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Hooters Won't Serve San Diego Mayor Bob Filner

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San Diego Hooters have placed signs in their restaurants saying Mayor Bob Filner will not be served in their establishment.

“It’s localized to our four San Diego locations,” said Melissa Fry, director of marketing for Hootwinc LLC.

The signs appear in Rancho Bernardo, Oceanside, Gaslamp and Mission Valley restaurants.

Hooters tweeted, "Our Hooters Girls in San Diego have spoken. Not a corporate gig, but we support our girls. #StepIntoAwesome"

Various tweets posted by San Diegans showed signs inside Hooters that said:

“This establishment recognizes that we all have political differences and we serve people all walks of life. We also believe it is imperative for people to have standards. The Mayor of San Diego will not be served in this establishment. We believe women should be treated with respect.”

The sign first appeared on the Twitter feed of Francis Barraza, executive director of the Republican Party of San Diego.

“My local @hooters won't serve Bob #Filner. #stepintoawesome #respect #lunch,” Barraza tweeted.

Stephen Puetz, chief of staff for City Councilmember Kevin Faulconer, replied with a picture of Hooters waitresses (below) saying, “apparently #hooters didn’t think your picture was good enough.”

The sign was created by Glenn Beck and was mentioned on his talk show Monday night. Beck has encouraged people to post it every business throughout San Diego.

Filner has been accused of sexually harassing multiple women, and many people have called for him to resign.


Photo by @StephenPuetz



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Man Who Wanted Family Killed Had "Last Stand Room"

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A South Florida business owner accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill family members including his wife and young child, stockpiling guns and bomb-making materials and threatening the life of President Barack Obama was ordered held on $5 million bond Tuesday.

Jason D. Simione, 39, was arrested Monday and is charged with three counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder, one count of threatening to throw, place or discharge a destructive device and one count of child abuse, authorities said.

Missing Florida Swimmer Was Busy Burglarizing Cars: Authorities

Authorities believe that Simione “inquired to have a person come up from El Salvador, specifically a MS-13 gang member, and offered to pay up to $150,000 to dispose of his wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law, and child, if he did not receive custody of the child," Broward Sheriff's Office Det. Ricky Libman said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

He described Simione – who lives in Dania Beach and is the owner of Bulldog Tactical Equipment in Fort Lauderdale – as a survivalist who stores food in case there's a natural disaster or the U.S. government collapses.

“He’s made statements to me and his employees about how unhappy he is with government policy, specifically the president," said Libman, of BSO's Violent Crimes Unit.

Workers fortified Simione's home "in lieu of a SWAT or a law enforcement assault," Libman said. He described one room as "a last stand room."

“The back of the door was a silhouette of an average-sized person that would be on the outside of the door with X’s marked where to shoot at to make sure to hit a vital organ. He basically set up kill zones in his house for an assault," Libman said. "The walls were refortified, the windows were barred. It would be a nightmarish tactical situation if anybody had to actually go in there."

Simione made his first appearance before Broward Judge John Hurley Tuesday morning, where his bond was set.

"The court's very concerned on a number of levels," Hurley said. "Number one is, the court is concerned with his alleged willingness to hire a hitman to kill everyone in his family including his own child."

According to the arrest affidavit read by Hurley, Simione's wife went to the Broward Sheriff's Office on Friday to report alleged child abuse by Simione against the couple's 9-month-old child.

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The wife told detectives Simione had displayed paranoid behavior recently, including violent outbursts and delusions, and had been abusing illegal steroids, Hurley said. In one of the outbursts, Simione threw their child onto a table, causing a laceration, the wife said, according to Hurley.

She also said she had seen bomb-making materials at Simione's homes in Dania and Stuart, Hurley said.

When detectives interview some of Simione's employees, they said he had become increasingly hostile and paranoid, had been regularly making threats toward his wife in front of the employees and had "expressed distaste for the U.S. government policies," Hurley said.

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"The employees said you repeatedly have threatened the President of the United States, saying that he should be murdered," Hurley said.

Employees said Simione had been stockpiling firearms, ammunition and bomb-making materials and had threatened to kill anyone who attempted to arrest him or take his child, Hurley said.

