The New Jersey waitress whose story was questioned after she claimed she received an anti-gay note instead of a tip is now out of a job.

The Gallop Asian Bistro said Saturday that Dayna Morales will no longer be working there. On its Facebook page, the restaurant said it was a "joint decision" with Morales that she move on.

"This has been an unfortunate incident for Gallop Asian Bistro, our employees, and our customers," the post said.

Last month, Morales posted a photo on Facebook showing the bill with a line through the tip area. The photo of the receipt showed someone had written, "I'm sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle."

But days later, a New Jersey couple came forward to NBC 4 New York, claiming the receipt was theirs and that they had left a tip and did not write a note, suggesting it was used for a hoax. The handwriting, they said, was not theirs, and they also supplied what they said was a credit card statement showing they were charged for the total plus the $18 tip.

After Morales' initial Facebook post, her story got national attention and she began receiving money from all over the world. She said at the time that she planned to donate some of it to the Wounded Warriors Project.

This week, three people who sent money to a PayPal account set up in her name say their electronic donations were refunded.

Morales did not respond to requests for comment Friday about the donations being returned but in her last interview with NBC 4 New York, maintained she had been telling the truth.

"All I know is what I've been saying," she said. 

A gas line broken during an overnight robbery forced a Midway District restaurant to close Sunday morning, San Diego Police officials said.

People inside the Broken Yolk in the 3500 block of Midway Drive were told to evacuate just before 7 a.m. as firefighters responded to a ruptured gas line.

The gas was shut off about 15 minutes later. Police were called in to investigate a connected robbery when the restaurant workers discovered an unknown amount of money was missing from the register.

Police believe a robber stepped on a gas line and broke it as he tried to enter the building.

Investigators found the bars across a window had been plied open, and they recovered possible fingerprints from the suspect, police said.

In surveillance video, the suspect's face was hidden, so no description is available. 

The Broken Yolk will be closed for the remainder of Sunday as SDG&E crews fix the gas leak.

A man died when he ran onto Interstate 5 and was hit by several vehicles early Sunday morning, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The Hispanic man between 25 and 35 years old has not been publicly identified, pending notification of his family.

San Diego Police said he was possibly a transient living on an Old Town hill near the freeway.

They believe he was scared by gunshots at a nearby gas station and started running toward the I-5 just north of Old Town Avenue around 3:15 a.m.

As he tried to cross the southbound lanes, he was hit several times and died on the scene.

California Highway Patrol issued a Sig Alert on the southbound I-5 and closed the freeway for about an hour.

CHP will continue investigating the case.

The Cabrillo National Monument will hold its 100 anniversary celebration Sunday, after it was postponed in October due to the federal government shutdown.

The shutdown hit the monument and its visitors hard.

First the area was closed off to visitors due to the shutdown, and then officials announced that the centennial celebration would no longer be held.

The monument later reopened to visitors on Oct. 17 after being closed for 16 days.

As part of the centennial celebration, on Saturday visitors were treated to tours of the lighthouse and a swing dance.

Sunday’s centennial celebration is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Cake will be served before it at 1 p.m.

Cabrillo National Monument commemorates the September 1542 landing of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay. On October 14, 1913 President Woodrow Wilson designated the space for a statue of Cabrillo.

The medical examiner's office has idenitifed the man who died on Nov. 28 after witnesses say he was struck by two vehicles near an Oceanside crosswalk.

The accident occurred in the 3500-block of Mission Avenue, near North Foussat Road, at about 5:45 p.m., according to officials with the Oceanside Police Department.

Police said they received a report of a serious injury accident in the area, and officers who responded to the scene found 52-year-old Kenneth Klose under a vehicle in the eastbound lane.

According to witness statements and physical evidence, Klose was walking outside the crosswalk and was struck by the driver’s side mirror of a GMC pickup truck.

The impact reportedly caused Klose to fall to the ground, at which point he was then run over by a Dodge Caravan that was traveling eastbound.

Once they arrived on scene, emergency personnel removed Klose from under the vehicle and Oceanside Fire Department officials administered first aid.

Klose was later pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Both drivers involved with the crash stopped and cooperated with police. Neither of them were suspected of drunk driving or speeding, police said.

The M.E.'s office said that Klose was living a transient lifestyle at the time of his death, which was caused by multiple blunt force injuries.

A motorist who was hit and killed when he got out of his car after a minor accident, set off a series of fender-benders involving about 50 cars behind him. The crashes closed the westbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Downingtown to Morgantown as a storm brought heavier snow than expected to the region.

