When Dese'Rae Stage interviews suicide survivors for a website she created, she asks a question news reporters may not always consider: How much did it hurt?

A survivor herself, she wants to be sure that readers of her website "Live Through This" come away with a real picture of suicide — no romance, no facile explanations and no inducements for others to kill themselves. Stage, 33, is encouraging people to survive.

"Because what we see on TV is, 'Oh I'm just going to take a nap forever and it's going to be peaceful,' and that's not the reality," she said. "And I'm like, 'Tell me what the reality looks like.'"

Mental health professionals have for decades warned that media can drive suicides, with studies pinpointing what kind of coverage can be deadly and journalists urged to follow reporting guidelines. But the influence that newspapers and television newscasts had in the past is being eclipsed by Facebook, YouTube and other popular sites. The enormous reach of social media has left mental health professionals even more worried about copycat suicides — or contagion, as it is called — and determined to confront the online world.

Most troubling today: young people live streaming their suicides.

The phenomenon of imitating well publicized suicides is sometimes called the "Werther effect," named for Goethe's 1774 novel, "The Sorrows of Young Werther," which was banned in some European cities after it was published over fears it triggered an increase in deaths. "My friends….thought that they must transform poetry into reality, imitate a novel like this in real life and, in any case, shoot themselves," Goethe himself wrote about the cases.

"They were found dead with the book," said Madelyn Gould, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

SUICIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY
More than 50 studies worldwide have shown that some types of news coverage can increase the likelihood of suicide for vulnerable people. That coverage includes explicit descriptions of the method, graphic headlines or images and repeated reports that glamorize a death, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says.

Young people appear to be particularly susceptible, according to some studies, with one finding that 15- to 19-year-olds exposed to a suicide had a relative risk two to four times higher than others. And celebrity suicides can be especially deadly. Marilyn Monroe's reportedly caused the suicide rate in the United States to jump 12 percent.

A Netflix series, "13 Reasons Why," is the most recent show to be criticized by mental health professionals who worry that it glorifies the suicide of a teenager who had been sexually assaulted and bullied. It tells her story through audio tapes in which she blames specific people for her death.

The National Association of School Psychologists warned in a statement: "Its powerful storytelling may lead impressionable viewers to romanticize the choices made by the characters and/or develop revenge fantasies."

Netflix added another "viewer warning card" to the show.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for those 10 to 35, a toll that has been rising each year since 2007. Gould and others cannot be certain that social media is contributing to the increase. New studies must first measure any effect. But Gould noted social media's influence, its large audience for sensational content and the danger that it could change norms about what is acceptable.

"Is there a possibility given the characteristics of some of the social media reports?" she asked. "Yes, it's certainly consistent that it might."

Researchers who have begun looking at the links between social media and suicide have already found that among middle school children, victims of cyber-bullying were almost two times as likely to attempt suicide than those who have not.

REPORTING GUIDELINES
Guidelines for reporting on suicides were drawn up after prevention specialists and public health officials held a national workshop in 1989 to help news reporters and others avoid sparking additional deaths. Now revised, they come with a list of do's and don'ts and suggestions for what information to avoid and what to include. Some studies show a decrease in suicides after guidelines are implemented.

The website reportingonsuicide.org recommends against sensational headlines, prominent placement, photographs or videos of the place or manner of death or grieving friends and memorials. Do not describe a suicide as inexplicable or without warning. Do not refer to epidemics of suicides or skyrocketing numbers. Do not disclose what is in a suicide note. And do not refer to a suicide as "successful" or "unsuccessful."

Journalists are urged instead to present information about the death in a non-sensational way and to report on suicide as a public health issue. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 90 percent of people who died by suicide had shown signs of mental disorders or engaged in substance abuse. Most people exhibit early warning signs. Include those signs and information about what to do.

Most suicide cases involve a fairly short window of decision-making and action, so you want to "avoid giving people an easy and impulsive answer," said Bruce Shapiro, the executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

"If you are establishing barriers, whether physical or informational, you're going to save lives," he said.

New research by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler of the Medical University of Vienna and others suggests that the opposite effect could be true as well: that articles about survival and treatment can reduce the number of suicides. It too has a name drawn from the arts, the Papageno effect, for the character in Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute," who after losing his love, plans to kill himself but is dissuaded by three boys.

"The possible role of media reports in preventing suicide may make it worthwhile for journalists of both traditional and online news platforms to follow media guidelines on the reporting of suicide," Niederkrotenthaler wrote in a 2010 study.

The guidelines sometimes are not heeded. Stage, an advocate, speaker and photographer whose website features profiles of suicide survivors, says she has been interviewed multiple times, and in all cases reporters wanted to know how she had tried to kill herself. Her efforts to dissuade them from including what she thought were too many details failed, she said.

"I don't think the perspective on method is going to change," she said. "I think we're just reporting on this and that is a piece of the story. I think it becomes about how it's reported on."

If someone Stage is interviewing for her website tells her that he or she overdosed on pills, for example, she will include that information, but ask about the pain.

"Letting people know how painful it is is just going to change perspectives and that could maybe help," she said.

