A D.C. high school was evacuated and students were sent home following an acid spill Wednesday morning.

The muriatic acid was spilled when a contractor accidentally ruptured a line carrying the acid at Wilson Aquatic Center, which is adjacent to Wilson High School in Tenleytown.

The contractor was rushed to a hospital. A D.C. firefighter was also transported to the hospital, although the reason is unknown at this time.

Authorities evacuated the high school and aquatic center as a precaution. Muriatic acid is also known as hydrochloric acid; it is used to regulate the pH of swimming pools.

Hundreds of students waited outside at the nearby Fort Reno park before being moved to the nearby Alice Deal Middle School. Around 10:30 a.m., teachers told students they could go home for the day.

Dozens of D.C. Fire & EMS crew and ambulances were called to the scene. A chemical decontamination station was set up to scrub down hazmat teams going in and out of the aquatic center as they worked to contain the spill.

D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh asked the District Department of the Environment's hazmat team to evaluate the situation and conduct air and water quality testing to see if anyone beyond the school complex could be affected by the spill.

The pool will remain closed through the early morning swim Thursday but is expected to open later Thursday, officials said. Constituents will be contacted when the facility opens.

Hazmat team getting scrubbed down after leaving chemical spill at Wilson Pool. pic.twitter.com/Czmtrhae2u

— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) March 12, 2014

Students at Wilson High have been told to go home according to students now leaving the area. A huge cheer could be heard for blocks.

— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) March 12, 2014

San Diego police officers are trying to determine who gunned down a man sitting in a vehicle Wednesday morning in City Heights.

Officers said several shots were heard around 6:10 a.m. in the neighborhood of Orange Avenue and 41st Street, south of El Cajon Boulevard and east of Interstate 15.

Officers and medics arrived and discovered a man in his 40s shot several times. The victim was later pronounced deceased, officials said. His his identity has not been released.

A member of the victim's family arrived two hours after the shooting and appeared to be very distraught. The man had to be held back from the crime scene by officers.

Police searched the area for a suspect described as a male in his 20s with a dark sweatshirt who was possibly wearing blue jeans.

A man on his bicycle was taken into custody. Officers said he was considered only as a person of interest.

“We have a person of interest and other witnesses and we’ll have to decipher exactly who is friend or foe,” said SDPD Lt. Mike Hastings.

Neighbor Dre Savage was watching television when he heard about five gunshots.

"It wasn't too bad. It's not like we don't hear it out here all the time," Savage said adding that he wasn't too worried about it.

Savage said the car involved was often parked in the neighborhood but he didn't know the owner.

Officers have blocked traffic along Orange Avenue between Marlborough Avenue and Central Avenue.

Check back for updates on this developing story. 

Did you feel it? There were reports from around San Diego county of a shaking or possible earthquake Wednesday morning.

Residents in San Marcos reported feeling a shake and then a similar incident 20 minutes later.

NBC 7 has received calls from people in La Jolla, San Marcos and Mexico asking about a possible earthquake.

Former NBC 7 news anchor Susan Taylor posted her experience on Facebook saying the water in her cup sloshed around a bit.

“The shaking lasted more than a few seconds,” she wrote.

U.S. Geological Survey has no incident on the interactive map they offer on their website. 

We have reached out to Camp Pendleton to inquire about possible military training happening on the base.

The base has mortar and artillery fire training scheduled in the Whiskey/Zulu areas through midnight tonight.

Check back for updates on this developing story. 

A man broke into a Mira Mesa apartment, hovered over a woman and her daughter as they slept, San Diego police said.

The man climbed to a second-story balcony and went inside through a sliding door around 1 a.m. at the West Star Apartments on Black Mountain Road near Carroll Canyon Road, officers said.

Resident Tyler Oharrow called police when he spotted a man in his 20s in the complex ducking behind cars, pacing and acting strangely.

“I noticed him on the top of one of the units walls looking inside one of the upper apartments,” Oharrow said.

Minutes later, another tenant called saying that a strange man was hovering over her when she woke up.

The woman, who was sleeping alongside her daughter, told police she screamed and the man ran away.

There was no physical contact between the woman and the suspect but police believe it’s possible it could have led to that if the woman didn't wake up when she did.

Officers collected evidence from the balcony.

