The series between the San Diego Padres and the Milwaukee Brewers came to a close Thursday afternoon with a matinee game at Petco Park. The Friars dropped the game and the series with a 4-2 loss against the Brewers.

Early on it looked like San Diego could make a series split happen when Hunter Renfroe sent a 389 foot home run to left center field. The outfielder’s eighth homer of the season and third in just five days gave the Padres an early 1-0 lead.

The Brewers tied things up in the top of the fifth inning thanks to Eric Sogard’s RBI single to right field.

The Padres fired back in their half of the inning when Luis Torrens grounded into a double play. Cory Spangenberg made it home and the Friars took a 2-1 lead.

In the seventh inning Sogard was at it again. He doubled to center and brought in Keon Braxton, and Orlando Arcia. It’s been a great series for the former Padres farmhand who finished with a career tying four hits again on Thursday. Milwaukee added one more run in the ninth to seal the victory.

Next up the Padres host the Arizona Diamond backs for a three game series. The first game of the set is on Friday May 19 at 7:10 p.m.

A bus driver has been shot in the torso at the Escondido transit center Thursday, confirmed Escondido Police.

The victim was taken to the Palomar hospital. The shooting happened on a passenger bus, at the West Valley Parkway and North Quince Street at about 6:30 p.m.

A man suspected of shooting the driver was spotted running west on the train tracks, according to the Escondido Police Watch Commander. Police activity is active at the scene.

The bus driver's condition was not yet known. No other information was immediately available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

A fire during the Google I/O Conference in Mountain View on Thursday sent three people to the hospital, one with critical injuries, according to fire officials.

Firefighters responded to the popular events venue on reports of a fire inside one of the food service buildings and was contained to the one building, fire officials said.

A total of six people were injured in the blaze, fire officials said. Three were transported to a hospital, one with life-threatening injuries. The other three were treated at the scene.

The developer conference was interrupted only briefly and continued Thursday evening. No evacuations were ordered, and no other injuries were reported, fire officials said.

Fire officials said the flames were caused by a grease fire in the kitchen of one of the food service buildings.

Even after ramping up recruiting efforts and bumping compensation, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) continues to struggle with staffing shortfalls.

NBC 7 has learned that among more than 4,000 applications SDPD receives each year on average, only about 100 officers are hired annually. Very few applicants make the cut during the long and intense hiring process.

About 200 budgeted positions remain vacant of the department's 2,000 sworn police officer positions.

But, the department is losing about 150 officers a year, while only bringing on 90 to 120 officers annually.

"Clearly, it's pay and benefits," said Brian Marvel, the president of the Police Officer's Association.

Marvel said the chronic police officer shortage could be addressed by making pay more comparable with other nearby agencies.

But there is no shortage of applicants.

Out of thousands that apply each year, only a handful, about four percent of applicants become new hires with the city to attend the Academy for SDPD.

That pool of applicants is dramatically dropping though.

"That's a huge concern for us because in order for us to fill 200 recruits in the Academy, we need 5,000 candidates," Marvel said.

In Fiscal Year 2013, 4,439 applicants took the first step in applying to become San Diego police officers, which is a written test.

An average of four percent of applicants make it through the hiring process to the first day of the Academy. Of that, only one in four make it through the Academy and field training process, according to the police union.

Using those averages, only 44 officers would have ended up joining the police force from the 4,439 applicants in 2013.

Applicants endure a tough process lasting months that includes the written examination, an extensive background check, a lie detector test, several rounds of interviews, and they complete a timed obstacle course.

"It's not about how tough it is," said Lt. Michael Swanson in charge of recruiting. "It's about getting the 'best of the best' to be San Diego police and out there working in the community." 

Of the select handful that make it to the Academy, there are seven months of training before an officer gets his or her badge. Then, the trainee spends five months with a field training officer.

"You have to remember, we're empowering people to make some pretty heavy decisions within the community, up to and including lethal force, if necessary," Swanson said. "So, we only want to have the 'best of the best' with that kind of authority."

The department is also facing shortages of field training officers.

City leaders hoped an increase in benefits last year would reduce departures from the department, but Chief Shelley Zimmerman says the improved compensation package has had little effect on officer retention.

