Walmart has opened its first store in Escondido, located at 1330 E. Grand Ave. The new store employs approximately 215 full- and part-time workers, the company said.
Special Section: Local Business Spotlight
More than 3,000 people applied to work at the store, and the majority of those hired are Escondido residents. The 92,000-square-foot store carries the retailer’s full lines of general merchandise and also has a pharmacy.
Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. also has upcoming new locations of its small-format grocery store, known as Neighborhood Market, planned in Escondido and Oceanside. The Escondido debut is expected by year’s end, with the Oceanside opening planned for the first half of 2014.
The company now operates 24 stores in San Diego County, including 12 general merchandise locations, nine supercenters, two Neighborhood Market stores and one Sam’s Club warehouse store.
The Business Journal is the premier business publication in San Diego. Every day online and each Monday in print, the Business Journal reports on how local business operate and why businesses leaders make the decisions they do. Every story is a dose of insight into how to run a better, more efficient, more profitable business.
The Chula Vista Spartans and the Hilltop Lancers face off in this week’s NBC 7 Game of the Week.
Hilltop High School's football team is 2-0 and ready to play rivals Chula Vista at 7 p.m. Friday night.
“Our team’s been working really hard this whole off season and during season so I think we’re ready for the game,” said Lancers football player David Vasquez.
On Thursday, students from the school's band, student council, soccer team, water polo team, volleyball team and cheer squad turned out to be on live television with NBC 7.
The teenagers were up and ready to go before dawn to show school spirit.
NBC 7 will visit the Spartans Friday morning for more on Game of the Week!
The game will be at Chula Vista High School on 4th Avenue on Friday, Sept. 13.
A Carlsbad man was found dead after snorkeling off the coast of Maui according to published reports.
According to Hawaii news outlets, the 78-year-old man was reported missing by his family after he failed to show up at their meeting place.
He was last seen heading off to snorkel around 3 p.m. and didn’t not return more than an hour later.
Lifeguards found the man, identified by the Maui News as Marc Sandstrom of Carlsbad, off Napili Point.
He was in the water about 75 yards from shore the news outlet reported.
The woman who helped launch the beginning of the end of Bob Filner's mayoral career is now being recognized as a "Woman of Courage".
That salute to Donna Frye's courage and civic activism comes from Run Women Run -- an influential, nonpartisan political action committee that promotes women in electoral politics.
In an interview Wednesday with NBC 7, Frye ruled out questions and discussion about the many women she urged to come forward with sexual allegations against Filner.
Her message of the moment, she says, is that the “abuse of power” exemplified by Filner’s scandalous behavior might be curbed 'going forward' if more women are elected to public office.
"People who have power over other people -- whether it's male or female -- it's always going to be difficult to equalize that imbalance that we currently have,” Frye said. “But one of the ways that it can be done is by making sure that more women are in positions to set the policies, to lay the groundwork to be able to mentor other women to show other women that not only can you do it, but you can do it unscathed at the end of the day."
Frye says a groundswell of female office-holders also would show other women that they can be assertive in government policy settings that are all too often fueled by testosterone.
"Part of it has to do with self-confidence, and also it has to do with seeing other people that do it,” she said. “And understanding that' it's do-able, it's not that difficult, and that women can have an opinion, they can be strong. And really not being concerned about how others perceive us."’
Michelle Burton, president of Run Women Run, says her group is making encouraging progress since its founding in 2008.
"I think among enlightened men, that the visibility of the organization has grown, and they know that we're sort of a force to be reckoned with now,” Burton said in the NBC 7 interview, as Frye nodded her assent. “In the last election, all of the women candidates but one whom we endorsed or supported were elected to office."
And, Burton says, those office-holders are becoming more prominent in the public discourse: "We've seen what's happening in the Senate right now, with the women coming out on the issue of sexual harassment in the military. And it really took women coming together and collaborating on that issue to even bring that to the forefront."
Still, only 20 percent of the seats in Congress are occupied by women -- ranking the U.S. only 87th worldwide in the percentage of women holding offices of national influence.
