbrook Middle School was secured by going into shelter-in-place mode, as a precaution.

Parents whose children attend the school told NBC 7 they heard about the lockdown when their students began texting them to say they could hear helicopters surrounding their school. Some of them were scared, parents said.

Within about 20 minutes, the order was lifted, officials confirmed.

Munsey said the description of the suspects was limited. One was wearing a black hoodie and dark jeans, while the other wore a white or gray hoodie and dark pants.

No one was hurt.

Meadowbrook Middle School is part of the Poway Unified School District and serves students in grades six through eight.

Principal Miguel Carrillo told NBC 7 that a note about the incident will be distributed to parents Tuesday.

The note read, in part:

"In an abundance of caution, while the investigation was ongoing, we made the decision to have our students remain in their classrooms. Shortly thereafter, at approximately 10:30 a.m., our sheriff deputy who was on site lifted the shelter in place. Once the sheriff and staff determined there weren’t any unauthorized individuals on campus, or near campus, we determined it was safe to lift the shelter and continue with routine activities."

Carrillo’s note said having a deputy remain at the campus was an important part of safety procedures.

"We are thankful for the quick notification and for the deputy remaining with us throughout the situation,” he added in his note to parents. “Our students and staff implemented our safety procedures as we have practiced them in the past."

Students and faculty at an elementary school in the Sunset Cliffs area were ordered to shelter-in-place Tuesday when a gas line broke near the campus, causing gas to leak into the neighborhood.

The gas leak was reported around 8:50 a.m. in the 4300 block of Hill Street. Authorities told nearby residents to shelter-in-place while San Diego Gas & Electric crews worked to shut off the gas. As a precaution, the same orders were given to Sunset View Elementary School.

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) said a gas line measuring three-quarters of an inch in width was broken and blowing gas. 

The incident forced some road closures in the area, including part of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, Hill Street and Amiford Drive. San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officers are at the scene helping with traffic control.

No injuries were reported.

By 9:50 a.m., Monica Munoz, of the SDFD, said SDG&E had shut off the gas. The school had been notified and resumed normal activity, Munoz said.

Details on what caused the gas line to break were not immediately available.

NBC 7 has learned three schools in the San Marcos Unified School District were involved in testing for lead levels in water provided to students on campus. Of the three schools, one had a water fountain with lead levels higher than acceptable, district officials confirmed Tuesday.

The district recently tested the water at three schools including Alvin Dunn Elementary, Richland Elementary, and San Marcos Middle School.

"Of the samples, only one came back with a 'higher than acceptable' level - a drinking fountain outside the gym at San Marcos Middle, which was immediately removed," the district told NBC 7. "The district is currently having the water tested at all locations in order to ensure that the water used by our students, staff, and community is safe."

NBC 7 has been reporting on the testing of water at various schools within San Diego County.

School districts are requesting water testing after dangerous levels of lead were discovered at a San Ysidro elementary school. Test results in October and in January prompted school officials in San Ysidro to provide bottled water for students and employees.

Health experts have said the schools most likely to have unsafe levels of lead in drinking water are those built before 1986.

In November, California voters approved recreational marijuana use.

The shift in public attitude toward marijuana is forcing communities across the state to revisit their pot policies. Starting in January 2018, marijuana businesses will be allowed in California, unless a city or county decides to ban them.

Despite the voter support for marijuana and the potential new source of tax revenue, however, many local cities and the county aren't ready to open their doors to recreational or even medical use.

While a few communities like La Mesa and Lemon Grove are moving forward with allowing medical marijuana, the city of San Diego is the first city in the county to allow recreational marijuana businesses.

The city decided dispensaries already selling medical marijuana products will be the businesses allowed to sell recreational marijuana, but the City Council is still figuring out other aspects of regulating the industry, like whether it will allow cultivation, manufacturing and testing.

Regardless of whether politicians decide to allow cannabis businesses in their cities, some things have already changed. If you're over 21, you're allowed to carry an ounce or less of marijuana. You're also allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants in your home.

In this San Diego Explained, NBC7 San Diego's Monica Dean and Voice of San Diego's Maya Srikrishnan look at how local communities are handling their pot policies now that cannabis is legal in California.

President Donald Trump's administration rolled out a new travel ban aimed at overcoming the legal challenges of the first executive order, but intended to accomplish the same stated goal: keeping would-be terrorists out of the United States. The president’s revisions on Monday did little to halt criticism from Democrats and immigrants' advocates, who say the new travel order is as unconstitutional as the first order.

