Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is offering players a sizeable chunk of change: $300 million.

Lottery officials say the estimated cash option for the winner of the drawing is a cool $172.7 million. The store that sells the winning ticket also stands to walk away with a bonus of $1 million, which is the largest bonus a retailer can receive.

In San Diego, locals were buying their last-minute Powerball tickets all day, hoping to somehow pick the lucky number combination that would lead to the coveted $300 million prize.

“We’ve got the winning ticket, right here,” said one man buying a Powerball ticket at a local store. “It’s going to help a lot of people.”

Lotto officials say the largest Lottery jackpot ever won was the $656 million Mega Millions prize won on March, 30, 2012. The cash option on that jackpot was $474 million.

In terms of the Powerball jackpot, a ticket worth $590.5 million was recently sold in Florida, the state with the most Powerball winners to date.

Powerball is played in 42 states – including California – plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Saturday’s drawing begins at exactly 7:59 p.m. For more information about Powerball, click here.

A passenger was killed in a suspected DUI crash on State Route 94 Friday night, California Highway Patrol officials confirmed.

CHP officials say the fatal collision, which involved a single vehicle, happened around 10:45 p.m. at westbound SR-94 and 28th Street.

A sports sedan occupied by a suspected DUI driver and a passenger was traveling at an unsafe rate of speed when officials say the driver struck a curbside, followed by two trees on the right shoulder of road.

The vehicle then came to rest on the freeway.

CHP officials say the passenger suffered fatal injuries from the crash.

The driver was arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter. The driver’s name has not yet been released.

Portions on westbound SR-94 were shut down around 11:25 p.m. so officers could collect evidence and investigate the crash. By 3 a.m., the roads had re-opened.
 

A total of 9 suspected arson fires sparked in grass and brush near homes in Oceanside Friday night, fire officials confirmed.

According to the Oceanside Fire Department, the first blaze in the series was reported around 11:35 p.m. near Mesa Drive and Foussat Road. It scorched about one acre and burned within 200 feet of several homes, fire officials said.

As firefighters finished mopping up hot spots, a second fire was reported about two miles away, near Redwood Street and Cypress Street.

When crews arrived at the scene, they discovered six separate fires burning in a field behind some homes and near the San Luis Rey River bed.

While firefighters battled these fires, two more fires were reported again near the first scene, at the intersection of Mesa Drive and Foussat Road.

Crews arrived on scene quickly and spotted a male suspect leaving the area on a bicycle. A description of the man was broadcast over the radio, and a short time later, an Engine Company spotted the suspect.

Officials say the man was riding his bike and wearing a backpack that contained a gas can and a lighter. He was turned over to police for further questioning.

Altogether, officials say nine suspected arson fires in Oceanside burned three to four acres. No structures were damaged, and no one was injured.

The series of fires remains under investigation.
 

Large crowds are expected in downtown San Diego this weekend as the New York Yankees take on the Padres in a three-game series at Petco Park.

Heavy traffic is expected downtown for all three games. Fans are strongly encouraged to arrive early to Petco Park and use public transportation to get to and from the stadium.

Fans can also park along Harbor Drive in the Convention Center garages and utilize the pedestrian bridge to get to Petco Park. Routes and maps to the stadium are available here.

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System will offer additional “Special Event” trolley service to downtown’s ballpark area from Qualcomm Stadium and Mission Valley stations.

The ballpark gates open 30 minutes early for all three games this weekend, two hours before first pitch. For game times, click here.

Ballpark officials expect crowds of 25,000 or more throughout the weekend.

The Yankees in San Diego is a rare occurrence.

They’ve only visited twice. Once was in 1998 for the World Series, where the Yankees swept the series in four games. The second time was for a series in 2002 at Qualcomm Stadium.

The team met a third time in 2008 for a series at Yankee Stadium.

NBC 7’s Derek Togerson says that out of 10 total games played between the teams over the years, the Padres have won one game.
 

A San Diego police officer explained Friday in court why she ignored an order, and put her life at risk, to try and save a fellow officer.