They released a suspect description of a man in his early 20s with short, spiked hair and a thin moustache wearing a white or a grey T-shirt and jeans.
 

Convicted killer and former Charles Manson associate Bruce Davis was granted parole, officials from the state prison system said on Wednesday.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Board of Parole Hearings granted the order for Davis, 71.

Debra Tate, whose sister, actress Sharon Tate, was stabbed to death by Manson followers in 1969, spoke at the parole hearing.

"Today was a very bad day," she told NBC4.

The decision was made during a parole consideration hearing at California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.

The decision was the result of Davis' 28th parole suitability hearing.

The suitability finding is subject to a 120-day decision review period.

• Download the FREE NBC Los Angeles news app

If the grant is finalized at the conclusion of decision review, the governor may conduct an independent review of the decision.

Under California law, the governor has 30 days to reverse, modify, affirm or decline to review the Board’s decision.

Davis was sent to state prison on April 21, 1972, with a life sentence from Los Angeles County for two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and robbery.

He was convicted for the July 25, 1969, murder of Gary Hinman and the murder of Donald “Shorty” Shea sometime in August 1969.

Davis has been granted parole twice – in January 2010 and again in October 2012.

Davis’ first parole grant was reversed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in June 2010.

Davis challenged the reversal in court, but it was upheld in 2012. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. reversed Davis’ second parole grant on March 1, 2013.

A new study is shedding light on the dark details surrounding the sex trafficking industry across eight cities nationwide, including San Diego, showing just how big of a problem it has become across the county.

As one child advocate told NBC 7 on Wednesday, pimps don't discriminate when it comes to luring in victims of sex trafficking, targeting children of all races across all parts of the county.

“No one is exempt. The predator is very, very able and savvy on how to recruit,” said Marisa Ugarte, executive director of the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition (BSCC).

For the study, researchers from The Urban Institute interviewed convicted pimps and sex traffickers who made between $5,000 and $32,000 per week working in the sordid industry.

Ugarte, who’s been an advocate for exploited men, women and children for over two decades said the underground commercial sex economy is everywhere in San Diego, in places like Vista, Escondido Eastlake, La Jolla, Balboa Park and National City.

"In National City we have a big problem because of the military base. Ninety percent of the victims, if not 99% of the alleged victims of human trafficking, their primary client was the military," she explained.

Ugarte said the internet makes it easier for pimps to recruit young children quickly and quietly.

"The internet is becoming the biggest recruiter because it's private, parents don't know what their children are doing, so it's very easy," she said.

Manolo Guillen, vice president with the International Network of Hearts, said that in San Diego, selling sex has surpassed the sale of drugs. And, with the internet as a medium for selling and buying sex, it can be difficult to trace everyone associated with the industry.

“Anonymity is a big problem because just with a click of a mouse, met can go online and go on pages like Backpage and immediately order sex,” said Guillen.

With no signs of slowing, pimps are finding few limitations in this lucrative industry, which many pimps consider low-risk.

"I think what pimps realize, and gangs by the way, is that they can sell drugs but after that point of sale, there's no profit for them. But they can sell a child or a woman over and over and over," Guillen added.

Guillen said awareness and collaboration is crucial in stopping human trafficking. On Thursday, his organization will sponsor a conference at the Chula Vista Council Chambers that will bring together government and non-government organizations to help in the fight against local sex trafficking.
 

San Diego lifeguards rescued a 59-year-old man from the rocky cliffs below the Torrey Pines Gliderport Wednesday afternoon.

The man's wife identified him as Erick Stevens.

His wife told NBC 7 that Stevens' glider went over the edge and then "swirled" back toward the cliffs.

Rescue crews jumped into action after getting the call.

“Once we got on scene and established the location of the glider, we started getting lifeguards down there. The urgent goal is to get a medic there as quickly as possible. We also requested fire resources and the helicopter, said Lt. Rich Stropky with San Diego lifeguards.

A lifeguard, using a rope system, went down the cliff and stabilized the man. The victim was then lifted into a helicopter and flown to Scripps Memorial Hospital with back and neck pain.

Stevens' wife said he has been piloting gliders for two years.

You don’t need the luck o’ the Irish to find a North San Diego pub to party at this St. Patrick’s Day: just check out this list from Yelp. Each spot offers plenty of (green) beer for your belly but what’s more, traditional Irish dishes that will have you feeling like you’ve found a pot of gold!

