Today, it seems you can order everything “to go,” from your coffee to dinner from your favorite chain restaurant.

Why not Ash Wednesday?

On Wednesday, March 5, St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral will set up four “Ashes to Go” stations around the downtown area.

Anyone can simply walk up and receive ashes and a blessing.

“As people get busier and busier, we need the church in new and non-traditional ways,” Canon Chris Harris with St. Paul’s said in a statement.

Ashes will be distributed from 8:30 a.m. until noon Wednesday at the following locations:

• Hall of Justice- 330 West Broadway, Downtown
• Pete’s Coffee- 350 University Ave., Hillcrest
• Filter Coffee- 1295 University Ave, Hillcrest
• Starbuck’s- 2440 5th Ave., Bankers Hill

The “Ashes to Go” movement started last year and now has dozens of locations across the U.S. and England.

Ash Wednesday begins the Lenten season for many Christians.

The group put together to plan the celebrations surrounding Balboa Park’s 2015 centennial is disbanding, handing the hefty project back to the City of San Diego, a co-chairman confirmed Tuesday.

Ben Clay, Chairman of the Balboa Park Celebration, Inc. (BPCI), told NBC 7 the group voted to disband amid complications. He said the group is now working with the City of San Diego and the Mayor’s office on the next steps in the process.

Just last Friday Clay discussed the current finances of the BPCI and its plan for the upcoming centennial celebration in an exclusive interview with NBC 7.

The group was given almost $3 million of public money to plan the extensive, year-long celebration of Balboa Park. However, last week, Clay said the non-profit group was downsizing its ambitious plan.

• Read: Balboa Park Centennial Committee Breaks Out Numbers, Blows Up Grand Plan

Instead of a $50 million, year-long gala, Clay said the group was planning smaller events costing much less cash. Clay also said the group’s bank account had dwindled to just $600,000 with little to show for it.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer criticized the non-profit for refusing to disclose detailed financial information. Clay gave NBC 7 a look at some of the numbers and promised the group would post certified financial documents in the next week.

The BPCI released an explanation on its decision to disband Tuesday evening, citing that the Balboa Park centennial would get a “fresh start” under the authority of the City of San Diego, new Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Council President Todd Gloria.

“Based upon that direction and with community input, BPCI developed plans for such an event, determined that it would cost tens of millions of dollars to accomplish, and sought corporate sponsors and private donations sufficient to do the job. We are grateful for the sponsors and donors who have made financial commitments, but there is not adequate private funding needed to carry out that program as envisioned,” BPCI co-chairs Ben and Nikki Clay said in a statement released Tuesday evening.

The BPCI said this decision “culminates months of conversation between BPCI and City leaders, during which BPCI presented scaled-down goals and program plans to reflect its projected funding.”

• Read the Full Statement From the BPCI Here

The BPCI said the transition of the project to the City of San Diego will include supporting Mayor Faulconer and his team “to ensure that the Centennial Celebration is an event worthy of San Diego."

Mayor Faulconer and Gloria each released statements Tuesday night regarding the end of the BPCI.

Faulconer's statement read:

“I’d like to thank the members of Balboa Park Celebration, Inc. for the time and effort they dedicated to this project. I know each and every one of them wanted nothing more than to honor San Diego’s crown jewel in the best way possible. I plan to work with Council President Todd Gloria, whose district includes Balboa Park, to move forward with a more practical and realistic celebration that recognizes the character and history of Balboa Park. This new celebration would focus on the existing cultural institutions within the park.”

Meanwhile, Gloria also offered support for bringing the centennial celebration planning back to the hands of the City:

“I am grateful for the work of Balboa Park Celebration, Inc. The board’s move today demonstrates its desire to do what is best for Balboa Park, and the City of San Diego will use BPCI’s efforts as a base of what may be possible to commemorate the 2015 centennial of the Panama-California Exposition. I look forward to working with Mayor Faulconer, City staff, the Park’s cultural institutions, and private sector partners to ensure Balboa Park serves our City and honors our history for another 100 years.”

Faulconer and Gloria said they expect to provide more details on the new celebration plans in the coming weeks.

The Coronado Unified School District is the latest local district to issue pink slips.

On Tuesday, the school board voted to lay off 24 teachers and staff members.