"We don't see any difference," Wilfredo Ruiz, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Florida, told NBC South Florida. He said the "purpose was to manipulate the order to make it appear legal." 

The new travel order differs from the first in several significant ways. This time around, the executive order doesn’t go into effect immediately, giving the world time to assess its impact and avoiding the chaos sparked by the old.

The revised order makes clear that U.S. green card holders are allowed to travel into the country, which was ambiguous in Trump’s original order. 

The executive order takes Iraq off the list of countries subjected to a 90-day travel ban. But it still bars the issuance of new visas to citizens from Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Syria and Yemen. The ban no longer applies to people who have already obtained valid U.S. visas.

It also removes language that gave priority to refugees who are religious minorities in their home countries, a provision that critics say in effect gave Christians an advantage and excluded Muslims.

The revised ban has done little to quell fears of Muslims who live in the United States.

CAIR Florida's Ruiz, whose organization represents 700,000 Muslims in the state, said members are still scared to travel outside the U.S. and not be able to return or have their work visas not be honored. 

Many others are concerned about how the new travel ban will affect family members from the banned countries.

"It's heartbreaking to know that if, God forbid, my family needs to escape, that they now are not necessarily going to be welcomed," said Ramah Kudaimi, who was born in the U.S. to Syrian parents, NBC Washington reported.

According to NECN, Mohammed Al-Bardan's brother was hoping to come to the U.S. from Syria to study dentistry in Boston, a dream that he now may not fulfill. Al-Bardan is unable to visit his family in Syria because he is still waiting for his green card to be approved.

"He's hurting people trying to make a name for himself, and he's bringing a lot of pain to people," said Virginia resident Deanna Bayer.

Farbod Papen owns Saffron & Rose, a Persian ice cream shop in Los Angeles, California, that his grandfather opened nearly 40 years ago. Papen's grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Iran in 1974. Today, Saffron & Rose is one of dozens of businesses in an enclave of Persian commerce in Westwood.

“Think about all the businesses that wouldn’t have started had this ban been in place four years ago," Papen said.

Outside the White House Monday evening, protesters gathered to express opposition to the new travel ban, calling it "Muslim ban 2.0."

Patricio Provitina, an Argentinian national who lives in D.C., said he hoped the president would hear the crowd and their messages, NBC affiliate WTOP reported.

“As an immigrant, as a Latino, I am completely opposed to what he is doing,” Provitina said.

The demonstrators were joined by the new leader of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, who called on the protesters to continue to speak up about the immigration order.

“America is at its best when we are building bridges of opportunity, and not walls of distrust,” Perez said.  

While President Trump and his team say the order is vital to national security, others are worried about the impact on refugees. Part of the new executive order reduces the number of refugees coming to the U.S. from 110,000 to 50,000.

"We are breaking our promise to 60,000 refugees who we were going to bring to this country and now they're going to be left in danger and desperate," Chris George, executive director of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) in New Haven, told NBC Connecticut. "This comes at a time when the world is facing the largest refugee crisis since World War II."

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel mirrored George's sentiments in a statement, calling the ban a "betrayal of our nation's values that our government would slam the door on refugees fleeing war, death and unimaginable conditions, that our government would divide families, and that our government would attempt to exclude people based on their religion.”

New York's attorney general said he was ready to contest the order, while Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer demanded its repeal.

“A watered down ban is still a ban,” Schumer said. “Despite the administration’s changes, this dangerous executive order makes us less safe, not more, it is mean-spirited, and un-American. It must be repealed."

A large crowd was outside the Vista office of U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R - 49th District) to voice concerns over the release of a new healthcare plan from congressional GOP.

Many of the estimated 200 protesters have been involved in previous protests outside the congressman's office on Tuesdays.

They say they want to make sure that Issa gets the message that they want to keep the Affordable Care Act introduced by President Barack Obama.

They say the new plan by GOP lawmakers takes away Medicaid and hurts people with lower incomes and disabilities.

"They kept touting the fact that it's going to be accessible," Escondido resident Ellen Molla said.

"No one's really complaining that the healthcare is accessible because they can get the ACA. They keep complaining about its affordability and I don't feel that that's been addressed yet."

On the other side of the street, Oceanside resident Sean Colgan stood with his "Make America Great Again" sign. He said he knows a lot of people who are not happy with their current health care coverage.

