In a mere matter of weeks, or days, the U.S. Supreme Court will offer a ruling on the constitutionality of
California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

As prognosticators and political pundits try and probe how the justices will vote, we wanted the answer to a simpler question: Of the most likely judicial outcomes, would any prevent same-sex couples in California from the ability to get married?

The question, of course, presumes the Supreme Court will not uphold the constitutionality of Prop 8.

But should the court elect to rule in a variety of other ways, such as dismissing the case on procedural grounds (with ‘lack of standing’ a very plausible outcome), or finding the case improvidently granted, what would the net effect be for those same-sex couples seeking their nuptials?

In this segment of Reality Check, Sam Brock speaks with a constitutional scholar, San Francisco’s City Attorney and the Attorney General’s Office in search of answers.

As feral hogs continue to barrel into suburban and urban areas -- and even into Dallas' city limits -- trappers are turning to smartphone technology to help catch the animals.

Locations such as Kiest Park in Oak Cliff, the Keeton Park Golf Course in Pleasant Grove and White Rock Trail have all seen damage from hogs within the last year, said Don Burns, Dallas parks and recreation project manager.

Osvaldo Rojas, currently the only trapper contracted to capture feral hogs in Dallas, said the hog problem is getting worse.

"The more you trap, the more places you find that need trapping," he said.

Rojas uses large pens equipped with cameras that link to his smartphone to remotely and humanely catch hogs. He then sells the hogs to a meat-processing company.

His contract with the city allows him to keep the proceeds of the sale.

Don Gresham has captured 44 hogs in one night at his family ranch in Forestburg, Montague County, which is approximately 10 miles north of Decatur.

"They destroy everything," he said. "They'll come in, they'll make a field ... look like a plowed field. In Dallas, they're destroying people's yards. They were knocking the air conditioners off of our pad sites up here."

Necessity was the mother of invention for Gresham. He helped to design a 30-foot hog trap that, like the one Rojas uses, employs Web cameras that send live video to his smartphone, allowing him to trigger the trapdoor with the touch of a button.

His company, Goin Fencing, now sells the traps to farmers around the country.

In the Dallas area, feral hogs travel from place to place along the banks of the Trinity River or, as Burns describes it, "Hog Highway." The animals use the Trinity's creeks and tributaries as exits to access suburban and urban neighborhoods, he said.

According to estimates from researchers at Texas A&M University, the number of feral hogs in the state may range from 1.8 million to 3.4 million, with the population growing between 18 percent and 21 percent each year.

The Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources study also estimates that feral hogs cause $52 million in damage to agriculture in the state every year.

There are no known estimates for how many hogs are living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Part of the problem in reducing the numbers of feral hogs is that they reproduce at an exponential rate. A sow can birth a litter of six to eight pigs twice per year, and those piglets can become fertile at the age of six months.

Dallas recently opened up a bidding process for more trappers to help corral the problem. The city expects to select a trapper and have that company on the ground and working by the end of the summer, Burns said.

The trial began Tuesday for civil lawsuit filed by a Chicago woman who claims her ex-husband abused and kept her as a sex slave.

Kimberley O’Brien, 51, filed the $60 million suit against 57-year-old Kevin Anderson, a rare coin dealer, seven years ago.

O'Brien claims Anderson started beating and sexually assaulted her on their honeymoon in 2005, and later forced her to abide by the rules of a master-slave contract, which included walking naked around their Chicago and Wisconsin homes, and agreeing to be tied up, whipped and beaten if she refused. O’Brien came forward with her claims in 2006

Anderson, 57, has maintained in court filing that O'Brien was a former prostitute, and while his attorney, Charles Cole, didn't use that exact word in court Tuesday, he described her as a "woman of means" who escorted men all over the world.

Anderson says O'Brien was not only a willing participant in rough sex, but was the one who introduced him to it.

Cole showed jurors a four-foot-tall photo of a naked and smiling O’Brien allegedly taken the morning after she claims she was beaten unconscious on her honeymoon, telling the jury it's "a case driven largely by revenge and greed."

NBC 5 obtained a copy of the contract, which refers to Anderson as "Master KJ" and O'Brien as "Slave Elizabeth O."

It explicitly states the types of discipline that could be metered out, such as bondage and leash training. Offenses that required discipline included cockiness or rudeness and lack of respect.

In court Tuesday, O'Brien's lawyer, Dean Dickie, portrayed Anderson as a Jekyll and Hyde character who didn’t reveal his true nature until after the couple had wed.