Marvel said six officers are leaving in the next two weeks. One new police officer leaving for Riverside Police Department will be increasing his pay by $9 an hour, or about $90 a day, Marvel said.

Zimmerman told City Council members in March that police are leaving for a variety of reasons, including pay, morale, workload and “the climate of what’s going on, the national dialog of what’s going on.”

“Many (news) stories across the country are painting police in a negative light,” Zimmerman said.

Add to that being exposed to tragedy, stress and tense moments on the job, and it becomes even more clear why the department conducts such a rigorous screening and hiring process, according to officers in recruitment.

"This is to make sure that we get the absolute best, qualified applicants for the City of San Diego," Swanson said.

Between fiscal years 2015 and 2016, there was a more than 25 percent drop in the number of applicants.

FY2013: 4,439

FY2014: 4,591

FY2015, 4,645

FY2016: 3,448

FY2017: 2,226

Little data exists to explain the significant drop in number of applicants between 2015 and 2016.

In July 2016, a veteran uniformed San Diego police officer was killed in the line of duty, and another officer was seriously injured. San Diego Police Officer Jonathan De Guzman was shot multiple times, at point-blank range in his patrol vehicle, by a Shelltown gang member. Prosecutors said De Guzman never had a chance to even raise his service weapon.

The 2014 officer-involved shooting death of a black teen in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson thrust police into the national spotlight, and increased scrunity of police officers' interactions with minorities.

Since then, high-profile incidents in Baltimore, Chicago, Baton Rouge and even El Cajon, which is not served by the San Diego Police Department, but within 15 miles of its jurisdiction, have spurred public protests and been the subject of many media reports on divides between minority communities and the police that serve those communities.

A recent study by the Pew Research Center found more than eight in 10 officers said police work is harder today as a result of those high-profile and deadly encounters.

More than 75 percent of 8,000 officers surveyed said they are reluctant to use force when necessary as a result of the high-profile incidents and nearly 72 percent said they are less likely to stop and question people who seem suspicious as a result of increased public scrunity of police.

Whether the so-called "Ferguson effect" has impacted crime rates or officer retention or how many applicants the police department receives each year remains unclear. 

The survey suggest the impact has been severe on the morale of rank-and-file police officers.

"Within America's police and sheriff's departments ... the ramifications of these deadly encounters have been less visible than the public protests, but no less profound," according to the Pew report.

Water rates in San Diego County could increase next year, if a proposed rate hike is approved.

The San Diego County Water Authority is pushing for a 3.7 percent rate hike 2018.

On Thursday, the water authority announced it will recommend increasing rates charged to its member agencies for both treated and untreated water.

The hike is party to offset higher rates and charges from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). They are also impacted by the decrease in water sales due to conservation efforts, which have continued, even after the end of drought conditions and state mandated water-use restrictions.

According to the water authority, the proposed rate hike is the smallest since 2014.

“Prudent investments in our own water supplies helped our region withstand the recent five-year drought and emerge from it with even greater water supply reliability, and we are continuing to strengthen that reliability to sustain our region’s $222 billion economy and 3.3 million people,” said Maureen Stapleton, general manager of the Water Authority.

MWD supplies more than 40 percent of the water in San Diego County.

The proposed rate hike and a two-year budget for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 will go before the agency's Board of Directors on May 25.

There will be a public hearing on June 22.

A Good Samaritan, who helped catch a serial burglar in Escondido, said he hopes the 18-year-old arrested could use the incident as a wake-up call.

Manny Cortez, 55, told NBC 7, he used to run away from the police, but turned his life around.

“I changed my life around at 48, you know, and he's young,” said Cortez. “He could change it now and he could be somebody."

Jalen Johnson, 18, was arrested by deputies Monday in connection to at least six burglaries across San Diego County.

Cortez said he discovered Johnson in his yard Monday morning.

"I was in the kitchen because I needed to get some tools," Cortez said. "I needed the key to get in my trailer, and my dog started barking and I heard like a thump, like a thump thump.”

He said he looked outside of his window, saw Johnson and confronted him. At that point, Johnson fled into the condominiums next door.

Cortez said he followed Johnson through the complex and was able to detain him across the street until deputies arrived.

"I don’t like thieves, I just don’t," Cortez told NBC 7.