"A friend of mine has his healthcare bill more than double. And he gets a lower level of coverage," Colgan said.

He admitted he didn't know much about the new healthcare proposal just released Monday.

One thing that both sides agreed on is that healthcare is just too expensive.

A hiker trekking through the Maple Canyon Trail in San Diego Banker's Hill neighborhood was rescued Tuesday, San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFD) officials said. 

Fire officials first responded to the call of distress at approximately 11:40 a.m. The woman was found near 1st Avenue and W Palm Street, fire officials said. The location is north of Interstate 5, by Downtown San Diego. 

The woman, down in the canyon, was pulled out by crews. 

She will be taken to the hospital. 

No further information was available. 

Fire crews battled an attic fire in a two story Logan Heights buildings. 

San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFD) crews first responded to the building, located on the 2300 block of Irving Avenue, at approximately 1:50 p.m. The location is just a few blocks north of Interstate 5, on the same block as St. Anne Catholic Church and near a U.S. Post Office. 

The fire has not yet been put out. 

No evacuations have been issued at this time. 

There are no reports of injuries. 

No other information was available.

A body found in Mission Beach this weekend has been identified as the body of Amanda Cruse, a missing tourist last seen near San Diego's iconic Sunset Cliffs. 

Amanda (Mandy) Cruse, 30, first arrived in San Diego on Feb. 18, 2017 from out of town.

On that Saturday, more than three weeks ago, Cruse visited the Sunset Cliffs region on Point Loma, near Ocean Beach. 

The following day, in the early morning hours of Feb. 19, Cruse may have went back to the Sunset Cliffs area, near Monaco Street. 

Cruse was known to take photographs and may have been in the area to capture photos, police said. 

SDPD Officer Billy Hernandez said authorities do not know the circumstances of how she went missing.

After she went missing, her family came to San Diego and started looking for answers. 

“She is a free spirit,” her mother, Rosemarie St. Michael, said. “She is very independent. She travels a lot, she goes on her own and this trip was really planned for October but she’s spontaneous. She had never been to San Diego."

On Sunday, March 5, police responded to a report of a body found on the beach near the 3900 block of Ocean Front Walk in Mission Beach. 

Police arrived on scene and found the body of an adult woman. The body was transported to the Medical Examiner's office, where officials identified the woman as Cruse through dental comparison. 

A Southern California teenager who was sucker-punched in a disturbing attack captured on cellphone video got a chance to meet his idol Tuesday: skateboarding legend Tony Hawk.

“It’s crazy. I never thought I would meet THE legend of skateboarding,” Jordan told NBC 7, standing outside of Hawk’s skate boarding studio and offices in Vista. “He’s just a really nice, genuine guy.”

The notoriously private Hawk recently reached out to Jordan and the teen’s father, Ed Peisner, when he heard what happened to Jordan.

On Dec. 2, 2016, Jordan was randomly attacked outside of a Wendy’s restaurant in Los Angeles. While he was beaten, another person stood by, filming the attack and posting it on Snapchat.

Jordan was severely hurt, suffering a skull fracture, brain bleeding, blood clots and permanent hearing loss. Doctors told Jordan his recovery will be a long, slow and difficult process. Jordan also can no longer do what he loves most – skateboard – because if he suffers a traumatic brain injury while doing so, he could die.

After hearing the teen’s story and learning about Jordan's passion for skateboarding, Hawk invited Jordan to visit him in San Diego’s North County, at his company's Birdhouse offices.

“They heard he can’t skate anymore, so they just opened their hearts up. It was amazing – truly amazing,” said Ed, in awe of Hawk’s kindness toward his son.

On Tuesday, Jordan and his dad made the drive from Calabasas, California, and the teen was reminded of how much he loves the sport.

“It’s my passion – the thing I’ve always wanted to do,” Jordan said, referring to skateboarding. “I’ve always just wanted to do it for life.”

Although Jordan had to sit out the skateboarding session with Hawk, he was grateful for the opportunity to watch his idol in action.

He and his dad sat on a couch as Hawk and his friends raced down ramps, making high-flying tricks look like a walk in the park. Ed said it warmed his heart to see Jordan smiling again, still enjoying skateboarding – but now in a different way.

“He’s on cloud nine right now. It kills me that he can’t actually partake in skating but it’s the next best thing to watch him get to meet one of his idols,” he added. “After everything’s Jordan’s been through for the last few months – this is a Godsend.”