Stage remains convinced guidelines can save lives, and recently worked with Ohio's Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to develop a set for its website. Journalists can change perspectives, she said.

"Social media makes it more difficult because obviously we're all rubberneckers, and we want the clicks, and so we look for the clicks in those headlines and in the details and the methods," she said. "And that's what people share, so how do we neutralize it?"

'PEOPLE WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT'
The guidelines can present a dilemma to journalists, used to ferreting out information and presenting it in as dramatic way as possible. Deciding how to cover suicides is an ethically challenging issue that vexes every newsroom, from the smallest local newspaper to national news organizations, said Shapiro with Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism.

"We don't like it when well intentioned health specialists tell us what we should do," he said. "We want to make our own choices as a profession."

Daniel J. Reidenberg, who wrote the guidelines on reportingonsuicide.org, said that a drawback of earlier versions was the source: exclusively mental health, suicide prevention experts, scientists and researchers. He turned to reporters, editors and news directors for the current version.

Today, social media can easily circumvent traditional media reporting. A news article that might have remained local can now quickly go viral and be seen worldwide. 
Message boards and forums can spread information about how to die by suicide. Unregulated online pharmacies outside of the United States can provide the means.

In recognition of social media's new role, Reidenberg has added a separate website for bloggers, bloggingonsuicide.org, that recommends checking comments regularly, taking action against rude or derogatory comments, avoiding arguments in the comments section and paying attention to suicide threats.

WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA CAN DO TO HELP
For mental health professionals such as Gould, the focus now is as much on sites like Facebook and YouTube.

When a 12-year-old from Georgia livestreamed her suicide on an app called Live.me, it was shared on YouTube and Facebook. YouTube took the video down but it remained on Facebook for nearly two weeks, even after police officials asked it be removed, according to The Washington Post.

Then in January, a 14-year-old South Florida girl in foster care killed herself on Facebook Live. 

In a statement, Facebook, which has more than 1.8 billion users, said that it was saddened by such deaths and that it was working with organizations around the world to provide help for people in distress.

"Our teams work around the clock to review content that is being reported by users and we have systems in place to ensure that time sensitive content is dealt with quickly," it said.

If someone violates its standards, it wants to interrupt streams as quickly as possible and it will notify law enforcement of a threat that requires an emergency response, it said.

Facebook promoted new suicide prevention tools in March, including making it easier to get help during a Facebook Live video and also via Messenger. Anyone who wants will be able to connect on Messenger with such organizations as the Crisis Text Line and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Facebook also plans to use artificial intelligence to identify suicidal posts.

And it announced it would hire 3,000 more people to help police harmful posts, among them livestreamed suicides.

"These reviewers will also help us get better at removing things we don't allow on Facebook like hate speech and child exploitation," Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. 

For all the potential dangers on social media, Reidenberg and others argue its advantages outweigh its risks. Google has changed its algorithm so that the first site brought up by a search for "suicide" is one offering help, he noted. Young people looking for help can find it online — on Facebook and other sites, in chat rooms and on the Crisis Text Line by typing 741741.

Liz Mitchell, a 39-year-old teacher's aide in Illinois, said the Crisis Text Line allowed her to reach out for help without alerting her family, whom she did not confide in. She found the counselors to be open and willing to listen, understanding, she said.

"That was super helpful," said Mitchell, who said she had tried to kill herself five times, the last in 2014.

Her first hospitalization occurred when she was 11. When she was last hospitalized, she started taking antidepressants. Now after years of struggling-she is doing well and has gotten the help she needed, she said.

"That was the turning point," she said.

"Social media is a wonderful thing," Reidenberg said. "The advancements have helped save people's lives. It doesn't mean that it's not without its challenges but it is where people are interacting and it's where they're spending their lives today."

That was true for Ashley Shoemaker, a 29-year-old who works overnight in the freight department of a grocery store in Portland, Oregon.

She said an online friend became worried after she signed off with a sad post one night and persisted until he was able to reach her at 2 a.m.

"He kept me on the phone for eight hours," she said.

Shoemaker had called a suicide hotline once before. But for Shoemaker and her contemporaries, social media has become the place to seek help, where anonymity can better allow them to admit to feeling suicidal.

"When you're that far down, and you feel that hopeless and sad that you want to die, the last you want to do is hurt the people around you," said Shoemaker, who said she has depression. "You already feel like a big enough burden. To have to look a parent in the eye and say 'I want to die,' no good parent is going to react well to that. They're going to freak."

On social media, she said, "You feel safer reaching out."

The family of National Security Agency intelligence contractor Reality Winner, who is accused of leaking a highly classified document about Russian interference in the U.S. election, is speaking out in defense of the 25-year-old, NBC News reported.

"She would not jeopardize anybody's safety. She would not, I can tell you that for certainty," mother Billie Davis-Winner said Tuesday. "She's not a threat to anyone. She's not a violent person."

Winner is charged with providing the document detailing how Russian hackers may have targeted a voter software company and more than 100 local election officials to the online news organization The Intercept.