Simione's employees said they had witnessed him taking steroids and had helped him reinforce his home in Dania to prevent breaches by law enforcement and had made "kill zones" if police made entry into the home, Hurley said.

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One employee said he had been approached by Simione who asked whether he could help him find someone to kill his wife, their child and his wife's mother and brother, Hurley said.

Simione offered $150,000 for their deaths and "tagged each person with code names," Hurley said.

Employees said they saw a large amount of guns, ammunition and bomb-making materials in Simione's house, including threaded galvanized metal pipes, threaded pipe caps, nails, gun powder, propane cylinders, wire and batteries, Hurley said.

Simione had .50-caliber sniper rifles, automatic rifles and illegal ammunition including armor-piercing rounds, Hurley said.

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According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, 68 rifles, shotguns and handguns were found in Simione's house, along with between 60,000-70,000 rounds of ammunition.

All of the guns are legally owned but were taken for safekeeping because of a protection order recently obtained by Simione's wife, the BSO said.

During Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors said Simione's net worth was between $2 to $9 million. They said he has no prior arrests.

Simione's attorney, David Bogenschutz, had argued for a lesser bond of $25,000 on each count. He said Simione has been a South Florida resident a long time and is going through a nasty divorce.

"He's in the middle of a divorce and it's a pretty contentious divorce," Bogenschutz said.

If Simione posts bond, he will have to wear a GPS monitor and must stay away from his wife and her family and their child, Hurley said.

More Florida Stories:



Photo Credit: Steve Litz/NBC 6 South Florida

Trail of Blood Leads Police to Major Ecstasy Drug Bust

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A trail of blood led San Francisco police detectives to make one of the biggest drug busts in the department's history, seizing more than $1.5 million worth of MDMA powder and pills.

MDMA is the active ingredient in ecstasy.

The discovery, which came by pure luck, was found the same weekend as the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park, prompting investigators to wonder whether the drugs were meant to supply concertgoers.

"We're happy if it is just a coincidence," Police Chief Greg Suhr said at a Tuesday news conference. "If it's not, we're very happy that none of this found its way out to the Polo Fields."

Benjamin Hagerl, 36, and Steven Terrell, 31, both of San Francisco, were arrested at about 9:15 a.m. on Sunday in the 3300 block of Mission Street, near 29th Street in the Bernal Heights neighborhood.

MORE: Feds Intercept 60 Pounds of MDMA en Route to SF

Their arrests were made shortly after police responded to a report of possible vandalism and burglary at a building there and found a first-floor window that was broken and stained with blood. The downstairs neighbor had called for help – he told police that a man had broken a window on the first floor when the neighbor wouldn't let him inside the building.

The blood trail led into the building, and police followed it to an apartment inside. That apartment was empty, but the blood trail snaked to another apartment on the second floor.

Officers knocked on the door of the second apartment and police said a man with blood on his hands and pants opened the door, according to police. It turned out to be Hagerl.

Police checked the apartment and found a second man inside, later identified at Terrell, as well as duffel bags containing suspected narcotics.

Investigators eventually determined that there were more than 23 kilograms of MDMA powder and more than 30,000 pills of the drug. Suhr said officers also seized nearly $30,000 in cash and computer equipment.

Hagerl and Terrell were taken into custody on suspicion of possession of controlled substances for sale, maintaining a place for selling or using controlled substances and conspiracy to commit a crime, according to police.

Suhr said Terrell also has a separate drug trafficking case pending in Illinois that involves the sale of marijuana in that state.

In January, federal agents seized 60 pounds of MDMA while the drugs were on their way to San Francisco.

NBC Bay Area's Joe Rosato Jr. and Bay City News contributed to this report.
 

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Photo Credit: San Francisco police

Neighbors Help Sandy Victim Living in Backyard

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Less than 24 hours after NBC 4 New York's report of a Long Island man living in his backyard after his house was flooded out by Sandy and federal aid expired, neighbors and officials are stepping up to help the beleagured storm survivor.