Marisela Cooper recalled the fatal shooting of Officer Christopher Wilson, which happened in the Bay Terraces neighborhood in October 2010.

"I really didn't want to look at what it was. I kept staring straight ahead into the wall. I eventually turned, and I saw it was Officer Wilson on the ground,” Cooper testified.

San Diego Police were called to an apartment, to help with a probation sweep when two suspects unleashed a barrage of gunfire, from a bedroom. A bullet hit Wilson, who fell to the floor.

A Sergeant ordered the other officers to leave the scene, and called for SWAT backup, but Officer Cooper went back inside, to rescue her colleague.

Cooper, standing at 5 feet tall and weighing 120 pounds, tried to rescue Wilson but lost her grip on the 6-foot tall, 200-pound officer.

“And Sgt. Mitchell came in next to me and told me to take his (Wilson’s) hand. I took his right hand and Sgt. Mitchell took his left hand and we pulled him out of the apartment,” she said.

The view from the police helicopter, ABLE, was shown in court, shedding light on a chaotic scene below that night.

The two suspects who killed Wilson then killed themselves. The third suspect, Alex Charfauros, is now charged with murder.

Charfaurous did not fire a shot that night, and had left the apartment before the shoot-out. But prosecutors say he's responsible for Wilson's death, because he lied to police about the danger inside.

His lawyer denies those allegations, and says law enforcement mishandled the situation.

Organizers of a campaign to recall Mayor Bob Filner appealed Friday for money and volunteers to get the issue on the ballot.

To qualify that yes-or-no question and a slate of potential successors for a special election, it'll take petition signatures from nearly 102,000 registered city voters in a 39-day time frame, barring a possible 30-day extension.

Organizers are asking businesses, organizations and elected officials who want Filner ousted to raise an army of volunteers.

"What I ask them to do, in an appropriate legal manner,” says LGBT Weekly publisher Stampp Corbin, one of three principals heading the campaign, “is have the people and corporations that are involved within gather signatures, okay? That doesn't cost anything. What that says is, they're going to gather signatures for free."

Besides the sexual harassment scandal surrounding the mayor, the recall organizers cite a laundry list of causes related to his management of city government and activities over eight months in office.

They say they won't be surprised if legal challenges and issues are filed on his behalf.

Filner Scandal: The Key Players

In an interview recorded Friday for Sunday’s edition of NBC 7’s “Politically Speaking”, Corbin called out the City Council – seven of whose nine members have directly called for Filner’s resignation.

“Each one of them has an organization that helped them get elected,” he said. “So I would hope they would engage their organizations to collect signatures."

Later, Corbin and his recall campaign co-chairs told reporters during a news conference on Civic Center Plaza that they're also soliciting donations from Filner critics, to hire paid signature gatherers -- who have to be registered city voters themselves.

Timeline: Mayor Under Fire

There's already an ad on Craigslist offering jobs at $15 to $20 an hour.

The campaign's Facebook page has nearly 9-thousand "likes" and 6-thousand comments posted.

But August vacations and September back-to-school days may be a sketchy time frame to hit the streets with petitions.

"Even if they mobilize, even if everybody gets all enthused or whatever, there's a big difference between this and a normal initiative type,” political consultant John Dadian – who has no connection to the recall – told NBC 7.

“That is, the short time period, and the big mountain of signatures. I don't see any way that it will successfully get on the ballot without paid signature gatherers."

And veteran civic observers say there are mixed motives among the city’s disaffected constituents that may have to be reconciled.

Says Carl Luna, political science professor at San Diego Mesa College: "The current issues with the mayor are making for some strange bedfellows between Republicans who want him gone, or Democrats who just want to get rid of him so they don't have to deal with the fallout. How they can work together on a recall effort is problematic."

It's not atypical for citywide initiative campaigns to run up a million dollars in petition costs.

Citywide special elections can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If this campaign makes the ballot but fails to remove Filner, no other bid can be filed for six months.

August 18th is the recall campaign's target date to roll out recall petitions, once Filner files a response to their notice of recall and they publish it -- or, if he fails to respond in a timely fashion.