Winner has admitted to the accusations but has not entered a plea, according to the Department of Justice. But Winner’s attorney, Titus Thomas Nichols, told The Associated Press that "if there is a confession, the government has not shown it to me."

A rescue horse named J-Lo, who got loose when her owners were riding her along Fiesta Island, was coaxed into a trailer after hours of running around the island. 

The owners of the female horse were riding her on the island Tuesday night, near Downtown San Diego, when she first got loose. As they were trying to load her back into the trailer, she got spooked and ran off. 

San Diego Humane Society officials tried to rescue her that evening, but it became too dark, so they returned Wednesday morning. 

The horse has a history of abuse, officials said, and would not let others approach her out of fear. 

Humane Society officials built a large pen around the animal and slowly minimized the space until they coaxed her into the trailer. 

No further information was available. 

An assault rifle was found in a pickup following a back-and-forth pursuit across Los Angeles County that ended Wednesday morning in a medical center parking lot east of downtown LA, police said. 

The pursuit began in South Gate after a traffic stop that was part of an assault with a deady weapon investigation. The truck matched the description of a vehicle sought in the case, but the driver took off when officers tried to stop him, South Gate police said.

The chase continued on the 710 Freeway before the driver turned off at Alondra Boulevard and headed west toward the 405 Freeway. The driver then headed back east, at times on the wrong side of the street.

The pursuit ended when the driver pulled into the parking lot in the Montebello area, east of downtown Los Angeles, and surrendered near a food truck serving customers outside the medical center.

Chula Vista residents have a new place to shop for groceries and other goods: a Walmart Supercenter opens there Wednesday.

The new store, located at 785 E. H St. is part of the Chula Vista Shopping Center and offers fresh groceries and general merchandise – from apparel to electronics, and everything in between. The Supercenter also houses a full-service pharmacy and offers free in-store pickup service of items purchased on Walmart’s website.

The location is open seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to midnight.

According to the chain, the store will create about 300 full-time and part-time jobs in the community.

Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said the new store falls in line with the growth the thriving community is experiencing.

Councilmember John McCann agrees.

"The addition of this Supercenter is much needed to create additional jobs for our community and provide our residents with low-price, basic needs items to support their families and live better," he said in a press release.

Wednesday’s grand opening celebration includes Walmart presenting $10,000 in grants to local community groups, including the Chula Vista Police Foundation and the Chula Vista Harborfest.

The store will host its official “Big Family Welcome” party this weekend – from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. That celebration will include free food samples, giveaways, and family-friendly activities.

While President Donald Trump has said his visit to Saudi Arabia influenced four key Middle Eastern states to sever their diplomatic ties with Qatar, tensions with this tiny nation in the Arab Gulf preceded Trump's trip to the region, NBC News reported.

Officials from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — two of the countries that explled Qatari diplomats — believe that the small monarchy has been providing support to groups that are seen as radicalist or extremist, including Hamas and the Taliban.

That would make the nation's meddling in others' affairs a destabilizing force in the region, and has led to the first siege by Gulf states on their own.

It began when the official Qatari news agency issued a series of controversial statements attributed to the country's ruler in May, which it later claimed came as the result of hacking, that criticized Trump, embraced both Hamas and Israel and praised Iran.

Former FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday released a prepared statement in advance of his Thursday testimony at a congressional hearing.

Comey is set to testify before the Senate Intelligence committee.

Here is the full text of his statement:

Statement for the Record

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

James B. Comey

June 8, 2017

Chairman Burr, Ranking Member Warner, Members of the Committee.

Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. I was asked to testify today to describe for you my interactions with President-Elect and President Trump on subjects that I understand are of interest to you. I have not included every detail from my conversations with the President, but, to the best of my recollection, I have tried to include information that may be relevant to the Committee.

January 6 Briefing

I first met then-President-Elect Trump on Friday, January 6 in a conference room at Trump Tower in New York. I was there with other Intelligence Community (IC) leaders to brief him and his new national security team on the findings of an IC assessment concerning Russian efforts to interfere in the election. At the conclusion of that briefing, I remained alone with the President-Elect to brief him on some personally sensitive aspects of the information assembled during the assessment.

The IC leadership thought it important, for a variety of reasons, to alert the incoming President to the existence of this material, even though it was salacious and unverified. Among those reasons were: (1) we knew the media was about to publicly report the material and we believed the IC should not keep knowledge of the material and its imminent release from the President-Elect; and (2) to the extent there was some effort to compromise an incoming President, we could blunt any such effort with a defensive briefing.

The Director of National Intelligence asked that I personally do this portion of the briefing because I was staying in my position and because the material implicated the FBI’s counter-intelligence responsibilities. We also agreed I would do it alone to minimize potential embarrassment to the President-Elect. Although we agreed it made sense for me to do the briefing, the FBI’s leadership and I were concerned that the briefing might create a situation where a new President came into office uncertain about whether the FBI was conducting a counter-intelligence investigation of his personal conduct.