Chuck Burgio, a 53-year-old unemployed Teamster battling cancer, has been living in his Lindenhurst backyard since last week; that's when federal aid ran out and he could no longer afford to live in local motels. His actual house was flooded by Sandy 10 months ago and remains gutted -- there's no floor, just standing 2-by-4s and exposed piping.

"I've been in the backyard right here, getting bit up by mosquitoes and gnats," he said.  

Things started picking up Monday night, when a good Samaritan dropped by with a gift of $500 and a promise to rebuild Burgio's entire house for free, prompting a stunned Burgio to declare "I'm going to have a heart attack." 

But the neighborly help was just beginning: on Tuesday, non-profit volunteer Michele Insignia came with news that the Lindenhurst group Adopt-a-House was using its Facebook page to raise money for Burgio. 

"No one deserves to live like this, not when you had a completely normal life and 10 months later, you still can't even get that life back," said Insignia. 

Neighbors also left gift cards and helped secure a hotel room to replace the FEMA-funded room the 53-year-old lost last week.

Lindenhurst's deputy mayor promised to help secure long-term disability benefits for Burgio. And a private lawyer has promised to help fight Burgio's bank for the release of $90,000 in flood insurance money tied up since Sandy.

"Chuck got to that point where he felt he had no other options, and that shouldn't be the case," said Deputy Mayor Kevin McCaffrey.

Officials said there are many other Sandy victims still struggling to rebuild their lives and Burgio's story illustrates government aid isn't getting to some fast enough.

"The money's there, but it has not filtered down to where it needs to be right now," said McCaffrey. "We are frustrated it hasn't reached the people that it needs to reach." 

Sandy dumped 4 feet of water in Lindenhurst and devastated much of the neighborhood. 

CA Bill Seeks Parental Rights for Sperm Donors

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California lawmakers will be presented with a controversial bill Tuesday that seeks to give certain sperm donors legal standing to argue for parental rights.

The measure going before the Assembly Judiciary Committee, SB 115, would allow a donor who has acted as a father and cared for a child to claim legal rights and assume the responsibilities associated with being the child's father.

Under current California law, a sperm donor is not regarded as the father of the child he helped conceive through artificial insemination. That is designed to protect both donors and the women who don't want a donor involved in the child's life.

Two years ago, a state law was passed allowing a donor to make a written agreement with the child's mother, which would allow the donor to play a role in the child's life. But that still allowed for a woman to first agree and then change her mind.

The new bill, authored by Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), seeks to clarify the 2011 statute so unmarried donors can file paternity claims, with the burden of proving to the court that they have acted as a father to the child.

Actor Jason Patric will testify before the committee Tuesday to support the legislation, NBC News reported.

The “Lost Boys” actor is involved in a heated custody battle with former girlfriend Danielle Schreiber with whom he has a 3-year-old son, Gus, who was conceived using in vitro fertilization.

Patric took his case to state lawmakers after a judge ruled that he was to be classified strictly as a sperm donor and that he had no paternal rights over Gus.

The bill was approved by the California Senate on April 25.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Facebook Photo Oversharing May Alienate Your Friends

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Take it easy with your Facebook pics, lest your real-life relationships suffer, a new British study suggests.

Sharing too many photos on social media can damage those relationships, according to the study by researchers at four universities in the United Kingdom.

"It’s worth remembering that the information we post to our ‘friends’ on Facebook, actually gets viewed by lots of different categories of people," said lead researcher David Houghton, a lecturer at the University of Birmingham Business School. "Each group seems to take a different view of the information shared."

For partners in relationships, sharing more pictures of events or of family was accompanied by a rise in intimacy in their relationship, according to the study. But partners who shared more photographs of their friends saw their intimacy drop in their relationship, the researchers found.

The same was true for people's close friendships: Posting too many photos of friends garnered a user less support from their close friend, and that close friendship could suffer.

The solution, according to the study's authors? "Some form of information control," they said.

That could mean posting fewer photos, getting choosier about whom you friend, adjusting your privacy settings or creating friend groups with different access to your photos.

Read the study here.



Photo Credit: NBC10.com

Mayor Filner Ignores Pressure to Resign

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Out of therapy and now taking personal time, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner released a statement through one of his attorneys late Monday in reply to a recall effort to remove him from office.

