Former Del Mar mayor Louis “Lou” Terrell – who was struck and killed by a train while running after his dog earlier this month – will be honored with a special proclamation at the Del Mar City Council meeting Tuesday.
The city council, led by current Del Mar Mayor Lee Haydu, has declared Jan. 21, 2014, “Remembering Lou Terrell Day” in the City of Del Mar.
“Lou was a natural leader who set an example for all of us on how to make Del Mar a better place,” reads a proclamation from the council honoring Terrell. “His tremendous positive impact in this community will be significantly missed by all our residents.”
Terrell was fatally hit by an oncoming train on Jan. 3 near the train tracks in the 100-block of 11th Street, a popular crossing spot in Del Mar for surfers and pedestrians. He was taking part in one of his favorite daily activities, walking his dog, Abe, during the deadly accident.
According to investigators, Terrell was walking his unleashed dog when a northbound Amtrak train approached the area and sounded its horn. Officials believe the horn spooked the dog, which darted across the tracks with Terrell running after it. The train hit Terrell, killing him on impact.
The dog survived and was reunited with Terrell’s loved ones following the tragic accident.
Friends, family and the Del Mar City Council say Terrell loved body-surfing and would constantly catch waves at the local beach. The avid dog lover would also take daily walks around town, greeting fellow dog owners with a smile and conversation.
According to the city council, Terrell was an active member of the Del Mar community for more than 40 years. He was first appointed to a city committee on Jan. 2, 1979, serving as a member of the Beach Encroachment Committee. On Apr. 8, 1980, Terrell was elected to the city council, a position he held from 1980 to 1984.
On Apr. 20, 1981, the city council unanimously appointed Terrell as the mayor of Del Mar.
“Lou was an active participant in citizen meetings to develop the community plan and contributed significantly to our city by being the founder and early president of the Del Mar Foundation to help develop a diverse cultural arts program in the city, an endowment for the city and originating the summer concerts in the park, booking top performers to entertain citizens from all over the region,” cites Tuesday’s proclamation.
In addition to those duties, Terrell also represented Del Mar on SANDAG in 1980, served as President of Planned Parenthood of San Diego & Riverside Counties, served as a board member of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, served as a board member and president of the Foundation for Change and was Chair of the Political Science Department at San Diego State University.
A memorial was held for Terrell on Jan. 5 at the Powerhouse Community Center. There, loved ones, friends and residents remembered the countless hours Terrell dedicated to Del Mar during his lifetime and said his death was a huge loss for the community.
Evidence left at a crash scene may help San Diego police track down the driver who ran into a motorcycle and then drove off.
San Diego County Crimestoppers is offering a $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case.
A 33-year-old man was seriously injured in the collision on Wednesday, Jan. 15 around 6 a.m. along Mercy Road near the I-15 overpass.
The motorcyclist was traveling eastbound when a lowered, white Honda Civic ran the red light at the intersection of Scripps Poway Parkway and the I-15 northbound off ramp, officers said.
Items left behind by the driver of a white Honda Civic Hatchback have narrowed the search to model years 2001 to 2004.
The Honda lost a mirror and sustained noticeable damage on the driver’s side, officials said.
Witnesses also described the car as possibly having tinted windows, dark rims and a roof rack.
Officers said the Civic was exiting northbound I-15 at Scripps Poway Parkway moments before the crash.
After the collision, the driver drove back onto northbound I-15.
Anyone with information on the identity or location of the suspect or suspect vehicle can call the San Diego Police Department Traffic Division at (858) 495-7800 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.
A 7-Eleven in Vista was evacuated Tuesday after a vehicle slammed into the side of the convenience store, striking a gas meter and causing a gas leak, officials said.
The accident happened around 2:30 p.m. at a 7-Eleven located at 1595 E. Vista Way.
Vista Fire Department Battalion Chief Joe Napier said a vehicle plowed through a wall before coming to rest on top of a gas meter.
Vista fire officials said medics tended to at least one patient at the scene. By 3:40 p.m., officials confirmed that patient was not seriously injured and would be released by medics shortly.
Everyone in the store was evacuated immediately following the accident.
“Fortunately, no one was hurt,” said Napier. “We have people evacuated out of the area so that we don’t have a problem with anyone coming into contact with natural gas.”