"No man should ever be able to treat the woman he claims to love -- or any woman, like this," Dickie said in opening arguments.

O'Brien also took the stand Tuesday, telling jurors that when she first met Anderson, she thought she had met her soul mate.

The federal court trial, which begins seven years after the lawsuit was originally filed, is expected to last two weeks.

The electronic cigarette industry is on fire.

Marlboro cigarette maker Altria Group announced on Tuesday that it's getting into the $1 billion dollar e-cigarette business. And on Monday, another manufacturer Njoy, Inc. said it raised $75 million in funding from Facebook investor Sean Parker and musician Bruno Mars to be used for clinical trials and R&D.

Experts say electronic cigarettes could lap tobacco cigarette sales in the next decade. So what is behind these gadgets that have more and more of the country’s 45 million smokers swapping out their leafy nicotine for these battery-powered devices? Here is what you need to know about e-cigarettes:

What are electronic cigarettes?
Electronic cigarettes look just like regular cigarettes - some come complete with a faux brown filter and orange light to mimic the end of a cigarette butt - except smokers do not need a fire source to light them. The electronic version holds a battery, a vaporization chamber and a cartridge that contains a dark liquid nicotine that heats up and changes into vapor. Smokers inhale them as they would regular cigarettes and there is no smell because nothing is burning.

Smoke anywhere?
Since e-cigarettes do not pose a threat of second hand smoke inhalation, some manufacturers are trying to market their products as a smoking alternative that can be consumed in places where regular cigarettes are not acceptable, such as bars, offices, restaurants and movie theaters. Some countries like Brazil and Norway have outright banned them, but Britain is now trying to regulate e-cigarettes as medicine to improve its quality and allow doctors to prescribe them to smokers who are trying to quit.

Nicotine levels
The amount of nicotine an e-cigarette delivers is dictated by the cartridge installed and controlled by the smoker’s preference. Nicotine levels range from full flavor to ultra light much like regular cigarettes do. There are also cartridges that have no nicotine to give smokers the sensory experience without the nicotine high.

Price
Electronic cigarette smoking is not a cheap habit. A starter kit, which comes with a smoking device, cartridges, batteries and accessories can run about $60. A pack of five cartridges (one cartridge is equivalent to about one pack of regular cigarettes) runs about $10.

The Government
Manufacturers claim that e-cigarettes are a safe alternative to their conventional counter parts, but the Food and Drug Administration is not sold on these high-tech devices yet. Officials say they don’t know if e-cigarettes are safe and if there are any health benefits to the products. In fact, back in 2010, the administration issued a number of warnings to e-cigarette distributors for violating certain rules FDA including “violations of good manufacturing practices, making unsubstantiated drug claims, and using the devices as delivery mechanisms for active pharmaceutical ingredients.”
 

A child who was allegedly abandoned after a car accident last week has died, according to Rady Children’s Hospital.

Valentino Fabiani, 4, was in the car last week when his father Angelo Fabiani Arroyo, 40, rolled his black Nissan Titan truck off Interstate 5 near Old Town San Diego. The car veered off the road near Rosecrans Street, landing on its side on an embankment along Jefferson Street.

Arroyo is accused of abandoning the child, after he reportedly ran away moments after the crash. He later returned to the wreckage, where witnesses said the boy was partially ejected from the truck. California Highway Patrol officers said Arroyo then ran off a second time.

He was later arrested and appeared in court last week.

Valentino’s mother issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying:
“I am deeply saddened that Valentino has passed away from injuries sustained in the auto accident. My precious angel Valentino will forever live on in the memory of those who were blessed to have met him or know him.”

She also asked for privacy while the family grieves and said donations can be made to the Valentino Memorial Fund at Chase Bank, routing number 425127631.

A University of California -- Riverside student has been arrested on suspicion of ordering her current boyfriend to murder her ex-boyfriend, according to jail and court records.

Barbara Wu, 21, allegedly told her boyfriend to kidnap her ex-boyfriend, break his legs with a baseball bat and kill him. But the boyfriend was cooperating with police and recording the conversation, according to a restraining order against Wu he filed after her May 29 arrest.

Wu faces charges of soliciting murder, stalking, online harassment, terrorist threats and other misdemeanor and felony crimes, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. She was being held in a Riverside County jail on $500,000 bail.

The restraining order said Wu was abusive and impulsive, called him "her dog," and made him fear for his life. NBC4 is not naming the boyfriend.

"Barbara wanted me to get some people to kidnap her ex-boyfriend," he wrote in his petition for a restraining order. "She made me promise that I would go through with it. She wanted me to tie him up, use a bat to break his legs, kill him, then discard the body. She wanted us to leave the country after we did all this to him."