The written statement signed by Filner spoke of moving forward, hope and excitement and nothing of the allegations of “pay-to-play” schemes, unwanted sexual advances or sexual harassment in the workplace.

Special Section: Mayor Under Fire

“Now is not the time to go backwards,” his reply begins. The message ends by saying, “As your Mayor, I am committed to moving San Diego forward!” 

The tone of the reply does not sound like an embattled mayor facing a federal and state investigation, an investigation by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and a civil lawsuit brought by a former employee.

Read full statement here

Those in charge of the Recall Bob Filner effort said no one associated with the campaign saw the emailed statement before Tuesday morning.

Recall organizers told The Associated Press they would publish it in the newspaper as required by law.

They’re printing petitions Tuesday and already have a list of 2,000 volunteers who have offered to help gather signatures.

“I was at Qualcomm the other day collecting names of people who want to pass petition signatures and I almost had to beat ‘em off with stick," said John Cox, finance manager for the recall effort.

“We're going to set up places, polling places, if you will, all over the city of San Diego where people can actually go and sign petitions," Cox said.

City Council President Todd Gloria believes the only way for the city to move forward is for Filner to resign.

“Bob Filner’s response to the recall effort shows that he just doesn’t get it," Gloria said in a written statement.

Chants at a "Not Welcome Back, Bob" rally on Civic Center Plaza Monday echoed the sentiments of a city growing more lopsided in disdain.

But with limited time and money to accomplish the recall mission, some still called it an uphill climb.

Timeline: Mayor Under Fire

San Diego’s City Attorney Jan Goldsmith has said the mayor will be “given an out” but did not disclose what that would entail.

Filner is expected to be summoned to hearings before the City Council’s Audit Committee to face questions about a trip to Paris costing taxpayers $21,000 in security detail expenses.

This in addition to federal and state criminal investigations involving his dealings with developers like Sunroad Enterprises and its special treatment for a big apartment complex that’s in its final build-out phases in Kearny Mesa.

The 70-year-old Filner has acknowledged disrespecting and sometimes intimidating women. He also asked for due process under the law.

After allegations of unwanted sexual advances came to light last month, Filner refused to step down despite calls for him to resign from city leaders, Democratic Party leaders, state legislative leaders, U.S. Rep. Susan Davis, U.S. Rep. Scott Peters and U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi along with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer as well as former mayor Jerry Sanders.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Daughter, 10, Testifies in Murder Trial

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A 10-year-old girl testified against her father Alex Charfauros, who is accused of playing a role in the murder of a San Diego police officer. Prosecutors says he's guilty because he lied to police about the dangers inside.

Is Legal Endgame Available to Filner?

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San Diego's "mayor under fire" has just issued a defiant response to the campaign to recall him from office.
           
But that may not necessarily mean that resignation is out of the question for Bob Filner.
           
Word circulating in high-level political circles is that his closest remaining aides have recommended that he step down.

What would be a potential exit strategy?

Legal analysts are using the phrase "global settlement" – his leaving office in return for concessions and assurances involving ongoing criminal investigations and civil litigation surrounding the mayor.
           
Late Tuesday night, Filner met a City Charter deadline to respond to recall activists.
           
To critics, his statement reads like "Bob Filner's Greatest Hits" – a laundry list he sees as highlights during his eight-month tenure -- not a rebuttal to the complaints against him.

Council President Todd Gloria said the eight-paragraph response, limited by Charter to 300 words, "shows that he just doesn't get it."
           
“Unacceptable” is how recall co-organizer Michael Pallamary judged it.

“It was all, in my opinion, just pablum," said City Councilman Scott Sherman. “Bob's a narcissist.  He's going to hold onto power every way he can … I will never call him 'Mayor'. I mean, there's a certain amount of respect that goes into the job, and he doesn't deserve the title. So now it's just 'Bob'. Or, 'The Defendant', one of the two."

Meantime, the drumbeat of fundraising and recruiting continues behind recall efforts to gather nearly 102,000 city voters' signatures in at least a 39-day period starting next week.

