Plano, Tex., police are investigating the death of one of the most memorable figures in pro wrestling history.

Officers said 55-year-old Matt Osborne died at a local hospital on Friday. He was transported there after his girlfriend found him unresponsive inside their Plano, apartment.

Investigators said his death appears to be accidental.

Osborne was better known as "Doink The Clown."

He wrestled for the WCW, WWF and several other organizations. Several people posted condolences on the Matt Borne (Doink The Clown) Facebook Fan Page.

On it's website, the WWE posted the following statement:

WWE is saddened by the news that Matt Osborne, aka the original Doink the Clown, has passed away. A rugged brawler in promotions like Mid-South Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling, Osborne made a major impact in WWE under the greasepaint of a prankster named Doink — one of the most enduring personas of the early ’90s.

Our deepest condolences go out to Osborne’s family, friends and fans.

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr said new estimates for the Gay Pride Parade on Sunday have 1.5 million people making their way to Market Street.

He said it will rival and possibly top the San Francisco Giants World Series parade.

"Even though the World Series was huge, this could quite possibly be larger in light of the decision that just came down from the Supreme Court - but it will be just as happy as the World Series," Suhr said.

He said his officers will be out in force, just in case to ensure a peaceful event. 

The increased crowd follows this week's historic court decision to strike down Prop 8. The normal estimate for the parade is a million people.

Police said safety at the event will be a top priority.

Police said they are urging Pride participants to be cautious with strangers and to report suspicious situations.

Pride celebrations got an early start with Wednesday's Castro District rally that drew thousands of people to Castro Street.

Many San Francisco hotels are sold out for the weekend. 

The Pride Festival happens on Saturday and Sunday and includes more than 20 stages throughout the Mid-Market area with musical acts, performances and countless dancing opportunities.

The 18th display of the Pink Triangle will go up on Twin Peaks on 7 a.m. Saturday morning before a 10:30 a.m. ceremony with city and Pride officials. 

Saturday night the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will host an alcohol free party in the Castro.

Sunday's parade is the main event and starts at 10:30 a.m. and winds down Market Street ending at the Civic Center.

Merchants have been given a "heads up," Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District executive director Andrea Aiello said, and extra staff has been called in. Aiello said she expects crowds to "stream into the Castro after the parade" but the effect of the Supreme Court rulings will be felt throughout. "All of San Francisco is buzzing," she said.

Motorists are advised to expect delays and crowded streets along Market Street, downtown and Civic Center areas and the Castro District.

Details about service changes and other transit plans are available at www.sfmta.com/calendar/san-francisco-pride. More information about Pride events is available at www.sfpride.org.

The San Diego Police Department and the San Diego County Probation Department conducted two DUI checkpoints Saturday night that ended in 34 arrests.

One of the checkpoints was in the 1400 block of G Street in downtown San Diego and another in the 2400 block of Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach.

Both began operating around 11 p.m. Saturday and continued through 3 a.m. Sunday morning.

Police said 1,984 vehicles passed through the checkpoint in East Village. From there, 559 motorists were screened and 32 drivers were detained for further sobriety evaluations.

A total of 19 DUI arrests were made in or near the downtown checkpoint, according to police.

Meanwhile, at the checkpoint in PB, police said about 1,123 vehicles passed through, of which 643 were screened.

Of those, 32 cars were detained for sobriety tests and a total of 15 people were arrested for suspicion driving under the influence.

Altogether, a total of 34 drivers were arrested across the two checkpoints.

Both checkpoints were made possible by a California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) "DUI Mini Grant.”

Last month, two DUI checkpoints in downtown's East Village area and Imperial Beach netted 12 arrests.

A group gathered outside the Hall of Justice in downtown San Diego Saturday for a protest that involved a whole lot of chalk.

The “Chalk-U-Py” demonstration began around 3 p.m. and involved organizers, artists, families and civil rights activists protesting the prosecution of a man named Jeff Olson (pictured below), who also attended the event.