“Our total count of employees is approximately 300, so it's a little less than ten percent in terms of numbers of employees,” Assistant Superintendent Keith Butler, Ph.D, said. “But still, any employee that has to face this it’s too much.”

Butler said the district has to slash expenses, partly because of the governor’s new Local Control Funding Formula. Under the new state formula, more money is given to larger, more diverse districts, like the San Diego Unified School District.

San Diego Unified said the new formula is only part of the solution to its balanced budget.

“It made a difference in terms of overall budget. It did. It didn’t necessarily reduce the entire amount, but it's part of a mix of options we're looking at,” said Moises Aguierre with SDUSD.

The layoffs in Coronado could be reversed if a bond measure passes in June that would free up money in the General Fund.

The district must notify employees about the layoffs by March 15.
 

Parents across San Diego County are on high alert after a kidnap attempt at Robb Field Ocean Beach.

Police told NBC 7 the incident happened on Feb. 20 during a little league practice. Officers arrested Jarrod West, 28, at the park for approaching a 7-year-old boy and trying to grab him.

NBC 7 spoke exclusively with the boy’s coach, Scott Hedenkamp. Hedenkamp says they were in the middle of practice when he noticed the man watching one of his players and pacing back and forth.

Hedenkamp says the man watched the boy from behind home plate and, at one point, joined the group on the field.

“He had a one track mind, and he was going to take my player,” Hedenkamp said. “I wasn't going to let that happen.”

Hedenkamp told NBC 7 the suspect kept saying the same thing over and over: “‘That's my boy. That's my son. C'mon let's go. It's time to go home.’ My player said, ‘Coach, that's not my dad.’”

Hedenkamp said he put his body between the man and the boy, making it clear the 7-year-old wasn’t going anywhere.

Lt. Kevin Mayer with the San Diego Police Department confirmed Jarrod West was arrested for attempted kidnapping and resisting a police officer.

“[The coach] did exactly the right thing. This situation he’s the guardian of these children. He stepped up and took action,” said Mayer.

NBC 7 also spoke to Brian Burgess, the president of Peninsula Little League. Burgess sent alerts to more than a dozen other leagues across San Diego.

The news traveled quickly on social media among parents of little league players. There were reports of a possible second incident at a Point Loma park, but Lt. Mayer said those reports are unconfirmed.

Burgess said, when it comes to protecting children, “It takes a village. Everyone around here, no matter what league you're in or what school you play for, you need to watch the kids.”

The boy was not harmed and is now safe with family.

West was arraigned on Feb. 25 and pleaded not guilty to the charges. His next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Chula Vista resident and cyclist David Voigt, 44, died at the hands of a suspected drunk driver Monday night.

On Tuesday, friends and co-workers were mourning the loss, and residents were anxious about their safety.

Close friend Chico Flores was once related to David Voigt by marriage. Now, Flores is struggling with the sudden loss of such a beloved man.

“Heaven definitely has another angel right about now, He's the kind of guy that lights up a room. Great father, great husband,” Flores said.

Flores is not alone. Fellow cyclists stopped at the sidewalk shrine where Voigt was hit for a moment of silence. Co-workers parked their cars on the side of the road, some quietly reflecting, others in sorrowful prayer.

Voigt was killed Monday while riding his bike on East J Street. Chula Vista Police say 29-year-old Michael Reyes was drunk behind the wheel of the stolen Nissan Maxima that crossed two lanes of traffic before hitting Voigt head-on.

Investigators found evidence in that car linking Reyes to other crimes.

Flags at the Sweetwater Authority Water District where the victim worked flew at half staff. The general manager went to each of the three plants to tell co-workers the tragic news.

“There is a real sense of loss. His presence will be missed. He was well-liked and respected by everyone”, co-worker Leslie Payne said.

Voigt's focus was his family, a wife and two sons. He also enjoyed biking to work, running and racing motorcycles in his free time.

His death brings into focus one very important reminder.

"It's kind of tragic and unexpected. It could have easily been avoided if people just don't drink and drive,” Flores said.

Reyes remains in serious condition in the trauma unit of UCSD Medical Center.

He is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday. If Reyes can't get to court, the judge will arraign him in his hospital bed.

United Airlines has announced a new focus on ridding overhead airplane bins of oversized carry-on baggage.