Deputies have been looking for Johnson since January when he first broke into a home in San Marcos. He has been linked to break-ins in Vista, another in Escondido and four in San Marcos.

Johnson was caught on surveillance camera, breaking into one home in San Marcos.

Detectives said Johnson is from Los Angeles but they do not know exactly why he was targeting homes in the North County.

Johnson will be in court next week.

Vice President Mike Pence and his team were not made aware of an investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn's lobbying for Turkey, a source close to the administration told NBC News, a potential "pattern" of not informing Pence that would be "malpractice or intentional, and either are unacceptable."

Flynn was fired for lying to Pence about his conversations with a Russian diplomat, and a new report, which the White House has denied, claims Flynn told Trump transition lawyer Don McGahn, now White House Counsel, that he was under federal investigation for lobbying.

The source called the report "stunning." It would be the second time Pence claims he was kept in the dark about Flynn's alleged wrongdoings while the White House knew of them. Pence was running the presidential transition.

The source close to the administration did not blame President Donald Trump for allegedly not making the vice president aware, suggesting it was likely the president had assumed Pence and his team were "in the loop." Instead, the source said blame would lie with McGahn and whoever he told.

Swedish prosecutors on Friday dropped a rape investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after seven years, NBC News reported. 

Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny announced in a statement that she "has decided to discontinue the investigation." That means Assange, who has been seeking refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012, is no longer facing charges in Sweden.

However, British police said he is still a wanted man for failing to surrender in the country in 2012.

After the announcement, Assange spoke with the press from the embassy's balcony: "WikiLeaks will continue to its publications. Even today, we published important documents on the Central Intelligence Agency and its measures that are conducted without warrant."

Melinda Taylor, a member of Assange's legal team, called attention to the U.S., telling NBC News that "as long as the national security prosecution continues there continues to be a risk to him."

The driver who slammed his car into a crowd of pedestrians, killing a young woman and injuring nearly two dozen other people in Times Square Thursday has been charged with a litany of crimes, including murder, police say.

Richard Rojas of the Bronx is charged with second-degree murder, 20 counts of second-degree attempted murder and five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, authorities said.

Rojas, 26, was taken into custody after barreling into the lunch-hour crowd on Seventh Avenue shortly before noon, according to police. Officials and sources say Rojas, who has a history of DWI arrests, made a U-turn on Seventh Avenue at 42nd Street and started speeding down the sidewalk for about 3-and-a-half blocks, mowing down pedestrians before crashing into a traffic pole. 

The woman who died has been identified as Alyssa Elsman from Portage, Michigan. She was visiting with her sister and mother. Her sister, with whom she was walking at the time, was also injured when Rojas plowed through.

Rojas is a former member of the armed services with a history of arrests for DWI, according to officials and law enforcement sources. He was dishonorably discharged from the Navy, where he once served aboard the USS Carney, for resisting arrest in Florida in 2014. Charges were dropped in the case.

Harrison Ramos, a friend, told reporters that Rojas hadn't been the same since he returned from active duty in the Navy. He says Rojas was posting "crazy stuff" online that has since been taken down, according to The Associated Press. Other friends say he was having money troubles.

Rojas was most recently arrested on a menacing charge last week for allegedly pulling a knife on an acquaintance in the Bronx.

On Thursday evening, police were at an apartment where Rojas stayed with his mother in the Mount Eden section of the Bronx. Law enforcement sources said police are obtaining a search warrant.

Rojas' mother brought in for questioning Thursday; she said nothing to reporters as detectives led her to a waiting car.

Fati Smith, a neighbor who has known the Rojas family for years, said she couldn't stop crying. She said she's in disbelief. Another neighbor said Rojas is a "good person" and he doesn't know what happened to him.

A cause of the crash is under investigation, but authorities say it's believed to be an "isolated incident" with no nexus to terror. Law enforcement sources say Rojas told police he heard voices and expected to die. They said he has a history of possible psychiatric, drug and alcohol problems, and investigators are looking into whether or not Thursday's crash may have been a deliberate act. 

Law enforcement sources say Rojas appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he was taken into custody. Sources say he blew a 0.0 when tested for alcohol at the precinct he was brought to for questioning. A law enforcement official said certain statements and tests suggest he was under the influence of something he ingested through smoking.