Olson was recently prosecuted by the City Attorney’s office for vandalism after writing anti-Wall Street protest messages in chalk on public sidewalks and streets in front of a bank. His case has been dubbed “ChalkGate” by some media outlets.

During a trial, a judge ruled that Olson could not use the First Amendment or Freedom of Speech in his defense.

Olson is currently facing a sentence of 13 years in prison and $13,000 in fines for the chalk offense.

On Saturday, protesters drew colorful messages in chalk along the sidewalk, including the phrases "This is NOT vandalism" and "Freedom of Speech." Demonstrators also created a chalk mural of the Constitution.

Participant Stephanie Jennings told NBC 7 she, like many others, was there to raise awareness on the importance of free speech and freedom of expression.

“This is a group of people who came to protest because we’re appalled by the City’s decision to charge Jeff Olson, and also [by] the status of our free speech rights in America today,” said Jennings.

Olson -- wearing a piece of duct tape across his mouth with the words “GAG ORDER” written on it -- had little to say at the demonstration, due to court-issued orders.

“My attorney has instructed me as follows: Judge Shore has issued a gag order prohibiting all parties and council from commenting or expressing opinions on this case under penalty of criminal contempt. All am I allowed to say is that I disagree,” Olson said.

With a quick shrug, he put the piece of tape back on his mouth and continued watching as protesters chalked up the sidewalks.

Officers from the San Diego Police Department supervised the gathering. SDPD Capt. Mark Jones said participants were cooperative and the protest was peaceful, with no arrests made.

As for Olson, a jury is now deliberating his fate. Closing arguments were made on Friday.

A 23-year-old woman’s death, initially deemed suspicious, has been ruled a suicide by the county medical examiner’s office.

According to a report released by the ME on Sunday, San Diego resident Grace Ann Hall – who was found dead in the trunk of her car on Apr. 18 – died as a result of acute ethylene glycol poisoning. Her manner of death has been ruled a suicide.

Detectives found Hall’s body inside her Toyota Camry on Apr. 18. The car was parked in the 7700 block of Convoy Court in Kearny Mesa.

Hall had been reported missing just one day earlier in a bulletin issued by the San Diego Police Department. The bulletin said she was last seen on Mar. 20 driving a Camry in Serra Mesa.

The bulletin said Hall was supposed to travel to the Los Angeles area for a job interview, but never arrived as planned.

When police first discovered Hall’s vehicle and body, homicide detectives took the lead on the investigation and deemed her death suspicious.

An initial autopsy performed days later came back inconclusive. At that time, Lt. Jorge Duran said detectives were awaiting results of toxicology reports, and were not searching for suspects.

Since that time, no further information had been released on the case – until now, more than two months after Hall’s death.
 

Police in Ocean City Maryland say a small plane has crashed into the ocean in the resort town, and the pilot is presumed to be dead.

Mayor Rick Meehan told The Associated Press that the plane went down around 4 p.m., about 500 yards offshore at 130th Street, which is about a mile from the Delaware state line.

He said witnesses told police that the aircraft began spinning out of control and crashed into the ocean. He says the plane became submerged, and there is no remaining debris.

Meehan says it's believed that only the pilot was on board and that there are no survivors.

Initial reports identified the type of plane, but the FAA said those reports are not yet confirmed.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland state police are responding, including dive teams and state police helicopter searchers.

The brother and sister of a man killed in a glider crash in Jacumba spoke first with NBC 7 Sunday about their beloved sibling, who will be very much missed.

On Saturday, Richard “Rick” Noble, 63, went out to San Diego’s Jacumba area for his first-ever glider plane lesson with an instructor.

At around 12:30 p.m., the whole day changed.

That’s when Noble, along with Martin “Marty” Rothwell, 54, were involved in a fatal glider plane crash near the Jacumba Airport. Both men, who were riding together inside an Allstar PZL glider were killed, the FAA and law enforcement confirmed.

On Sunday, NBC 7 spoke with Noble’s sister, Kathleen Carroll, and brother, Robert Noble.