To ensure compliance with luggage size limitations, the Chicago-based airline has instructed its employees and contractors who work at airport gates to pay close attention to carry-ons. If necessary, workers will require passengers with carry-ons that are too big to check the bag and pay the extra fees, according to The Associated Press.

Many travelers at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's United Airlines terminal told NBC 5 that they welcome the scrutiny.

"It's always really packed [in the overhead bins] and you end up having to put all your stuff underneath your feet, and then you don't have any room to put anything anywhere," said Lydia Mears, who was passing through DFW on her way home to Australia Tuesday.

"Because when you lift [the overhead bin door] up it all falls down because everyone's tried to jam it in there," said fellow passenger Amy Borrow.

Travelers are typically allowed one carry-on bag to fit in the overhead bin, which can be no larger than 9 inches by 14 inches by 12 inches. Fliers state that travelers can also bring one personal item, such as a purse or laptop bag, that fits under the seat in front of them.

People flying with oversized bags can have the suitcase checked for free at the gate, a long-standing practice. But those who get halted at the entrance to security must now go back to the ticket counter and pay the airline's $25 checked-luggage fee, the AP reported.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines already has a similar policy in place, according to an airline spokesperson.

"American has staffers near security checkpoints in many of our largest airports to do visual checks on the size of carry-ons," Matt Miller, media relations manager with American Airlines, told NBC DFW in a statement Tuesday. "Additionally we have bag-sizers at gates and, in some cases, tape measures may be used in order to enforce policies."

A spokesperson for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines told NBC DFW the company's popular "Bags Fly Free" policy prevents the need for such scrutiny of carry-on items.

Annie Thai struggled to meet the carry-on size requirement for her United flight from DFW to San Francisco Tuesday. After her carry-on was deemed too big, Thai reshuffled some items and tried again at the security checkpoint. This time, a contractor at the security line told Thai to reorganize her items or to check the bag.

Ultimately, after a failed attempt at making her bag meet the size requirement, Thai begrudgingly paid to check the bag.

"I don't know what happened. Last time it was okay, I could pass. But this time I have to pay more." Thai told NBC DFW.

More than 1,000 people gathered Tuesday to pay tribute to a 14-year-old California girl who was struck and killed by a train.

Jenna Betti, an 8th grader at Martinez Junior High School, was remembered at a candlelight vigil as a great soccer player, a great friend and for her contagious smile.

"Heaven gained one of the most beautiful angels and she is now in a better place protected by God," said Julia Betti, Jenna's sister.

A social media post by Jenna's mother said the teen was killed by a train while trying to retrieve her dropped cell phone.

Jenna was hit around 5 p.m. Sunday on the railroad tracks near Old Orchard and Howe in the city located northeast of Berkeley and southeast of Vallejo.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe train that struck her was heading from Richmond to Fresno, and had three crewmembers aboard at the time of the incident, a railway spokeswoman said.

Jenna and another person were on the tracks but moved away as the train approached, a  spokesperson said. The girl then returned to the tracks and was hit.

According to a Facebook message from Jenna's mother, Dena Betti, that was reposted on social media sites, Jenna was with her boyfriend on the tracks just before she was hit. The mother wrote that Jenna apparently dropped her phone and was killed when she went back to grab it as the train approached.

Tuesday's vigil was held near the location of where Jenna died.

Grief counselors were at the school Tuesday and will remain there all this week, a campus secretary said.

On social media, messages about Jenna have been pouring in since her death. One poster, who appears to be Jenna's boyfriend, wrote, "She is so important to me and I am just devastated. I love her so much."

Jenna has two younger sisters and played club soccer. Her mother was involved in her daughters' school communities, according to the Martinez Unified School District superintendent.

San Diego businesses are starting to feel more optimistic about the future, according to the most recent San Diego County Business Forecast.

In January, the county’s business outlook index hit a high of 29.7, bettering the previous high of 29.4 in December.

“The last three months have proven to be fairly positive for San Diego County businesses,” said Alan Lane, chief executive officer of Silvergate Bank, which sponsors the forecast report for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The forecast is based on survey responses from some 200 local business executives from the San Diego chamber and the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce.

Of those responding, about half say they will be adding employees in the coming three months. Most of those planning expansion come from companies with more than 50 employees, the survey found.

Asked to select the industries that are most important to San Diego, 54 percent named tourism, entertainment and hospitality, which led the list.