In an NBC 7 interview Tuesday, veteran criminal defense attorney Jan Ronis said that while Filner faces pressures from potentially “catastrophic” legal fees and "legacy” issues, he has a legal bargaining chip – because the federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and civil plaintiffs’ attorneys developing cases against him may not be able to make them stick in court.

"He has to do a cost-benefit analysis of what's in his best interest, even if he does have a defense in these things,” Ronis observed.  “Does he have to worry about his financial security, as opposed to his reputation?"

Ronis says a resignation agreement must be based on a sound legal endgame.        

"One of the things they would have to include is that the city would have to indemnify him -- both for his legal costs of defense to these various lawsuit being filed against him, and in the event there's a judgment they'd have to indemnify him as well,” he explained  “So it would really be a complex global settlement -- but I assume do-able, just take a lot of work getting there and then it would take the agreement of all the parties …

"It seems to me it's in everybody's best interest if the mayor is desirous of doing that -- and they want to make that presentation.  It's in everybody's best interest to sign on."

A special, stand-alone recall election could cost taxpayers well over $3 million, according to early estimates by the Registrar of Voters.
           
That may explain why City Attorney Jan Goldsmith recently has spoken of giving Filner "an out".

But how can the mayor drag his feet, before an atmosphere of “Let’s Make a Deal” is off the table?

San Diego Airport Upgrades Terminal 2

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NBC 7 reporter Consumer Bob takes a look at the new facilities inside San Diego's Lindbergh Field.

Photo Credit: San Diego International Airport

Suspicious Device Found at Outlet Mall

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A suspicious device found Tuesday at the outlet mall in San Ysidro has been determined to be safe.

The incident started around 4:20 p.m. at Las Americas Premium Outlets on Camino de la Plaza.

According to fire officials, a customer spotted a suitcase in the parking lot and thought it looked suspicious. Several stores were evacuated, and the parking lot was blocked off with caution tape.

The bomb squad used a robot to examine the suitcase, which turned out to be empty, according to officials.

The area reopened about two hours later.
 

Could Military Change Retirement Benefits?

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NBC 7 reporter Lea Sutton looks at the Defense Department's plans to reduce compensation for those who serve in the future.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Mom, Dad, 6-Year-Old Son Found Dead

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A mother, father and the couple's 6-year-old son died today in what investigators are calling a murder-suicide inside a South Jersey home.

Officials got a phone call and came to the home on Kenton Avenue in Pitman, N.J., Tuesday morning to check on the well-being of the family living there. When they arrived, they found the bodies of Francis Adolf, 49, his wife, Bonnie Lynn Adolf, 44 and their son, Frank Adolf, Jr., who was just shy of his 7th birthday.

Pitman Mayor, Russ Johnson III lives in the neighborhood and said people are surprised and upset.

"Shocked. Sad. This is my neighborhood. This is my town," said Johnson. "Just very sad for the family."

Weisenfeld said investigators determined it was a murder-suicide based on both handwritten and email messages written by the father. According to detectives, Francis Adolf indicated in the messages that he would harm himself, his wife and son.

Neighbors told NBC 10 Philadelphia's Doug Shimell that the son was about to enter the 2nd grade at Memorial Elementary School in Pitman.

Mayor Johnson said his son and the 6-year-old victim were classmates.

"I don't know how you explain to a 7-year-old what could possibly happen. You've got to do your best as parents but I don't know how I can possibly explain it to my kid -- to any of those kids in that school," Johnson said.

The school sent a statement out to parents, saying that Frankie Jr. died in a tragic incident.

"Everyone here in the distrct -- especially those within the Memorial School community -- is heartbroken about the loss of Frankie. We extend our sympathy to all of Frankie's family and friends, a nd to the wider community of Pitman, on this very sad day."

Investigators will talk about how the three died after their autopsies are done tomorrow. Meanwhile, neighbors are wondering if there were warning signs that they missed.

"It's such a shame that something wasn't seen or detected before it got to this," said Jeanne Ewe.

Pitman is a town of about 9,000 residents located in Gloucester County, about 15 miles south of Center City Philadelphia.