O’Sullivan’s Irish Pub (Escondido)
No blarney, this is the place of a hundred thousand welcomes, or “céad míle fáilte, as the Irish say. This pub boasts a large selection of scotch and Irish whiskey, plus a full menu that includes corned beef and cabbage and a several “Boxty” dishes – a potato pancake grilled over an open fire and wrapped around yummy traditional fillings. Try the Irish Whiskey Chicken Boxty, which includes sautéed chicken, mushrooms, onions, fresh herbs, melted cheese and topped with sweet Irish whiskey cream sauce.

Churchill’s Pub and Grille (San Marcos)
The impressive beer and bottle list at this San Marcos pub may just have you doing a jig! Once you’ve worked up an appetite, settle in and start off with a Scotch Egg, consisting of a hard-boiled egg and ground pork banger sausage, served with mustard. Follow that up with the Craft Cottage Pie, a hearty mix of a ground beef, ground lamb, demi glaze, stout, rainbow crunch carrots, pearl onions and mashed potatoes or the Venison & Black Berry Pot Pie, which combines venison top round, root vegetables, demi glaze, black berries and a sage crust.

Murphy’s Law Irish Pub & Ale House (Oceanside)
Want to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day in new digs this year? This venue just opened earlier this month in Oceanside and is stocked and ready to quench the thirst and appetites of patrons with 18 taps and a full menu featuring breakfast, lunch and dinner items. Fare includes potatoes, salads, shepherd’s pie, sandwiches and more, plus a Guinness Stout Chili that sounds fantastic. Beverages include all the Irish Car Bombs, Bushmills, Tillamore Dew and Jameson you can drink. The original Murphy’s Law location is in Arizona and this is the pub’s first expansion. Check out the Murphy’s Law “cop car” and their St. Patrick’s Day festival this Saturday starting at noon.

The Stag & Lion (Carlsbad)
Get your green on and stop in on Mar. 17 for a $10 combo deal of Jameson and Guinness. It’ll be a full day of Irish food and drink specials, including Irish whiskey flights and live traditional pub music. Hang out and play pool or darts and try some of the Steak & Ale pie – it’s a filling, comforting choice. For something sweet, snag the Raisin Bread Pudding with the Jack Daniels glaze, a treat full of spice and flavor.

Poway Irish Pub (Poway)
Highly rated, this popular Poway pub is a Yelp fan favorite. Hearty food options define the menu. For instance, there’s the Guinness Stew, which has 22 ingredients and is topped with mashed potatoes. The Dublin Burger is delicious, made with pan-seared corned beef and the potato stew made with fresh herbs daily will really hit the spot. This pub also doesn’t skimp on the entertainment, with trivia games, live bands, happy hour and Taco Tuesday. Prep for the inevitable holiday buzz the day before St. Patrick’s Day by carb-loading at the all-you-can-eat buffet for only $18. On Sunday, the pub’s St. Paddy’s Day Bash includes a beer garden, food and drink specials and live Irish music.
 

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.

Three people were killed, nearly 70 people were hurt and others are missing after two buildings collapsed following a gas leak explosion that rattled upper Manhattan and shattered windows with a blast that could be felt blocks away, officials said.

The two five-story buildings at the northwest corner of 116th Street and Park Avenue in Harlem collapsed at about 9:30 a.m., authorities said. Smoke billowed into Central Park and could be seen from miles away in midtown, and New Yorkers said they felt rumbles as far away as 150th Street. Closer to the collapse, groceries were knocked from store shelves and debris floated through the air.

Mayor de Blasio said the buildings were destroyed, and that first responders were digging through the rubble for victims. 

The only indication of anything wrong before the explosion was a call to Con Edison from a woman in a nearby building, reporting a strong odor of gas just minutes before the blast, the mayor and the utility said. But it was too late.

"This is a tragedy of the worst kind because there was no indication in time to save people," de Blasio said.

Hunter College has identified public safety officer Sgt. Griselde Camacho as one of the victims who died in the explosion. 

Hospitals reported receiving 69 people injured, including at least one child who was critically hurt. Most of the injuries were described as non-life-threatening.