The next most important was life sciences and biotech sector, which was selected as the second most important industry by 25 percent of respondents.

The defense industry came in third place in the survey as the most important economic driver.

The survey was conducted Jan. 16-29 by Competitive Edge Research.

 The Business Journal is the premier business publication in San Diego. Every day online and each Monday in print, the Business Journal reports on how local business operate and why businesses leaders make the decisions they do. Every story is a dose of insight into how to run a better, more efficient, more profitable business.

A woman who forgot her own identity and had been hospitalized for five months after a being hit by a car has the news media to thank for reuniting her with her family Tuesday night.

The woman, previously referred to as “Jane Doe” at the hospital, had only recently become able to speak. Over the last two weeks, she was able to tell nurses that her name was Martha, that she was from Acapulco, Mexico, and that she had two sons.

This information was featured on both NBC4 and NBC4 sister station Telemundo 52, where the mystery woman’s brother saw the report Tuesday.

NBC4’s Gadi Schwartz spoke with the woman’s brother, who only spoke Spanish. He said that months ago when his sister went missing, he didn’t initially think to look for her because the two weren’t that close. He said that they didn’t talk very regularly and that the woman worked very odd hours cleaning houses as well as working in restaurants. He identified his sister as Martha Reyna.

According to police, Reyna was jaywalking across Fourth and Lacy streets in Santa Ana on Oct. 15, 2013 when she was hit by a car with such force that her shoe came off.

Reyna had suffered severe memory loss, but once she was able to speak, began pleading with her family to come forward.

Reyna was able to recognize her brother but did not recognize other family members that joined him at Western Medical Center.
 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton continued to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin during her two-day Southern California visit  by calling him a "tough guy with thin skin" in a talk Wednesday at UCLA.

Clinton delivered the third annual Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership at UCLA's Royce Hall at noon. She participated in a question-answer session following the speech with UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck.

Past lectures have been delivered by her husband, former President Bill Clinton and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. She also will accept the UCLA Medal, given to people whose works "illustrate the highest ideals of UCLA, and whose career has manifestly benefited the public," according to the university.

It was the second day in a row that Clinton took aim at Russia's involvement in Ukraine.

"I know we are dealing with a tough guy with a thin skin," Clinton told the crowd at UCLA's Royce Hall, citing her experiences with Putin during her time at the State Department. "I know that his political vision is of a greater Russia. I said when I was still secretary that his goal is to re-Sovietize Russia’s periphery, but in the process he is squandering the potential of such a great nation, the nation of Russia, and threatening instability and even the peace of Europe."

Clinton began her two-day visit to Southern California Tuesday by speaking at a $1,500-per-person luncheon fundraiser in Long Beach benefiting the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach. She discussed Russia's military advance into Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and compared recent actions by Russian President Vladimir Putin to those implemented by Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s.

The Russian president's desire to protect minority Russians in Ukraine is reminiscent of Hitler's actions to  protect ethnic Germans outside Germany, she said, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Putin contends ethnic Russians in Ukraine need to be protected. Clinton said that's what Hitler did when he maintained ethnic Germans outside Germany in places such as Czechoslovakia and Romania were not being treated properly and needed to be protected, the newspaper reported.

"Now if this sounds familiar, it's what Hitler did back in the 30s," Clinton said, according to the report. "All the Germans that were... the ethnic Germans, the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places, Hitler kept saying, 'They're not being treated right. I must go and protect my people.' And that's what's gotten everybody so nervous."

The newspaper quoted Clinton as saying Putin is a man "who believes his mission is to restore Russian greatness."

"When he looks at Ukraine, he sees a place that he believes is by its very nature part of Mother Russia," she said at the private event.

Clinton stressed Wednesday that she was not making a comparison between Putin and Hitler.

"What I said yesterday was that the claims by President Putin and other Russians that they had to go into Crimea and maybe further into eastern Ukraine because they had to protect the Russian minorities -- that is reminiscent of claims that were made in the 1930s when Germany under the Nazis kept talking about how they had to protect German minorities in Poland and Czechoslovakia and elsewhere throughout Europe," Clinton said Wednesday. "I just want everybody to have a little historic perspective. I am not making a comparison, certainly, but I am recommending that we perhaps can learn from this tactic that has been used before."