Napier said firefighters were concerned about the possibility of natural gas getting trapped inside the store and possibly igniting, hence the prompt evacuation of the building.
“When the power is on and when there are people inside of a structure, there are a wide variety of ways that gas can be ignited – cigarette smoking, lighters, any electrical devices within the structure can ignite that gas.”
San Diego Gas & Electric was called to the scene to repair the gas leak and deal with that part of the investigation.
Meanwhile, deputies provided traffic control in the area, diverting traffic on E. Vista Way at Palomar Plane.
As of 3:20 p.m., fire officials said a building inspector was called to the scene to assist. The cause of the collision is unknown. Check back for updates on this developing story.
A BART police officer was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow officer while performing a probation search in Dublin Tuesday afternoon, police said.
The brother of fallen BART Police Sgt. Thomas A. Smith said the 42-year-old was a “great father, great uncle, great officer.” Smith leaves behind his wife, who also works in the BART Police Department, and his 6-year-old daughter, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a website dedicated to fallen officers. The shooting marks the first time a BART police officer has been killed in the line of duty.
Transit agency officials said in a statement that the shooting occurred at Park Sierra Apartments, near the intersection of Dougherty Road and Park Sierra, around 2 p.m., and Smith, a 20-year veteran of the department, was transported to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where he died of his injuries.
A number of BART officers had come to the apartment complex to do a probation search, according to Sgt. J.D. Nelson of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. They were looking for a man suspected of robberies aboard BART trains. Officers went into the apartment and at some point one officer accidentally discharged his gun, wounding Smith fatally.
“They made entry in the apartment and during the search one officer fired a shot, striking another in the apartment,” Nelson said.
The person on probation who lives at the apartment, suspected of robbing BART passengers, was not at home, and BART officers knew that, but they were not sure if anyone else was inside the apartment, which is why, wearing bullet proof vests, they kicked in the door and entered with guns drawn for the probation search.
The city of Dublin contracts with the sheriff's office for police services.
“When you're on probation, you are let out of jail with an agreement that your home or car or anything can be searched at any time,” Nelson said.
Sgt. Smith
Nelson said he assumes that the officers had their guns drawn as they entered the apartment but that the details of how or why the officer's gun went off remain unclear. It is believed the bullet found its way past Smith’s vest near his armpit as he carried his weapon in front of him.
Dublin police, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department and the FBI are among the agencies investigating the shooting.
The officer who did the shooting, a 10-year veteran, and all other BART officers at the shooting scene were taken to the Dublin Police Department for questioning.
In an emailed statement, BART officials said, "The entire BART organization is deeply saddened by this tragic event and we ask the public to keep the officer’s family in its thoughts and prayers.”
BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey said Tuesday evening his department is in mourning and would share more information Wednesday.
As word spread of the shooting, a large crowd gathered at Eden Medical Center, giving Smith an emotional send off. When a flag-draped coffin emerged, the crowd of officers saluted as Sgt. Smith's body was taken away.
“Our condolences goes out to the immediate family and friends, and the extended BART family, and the entire BART district,” Rainey said.
Attorney John Burris has been monitoring reforms made in the BART Police Department. He believes procedures will be the focus of the review.
“I know BART police officers go to academy. I would expect training to be proper,” Burris said. “That would mean there was a breakdown, and that's what the investigation will determine.”
The BART Police Department enacted serious reforms in the wake of the controversial shooting of Oscar Grant on a BART platform. Grant, who was unarmed, was shot and killed by former officer Johnannes Mehserle in the early morning hours of New Year's Day in 2009. Mehserle was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Tuesday’s shooting marks the first time in more than a decade that an officer in Alameda County has been killed by friendly-fire. Back in 2001, two Oakland police officers shot Officer William Wilkins. He was working as an undercover detective at that time, and the two officers did not realize he was one of their own.
Charges were never filed against the two officers. Wilkins' widow sued the city of Oakland and received a $3 million settlement.
Kim Tere, Jodi Hernandez and Bay City News Contributed to this report.
Three Southern California men accused of starting the 1,952-acre Colby Fire allegedly smoked marijuana as the brush fire flared, according to a federal complaint filed on Tuesday.