In one of his two previous DWI arrests, Rojas was driving faster than 99 mph in a 50 mph zone, sources familiar with his record say. He resisted officers while being arrested for DUI in Florida, resulting in the dishonorable Navy discharge, law enforcement sources said. He was most recently arrested last week in the Bronx on a charge of menacing. After the crash Thursday, he allegedly tried to flee cops, then tried to physically fight them, as they brought him into custody. 

Mayor de Blasio said in a briefing at the scene that a total of 23 people, including the woman who died and her 13-year-old sister, were hit by the vehicle. Four of the survivors were taken to hospitals in critical condition. Many had traumatic injuries, including open fractures, officials said at a news briefing, adding those four victims were expected to live.  

Social media erupted with fear and concern as witnesses described screaming and abject chaos in the Crossroads of the World. Someone tweeted a photo of a maroon-looking sedan halfway on its side after appearing to crash into a traffic pole. Smoke emanated from the hood as pedestrians stood by in horror.

Police radio captured the urgency of the response.

"Times Square, we got a car running people over on 42-7, going northbound on 7th ave, running people over," one NYPD dispatcher said, according to audio clips from Broadcastify. "Multiple people injured. Notify everyone."   

Some Twitter users were having trouble with the social media service Friday morning, as the company noted.

"Some users are currently experiencing problems accessing Twitter & Tweeting. We are aware of the issue and are working towards a resolution," the Twitter Support account said.

The Twitter service tracker noted a disruption in the timeline function, and more performance issues with the stream.

The website-tracking site DownDetector noted spikes in outage reports after midnight and 9 a.m. ET. The U.S., U.K., France and Japan appeared especially hard-hit.

NBC 7's Gaby Rodriguez reports on an emergency preparedness and fire summit at SDG&E's Energy Innovation Center where the utility and the San Diego Regional Fire Foundation want to ensure the community is prepared for the next emergency.

NBC 7's Liberty Zabala reports, if you are drunk or underage or under the influence of drugs this weekend, officers are lauching a new operation to get dangerous drivers off the road.

A teenager was hurt Friday morning at a San Diego-area middle school when his mother accidentally ran over his foot as she dropped him off. 

The odd incident happened around 7:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Thurgood Marshall Middle School, which is located at 9700 Avenue of Nations in Scripps Ranch.

According to a spokesperson with the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), the 14-year-old student was getting out of his mother’s car when his foot became caught under one of the tires.

After a short time, the teen was able to free himself. He suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital as a precaution. No further details about the accident were released.

Beach volleyball has a new ally as it tries to grow from an Olympic phenomenon to an every-year attraction: ESPN.

The sports network will broadcast the World Series of Beach Volleyball, an international pro tour stop in California in July. Event organizers hope the exposure will help beach volleyball attract new fans and hold onto the ones who watch during the Summer Games only to drift away until the next Olympics.

"The fact that ESPN is partnering with us is just a game-changer," said five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings, who has committed to the event. "That's something that beach volleyball has never had. I think the average sports fan takes the sport more seriously when they're on ESPN."

Like the Iowa caucuses or Feb. 29 of leap years, beach volleyball has its moment in the sun every quadrennium but then largely disappears for another four years. One of the most popular events at the Olympics, the sport has struggled to translate that success into a full-time audience.

ESPN thinks it can change that.

"Like so many other people, I watched the Olympics in Rio; volleyball -- the indoor and the beach -- was a primetime staple many nights," said Burke Magnus, ESPN's executive vice president of programming and scheduling. "There's great enthusiasm around the sport, and it just kind of disappears into the ether."

Magnus said beach volleyball is attractive to the network because it's popular among both men and women, domestically and globally, and still has a lot of room for growth. ESPN already broadcasts the men's and women's NCAA (indoor) championships, giving it familiarity with the sport.

"We'd like to put our shoulder behind it," Magnus said. "Maybe acquire other volleyball content, give it a good try and see what happens. We've never put a concerted effort behind the sport at all."

This year's broadcast from will include 30 hours of play spread across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, and streamed on ESPN3 -- "our full array of networks and platforms," Magnus said. Although some will be condensed or otherwise on tape, the women's final will be live on ESPN on Saturday night, Armato said; it will be the first primetime beach volleyball broadcast other than the Olympics.