As Jordan continues to recover, he and his family are hoping to spread awareness about anti-bullying.

Ed is trying to get a law passed – Assembly Bill 1542, or “Jordan’s Law” – which would crack down on bullying and violent attack motivated by the purpose of filming and sharing the attacks on social media. The bill would criminalize conspiring with an attacker to videotape a violent crime.

Assemblymember Matt Dababneh (D-Encino) held a news briefing on March 3 to introduce Jordan’s Law in response to a surge in these types of violent attacks.

Ed has also started the Jordan Strong website, which includes an online petition to support their anti-bullying stance, and prevent emotional, physical and cyberbullying.

NBC 7's Gene Cubbison asked U.S. Senator Kamala Harris one specific question about her future: does she see herself in the White House in 2020?

When people around the world came together on Jan. 21 to speak out against misogyny in America, spectators gawked at pools of pink “pussy” hats and protest signs. Now, organizers are looking to make a similar splash through an International Women’s Strike on Wednesday.

“The time was right,” said Tithi Bhattacharya, associate professor at Purdue University and a member of the International Women’s Strike USA’s national planning committee. “This was an important opportunity for us to talk about feminism once more in this country in a very clear and politicized way.”

Employees will ditch work. Students will walk out of class. Some companies may halt operations in solidarity.

Bhattacharya and her colleagues have detailed a platform focused on six key issues: gender violence, reproductive rights, environmental justice, labor rights, the development of an anti-racist and anti-imperialist feminism, and full social provisioning. According to the group’s website, the organizers aim to represent and empower “women who have been marginalized and silenced by decades of neoliberalism,” from women of color to disabled, queer, and trans women.

But in an attempt to give a voice to some of the United States’ most underrepresented populations, the strike may put the women it means to defend at risk. During the "Day Without Immigrants" strike in mid-February, dozens of protesters were fired from their jobs, many of them restaurant workers or painters in low-income positions, NBC News reported.

“It is the vulnerable women that will struggle the most to participate, and of course that’s not something that’s lost on the organizers,” said Lauren Leader-Chivee, author and founder of women’s empowerment group, All In Together.

For those who cannot skip work, whether domestic or otherwise, there are alternatives. Megan Shade, lead organizer for Women’s International Strike Miami, said that women can stand for a few minutes at 6 p.m., though that implies a sedentary environment, which many manual workers do not have. Sympathizers can also wear red, either at home or on the job, though those with uniforms could be punished for breaking protocol.

Paulina Davis, vice chair of the New York City chapter of National Women’s Liberation and a member of the Women of Color Caucus at NWL, said some women are even striking by not going above and beyond at work on Wednesday, or by not smiling at their coworkers.

For those who choose not to report to their jobs despite possible consequences, Davis said, “It’s up to each individual woman to decide how she’s willing to strike, and to take into consideration the risks she wants to take.”

Experts cited Fight for 15, aimed at boosting the minimum wage, as a movement organized primarily by vulnerable demographics who were willing to lose their jobs for what they believed. They said the United States has a history of speaking out against poor labor conditions, if the cause is worth it.

Indeed, this is not the first women’s strike of its kind. For years, Global Women's Strike has organized protests on International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8. But on the heels of the Women’s March and with input from its leadership, "A Day Without A Woman" has garnered quite a following as the globe waits for a second act in a post-Trump system.

The strike coincides with International Women’s Day, inaugurated in 1909 to celebrate American workers who protested against unfair treatment at garment factories the year before. Domestically, the holiday has become more of a flowers and chocolates celebration in recent years, according to Bhattacharya. 

“It shouldn’t just be a sentimental day to look back at history and say, ‘Oh, look how far we’ve come,’ and pat ourselves on the back,” said Davis.

Mary Ebeling, sociology professor at Drexel University, noted that when she lived abroad, the day took a much more political tone. She chalked up some of the lack of action in the United States to its lower rates of unionization, which make it more difficult to protest against civil infractions. 

Unlike the women’s marches, the international strike was not founded with an explicitly anti-Trump agenda. Organizers from more than 50 countries got in contact in October 2016 to propose a global protest against mistreatment of women. But after President Donald Trump was elected a few weeks later, the strike took on a new significance. 

“We want everyone to be against Trump,” said Bhattacharya. “Anti-Trump is the sort of starting point of this movement.”

