With Valentine’s Day around the corner it’s prime time to plan that perfect, palatable date night. Yelp.com is the place to read through restaurant reviews and prep for a romantic rendezvous. So, snag your sweetie, make reservations and check out these delicious deals available at top-rated eateries in San Diego’s North County.

These special dining options will fill up quickly, so call ahead and plan accordingly. Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours!

Vivace, Park Hyatt Aviara (Carlsbad)
New Chef Jason Seibert is better than cupid with a four-course offering, complete with live entertainment and a little gift for each Valentine’s Day couple. Vivace means “alive,” and after a meal in this AAA Four Diamond Italian restaurant, you and your date will definitely feel the warm and fuzzies. It’s arguably one of the most romantic dining rooms around, so don’t forget to dress the part: resort wear required.

Solace & The Moonlight Lounge (Encinitas)
Enjoy the cozy downstairs dining room or the views from the upstairs patio! Local Chef Matt Gordon is offering cute couples a $55 per person three-course menu for V-Day, featuring a “love”ly amuse bouche, Dungeness crab, buttered brioche, lemon-cucumber creme fraiche with smoked trout roe, and entrée choices like spiced cocoa rubbed beef tenderloin or a rum drunk pork loin. If that’s not a recipe for love, we don’t know what is.

Prepkitchen (Del Mar)
For perfect patio pecks cuddle up at PK: Yelpers are in love under the warm glow of the heat lamps and rustic décor. You can’t go wrong with this romantic venue choice or with what you choose from the menu. It’s one of the best Valentine’s Day deals in town: $35 for three courses, open menu, per person. Need an aphrodisiac? Get the Oysters on the half shell with blood orange granita.

Rancho Bernardo Inn (Rancho Bernardo)
Onsite restaurants AVANT & Veranda are offering fantastic three-course meal reservations (make sure you order the Mexican chocolate dacoise for dessert!), but if you want to go above and beyond the typical Valentine’s dinner you’re welcome to just stay overnight. The Inn is offering a package under $400 that includes a one-night stay, a five-course dinner for two and champagne and truffles upon arrival. Talk about brownie points. This date is one for the books.

Vintana Wine + Dine (Escondido)
Leave your Valentine’s Day Friday traffic cares on the freeway and pull into this world away at Vintana Wine + Dine in Escondido. Here, you’ll forget all about the stresses and be able to “dine your heart out” with Chef Debs’ selections for the evening. The three-course menu has many choices to create a custom night out for you and your love, including a Valrhona Chocolate Fondue dessert option with heart-shaped shortbread. Trust us, you can never go wrong with sweets for your sweetheart.
 

Trish Sanderson is the community manager and marketing director for Yelp North County San Diego. She leads the local community of Yelp reviewers both online and off.

San Diego State University received the largest single gift in the school’s history, thanks to a man who never actually attended classes there.

Philanthropist Conrad Prebys gave SDSU $20 million, a donation that will create 150 student scholarships every year.

Seeking a way to honor the gift, the school announced Wednesday it will name its new student union the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union.

Prebys detailed his relationship with the university, which goes back 40 years. The real estate tycoon said he’s rented several apartments in the area, and his office sat within shouting distance of San Diego State for decades.

“I’ve always felt like I was a part of the university and decided to make it formal. It was a long engagement, and we’ve tied the knot,” said Prebys.

SDSU President Elliot Hirshman said Prebys’ donation allows the university to cross its $468 million dollar mark as it seeks $500 million for its comprehensive fundraising campaign.

The gift also helps build momentum on the hunt for additional donors.

“We’re building a culture of philanthropy, and a gift of this magnitude really stakes that ground out to say, ‘This is something that’s critical to the future of San Diego State University,’” said Hirshman.

In his field, Prebys said he has seen the type of graduates San Diego State produces, a reason he turned his donation toward helping individual students.

“I knew it was right because I’m still active in business – Progress Management – and I think every one of my people had attended San Diego State,” said Prebys. “Believe me, they all have. So it just was a natural thing.”

The scholarships will be split between students in seven areas: bio-medical research, creative and performing arts, student veterans, entrepreneurship, leadership, the honors program and guardian scholars, who are former foster youth who don’t have families to help them with college costs.

Prebys told NBC 7 when he went to school at Indiana University, anyone could work their way through school, but colleges' rising costs have changed that.

“[The donation] is going to be providing $800,000 worth of scholarships a year in perpetuity. That makes me feel very good because some kids will be able to go to school who just wouldn’t be able to go right now,” said Prebys.

“Right now, I’m sold on San Diego State.”

A driver originally sought by a California Highway Patrol officer for talking on a cell phone behind the wheel led officials on a high-speed pursuit that ended in a crash in the Sabre Springs area Wednesday afternoon, authorities confirmed.

The pursuit ended around 2:20 p.m. on northbound Interstate 15 at the Poway Road and Rancho Penasquitos Boulevard off-ramp.

CHP officials said it all began about 10 minutes earlier when an officer tried to pull over a male driver in a black Volvo for a cell phone violation near Businesspark Avenue and Willow Creek Road in Scripps Ranch.