The ESPN deal calls for three North American events next year, which Armato is hoping to promote as a Triple Crown.

"We both bring our areas of expertise to the table," Magnus said. "Ours is our megaphone. And he has the relationships in the industry. And, certainly, he has the experience with putting on an event like this."

A former agent who represented Shaquille O'Neal and Oscar de la Hoya, Armato also served as the commissioner of the AVP domestic tour and is married to three-time beach volleyball Olympian Holly McPeak. He started the World Series of Beach Volleyball in Long Beach in 2013, envisioning a festival with the kinds of attractions that will bring in the young, active spectators that advertisers covet.

The centerpiece of the Long Beach event from July 13-16 is an FIVB-sanctioned pro tournament, called the President's Cup, that is expected to draw the world's top players. But there will be open, junior and co-ed tournaments, four- and six-person competitions and a "big electronic music artist," whose name Armato wasn't ready to announce.

"These big, festival events are resonating in a significant way. Not a traveling circus, but the kinds of events that people are flocking to in today's world," Armato said. "We think we have a really good formula for success."

This year he has an added attraction: Walsh Jennings, who is sitting out from the AVP tour this year.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist felt so strongly about beach volleyball's growth potential that she refused to sign on to the biggest domestic tour because it would have limited her options. The decision forced a split with April Ross, with whom she won the bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

But Walsh Jennings is committed to the Long Beach event -- even though she doesn't have a partner yet. She said bringing the pros together with amateur and younger athletes is part of what makes it appealing to her.

"Connecting the dots of the sport is a really powerful thing for me, because I feel like once you make the connection, you're a lifer," Walsh Jennings said.

"I was that little girl," she said. "And I still feel like I am that little girl."

There is a one-of-a-kind home in San Diego County that has been under construction for nearly 60 years. And, for the artist who lives there, it is his lifelong masterpiece.

“It takes people away from what they call the real world. And it gives them a chance to look at things in a different way,” said artist James Hubbell.

Hubbell is a world-renowned artist with his work on display across the globe, from Russia and China to Abu Dhabi, to name a few sites.

He’s 85 years old now, still creating art today and still living on a very special property near Santa Ysabel with his wife, Anne.

The couple bought the land 59 years ago. They were newlyweds at the time.

They would build one part of their home at a time, paying for it as they went, and raising four boys there. The evolution of Hubbell's art can be seen in the changes from structure to structure.

Today, the home consists of nine buildings; the property is a visual adventure to walk through. From stained glass and sculptures to unique architecture, there is not a dull step to be taken.

“His fingerprints are all over this property. His imagination is seemingly endless,” said Marianne Gerdes, who heads the Ilan Lael Foundation.

The foundation is now in charge of overseeing the property.

“It’s just incredible. He designs the structures. He designs the art that embellishes the structures,” said Gerdes. “There are no square corners, very colorful, full of nature, inspired by nature, and just beautiful.”

Hubbell is not just inspired by nature, he plans around it. Most of the trees, and rocks on the property have never moved. The buildings are built around them. Hubbell even dug the footings for the buildings by hand to avoid bringing heavy machinery onto the land.

“I think a certain place has a certain way it wants to be and if you move too much, you destroy that,” said Hubbell.

Ironically, it’s nature that nearly destroyed everything Hubbell spent decades creating.

In 2003, the worst wildfire in California history came right through the Hubbell property. The Cedar Fire destroyed half of the buildings and a lot of the art.

But thanks to the generosity of friends, neighbors, and admirers of Hubbell’s work, the family was able to rebuild.

Today, the property is still a thriving place for artists. Hubbell has apprentices who work under him, putting his ideas to life. Once a year, on Father’s Day, the home is open to the general public to come tour.

While Hubbell's work keeps him active, he is suffering from Parkinson's disease. Thus, it’s impossible to avoid the conversation of what the future holds for him and this masterpiece.

He has an answer.

 “I think one of the things it could be used for is a place where people can learn to talk to each other, even if they don’t like each other,” he said.

The world could use somewhere like that these days.