Photo Credit: Facebook.com

Member of Old Guard Charged in Child Sex Case

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Police in Fairfax County, Va., charged a member of the U.S. Army’s prestigious Old Guard after he allegedly posted pictures of himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl online.

Spc. Matthew McKendrick, 30, of the Huntington area, met the Chesterfield, Va., girl online, picked her up in the Richmond area last month and took her 115 miles away to his home at Riverside Apartments off Route 1, where, over the course of a number of days, he had sex with her on multiple occasions, police said.

While investigating her disappearance, Chesterfield police were able to track her down and rescue her, police said.

Police charged McKendrick, who authorities say is married but estranged from his wife, with carnal knowledge of a child and possession of child pornography. He is being held without bond.

Warrants in Chesterfield charge McKendrick with statutory rape and contributing to a delinquency of a minor.

The Army said it is fully cooperating with the investigation.

The Old Guard is the traditional name for the Army's 3d U.S. Infantry, the Army's oldest active-duty infantry unit, serving since 1784. It serves as the official Army Honor Guard and escort to the president. It is the unit that maintains a 24-hour vigil at the Tomb of the Unknowns and provides funeral escorts at Arlington National Cemetery.

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Police: Md. Teacher Sexually Abused 15 Minors

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A music teacher at a Silver Spring, Md., elementary school has been charged with sexually abusing 15 minors over a multi-year span, police said Tuesday.

Montgomery County Police said 14 of the victims were kindergarten through second grade students in Lawrence Wesley Joynes' music class at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School.

Joynes, 54, of Dundalk, was charged Aug. 8 with multiple counts stemming from those cases and another that was discovered in the course of the investigation, police said.

The abuse in Joynes' classroom spanned from 2005 to earlier this year, police said.

Joynes was a Montgomery County Public School teacher for about 27 years and had taught at New Hampshire Estates for a decade. He has been in police custody since March, following in investigation that began when Homeland Security and Baltimore County Police discovered he had child pornography, authorities said.

A search warrant at Joynes' home and classroom turned up videos and images of children whom Montgomery County detectives have now identified as 14 of his students, they said.

Police say the material showed Joynes directing and assisting the victims in making sexually suggestive gestures, as well as inappropriate touching.

The 15th victim, who is now an adult, was discovered during the investigation. Joynes had unlawful sexual encounters with her during three years in the 1990s, authorities said.

Detectives are asking anyone else who may have been victimized to contact the Montgomery County Police-Child Exploitation Unit at 240-773-5400.


Big Mergers

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On Tuesday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to challenge the union of American Airlines and U.S. Airways, a business merger that would give birth to the world's largest airline. Check out these other big mergers from recent history.

Photo Credit: AP

Binge Drinking Costs CA $32B a Year

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The price tag for excessive drinking – in health care, loss of work productivity and other costs – amounts to some $32 billion annually in California, according to a federal study.

Defined as five or more drinks for a man and four or more for a woman, binge drinking causes a large economic burden across the United States, a study issued Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states.

“Excessive alcohol use has devastating impacts on individuals, families, communities, and the economy,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.

“In addition to injury, illness, disease, and death, it costs our society billions of dollars through reduced work productivity, increased criminal justice expenses, and higher health care costs. Effective prevention programs can support people in making wise choices about drinking alcohol.”

California, the country’s most populous state, had the highest cost of $32 billion, according to the study. North Dakota had the lowest: $420 million.

The median cost per state for each alcoholic beverage consumed was about $1.91, the CDC stated.

In California, the cost was $2.25 per drink, the study stated, with a cost of $874 per person,  ranking behind only four other states and the District of Columbia.

About 42 percent of the costs were assumed by federal, state and local governments, the study said, while just a little less than that -- 41.5 percent -- was borne by excessive drinkers and their families.

About 18 percent of U.S. adults report binge-drinking, according to a CDC press release, and the behavior accounts for half of the average 80,000 deaths per year from excessive alcohol consumption.

The study, to be published online Tuesday, will be available in the October 2013 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

It estimated the economic costs for the states based on a previous CDC study that found excessive drinking cost nearly $224 billion in 2006, with the goal of breaking down costs on a state level because preventative strategies are largely implemented by states and at the local level.