Officials said the Volvo came to a stop in a Carl's Jr. parking lot on Carroll Canyon Road east of I-15.

However, when a CHP officer approached the vehicle, the driver took off. He drove onto northbound I-15 and engaged the CHP officer in a pursuit. At one point, officials said the chase reached speeds in excess of 110 mph, with the suspect driving on the shoulder of the freeway.

Upon exiting the freeway at Poway Road and Rancho Penasquitos Boulevard, the driver crashed into two other vehicles that were stopped at the off-ramp. Both the driver and a passenger in the suspect vehicle were taken into custody at the scene.

Officials said no one was injured in the pursuit or crash.

Mother Jeannie Tapia said she had just picked up her daughter at school and was driving her to the DMV to get her learner's permit when the suspect's car came zipping off the off-ramp, crashing right into Tapia's car.

Tapia and her daughter were not injured in the collision, just extremely shaken up.

“[It] scared us to death, but I think we’re okay,” she said. “We’re alive; our car is totaled.”

The incident is under investigation.

Officials said the suspect will likely face felony evasion charges, pending the outcome of the investigation. The suspect's name was not immediately released.

Parents in San Diego’s Ramona community were outraged Wednesday over one family’s decision to teach their child a lesson in a very public manner.

According to parents, a 6th grade student has been standing across the street from Mt. Woodson Elementary School for the past two mornings as kids are dropped off for school. As he stands outside, the student has been holding a large, handwritten sign that explains exactly what he did to wind up there.

“I stole my dad’s cell phone. I racked up a big phone bill then blamed everyone but me. Even though they had proof, to try to hide it, I buried the phone in the yard. I’ve learned my lesson and now have a criminal record. I’m working on being a better person and you should learn from my mistakes,” the sign reads.

NBC 7 spoke to one mother, Celeste Taylor, who said her daughter is the one the boy was texting with on his father’s cell phone. Taylor said she received a phone call from the boy’s mother last week saying he racked up a $700 phone bill.

Still, she and some other parents don’t think the very public punishment necessarily fits the crime.

On Wednesday morning, some parents stood near Mt. Woodson Elementary located at 17427 Archie Rd. with signs that read “Humiliation is Not Parenting” and “Love is Forgiveness.”

Mother Lisa Filice said seeing the boy standing on the street made both her and her young daughter very upset.

“My daughter is eight and she said, ‘You know, Mom, this is bullying. Why are they doing this to this kid? Couldn’t he be grounded?’ That’s what she said. Why is he having to stand out here?” said Filice.

Likewise, Taylor said she’s against the public shaming.

“It made me want to cry looking at him,” she said. “He had his hood on, he was holding his sign, looking down. It made me want to cry.”

Taylor agreed that what they boy did was wrong, but said he should’ve been given some sort of other punishment.

“To lie and take his dad’s cell phone and not tell his parents and run up a phone bill, and deceive, that was absolutely wrong. But I feel that to have him stand in front of the school with a sign saying what he did is humiliating and I don’t believe it’s the right choice,” said Taylor.

“I think having him do something else at home or maybe raise the money to pay off the phone bill is one thing, but I don’t believe that humiliation is the right punishment,” she continued.

On the other side of the argument, some local parents agreed that this is certainly one way to discipline a child and perhaps teach a valuable lesson.

A child psychologist told NBC 7 this kind of punishment will make the child feel worse when he likely already feels bad enough about what he did. The psychologist also said embarrassing the boy in public like this could lead to depression and perhaps backfire on the parents down the line.

Meanwhile, faculty at Mt. Woodson Elementary said this is not a school matter and will not comment on the incident in detail. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department will not confirm whether or not the child has any criminal record since he is a minor.

Mt. Woodson Elementary School principal Robin Arend confirmed this happened across the street from the school.

“The student did stand out front, across the street from the school, and he was holding a sign. We’ve taken all measures possible to make sure that our students are safe here at Mt. Woodson but, ultimately, this is a situation between a parent and their son,” she told NBC 7 on Wednesday.

Ramona Unified School District Superintendent Robert Graeff said Mt. Woodson Elementary School received advanced notice from the boy’s parents regarding the public punishment.

Graeff said school administrators then contacted the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department due to the unusual nature of the incident.

The superintendent said deputies, school administrators and the child’s parents all met beforehand to discuss the plan to have the boy hold the sign outside.

Graeff said school officials tried to dissuade the parents from the punishment but they ultimately decided to go through with it, as it was their choice.

Graeff said the punishment is not a parenting tactic he would personally recommend. He said school faculty is aware of the situation and supports the student.

NBC 7 got in touch with the child's parents Wednesday eveing to get their side of the story.

The parents, who wanted to remain anonymous, gave the following statement to NBC 7:

"We want to thank everyone who has commented in regards to this story. Most people have been very supportive in their comments and we truly appreciate the positive support. Deciding to exact this punishment the way that we did was very difficult for us. We debated long and hard about what to do.