Clinton answered questions on a variety of subjects Tuesday, including her favorite flavor of Girl Scout cookie.

Her answer -- peanut butter.
 

RadioShack reminded us all why we love it last month with its '80s-themed Super Bowl commercial — but it wasn't enough to reverse the tide of poor sales. The retro retailer, whose roots are in providing components to build ham radios, plans to close 1,100 of its U.S. stores, it announced this week.

Here are a few ways the retailer could reinvent itself.

1) Appeal to maker culture.
Limore Shur, founder of the creative design agency eyeball, suggests RadioShack could reposition itself by going slightly higher-tech — while staying loyal to its DIY roots — by appealing to the DIY tech movement known as maker culture.

"It would seem they have a great opportunity to build off their history as a supplier of relevant materials to make electronics," Shur said.

Instead of trying to compete with big-box stores to sell the latest headphones, RadioShack should fill a niche need for customers looking to modify their 3D printers, fix their interactive LED screens, make their GoPros fly and build drones, he said.

"How great would it be to go into RadioShack and get a kit to fix your (or your daughter's) shattered cell phone screen?" he asked.

And to remove any lingering relation to the analog age, Shur suggests perhaps a change of name is in order: "MakerShack." Even the White House is going to stage its first Maker Faire later this year.

2) Make them all concept stores.
One area where RadioShack has shown growth has been with its Concept Stores, which it said aim to "attract tech-hungry shoppers who will find a new level of products, service and excitement in a store that makes the buying experience fun."

Those stores highlight what RadioShack calls "in-demand" brands like Apple, HTC, Beats Electronics and Samsung and include fixtures like a Speaker Wall to let customers compare products — you know, like a modern-day retail store.

3) Get Jeff Bezos to come knocking.
Quartz first suggested last year that Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos should buy RadioShack outright. Now, seeing as the company's market value is below $300 million (for reference: Bezos paid just $250 million for the Washington Post), it wouldn’t be out of the question.

Bezos could take it a step further and turn the store spaces into Amazon "locker rooms," hubs for Amazon's locker delivery service that are also sports merchandise retail stores. Bezos could forge partnerships with local sports teams, letting customers pick up their Kindles or "Cards Against Humanity" games along with their Knicks tees or Chargers hats.

4) Become a mobile phone company.
As writer Steve Cichon very cleverly pointed out at The Huffington Post, every single item in  a RadioShack newspaper advertisement from 1991 (with the exceptions of the three-way speaker and radar detector) can now be replaced with a few taps of your smartphone:

Everything from this 1991 Radio Shack ad you can now do with your phone http://t.co/fR02qq9K5A

— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) January 16, 2014

So why not move to become a mobile phone company?

5) Go online-only.
RadioShack could cut costs by going online-only and get rid of the physical locations entirely by selling them to the likes of Starbucks.

The coffee giant bought tea company Teavana last year and opened its first tea bar in New York. Now, Starbucks plans to build 1,000 tea bars in the next 10 years. Why not make it 4,000?

What do you think? What should RadioShack do?

Two boats collide at the entrance to Mission Bay, throwing some passengers in the water, and it’s all a simulation to help train first responders in the case of a real-life emergency.

San Diego lifeguards, firefighters, police officers, U.S. Coast Guard and American Red Cross personnel took part in a training exercise in Mission Bay.

Thirty-five people were placed on two boats outside the entrance to Mission Bay Channel and a floating piece of dock was used to simulate a sunken fisherman's boat.

The two-day training will help agencies better understand protocols and procedures for a mass rescue

The focus is decision-making, coordination and integration of regional emergency response assets.

A mountain lion exhibited behavior considered "anything but normal" when it attacked and killed a 100-pound German Shepherd before standing its ground when the dog's owner and officers encountered the animal in the back yard of Southern California home.

Fontana police are urging residents to keep pets inside careful after the dog's death early Wednesday. The mountain lion is considered a "significant public safety threat," meaning it cannot be relocated, police said.

Police responded after the dog’s owner went to his backyard and found the mountain lion standing over his deceased pet. The mountain lion hopped a brick wall to enter the property, part of what authorities described as a pattern of unsual behavior in an area where reports of mountain lion sightings are common.

