Chula Vista will hold a public victory celebration for the United States World Series Champions Thursday.

The Eastlake Little League All-Stars won the West Regional Championship and then went on to win three games in the Little League World Series competition to earn the title of national champs.

On Sunday, the team faced Tokyo in a tough competition for the World Series title. The team from Japan beat the American team 6-4 despite a valiant effort from the U.S. champs.

The community of Eastlake rallied around the team from the moment they were in competition in San Bernardino.

Crowds of cheering fans gathered to watch the Little League series in restaurants including the Eastlake Tavern & Bowl, one of the sponsors of the team.

Hats, T-shirts, buttons and yard signs sold out quickly and now, the community has pulled together a celebration at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista.

The parking lot will open at 5 p.m. with the gates to the venue opening at 6 p.m. Tailgating is not allowed at this event according to a city news release.

The team along with coaches and Baseball Hall of Famer and San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn will take the stage around 7 p.m.

Admission is free. Get directions here.

Hand-made signs and balloons are allowed as are cameras and hand held video recording devices. Umbrellas will not be permitted.

The Eastlake Little League All-Stars roster includes Grant Holman, Jake Espinoza, Micah Pietila-Wiggs, Michael Gaines, Kevin Bateman, Rennard Williams, Dominic Haley, Charly Peterson, Giancarlo Cortez, Nick Mora, Patrick Archer and Ricky Tibbett.
 

Law enforcement authorities arrested three people and searched for a fourth in an armed robbery on a Spring Valley street.

Deputies were called to the 9900-block of Jamacha Boulevard around 9 p.m. after two people reported they had been robbed of a phone and watch by a group carrying a shotgun.

San Diego police, San Diego County sheriff's deputies and California Highway Patrol combed the neighborhood near Fresno and Palm Avenues.

Investigators arrested three suspects including one woman-- and recovered a shotgun several miles away.

Police say the suspects robbed the two victims then fled in a white, older model Thunderbird.

When officials first spotted the car there was a short pursuit. Deputies lost sight of the Thunderbird near Spring Street and State Route 94.

The suspects dumped the car and ran, deputies said.

Using a helicopter and with the help of residents and several law enforcement agencies, officials found three of the suspects and the Thunderbird.

A search of the suspects’ car did not turn up other weapons but investigators say there was a second shotgun and a handgun used in the robbery.
 

Owen and Emmett Ezell, born conjoined on July 17 and connected from the chest to the belly button, shared a liver and intestines. On Saturday, the boys underwent a successful separation surgery in Dallas that lasted almost six hours.

The twins were still in intensive care at Medical City Children’s Hospital on Wednesday, but they’re recovering in their own beds.

"It's wonderful for us to be able to sit here and think about, 'How are we going to bring these two boys home? What are they going to be like?" said their father, Dave Ezell, who spoke to NBC DFW via phone from the hospital.

"They're starting to open their little eyes, and they're starting to wiggle their little fingers," he said. "You can see that recognition in their face. It's truly heartwarming."

The family has kept family, friends and even strangers up to date on the pregnancy, birth and surgery through a blog and Facebook page. They’re now starting to write about the boys’ recovery.

On the pages, readers offer up encouragement and prayers. The Ezell family said it will gladly take all the support it can get.

The body of a Southern California woman who has been missing for nearly two years was positively identified on an island off the coast of Panama last week, according to the FBI.

The body of Yvonne Baldelli, who has been missing since November 2011, was found zippered inside a bag on the coastline of Isla Carenero on Aug. 20. DNA analysis was used on the skull and bones by forensic scientists in Panama to identify Baldelli’s body.

Baldelli went missing about two years ago when she traveled to Panama with her boyfriend, 37-year-old Brian Karl Brimager.

Brimager is suspected of killing Baldelli, and he is accused of sending emails from her laptop pretending to be her and saying she was traveling to Costa Rica. He’s also accused of using her ATM card in Costa Rica during a two-day layover, and also using her card in San Jose to make it appear as though she was alive.

Brimager was arrested earlier this year for allegedly engaging in an elaborate scheme to cover up Baldelli’s death. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Diego in June on charges that he obstructed justice and made false statements to law enforcement.

Brimager faces 10 counts of obstruction of justice and one count of false statement to a federal officer. He faces a maximum sentence of 205 years in prison and a $2.5 million fine if found guilty of all charges.