Clifford Eugene Henry Jr., 22, of Glendora; Steven Robert Aguirre, 21, a transient last known to live in Los Angeles; and Jonathan Carl Jarrell, 23, of Irwindale, were charged with one federal count each of unlawfully setting a fire.
The men allegedly tossed papers into a campfire when winds sent embers into the brush above Glendora, setting off the Colby Fire.
A federal complaint alleges they were camping, smoking pot and watching videos on a laptop when their campfire got out of control.
The suspects are expected to appear in federal court on Wednesday.
They face up to five years in prison if convicted, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The three men were taken into custody shortly after the fire broke out early Thursday morning amid a red flag warning denoting an elevated risk of wildfires.
Glendora police Chief Tim Staab last week a resident called police shortly after the fire began and reported seeing at least two people near what was believed to be the origin of the blaze.
The Colby Fire was 95 percent contained as of Tuesday.
It destroyed five homes, damaged 17 others and injured six people, including five firefighters and a civilian. It also prompted evacuations of several neighborhoods.
Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife were indicted Tuesday on federal corruption charges after months of investigation into gifts the couple received from a political donor who was seeking state government support for his nutritional supplement company.
The 14-count indictment accuses the McDonnells of accepting gifts totaling more than $135,000 including loans, a Rolex watch, rounds of golf at an exclusive club and designer clothes, among other gifts. It connects those gifts to support that Maureen and Bob McDonnell gave to Star Scientific, a Glen Allen, Va.-based company that makes dietary supplements.
In a statement Tuesday, McDonnell insisted he had done nothing wrong.
"I deeply regret accepting legal gifts and loans from Mr. Williams, all of which have been repaid with interest, and I have apologized for my poor judgment for which I take full responsibility," McDonnell said. "However, I repeat emphatically that I did nothing illegal for Mr. Williams in exchange for what I believed was his personal generosity and friendship."
Tuesday, his lawyers filed a memo in federal court that blasted the indictment, saying prosecutors hadn't shown that the governor had agreed to perform an official act to help Star Scientific.
"Bob McDonnell is an innocent man. He never entered into an illegal agreement with Mr. Jonnie Williams or Star Scientific, nor did he ever promise or provide them any official benefits."
The 43-page indictment against McDonnell and his wife charges the couple with one count of conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud; three counts of honest-services wire fraud; one count of conspiracy to obtain property under color of official right; six counts of obtaining property under color of official right; and one count of making false statements to a federal credit union.
McDonnell is also charged with an additional count of making a false statement to a financial institution, and Maureen McDonnell is charged with one count of obstruction of an official proceeding.
The indictment traces years of an alleged relationship between the McDonnells and Williams, whose company's dietary supplements allegedly helped people stop smoking and reduce inflammation.
Before McDonnell was even elected, the indictment claims, he used a jet owned by Williams. By the time McDonnell was about to take office, his wife, Maureen, allegedly reached out to Williams for help finding a designer dress for her husband's inauguration.
A member of McDonnell's staff, identified as "JE," talked Maureen out of the gift; "as a result, Maureen McDonnell became upset with JE," the indictment reads.
According to the indictment, Maureen McDonnell sent an email to JE, reading:
"I need to talk to you about Inaugural clothing budget. I need answers and Bob is screaming about the thousands I'm charging up in credit card debt. We are broke, have an unconscionable amount in credit card debt already, and this Inaugural is killing us!! I need answers and I need help, and I need to get this done."
Maureen did not accept the dress but said she would take a "rain check" from Williams, according to the indictment.
In April 2011, Maureen McDonnell asked Williams to take her shopping in New York City, and said that she would ensure Williams was sitting next to the governor at an upcoming political event, the indictment claims. She said she needed dresses for her daughter's wedding and her anniversary party.
Williams spent almost $20,000 on the shopping spree, including "$10,999 at Oscar de la Renta, approximately $5,685 at Louis Vuitton, and approximately $2,604 at Bergdorf Goodman," the indictment read.
In May, Maureen McDonnell told Williams that she and the governor were having severe financial difficulties, and asked him for a $50,000 loan, according to the indictment. She also said she needed $15,000 to finish paying for her daughter's wedding.