"In Los Angeles, for example, there's one-point-nine million people,” Burton noted, “and there's only one woman left there on the City Council out of 15 seats, and nobody on the Board of Supervisors."
For her part, Frye says the barriers that hold women back from campaigning can be self-imposed: "I think that they are less likely to want to get into, you know, combat. You know, sort of the mudslinging that goes on in political campaigns."
Burton seconds that analysis: "They don't want to be dragged through the mud, they don't want to put their children in those positions. I think sometimes women are trying to do so many things, that they can't focus on running for office. And it's really a huge commitment if you really want to do it well and do it right."
Run Women Run activists also hope to reverse poll results showing that women between 18 and 34 are not inspired to vote for women candidates -- and see Lady Gaga as more important than House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Frye will be recognized as the group’s "Woman of Courage" during its annual membership meeting Monday evening at 57 Degrees in the Middletown District.
Officials have identified the Chula Vista woman found dead after an intense apartment fire.
Charla Wolfson, 58, died in the fire at the Royal Apartments on Park Way Wednesday.
The county’s medical examiner said the fire started in the living room of the apartment but fire officials have not released a cause.
Video taken just moments before firefighters arrived shows the chaos at the scene.
When flames and smoke appeared around 10 a.m., neighbors started running out to the courtyard to see what all the commotion was about.
Wolfson’s ex-husband and adult son were able to get out of the apartment through the front door. They suffered minor injuries.
A Chula Vista deputy fire chief said her body was discovered in the middle of the apartment unit in a hallway.
Several of her neighbors tried over and over again to break through the wall of flames at the entrance, but the smoke was too thick, the wall of fire too hot.
Firefighters said the fire had spread to other rooms but they were able to control it before it spread to other units in the complex.
A teenager from Clinton, Conn., is doing what he does best and using music to address the mounting tensions in Syria.
Danny Khalifa is a freshman at Morgan High School in Clinton, a long way from Damascus, where he was living just a year and half ago.
He lived in Syria for nearly seven years before moving to Connecticut and said he's praying for the country through song.
“Everyone back in Syria now doesn't have what they used to,” Khalifa said. “Back in my time, I thought it was a ghost town when I was there a year and a half ago, and now it's really a ghost town."
His rap song starts out, “I left the country that literally six years raised me even though I was born in the states but living in Syria changed me to a better man, a wiser guy grown enough to handle my life.”
He moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Damascus after his mother died in 2005.
“What I've witnessed, like right at the moment, and I lived it; it was horrible,” Khalifa said.
It was so horrible that in 2012, he left for Clinton.
The rest of his family, including his father and little sister, came from Syria to Connecticut three months ago and are out of harm's way.
Khalifa stocks shelves at a gas station and goes to school.
He’s trying to make sense of his emotions by channeling them into rap music.
“I want to send out a message to everyone to stop what they're doing because we're not going anywhere in this way,” Khalifa said while putting together a video on Guilford's town green.
It's part of Up 2 Something, a local nonprofit that gives youths a venue to showcase their skills.
Some more lyrics go like this: “Wake up on your own, go to work and straight back home. Live on your own, study by yourself, spend your day on stocking shelves.”
Khalifa said the crisis in Syria is an emotional topic for him.
“I have a lot of friends that are with, a lot of friends that are against. I'm not with either of them. Because if I'm on either side, I'm asking for blood,” he said.
Kids don't belong in chains. Dogs don't, either.
That's the message a new billboard will soon be sending to the people of Camden, N.J.
Designed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the billboard is a response to Tuesday's arrest of a Camden mother, who along with her boyfriend, allegedly chained her son to a radiator pipe.
The billboard depicts a baby boy with a shackle around his neck attached to a chain going into the ground.
The image is accompanied by the words: "CRUEL! Kids don't belong in chains. Dogs don't, either. Families belong indoors."
"Just as abused children suffer psychologically as well as physically, so do chained dogs, who are subjected to everything from temperature extremes to attacks by abusers to mind-numbing loneliness," PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch said in a statement. "We call on all guardians to allow their dogs indoors -- year-round."