"What was unique was the behavior of this mountain lion," said Fontana Police Chief Rodney Jones, adding that officials with the California DFW described the behavior as "very bizarre and very unique."

After hearing the attack, the homeowner went outside and turned on a light.

"Normally, they do not like to be around people, and they do not like the lights," Jones said. "This mountain lion stood its ground by growling at him and getting ready to jump on him.

"As officers arrived, a couple of officers got within 10 to 15 feet. The mountain lion was in a position where could pounce on an officer."

Officers retreated and fired several rounds, initially scaring it into a nearby canyon. The large cat returned four more times before eventually disappearing.

There is no evidence the lion was struck by any rounds, officials said.

The Fontana Police Department has deemed the mountain lion a threat to public safety and is working with Fish and Wildlife officials to track the animal. Residents are being warned to avoid hiking or jogging around dawn, dusk, and at night when the animals are most active and to keep pets inside.

An animal is considered a public safety threat if there is "a likelihood of human injury based on the totality of the circumstances," according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The lion's behavior, proximity to schools and other factors are considered in making that determination.

DFW agents and police have been deployed in the neighborhood. A helicopter with infrared sensors that allow for improved searching capability at night was assigned to the area. 

Volunteers have been distributing information about the animal to residents.

When we set our clocks forward this weekend, we'll gain an hour of sunlight and lose an hour of sleep. But adjusting to the time change can take a heavy toll on our health, especially for those who are already sleep-deprived.

Our bodies follow a 24-hour pattern, and an hour's difference can disrupt the body's natural rhythms, potentially causing sleep deprivation, irritability, headaches and other health hazards. University of Alabama researchers found that setting clocks forward one hour is associated with a 10 percent increase in the risk of heart attacks, according to Science Daily.  

To ease your transition into the new season, try these five tips:

Go to bed earlier.

Get ready for the time change a few days in advance by going to sleep 30 minutes earlier. Hitting the hay half an hour earlier will prepare your internal clock for waking up an hour earlier on Monday. By making this extra effort, your body won't have to fight against the extra 20 or 30 minutes of sleep it wants.

Adjust your clock the day before.

If you have a relaxed schedule on Saturday, set your clocks forward earlier in the day. Shifting the times of daily activities and meals can help prepare for the adjustment.

Get a good night's sleep.

Try not to nap during the weekend, and avoid alcohol, caffeine, nicotine or any other substances that can affect your ability to fall asleep.

Don't forget to work out.

Remember to exercise. Avoid strenuous workouts close to bedtime, since they may make it more difficult to fall asleep.

Be productive Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning, avoid laziness. Expose yourself to as much sunlight as you can. Not only will it boost your energy levels, but it will also make you more alert.

A San Diego-area woman accused of killing her 79-year-old mother and dumping her body underneath a tree in a remote location in Ramona last year has been ordered to stand trial for the murder.

Ghazal Mansury, 42, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted in the slaying of her mother, Mehria Mansury, who shared her Serra Mesa home with her daughter.

Mansury was last seen alive by other family members on Sept. 23, 2013.

When she wasn’t heard from a couple days later, concerned family members visited Mansury’s home on Amulet Street and could not find her. The house was also a mess, family members said.

• READ: Bail Set at $2M for Woman Accused of Killing Mother

The family called deputies to report that Mansury was missing and an extensive search for the woman began throughout San Diego County.

For her part, Ghazal told family members and police she personally last saw her mother on the morning of Sept. 24, 2013, at the Serra Mesa home. She said Mansury had gone for a walk but never returned. However, she did not report her mother missing that day.

For nine days, dozens of law enforcement officers from multiple agencies searched for Mansury. All along, detectives considered Ghazal a person of interest and said Mansury was considered a "missing person at-risk."

On Oct. 2, 2013, investigators got a major break in the case when the body of a woman was discovered face-down underneath a tree in a remote field in Ramona, near the Barona Indian Reservation.

Two days later, police officially identified the body as Mansury and classified the missing woman’s case as a homicide.

On Oct. 3, 2013, SDPD investigators arrested Ghazal on suspicion of her mother’s murder. Ghazal’s boyfriend, Lucio Moreno, was also questioned at police headquarters, but was later released.

• READ: Daughter Faces Murder Charge in Mother's Disappearance

On Oct. 7, 2013, Ghazal pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. A judge set her bail high, at $2 million, due to concerns with Ghazal’s possible connections to other countries and potential flight-risk.