My husband and I have been dealing with this type of behavior for several years and have tried everything to stop it. Nothing made any difference. When this last episode occurred our son told us the reason he did it was 'to be cool.'

When he said that, it occurred to us that doing something that showed him everybody didn't think it was cool might just make a difference. We spoke to detectives and the school to ensure that we were not doing anything that could be considered harmful to our child. When we informed our son what we were going to do he asked 'please can I just go to juvenile hall instead of carrying a sign in front of the school letting everyone know what I had did?'

That was our answer - This was the right punishment. We believe after much discussion and soul searching 'A little humiliation now was much better than a jail sentence later.”

A 27-year-old woman is one of nine people in San Diego County whose deaths are being attributed to complications of the flu this week, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) said Wednesday.

According to the HHSA, the woman is the youngest flu victim to die in San Diego County this season.

She also had underlying medical issues, health officials confirmed. HHSA officials said the woman tested positive for Pandemic H1N1, the strain of influenza currently causing problems in the county.

Up until now, the youngest flu-related death reported this season was a 31-year-old man.

County public health officer Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., said these new numbers bring the total to 29 local influenza deaths to date. San Diego residents who have died from the flu this season ranged in age from 27 to 92 years old and all had underlying medical conditions.

Just as she explained last week, Wooten said this season’s flu deaths include more young and middle-aged people because “Pandemic H1N1 is the prevalent strain that is circulating.”

“Influenza activity remains elevated so people should continue getting vaccinated and taking other preventive measures to avoid getting sick,” she added.

Other flu figures for the week ending on Feb. 1 include a total of 468 lab-confirmed influenza cases in the county, down from 609 the previous week. The percentage of emergency room visits for flu-like illness remains unchanged at 10 percent. There have been 3,083 total lab-confirmed influenza cases in the county to date this season, according to the HHSA.

Last flu season, 65 total deaths were reported in San Diego.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccine every year.

The HHSA said current flu vaccines offer protection against Pandemic H1N1, Influenza A H3N2 and Influenza B strains. It takes about two weeks for immunity to develop after getting vaccinated.

Those without health insurance can get a free flu shot at a county public health center. For information, visit this website, or call 211.
 

Southern California fire chiefs met with representatives from the California Highway Patrol to iron out what prompted a CHP officer to handcuff a firefighter responding to a highway crash scene.

The CHP officer handcuffed Fire Engineer Jacob Gregoire from Chula Vista Fire Station 2 at the scene of a collision along Interstate 805 Tuesday night, firefighters told NBC 7.

Gregoire had arrived on the scene of a crash involving a driver heading northbound on the highway around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night. The car had crashed into the center divider and rolled through construction, injuring two people.

Firefighters were in the process of looking to see if there were any more patients that needed to be treated, a Chula Vista fire official said, when the CHP officer asked one firefighter to move the fire engine.

At the time, Fire Engine 52 was protecting the back of the ambulance and Gregoire didn't feel that was appropriate, according to Chula Vista Fire Chief Dave Hanneman.

Watch: Fire Chief Explains Crash Scene Protocol

After the engineer went to ask his captain, the CHP officer called Gregoire over and put him into cuffs, Hanneman said.

He said the CHP has jurisdiction over the interstates and it’s their judgment call. He admitted that the fire department did not have the officer's side of the altercation.

Ninety-nine percent of the time the two organizations work well together, he added. It's the first time this has occurred in Chula Vista.

"Something happened last night that was out of the ordinary or that made this chain of events happen," he said.

On Wednesday, fire chiefs for San Diego and Chula Vista met with CHP for more than an hour.

"We did come out of there with a good mutual understanding that we don't want to have these sorts of situations happen in the future," Hanneman said.

The CHP and Chula Vista Fire chiefs released a joint statement Wednesday afternoon, calling the incident unfortunate and saying it was isolated and not representative of how the two agencies usually work together. 

"Both the CHP and the Chula Vista Fire Department share a common goal of protecting the public and providing the highest level of safety to responding emergency personnel, involved parties and other drivers at collision scenes," said the statement.

The chiefs said this incident will be the topic of a future joint training session, since there is supposed to be a change of command protocol. The CHP has jurisdiction on freeways, but the firefighters had arrived on scene first.

The CHP closed lanes on the southbound 805 while the car was being towed. The driver and a passenger were transported to the hospital.

Officials say Gregoire is 36 years old and has been with the fire department for more than 12 years. He could still face charges, and the CHP says the case is still under review.

Eight years have passed since his unexpected, “surreal” victory in the Alpine super-combined in Turin, Italy, and skier Ted Ligety has yet to feel comfortable with being called an Olympic gold medalist.

“I’m always taken aback by it, still,” he said.

Back then, Ligety was a confident but relatively unknown 21-year-old with the freedom to race as if he had nothing to lose.

Now, however, Ligety is a marked man. Last season was the best of his career and he is shouldering the aspirations of the U.S. Olympic ski team, which is looking to him for at least one gold medal in Sochi. With an array of major endorsements, Ligety has become a familiar face in the weeks leading into the 2014 Winter Games.