The leaders and volunteers behind the Recall Bob Filner movement gathered Wednesday evening for a victory celebration.

Recall Bob Filner chairman Michael Pallamary and other leaders of the recall campaign met at O’Brien’s Pub in Kearny Mesa at 6:30 p.m.

The group got together to celebrate San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s resignation and the official end of the recall campaign.

“These key activists were responsible for the fast start of the recall petition drive. This event is a celebration and thank you for all of their hard work,” an invitation to the event read.

At O'Brien's Pub, Pallamary spoke out and thanked volunteers for their time and dedication.

“We really want to celebrate and recognize some of the core people that worked on the recall campaign with us. O’Brien’s was one of the signing places, and we gathered a lot of signatures here,” Pallamary said. "We're just recognizing our efforts and celebrating."

Despite the fact that the recall campaign was cut short due to Filner's resignation, Pallamary believes their efforts really put the pressure on the mayor to step down.

"The recall clock is the only clock Filner had no control over. We feel very strongly that that's why he moved as fast as he did [in his resignation from office]," Pallamary added. "He knew we were coming. San Diego rose in a very powerful way."

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith (pictured below, in red shirt) and Councilmember Kevin Faulconer both attended Wednesday's celebration and applauded recall leaders and volunteers on their efforts.

Goldsmith said it's now time for San Diego to move forward under strong, competent new leadership.

“We need someone who can manage people well, who can be like the CEO of a corporation. We’re a $2 billion operation with over 9,000 employees, so I’d really try to find somebody who knows how to do things, that is skilled and experienced in running something,” Goldsmith told NBC 7 at the recall celebration. “This is really important. If we really want to have a good quality of life in San Diego, we need to have good management.”

As for the recall, over the weekend recall co-organizer Rachel Laing said the campaign was winding down in the wake of Filner’s resignation. The 1,200 recall volunteers have been asked to return all signed petitions to recall headquarters.

On Friday – the day Filner announced his resignation – Laing told the San Diego City Council that recall volunteers had collected more than 20,000 signatures in just five days.

Filner's last day in office is this Friday.

"The real celebration is 5 p.m. on Friday, when the mayor officially leaves," Pallamary added.

The San Diego City Council unanimously voted to hold the special mayoral election on Tuesday, Nov. 19.

Mayor Bob Filner recently resigned amid sexual harassment allegations and his last day will be Friday. City Council President Todd Gloria will fulfill duties of the mayor and Council President Pro Tem Sherri Lightner will lead council meetings in place of Gloria until a new mayor is elected.

At least seven people have filed paperwork for candidacy, including former mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher. Other San Diego leaders, including Gloria and Councilmember Kevin Faulconer, have also considered running.

The estimated cost is roughly $6 million for a polls election, which was voted for instead of a mail election.

The mail election would cost half as much, but because the city hasn’t had one since 1981 there were too many unknowns to move forward with that option under the time constraints of the city charter, councilmembers said.

"It's a process we have to go through to ensure the people of San Diego have the opportunity to elect our new leader," Faulconer said.

The registrar’s office is now working to hire workers and sort out precinct polling locations.

"We're going to be it looks like recruiting approximately 2,500 poll workers and needing to solidify 600 polling places all within an 83 day time frame," said Michael Vu with the San Diego County Registrar of Voters.

There are roughly 500,000 registered voters in the City of San Diego, but it is unknown how many people will turn out to vote.

"The last time there was a special mayoral election was in 2005 and in that election there was approximately a 44 percent turnout," Vu said.

Pandas: They're just like us.

Okay, maybe they don't have jobs or car insurance bills. But the National Zoo's giant panda mom is plenty familiar with hearing a baby's demanding cries in the middle of the night.

The zoo released panda cam footage of Mei Xiang briefly ignoring her 6-day-old cub around 3:37 a.m. Thursday. But the cub decided that personal time for Mama simply wasn't acceptable.

Upon being placed alone on the ground, the cub began violently shaking its head back and forth, and squawking repeatedly -- and loudly. Zookeepers noted that the little one has "a great set of lungs."

All in all, the cub was alone for just 25 seconds before its devoted mom picked it up again.

The view of the cub -- who's rarely left Mei Xiang's arms since its birth Friday -- was reassuring for zookeepers, who have only been able to examine it once so far.

"The tiny cub has a round belly, which indicates that it is nursing well," zoo staff noted.

The sex of the cub remains unknown.