It is important to understand that FBI counter-intelligence investigations are different than the more-commonly known criminal investigative work. The Bureau’s goal in a counter-intelligence investigation is to understand the technical and human methods that hostile foreign powers are using to influence the United  States or to steal our secrets. The FBI uses that understanding to disrupt those efforts. Sometimes disruption takes the form of alerting a person who is targeted for recruitment or influence by the foreign power. Sometimes it involves hardening a computer system that is being attacked. Sometimes it involves “turning” the recruited person into a double-agent, or publicly calling out the behavior with sanctions or expulsions of embassy-based intelligence officers. On occasion, criminal prosecution is used to disrupt intelligence activities.

Because the nature of the hostile foreign nation is well known, counterintelligence investigations tend to be centered on individuals the FBI suspects to be witting or unwitting agents of that foreign power. When the FBI develops reason to believe an American has been targeted for recruitment by a foreign power or is covertly acting as an agent of the foreign power, the FBI will “open an investigation” on that American and use legal authorities to try to learn more about the nature of any relationship with the foreign power so it can be disrupted.

In that context, prior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI’s leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally. That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him. We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted. During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President-Elect Trump’s reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance.

I felt compelled to document my first conversation with the President-Elect in a memo. To ensure accuracy, I began to type it on a laptop in an FBI vehicle outside Trump Tower the moment I walked out of the meeting. Creating written records immediately after one-on-one conversations with Mr. Trump was my practice from that point forward. This had not been my practice in the past. I spoke alone with President Obama twice in person (and never on the phone) – once in 2015 to discuss law enforcement policy issues and a second time, briefly, for him to say goodbye in late 2016. In neither of those circumstances did I memorialize the discussions. I can recall nine one-on-one conversations with President Trump in four months – three in person and six on the phone.

January 27 Dinner

The President and I had dinner on Friday, January 27 at 6:30 pm in the Green Room at the White House. He had called me at lunchtime that day and invited me to dinner that night, saying he was going to invite my whole family, but decided to have just me this time, with the whole family coming the next time. It was unclear from the conversation who else would be at the dinner, although I assumed there would be others.

It turned out to be just the two of us, seated at a small oval table in the center of the Green Room. Two Navy stewards waited on us, only entering the room to serve food and drinks.

The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to. He said that lots of people wanted my job and, given the abuse I had taken during the previous year, he would understand if I wanted to walk away.

My instincts told me that the one-on-one setting, and the pretense that this was our first discussion about my position, meant the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship. That concerned me greatly, given the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch.

I replied that I loved my work and intended to stay and serve out my ten-year term as Director. And then, because the set-up made me uneasy, I added that I was not “reliable” in the way politicians use that word, but he could always count on me to tell him the truth. I added that I was not on anybody’s side politically and could not be counted on in the traditional political sense, a stance I said was in his best interest as the President.

A few moments later, the President said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence. The conversation then moved on, but he returned to the subject near the end of our dinner.

At one point, I explained why it was so important that the FBI and the Department of Justice be independent of the White House. I said it was a paradox: Throughout history, some Presidents have decided that because “problems” come from Justice, they should try to hold the Department close. But blurring those boundaries ultimately makes the problems worse by undermining public trust in the institutions and their work.

Near the end of our dinner, the President returned to the subject of my job, saying he was very glad I wanted to stay, adding that he had heard great things about me from Jim Mattis, Jeff Sessions, and many others. He then said, “I need  loyalty.” I replied, “You will always get honesty from me.” He paused and then said, “That’s what I want, honest loyalty.” I paused, and then said, “You will get that from me.” As I wrote in the memo I created immediately after the dinner, it is possible we understood the phrase “honest loyalty” differently, but I decided it wouldn’t be productive to push it further. The term – honest loyalty – had helped  end a very awkward conversation and my explanations had made clear what he should expect.

During the dinner, the President returned to the salacious material I had briefed him about on January 6, and, as he had done previously, expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them. He said he was considering ordering me to investigate the alleged incident to prove it didn’t happen. I replied that he should give that careful thought because it might create a narrative that we were investigating him personally, which we weren’t, and because it was very  difficult to prove a negative. He said he would think about it and asked me to think about it.

As was my practice for conversations with President Trump, I wrote a detailed memo about the dinner immediately afterwards and shared it with the senior leadership team of the FBI.

February 14 Oval Office Meeting

On February 14, I went to the Oval Office for a scheduled counterterrorism briefing of the President. He sat behind the desk and a group of us sat in  a semi-circle of about six chairs facing him on the other side of the desk. The Vice President, Deputy Director of the CIA, Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and I were in the semi-circle of chairs. I was directly facing the President, sitting between the Deputy CIA Director and the Director of NCTC. There were quite a few others in the room, sitting behind us on couches and chairs.

The President signaled the end of the briefing by thanking the group and telling them all that he wanted to speak to me alone. I stayed in my chair. As the participants started to leave the Oval Office, the Attorney General lingered by my chair, but the President thanked him and said he wanted to speak only with me. The last person to leave was Jared Kushner, who also stood by my chair and exchanged pleasantries with me. The President then excused him, saying he wanted to speak with me.