Shortly after Maureen McDonnell agreed to attend a Star Scientific event, the indictment claims, Williams had his assistant write a $50,000 check, described as a loan with a 5 percent interest rate and no documentation, and a $15,000 check marked "wedding gift."
The indictment details more alleged gifts to the McDonnells from Williams, including repeated rounds of golf at exclusive Kinlock Golf Club for the governor, his sons, their friends and the governor's future son-in-law, and a July, 2011 trip for the family to Williams' multi-million-dollar vacation home in Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.
At that house, Maureen had asked that Williams' Ferrari be available for the governor to use, the indictment claims. Later, she sent Williams an email containing only a picture of the governor in the car.
In August, 2011, Maureen admired Williams' Rolex and encouraged Williams to buy one for the governor, with "'71st Governor of Virginia' engraved on the back," the indictment read. Maureen gave the watch to the governor for Christmas.
At the same time, Williams was trying to grow his company -- particularly, getting the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University to do clinical studies of the company's supplements, including one called Anatabloc. The indictment says Maureen McDonnell spoke at Star Scientific events and sent an email to McDonnell's staffer asking about the progress on the studies: "Gov wants to know why nothing has developed w studies after [JW] gave $200,000," the indictment quotes the email as reading.
In February 2012, the governor sent an email to his staffer, "JE," saying "Pls see me about anatabloc issues at VCU and UVA. Thx."
The indictment alleges the response from JE came quickly: "will do. We need to be careful with this issue."
In March of 2012, the indictment reads, McDonnell met with Virginia's secretary of administration to discuss the state's employee health plan; during the meeting, he pulled some Anatabloc out of his pocket and said he personally took it.
More loans and vacations -- including at a luxury resort in Cape Cod -- followed, the indictment alleges. So did "yard work and other miscellaneous home repairs," including installation of a hot tub cover and staining the defendant's deck.
Williams also provided "round trip airline tickets for two of the defendants' daughters to travel
to a bachelorette party for one of the daughters in Savannah, Georgia," the indictment claims.
The indictment also claims Maureen McDonnell twice bought Star Scientific stock. Once she sold it before the deadline to disclose the ownership in official state records, the indictment claims; a second time, she transferred some of the stock into her childrens' names.
McDonnell left office earlier this month after four years in the governor's office. Virginia law limits governors to a single term.
In July, McDonnell apologized and said he had returned more than $120,000 in loans and other gifts from Johnnie Williams, the CEO of Star Scientific. He insisted that he had done nothing illegal on behalf of Star Scientific but said he'd do "things differently today than choices I made a couple of years ago."
A female Marine was stabbed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County on Saturday, U.S. Marine Corps officials confirmed.
Public Information Officer Lt. Savannah Moyer said two Marines were involved in an incident with a deadly weapon on Saturday. Earlier, Marine Corps officials confirmed it was a stabbing and that the victim had been stabbed multiple times.
According to Moyer, the victim was flown to Scripps Mercy Hospital.
WAVY, the NBC affiliate in Norfolk, Va., confirmed that the victim is Lance Cpl. Emily Hammonds (pictured.) Hammonds is from the Virginia Beach area.
On Tuesday, Pentagon sources told NBC that a male Marine stabbed Hammonds during some kind of domestic dispute. The nature of their relationship is unclear.
The Pentagon said the suspect is in the brig, a military prison.
Moyer said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has taken over the case.
All Camp Pendleton officials, including the base's commanding general Brig. Gen. John W. Bullard, have declined NBC 7's request for on-camera interviews.
The second massive snowstorm of the season buried parts of the Northeast in up to 15 inches of snow Tuesday, creating dangerous whiteout conditions that caused a messy commute and brought subzero temperatures to the region overnight. But for some, the blizzard seemed like a perfect opportunity to get out and play.
In Philadelphia, children and adults alike grabbed what they could to slide down the snow-covered Art Museum steps.
“If it slides, it rides,” said one man, explaining his technique.
In Washington, D.C, where federal offices were closed, hundreds of snow revelers took advantage of their snow day and participated in a massive snowball fight at Dupont Circle. The gathering was a hit on social media with #DCSnowballFight trending on Twitter.