A second exam attempt was thwarted by a protective Mei Xiang earlier this week. Instead, keepers are monitoring Mei and the cub from afar.

"They will allow Mei Xiang's behaviors [to] direct how they access the cub," the zoo said. "All visual indications tell animal care staff that both bears are thriving."

The zoo said Mei is "very aware" when keepers enter her den space to offer her food. She drank 56 ounces of diluted apple juice Thursday, which keepers say is a good sign. Giant pandas don't eat or drink much immediately following a birth.

The cub was born late Friday afternoon, about two hours after Mei unexpectedly went into labor. Mei Xiang also delivered a stillborn, malformed twin the following day.

Although the zoo had been keeping her on a 24-hour pregnancy watch, it had been unclear whether Mei was actually pregnant or was just experiencing a false pregnancy.

She's had two previous deliveries.

A female cub was born last September, but lived only a week. In July 2005, Mei gave birth to the male Tai Shan, who was sent to join a breeding program China in 2010.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Mei Xiang Cuddles Cub Rather Than Snacking
Protective Mei Xiang Blocks Exam Attempt on Cub
Second Panda Cub Stillborn; First Cub Doing Well
Zoo: Panda Behavior Hints at Possible Pregnancy
National Zoo Inseminates Giant Panda

NBC 7's Game of the Week will kick off with a meeting of Warhawks and Hornets.

The Madison High School Warhawks, fresh off their 2012 Division IV Championship win, will face Lincoln High School Hornets for the first game of the 2013 season.

Members of the band, JROTC and the cheer squad turned out Thursday morning at the school in Clairemont to celebrate the beginning of the football season.

The Lincoln Hornets finished the 2012 season as Division III Champs. NBC 7 will be visiting the school Friday morning.

On Friday, members of the Lincoln JV and Varsity teams, drill teams and cheerleading squad turned out for an NBC 7 News segment to let the community know that "Lincoln is back."

"We came here to let you guys know that we want the respect that we deserve," said linebacker Johnny Garcia. "We just want to bring back that great image that Lincoln has, that tradition."

The two teams will face Friday, 6:30 p.m. at Lincoln HS located at Imperial Avenue and 49th Street.

The first major U.S. city to host a marathon since the Boston bombings is implementing the tightest security in its race's history.

Bank of America Chicago Marathon organizers and city of Chicago officials confirmed security changes for the Oct. 13 race, which annually draws 45,000 participants and 1.7 million spectators.

This year, the race's start and finish line areas will be locked down to anyone without proper credentials or event-issued bib numbers. Similar to past years, general spectators also won't have access to these areas, marathon organizers said.

"A lot of these policies were in place already," Carey Pinkowski, executive race director of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, told NBC 5 Chicago. "What we've done is enhance them."

Everyone entering Grant Park, where the race begins and ends, must pass through four designated security and bag screening checkpoints off Michigan Avenue.

Spectators are urged to support runners from other parts of the course, where random bag checks also will take place. Friends and family can meet runners after 9 a.m. at the designated Runner Reunite Area in Grant Park’s Butler Field.

Runners can only bring a clear, plastic event-issued participant bag with them into the park on race day. Organizers said the participant bag is the only one that will be accepted at designated Gear Check tents.

Participants also are advised to wear their event-issued bib number as they enter Grant Park, and spectators "are strongly discouraged" from carrying bags.

“Chicago has a strong record of successfully and safely hosting large-scale events that attract hundreds of thousands of people,” Gary Schenkel, executive director of the Office and Emergency Management and Communication, said. “We are working with race organizers and City departments to implement common sense measures that ensure a safe event for participants, spectators and businesses along the route.”

Another change this year, runners must pick up their own Participant Packets at the Health & Fitness Expo and can no longer pick up packets on behalf of others.

"For our organization and staff and the people involved in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, the Boston Marathon will be in our consciousness, in our hearts, top of mind," Pinkowski said, "but we have absolute and complete confidence in the city of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department, the city agencies that play such an important role to produce and deliver a safe, secure and memorable race day."

City officials and marathon organizers said they are beginning outreach efforts to race participants, volunteers and fans from around the world to inform the public about these updates.

A group of San Diego environmental advocates met at SeaWorld today to discuss a ban on single-use plastic bags.

The group of conservationists and business leaders said that there are multiple hazards by using plastic bags, and stressed the damage to wildlife can sometimes be deadly.