The siblings fondly remembered Noble as a devoted brother, father, friend and decorated Naval officer who died flying – something he very much loved.

“My brother was a passionate pilot. My brother, and father and I actually all flew all the way across the country when he and I were 12 years old, so we’ve all had a passion for flying. Rick wanted to fly gliders now,” recalled Robert.

“He was a character; a wild teenager who grew up to become a Navy pilot and officer,” Carroll told NBC 7. “[He was] a wonderful listener, and that’s what will be so missed by all of his friends and family. He was a very loyal friend. “

“I take some comfort in knowing he was happy doing this [flying],” she added.

The siblings said Noble was an adventurous spirit, which led him to become a Navy pilot bomber who flew A-6s. He grew up alongside his siblings and their parents in Rancho Santa Fe.

These days, Noble lived part-time in Florida and spent the rest of his time in San Diego, helping to care for their elderly mother.

Carroll said Noble was also an avid race-walker, walking every morning around La Jolla Cove or Torrey Pines. He enjoyed body-surfing as well.

On Sunday, Noble had planned to ride Segways around San Diego with Robert.

Instead, the family is now trying to heal by remembering the great life Noble lived.

Meanwhile, NBC 7 has learned that the glider plane that crashed in Jacumba is called a “Perkoz,” and is registered to the Associated Glider Clubs of Southern California (AGCSC).

The deadly crash is still being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

According to reports released by the county medical examiner’s office on Sunday, the glider plane was being towed and the towline was released at about 100 feet. For unknown reasons, the glider lost control, rapidly decelerated and fatally struck the ground.

On Sunday, NBC 7 spoke with Rolf Schulze, former president of the AGCSC, about the deaths of Noble and Rothwell.

“Richard Noble was a visitor [flying with the AGCSC] group. He just went for a ride that day. It’s very tragic what happened,” said Schulze.

“Marty was the President of the Club. He has a family. I don’t know the family well, but I know he leaves behind a family. This is sad,” Schulze added.

NBC 7 also spoke off-camera with Rothwell’s family, who was understandably distraught over his death.

His wife said Rothwell was a wonderful, loving person.
 

A man was killled after crashing his car into a center median on State Route 52 early Sunday morning, officials said.

The medical examiner said Sergio Joseph Dyda, 28, died due to obvious fatal trauma.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Dyda was speeding while heading West on SR-52 near Santo Road just after 4:30 a.m., when he lost control of his car.

Witnesses said the Subaru Outback slid into other lanes, crashed into the center divider and veered over the side of the freeway ejecting the driver.

Officials believe the vehicle continued moving for about a mile after that.

Dyda lived with his mother and siblings in Santee, according to the medical examiner.

No other vehicles were involved in the fatal accident.

The CHP is now investigating further. Check back for updates.
 

One person sustained minor injuries in a crash involving a small aircraft at the Fallbrook Airpark Sunday, officials said.

According to officials from the North County Fire Protection District, the crash happened just before 2 p.m. as an aircraft was taking off.

A Cessna 170 plane crashed during its departure, and one person aboard the plane suffered a minor, unspeficied injury.

The airplane sustained minor damages, officials said.

This is second small plane crash in San Diego County in as many days. On Saturday, a glider plane fatally crashed in Jacumba, killing two men.

The Supreme Court has ruled. The Defense of Marriage Act as it stood is no longer. So what’s next for LGBT rights?

The Supreme Court’s twin rulings last week on gay marriage capped a high-profile, high-stakes struggle for marriage rights at the federal level. Those somewhat narrow rulings didn’t end the struggle, certainly, and in their wake, individual fights over gay marriage will continue in the states.

So too will other fights — fights that those over marriage rights, waged at the polls and in the courts, have until now eclipsed. Here are three of the top LGBT rights issues facing advocates — beyond just marriage.

Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Pop quiz: Is it legal to fire somebody for being gay? In many states, the answer is yes — despite what many Americans assume, according to one study. Twenty-one states plus Washington, D.C., already bar employers from firing workers simply for being gay, while 16 of those, plus Washington, bar them from firing workers for being transgender — but there is currently no federal law prohibiting such discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

For LGBT rights activists, such a law would be a no-brainer — and would let many Americans live freely at work without fear of reprisal for their orientation. ENDA doesn’t have the galvanizing romantic appeal of the narrative surrounding gay marriage — but if passed by Congress, it could have a much more immediate practical effect on the lives and livelihoods of millions of gay and trans Americans.

The bill has been slowly gaining co-sponsors in the Senate largely thanks to the efforts the chamber’s lone openly gay member, Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Last month, it picked up its 52nd co-sponsor — giving it arguably more co-sponsors than any other LGBT rights bill has ever received, according to The Washington Blade. President Barack Obama has voiced his support repeatedly, too, most recently in comments at a Pride Month event at the White House last month.

Expanding non-discrimination and hate crimes laws.

In 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law an expansion of a four-decades-old federal hate crimes law to include crimes based on victims’ gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The expanded legislation — named for hate crime victim Matthew Shepard — marked, among other things, the first federal law to expand legal protection to trans people.

In addition to that landmark federal law, all but five states have laws on the books addressing hate crimes rooted in racial or religious animus — but only 31 of those, plus Washington, D.C., include in those laws crimes based on victims’ sexual orientation, and only 13, plus D.C., include crimes based on gender identity as well.

Efforts are still underway in the states to expand those protections. In Delaware, Gov. Jack Markell just signed into law a bill that would add gender identity not only to its existing hate crimes law but also to its existing non-discrimination laws — meaning that discriminating against trans people will be no more legal in the First State than discriminating against black people, gay people or other protected classes. Advocates in New York are working to pass a similar bill of their own, known as the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or GENDA. It has repeatedly passed the state Assembly and has the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Conversion therapy bans.

The controversial aim of conversion, or reparative, therapy is to change patients’ sexual orientations — or, as many LGBT rights activists have derisively described it, to “pray away the gay.” The American Psychiatric Association and gay rights advocates have condemned such therapy as dangerous, saying the practice — which often targets children and teens and is often religiously aligned —can saddle kids with guilt and self-hatred over feelings they can’t change.

Legislative efforts are underway in individual states to ban conversion therapy. New Jersey’s legislature sent a ban to the desk of Gov. Chris Christie just last week, and a similar bill has been introduced in Massachusetts. In California, meanwhile, an existing ban on conversion therapy for minors is now before a federal appeals court, where challengers say the law infringes First Amendment rights.

But the conversion therapy movement was dealt perhaps its biggest blow when Exodus International, one of the most prominent ex-gay ministries espousing the therapy, folded last month. Exodus’ founder Alan Chambers issued a public apology repudiating his former group’s aims, apologizing for the damage its work had wrought and admitting that he was and probably always would be gay.

--

Those are hardly the biggest issues that gay, lesbian and transgender advocates are confronting, though. They’re just some of the ones being most publicly litigated in court, before state legislatures and at the ballot box.

Just as gay couples aim for marriage rights, they are also seeking adoption rights. Just as advocates for gay youth seek bans on conversion therapy, they're also seeking to beef up existing anti-bullying laws, particularly following the tragic suicide of gay teen Tyler Clementi in 2010.

Gay, transgender and gender non-conforming Americans are working toward immigration reform and prison policy that better protects them. Trans advocates are also working on shaping healthcare and insurance policy that covers trans people’s medical needs, like hormone treatments. (In several states, regulators have barred insurers from excluding trans-specific treatment from coverage.)

Efforts toward greater LGBT rights in the U.S. were never as monolithic as the high-profile marriage battle made them seem — just as the public face of LGBT Americans in the U.S. was never as monolithic as the five faces of Edie Windsor and the young couples Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, plus Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo.