Neither the mayor nor his aides have responded to repeated requests for comment over the past three weeks, including Friday.

On Monday, Filner starts two weeks of behavior modification therapy.

A hit-and-run driver plowed into a crowd of pedestrians near the Venice Boardwalk on Saturday afternoon, killing one person and injuring 11 others, authorities said.

Police have detained a possible suspect and a vehicle of interest, Lt. Andrew Neiman of the Los Angeles Police Department told NBC4. Officials later reported that a man in his 20s turned himself in to police in the neighboring city of Santa Monica.

The crash occurred about 6 p.m. near the end of Dudley Avenue (map), officials said.

Of the injured, 10 required hospitalization. One person remained in critical condition late Saturday and two others received minor injuries and declined hospitalization, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

The driver fled the scene after the crash, said Officer Jorge Torres of the Los Angeles Police Department. Torres described the suspect's vehicle as a dark-colored sedan.

A man who identified himself as "Paolo" and who works at a nearby cafe told NBC4 that he heard what sounded like a car speeding down a narrow alleyway, then screams.

He and others at the restaurant said they caught a glimpse of a dark-colored sedan.

The Venice Boardwalk is known for its street performers and eclectic shops and restaurants, and is considered a major Southern California tourist attraction.

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It’s a scenario that anyone who rides a subway is familiar with. A man or woman enters the subway car with a cup in their hand and proceeds to tell all the passengers their life story in order to get some change.

But as seen in the CollegeHumor video embedded below, one such panhandler had a very different message as well as a different kind of request when he spoke to SEPTA passengers a few days ago. Here’s a hint. He’s a bit more “fortunate” than the average panhandler…
 

Credit: CollegeHumor

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The Bristol, Conn., man who died in a moped crash just after 1 a.m. Saturday is the uncle of former Patriots player and murder suspect Aaron Hernandez, according to a law enforcement source.

Robert J. Valentine, 49, of Stafford Avenue, died after crashing his moped on Central Street in Bristol. Valentine is the brother of Terri Hernandez, Aaron's mother, authorities said.

According to police, Valentine, 49 was heading north on Central Street near Church Avenue when he hit a curb on the right-hand side. Valentine lost control and was thrown from the moped onto a private driveway.

Police said Valentine was not wearing a helmet.

Hernandez has been charged in the Boston murder of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. Lloyd's body was found on June 17 in an industrial park a mile away from Hernandez's home in North Attleboro, Mass.

Authorities have also searched a home at 114 Lake Street in Bristol and have been conducting an ongoing dive search in Bristol's Pine Lake, where they believe the murder weapon may have been tossed.

This is the second death of a Hernandez family member since the former Patriot was thrust into the public eye. On June 3, Hernandez's cousin by marriage, Thaddeus L. Singleton III, died after driving his car into the Farmington Country Club building.

Authorities are still investigating the crash that killed Robert Valentine.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Bristol Police Department Traffic Division at 860-584-3030.

Charges were filed Sunday after a man was killed when a gunman opened fire at him in a packed restaurant in Joliet, Ill., officials said.

Gerardo Franchini was reportedly dining at Louis’ Family Restaurant, 1001 W. Jefferson St. in the Jefferson Plaza, with his wife and two young daughters Saturday morning when he got into an argument with another man in the restaurant, owner of the restaurant Louis Polimenakos told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The man arguing with Franchini then left the restaurant but returned 10 to 15 minutes later, walk into the back of the restaurant and fired six or seven shots, the Sun-Times reported.

Franchini, 29, of Joliet, was taken to Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 12:13 p.m.Saturday.

No one else was injured in the shooting.

Christopher Thompson, 31, was charged with murder and two felony counts of use of a firearm by a felon and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, according to the Will County Sheriff's office.

Franchini was also previously arrested and charged with felony manufacturing and delivering heroin in April of 2012 and was released one month later, the sheriff's office said.

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A Tavernier, Fla., man was arrested Saturday after falsely reporting his girlfriend had been kidnapped, officials said.