California lawmakers and local environmentalists want San Diego County to prohibit the typical plastic bags often used at grocery stores.

Currently Solana Beach is the only city in San Diego that has eliminated plastic bag use.

Representatives of local conservation groups said they are meeting with members of San Diego City Council to come up with a county-wide ban, but the discussions are still in the early stages.

“We know that plastic bags are one of the worst and most common forms of plastic pollution and one of the easiest to live without,” said Nathan Weaver with Environment California. “And that’s why over 80 California communities have already banned the use of single-use plastic bags… this is a policy that works very well.”

Proponents of the ban say it could be too expensive for businesses to make the switch, and that reusable bags can sometimes contain germs.

A Southern California plastic bag manufacturer told NBC 7 that they are working to make plastic bags more environmentally friendly.

A car struck a house in Allied Gardens on Thursday morning, according to officials.

The incident happened around 10:45 a.m. at 7211 Margerum Ave. The driver hit another car and part of an Allied Gardens home.

Medics transported the driver to a nearby hospital with unknown injuries.

A structural engineer also is at the scene to assess the home's damage.

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A car caught fire after the driver hit an electrical box in Torrey Pines on Thursday afternoon, according to fire officials.

The incident happened around 1:15 p.m. on Mango Drive and Del Mar Heights Road near the Village Shopping Center.

The car hit an electrical box, and then burst into flames. Fuel leaked from the vehicle, so HAZMAT responded to the area.

No injuries were reported.

Power is out for more than 750 customers in Torrey Pines and restoration is expected before 4 p.m.

A former executive of a well-known San Diego hotel faces federal charges for embezzling more than $500,000, officials said Thursday.

Kevin Kelso, the former Director of Finance for the Westin San Diego, was arrested Tuesday by the U.S. Secret Service.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office claims Kelso embezzled the money from the Westin in a number of ways ranging from charging personal items on a corporate credit card, writing checks to himself on Westin’s account and submitting duplicate expense reports to reversing the charges at the Westin for his family and friends.

They also claim Kelso used the hotel’s policy for converting larger bills into smaller ones for customers as a way to steal from his employer.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges at an arraignment in federal court. His next court appearance will be on Sept. 4.

Kelso, 36, worked for the Westin from December 2010 up until September 2012. When he was arrested, he was working at another hotel. Officials did not reveal his new employer.

Phyllis Riggs remembers the last time she saw her boyfriend.

It was Friday morning, Aug. 8, in the garage of her Oceanside home.

Two sheriff’s deputies came looking for David Inge, the man she fondly calls her “life partner.”

“They asked him his name and he told ‘em,” Riggs recalls. “And they asked him to stand up. They handcuffed him, patted him down, and took him out of the garage."

Deputies took Inge to the Vista jail, for violating his probation.

But Riggs had seen this before. She knew David would be home in a few days, back on probation, with yet another chance to shake the demons of methamphetamine and petty crime, and let his gentle and intelligent side shine through.

That night, Riggs checked the Sheriff’s “Who’s in Jail Website” and confirmed that David was in custody at the Vista jail.

But the next morning, she says her 54 year-old boyfriend’s name was gone from the jail roster.

So Riggs and her friend, Dawn Helgren, made the first of what they say were many phone calls to the jail, to find out David and talk with him.

"And they gave us the run around and the run around,” Riggs told NBC 7 Investigates. “Telling us to call back. It’s a shift change. It’s this. It's that."

Helgren kept detailed notes about those phone calls, including one entry that shows she talked with a jail supervisor just after noon, on Saturday night, Aug. 10.

“Yeah,” she says. “That deputy told me that David was released over the weekend."

So Riggs and Helgren made more phone calls. Riggs was sure David would come back home if released from jail, and figured he had been arrested again, or been referred to -- or picked up by -- another agency.

“I checked hospitals. I checked rehabs. I checked the federal system, the state system, the county system,” Riggs says. “Over and over and over again."

Four days later, they still hadn’t found David.

It was Thursday, and says she was frantic. “Nobody knows nothing,” she recalls. “We've got no answers.

She and Dawn continued their search. On Sunday, Aug. 18, they called Inge’s daughter, Nicole Johnson.

That’s how Johnson learned that her father was back in jail.

"I knew, as soon as Phyllis said they couldn't find him, that something bad had happened,” Johnson recalls.