Neighbor Nicole Clark said Wu seemed like a regular college student, friendly and quiet.

Another neighbor, however, said she heard strange and loud noises coming from Wu's apartment.

"Screaming," said Maira Actual. "And you would just hear the noises of things being moved around."

More Southern California Stories:

• Brawl Busts Out At Dodgers Stadium
• Grandma, 72, Fires Revolver to Scare Away Burglar
• Crash Victim Pinned Between Vehicles Was Changing Shoes Behind Minivan
• Tow Truck Collides With Metro Bus, Crashes Into 7-Eleven Store
• Caught on Video: Explosion Blasts Roof Off School Gym
• "I'm Done For": Teen's Failed Car Jump

A 14-year-old San Diego boy was found in Florida on Tuesday after a man convinced him to leave home, according to police.

Police have arrested 36-year-old Tampa resident Tony McLeod, who is accused of abducting the boy. Law enforcement officials were waiting at the Tampa International Airport for the teen and McLeod after they discovered the pair traveled on a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Florida.

According to a statement from the Tampa Police Department, McLeod will be charged with kidnapping, interfering with custody, traveling to meet a minor and transmission of harmful material to a minor.

McLeod allegedly met the boy last month through an online PlayStation video game and then began contacting him via cell phone, according to Lt. Neal Griffin.

Last month the teenager’s parents told McLeod to stay away from their son after they found graphic text messages on his phone, according to Griffin. Police were also contacted and began investigating the incident.

Griffin said when the teenager did not return home from school yesterday, police suspected McLeod was involved. Authorities believe McLeod traveled to Escondido and somehow enticed the victim to go to Florida.

Investigators were able to locate McLeod’s cell phone, which led them to LAX. They then discovered that McLeod and the teen had boarded a nonstop flight to Tampa. Officials said that McLeod had booked the teenager under a false name for the trip.

McLeod was arrested after the plane landed by Florida law enforcement, and authorities are investigating whether or not he sexually assaulted the teenager. McLeod is currently in a Tampa jail.

Officials said the teen is in protective custody and is being questioned about the incident. He has yet to be returned to his parents in Escondido.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and will be monitored by federal and San Diego authorities. 

For those who haven’t been able to purchase a Comic-Con 2013 badge, there’s another opportunity for you to try and get your hands on one.

Special Section: Comic-Con 2013

Convention organizers say several thousand returned or canceled badges and other reserved badges will be for sale.

There’s no need to be online or attempt to beat the system to try and purchase one of the limited number of badges.

The resale will be a random drawing.

Of the badges available, 3,100 are Saturday badges. Badges for the entire convention, also known as 4-Day badges, are sold out.

To enter the Comic-Con 2013 Resale Drawing, go to the event’s website and look for the blue graphic with language that says “Click Here to Enter a Drawing to be Eligible for the Comic-Con 2013 Badge Resale.”

The deadline to enter is 10:59:59 a.m. PDT on Wednesday, June 12. Check this link for rules.

On or before June 17th, event organizers say they will send an email to those who can purchase the badges - giving anyone time to figure out travel plans.

Single-day passes for Thursday through Sunday are $42 for adults and $21 for juniors, U.S. military and seniors.

The convention runs from July 18 - 21 at the San Diego Convention Center with a preview night on Wednesday, July 17.
 

Investigators say the gun that fired, killing a 10-year-old boy was loaded and not secured contrary to a recent statement made by the gun's owner. 

Dingeman Elementary School student Eric Klyaz died from a gunshot wound to the chest June 4.

Klyaz was playing with a 9-year-old neighbor when in the garage of a Miramar Ranch North home when he was shot.

The girl was uninjured, but shaken up, police said.

Homicide investigators told NBC7 San Diego that the gun used in the shooting was loaded and found in an area easily accessible to children.

SDPD Homicide Lt. Jorge Duran said the location of the weapon is contrary to the statement provided by attorney for gun owner.

The girl’s father Todd Francis said he doesn’t know how the kids were able to get a hold of his gun. Through his attorney, Francis said the weapon was registered and purchased legally.

He also said the gun “... was not loaded and hidden in a separate location from the ammunition. Neither the gun nor the clip were immediately accessible to children and were hidden separately for home security."

Investigators served a search warrant on the girl's home where her mother and teenage brother also live. Her father was storing some items in the family's garage in preparation of moving to an apartment.