But, she added, the strike promotes “a core message that we’re not just against Trump, but we’re against the conditions that create Trump.” She wanted to make clear that “the alternative version to Trump cannot be a neoliberal version of Hillary Clinton.”

Regardless of the movement’s intentions, in practice, it has attracted anti-Trump sentiment. Shade decided to lead International Women’s Strike Miami when a fellow member of the Anti-Trump Action Committee approached her about the possibility. At Columbia University, a walk-out that will join the International Women’s Strike New York City march was organized by the student group Columbia Against Trump.

“To make the connections between the misogyny that a lot of people see in the Trump administration, it wasn’t much of a leap,” said Ebeling.

Davis distinguished between partisanship and politics and said that the strike did not appeal to a single party. When NWL organized its own strike during inauguration day, it meant to critique not only the incoming Trump administration, but also the Democratic establishment that had failed its members.

“The reality is that in building this movement, we also have to be truthful about those policies that are being put forth that specifically target the erosion of women’s rights,” Davis continued. “And so if that’s what’s coming out of one party disproportionately … we have to be honest about that and we do have to call that out.”

For Charmaine Yoest, senior fellow at American Values and former president and CEO of Americans United for Life, a platform that is unapologetically pro-choice is partisan and excludes many women. 

“Are pro-life women included?” she asked. “Are conservative women included? Are homemakers included? Or is this yet another masquerade for liberal feminist women to claim the mantle of women’s rights for themselves?”

Yoest also pointed out that the strike’s platform didn’t lend itself to a unified message.

“If you’re going to strike, you need a pretty clearly designed objective,” she said. She added that part of why the anti-abortion movement was making so much inroads was because its organizers had thought deeply about how best to communicate their outlook to the American public.

Ebeling countered that the idea of messaging is “a thing that is made by the media and by historians."

“I think it’s a lot to ask a large movement to have one issue and one way of presenting what they’re fighting for,” she continued. “If we’re going to have a movement based in justice, then it has to be intersectional.”

But Leader-Chivee noted that the majority of Americans don’t even know what “intersectional feminism” means, and “the anti-Trump and pro-liberal movement is going to need to get more focused.”

While the Women’s March provided Trump critics with much needed catharsis, Leader-Chivee said, “Doing regular mass demonstrations, I think, is not necessarily going to advance the aims of the folks who are participating.”

Just this week, she said, the travel ban and the Republicans’ proposed alternative to the Affordable Care Act both provided fodder for protest for the women’s movement. If the strikers chose one of those policies and fought against it instead of using vague rhetoric that covered a slew of issues, they might gain some ground.

“While there’s value in this collective action tomorrow, I think to really make progress, … the specifics are going to matter a lot,” she continued.

But Ebeling believed that organized bursts of action, like the strike and the march, are motivating young women to get engaged and are important. She cited one of her staffers who recently resigned to run for local office as evidence.

“They’re actually kind of galvanizing millions of women to become activists and to get involved in politics in ways that they probably could have never imagined before,” Ebeling said.

“This is one event, one mass action in a struggle to build and continue to build a strong women’s liberation movement,” Davis said. “I think there is room to continue to build on each of these issues in more focused ways.”

Davis added that tomorrow is “certainly not a beginning, and not an end.”

A man trying to avoid police drove at 100 mph along a highway and then into downtown where he collided with another driver. San Diego police said a supervisor called for an end to the pursuit just two blocks away from the intersection where the two cars collided.

The suspect's vehicle, a Honda, was traveling on G Street when he collided with the driver of a Toyota going northbound on 16th Street.

Both drivers complained of pain, police. The victim was taken to UCSD Medical Center for treatment, police said.

The pursuit began near 54th St and College Grove at approximately 10:30 a.m. A San Diego police officer tried to pull over the Honda driver for not having a front license plate. The Honda failed to stop, police said.

The officer lost sight of the vehicle but another officer near 47th and Federal spotted it. He then tried to pull over the Honda but the driver continued onto State Route 94. Police said the suspect vehicle was traveling at 100 mph westbound on SR-94 into downtown.

When the pursuit entered downtown, a supervisor called off the pursuit, according Lt. Dan Smyth.

“As soon as we heard the vehicle traveled into downtown, we immediately put out the termination,” said Smyth. “Unfortunately it just took him two blocks to get into a collision.”