Multiple crashes were reported across the region today as drivers and road crews were caught off-guard by the intensity of the snowfall. Hazardous conditions caused multiple fender-benders which also shut portions of I-95 in Philadelphia today as well as the Platt Bridge which is a major artery to and from Philadelphia International Airport. All planes at PHL were grounded during the late afternoon.

Road conditions were treacherous, despite PennDOT's preparations, which began on Saturday.

"We got the roads salted well for the transition," said Gene Blaum, spokesman for PennDOT. "The intensity is just so strong."

The snow moved in around 11:30 a.m. and about an hour before that, PennDOT deployed 300 trucks to treat the roadways. By early afternoon, the full fleet of 415 trucks were working the roads.

"It was supposed to be relatively light throughout the afternoon. This is a much heavier snowfall than what was predicted," said PennDOT spokesman Gene Blaum. Crews prepped the roads, beginning on Saturday and again mid-morning, preparing for a transition from light snowfall to freezing rain.

The snow was expected to start changing to sleet around 6 p.m., according to NBC10 First Alert Meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz. On the map below, he said the region swathed in pink could see 3" to 6" of snow and sleet.

Temperatures held below freezing across most of the area as the snow moved in and that, coupled with the storm's intensity made roads slippery, causing drivers to lose control. The majority of the accidents have been minor.

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I-95 was shut down Southbound near 322 and 452 in Delaware County for nearly five hours. On the Northbound side, an accident shut the highway down at Exit 20, the Columbus Blvd. exit. And in Bensalem, Bucks County, police say fender benders brought traffic to a standstill on Street Road, which brought brought drivers out into the street:

The Platt Bridge which goes across the Schuylkill river, taking many commuters to and from the airport, closed down in both directions due to hazardous conditions at 1:15 p.m. The Eastbound lanes opened back up at 2 p.m. and then shut again until after the Eagles game, when both sides reopened.

Crews were called to re-treat the roads around The Linc as people headed in to watch the Eagles take on the Detroit Lions for the early afternoon game at 1 p.m. in near white-out conditions. The weather proved to be too nasty for many fans who left early.

PennDOT's Metzger warned all the other fans who still had to make the drive home: 

"Take your time, slow down and you'll get there," said PennDOT's Charles Metzger who advised drivers who had to be on the road to "leave plenty of time and space between you and the person in front of you."

SEPTA warned riders to expect delays on all routes due to the weather. And New Jersey Transit says it is cross-honoring tickets due to the messy winter weather.

Cross-honoring will be in effect system-wide starting at 6 p.m. on Sunday and will continue through the end of the service day on Monday.

Customers can use any NJ Transit ticket or pass on rail, light rail or bus routes, including private bus carriers.

The agency says it is trying to minimize delays and ensure full service ahead of a winter storm that is forecast to intensify by Sunday afternoon.

Officials say customers should check NJ Transit's website for up-to-the-minute service information.

Severe winter weather has frozen airport runways across the country, forcing flight delays and cancellations at the San Diego International Airport.

The Airport Authority said as of 1 p.m. Sunday, 76 flights were affected here in San Diego.

Eight were canceled, while 68 were delayed. Delays range from 15 minutes and 2 hours.

American Airlines canceled seven flights to or from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and one United flight was canceled to Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport.

Travelers can check the status of their flights on the San Diego Airport's website.

An investigation is underway to find the suspect who opened fire at an Arco gas station in Old Town Sunday morning.

No one was injured during the shooting at the Arco on the 3800 block of Old Town Avenue around 3:15 a.m.

Police said a man in a light-colored sedan parked across the street from the gas station, got out of his car and shot several rounds at a white van that had just finished getting gas.

The van’s driver immediately reversed to get away, hitting a pole at the station, and then sped forward through a fence. The van almost veered down an embankment that leads down to Interstate 5.

A man and a woman were in the white van. Police said they may know who shot at them but are being uncooperative.

The van was shot at least seven times.

No shell casings were discovered, so police believe the suspect could have been using a revolver.

Investigators got no help from the gas station’s surveillance camera, which didn't appear to work.

Police said a nearby pedestrian was possibly scared by the gunshots and ran down the embankment onto the southbound 5 freeway, where he was hit by several vehicles and killed.

At least one person was killed and eight others were injured in overnight gun violence across Chicago Sunday.