When the door by the grandfather clock closed, and we were alone, the President began by saying, “I want to talk about Mike Flynn.” Flynn had resigned the previous day. The President began by saying Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong in speaking with the Russians, but he had to let him go because he had misled the Vice President. He added that he had other concerns about Flynn, which he did not then specify.

The President then made a long series of comments about the problem with leaks of classified information – a concern I shared and still share. After he had spoken for a few minutes about leaks, Reince Priebus leaned in through the door by the grandfather clock and I could see a group of people waiting behind him. The President waved at him to close the door, saying he would be done shortly. The door closed.

The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, “He is a good guy and has been through a lot.” He repeated that Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President. He then said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” I replied only that “he is a good guy.” (In fact, I had a positive experience dealing with Mike Flynn when he was a colleague as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the beginning of my term at FBI.) I did not say I would “let this go.”

The President returned briefly to the problem of leaks. I then got up and left out the door by the grandfather clock, making my way through the large group of people waiting there, including Mr. Priebus and the Vice President.

I immediately prepared an unclassified memo of the conversation about Flynn and discussed the matter with FBI senior leadership. I had understood the President to be requesting that we drop any investigation of Flynn in connection with false statements about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December. I did not understand the President to be talking about the broader investigation into Russia or possible links to his campaign. I could be wrong, but I took him to be focusing on what had just happened with Flynn’s departure and the controversy around his account of his phone calls. Regardless, it was very concerning, given the FBI’s role as an independent investigative agency.

The FBI leadership team agreed with me that it was important not to infect the investigative team with the President’s request, which we did not intend to abide. We also concluded that, given that it was a one-on-one conversation, there was nothing available to corroborate my account. We concluded it made little sense to report it to Attorney General Sessions, who we expected would likely  recuse himself from involvement in Russia-related investigations. (He did so two weeks later.) The Deputy Attorney General’s role was then filled in an acting capacity by a United States Attorney, who would also not be long in the role. After discussing the matter, we decided to keep it very closely held, resolving to figure out what to do with it down the road as our investigation progressed. The investigation moved ahead at full speed, with none of the investigative team members – or the Department of Justice lawyers supporting them – aware of the President’s request.

Shortly afterwards, I spoke with Attorney General Sessions in person to pass along the President’s concerns about leaks. I took the opportunity to implore the Attorney General to prevent any future direct communication between the President and me. I told the AG that what had just happened – him being asked to leave while the FBI Director, who reports to the AG, remained behind – was inappropriate and should never happen. He did not reply. For the reasons discussed above, I did not mention that the President broached the FBI’s potential investigation of General Flynn.

March 30 Phone Call

On the morning of March 30, the President called me at the FBI. He described the Russia investigation as “a cloud” that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country. He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia. He asked what we could do to “lift the cloud.” I responded that we were investigating the matter as quickly as we could, and that there would be  great benefit, if we didn’t find anything, to our having done the work well. He agreed, but then re-emphasized the problems this was causing him.

Then the President asked why there had been a congressional hearing about Russia the previous week – at which I had, as the Department of Justice directed, confirmed the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. I explained the demands from the leadership of both parties in Congress for more information, and that Senator Grassley had even held up the confirmation of the Deputy Attorney General until we briefed him in detail on the  investigation. I explained that we had briefed the leadership of Congress on exactly which individuals we were investigating and that we had told those Congressional leaders that we were not personally investigating President Trump. I reminded him I had previously told him that. He repeatedly told me, “We need to get that fact out.” (I did not tell the President that the FBI and the Department of Justice had been reluctant to make public statements that we did not have an open case on President Trump for a number of reasons, most importantly because it would create a duty to correct, should that change.)

The President went on to say that if there were some “satellite” associates of his who did something wrong, it would be good to find that out, but that he hadn’t done anything wrong and hoped I would find a way to get it out that we weren’t investigating him.

In an abrupt shift, he turned the conversation to FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, saying he hadn’t brought up “the McCabe thing” because I had said McCabe was honorable, although McAuliffe was close to the Clintons and had given him (I think he meant Deputy Director McCabe’s wife) campaign money. Although I didn’t understand why the President was bringing this up, I repeated that Mr. McCabe was an honorable person.

He finished by stressing “the cloud” that was interfering with his ability to make deals for the country and said he hoped I could find a way to get out that he wasn’t being investigated. I told him I would see what we could do, and that we would do our investigative work well and as quickly as we could.

Immediately after that conversation, I called Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente (AG Sessions had by then recused himself on all Russia-related matters), to report the substance of the call from the President, and said I would await his guidance. I did not hear back from him before the President called me again two weeks later.

April 11 Phone Call

On the morning of April 11, the President called me and asked what I had done about his request that I “get out” that he is not personally under investigation. I replied that I had passed his request to the Acting Deputy Attorney General, but I had not heard back. He replied that “the cloud” was getting in the way of his ability to do his job. He said that perhaps he would have his people reach out to the Acting Deputy Attorney General. I said that was the way his request should be handled. I said the White House Counsel should contact the leadership of DOJ to make the request, which was the traditional channel.