The suspect told officers he has a suspended license so he didn’t want to pull over for police, Smyth said.

The original reason for pulling over the driver was not having a front license plate, something Smyth described as “about as minor a ticket as you can get.”

According to department policy, when considering whether to initiate or continue a pursuit, officers should evaluate “whether the seriousness of the offense and the benefits of immediate apprehension are outweighed by the risk to pursuing officers and public safety in continuing the pursuit.”

Legoland California Resort will open a new Star Wars-themed display Thursday dubbed "Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Miniland Model Display."

The latest attraction will highlight scenes from the film, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

The display depicts the first 30 minutes of the movie, using six different models built entirely out of Lego bricks.

A theme park spokeswoman told NBC 7 the setup has been in the works for the past year.

The display will even showcase a 16-foot-long Star Destroyer Finalizer, made with more than 350,000 Legos. A statement from the theme park said the 16-foot model is the longest Star Wars Miniland model ever created.

Resort General Manager Peter Ronchetti will officially open the display with a lightsaber ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

Star Wars characters will be on-hand and the celebration will include live music from the movie's soundtrack.

Two men arrested outside a Metro PCS store in Pacific Beach have entered not guilty pleas to felony charges, federal prosecutors said.

Justin Wayne Caldwellm 30, and Carlos Adolfo Soto, 39, each face one count of conspiracy and 10 counts of interference relating to robberies at 10 different Metro PCS stores between Jan. 25 - Feb. 21 in San Diego County.

According to the indictment, the losses to the 10 stores were about $50,000 in total.

Officers arrested Caldwell and Soto near the Metro PCS store on Grand Avenue on February 21. 

Investigators say Soto walked out of the store carrying a plastic bag. Caldwell was in a Mercedes outside the store, according to the complaint.

When officers approached to arrest the men, Soto ran into an alley. He was eventually found hiding in a nearby yard and taken into custody, according to the federal complaint.

Investigators said they found nine mobile phones on a walkway, a replica gun in a nearby garage and a little more than $100 in cash.

A Metro PCS employee told San Diego police a man with something covering his face entered the store with a gun drawn and ordered him to the back of the store. The man then took cash from the register, according to the employee.

Both defendants entered not guilty pleas to the charges, Stingley said.

Other Metro PCS stores targeted by Soto and Caldwell were in Kensington, Egger Highlands, Normal Heights, and Clairemont, College East and San Marcos.

The robbery spree remains under investigation. Anyone with information can call San Diego Police or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

The defendants will appear in court for a hearing on March 27.

Grinning from ear-to-ear, a player from the U.S. Men’s Paralympic National Team lived out his dream Tuesday: training with soccer legend Landon Donovan.

Donovan, along with players from the San Diego Sockers and the U.S. Men’s Paralympic National Team, gathered to train at the arena fields at the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA in Encinitas. Donovan and the players are set to play in the Sockers’ 2nd annual celebrity halftime game on March 12 at Valley View Casino Center.

As the players dribbled around the arena, it was hard to ignore the smiles on their faces, particularly of one young man, Paralympic National Team forward Mason Abbiate.

The 19-year-old San Diego native has lived his entire life with cerebral palsy. Meeting and dribbling with Donovan has been a lifelong dream.

“It was one of my dreams, and now it’s checked off the bucket list,” Abbiate told NBC 7.

The respect on the field was mutual.

As Donovan trained with Abbiate, he stopped to give the young player a pat on the back.

“He’s played in a World Cup more recently than I have, so this is the star here, not me,” Donovan said of Abbiate.

Abbiate said playing with the pro is a reminder that anything is possible, no matter the obstacles in one's path.

Abbiate was born 26 weeks premature – at only 14 weeks in 1998. He has survived numerous brain surgeries and procedures, defying the odds.

“Doctors walked into a room and said [to my family], ‘Your son may never be able to walk or talk ever again,’” he told NBC 7.

Today, he’s one of 14 players on the U.S. Men’s Paralympic National Team, all of whom have equally remarkable stories of living – and succeeding – with cerebral palsy or other traumatic brain injuries.

“Never give up,” Abbiate said. “From where I came from – from where all of the other guys on this team came from – our stories are unbelievable, so just keep on doing it. Never give up.”

Donovan said no matter their backgrounds, the men on the field practicing for the March 12 match were all brought together by one common goal: the love of the game.