The most recent shooting took place just before 9 a.m. Sunday when a 41-year-old man was shot in the Pilsen neighborhood.

Police said the man was shot in the back and left forearm and was transported in critical condition to John H. Stroger Hospital. The shooting appears to be gang related, officials said.

Around 4 a.m. Sunday, a 22-year-old man was shot while in a car in the 100 block of North Lorel Avenue.

Police said the man was sitting in a car with others when they were approached by an armed offender on foot who fired several shots at the car. The man suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

He was transported to Stroger Hospital in stable condition, police said.

Hours earlier, three people were shot at a lounge in Englewood.

Police said the shooting took place around 1:45 a.m. when four offenders fired shots into a lounge on the 1100 block of West 63rd Street. A 31-year-old man was shot in the abdomen and was transported in serious condition to Stroger Hospital.

A 30-year-old man was shot in the abdomen and foot. The man fled the scene in a friend’s van and was stopped by police on his way to the hospital, according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada.

The man was stopped near West 64th Street and South Elizabeth Street where officers discovered he had been shot. The man was then transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition.

A third man was also shot during the incident but it was not clear if he was shot inside the lounge.

The 24-year-old man transported himself to Christ Hospital with a wound to the upper right back. He was listed in stable condition, Estrada said.

No one was in custody for the shooting as of Sunday afternoon.

Ten minutes earlier, a 26-year-old man was discovered shot in the 5600 block of West Bloomingdale Avenue.

Police responded to a call from a person around 1:35 a.m. and found the man on the ground with gunshot wounds to the chest and side of his body, Estrada said.

The man was taken in critical condition to Loyola University Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

Police are conducting a homicide investigation and said the shooting may be gang related.

An hour earlier, a 42-year-old man was shot in the 3800 block of West Diversey Avenue, police said.

The man was a passenger in a parked car in an alley when a dark-colored SUV passed by and fired shots, striking the man in the back.

The driver of the car dropped the victim off at Our Lady of Resurrection Hospital where he was later transferred to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in stable condition.

On Saturday, a man and a woman were shot around 6:30 p.m. while getting out of a car in the 4400 block of South Princeton Avenue.

A 33-year-old woman was shot in the arm and both legs and was taken in stable condition to Stroger Hospital. A 44-year-old man suffered a graze wound to the neck and refused medical attention, police said.
 

Black Friday deals are getting another day in the sun on Green Monday, which this year falls on Dec. 9.

Green Monday, the second Monday in December, was a term coined by eBay to describe its best day of sales for the month. It's also a popular day for last-minute shoppers during the busy holiday season.

Green Monday was the highest traffic day in December for Walmart.com two years in a row, Walmart CEO Joel Anderson said in a statement. The retailer is bringing back some of its best Black Friday deals in a last ditch effort to get last-minute shoppers to open their wallets.

One of their best offers up for grabs is the Xbox One Day One Edition Solution Bundle for $617.

Check out a full list of their best Cyber Monday deals on Walmart.com.

Best Buy followed suit with its own two-day cyber shopping event that starts Monday. Click here to see electronic retailer's best Green Monday discounts.

TheGreenMonday.com curated the best online offers from around the web. The site features the cyber deals from big box stores like Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Macy's. Online retailers like Overstock and Amazon are also running Green Monday deals that appear on the site.

Amidst a crowd that loudly booed Giants quarterback Eli Manning for much of the game, the San Diego Chargers beat the New York Giants Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium, keeping themselves alive (barely) as they chase for a playoff spot in a congested AFC race.

"It was huge for us, in terms of our confidence," said Chargers linebacker Donald Butler.

Added linebacker Jarret Johnson: "We needed this. We needed a big victory like this. It wasn't close, it wasn't coming down to the wire."

It was Johnson's first game at home since playing the Cowboys at the end of September.

"It felt phenomenal," he said. "To be able to run around and compete, even with all the stuff I'm dealing with, felt awesome."

San Diego shut out New York for the first half of the game and only allowed 14 points in the second. The offense rushed for more than 100 yards (their ninth time doing so in 13 games,) and Keenan Allen and Ryan Mathews both had strong showings, with two touchdowns and 29 rushes for 103 yards, respectively.

"We got up on top of these guys pretty early and put them out of their misery," said Allen. "They didn't really want to play anymore."

A 51-yard pass play put the Giants at the Chargers 32 on their second drive of the game, but an interception by Butler gave Philip Rivers back the ball. Three plays later, San Diego was on the board with seven points, after Rivers hit Allen for a 43-yard catch-and-run.