The attention and lofty expectations — and the need to atone for a disappointing 2010 performance in Vancouver — make the 2006 experience seem quaint. But Ligety, 29, says he’s a much better skier, technically and psychologically, and is up to the challenge.

“I think I’ve definitely matured a lot as an athlete since my first Olympics,” he said. “I think I have figured out how to become more consistent on the World Cup, figured out how to get my best performances, especially on those important days.”

A native of Park City, Utah, Ligety is a notoriously late bloomer who attributes much of his success to hard work.

As a kid racer, he was never the fastest, and getting beat all the time motivated him to train more intensely, and to become a student of the technical aspects of the sport.

He spent years honing his distinctive method of attacking a course, carving edge-to-edge turns through an entire race and virtually eliminating the sliding maneuver that most skiers often resort to. The result is the appearance that he is skating.

“He’s figured out a way to ski…in a manner that was really different from any of his peers, and I’d say a lot of that is his astuteness,” said Forest Carey, one of Ligety’s U.S. Ski Team coaches. “He’s pretty analytical. He has a science-y mind.”

That approach propelled Ligety to his dark-horse gold-medal performance in Turin. But it really made a difference after the International Ski Federation in 2011 changed the rules for his signature event, the giant slalom, mandating a return to longer, straighter skis.

The move was attributed to a rise in injuries blamed on the rise of parabolic-shaped skis that made turning easier.

Ligety was one of the most outspoken critics of the ruling, but it ended up doing him a favor. His “catapult” technique suited the use of the old-style skis.

He started the 2012-13 World Cup season by winning the giant slalom in Soelden, Australia by 2.75 seconds, the largest winning margin in three decades. He went on to eight more first-place finishes, including gold medals in the giant slalom, super-combined and super-G at the world championships in Schladming, Austria. He was the first man in 45 years to win three events at a world championship.

It was another example of Ligety exceeding everyone’s expectations. But he is quick to remind that the Schladming performance was virtually impossible to repeat, especially at the Olympics.

He’s not taking anything for granted, though. He’ll be racing five events — the giant slalom, slalom, super-combined, super-G and downhill — all winter in preparation for what could be his defining Olympic moment. He could be a medal contender in all but the downhill, his weakest event.

“I feel like right now I’m at the peak of my career, so I’m really looking forward to the opportunity,” he said.

Sixty-five years have passed since Sunny Cho last saw his cousins, who were in grade school when his family fled North Korea.

The war had just begun and Cho had been lucky enough to escape to Seoul. But his cousins – two girls and a boy – could not get out before the gate slammed shut.

The country became slip: repressive and closed to the north, democratic and open to the south.

In the nearly seven decades that have passed, Cho has wondered how his loved ones are doing, what they’re like, and if they’re even still alive.

But now, in negotiated agreements with the government of Kim Jung Un, there is a ray of hope for Cho and many others like him.

An estimated 100,000 American families have ties to North Korea, and many of them live in Southern California, which has the largest population of Koreans outside of the divided nation.

A reunion of 100 families from both sides of Korea is scheduled, likely in an industrial area just north of the Demilitarized Zone.

"Right now, it looks like things are a 'go' for late February," said Dr. Paul Song, with LibertyInNorthKorea.org.

Song is among many Korean-Americans with ties to the north who have worked tirelessly for these reunions. The reunited families will be able to spend a “couple of hours at maximum” with their faraway loved ones, he said.

Song’s organization Liberty in North Korea hopes that the people of Kim Jung Un’s mysterious and closed nation will someday gain real freedom. He is concerned, though, about joint military training between South Korea and the U.S., which is also scheduled for this month.

"That may be seen as provocative," Song said. "So the question is, does the reunion happen before that or during that, or after that?"

The last time talks of reunions happened was in September 2013. Cho said it’s emotionally draining to one day be told you can see your long-lost loved ones, and the next day the chance of reuniting is in jeopardy.

"Sometime, yes, and the next day, no. It’s so tough," he said.

Another game vs. Boise State resulted in yet another nail-biter.

Last month, the fifth-ranked Aztecs hung on to beat the Broncos 69-66 at Viejas Arena. On Wednesday night in Boise, it was more of the same. The Aztecs won 67-65 in stunning fashion.

San Diego State trailed by 14 points with 13:37 to play. That's when Xavier Thames took control of the game.

Thames scored 10 consecutive points for the Aztecs in a furious rally that rattled the Broncos. The senior point guard finished with 23 points.

In that second half rally, the Aztecs defense asserted itself as well, keeping Boise State scoreless on 13 of 14 possessions.

Down by one with with time running down, Thames knifed through the lane then kicked the ball out to Dwayne Polee, who drained the three-point jumper with just 4.2 seconds left to give the Aztecs a two point lead.

The Broncos had one last chance, but Derrick Marks missed on a three-pointer from the corner at the buzzer.

The fifth-ranked Aztecs escaped with a 67-65 win to improve to 20-1 on the season and 9-0 in the Mountain West Conference. It was their 19th straight win, the second-longest streak in team history.

Ten years from now, San Diego could be the home of the Summer Olympics.