He said he would do that and added, “Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know.” I did not reply or ask him what he meant by “that thing.” I said only that the way to handle it was to have the White House Counsel call the Acting Deputy Attorney General. He said that was what he would do and the call ended.

That was the last time I spoke with President Trump.

One person has been arrested following a stabbing on Chula Vista's Main Street, Chula Vista Police said. 

The stabbing happened Wednesday on the 3000 block of Main Street in Chula Vista, police said. The location is just north of the Otay Valley Regional Park and east of Interstate 5 and Broadway. 

One male was transported to the hospital with a stab wound to the neck. 

A woman was arrested. 

No suspects are outstanding. 

Chula Vista police's Crimes of Violence Unit unit is investigating.

The San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park will ring in the anniversary of Apollo 16 Wednesday with special guests: NASA legends who paved the way for space exploration.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of what’s considered by experts to be one of the most ambitious scientific space expeditions. The museum will host an evening reception and dinner to celebrate the milestone where attendees can meet Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot Charlie Duke -- the 10th man ever to walk on the moon.

Also in attendance: Apollo 15’s Al Worden; Apollo 13 and Space Shuttle Enterprise’s Fred Haise; Apollo 7’s Walt Cunningham.

The museum says the event highlights the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs and the so-called “Space Cowboys” at its core. The trailblazers will share their stories and visions for the future of the exploration of the Final Frontier. The reception starts at 5:30 p.m.

From 1968 to 1972, a total of 24 Americans journeyed to the moon. The Air & Space Museum says lunar exploration hit new heights in those last two years “with extended stays on the moon, ambitious exploration on the surface and from orbit, and long journeys in electric powered rovers.”

According to NASA, Apollo 16 had three primary goals. One was to inspect and sample materials at the landing site in the Descartes region of the moon – a highlands area in the moon’s southeast quadrant known for its hilly, grooved, furrowed terrain.

The other objectives of the space mission were to emplace and activate surface experiments and to conduct in-flight experiments and photographic tasks from lunar orbit.

A San Diego boy born without arms does not let his disability hold him back. 

James Jordan, voted school board president at Los Pensquitos Elementary School, led the pledge of allegiance for his class as they graduated fifth grade.

However, unlike his other classmates, James was born without full arms and legs. 

The things he is most looking forward to accomplishing in sixth grade is making new friends at his new school. 

The young boy offered some advice to other kids looking to follow their dreams.

"Just try your best. Just try your best and work hard to achieve what you want to do," he told NBC 7. 

But it's not his disability that makes him so unique, but what he does despite it, his family says. 

"He's no different than anybody else. He may have a physical disability but he's still super smart super driven and he's the one that wanted to be the president and he fought for it and he won," said Amber Pena, James's mom.

California lawmakers are taking another look at whether Daylight Saving Time should become a thing of the past.

Assembly Bill 807 received its first Senate reading Monday after last week's approval by the State Assembly. It's the second time in the last two years that state lawmakers have brought up a bill that could -- if it clears several hurdles -- do away with the need for Californians to set their clocks forward or back by an hour twice each year.

A similar version failed last year in the state Senate.

The practice of Daylight Saving Time, used as an energy saving measure, was approved by California voters with the passage of a 1949 ballot measure -- Proposition 12. Initially, Daylight Saving Time was from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in September in California. DST now lasts from mid-March to November after it was re-worked by Congress.

A proposed change would need to go before voters and clear Congress, which passed a law in 1966 that required states to either adopt DST or stick with standard time year-round. Hawaii and Arizona have exempted themselves from the law.

The bill in the California Senate asks voters to transfer a final decision to the state Legislature. The California Constitution allows the Legislature to amend or repeal an initiative statute by another statute that becomes effective when approved by voters, who would consider the issue in the next statewide election.

The Legislatures's options would include staying on standard time year-round, tinkering with time change dates, or applying DST year-round if authorized by federal law.

Opponents said the change would leave California out of sync with business in the rest of the country and leave farmers without as many hours of sunlight during fall harvests. Supporters have said the practice is no longer need as a fuel savings measure and can affect people's health.

School officials in San Diego’s North County warned parents Wednesday of the possible attempted kidnapping of a student approached by a woman who told the child she had been sent to the school by the child’s mother.

The Solana Beach School District sent a memo to parents saying the Encinitas School District had notified them of a possible abduction attempt at Park Dale Lane Elementary School in Encinitas.

Per the district, an unknown woman approached a student after school on Tuesday and allegedly told the student: “Your mom told me to pick you up.”

The student didn’t know the stranger and ran away from her, the memo said.

For now, the school district said the woman is described as 5-foot-7 with straight brown hair and pale skin. She wore a dress during the encounter with the child.

The memo said the child’s family reported the incident to local law enforcement; the Encinitas Union School District is now working with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to track down leads on this case.

The Solana Beach School District suggested parents use this case as an opportunity to remind children about “stranger danger” and the importance of reporting incidents like these to their parents and teachers.

Park Dale Lane Elementary School is located at 2050 Parkdale Ln. and serves students in kindergarten through 6th grade. It's part of the Encinitas Union Elementary School District.

No other information was available.