Two on-duty FBI agents who were driving through the area at the time of the explosion were among those hurt, but their injuries were not life-threatening, the FBI said.

• RAW Video From the Smoking Rubble
  
• PHOTOS: Dramatic Images From the Collapse
• LISTEN: Emergency Dispatch Audio After the Collapse

A woman who said she was watching TV in her home about a block away said the explosion blew out her windows. 

"All my windows shattered and I didn't know what it was," she said on NBC 4 New York. She said first responders soon arrived at her building and ordered everyone out.

The blast and collapses registered at just under .5 on the Richter scale, according to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.

Another woman who was at her home on 115th Street between Park and Lexington avenues said she heard the explosion and thought it was a bomb. The explosion was near where Metro-North tracks run through Harlem.

"I thought a train had exploded," said Marisa Aquino.

• Witnesses Say There Was a Boom, Shaking, Then Confusion | Photos, Reaction From the Scene
  

"It sounded like a bomb. That's what it really sounded like," Trey Dey, a laborer who was working in a nearby basement when the buildings exploded, told NBC 4 New York.

Relatives of people who lived there were distraught at the scene.

"I want to know if my daughter is fine," said one woman. 

FDNY said it had hundreds of firefighters and first responders working at the scene to fight smoldering fires. Some neighboring apartment buildings are closed for firefighting operations and because of a sinkhole that's developed from a water main break, likely caused by the explosion. The FDNY said the sinkhole must first be repaired before crews can start bringing in heavy equipment to clean up the building debris. 

Officials cautioned it would be a painstaking process that would take time. The FDNY also said it was working to seal up windows that were blown out in surrounding buildings.

Investigators have finished searching the streets around the building and have not found any additional victims, officials say. 

• WATCH: Windows Blown Out by Blast
  
• WATCH: Smoke From Harlem Blast Sparks Air Quality Concerns

The Buildings Department said one of the collapsed buildings had six units, the other had nine. One of the buildings had work done last June for 120 feet of gas piping, records show. It has no violations on record.

The other building just to the north had one violation from 2008 related to vertical cracks in the rear of the building. The city said a fine was paid but it was not clear that the condition had been corrected.

Con Edison described the building's gas main as an 8-inch iron and plastic main. In 2011, 70 feet of it was replaced during an excavation project.

The explosion blew debris onto the elevated tracks of the Metro-North tracks above Park Avenue, causing a shutdown of service in both directions. Service was restored late Wednesday afternoon after tracks were cleared of debris and inspected for structural integrity, the MTA said.

The Department of Environmental Protection is monitoring air quality in the area. The city's health department says smoke from the fire has largely dissipated and that respiratory irritation from any smoke is usually short-term in healthy people.

The NTSB said it was joining the investigation. The agency probes pipeline explosions as well as transportation disasters.

The NTSB says it will examine, among other things, how Con Edison handled complaints, the oversight of Con Edison by federal and state officials, and any evidence of possible third-party damage from digging .

--Joe Valiquette, Brian Thompson and Kyli Singh contributed to this story

You’ve probably heard about the recent rash of hit-and-runs in the county.

It’s happened so frequently that San Diego Police’s Crime Stoppers is pursuing more tips and higher rewards for convictions.

And now one crash victim wants to make sure no one suffers the same fate.

Trevor Jensen and his dog Naraku were out early one morning three years ago, on a walk in Clairemont, when he says a driver came barreling through the intersection they were crossing.

“And I had to kind of choose me or my dog,” Jensen said. “It was so fast. Planted one leg, shoved my dog out of the way with the other, and I ended up getting hit on the leg that was planted.”

Flipping up in the air, the basketball lover and former college star says he tore his ACL and suffered a concussion and internal bleeding.

“Lady took off. Rolled down her window, said ‘sorry I'm late for work,’” he recalled. “The other people were looking at me kinda in disbelief, not sure if they just watched someone die or not. I just hobbled off to the side. No one stopped and everyone took off.”

The hit and run shook Jensen’s faith in humanity and for years he wallowed in self-pity. Eventually, he snapped out of it.

“I started looking at it as, ‘OK. Well how can I turn this accident to a benefit? Why did this happen to me? What can I do to make sure this doesn't happen to other people?’” he said.