PETA applauded Camden for having a no-chaining ordinance which prohibits pet owners and caretakers from leaving their pets restrained outside for more than two consecutive hours a day.
The case, which prompted PETA to create the billboard, did not involve a baby, rather a 10-year-old Camden boy.
The boy, named by authorities simply as M.P., was allegedly chained by the ankle to a radiator pipe in his mother's bedroom for two weeks.
Camden County Metro Police say they learned about the boy's treatment after he ran away from home and reported missing.
When he was found, authorities say the boy told detectives he was forced to sleep with his ankle chained and that his hands were zip-tied at times.
The boy's mother, Florence Pollard, 31, and her 29-year-old boyfriend Brian Craig are charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Criminal Restraint.
"To treat a child this way is inhuman," said Camden Metro Police Sgt. Janell Simpson told NBC10.com on Tuesday.
Asked whether PETA was concerned the organization might muddy the message they're trying to send by using such a stark image, PETA spokeswoman Lindsay Rajt tells NBC10.com the bold imagery helps people make a connection with the problem.
“We often do ad campaigns that talk about the things that we share in common with animals," she said. "A dog suffers, just as a child does."
Rajt says the organization plans to put up one billboard in the city, but has not yet determined where. She says they're currently in negotiations with outdoor signage companies.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
Flames spread rapidly along the boardwalk in Seaside Park at the Jersey Shore as dark smoke was spotted from miles away.
“I see thick, billowing, black smoke with ruby red flames. It’s still raging out of control," said Justin Auciello, of Jersey Shore Hurricane News, who was on the scene this afternoon.
The fire, which started around 2:30 p.m. near Kohr Brothers Frozen Custard shop, 1800 Boardwalk, has destroyed at least 80% of the boardwalk in Seaside Park. That's according to Seaside Park’s Police Chief, Francis Larken, who also said possibly three dozen businesses have also been destroyed.
Six hours after it started, crews have the fire under control, but it is still burning as of 9:30 p.m., according to Seaside Heights Police Chief Thomas Boyd.
"This is obviously just an unthinkable situation, for us to be standing here and watching this, what's going on behind all of you is just unthinkable," said NJ Governor Chris Christie, who added that when he first heard the news he told he staff 'I feel like I want to throw up' after all the work this area did to rebuild.
Gov. Christie estimates that 400 firefighters were called to the scene. Those crews cut a 20-foot wide trench along the the boardwalk at Ocean and Lincoln Avenues, in the hopes of stopping the fire from spreading.
Everything south of the trench is expected to be a total loss, said Christie. They are trying to save as much as possible north of the trench.
Christine Hemingway was working inside Kohr Brothers this afternoon and said it appeared as if the smoke was rising from underneath the boardwalk.
"Our manager came running through the stand and said 'get out,' we go around the corner in front of Biscayne Candy and there was smoke coming up from the boardwalk," says Hemingway. "There was a little smoke and then all of a sudden, it got real thick and black."
Strong winds, whipping at speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour, are the biggest challenge for firefighters called in to respond from neighboring NJ counties.
“It’s an all call, which means anybody that has equipment [in Ocean County] are asked to respond," said Al Della Fave, of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, who is handling calls for the Sheriff's office while they are on scene. That means up to 33 municipalities can respond.
“It’s all hands on deck and they’re doing the best they can, but the winds are really making it difficult," said Della Fave.
Embers blew for at least 8 blocks, igniting a fire at the nearby Royal Sands Condominium complex at Sumner Avenue and Ocean Terrace, which was quickly put out. Those embers also landed on area homes and businesses.
Nancy O’Brien runs EJ’s Dance Club at 919 Boardwalk, which is about a mile and a half from the fire. Even at that distance the smoke is a real nuisance.
“It’s pretty acidy. Our eyes are burning. It’s very, very windy,” O’Brien said.
The area of the boardwalk between Stockton and Farragut Avenues, in front of Funtown Pier, was not destroyed during Superstorm Sandy. But the pier itself was, becoming a symbolic image of the storm's destruction.