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

Last week had National Doughnut Day. Global Running Day is here Wednesday, giving you a good excuse to work off those treats. 

Here are six reasons why you should join participants from 185 countries around the world and get moving for the second annual Global Running Day:

Physical and mental health benefits: Physical exercise has long been known to improve health, and running provides an easy way to get active. Studies suggest that running can reduce the risk of heart problems and cancers as well as strengthen bones and joints. A study in PLOS Medicine showed that people who began exercising lived longer. Beyond physical health, running has the power to provide mental health benefits. The “feel-good” hormones associated with physical activity can alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression, according to a study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Individual, but universal: Running is often solitary—treadmills are not built for two. But the individual nature of the activity does not stop runners from coming together with others who enjoy the sport either to discuss technique or participate in group runs. A runner’s personal goals can be shared and allow for connections with other runners.

Raise money for a good cause: Fundraising when participating in races or signing up for specific charities’ sponsored races has become the new norm among runners and non-runners alike. Online fundraising platforms let runners reach a wide audience when looking to raise money for a cause. The app Charity Miles, a Global Running Day sponsor, connects individuals and corporations with one of their 37 charity partners and allows users to track their distance and earn money for the charity.

You don’t need to be an athlete: Runners come in all shapes, sizes, and fitness levels. Even people who steered clear of P.E. class in elementary school learn to run, even if they just begin by walking. People run at all different speeds and distances, and runners of any skill level can reap the physical and mental benefits that come with the sport.

Room for improvement: As with any activity, there are always ways to improve as a runner.

Apps such as Runkeeper or Nike+ Run Club allow runners track their progress on their smartphones, so goals to increase distance or decrease times have become easier than ever to achieve. Signing up for runs in your area can serve as motivation to boost running ability.

All you need to start is a pair of sneakers: Unlike activities that require equipment or a specific venue, running can be done anytime, anywhere. Routes for outdoor runs can easily be accessed online and treadmills are lined up in any local gym. Runners can choose the best time for their exercise in their schedule.

Global Running Day celebrates longtime runners and encourages those who have never run before to start. Take a pledge to run today on the Global Running Day website.

A 20-year-old driver admitted to detectives that she struck a teenager and then drove to her boyfriend's house "covered in glass," from the crash, according to a newly released search warrant. 

San Diego resident Jessica Medsker appeared in court for her sentencing on Tuesday and listened to emotional victim impact statements from family members of Alex Funk, the 16-year-old she hit and killed. 

Her defense attorney, Marcus DeBose, asked for a delayed sentencing. When reached by phone, DeBose told NBC 7 he could not comment on why the case was postponed.

According to prosecutors, Medsker struck Funk as he walked with a friend along Santo Road near Antigua Boulevard around midnight in March. The impact killed Funk, a high school sophomore. Medsker fled the scene.

In the search warrant obtained by NBC 7 on Wednesday, detectives said an acquaintance of Medsker's came forward to authorities on March 14. The woman told detectives that her acquaintance, "Jessica," was the driver involved in the fatal hit-and-run and Jessica's boyfriend, Lewis Cornwell, was the passenger in the car at the time of the crash.

NBC 7 has chosen not to identify the acquaintance for her safety. 

Through a computer search, detectives identified Cornwell's girlfriend as Jessica Medsker. 

On March 15, detectives drove to Cornwell's home. Detectives said his home was located near the site of the deadly hit-and-run.

They found Medsker and Cornwell there and asked Medsker to show them her car. She told them she "wanted a lawyer." 

Cornwell then admitted to detectives he was the passenger in the fatal hit-and-run crash and Medsker had been driving. Medsker was placed under arrest.

Once at the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Traffic Division Unit, Medsker confessed to being the driver involved in the crash, according to the search warrant. She told detectives she drove to her boyfriend's house and stayed the night. The following morning, she took the car to a garage at an apartment complex in Normal Heights because a friend of her father's lived there. 

Medsker also admitted to investigators she had some of her boyfriend's alcoholic drink the night of the crash. However, she was not charged with driving under the influence. 

Prosecutors said Medsker had been driving 60 mph in a 45 mph zone.

At the young woman's arraignment in late March, prosecutors revealed a shocking detail: Medsker's sister is currently also in custody in Riverside, California, charged with the same type of crime.

Medsker had no prior criminal record.

She could face up to four years in custody at her sentencing.

A 51-year-old man was found dead inside a home in Vista Wednesday morning, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO) confirmed.

Just before 11 a.m., deputies from the Vista Sheriff's station received a report of an unresponsive man with trauma to his upper body inside a home on the 2200 block of San Clemente Avenue.

Deputies arrived at the scene and found the man dead inside.

Sheriff's Homicide Detail was called to the scene and a homicide investigation is underway.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Officer will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

No other information was available.

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

“They need to do something,” said paramedic Rebekah Edwards. “I mean just the fact more of us are getting hurt, more of us are being assaulted.”

In 2015, Edwards says she was assaulted while riding in the back of an ambulance. She broke her hand while escaping from her attacker. She says she has had two surgeries and she still does not have full use of her hand.