An inventory of items seized in the search included a Sig-Sauer 9 mm handgun wrapped in a white T-shirt and a single bullet casing. Officers also took possession of a Remington 970 shotgun, a holder and blood evidence.

According to Lt. Duran, investigators are also trying to determine if the 10-year-old boy or his friend pulled the trigger as they were both handling the weapon.

The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed.

Firefighters were sent to Lafayette Elementary School Wednesday morning for a suspected bomb threat, according to San Diego Fire Department.

The school is located at 6125 Printwood Way just north of Clairemont Mesa.

This is the second time this week the school has had a bomb threat.

Metro Arson Strike Team units were also sent out for possible acid bombs found on campus, according to SDFD. The two unexploded acid bombs were discovered on campus this morning.

Investigators talked to a 15-year-old boy who lived nearby and he confessed to throwing the bombs over his fence onto school property, said SDFD spokesperson Maurice Luque.

He could face some charges, but officials said he will not go to juvenile hall.

The school was not locked down during the incident and there were no injuries.

San Diego police responded to an attempted bank robbery in University City where gunshots were fired Tuesday night.

The attempted robbery happened just before 5 p.m. Tuesday at Wells Fargo at 8410 Genesee Ave.

A man and woman entered the bank and gave the teller a note demanding cash, according to police. Police said a security guard apprehended the woman and fired two shots at the man as he ran out of the door, hitting him in the head.

Police said the wounded man ran to a teal blue Honda Civic, driven by another man who was waiting at a nearby apartment complex.

The injured suspect was dropped off at Sharp Memorial Hospital.

Officials later identified two of the suspects as Casey Wilson and Laura Elshire.

Police are still looking for the getaway driver. He was seen wearing black clothing and a skull cap, according to police.

The woman also suffered a head injury during the attempted robbery, but police said she wasn’t shot.

Eye witness John Ellis' curiosity and suspicion over this man running full speed and bleeding from a head wound lead him to photograph and follow the suspected robber.

“I thought, well that's odd, going out for a jog with latex gloves and a Pendleton shirt on,” Ellis said.

Ellis saw the getaway car, with an accomplice behind the wheel parked at La Jolla Nobel apartments across the street from the bank.

“He was bleeding from the face,” Ellis said.

The driver later dropped the injured suspect  at Sharp Memorial Hospital then fled.

Investigators say inside, it was the a bank security guard that fired on the fleeing suspect. He shot in the direction of the front door leading straight into the busy shopping center full of parents and kids.

The security guard simultaneously whacked a female robbery suspect over the head. She was treated at Scripps Memorial Hospital.

Investigators still looking for the third suspect. He was driving an older model teal green four door Honda Civic, and instead of a license plate there is a paper placard with the logo VTEC. It was last seen heading eastbound on Nobel Avenue.

Many will gather in Newtown on Friday for a day of remembrance to mark the six-month anniversary of the tragic December school shootings at Sandy Hook School, where 20 students and six educators, were killed on Dec. 14.

Family members, first selectmen, faith leaders and community members will gather at Edmond Town Hall on Friday as names of victims of gun violence are read.

A moment of silence will be held at 9:30 a.m. ET and then there will be a rally and new conference that includes Newtown survivors.

In April, the U.S. Senate rejected universal background checks and the Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization continues to lobby for stricter gun laws. They will launch the No More Names: National Drive to Reduce Gun Violence tour from Newtown on Friday.

The tour will stop in 25 states over 100 days to rally for similar gun violence prevention efforts to representatives in Washington.

The remembrance event will continue until 9:30 p.m.

 

Two maintenance workers trapped on a broken scaffold dangling outside the top of the 46-story Hearst Tower were pulled to safety in dramatic fashion Wednesday afternoon.  

The middle motor on the scaffolding lost power while the workers were servicing the window-washing equipment, according to sources, causing the V-shaped buckling of the structure. 

The technicians for Tractel Harness were left dangling on the scaffolding 500 feet above Eighth Avenue on 57th Street when firefighters and NYPD emergency service unit officers were called to the scene shortly after 2:30 p.m.

Rescuers removed windows on the 44th floor of the building and brought the workers in through the open space. Emergency workers had dropped down additional safety harnesses to the trapped workers, who were already strapped in with their own lines.

"We were just worried about getting them, making sure they were on their ropes and just getting them in," said firefighter Tom Gayron.

The workers had been in no danger of falling, according to FDNY Assistant Chief William Seelig. The 90-minute rescue consisted of several technical operations, including cutting open the heavy glass in the building.