A 36-yard field goal attempt by Chargers kicker Nick Novak put San Diego up by 10 points. Late in the second quarter, Allen scored his second touchdown of the game (after leaving the field with an apparent shoulder injury, but then returning.)

"I fell too hard," Allen said. "Tried to get away from the contact but ended up having too much contact by myself. They took an x-ray of it and it was fine."

A touchdown pass to Danny Woodhead with 24 seconds left to play in the second quarter put San Diego up 24-0 as both teams headed into the locker room for halftime.

"Starting fast is important in all games," Woodhead said. "We were able to and it was big."

In the opening drive of the second quarter, a forced fumble caused Rivers to lose the ball at their own 18, and New York finally put points on the board with a rushing touchdown by Peyton Hillis. The Giants scored again in the fourth quarter to bring their points to 14.

San Diego would score in the third quarter, this time on a rushing play by running back Ryan Mathews, and in the fourth quarter, on a 27-yard field goal.

With less than two minutes to play, cornerback Shareece Wright intercepted Manning to end the game.

The Chargers will face the Denver Broncos Thursday night.

The good thing is we've played them before and we're familiar with them," Johnson said. "It's gonna be a short week. We can't look at the big picture. We've got to just keep plugging away."

NOTES:

***Linebacker Melvin Ingram played today for the first time this season, after tearing his ACL in May.

"It's just a blessing," Ingram said. "It's a blessing to be back and a blessing to get a victory."

***Rookie wide receiver Keenan Allen broke a team record Sunday, getting 60 catches his freshman year.

"Antonio [Gates] came up to me before the game and told me I only needed two catches to break the record," Allen said. "I didn't know. I was definitely surprised. It's nothing I expected to do coming in, but I'll take it."

***Sunday was the first time San Diego's projected starting offensive line played together since Week 3 of the season.

***With 3,332 career rushing yards, Ryan Mathews moved today to No. 5 all-time in Chargers history, passing Chuck Muncie (3,309).

San Diego police are looking for the man who stole cash from a sandwich shop Sunday.

The robbery happened at 5:45 p.m. at the Subway in the 5400-block of El Cajon Blvd. in City Heights.

The employee who was working at the time told NBC 7 that the man showed him a knife and asked for all the money in the register. The employee handed over the cash, and the robber calmly left the restaurant.

The employee described the robber as a white man in his 60s wearing a blue jacket and cowboy hat.

No one was hurt during the robbery.

Check back for updates.

View 5437 El Cajon Blvd in a larger map

Even with the high home prices in the Silicon Valley, would you buy a burned-out house for $400,000?

The owners of such a home in San Jose are asking that much for their fire-ravaged property. And it might even be a bargain in a neighborhood where the average sale price nears $1 million.

The Northern California home is very close to downtown and steps from San Jose State University. These are two great selling points, according to realtors.

There isn't a lot of inventory in the Bay Area real estate market, but there is high demand. So while some might look at this place and say, "Wow! What a mess!" others see it as a great investment.

One couple in the market for a home recently looked at the property.

"It’s partially burned, but it probably has a lot of opportunities to build it and make it a nice house," potential buyer Farokh Eskasi said.

Realtor Bernie Sinsay said there is a very real chance the property could go for well over the asking price.

"Is that land worth $400,000? At first blush, I wouldn’t say it’s worth $400,000, but I’ve been really surprised at things that have gone on the last few months," Sinsay said. "Stuff that I didn’t think would go for what it did, did."

Sinsay said he already has three or four clients who are interested in looking at the property, which he said will likely have to be taken down to the studs and rebuilt.

He says the average price for a home in this neighborhood is in the $800,000 range.

Neighbors said the home was abandoned for years before fire destroyed it in June 2012. They also said they would love to see the land purchased and the home rebuilt.

The agency that oversees New York’s airports has added snowy owls to its no-fly list, shooting down at least two at Kennedy Airport and issuing an alert to kill any more that are spotted there, an airport source told NBC 4 New York. 

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey issued the shoot-to-kill order for the birds after one flew into a jet's engine while the plane was on a tarmac at Kennedy last week, the source said.

Port Authority workers shot two snowy owls with a shotgun on Saturday amid concerns that they would also fly into planes. A wildlife specialist who works for the Port Authority spent 45 minutes chasing one of them down, the source said.

The Port Authority had no immediate comment.