That’s when he created Pup Protector, a company that sells dog collars and leashes with reflective stitching and LED lights. The goal is to make pedestrians and their pups more visible to drivers in the dark.

“In my own little way I feel like I’m changing the world a little bit,” Jensen said. “I’ve never been happier in life.”

Jensen’s product is already carried by some stores and he has several online deals in the works.

He hopes it’ll make him enough money to have his ACL repaired so he can get back on the basketball court. To learn more about the product, visit this website.
 

Eric Chen of San Diego may have found a way to control flu outbreaks—and he’s not even out of high school.

Chen, 17, was announced as the winner of the 2014 Intel Science Talent Search during a ceremony Tuesday in Washington, D.C. He also received the grand prize of $100,000.

The Canyon Crest Academy senior used multiple disciplines to identify new drugs to treat influenza. He hopes the drugs could keep a flu outbreak under control while a vaccine is developed.

Chen was chosen over more than 1,700 other applicants, according to a news release from Intel and the Society for Science and the People. Forty finalists were announced in January.

Two other California teens placed in the Top 10. Kevin Lee of Irvine came in second place and received $75,000 for developing a heart model that could give insight into arrhythmia. Natalie Ng of Cupertino came up with a tool to predict the spread of breast cancer cells, earning her fifth place.

Since the competition began in 1941, finalists have gone on to win eight Nobel Prizes, five National Medals of Science and various other prestigious awards, according to the release.

This isn't Chen's first big win. He won first place and a $100,000 scholarship in the 2013 Siemens Competition for Math, Science and Technology for his research on the same topic. He also won the grand prize at the Google Science Fair.

At least one person was killed in a collision Wednesday afternoon after a car rolled off a freeway and onto a property in San Diego’s East County, officials confirmed.

The deadly accident happened just before 5:30 p.m. off Interstate 8, near the 400-block of Peutz Valley Road. California Highway Patrol officials said a car rolled off the freeway and onto a private property below.

At least one victim died at the scene.

CHP officials and crews from Heartland Fire & Rescue are currently on scene investigating and treating at least two other injured victims, including an adult and baby who became trapped inside the vehicle following the collision.

By 6 p.m., officials confirmed that the adult and baby had been extricated from the car. They were transported to local hospitals with unknown injuries.

No further details were immediately available. Check back for updates on this developing story.
 

Convicted killer and former Charles Manson associate Bruce Davis was granted parole, officials from the state prison system said on Wednesday.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Board of Parole Hearings granted the order for Davis, 71.

The decision was made during a parole consideration hearing at California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.

The decision was the result of Davis' 28th parole suitability hearing.

The suitability finding is subject to a 120-day decision review period.

If the grant is finalized at the conclusion of decision review, the governor may conduct an independent review of the decision.

Under California law, the governor has 30 days to reverse, modify, affirm or decline to review the Board’s decision.

Davis was sent to state prison on April 21, 1972, with a life sentence from Los Angeles County for two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and robbery.

He was convicted for the July 25, 1969, murder of Gary Hinman and the murder of Donald “Shorty” Shea sometime in August 1969.

Davis has been granted parole twice – in January 2010 and again in October 2012.

Davis’ first parole grant was reversed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in June 2010.

Davis challenged the reversal in court, but it was upheld in 2012. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. reversed Davis’ second parole grant on March 1, 2013.

New research from the University of California, San Diego, has found that feelings shared on Facebook – via negative or positive posts or status updates – are contagious among online friends.

The study, titled “Detecting Emotional Contagion in Massive Social Networks,” was led by UC San Diego professor of political science James Fowler and UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering PhD student Lorenzo Coviello, among several co-authors.

Published in “PLOS ONE,” the research analyzed whether happiness and other emotions are spread from person to person on social networks such as Facebook.

Using data from more than one billion anonymous status updates among more than 100 million Facebook users in the 100 most populous cities in the United States, the study found that positive posts beget positive posts, while negative posts beget negative ones.

According to the research, positive Facebook posts are more influential than negative ones, spreading the positivity among others. Each additional negative post yields 1.29 more negative posts among friends, while each additional positive Facebook post yields an additional 1.75 positive posts among friends, the study deduced.

In order to measure the emotional content of each post, UC San Diego says researchers used an automated text analysis software program called the "Linguistic Inquiry Word Count."