If you asked Vincent Mudd, the chair of San Diego's Exploratory Committee, about the city's chances of making the short list of U.S. cities selected to host the 2024 Summer Games, his answer would be simple: "We're looking very, very good at 2024."

Special Section: Sochi 2014

San Diego was one of about 34 cities approached by the U.S. Olympic Committee to make a bid for the coveted title of host.  Mudd and dozens of others are working hard to prove America's Finest City has what it takes to host the Games.

"We're already such an amazing destination city.  We've hosted multiple bowl games. We've hosted a Super Bowl. We invented sports like the Triathlon and the Iron Man, and all these other things we actually already have venues that the public has already built," Mudd explained.

He says this is not an easy process. One of the first steps: The city has to show it has at least 26 venues to hold events, in addition to the infrastructure and transportation to support the people.

"Sochi, as you know, had to build 41,000 hotel rooms because the Olympics requires 43,000 three-star and above hotels. San Diego has 46,000 three-star and above hotels."

In addition to hotels, Mudd says we have venues and space. We're home to the Olympic Training Center, Coronado has more than the required space for beach volleyball, and Mission Bay, he says, is perfect for things like rowing and the Triathlon.

Photos: New Olympic Events for 2014

He believes we have a great shot of being one of the top picks for the U.S.

"We think our story is an international story that says people from all over the world have everywhere they can live in the United States, and they choose to live in San Diego and we're going to show you how we take care of an international community."

However, there are some hurdles. For starters, San Diego doesn't currently have a full time mayor.  Mudd says the U.S. committee looks closely at  government  stability.

While San Diego has some venues, others would still need to be built. Mudd says that cost could be nearly $4 billion, but says the committee has a plan to leverage existing venues to minimize future expenditures. The committee is also relying heavily on money from the private sector.

The local committee should know by April if San Diego has been chosen for the "short list" of U.S. cities to host the games. The U.S. Olympic Committee plans to have its pick for a host city by 2015.

Olympic gold medalist Shaun White's absence overshadowed the debut of slopestyle Thursday, the most recent action sport added to the Olympics.

Special Section: Sochi 2014

The Carlsbad native pulled out of the competition because he didn't want to jeopardize his chance at becoming the first American male to win gold in three consecutive Winter Games.

After the finals on Thursday, no Americans were among the eight competitors who notched a secured spot in Saturday's final. Get results

U.S. riders Charles Guldemond, Sage Kotsenburg and Ryan Stassel will next compete Saturday in the semi-final.

Guldemond, who spent time at Chula Vista’s Olympic training center was annoyed about White’s decision, telling the media he had a feeling White would find a way to drop out of slopestyle.

"There was a lot of guys I trained really hard with sitting in that fifth spot and it's pretty unfortunate that they missed their opportunity to come to the Games," Guldemond told the Associated Press.

After a fall in the finals, Canadian Mark McMorris, considered a gold medal favorite in the event, will need to navigate through Saturday’s semi-finals to get a shot at a medal.

Get Results of Men's Slopestyle Finals

Get Results of Women's Slopestyle Finals

On the women's side, two Americans secured a spot in the finals. Jamie Anderson, who saw the second-highest score on the women's side, and Karly Shorr will skip the semi-final round and head directly to Saturday's medal event.

Read: Recap of Women's Slopestyle Finals

As for the concerns surrounding the safety of the new slopestyle course, conditions were excellent with no wind and decent snow.

Hundreds of Jamul residents packed a room at Jamul Primary School Wednesday evening to discuss the construction of The Hollywood Casino Jamul, located on the Jamul Indian Village.

Since their last meeting, the Jamul Action Committee (JAC) has filed two lawsuits to stop construction. One is in federal court alleging the Jamul Indian Village of California does not have the right to build a casino on the land. The other is against Caltrans, accusing the agency of failing to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

The third lawsuit is from the County of San Diego, also against Caltrans.

“What we want Caltrans to do is comply with state laws, and they’re not doing that by allowing construction to move forward,” said Chairwoman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors Dianne Jacob, who spoke at the meeting.

Many attendees, including resident Pat Alvarez, expressed concerns about traffic after the casino is built. She says the area is already congested.

“It would take us 45 to an hour to get home to our house if this casino was here, and that's just ridiculous,” Alvarez said.

No one from the Jamul Indian Village of California (JIV) was at the meeting. NBC 7 received this statement from them:

We appreciate the community's concerns regarding safety on the main thoroughfares of Jamul, which is why we are utterly dismayed by their legal action against California's Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Our Traffic Management Plan, approved by Caltrans which resulted in the issuance of an Encroachment Permit for our hauling activity, diverts construction traffic to the southeast and away from the businesses and neighborhoods in downtown Jamul. The operation includes flaggers, electronic signage, California Highway Patrol, and more to ensure the safety of travelers on SR 94.