The demise of DOMA's ban on federal recognition of their marriages — both couples wed Friday in California, just after a federal court cleared the way, with Proposition 8 in the rearview — ensured that no end was in sight for LGBT rights efforts in the states, for marriage and beyond it.

A hot air balloon landed off-course Saturday evening near a freeway median in Carmel Valley.

For unknown reasons, just after 8 p.m., the balloon wound up near the median of the eastbound lanes of State Route 56.

Witness Miles Arnold was driving by when the incident happened, and captured the image above on his cell phone.

Once the hot air balloon landed, it completely deflated.

California Highway Patrol officials were en route to the scene to help the occupant(s) of the balloon, but by the time officials arrived, the balloon was gone. No injuries were reported.

Officials believe a car was following the hot air balloon along the freeway, and was able to collect the deflated balloon and take it away from the freeway before authorities could arrive.

NBC 7 reached out to the CHP Sunday for further details. Officials said they weren't sure what caused the balloon to deflate, and had no additional information.
 

A man was arrested in Vista Saturday after he allegedly tried to kidnap a child.

According to officials, suspect Javier Martinez Mendez, 48, tried to kidnap the child in the 1500 block of West Vista Way around 6:30 p.m. The child was walking home alone from a small market in the area at the time of the incident.

Somehow, the child was able to escape.

Once the child’s parents found out about the attempted kidnapping, officials say the parents tracked down the suspect – who was still circling the area -- and followed Mendez until deputies arrived.

Mendez was arrested and booked into the Vista Detention Facility.

He’s currently being held on a $100,000 bail on charges of kidnapping and annoying a child. He’s scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

Officials have not released any more details, and the incident is under investigation. Check back for updates on this developing story.
 

Can a city be both friendly and snobby? It can if it’s San Francisco, apparently.

The City by the Bay made its way to the top of Travel + Leisure’s list of America’s snobbiest cities, despite also being the most gay-friendly city.

In their annual survey of America’s favorite cities, Travel + Leisure asked their readers to rank 35 major cities by features like the attractiveness of its residents and the quality of its microbrew beer, but added some twists to determine a city’s level of snobbery.

“To determine which city has the biggest nose in the air, we factored in some traditional staples of snobbery: a reputation for aloof and smarty-pants residents, along with high-end shopping and highbrow cultural offerings like classical music and theater,” wrote Katrina Brown Hunt in blog post.

Rounding out the top five cites: New York City, Boston, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Santa Fe, N.M. 

Click here to see the full list of America's snobbiest cities.

California’s law that prohibits the sale, possession, trade, or distribution of shark fins goes into full effect Monday, effectively ending the longtime Chinese custom of serving shark fin soup.

Signed into law in October 2011 by Gov. Jerry Brown, the controversial legislation featured a compromise allowing storeowners and restaurateurs to continue selling their existing supply of shark fins until July 1.

Beginning Monday, anyone caught violating the law could face a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

When it was proposed, the law sparked a fierce debate between environmentalists, who cite saving the ecosystem and the dwindling shark population as reasons for the ban, and some Chinese-Americans, who want to continue to honor the Chinese tradition of serving shark fin soup.

The gelatinous, yellow soup is an expensive delicacy, served during weddings, banquets and other ceremonies. For many, its cultural roots go deep.

When the ban was up for a vote in the California Legislature in 2011, some restaurant owners expressed dismay. But others said demand for shark fin soup has decreased.

“The ban hasn’t affected my customer base,” said Harry Kwok, manager of Hop Li Seafood Restaurant in Los Angeles, a day before the ban does into effect. “Most of my customers are American so there isn’t a demand for shark fin soup."

Meanwhile, several members of Congress are expressing concern over a proposed federal regulation which may preempt the California's shark-fin ban -- as well as similar laws in other states.

The rule -- proposed by by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries management division, the National Marine Fisheries Services --  says state and territory shark fin laws are pre-empted if they are found to be inconsistent with federal fishery management plans or regulations.

Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California and representatives from New York, Florida and Guam are seeking to change the proposed regulation, which would allow fishermen to possess shark fins as long as they are "naturally attached to the corresponding carcass."