The study also found that rainy weather changes the mood of Facebook posts – and that mood change can be contagious. The research says rainy weather increases the number of negative posts by 1.16 percent and decreases the number of positive posts by 1.19 percent.

Upon analyzing friends living in different cities as those posting about the rain, researchers found that the moods of those being rained on impacted the moods of their dry friends.

“For every one person affected directly, rainfall alters the emotional expression of about one to two other people, suggesting that online social networks may magnify the intensity of global emotional synchrony,” the study cites.

“Our study suggests that people are not just choosing other people like themselves to associate with but actually causing their friends’ emotional expressions to change,” said lead author Fowler. “We have enough power in this data set to show that emotional expressions spread online and also that positive expressions spread more than negative.”

Fowler said that in today’s digitally-connected world, it’s important to learn what can be transmitted through social media – including how much emotion can actually spread through social networks such as Facebook.

“It is possible that emotional contagion online is even stronger than we were able to measure,” he said.

This could have widespread implications, according to the researchers who write:

“[Emotions] might ripple through social networks to generate large-scale synchrony that gives rise to clusters of happy and unhappy individuals.”

Researchers suggest their findings could impact public well-being.

“If an emotional change in one person spreads and causes a change in many, then we may be dramatically underestimating the effectiveness of efforts to improve mental and physical health,” said Fowler. “We should be doing everything we can to measure the effects of social networks and to learn how to magnify them so that we can create an epidemic of well-being.”

Additional co-authors of the Facebook feelings study include UC San Diego political science graduate student Yunkyu Sohn; Adam D. I. Kramer and Cameron Marlow of Facebook; Massimo Franceschetti, also of UC San Diego’s Jacobs School; and Nicholas Christakis of the departments of sociology and medicine at Yale University.

Rich Peverley will not play again this season after collapsing on the bench during a game.

Whether the Dallas Stars forward resumes his career won't be known until after more extensive work evaluating his irregular heartbeat.

Peverley appeared briefly at a news conference Wednesday, reading nervously from a statement that thanked "the number of people that saved my life" after he went down in the first period of a game against Columbus, stunning players, coaches and fans.

• Stars' Peverley Collapses on Bench During Game

The 31-year-old left the questions to doctors who said his season was over and he would undergo a procedure that he decided to put off when his condition was first discovered during a physical before training camp in September.

Dr. Robert Dimeff said Peverley was given the option of treating atrial fibrillation, the most common type of heart arrhythmia, with a minor adjustment and medication or missing several months to undergo a more invasive approach.

"He said, `I'm new to the team, it's a new coach, a new general manager, I only have a two-year contract, they've got to know that I can play,"' Dimeff said of Peverley, who came to the Stars in an offseason trade from the Boston Bruins. "And so we went back and forth. That was a joint decision, an informed decision on his part."

Dimeff said Peverley's heart likely raced out of control and then stopped during the game against Columbus on Monday night, but probably for no more than about 10 seconds before medical personnel got it going again in the tunnel behind the Dallas bench at American Airlines Center. The game was postponed.

The procedure Peverley skipped in September, called an ablation, will likely be performed within days.

When he walked out of the news conference at St. Paul University Hospital, Peverley could be seen wearing a device that a doctor later described as something that monitors his heart rate constantly and can automatically implement corrective measures if the heartbeat gets out of rhythm.

• Peverley's Heart Undergoing Tests After Collapse
• Peverley Hospitalized, Teammates Try to Regroup

Peverley remains hospitalized, but all heart tests have been normal, Dimeff said.

"The last couple of days have been a lot of anxiety, a lot of unknown," Stars general manager Jim Nill said. "It turns out that it's a great day to walk in here, to see Rich Peverley walking in here."

Dimeff said the question of whether it's safe for Peverley to play hockey again wasn't one they wanted to address yet.

Peverley was sidelined through the first game of the regular season after the condition was diagnosed, then played in 60 straight games before complaining of discomfort that caused him to miss a game at Columbus last week. He played in two more games before his collapse.

Extensive cracking in the concrete of Allen High School's $60 million football stadium in North Texas is the result of "drying shrinkage of the concrete," according to a consultant's report obtained by NBC 5.

The cracks in Eagle Stadium, first reported in late February, are "typical of concrete that is poorly cured," according to a report by Nelson Architectural Engineers, a consulting firm brought in by the Allen Independent School District.