An estimated 90% of the 33 rides on Funtown Pier were lost in the storm. The pier, which was not open this Summer, became fully engulfed in flames, destroying the small portion that was left standing after the storm.
“It’s just devastating to the area. It’s just heartbreaking to see. After what we just went to almost a year ago, and now this. I’m just in disbelief and shock over this. I can’t believe it, " says Larkin.
NBC10 cameras captured part of a structure on that pier falling down.
The fire also spread to at least four blocks of the boardwalk in neighboring Seaside Heights, which was destroyed by Sandy and then rebuilt.
Several firefighters have suffered minor injuries, mostly heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation.
A spokesman for New Jersey Natural Gas says they've isolated gas service just to the boardwalk area and no residents have been affected.
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has more than a dozen personnel responding to the scene to assist.
As the number of emergency personnel grows, others are being told to stay away.
“We are asking people to stay away from the area so that firefighters can fight this fire," said Donna Flynn, Public Information Officer for Ocean County Emergency Management.
The Mathis Bridge, which connects Toms River to the Seaside area is closed to non-emergency vehicles, as of 5:30 p.m.
All roads leading into the area of Seaside Heights and Seaside Park are closed except to residents.
The Borough of Seaside Park is located on the Barnegat Barrier Island in Ocean County, N.J.
Below is a before and after look at the landmark Funtown Pier.
Contact Lauren DiSanto at 610.668.5705, lauren.disanto@nbcuni.com or follow @LaurenNBC10 on Twitter.
Bob Filner’s former fiancée, Bronwyn Ingram, spoke exclusively to NBC 7 on Wednesday about her break-up with Filner and the massive scandal that followed, plaguing San Diego City Hall for six weeks.
“It was a really, really impossible situation to be in,” Ingram told NBC 7’s Gene Cubbison of her decision to end her relationship with Filner, her boyfriend of three years.
“To be actually accomplishing things, and at the same time, see your partner behaving in ways that are not consistent with an exclusive relationship, it’s a really impossible situation to be in.”
Ingram broke off her engagement to Filner more than two months ago, publicly announcing their split on Jul. 8.
Days later, on Jul. 11, Filner’s former allies – Donna Frye, Marco Gonzalez and Cory Briggs -- made a major move and publically accused the mayor of sexually harassing several women.
TIMELINE: Mayor Under Fire
From there, things quickly escalated, with more than a dozen women coming forward over the course of six weeks accusing Filner of sexual harassment and misconduct.
After a two-week stint in therapy and ongoing pressure to resign from all angles -- including a public plea from Ingram -- Filner announced his resignation on Aug. 23. His last day in office was Aug. 30.
Now, nearly two weeks after Filner stepped down from office, Ingram visited the NBC 7 studio to discuss the demise of her relationship, the whirlwind that followed and the future.
Bronwyn said breaking up with Filner and walking away from her role as First Lady of San Diego was very difficult, but the relationship had to end.
She had heard rumors of Filner’s alleged sexual misconduct time and time again leading up to their break-up, but said Filner denied any wrongdoing.
“I’d catch a little something of a rumor and when I’d ask Bob, he’d say, ‘Absolutely, that’s not true.’ But, it got to the point to where there was enough suspicion. When we were in Paris and I actually saw him texting, it was like, ‘Okay, that’s confirmation.’ And now I have to get home and deal with this.”
“When I really had enough confirmation to really feel that he was not being honest in our relationship, then that was difficult and it was very hurtful. And, there were tears and I was angry but I am also a person who doesn’t hold onto anger. You know, I deal with it. I say what I had to say, I make my decision and that’s it. I don’t hold onto the anger. “
SPECIAL SECTION: Mayor Under Fire
Toward the end of their three-year relationship, Ingram said she and Filner were fighting more often, signaling the end.
Then, when the allegations of sexual harassment surrounding Filner broke wide open, Ingram said she was shocked and deeply hurt.