Matthew Corp, 35, called 911 and told dispatchers his wife had been kidnapped by two men driving a U-Haul truck and heading north from the 92 mile marker, according to a Monroe County Sheriff's Office press release.

Florida Man Convicted of Murder After Showing Body to Friends

Officials sent out a notice to be on the lookout for the truck and deputies were sent to Corp's address.

When they got there, deputies said they found two women coming out of his apartment. One said she was Corp's "now ex-girlfriend" and that she was moving out, the release said.

Bishop Exchanged Community Service for Hugs: Cops

Corp, who was intoxicated, then came out of the apartment and began to yell at deputies, saying he called in the false kidnapping to keep his girlfriend from leaving the apartment, the release said.

Corp was arrested and charged with misuse of 911 and resisting arrest. Jail records show he is being held at the Monroe County Jail without bond.

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Lamar County Sheriff Danny Rigel says a skydiving instructor from Pensacola, Fla., died in a tandem jump that hospitalized the student.

He says 56-year-old James Horak Jr. died Saturday in a remote, swampy area about a mile from the airport in Lumberton, Miss.

Rigel says he cannot identify the student but believes he was from outside Mississippi.

Bouncer in Viral Dirty Blondes Bar Brawl Arrested

He says skydivers who jumped with them told investigators that equipment appeared to malfunction.

Rigel says the sheriff's office was called about three hours after the jump Saturday morning. Rigel says he doesn't know the reason for the delay.

The sheriff says the owner of a hunting lease for the area found the men.

Horak was an instructor for the Emerald Coast Skydiving Center in Elberta, Ala.

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Police arrested a driver in connection with a deadly crash at the Venice boardwalk, police said Sunday.

Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail on a murder charge after turning himself in to authorities about an hour after the crash, police said.

Detectives believe the suspect intentionally hit pedestrians, said LAPD Lt. Steve Lurie.

Alice Gruppioni, 32, of Italy, died about an hour after the 6 p.m. Saturday crash in the 100 block of Dudley Avenue, Los Angeles County Coroner’s officials said. The crash also injured 11 others, including one critically. Gruppioni was on her honeymoon. Her husband was injured.

Security video shows the suspect parking his black car alongside the seaside boardwalk as the sun sank, surveying the scene for several minutes before getting back into the car and speeding into the crowd, sending people scrambling.

According to witness accounts and surveillance video, the man swerved around yellow poles meant to prevent cars from getting into the pedestrian-only area and onto the boardwalk.

The car raced off with people screaming and cursing as it sped away.

The suspect allegedly abandoned the car at Ocean Park Boulevard and Beverly Avenue before running, police said.

Police found the car and called in the bomb squad to check it for explosives as a precaution.

The suspect turned himself in at the Santa Monica police station, police said.

A search of his name with the same date of birth in Los Angeles Superior Court records online showed convictions in 2002 for resisting arrest and being drunk in public. Police did not confirm the information on Sunday.

A police source said Campbell is known to law enforecment in Southern California.

Witnesses said the crash appeared intentional as a black or blue Dodge Avenger swerved on and off the curb as it careened at a crowd of pedestrians at the popular tourist destination.

"I seen a girl ... she was latched onto the hood ...  she got shook off," said Neqo Habibi. "He swerved two times and she rolled off and was heading straight for us.

"It looked like he had no other care in the world."

People reacted on Twitter.

"Still feeling pretty rattled after jumping out of the way of a lunatic driver on Venice yesterday,” wrote Twitter user @Roxanne_Roll. “Cup of tea and marmite toast is helping."

The site isn't far from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market where a 2003 crash left 10 dead and 63 hurt, after an 87-year-old man's car accidentally roared through the market.

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San Diego police are investigating two robberies that occurred within an hour early Sunday.

Two men entered El Cotixan on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard through the back door around 1:35 a.m.

The suspects used guns to rob the restaurant and then ran out the back door police said.
The men were wearing black shirts, black pants and wore masks officials said.

Then about an hour later, two men walked into the Rigoberto’s Taco Shop on La Jolla Boulevard and robbed the restaurant.