The snow snarled travel on major highways in the region and backed up traffic in New York City for hours during the evening commute. One taxi driver took to the slippery sidewalk to get around a snowed in truck blocking a Manhattan street. The dangerous stunt was caught on camera.
One of the casualties of the snowstorm may have been a glass panel at Apple’s iconic cube store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. It cracked when hit by a snowblower, an Apple rep told BuzzFeed. Images of the damage were shared on social media.
Apple has not yet returned a call for comment to NBC 4 New York.
An arctic chill — an offshoot of the global vortex that wreaked havoc across the United States earlier this month— is set to last through the weekend.
Take a look at some of the stunning images of the blizzard shared on social media:
Employees at a Victoria's Secret in Texas banned a mother from breastfeeding in the store, even though nursing is allowed under company policy, Today.com reported.
A store employee in Austin last week told a mother to take her crying son into the alley outside of the store to breastfeed him after she requested a private changing room to nurse, she told a local TV station. Ashley Clawson, a 27-year-old mother of two, had just finished shopping and spent $150 at the store at the time of the request.
"I was humiliated by the whole thing. I immediately called my husband," Clawson told KTCB in Austin.
She filed two complaints before the company told her she'd receive a response in the mail. Clawson received an official apology and a $150 store gift card after her interview with the local Fox affiliate, Today.com reported.
Clawson said she has received a rush of support from people on Facebook after she took to the social media site to vent her frustration.
Mothers are allowed to breastfeed their babies in public, according to Texas state law. Victoria's Secret issued a statement after the fallout saying that it was "longstanding policy permitting mothers to nurse their children in our stores and we are sorry that it was not followed in this case."
"We have apologized to Ms. Clawson, and we are taking actions to ensure all associates understand our policy that welcomes mothers to breastfeed in our stores," the statement said.
The next time you’re cheering on the San Diego State Aztecs at Viejas Arena, know you’re being watched from above.
A San Diego State University alumnus is one of the co-founders of a new app called FanPics.
During crucial moments of the game-- like a slam dunk, three-point buzzer beater, a steal or fast break-- their camera technology captures fans’ reactions. Camera units are installed around the perimeter of Viejas Arena and triggered during these moments.
“Timing is everything. It's all about capturing that moment of joy or fear. And in sports, you have a wide range of emotions whether your team is winning or losing,” Marco Correia said.
To use the app on your iPhone or Android, you type in your row and seat number, and the photos appear with a caption. Then, you can share those photos on social media.
SDSU Associate Athletic Director Steve Schnall says they’re happy to bring this new app to Aztecs games. He says it's all about enhancing the fan experience.
“With HD it’s very easy to sit at home and watch the game. So what’s going to bring that experience and make it something you can absolutely not experience at home?” Schnall said.
But what if you don’t want your photo taken or distributed on social media?
Kim Gough from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego says when you go to a big sporting event, you should expect that to happen. There are signs around the arena telling fans they’ll be filmed.
Capturing photos of fans isn't illegal, but Gough has one concern.
“Now it is attached to your Facebook, Instagram, Vine, to all these other social media sites. What happens beyond that point? It’s not just taking a picture and walking out. Now it proliferates to a whole other market and a different part of the world because of technology,” Gough said. “You think you’re taking a picture and there’s a whole lot of activity that could happen in the back end that you know nothing about.”
Students on the SDSU campus had a mixed reaction to the app.
“It kinda sounds a lot like being on the Jumbotron. You go to the game expecting to be seen,” freshman Garrett Stanton said.
“It’s not for me, but for some people, I think it’s fun. If my picture showed up, I wouldn’t even know because who would say ‘hey, there you are,’” graduate student Ian Pierce said.
“I think it’s a good way to rally the school spirit and to see everyone get into the game,” graduate student Lindsay Miller said.
Correia says they take privacy concerns seriously. They are working on adding new features including ticket code integration where only you can look at your seat and a function to blur your face.
“People have been focusing on the court for a long time, and this is the first time we're getting to focus on the people themselves,” Correia said.
Correia and his team dream that FanPics will one day be at every venue in the world.
The surfer reported missing off La Jolla has been found unharmed, lifeguards said.