“I was pretty stunned with all these women coming forward and wondering when he had time to do all the work that he accomplished. It was like, ‘Wow, really?’ It’s hurtful. It’s hurtful,” she explained. “It’s just really disappointing because we had such serious things to work on. And to see this kind of behavior undermine everything that we wanted to accomplish. I was just really sad and disappointed.”
In the aftermath of the scandal, Ingram said her former fiancé is “a man grappling with the seriousness of what he has done. “
“A lot of people have been hurt -- he has hurt himself the most. He had a wonderful career in Congress that is essentially gone. I don’t know how much people will remember, all of the great things he did. They’re going to remember this. I think he himself is going through quite a bit.”
Ultimately, Ingram hopes Filner will get the therapy and help that he needs to move on.
“Once he completes treatment and gets help, he’s still going to be useful in some way to society. He’s very smart; he has a lot of great ideas. Perhaps in some completely different and appropriate venue he can be very productive and helpful,” she added.
“He has to deal with himself first. Then, look around and see where he’s going to fit in, and that may not be in San Diego. I know he loves San Diego and that’s his home, but I have talked to him about potentially relocating to somewhere where people haven’t been so hurt by him. You know kind of a fresh start.”
As for her future, she’s ready for a clean slate and says this ordeal has undoubtedly made her stronger.
“My personal philosophy is that when something happens in your life that’s painful and hurtful you just have to process that, take a lesson and move forward. It sounds cliché, but that’s really how I like to live my life. You go on, you move forward and you keep your priorities in balance.”
Finally, in regards to recent rumors that she and Filner have rekindled their relationship, Ingram confirms that simply is not true. The pair was recently spotted in San Francisco having dinner together, but Ingram said it was merely a casual reunion.
“That’s what it was – dinner. I was in San Francisco visiting my niece and he wanted to apologize in person. I allowed him to go and do that. It’s not newsworthy or that interesting. It was dinner with an ex, and I’m actually friends with all of my exes. I’m not a person who holds anger or bitterness,” Ingram explained.
Despite everything, Ingram said she’ll always care about Filner to some degree.
“I’ll always care about the person that he is, absolutely,” she said.
In time, and with treatment, Ingram believes there’s hope for redemption for Filner.
“I think he has pathology to deal with. I don’t know if you want to call him a monster or not – those were his words. But he certainly has some troubles and issues in himself that he needs to deal with, and I think he is doing that.”
Officials are searching for a man who allegedly grabbed a woman on the street Wednesday and tried to pull her pants off.
According to police, the incident happened around 4:20 a.m. in the 1100 block of 4th avenue near downtown San Diego.
Officials say the woman was walking down the street when the suspect allegedly grabbed her from behind and attempted to pull off her pants.
The victim screamed and the unknown man fled the scene, running northbound on 4th Avenue. The woman was not injured.
Officials describe the suspect as a Hispanic male in his mid to late 30s, approximately 5-foot-10 and 180 to 200 pounds. He had dark hair with gray spots and was wearing a dirty, sleeveless, off-white sweatshirt, tan cargo pants or shorts and flip-flops.
The assault remains under investigation. Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or the SDPD Sex Crimes Unit at (619) 531-2210.
The principal of a San Diego elementary school has been placed on leave after being arrested on possession of drugs and a stolen weapon, the San Diego Police Department confirmed.
Rachel Escobedo, 45, is the principal at Lee Elementary School in Paradise Hills. Officials say she was arrested over the weekend on charges of possessing drugs and a loaded, stolen firearm.
On Wednesday, the San Diego Unified School District confirmed that Escobedo is on leave from Lee Elementary. In the meantime, the district said they’ve hired a retired principal as interim principal.
District officials said they will not comment on any details regarding Escobedo’s arrest.
According to police, Escobedo was arrested around 8:20 p.m. Saturday on Missy Court in San Diego’s Redwood Village neighborhood.
Police say a resident in the area called authorities to report two people – one of those being Escobedo – possibly using drugs inside a parked car.
When an officer arrived at the scene, he approached the vehicle and made contact with Escobedo and a 60-year-old male passenger.