California's law, nonetheless, will go forward on Monday. It comes after an unsuccessful 2012 court challenge that claimed the law discriminates against Asian-Americans.

"California's shark fin ban does nothing to what it claims," said Taylor Chow, a member of Asian Americans for Political Advancement, one of the organizations that challenged the ban in court. "It only uses people's good hearts to penalize the Chinese from utilizing fins of legal harvest sharks."

California joins Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Maryland and Delaware as states that have passed bills banning the sale of shark fins.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Embedded photo credit:  AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File

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Commuters on Monday waded through traffic snarls, hopped on buses or ferries, or opted simply to stay home as two of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit's largest unions went on strike, halting train service for the first time in 16 years.

No BART trains ran on Monday, and the walkout derailed the more than 400,000 riders who use the nation's fifth-largest rail system and affected every mode of transportation, though the congestion, most agree, could have been worse.

Transportation officials said another 60,000 vehicles likely headed out on the road, clogging highways and bridges throughout the Bay Area. Early Monday, that was true in parts of the Bay Area, especially Insterstate Highway 580 westbound. BART stations effectively looked like ghost towns by the middle of the morning.

Before the sun came up, though, there was plenty of activity. Union members marched around the BART station near Oakland's Lake Merritt, and one picketer, Ron Smith, called the unusual strike very "unsettling."

The news could have been worse, though, AC Transit workers, who also planned to possibly strike on Monday, did not. Lines snaked around corners at 20th and Broadway in Oakland about 8 a.m. as commuters were trying to board AC Transit buses to get to work.

On the first day of the strike, at least one commuter appeared to be nonplussed about his longer travel time.

"You just have to go with the flow," said Oakland commuter Matthew Robinson, who was at least 30 minutes late for work when he spoke with NBC Bay Area.

IMAGES: BART Workers Picket, Commuters Find Alternate Routes

Commuters in Fremont hopped on charter buses that came to the BART station in that city, about 10 miles north of San Jose. The buses took riders to Oakland, where passengers had to board yet another bus if they wanted to get to any other destination. One woman fell as she was trying to get on a bus.

During the evening commute, freeways, buses and ferries were overloaded throughout the region.

However, an NBC Bay Area live cam found traffic to run smooth once commuters crossed the Bay Bridge from San Francisco toward Walnut Creek.

One commuter, Prachi Bora, said she didn't mind that BART workers were striking for better pay; she only wished she knew about the transportation stoppage earlier.

BART spokesman Jim Allison told NBC Bay Area that BART was operating at "1 percent capacity," and he vowed that management and the union would go back to try to "work things out." At the end of the morning commute, BART spokesman Rick Rice apologized, but blamed the union for the problems.

"We are sorry peoples' lives have been disrupted by the union strike," he said in a statement. "The strike is not necessary."

The strike was called Sunday after an 11th-hour effort to resume negotiation failed to produce a new contract by the deadline of midnight. Both the unions and management said they were far apart on key sticking points including salary, pensions, health care and safety. In the Monday BART statement, Rice said that management is "prepared to negotiate the significantly improved proposal we delivered on Sunday."

"A strike is always the last resort and we have done everything in our power to avoid it," said Josie Mooney, a negotiator for Service Employees International Union Local 1021.

"I'm deeply disappointed it has come to this," said Antonette Bryant, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, at a midnight news conference.

Bryant said the union's members "aren't interested in disrupting the Bay Area, but management has put us in a position where we have no choice."

These competing sides came to a head Sunday night with BART accusing negotiators of walking away from the bargaining table, while the SEIU countered in a statement that management "threw in the towel."

MORE: Reaction of #BARTStrike on Social Media

Bay Area residents fell on both sides of the coin regarding the strike. Michael Giannini posted on NBC Bay Area's Facebook page that he hoped "they bust this strike. I'm all for livabile wages but these people deserve no sympathy."