The 18,000-seat stadium has been shut down indefinitely, 18 months after its opening, so that more testing can be done to determine if it is structurally safe, according to school district officials.

The consultant's report reveals new photographs taken beneath the concourse level of the stadium that show an entire network of cracks that reportedly creep all the way through the concrete below.

• Allen High School Stadium Shut Down Over Structural Problems

The concourse is the area of the stadium where people enter and exit the facility, and access seating on the first level.

"The cracking has decreased the service life of the structure and potentially decreased its structural capacity," the report reads.

Core samples taken of the cracked section of concrete show not only wide and deep cracks, but also micro cracks, indicative of potential problems to come, according to the report.

The report lists four proposed solutions to the cracking problem.

The first, and most expensive, proposed solution would involved a complete tear-down and rebuild of the concourse level, a fix that would take months to complete but also would last the longest.

The other three recommended solutions are each more temporary and would need to be reapplied again and again, according to the report. The proposed benefit to the district, however, would be that the solutions are each far cheaper and quicker to accomplish than the tear down and rebuild.

• Pogue Construction Statement Regarding Eagle Stadium

Additional testing to study the integrity of Eagle Stadium is already underway and is expected to take months to complete.

So far, the Allen ISD has not said whether or not the fall sports season is in jeopardy.

CLICK HERE to read more on this in the Dallas Morning News

Authorities have identified seven of the eight victims recovered from the rubble of two collapsed Manhattan buildings destroyed by a gas leak explosion Wednesday, including a 21-year-old man whose wife is six months pregnant. 

Police confirmed Alexis Salas was one of the people who died in the explosion and collapse that also injured more than 70. Three people remain missing, police said.

Salas was last seen Wednesday morning when he returned home from his night job at a Bronx restaurant, according to his father-in-law, Jorge Ortega.

Salas' distraught 20-year-old wife, Jennifer Mendoza, is six months pregnant.

George Amadeo was also confirmed dead in the explosion. The handyman lived in one of the buuldings that collapsed, and he hadn't been seen since the explosion. His brother Mark Wiener told NBC 4 New York earlier Thursday he was holding out hope.

"My thing right now is to find answers and my brother, whether he is alive or not," he said. 

• WATCH: Incredible Stories of Survivors
• PHOTOS: Dramatic Images From the Collapse

Four others who died in the explosion have been identified as Griselde Camacho, Carmen Tanco, Rosaura Hernandez and Andreas Panagopoulos. 

Camacho, 44, was a sergeant with Hunter College's public safety authority and was assigned to the Silberman School of Social Work building, at 119th Street and Third Avenue, according to the school, not far from where she lived on Park Avenue. 

Camacho had been employed by Hunter College since 2008. The school says it is planning to hold a memorial for Camacho. 

"It was just horrific, and we've talked about it in every single one of our classes," said faculty member Igor Malinovsky. 

"She was a wonderful person," he added. "I'm really saddened." 

Across the street from where she worked, a deli worker said Camacho always had a smile on her face when came into the store. 

"She was always happy, always happy with her job, her friends, her family," he said. "Everybody knew her. The whole block knew her." 

The second victim identified in the explosion, Tanco, 67, was in her apartment at the time of the explosion, according to News 12, where one of her cousins works as a cameraman. 

News 12 reports that Tanco's family set off on a frantic search when she didn't show up for work Wednesday. 

Camacho and Tanco attended the same church, Bethel Gospel Assembly, according to the bishop. Both regularly volunteered their time there, Camacho working in the AV room to project visuals during the bishop's sermons and Tanco as an usher. 

Bishop Carlton T. Brown faces the task of breaking news of Camacho's death to her mother, who lived in the same building and is now in the hospital recovering from injuries. 

"Mother doesn't even know at this point about her daughter," he said.

Tanco was involved in international mission trips, where she volunteered her dental assistant services, according to associate pastor Gordon Williams. He said people touched by her services overseas have been contacting the church. 

"They've called me from overseas because they're stunned that this actually occurred," he said. 

Hernandez-Barrios, a 22-year-old restaurant cook from Mexico, was identified by police as another victim. 