The officer searched the car and found an open vodka bottle and marijuana in the center console, officials said.
In the trunk, police say the officer found a loaded pistol, which had been reported stolen, and more drugs, including baggies containing 22 pills and a narcotic-like substance.
Escobedo was released from jail Sunday after posting a $25,000 bail. She’s set to appear in court on Sept. 17 for her arraignment.
NASA's nearly four-decade-old Voyager 1 spacecraft has embarked on an "historic leap" into interstellar space, making it the first man-made object to leave the solar system.
Voyager team members monitoring the probe suspected last year that it might have reached the milestone, but did not have confirmation until they analyzed data to confirm Voyager's position -- about 12 billion miles from the sun. Voyager left Earth -- nearly 93 million miles from the sun -- in 1977 and still sends back signals to scientists, who continue to marvel at the probe's durability.
"Voyager has boldly gone where no probe has gone before, marking one of the most significant technological achievements in the annals of the history of science, and adding a new chapter in human scientific dreams and endeavors," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington.
The Fiat 500-sized probe has entered a transitional region outside the solar system where some effects from the sun remain evident. Researchers used data gleaned from a coronal mass ejection -- a powerful burst of solar wind and magnetic fields from the sun -- in March 2012 to locate Voyager.
When energy from the burst arrived at Voyager 1's location about a year later, it caused vibrations around the spacecraft. Voyager 1's instruments detected the vibrations, which allowed scientists to determine that the density of plasma surrounding the spacecraft was consistent with what they expected in interstellar space.
"We literally jumped out of our seats when we saw these oscillations in our data -- they showed us the spacecraft was in an entirely new region, comparable to what was expected in interstellar space, and totally different than in the solar bubble," said Don Gurnett, a team member based at the University of Iowa. "Clearly we had passed through the heliopause, which is the long-hypothesized boundary between the solar plasma and the interstellar plasma."
Team members generally accept Aug. 25, 2012 as the date Voyager 1 arrived in the space between stars.
The Voyager spacecrafts continue to impress with their longevity. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977, passing Jupiter and Saturn.
Voyager 2, launched 16 days before its twin, went on to Uranus and Neptune and is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. Scientists said they are not certain when it, too, will cross into interstellar space. 
Both probes still send back low-watt signals. A signal from Voyager 1 takes about 17 hours to travel to Earth via NASA's Deep Space Network stations.
The artist's concept, at right, shows general locations of the two Voyagers. Voyager 1 can be seen above Voyager 2, just beyond the blue solar bubble in interstellar space.
Voyager 1 will now study exotic particles in the never-before-explored part of the universe. The probe also carries a gold-plated disc containing multicultural greetings, songs and photos -- useful in the event it encounters intelligent life.
"The team’s hard work to build durable spacecraft and carefully manage the Voyager spacecraft's limited resources paid off in another first for NASA and humanity," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We expect the fields and particles science instruments on Voyager will continue to send back data through at least 2020. We can't wait to see what the Voyager instruments show us next about deep space.
More Southern California Stories:
A parole and probation sweep in San Diego’s North County resulted in the arrest of 15 people Wednesday, the Encinitas Sheriff’s Station confirmed.
Officials say nearly 50 people were contacted during the 5-hour parole and probation check in Encinitas, San Marcos, Vista, Oceanside, Carlsbad and Rancho Penasquitos.
In the end, a total of 15 parolees were arrested. Other parolees were in compliance, while some were not home and will be checked on another time, officials said. The 15 people arrested ranged in ages from 18 to 49.
Wednesday’s “Operation Neptune” was led by 70 deputies from the Encinitas, Lemon Grove, San Marcos, Vista and Fallbrook stations along with officers from the Oceanside Police Department, San Diego Police Department and County Probation office.
The purpose of the sweep was to ensure parolees and probationers are complying with conditions of their release and also as a tool to follow up on theft and drug investigations. Officials called the sweep a “zero tolerance” operation.