The woman was last seen surfing off Tourmaline Surf Park, a popular La Jolla surfing spot, around 8 a.m., lifeguards told NBC 7.
Her friend reported her missing. An hour later lifeguards confirmed the missing surfer was located.
San Diego’s surfers have enjoyed unusually high waves since Sunday. In fact, the high surf advisory is in effect through Saturday.
Lifeguards said they have been extra vigilant as large swells hit beaches from Oceanside to Coronado.
The waves are so strong that the Ocean Beach Pier was shut down for a few hours Tuesday to prevent possible injuries.
Lifeguards say they've had to help a few surfers who couldn't make it back to the beach, but the number of rescues has been average for surf like this.
If you are an inexperienced swimmer or surfer, it’s recommended you stay out of the water to avoid rip currents and surges.
The New Year brings resolutions-- and brand new health insurance deductibles.
Insurance broker Erick Lundy says get ready to pay more.
"Five years ago, it was very common to see a $250, $500 deductible," Lundy said. "Today, you're seeing it anywhere from $1,000 all the way up to $5,000 deductible."
Lundy says higher health care costs are to blame, along with health insurance changes. If you get medical care now, you often pay out-of-pocket expenses until you reach your deductible. But that deductible only lasts for a year then it starts over again on Jan. 1. And many people watch that deductible go up every year.
Luanne McCraney says she's getting ready to pay more.
"I think it's going up by about 30 percent," McCraney said.
Yaphet Yokley has watched his premiums and deductibles "increase dramatically over the last four or five years."
But you should expect more than just a higher deductible. You should also expect pressure to pay your bill when you receive service.
"As the deductibles continue to rise, providers are seeing that they are not being paid," Lundy said. "So they're now starting to bill up front."
That means you might be asked to pay before the medical visit or before you leave the hospital.
Agents at San Diego’s Drug Enforcement Administration office are becoming increasingly concerned with anything having to do with hash oil, a marijuana byproduct. This now includes electronic cigarettes.
E-cigarettes are designed as an alternative to traditional cigarettes. They are battery-powered and filled with liquids which are turned to vapor, but some people are using them to try and get high.
“Because of the way these mechanisms work, the odor is highly diminished. So if a parent thinks because they don’t smell it on their kid, that doesn’t necessarily mean their kids aren’t using,” said Gary Hill, Assistant Special Agent In Charge with the San Diego DEA office.
Law enforcement agents aren’t the only ones concerned.
“If it wasn’t made for it, don’t put it in there. You’re dealing with batteries, you’re dealing with heat, potentially if it’s hot enough – flames or fire,” said Christine Gentry, chief operating officer for Vapure , a San Diego-based electronic cigarette company. Their six county stores each have signs telling customers not to speak with employees about using their products with illegal drugs.
“The moment they bring it up when they come in the store we tell them, ‘sorry, we can’t talk to you about that,’ and if they push it again, we just tell them to leave,” Gentry said.
“We’re finding these people who utilize these types of vaporizers with hash oil, the intensity of the high is tremendously more so than traditional smoking in a pipe or cigarette type of form,” Hill said.
Hash oil is most commonly extracted from marijuana plants using highly volatile Butane gas. The process can lead to explosions, and San Diego has seen several in recent months. The DEA considers San Diego the number one hot spot for this problem nationwide.
“So the concern lies if we see more and more people wanting the demand for hash oil because they want to use hash oil in these vaporizing cigarettes, the demand for hash oil goes up. Therefore, the potential for other hash oil extraction labs increase, which increases the potential for more fires and explosions,” Hill explained.
Some electronic cigarette makers say hash oil is too thick to work in their products. The DEA says the more parents are educated, the better, as this is not a problem that seems to be going away anytime soon.
A busted water main in Kearny Mesa Wednesday caused water to gush into streets and left surrounding office buildings without water for the remainder of the day, officials said.
According to Arian Collins, supervising public information officer for the City of San Diego Public Utilities Department, a private contractor struck a 12-inch concrete main around noon on Murphy Canyon Road at Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.
The collision caused the water main to break, with lots of water quickly flowing into the streets.