According to prosecutors, Mansury was born in Jordan and has family in Afghanistan. However, for the past three decades, she has lived in San Diego. For the last 14 years, Ghazal had lived with her mother at Mansury’s Serra Mesa home.

In October 2013 NBC 7 learned that both Ghazal and her boyfriend, Lucio Moreno, have criminal records. Court documents indicate that Moreno was previously tied to cases involving possession of controlled substances and possession of a loaded handgun. Ghazal has priors involving burglary and theft.

During Ghazal’s preliminary hearing this week, a neighbor testified that Ghazal and her mother argued constantly, often times about Ghazal’s clutter in the face of Mansury’s efforts to keep her home clean.
An SDPD officer also took the stand, testifying that in 2011 Mansury asked police for advice on how to get her daughter’s boyfriend’s car out of her driveway.

A prosecutor said Ghazal referred to her mother as “the b**ch” and allegedly told detectives she dumped Mansury’s body near Barona Casino & Resort.

The prosecutor also alleged online searches were conducted on Ghazal’s computer searching for terms like “homicide” and “how to clean blood stains.”

Still, despite the prosecutor’s arguments, Ghazal’s attorney maintains his client did not kill her mother. Ghazal is due back in court on Mar. 20.

Alex Eugene Taylor, a 5-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, has been suspended without pay after he allegedly killed his girlfriend's puppy.

According to police, Taylor had texted his girlfriend last month, saying their 7-month-old Jack Russell terrier named Rocko had defecated on the carpet of their Silver Spring home. Taylor then said he killed the dog, and sent a photo of its body to his girlfriend, police say.

In a phone call, police say Taylor told his girlfriend he beat the dog with a mop because he was "tired of cleaning up the dog's defecation." According to police, he then threw the dog out in the trash, but his girlfriend asked him to retrieve Rocko so she could bury him.

Two days later, she called police about the incident. Taylor was charged with aggravated animal cruelty and abuse or neglect of an animal.

He has been suspended without pay from the Baltimore Police Department, which is conducting an investigation into the incident. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s job approval rating has slipped, but he remains popular and enjoys a comfortable advantage in his quest for re-election, according to a new poll.

Cuomo, a Democrat, holds massive leads over each of three potential Republican challengers: Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, conservative upstate businessman Carl Paladino and real estate mogul Donald Trump, the NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll shows. In head-to-head match-ups, the governor beat them all by at least 40 percentage points.

The only challenger to formally launch a campaign against Cuomo is Astorino, who announced his candidacy Wednesday. The poll, taken in the days leading up to Astorino’s announcement, shows him with the support of 25 percent of registered voters, compared with Cuomo’s 65 percent. Another 10 percent are undecided.

When asked their opinion of Astorino, nearly half of voters — 46 percent — said they were unsure, or hadn’t heard of him. That included 49 percent of members of his own party.

“This is still someone who lacks definition and is still not very well known among voters,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “His to-do list is long and it is by all measures a very uphill fight for him.”

The general election is Nov. 4.

Cuomo, meanwhile, enjoys a cushy approval-rating advantage. But it is slowly shrinking.

Asked to rate his job performance, 42 percent of voters responded positively, while 18 percent said the governor was doing poorly.

The last time the poll asked the question, in November, the split was 52-13.

That decline appears to be driven by New Yorkers’ lackluster views of the economy.

The proportion of voters who said they thought New York was in a recession jumped to 65 percent, the highest level in two years, the poll shows. Of those voters, 37 percent said they approved of Cuomo’s performance.

That effect was even more pronounced among blacks and Latinos, groups more likely to see the state economy as slumping. Among Latino voters, 41 percent approved of Cuomo’s job performance, down from 62 percent in November. Among blacks, the figure dropped from 57 percent to 42 percent.

“Although he has a very wide lead, he still will need to convince voters that he’s turning the economy around,” Miringoff said.

The poll, conducted from Friday to Monday, surveyed 658 registered voters, and the results carry a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Not surprisingly, Astorino is trying to exploit Cuomo’s economic vulnerabilities. He released a web video Wednesday that accused the governor of fiscal gimmickry and failing to create enough jobs.

If the clip is any indication of what’s to come, there will be a lot more negative attacks against Cuomo.