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner pleaded guilty on Friday to one federal count related to "sexting" with minors, an offense that means he will have to register as a sex offender.

Weiner surrendered to the FBI Friday morning, and tearfully confessed his transgressions in a brief hearing hours later. 

"I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse," Weiner said in court. (Read his full statement)

Weiner quickly left the Manhattan courthouse after the proceedings, being hustled into a waiting car and taking no questions from the throngs of reporters.

The government is seeking a term of 21 months to 27 months in jail on the single count of transferring obscene material to a minor, though with no mandatory minimum the judge could still give him probation. He will be sentenced Sept. 8, and had to surrender his passport and iPhone in the meantime. 

Federal prosecutors had been weighing whether to file child pornography charges against the disgraced ex-Democratic congressman since last year, sources previously told NBC 4 New York.

The charge stems from the sexually charged text messages and Skype conversations Weiner, now 52, exchanged with a 15-year-old girl from January to March 2016. The messages were revealed when online news outlet DailyMail.com interviewed the girl last September.

"I knew this was as morally wrong as it was unlawful," Weiner said in his statement. 

The investigation into Weiner ended up intruding on last year's presidential campaign. His wife Huma Abedin was a top aide to Hillary Clinton, and it was during the probe into Weiner that the FBI found emails on a laptop that related to a past investigation into Clinton's email practices. 

The New York Times first reported Weiner's surrender and expected plea. 

Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after admitting to a series of online sexual relationships. But his rehabilitation was swift, and in 2013 he mounted a campaign for mayor. He held a commanding lead in the Democratic primary race as late as June 2013, until more, newer relationships came to light.

In late 2014 he admitted his political career was likely over -- aside from an idle boast last summer that he would beat beat Donald Trump Jr. "like a rented mule" if the president's son ran for mayor. 

About 50 people were without water in Vista early Friday after an 8-inch water main pipe broke. 

City water crews were repairing the break at the intersection of Mar Vista Drive and Phillips Street.

Water also flooded streets from northbound Mar Vista Drive, over the railroad tracks, to South Santa Fe.

Roads in the area are blocked off, as crews repair the damage.

The damage caused a sink hole to open up.

It's estimated water service will be restored by 10 a.m. 

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

Gearing up for what promises to be a competitive summer, the Harrah’s casino and resort northeast of Escondido is now marketing itself as Funner, Calif.

The business also announced that TV and movie star David Hasselhoff is the mayor of Funner. Hasselhoff will appear in various advertising.

i.d.e.a. San Diego is the marketing firm behind the rebrand for Harrah’s Resort Southern California on the Rincon Indian Reservation.

The multimedia campaign will include paid online video/television, print, audio/radio, digital/mobile, social channels, billboards and roadside signs in the form of mile markers. TV spots are currently running in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties.

Terms of the Harrah’s contract with i.d.e.a. were not disclosed. Darrell Pilant is senior vice president and general manager of Harrah’s Resort SoCal.

The moves come as Pechanga, in Riverside County near Temecula, expands its massive resort. Pechanga operates more than 4,000 slot machines — more than any San Diego County casino — and is building more hotel rooms. The addition is due to open in 2018.

San Diegans have plenty of venues looking for their gaming dollar, and this will be the first summer that the Jamul Indian Village will have its Hollywood Casino running. Both the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians are adding hotel rooms to their venues.

Bridges Academy in San Jose was evacuated Friday after a backpack was found to contain a 750-milliliter bottle of liquid labeled "Nitroglycerin," police say.

School staff called police around 8:20 a.m. after making the scary discovery. A bomb squad and fire crews were also dispatched to the McLaughlin Avenue campus. People in the vicinity were urged to shelter in place. 

The bomb squad placed the bag in a safety container and will test the liquid before disposing of it. It remains unclear whether it is in fact the chemical, which is well known as an explosive material. 

Franklin-McKinley School District said on Twitter that police told them the bomb scare was a hoax. Police have yet to independently confirm that information.

Police officers finished a sweep of the middle school before clearing the scene around 11 a.m. Students went home and traffic was once again permitted on McLaughlin Avenue, which had been closed between Bacchus and Audubon drives to make room for emergency vehicles.

Police activity forced VTA line 72 to be rerouted in both directions.

No further details were immediatly available.