Johnson called the Vista jail, where she says someone gave her a number to call, without telling her who she’d be calling.

And Johnson had no idea that phone number belonged to the County Medical Examiner's office, where an investigator told her, her father had died in jail eight days earlier, on Aug. 9.

Johnson also learned that a jail deputy had found Inge unresponsive in his cell, just 18 hours after booking.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department told NBC 7 Investigates that it was following policy by not telling Johnson, Riggs, Helgren that Inge had died in custody.

The department says information about inmate deaths is disclosed only by the County Medical Examiner.
Commander John Ingrassia confirmed that a jail Captain did take a call from a woman seeking more information about Inge.

Ingrassia said the jail Captain told the caller that Inge was no longer in custody, which is technically correct, because Inge’s body had by then been taken to the Medical Examiner’s office.

Ingrassia said his staff cannot reveal any details about a deceased inmate until next-of-kin have been notified by the Medical Examiner’s office.

But Ingrassia also told NBC 7 Investigates that “the circumstances of this incident regarding the family’s ability to get timely answers regarding Mr. Inge’s status have made us realize we can do things better, and owe it to the public to review our practices when we are contacted by family and friends of inmates shortly after they have passed away.”

The Medical Examiner's office has also launched a review of the Inge case, based on issues raised by NBC 7 Investigates.

The department said next-of-kin notifications are a top priority, and that legal next of kin were notified within 12 hours in 91 percent of the cases it handled last year.

But a department spokeswoman says the notification process can be complicated, which is why “we are currently reviewing this case to determine why notification was delayed”.

The department also said it is “sorry for (the family’s) loss”.

But Inge’s family and friends want answers now.

They say jail booking information, details on Inge’s arrest warrant, other public records, and even Inge's Facebook page made it easy for investigators to find his relatives, or to reach friends who could lead them to Inge’s next of kin.

Those relatives include Inge’s son and ex-wife, who share his last name, and who live less than 90 miles away, in Riverside County.
"I mean I don't know how to say it any better than that his name wasn't ‘Smith’,” said Inge’s girlfriend. “So there's not very many of them, and if there's an Inge, you can almost bet that it's related."

Inge’s friends and family also believe that authorities didn’t try harder to find them, or get them information, because Inge was a drug user and criminal, who’d been in and out of jail and drug rehab for most of his adult life.

Inge’s daughter says that’s not acceptable.

“They still have people that care about them, and would want to know. That’s just crazy,” Johnson said.

It’s still unknown how, exactly, Inge died in custody.

Autopsy results were inconclusive, and the Medical Examiner lists the cause of death as “pending.” That means details won’t be known until toxicology and other lab tests are completed and analyzed, which could take six to eight weeks.
 

The parents of a pair of conjoined twins separated in Dallas over the weekend say they're thrilled with the surgery's successful results.

Owen and Emmett Ezell are stable, though they are still getting help breathing. Doctors at Medical City Children's Hospital say the brothers are the third set of conjoined twins it has treated in the last 10 years. Their separation surgery was the first the hospital has performed.

Their mother, Jenni Ezell, said she's "just ready to rejoice" now that the procedure is done.

"This is Emmett — he has a little more hair at the moment — and this is Owen," she said of her infant sons. "He's more of a baldy at the moment."

The six-week-old twins were surgically separated on Saturday, in what doctors say was a nine-hour operation. Doctors are cautiously optimistic about the brothers' futures, during which they will have at least two to three more surgeries.

Their parents are focused on smaller milestones.

"I look forward to holding them for the first time," Ezell said. "That will be a huge moment, taking them home."

The future didn't seem so bright early on, when the couple found out the twins were conjoined.

"We didn't think they had a chance," Ezell said. "We thought they were not going to make it at all, so we decided to abort. It was the hardest decision that a mother has to make about her babies, so we came down here."

But when doctors at Medical City told her in March that the boys had a chance, they decided to continue with the pregnancy.

"At that point we were just floored," Ezell said. "I could not contain my joy."

A fetal MRI was taken right around the time.

"Our doctor did tell us, 'Guard your hearts. It's not going to be an easy process.' It was really hard to not be really excited, though," Ezell said.

She said it's hard not be excited now more than ever.

"I'm already planning their first birthday parties, so just all the memories of childhood and giving them a good childhood -- I just can't wait," Ezell said.

Doctors have not yet set a release date for the twins, so their parents are balancing time between their children at home and the hospital.