In response to accusations that they don’t have the right to build a casino on that land, JIV wrote:

Jamul Indian Village of California is a federally recognized Sovereign Nation. As outlined by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, JIV has the immunities and privileges available to other federally acknowledged Indian tribes by virtue of our government-to-government relationship with the United States of America. JIV entered into a Tribal-State Compact with the State of California on October 5, 1999 and it was approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 5, 2000. Clearly, the law is on our side and we look forward to opening our gaming facility next year and finally being able to provide a greater quality of life for our people.

The Jamul Action Committee says it’s now focusing on fundraising to pay for legal fees. The casino is expected to open its doors in late 2015.
 

Every day NBC 7 will provide a quick look at the key events of the day as well as the local athletes who will be competing. Here’s our “San Diego Athletes to Watch” for Friday, Feb. 7:

Special Section: Sochi 2014

The men’s downhill skiers will have a second training run on the course at Rosa Khutor Alpine Center Friday. 

One-time San Diego resident Bode Miller will put in a training run along with teammate Erik Fisher. Fisher spent some time at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista on his journey to Sochi, Russia.

Watch: Downhill Training Day 1 Replay

See Images: Downhill Training Day 1

If you are excited to see Olympic competition this will be your only chance Friday as the event schedule clears to allow athletes to attend the Opening Ceremony in Kisht Stadium.

Little has been publicized about the event but there have been reports on who will carry the U.S. flag, what the American athletes will be wearing and which well-known actor will voice the opening montage.

The broadcast airs on NBC 7 at 7:30 p.m. PT. There’s no live streaming available for Opening Ceremony.

Images: Opening Ceremonies Through the Years

If you want to be with other sports fans, join NBC 7 and the Olympic Training Center athletes for our Opening Ceremony Viewing Party on the Midway Museum.

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday said LaGuardia Airport is like a "third world country" while speaking about infrastructure in Pennsylvania.

Biden said if someone were blindfolded and taken to the airport in Hong Kong at 2 a.m. and asked "where do you think you are," the person would say "'This must be America, it's a modern airport.'"

He went on: "If I took you and blindfolded you and took you to LaGuardia Airport in New York you must think, 'I must be in some third world country.'"

"No, I'm not joking!" he added. "Why did we lead the world economically for so long? We had the most modern infrastructure in the world."

The vice president was unveiling Amtrak's newest engine at an event in Philadelphia and touting the need for more investment in U.S. infrastructure.

LaGuardia was turned into a private flying field in 1929 after it was transformed from an amusement park. It became New York Municipal Airport-LaGuardia Field in 1937, and was leased to the Port Authority 10 years later.

It has four terminals, the newest of which was built in 1992.

It's among the busiest airports in the world, with more than 25 million travelers passing through in 2012.

It’s no secret that living in San Diego can get expensive. According to a newly released survey, this is especially true for “yuppies,” young urban professionals who enjoy splurging on little luxuries such as manicures, massages and yoga classes.

Locality.com, a website that allows users to compare prices, hours and reviews across local services nationwide, has just released its “Yuppie Price Index,” an economic indicator that tracks the annual cost of typical yuppie services in the top 30 cities across the U.S.

These yuppie services include haircuts, blowouts, manicures, massages, eyebrow waxing, dry cleaning, gym memberships, yoga classes, dog boarding and more.

As it turns out, San Diego is ranked No. 8 on the list of the most expensive yuppie cities in the country, with young urban professionals spending an average of $6,220 each year on pampering and recreational activities like the aforementioned.

Going off the list, this means America’s Finest City is more expensive for yuppies than subsequent cities on the list including: Miami ($6,187); Hartford, Conn. ($6,140); Los Angeles ($6,119); Chicago ($6,025); New York ($6,017); Boston ($5,995); Pittsburgh ($5,887).

The survey says New York City is among the most affordable cities for laundry and nail services, due to so much competition from numerous local businesses.

Cities that are more expensive than San Diego on the Yuppie Price Index include: Seattle (No. 7, at $6,228); Minneapolis (No. 6, at $6,271); Raleigh, N.C. (No. 5, at $6,282); Phoenix (No. 4, at $6,382); Washington, D.C. (No. 3, at $6,414); Denver (No. 2, at $6,640).

The No. 1 priciest city on the index is San Francisco, where yuppies are spending $6,718 annually on their favorite little luxuries. There, prices on these types of services are 14 percent higher than the national average, according to the survey.

On the opposite side of the coin, Locality says the 15 most affordable yuppie cities in the U.S. are, in order: Indianapolis; Houston; Cleveland; Tampa, Fla.; Atlanta; Nashville, Tenn.; St. Louis; Orlando, Fla.; Dallas; Sacramento, Calif.; Baltimore; Detroit; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; Charlotte, N.C.

Comic-Con doesn’t hit downtown San Diego until Jul. 24 but some prospective attendees will get their first chance to buy tickets to the famous pop culture event beginning this Saturday.

According to David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations for San Diego Comic-Con, badge “preregistration” sales kick off Saturday at 9 a.m., with a special online “waiting room” opening at 7 a.m. for those interested in scoring the very first available batch of badges to the big event.

The preregistration sale event is only open to select attendees who bought a Comic-Con badge last year and were given a valid member ID number and special code.