This isn’t the first time the Port Authority has killed birds over flight concerns. More than 1,000 geese were caught and gassed near Rikers Island between 2003 and 2009 to curb the potential threat to aircraft, according to the Daily News.

A commercial jet hit a goose upon takeoff in 2009, forcing the plane to land on the Hudson River in what was referred to as the Miracle on the Hudson. That brought renewed focus on the threat of bird strikes, and about 2,000 geese were rounded up and killed that year.

Hundreds have since been killed each year near airports and in parks throughout the city.

Corey Finger, bird watcher and owner of the blog 10,000 Birds, says the number of snowy owls in the area has erupted, especially at Floyd Bennett Field across the field from Kennedy Airport, and it's a rare occurrence. 

"There are so few and so rarely come down here, to shoot them seems like a complete waste," he said. 

Dr. Christine Sheppard, director of the Bird Collision Program for American Bird Conservancy and one of the world's leading experts of bird collisions, believes there are other ways to avoid bird strikes. 

"You can use radar," she said. "Create a situation where people at the airport are aware of where birds are, they can actually warn a pilot." 

Finger vividly remembers the Miracle on the Hudson, but says that airports across the country live-trap and relocate snowy owls instead of shooting them.

"You don't want a plane to go down but there must be an easier way to handles this than just shoot them," he said. 

A brush fire burning near a highway interchange south of San Diego is producing large amounts of smoke.

The fire is burning in heavy brush along northbound Interstate 805 near State Route 54 near Plaza Bonita.

NBC 7's helicopter is over the brush fire.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

 

Two pedestrians were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries after a collision with a vehicle in Bay Terraces on Monday morning, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesperson Maurice Luque.

An adult and an 8-year-old child were walking on Paradise Valley Road near Deep Dell Road when they were struck by the car at around 7:10 a.m., sending them up and over the hood, according to police.

The adult was transported to Scripps Mercy Hospital and the child was sent to Rady Children’s Hospital.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash and have been conducting traffic control in the area.

Nearly a week after 51 pilot whales were found stranded in Everglades National Park, 22 have died and 29 remain unaccounted for, a NOAA Fisheries official said Monday.

A team that included two veterinarians and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologists were examining the 11 pilot whales that were found dead in the lower Florida Keys Sunday, just days after the mass stranding in a remote part of the western Everglades.

“And they will be collecting samples for analysis that will hopefully provide clues as to why the whales stranded," said Blair Mase, the NOAA Fisheries Southeast marine mammal stranding coordinator.

Necropsies will be performed on the dead whales, which were discovered around 1 p.m. Sunday at Snipe Point just north of Sugarloaf Key. They were found within several feet of each other, according to Mase.

The whales are believed to be from the pod of 51 whales that was found stranded Tuesday in shallow waters at Highland Beach, a remote area of the western boundary of Everglades National Park in Monroe County on the Gulf Coast.

• PHOTOS: Whales Stranded Near Everglades National Park

It's not known where the rest of the whales are.

Mase noted that the animals, which normally live in very deep water, have been out of their normal home range for almost a week at least. They will start succumbing to health problems such as dehydration and malnutrition, she said.

“And really, that’s what our vets have reported so far today on scene, was that many of these whales are showing signs of emaciation and malnutrition,” she said.

A total of 20 whales in three pods were spotted moving south in the Everglades on Friday, according to Mase.

Pilot whales are the most common to end up in mass strandings because of their cohesive nature.

Mase said Monday that after the latest group of 11 dead whales was found, the Coast Guard Auxiliary flew over the Lower Keys and did not see any more whales nearby.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary continues to fly over the area. Meanwhile, Mase encouraged fishermen and boaters to report any sightings of whales, alive or dead, to 1-877-WHALE-HELP.

“We’re being vigilant. Our eyes are open, because there is a possibility that there could be more whales in the area, but it is fairly remote, and there’s a lot of islands and such where they could be," she said.

Interim Mayor Todd Gloria was re-elected as San Diego City Council President on Monday.

He was unanimously approved in the annual election by his fellow council members to the position he’s held since last December. He took over as interim mayor on Aug. 30.

“Having the confidence of my fellow councilmembers and the support of so many San Diegans is humbling, and I am proud to continue leading the City,” Gloria said. “Together, we have made tremendous progress in the past three months, and more hard work is ahead.”

When a new mayor is sworn in after the February Mayoral election, Gloria will remain Council President and the representative for District Three.