Equally unsurprising is Cuomo’s silent response, Miringoff said.

“He doesn’t want to assist Astorino with one of his problems, which is low name recognition.”

But as much as the economy bothers voters, Cuomo needn’t worry — at least not yet.

His favorability rating remains high and largely unchanged, with 63 percent of voters saying they had a positive view of him and 33 percent saying they had a negative view of him.

And the governor has amassed a campaign war chest that at last count totaled $33 million. Astorino has about $1 million.

The poll also asked voters to choose between Cuomo and two other potential challengers who have yet to say if they’ll actually run.

In a match-up with Paladino, whom Cuomo soundly defeated in 2010, the governor leads 68 percent to 25 percent. Cuomo leads Trump by an even larger margin: 70 percent to 26 percent.

In short: whoever runs against Cuomo in the general election will have to overcome daunting odds.

A strange odor led to the evacuation of a gym in Rancho Bernardo Wednesday night, officials confirmed.

The 24-Hour Fitness located at 17170 Bernardo Center Dr. was evacuated just before 7 p.m. after members and staffers noticed an odd smell wafting through the gym.

The fire department was called to the scene to investigate the root of the issue.

As of 7:30 p.m., the building remained under evacuation as investigators worked to determine the cause of the odor, and whether or not it may have been caused by a gas leak. San Diego Gas & Electric officials were also called to the scene.

By 8 p.m., San Diego Fire-Rescue public information officer Lee Swanson said SDG&E investigators had determined the odor was not stemming from a gas leak.

Fire officials believe the smell came from some sort of electronic equipment burning.

Swanson said evacuaees were evaluated on scene for any possible injuries but no one was transported to the hospital. Officials did not say exactly how many people were led out of the building during the incident.

Gym members will likely not be let back inside the facility tonight, as officials are still investigating the cause of the burning smell.

Check back for updates.

Was Batkid snubbed?

The Academy Awards telecast on Sunday was supposed to feature a segment with Batkid -- 5-year-old Miles Scott, who captured San Francisco's hearts in such a memorable fashion last fall -- but the boy's Oscar moment was nixed just hours before the show began, according to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

A Make-A-Wish spokesperson confirmed the planned segment to NBC Bay Area on Wednesday. She said the segment was supposed to include Andrew Garfield, who is starring in the most-recent Hollywood iteration of Spider-Man.

Garfield was supposed to introduce Miles as "the world's next superhero," Mashable reported.

The segment was rehearsed on Saturday, but without warning, Garfield didn't appear at the Sunday awards show, and the segment never aired.

Instead, Miles took a trip to Disneyland.

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Miles’ mother, Natalie Scott, told the International Business Times that Miles had his tuxedo ready to go.

"He was most excited about his new tuxedo, the fitting and having his own tux," Make-A-Wish spokesperson Jen Wilson said.

Wilson said the tuxedo was paid for by a Make-A-Wish sponsor.

"We just don't know what happened," Wilson said when asked why the segment never made air.

According to Make-A-Wish, the Scott family found out the segment was canceled around 11 a.m. on Sunday morning.

“I don’t know if they ran out of time, of if there was something about the segment they didn’t like,” Natalie Scott told IBT.

Wilson told NBC Bay Area that Make-A-Wish's involvement in the planned segment was limited to getting the show's producers in touch with the Scott family.

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The Academy Awards did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Natalie Scott reportedly said her child hero was "disappointed."

It took between 11,000 and 12,000 volunteers to pull off the November 2013 event.

An asteroid headed for Earth's general neighborhood will be closer than the moon Wednesday when it passes -- an estimated 217,000 miles away.

The space rock, called 2014 DX110, is estimated at about 45 to 130 feet wide -- less than the width of a football field, but at least as big as the asteroid that injured hundreds of people when it broke apart above Russia last year. DX110 will be about ninth-tenths of the distance between the moon and Earth and might be visible .

• Watch (12:30 p.m. PT): Virtual Telescope Project  | Slooh

Relatively close approaches like this occur frequently, but DX110 is closer than most asteroids. A much larger asteroid, 2014 CU13, is expected to pass Tuesday within eight lunar distances -- the distance from Earth to the moon, which ranges by tens of thousands of miles over the course of the moon's orbit but averages about 238,900 miles.