Conversely, Linda Pallotta posted that she thought BART workers definitely deserve to earn more money. The average salaray for a train operator is about $60,000.

PLAN YOUR COMMUTE: BART Strike Resources

The unions, which represent nearly 2,400 train operators, station agents, mechanics, maintenance workers and professional staff, were asking for a 5 percent raise each year over the next three years. BART said that train operators and station agents in the unions average about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime annually. The workers also pay a flat $92 monthly fee for health insurance.

Rice said the agency had up its original offer of a 4 percent pay rise over the next four years to 8 percent. The proposed salary increase is on top of a 1 percent raise employees were scheduled to receive Monday, Rice added.

The transit agency also said it offered to reduce the contribution employees would have to make to their pensions, and lower the costs of health care premiums they would have to pay.

Bryant said Sunday that BART's latest proposal is not an actual pay increase, calling it "surface bargaining."

BART's last strike lasted six days in 1997. The transit agency handles more than 40 percent of commuters coming from the East Bay to San Francisco with the Bay Bridge handling another 50 percent said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

NBC Bay Area's Damian Trujillo, Mike Inouye and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

A fatal accident in Chula Vista Monday morning has impacted traffic near Interstate 805.

The incident happened around 8:40 a.m. near Main Street and Auto Park Avenue when a 22-year-old driver hit a tree.

Click here for live traffic updates

The man was transported to Scripps Mercy Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Officers investigating the scene have closed eastbound Main Street east of I-805 for several hours. Visitors to SeaWorld's Aquatica are being asked to take an alternate route, using I-805 south to 905 East to Heritage Road.

Check back for updates on this story.

The driver involved in a pursuit with California Highway Patrol officers was on the loose Monday.

CHP officers say the car was traveling at a high-rate of speed when it passed another car along westbound State Route 94 just after 2 a.m.

When the driver didn’t stop for the CHP officer, a pursuit began officials said.

The car crashed on an embankment near College Grove Way and College Grove Drive and the driver fled on foot officers said.

Check back for updates on this developing story.
 

A tiny dog nearly caused a massive crash at the Tour de France this weekend, but it wasn't the first time an animal threatened to wreak havoc on a sports spectacle.

A few miles from the finish line of the bicycle race's second stage Sunday in Corsica, a little dog can be seen in video dashing away from its owner and onto the pavement.

The owner sprinted onto the course to grab his pet, but the startled animal ran back into the path as the chasing pack of cyclists fast approaching.

Luckily, the little dog ran back to the other side of the street — and narrowly escaped being run over by a cluster of cyclists.

Watch how the dog made its last-second escape:

Such high-profile near-misses with animal at sports events aren't unusual, even at the Tour de France. Birds have been known to take a fancy to baseball games, while dogs have also shown their moves on the soccer pitch. Take a look at other past animal interruptions that have upstaged the main event.

Dog causes bicycle crash: A dog showed up on the course of the 2007 Tour de France out of nowhere and caused two cyclists to crash on the course.

Cows at Tour de France: A herd of cows trotted onto the road where the cyclists were riding during a warm-up leg of the 2011 Tour.

Dog interrupts soccer game: A dog invaded a soccer field in Turkey, and the attempts to take it off the field turned into a belly massage session.

Cat runs onto soccer field: A cat sprinted onto a soccer field during a soccer match in the Netherlands in April and was even eventually tracked down and taken away before half-time.

Pine marten invades football game: A Swiss soccer match was thrown into chaos when the pitch was invaded by a small, feisty pine marten — similar to a weasel — that charged onto the field and bit one of the players.

Bird hit by baseball: Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson threw a fastball that struck and killed a flying dove during a spring training game against the San Francisco Giants in 2001.

Baseball fells stray seagull: Another infamous bird-killing incident: Dave Winfeld, then a New York Yankee, accidentally killed a seagull by throwing a ball while warming up in Toronto in 1983.

Squirrel takes over baseball game: A squirrel interrupted a college baseball game and had a lot of fun playing hide-and-seek with the players before it was taken off the field.