“This is the beauty of soccer – you have an indoor soccer team, somebody who played outdoor soccer their whole life, somebody who played for the Paralympic team – and we all do it because we love this game,” said Donovan. “It doesn’t matter what abilities we have or what disabilities we have, we all do it because we love it.”

Donovan admitted he hasn’t played indoor soccer for about 20 years, but he’s learning. He said he’s impressed by the Sockers’ skills.

“My expectations have been blown away. They’re all good soccer players as a starting point, and then they understand how to play this game indoor, which is much different than outdoor,” he said. “I think they’re going to do well this weekend.”

Donovan – the all-time U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) leader in goals and assists, and Major League Soccer’s (MLS) leader in regular season goals, assists and playoff goals – recently moved to San Diego. 

He has joined the efforts by the FS Investors group looking to bring MLS to San Diego as part of the Mission Valley redevelopment plan now that the Chargers are gone. Donovan is playing a few different roles, including being the most recognizable face of the proposal.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity to being a Major League Soccer team to San Diego,” he told NBC 7. “My idea of a perfect San Diego is [that] every person who loves soccer should be part of it.” 

He said supporting the Sockers and local youth teams is part of that push to help soccer make its mark in San Diego.

“We want everybody else to join in with us and make this a reality for San Diego, so we can do something special here,” he added.

In the past, Donovan has said he’s a huge fan of the San Diego Sockers, and grew up watching the team – even more closely than Galaxy or DC United.

The Sockers were founded in 1978. The team has won 14 indoor championships across the MISL, PASL and MASL leagues. With 48 straight wins, the team also set a U.S. pro sports record for the longest winning streak.

Trolley service in Downtown San Diego was suspended Tuesday afternoon due to a downed overhead electrical wire, the Metropolital Transit System (MTS) confirmed.

According to MTS, there were damaged wires on 1st Avenue and C Street, causing a disruption for the trolley lines. 

As of 3:30 p.m., there was no trolley service between City College and Santa Fe Depot.

Passengers heading to those locations can take Rapid 215, Rapid 235 and Route 992 buses.

Anyone heading to El Cajon or south using the UC San Diego Blue Line can take the Green Line to 12th and Imperial Transit Center for connections, MTS said.

A new blood test developed by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) would not only be able to detect cancer, but also find where in the body the tumor is growing. 

The study, published in the March 6 issue of Nature Genetics, could provide a path for doctors to diagnose cancer early on, without having to do invasive procedures. 

The discovery happened as a complete accident, said Kun Zhang, a bioengineering professor at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and senior author of the study.

“Initially, we were taking the conventional approach and just looking for cancer cell signals and trying to find out where they were coming from," Zhang said. 

Most cancer blood tests will screen for DNA released by dying tumor cells, and these tests are promising for detecting traces of tumor DNA in the blood of cancer patients. 

However, existing tests do not indicate where that tumor may be in the body. 

“Knowing the tumor’s location is critical for effective early detection,” Zhang said.

In this new study, lead by Zhang, the team discovered a new clue in the blood that could detect tumor cells and identify where they are. 

As tumors grow in the body, they compete with regular cells for space and nutrients. In the process, the tumor cells will kill off the regular cells. As those cells die, they release their DNA into the bloodstream. 

The DNA in the bloodstream could identify the affected tissue, locating the area in the body where the tumor is growing. 

"We were also seeing signals from other cells and realized that if we integrate both sets of signals together, we could actually determine the presence or absence of a tumor, and where the tumor is growing," Zhang said.

Here's how the new test would work: it would screen for a particular DNA signature using CpG methylation haplotypes. Each tissue can be identified by its unique signature of methylation haplotypes. 

To create the new method, the team put together a complete database of CpG methylation patterns of 10 different normal tissues - the liver, intestine, colon, lung, brain, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach and blood. 

Additionally, the team looked at tumor samples and blood samples from cancer patients at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center to create a database of cancer-specific genetic markers. 

The team then screened the blood samples from cancer patients, along with blood samples from individuals without cancer. In their screenings, they were looking for signals of the cancer markers and the specific tissue methylation patterns in a dual authentication process. 

Next, researchers hope to move to the clinical stage. 

“This a proof of concept. To move this research to the clinical stage, we need to work with oncologists to further optimize and refine this method,” Zhang said.

Shicheng Guo, Dinh Diep, Nongluk Plongthongkum, Ho-Lim Fung, Kang Zhang and Kun Zhang conributed to the study.