The two workers -- identified by law enforcement sources as Victor Carabello, 26, of the Bronx, and Stephen Schmidt, 49, of Brooklyn -- underwent a medical evaluation once they were brought inside. Moses Nelson, one of the attending FDNY paramedics, said the workers were fine and in good spirits.

"They were all smiles, thankfully," said Nelson. "No major injuries, no complaints." 

The men declined medical aid and were not transported to the hospital.  

Seelig said the high-angle rescue was "not an everyday event, but it's not something new to us," noting that FDNY's Rescue 1, who were among the responders, are highly skilled in all aspects of technical rescue and are trained on an ongoing basis.

The scaffold failure will be investigated by the city Department of Buildings and state Department of Labor, fire officials said.

Streets around the building below were closed to traffic and some businesses were evacuated as a precaution. Pedestrians and witnesses were transfixed as they watched the rescue unfold. 

"It's just scary," said Lorraine Knox. "You see people dangling on the 45th floor -- it's scary."

RELATED: Scaffold Collapse Recalls Deadly '07 Accident on Upper East Side

An apartment fire Tuesday night destroyed one Chula Vista family's home and evacuated the family living below.

The incident happened around 11:20 p.m. on Tuesday on the 600-block of F Street.

The fire started on the second story in the kitchen from a stove top, and firefighters say it spread quickly into the rest of the apartment, ultimately destroying it. The fire then spread to the first floor.
   
Firefighters were able to contain the blaze in about 8 minutes.
   
The family was not injured, but two firefighters were taken to the hospital with minor burns.
   
The Red Cross is helping the displaced family.

A South Florida crematorium owner is hoping someone will come forward to claim remains found in an urn floating in the Intracoastal Waterway in North Miami.

"I am expected and hopeful any family will come forward, if for no other reason to bring this matter to a close and have a sense of completion," said Geronimo Mena Jr., owner of Hollywood-based Guiding Light Cremations.

Mena said the remains were found in an urn in the water near the 163rd Street Bridge in North Miami Beach. He offered to keep them in a temporary urn in the hopes relatives will claim them.

He said he is 99 percent sure that the ashes are of human remains because of their color, texture and presence of bone particles.

Mena said when he got the urn, the remains were in a plastic bag tied together by a string.

"It was devoid of any label or customary tag," Mena said.

He said urns usually have identifying features on a stainless steel tag with the name of the crematorium, name of the deceased and tag number.

Mena said under Florida statute he can hold the remains for 120 days. If no one claims them in that time, he can dispose of them legally.  If the family does claim the remains, he will scatter them and give the family a certificate indicating the longitude and latitude of the scattering site, he said.

"I will offer them the opportunity to have the procedure completed legally," Mena said.

Otherwise, he will scatter them at sea himself.

Mena said it's not legal to scatter ashes in the Intracoastal Waterway. The Environmental Protection Agency declares that human remains must be buried at least three nautical miles from land.

Social media's beloved hashtag is finally coming to Facebook.

While many users are already using hashtags on the site, they served no purpose until Wednesday, when Facebook announced in a blog post that they will be clickable and searchable.

"When you click on a hashtag in Facebook, you'll see a feed of what other people and Pages are saying about that event or topic," wrote Greg Lindley, Facebook's product manager.

The feature will allow users to join in on conversations like #NBAFinals and #NSALeaks.

Facebook has been teasing the feature since March, according to The Wall Street Journal, and it's now joining the list of other social media sites with functional hashtags like Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram, which Facebook purchased in 2012.

A group of Jersey Shore fishermen had an up-close and personal encounter with a great white shark.

Rob Pompilio, Mike Long and another friend left from Little Egg Harbor Township on Sunday afternoon and were about 30 miles southeast of Atlantic City when they spotted the shark.

"Unspeakable. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before," said Pompilio. The great white was about half the size of Pompilio's 28-foot boat.

Long, who says "Jaws" is his favorite movie, was quick to hit "record" on his cell phone to make his own short movie of the great white shark circling the boat.

The friends say the shark hung around for about 10 minutes and seemed more curious than aggressive.

“The teeth were huge,” said Long. The great white left scratch marks from its sharp teeth on the boat. “It came up, just grabbed the boat, saw it wasn’t edible, went back down,” said Pompilio.

The founder of Brigantine's Marine Mammal Stranding Center says great white sightings have become more common off the coast of New Jersey in recent years because of an increase in the number of seals, one of its main prey.

“You should keep an eye out. If you see fins in the water, common sense should tell you to get out of the water," said Bob Schoelkopf, Marine Mammal Stranding Center.