The authors looked at costs related to workplace productivity, health care expenses, criminal justices expenses, automobile crashes and property damage.



Photo Credit: Getty Images/Matt Cardy

Officials to Grade School Security

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Before children head back to school this fall, San Diego Unified School District is checking school security to ensure student’s safety.

This year, schools will receive grades for how well they measure up in six critical areas of school security.

Officials will also make sure that they know what to do in the case of an emergency or fire and are trying to go beyond the basics when it comes to safety.

Security officials will also look into control of public access for those who go in and out of schools, and will examine keys and locks inside classrooms.

Communication will also be observed through the public address system and surveillance inside schools, in addition to an emergency outside messaging system.

Right now a task force is using those standards to assess how 16 pilot schools in the district measure up, and other schools will soon follow.

“So our goal will be for example to take all the schools we would describe as deficient which might be a C level -- bring them up to a b before we take schools that are Bs and take them to As in each one of the six categories,” said SDUSD Deputy Superintendent Phil Stover.

The district is assessing 16 schools now through the end of September and then it will work on the other 170 schools through the course of next year.

The district will not wait until all the assessments are done before it makes the improvements, some will be made along the way, as necessary,  with $10 million set aside for security improvements. Then based on the assessments, major security improvements will be addressed during the 2014-2015 school year.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Burglars Continue to Target North County Schools

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Police are investigating the two latest burglaries at North County schools.

Around 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, a break-in was reported at Del Mar Heights School on Boquita Drive. Then at 4:30 a.m., a similar burglary took place at Solana Santa Fe Elementary School on El Apajo Road.

Del Mar Heights custodian Jose Casa told NBC 7 he believes someone broke the glass door to the computer lab with a hammer.

“I don’t think they went to school, but they’re definitely professionals,” Casa said.

In a twist of fate, the burglars got away empty-handed. Casa said the school just received new computers, but didn’t have time to put them out yet.

“It worked out for the best," he said. "Otherwise, we’d be out more computers."

The school plans to take new precautions, including keeping the lights on 24 hours, adding security guards and replacing doors with glass windows in them.

Meanwhile, 45 minutes later, the sheriff's department received an alarm call from Solana Santa Fe Elementary. Officials discovered broken glass, but nothing was reported missing.

This is the third time Solana Santa Fe has been burglarized recently. Several other North County schools (Rancho Diegueno Country School, Ocean Air Elementary School and Sage Canyon School) have also been targeted in the past six weeks.

Map: See the proximity of the schools

Apple computers were stolen in at least three of the burglaries.

So far, no arrests have been made. Authorities are investigating.

Hannah Anderson Answering Social Media Questions

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New information about Hannah Anderson’s kidnapping was released through social media on Tuesday afternoon.

Hannah, 16, was kidnapped last week by 40-year-old James DiMaggio and taken to a rural part of Idaho. Officials said DiMaggio also killed Christina Anderson and her 8-year-old son Ethan in a house fire.  After a widespread manhunt for DiMaggio, authorities fatally shot him and returned Hannah home safe to her father.

Timeline: Searching for Hannah Anderson

The teenager has been responding to questions from subscribers and friends on an ask.fm site, but continues to deny interview requests. The comments have been mostly positive and the questions respectful.

Hannah’s ask.fm site was established before she was kidnapped. A 17-year-old friend from Hannah's elementary school told NBC 7 that she's convinced it is Hannah responding. She offered the victim encouraging words, and Hannah responded with a “Thank you.”

The comments range from “You’re beautiful” to “I miss you” and “Your mother and brother are in heaven.”

The questions range from how her family died to whether she was sexually assaulted. The responses include few details when it comes to such intimate questions.

When asked whether she was raped, she responded with, “I'm not supposed to talk about that.”

The San Diego County Sheriff's department, which spearheaded the investigation of Hannah’s disappearance, is aware of the internet communication.

San Diego Sheriff’s Department Spokesperson Jan Caldwell would not verify who was responding to these questions, but did reach out to the victim and her family. She said the department is doing its best to protect Hannah.

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