They were described as wearing the same clothes and carrying handguns.

San Diego police would not discuss if the robberies were related but would only say the department’s robbery unit would be available to answer questions Monday.
 

Jewish war veterans, Navy nurses, Army special forces and the Marine Corps Chosen Few dedicated monuments at Miramar National Cemetery Saturday.

The ceremony took place in the cemetery's Memorial Walk area.

The guest speaker was retired Army Colonel Roger Donlon, the first U.S. soldier to receive the Medal of Honor during Vietnam.

He came with one mission.

"To pass on to the next generation the sense of service and commitment to service to protect our way of life as generations before us have done,” Donlon said. “Now it's our turn to pass the baton to the next generation."

Donlon was presented the Medal of Honor from President Lyndon Johnson for his leadership during an attack at his outpost in Vietnam in 1964.

The cemetery opened two years ago.

The woman killed in Saturday's crash on the Venice boardwalk was on a honeymoon with her husband after getting married two weeks ago in Italy, Italian newspapers reported on Sunday.

Alice Gruppioni, 32, was the newlywed daughter of an Italian businessman from Bologna, Italy. She died with her injured husband at her side at a Los Angeles hospital, the newspaper La Republicca reported.

The groom, Christian Casadei, suffered minor injuries in the 6 p.m. Saturday crash.

Gruppioni reportedly ran a family business in her hometown, Rastignano, a village just south of Bologna.

La Republicca reported that she and her husband were building a house there.

Gruppioni was the daughter of Valerio Gruppioni, a businessman and former president of the Bologna soccer team.

Family members were rushing from Italy to Los Angeles, the newspaper reported, and an official from the Italian consulate office in L.A. was at the hospital as well.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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The man facing criminal charges in a crash that killed a teen model admits he used methamphetamine the day of the incident but thought he was sober enough to get behind the wheel.

In a jailhouse interview with NBC 7, Robbie Gillespie offers up new details about a crash that took the life of Poway teenager Evelyn Courtney.

The 45-year-old faces charges of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter after a fire truck hit his car, killing Courtney.

Gillespie says he wishes he was the one that died that night so that his friend could live on.

Gillespie claims he had the green light when he crossed the intersection at Midland and Poway Road. He said he didn't know the fire engine was coming with no sirens.

“Next thing you know I'm spinning around and slamming into a light pole,” he said.

Two days before the collision he had bailed out of jail and couldn't go home.

“My wife said she'd call the police and I didn't want that to happen. I didn't want that to be around my wife and my kids,” he explained.

He said he and Courtney had built a platonic relationship in the weeks before the crash, sharing each other's problems.

He said the 19-year-old aspiring model would often be drinking when they had their talks. Officials say her blood alcohol level was 3 times the legal limit at the time of the crash.

According to Gillespie she was preventing him from doing more methamphetamine.
She had encouraged him to stop doing meth, and he says the night before the crash it was her that kept him from doing more drugs.

“I knew that if I was with her, I wouldn't use,” he said. “And I didn't.

Gillespie says if he could trade places with the teenager, he would.

Now he's seeking the help of a pastor, trying to figure out why his life was spared and how he can make amends.

“He said ‘You know there's a reason why you lived and she didn't,’” Gillespie said. “He said ‘Your will on this earth is not done yet.’”

Gillespie is scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon.
 

A San Diego woman claims embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner wouldn’t leave her alone at a charity function in La Jolla two months ago.

Special Section: Mayor Under Fire

Rene Esteill-Sombright said she is not joining the other women in saying she was harassed by the mayor but rather has come forward to tell her story of behavior she says was inappropriate.

Esteill-Sombright met the mayor June 20 at La Jolla Presbyterian Church for a charity that benefitted one of her clients

"He grabbed both of my hands and he just looked at me and he said 'Oh you are just so beautiful. I cannot take my eyes off you,'” said Esteill-Sombright.

She said it happened so fast she was stunned.

“You're like 'Is this really happening?',” she explaind.