Glanzer said those who are eligible to partake in the special sale will receive an email from Comic-Con organizers at least 24 hours in advance of the sale. This email will include a personal registration code, log on information and link to the online waiting room that opens at 7 a.m.

Once a member is in the waiting room, they will be lined up in random order for their registration session, no matter what time they arrived in the waiting room. Again, from there, the actual sales will begin at 9 a.m.

Still, the Comic-Con website says there are “more eligible attendees than badges available” for the preregistration sale, so not everyone who is eligible will necessarily be able to buy a badge on Saturday.

“You can increase your chances of obtaining a badge by reading all of the instructions carefully and having your personal information ready on the day of the sale,” the website suggests.

Glanzer agreed, and said preparation is key.

"Please be prepared. Review the information on our website and the accompanying video and make sure you have all your information at hand before the sale begins," he said.

By the way, during the preregistration sale, attendees may purchase badges for up to three people total, themselves included. Forms of payment accepted in the online sale include Visa, MasterCard and American Express only. Paypal or payments using multiple credit cards will not be accepted, according to the event website.

For those not eligible for the preregistration sale, organizers said another sale for the general public will occur in the future. However, organizers said they do not yet have a time frame for that sale.

This year, badge prices for adults range from $30 to $45 per day, depending on the day one chooses to attend the event. On Thursday (Jul. 24), Friday (Jul. 25) and Saturday (Jul. 26), for example, the cost of a one-day badge is $45.

Each year, the event is notoriously known to sell out quickly.

In the past, the Comic-Con ticket sales website has experienced glitches and hiccups, including in November 2010 when fans trying to purchase tickets to the 2011 convention were met with frustrating error messages as the website crashed during the high-traffic frenzy for badges.

In 2013, more than 130,000 people managed to snag badges and attend San Diego Comic-Con. Last year’s event offered more than 600 hours of programming spanning 460,000-square-feet of exhibit hall space at the San Diego Convention Center.

Comic-Con was born in 1970 in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel in the heart of San Diego. Over the decades, the “little event that could” has grown into a behemoth, taking over the Convention Center, neighboring hotels and downtown San Diego for a long summer weekend every year.

Comic-Con’s fervent fans typically attend the convention in elaborate costumes, transforming the city into a metropolis straight out of the pages of fantasy and science fiction. The event has also become famous for celebrity sightings.
 

Three bodies were found and seven people were rescued after a boat capsized 75 miles northeast of West Palm Beach Thursday, officials said.

Seven suspected migrants were seen atop the hull of a 24-foot center console vessel off the Florida coast at about noon, when Coast Guard officials said they were called to the scene.

Rescuers are searching for two more people, officials said.

Stay with us for updates.

Forty people are in custody and five others charged in an international drug and firearm ring centered in San Diego, according to indictments unsealed Thursday by U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy’s office.

The investigation -- dubbed Crystal Palace II -- involved city, state and federal agents who gathered evidence for a year in eight sites, including Linda Vista, Midtown, City Heights, Mid City, Clairemont Mesa and Oak Park.

After a three-day gang sweep, agents arrested 40 people and took 52 weapons off the street.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said methamphetamine and drugs were being sold in a number of houses, including an apartment across the street from Hoover High School. Thursday morning, agents seized $47,600 in cash from an Oak Park house, bringing the total amount of seized cash to nearly $60,000.

Five different conspiracies had overlapping players, including people tied to gangs like the Oriental Killer Boys, the Oriental Mob Crips, the Viet Boys, the Tiny Oriental Crips, the Logan Heights Calle Treinta and Linda Vista Crips, according to 10 indictments.

The suspected traffickers range in age from 19 to 56, and they come from San Diego; Riverside; Salinas; San Ysidro; Tijuana, Mexico and Pahoa, Haw.

While some of the 45 accused in the ring are felons allegedly in possession of guns, most are suspected of selling meth.

Court documents say the drug distribution went far beyond California, reaching to Guam, Hawaii and Minnesota.

Many of the defendants will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.

“The focus of Crystal Palace Part ll was on disrupting criminal gang activity in Southern California based on previously gathered intelligence. Today’s arrests, which included a number of high-level gang members who were taken off the streets, will immediately improve community safety,” said Derek Benner, special agent in charge for HSI in San Diego.

Guns confiscated in the Crystal Palace II sweep include many assault rifles, AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, high-powered rifles, an SWD M11 9mm and two AK-47s with high capacity magazines.

Drug crimes in San Diego and Imperial counties have increased 500 percent in the last five years, federal prosecutors said, from 144 cases in 2008 to 910 in 2013.

Earlier this week, San Diego County health officials said in 2012, 217 people died from meth-related issues, though San Diego is no longer considered the "meth capital" of the U.S.

Meth seizures at U.S. ports of entry along the California – Mexico border have nearly doubled as the supply shifts from small meth labs to “superlabs” operated by cartels in Mexico. Customs and Border Protection statistics show in 2013, almost 12,000 pounds of meth were confiscated at ports, compared to 6,700 pounds in 2011.