To report suspicious activity in your neighborhood, call the Sheriff’s Department at (858) 565-5200 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Before San Diego can't even think about a new downtown Chargers stadium, city leaders say we need to get the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center approved.
On Thursday, planners showed new images of the proposed expansion they will present to the California Coastal Commission on October 9.
The San Diego Unified Port District’s plan involves adding more pedestrian access, public views, a new promenade bayside and the rerouting of truck traffic for safer pedestrian walkways. It also offers ways to save energy including the use of natural light and ventilation as well as storm water retention and filtration.
“This is not something that popped up overnight or a last minute idea put forward by an individual, this is a project sculpted over time to be reflective of all our needs,” said San Diego Interim Mayor and City Council President Todd Gloria.
The goal of the port’s plan, endorsed by many community and business leaders, is to improve the waterfront while also creating more convention center space and lure or retain large conventions, like Comic-Con, that want to keep participants all under one roof.
The San Diego Chargers have a different expansion in mind: a joint-use stadium and convention center in East Village, blocks away from the current convention center.
So when city leaders will seek commission approval for the $520 million expansion project, the Chargers want in on that meeting.
The team has already appealed to the Coastal Commission and that's a big problem for city leaders who've been pushing their expansion project.
"These are not mutually exclusive projects. We're going to do this one first, and then we'll deal with that one next," Gloria said.
Chargers spokesperson Mark Fabiani said the team’s $1.2 billion plan would free up land at the Qualcomm Stadium site and Sports Arena which would draw attention and money from developers.
Also, the team believes their plan could help San Diego attract large sporting events like the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Fours as well as political conventions.
San Diego Convention Center Corporation Chair Phil Blair said the idea proposed by the San Diego Chargers may be considered in the future, just not right now.
“Once we've absolutely maxed out our expansion here, and this probably will be it, then we may need a second convention center and that might tie in with a football field, or not," Blair said.
Sheriff's deputies have cleared an elementary school in Lakeside that was placed on lockdown for about an hour on Thursday.
Lindo Park Elementary School was placed on lockdown around 2:20 p.m. when deputies received a phone call from a concerned mother.
Though deputies are still investigating details, officials say a mother of a Lindo Park student may have called the school and said the child's father, who's her ex-husband, was coming to pick up the student, and was known to sometimes carry a firearm.
Deputies rushed to the school and placed the campus on lockdown as a precaution.
Officials say they temporarily detained a suspect, but that person has since been released. The person was not found to be carrying a weapon, officials confirmed, and there was never a parent on campus with a gun.
No one on campus was injured, officials said.
During the lockdown, officials went door-to-door, searching every room to ensure every student and teacher was safe.
By 3:40 p.m. the lockdown was lifted at Lindo Park Elementary School, and deputies remained on campus. The school is located at 12824 Lakeshore Dr.
View Lindo Park Elementary School in a larger map
Workers at the Edmonton Humane Society are calling the survival of two kittens “a miracle” after they made a five-day train trip from Chicago to Edmonton, Canada with no food or water.
The kittens were found by a worker who heard a "meow" in a container that was stowed on the train for an estimated five days and discovered the two kittens.
The worker took the two one-month-old kittens to a nearby humane society where workers say they were dirty, timid and extremely hungry.
“No one seems to know how they got in there,” said Shawna Randolph, spokeswoman for the Edmonton Humane Society. “We’re pretty sure they just got stuck in there and was sealed up and no one knew they were inside. It is a miracle that they are alive.”
Randolph said the train ride from Chicago was a five-day trip, but the kittens could have been stowed away in the boxcar for longer.
The shelter said the kittens could have been placed in the container by a stray cat that didn’t make it back to the train before it was sealed.
“We’d hate to think that someone purposely put them in there,” Randolph said.
But despite the lack of food and water, Randolph said the shelter’s medical team expects the kittens to survive.
“They’re still extremely timid, but they have full tummies now,” she said. “They were extremely hungry and thirsty but otherwise OK, which is just astounding.”
The miracle kittens were dubbed Chicago Joe and Boxcar Willemina.