Esteill-Sombright had met Filner once before at her own church, and approached him to say hello but she says that led to a relentless pursuit.

According to Esteill-Sombright, Filner spoke in a low voice, like a whisper, and asked for a private meeting.

"He sat down right next to me and he was just like 'Mmm'. He just wouldn't let up with all the compliments, and 'I'm going to call you,'” she said.

Esteill-Sombright was wearing her wedding ring and even told the mayor she was married but according to her that didn’t stop his advances.

Because of the number of people around them including her boss and her clients, Esteill-Sombright said she didn’t tell the mayor to stop.

While it was very uncomfortable, she says she tried to just brush him off rather than make a scene.
Was it harassment? No she said.

“He did not touch me other than hold my hands, and asking me if I was married, and this is a private invite," Esteill-Sombright said.

She said it sounded similar to the pattern of behavior alleged by nine other women including, among others, a retired Navy admiral, a school psychologist and the mayor’s own former communications director.

Mayor Under Fire: Key Players

She felt it was inappropriate enough that people should know about it.

"I'm married, you're engaged that should have been the end of it - that should have been the end of it," Esteill-Sombright said.

Mayor Filner has not addressed this specific allegation but has apologized for disrespecting and even intimidating women in the past.

On July 26, he announced he would enter a two-week clinic in order to work on the inappropriate behavior.

He's expected to enter into treatment Monday.

Numerous public officials - including city councilmembers, Democratic Party leaders, state legislators and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer - have called on Filner to resign.
 

A pregnant woman sitting on a New York City park bench was struck and killed by a falling tree Sunday evening, and another woman hit by the tree was seriously injured, according to authorities.

Yingyi Li-Dikov, 30, was six months pregnant, relatives said. The Parks Department said she was struck by the 50-foot-tall tree in Kissena Park in Queens when it snapped about 8 feet from the ground.

She and her husband, Aleksander Dikov, had planned to name their baby Christine, and her Chinese name would have meant "moonlight," according to the woman's mother-in-law.

Dikov, a combat medic in the National Guard, said Monday that he was devastated. He and his wife had just gone shopping for the baby girl, who was due Nov. 10.

"I can't believe this is still happening," he said, inconsolable at the site of his wife's death, dressed in his soldier's uniform. "I can't believe it." 

"I don't know what to do. I feel like I hit a stop and I just hope I recover from this because so far I'm not good taking it good."

"I wish I went with her," he said. "I don't know if I could have prevented something. Now I think back to everything I did. Maybe I could have texted her and said, 'Come back, go somewhere else.' Something could have changed." 

Witnesses said the tree came crashing down. Paramedics tried to resuscitate Li-Dikov for several minutes, according to witnesses.

The other woman injured by the tree is in serious condition.

Li was raised in China, and Dikov grew up in Bulgaria. His parents were initially skeptical of their son's girlfriend, who was 26 when he met her at age 16, but grew to love her and welcomed her into their family. 

Janet Dikov, Li's mother-in-law, shared an ultrasound image of her granddaughter. 

"When they said it would be a girl, I was so excited," she said.

Some residents said they hoped the tragedy would push the city to spend more money on park maintenance.

"The park is old, the trees are old," said Salvatore Delligatti. "A lot of trees have been coming down in the past few years with the storms we've been having."

State senator Tony Avella, who is running for Queens borough president, and other community activists called on the city to stop planting new trees and instead inspect existing ones. 

"We shouldn't plant new trees until we can guarantee the existing trees are safe," he said. 

Alex Segura, owner of the tree removal company All Above Tree Experts in Queens, looked at some of the trees in Kissena Park with NBC 4 New York Monday. He noted several hollowing tree trunks, a sign the tree is at risk of collapsing. 

Examining the rotted stump of the tree that killed Li, Segura said he was surprised the fatal fall didn't happen sooner. 

Twelve people have been killed or injured by trees in New York City over the last eight weeks, according to parks advocate Geoffrey Croft. 

The Parks Department said the 70-year-old tree was in a section of the park that had last been inspected on June 20. The tree was being examined "to determine more about its condition."

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