About forty-five minutes southwest of Washington, D.C. sits Warrenton, Va., a small town with a very big connection to a famous bobsled team.

George Fitch, one of the men behind the Jamaican bobsled team that inspired Disney's "Cool Runnings," has served as mayor of the northern Virginia town for the last 16 years.

Portrayed by John Candy in the 1993 movie, Fitch's life before the creation of the bobsled team varied greatly from what was seen on-screen.

"I was personally offended by the film because I'm not a disgraced Olympic bobsledder who's a drunk, who's spending the rest of my life in some pool hall. But that's Hollywood," Fitch told ESPN.

In actuality, Fitch was an American businessman living in Jamaica, who after watching a local pushcart derby felt Jamaica's top sprinters would be a perfect match for bobsledding. After the sport's dangerous nature failed to win the country's Summer Olympians over, Fitch, along with William Maloney, held an open tryout for the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, Alberta.

The team's inspiring run went on to be adapted into the Disney film.

In 1998, Fitch became mayor of Warrenton, Va., where he's currently serving his last term.

But his team's legacy continues to inspire, as the popularity of the 1988 team and the more widely-known movie make evident today. Since qualifying for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, supporters have helped make the team's trek to Sochi possible.

Funding issues were the first hurdle the team faced, but they quickly raised the $178,000 needed to make the trip before telling fans and friends to stop donating. The delayed arrival of their equipment also hindered the team's first practice in the Russian resort town. The team's equipment eventually arrived, and they were able to practice on the second day of "unofficial" training. The Jamaicans are competing in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2002.

Perhaps this year's run will inspire a sequel. "Cool Runnings 2," anyone?

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thursday marked the first day of competition at the Sochi Winter Olympics, and while the Opening Ceremony doesn’t happen until Friday, plenty of remarkable story lines emerged.

Here are a few.

America’s Alpine veterans are peaking

In Thursday’s downhill training runs, two of Team USA's superstars, Bode Miller and Julia Mancuso, shone in what could be their final Olympics.

Miller, 36 and racing in his fifth Winter Games, took an aggressive approach to Sochi’s Rosa Khutor course, beating Patrick Kueng of Witzerland by 0.03 seconds. Miller, who injured his knee on the same course two years ago, has been getting faster and faster this season, despite having lost quite a bit of weight. There are no medals for top finishes in training runs, but Miller, who already has a gold medal, three silver medals and a bronze medal from past Olympics, is signaling that he’s ready to challenge his younger rivals for one last gold.

Mancuso, 29, is competing in her fourth Olympics, another milestone in a career that has already earned her a gold medal and two silver medals. On Thursday, skiing a difficult downhill course that has already been altered once, Mancuso finished third in the women’s trial run, behind Anna Fenninger of Austria and Fraenzi Aufdenblatten of Switzerland.

Still, neither Miller nor Mancuso get the attention they used to. The focus has turned to younger Alpine teammates Ted Ligety and Mikaela Shiffrin. But the two veterans give no indication that they will fade out quietly.

Beware the Russian skaters

By many accounts, Russian figure skating is beginning to blossom, perhaps in a way not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Thursday’s performances in the new team competition showed that could very well be the case.

Former Olympic champion Evgeny Plushenko and reigning European pairs champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov delivered passionate, near-flawless routines in the opening two events, thrusting the Russians into first place. The home crowd roared with approval, as if tasting gold. There are still several rounds to go in the team competition, but momentum is clearly on the Russians’ side.

And this is just the beginning. Still to come are the individual and pairs competitions, in which Russia has several legitimate medal contenders.

Slopestyle goes on, without Shaun White

American Shaun White, two-time snowboard gold medalist and an ambassador of the sport, dropped out of the new slopestyle competition a day before Thursday’s opening rounds. But the competition didn’t suffer.

Under perfectly blue, windless skies, two of White’s teammates, Jamie Anderson and Karly Shorr, secured spots in Saturday’s finals in the women’s competition. Among the men, American Charles Guldemond missed the cut but still has a chance to earn one of four final spots. Many athletes have criticized the conditions of the course, but much of that was forgotten as organizers tweak the layout.

Kearney is again the woman to beat on the bumps

American freestyle skiier Hannah Kearney, the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s moguls competition, has 25 World Cup wins. She is 27 years old, more than a decade older than some of the teenagers she races against. But no matter. On Thursday, she showed why she remains the favorite to win another gold in Sochi.

Kearney finished first in the qualifying round, scoring a 23.05 out of a possible 30 points. She’ll take on her closest nine rivals in a day of knockout rounds on Saturday. “I’ve never been in better shape,” she told NBC Olympics. “So bring it on.”

Indeed.

Sochi remains a work in progress

Many journalists, and some athletes, have gone public to gripe about the substandard conditions in the Olympic Village: unfinished hotel rooms, mixed-up reservations, dirty water, broken doorknobs, missing soap and trash cans. The complaints have inspired a Twitter hashtag, #SochiProblems. Already, though, there has been a social media backlash, with critics suggesting that the complainers could be in much worse conditions than at the Winter Olympics at a tropical resort.