The tour bus that crashed Sept. 1 near Pala had been repeatedly cited and placed "out of service" by California Highway Patrol for having brake problems.
The driver of the "Polar Express" bus that crashed on its way from L.A. to Casino Pauma told officials his brakes failed going around a curve. 10 people were injured during the accident.
NBC7 Investigates uncovered documents that show brake problems with the vehicle dating back to 2011, and five unsatisfactory safety inspections in 2011, 2012 and 2013 for the "Polar Express" company that operates the bus.
The documents reveal weaknesses in the system meant to ensure tour buses are kept in safe operating condition.
In March 2012, CHP placed the bus "out of service" for having defective brakes on more than 20 percent of the service brakes on the vehicle. Also during that March 2012 inspection, one of the company's two buses would not start. The vehicle had to be jump-started before CHP could inspect it, the documents show.
Casino Pauma provided a phone number for the "Polar Express" bus company, but a woman reached at the phone number provided said it was a wrong number and the establishment reached was a Chinese food restaurant.
A Casino Pauma spokeswoman later said the family operates both a Chinese food restaurant and the bus company. Repeated other attempts to contact the company were not returned.
Mike Kelley, a CHP motor carrier specialist in L.A., said CHP inspects buses and serves an advisory-only role to the bus company. CHP can make recommendations to the PUC that the company's operating authority not be renewed, and it can forward inspection reports to the District Attorney.
"If we find conditions that rise to the level of the 'out of service' criteria, we place a sticker on the vehicle that says this vehicle is 'out of service,'" Kelley said.
Tour bus passengers can look for that sticker in the windshield of a bus to determine if it is out-of-service or not.
The bus that crashed was not officially out-of-service at the time of the crash, but the bus company had received an "unsatisfactory" ranking during its last inspection on Aug. 27, 2013. CHP inspects both the individual buses and the overall maintenance and safety program of bus companies.
Kelley said the particular bus that crashed and the bus company had numerous equipment violations during past inspections, but this time around, the company failed the safety inspections due to missing driver's licensing records.
"You can see from 2011 to 2012 the number of violations on the equipment decreased significantly, and continued to 2013 to where now we're down to only seven equipment violations," Kelley said. "Most of those were not directly related to an item on the vehicle being unsafe - it was a missing license plate or a crack in the windshield."
"We're seeing from our perspective in Motor Carrier (unit) improvement each year with the company, but there are still little things," he said.
CHP inspects bus carriers overall maintenance programs twice a year. "Polar Express" received five "unsatisfactory" reports and one "satisfactory" report in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
CHP notes from those inspections state:
"Carrier's preventative maintenance program is not adequate to ensure the vehicles are kept in safe and proper operating condition." That sentence was notated on inspections in August 2011 and March 2012. In the August 2011 inspection, the company's other bus was placed 'out-of-service' for having "imminently hazardous conditions present."
The 2011 and 2013 reports also note that the "Carrier does not systematically inspect and maintain vehicles at regular intervals as required."
In March 2012, the CHP noted: "The defects noted in the vehicle inspection report appear to be long-standing in nature. There is no evidence the carrier is repairing and/or fixing the equipment. The overall condition of the vehicles appears to be very poor."
The "Polar Express" received a satisfactory carrier rating in January 2013, even though the inspector noted an "audible brake" and some brakes out of adjustment on the bus that did not crash. The report also states the carrier arrived an hour and a half late to the inspection.
Kelley said during one inspection a bus was placed out-of-service for a brake issue but the operator was able to fix the problem on the spot, and the bus was placed back into service immediately.
Anyone from the public can check on the rating and condition of a tour bus or tour bus company by calling the CHP and requesting the information, Kelley said.
"This is a foreign area to a lot of people in the public to know that we exist, and we are here for safety, and we can advise them, 'Here's what a company's history is,' and you can make an informed decision before you decide to use a company," he said.
All of the victims in the Pala crash, including the driver, were released from Palomar Hospital within two days of the crash.
The investigation into what caused the crash is ongoing.