By 1:45 p.m., Collins confirmed the water had been shut off and four nearby office buildings in the 4800 through 5000-blocks of Murphy Canyon Road were left without service.
Collins said crews are working to repair the main and expect to complete the work by midnight.
A SigAlert has been issued for the 4800 through 5000-blocks of Murphy Canyon Road and traffic delays are expected in the area for the next several hours. Police are on scene providing traffic control and detouring drivers.
Collins said the incident is under investigation.
For now, the city will repair the break. However, pending the outcome of the investigation, Collins said it’s possible the city will seek to recover repair costs from the contractor allegedly at fault.
Candy company Jelly Belly unveiled a beer-flavored jelly bean on Saturday, which they appropriately named Draft Beer.
Jelly Belly, which is famous for fun flavors like Buttered Popcorn and Toasted Marshmallow, took three years to make Draft Beer a reality.
“Our fans have been asking for a beer Jelly Bean for years,” Rob Swaigen, Jelly Belly’s vice president of marketing, told Today.com. “It took a few years to perfect, but we think we got it right.”
The Draft Beer flavor, with its top secret ingredients, matches the taste of a Hefeweizen ale, but contains no alcohol. It joins other alcohol-inspired Jelly Belly flavors like Mai Tai and Pina Colada, which the company developed in the 1980s.
U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (D) - 52nd District is responding to a new ad by his political opponent, Republican Carl DeMaio.
The Internet ad mentions zombies, actress Lindsay Lohan and cockroaches proclaiming, “ What do cockroaches, zombies and Lindsay Lohan have in common? In a recent poll, they are all more popular than Congress.”
The ad goes on to say Carl DeMaio thinks it's time to clean up the mess in Congress.
NBC 7 reached out to Peters and he had this to say:
“This is what people hate about politics. This petty attack is exactly what's already wrong with Washington and what I'm trying to change,” he said.
A New Jersey girl's touching letter to a deaf Super Bowl-bound NFL player is going viral.
Nine-year-old Riley Kovalcik of Roxbury, N.J. wrote a letter to Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman, who's gained attention for a Duracell commercial showing how he persevered to break into pro football, despite being deaf since he was a child.
The letter, posted on Twitter by her father, read: "Dear, my insperation Derrick Coleman, I know how you feel. I also have hearing aids. Just try your best. I have faif in you Derrick good job on January 20th game. Go seattle seahawks! Here are things we have in comen. I where two hearing aids. I love sports."
Riley added that she has an identical twin sister who also wears a hearing aid.
Coleman responded with his own handwritten letter and posted it on Twitter: "I want you to know that I always try my best in everything I do and have faith in you and your twin sister too.
"Even though we wear hearing aids, we can still accomplish our goals & dreams! If you or your family ever in Seattle, I hope we can all get together and play some sports or games!"
Riley's father Jake Kovalcik told The Daily News that he's tried to teach his twin daughters they were "unique," not disabled, for losing their hearing early in life.
He said of Riley, "She's a really a confident little kid -- this is a peek into what she's thinking on a daily basis. It kind of broke my heart, really."
Coleman and the Seahawks are headed to Riley's home state for the Super Bowl on Feb. 2: they play the Broncos at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, about 40 miles from Roxbury.
A Maryland man died after setting his clothes on fire while trying to light a cigarette from the stove Wednesday morning.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue received a report of a kitchen fire in the 3900 block of Decatur Avenue in Kensington about 4:30 a.m. Firefighters found a severely burned man in the kitchen area. They took him to an area hospital where he later died.
Thomas Dolan Geoghegan, 70, set his clothes on fire while attempted to light a cigarette on the stove, fire investigators said.
Smoke alarms sounded, and Geoghegan’s wife doused her husband with water and called 911.
The medical examiner will determine the official cause of death.
San Diego Assemblymember Toni Atkins was selected as Speaker of the Assembly Wednesday, making her the first openly gay woman to hold the job.
“I am humbled, grateful, and ready to get to work,” Atkins said in a written release. “From the drought we are experiencing to ensuring a healthy business climate and a world class educational system, California is facing important issues in the near future.
Akins, 51, served on the San Diego City Council for eight years and as Deputy Mayor of the City of San Diego before moving to the state legislature to serve as representative of the 58th District.