In the most recent survey from the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, more than one in two EMT and paramedic respondents reported they have been assaulted by a patient.

California Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez (D-Pomona) said he understands. As a paramedic for 30 years, he is sponsoring legislation, Assembly Bill 263, that would require private ambulance providers to track physical attacks against their crews and send that data to the state. The information would then be posted online.

“We can look back at the end of the year to see what type of incidents are occurring where our first responders are being injured, and how to better address that through training, education or safety gear,” said Rodriguez.

The private provider for the city of San Diego, Rural Metro, now AMR, says it does support the reporting requirements in the bill. The California Ambulance Association, which represents private providers, says any effort to improve safety is welcome.

Neither though supports the bill in its entirety.

They are against the bill, saying its main goal is not to address violence in the workplace.

After an election campaign that diverted from speeches to two deadly terror attacks, Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigned Wedneday to share with voters their plans for Brexit a and combating a terrorism but the referendum has remained a central issue in this election, NBC News reported. 

The principles of the 28-member European Union guarantees free movement of labor and access to a vast single market.

For pro-Brexit voters, those same principles have led to uncontrolled immigration and diminished sovereignty. Those who voted to stay -- say it has increased prosperity and diversity.

Several local schools will be a little cooler during some of the hottest months this summer.

Sweetwater Union High School District kicked off a project Wednesday to install air-conditioning in all classrooms and work spaces at schools.

The district says currently, 80 to 85 percent of schools in the district already have air conditioning. Those that are no equipped are older schools located on the west side of the district.

Their goal is to reach 100 percent coverage by the end of a two-week break in September.

The district says priority will be given to schools that have no air conditioning at all.

Over the summer and fall, 180 units will be installed at schools.

A local Anti-Trump organization plans to gather Thursday to watch the broadcast of fired FBI Director James Comey testifying before the Senate committee.

Members of Indivisible San Diego will get together for a viewing of the hearing in which Comey will testify that President Donald Trump sought his “loyalty” and urged him to stop investigating Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

The statement Comey submitted to the Senate intelligence committee detailing his one-on-one interactions with Trump was released Wednesday.

Kara Rogers, of Indivisible San Diego, said watching the hearing as it unfolds is critical.

“On a scale of one to 10, [it’s] probably a 10,” she told NBC 7. “It’s fundamental to understanding what’s going to happen to our country.”

Rogers said she has altered her schedule Thursday just to watch the hearing. She’s working at 4 a.m. and plans to take time off during the middle of the day to watch Comey’s testimony.

“I’m not expecting a full smoking gun, but I think he will lead to – this will lead us to – be able to potentially question whether he tried to impede the investigations,” she said. “About how many times he asked for loyalty.”

Kathy Stadler, also of Indivisible San Diego, will be watching the hearing too. She’s bracing herself for a lengthy viewing session – and that’s okay.

“This is one of the critical moments in our country’s history where we are about to get to the bottom of something we’ve all suspected has been there for quite some time,” Stadler told NBC 7. “I think any president can be expected to know when he asks the Director of the FBI to back off on an investigation of possible treason, that that’s obstruction of justice.”

Across the nation, all eyes will be on Comey. According to “Business Insider,” some bars in Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Houston plan to open for business early Thursday to screen Comey’s testimony, which is set to begin at 7 a.m. PT.

On Trump’s end, his outside counsel released this statement Wednesday: “The President is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the President was not under investigation in any Russian probe. The President feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda."

The value of the Qualcomm Stadium site has just risen to a level much higher than was previously anticipated.

Independent real estate appraisers have come up with a figure of $110 million for the stadium site, plus what's been the Chargers' headquarters complex in Murphy Canyon.

But the future of the property and other land nearby is still under a cloud of politics at City Hall. While the current scheme focused on the Mission Valley site is “SoccerCity,” that billion-dollar vision could wind up giving way to other developers' dreams.

Either way, San Diego taxpayers will be in line for a more substantial payoff than had generally been expected.

SoccerCity's investors have been estimating all that land as worth no more than $50 million. They recently told Mayor Faulconer they'd pay the city a tenth of the fair-market value per year to lease it. Now they’re re-evaluating.

On paper, the bigger number benefits Faulconer in promoting the SoccerCity plan -- which he's endorsed -- as more reason to hold a November special election on it, or risk losing a Major League Soccer franchise.

But the City Council's five Democrats, the majority on the Council, are opposed.

Building trades unions have lobbied them in that direction. Political observers doubt the high land appraisal will sway a Democrat to cross over and vote for a special election.

"Maybe this is the thing that helps -- or maybe this is 'a' thing that helps,” says Andrew Keatts, who’s extensively covered stadium issues for NBC 7’s media partner Voice of San Diego.

“But at least so far, the things that have been keeping them from getting to 'Yes' are not changed,” Keatts explained in an interview Wednesday. “Those are the situation we know that exists -- which is that labor's not happy."

In the meantime, there's still the formality of the mayor vetoing the Council's cancellation of money for a special election that will cost $5 million.

The Democrats will need a Republican's vote to override the veto and restore the funding.