Panagopoulos, 43, who was among the four victims pulled from rubble overnight, was identified as a fourth victim Thursday. Friends and family had been searching for the musician since the building collapsed, frantically sending out messages on social media, including one that read:  "Please RT if you've seen him in NYC hospitals. Name is Andreas, was in Harlem building that collapsed." 

Mexican officials said a Mexican woman, Rosaura Barrios Vazquez, 43, was among those killed.

The identity of the eighth victim hasn't been released. 

More than 70 others were hurt in the blast. 

--Checkey Beckford, Marc Santia and Chris Glorioso contributed to this report. 

• RAW Video From the Smoking Rubble
• LISTEN: Emergency Dispatch Audio After the Collapse
• Witnesses Say There Was a Boom, Shaking, Then Confusion | Photos, Reaction From the Scene
• WATCH: Windows Blown Out by Blast
• WATCH: Smoke From Harlem Blast Sparks Air Quality Concerns

If you've ever wanted to sign up for Amazon Prime, you have a week to do so before a big price hike takes effect.

The cost of a standard "Prime" membership is set to set you back $99, up from $79. The $20 rate increase is Amazon's first since the program launched nine years ago.

Prime membership has expanded over the years to include free two-day shipping, free video streaming and a Kindle lending library.

• Amazon Promises 30-Minute Delivery By Drones

The online retailer detailed the price changes in an email to subscribers. If an existing member's renewal occurs before April 17, 2014, the subscriber will be charged the previous rate of $79 (and $99 for renewals thereafter).

Amazon student memberships will cost $49 and "Prime Fresh" memberships will remain at $299. Prime Fresh members get free same-day and early morning delivery of orders over $35, including fresh grocery and local products found on AmazonFresh.com. It's currently only available in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The standard membership price bump now makes Amazon Prime slightly more expensive than Netflix, which runs just under $96 per year, based on a monthly $7.99 subscription cost.

Playing made up words that sound like the real thing to fool your relatives has been a long-standing tradition in the game of Scrabble. Now players have a chance to nominate a word they’d like to see added to The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.

The game’s manufacturer Hasbro is revising the Merriam-Webster's dictionary for the first time since 2005. Over the years, words like tweet, selfie and hashtag have become part of the lexicon, and the dictionary is going to be amended with thousands of new words, according to USA Today.

At least one of the words will be picked by a Scrabble player. Fans have until March 28 to suggest words on the Hasbro Game Night Facebook page.

On April 2, Merriam-Webster will announce 16 finalists and fans can vote for their favorite word.

"The Scrabble Word Showdown will let fans nominate and vote on words that are fun and relevant for today’s players,” Jonathan Berkowitz, Hasbro's marketing VP, said in a statement.

The winning word will be revealed on April 10 and included in the updated edition of the Scrabble dictionary, which will go on sale in August. The fan-nominated word will also become playable in digital versions of the game.

A sampling of words nominated on Hasbro's Facebook page included: texting, ew, zen, fracking, craycray, zoomba and twerk.

"Fracking," Rachel K. Gillette said in her submission. "I was surprised that this was NOT a word yet! Played at last year's Scrabble Nationals! I hear it every day!"

"Zen," Mark Tyrell suggested. "I get ironically angry every time I go to play it and can't."

"'EW'" - I've been playing it in protest for years," wrote Jessica Alison Azar.  "That, or I always forget that it's not one of the two-letter words."

Hasbro seemed on board with Azar's suggestion, responding, "Maybe it's time then that your unofficial word became official!"

A Delaware grandfather “is now exploring the universe” but not before leaving his family with a pre-written obituary.

Walter (Walt) George Bruhl, Jr., a native of Newark & Dewey Beach, Del., died March 9 at the age of 81 in Punta Garda, Fla.

But, before he went, Walter left a gift for his descendants -- his own witty death notice.

“He drifted off this mortal coil… His spirit was released from his worn out shell of a body and is now exploring the universe," wrote Walt.

“There will be no viewing since his wife refuses to honor his request to have him standing in the corner of the room with a glass of Jack Daniels in his hand so that he would appear natural to visitors," he wrote. "Cremation will take place at the family’s convenience and his ashes will be kept in an urn until they get tired of having it around. What’s a Grecian Urn? Oh, about 200 drachmas a week."

Bruhl, who was born in Philadelphia on April 20, 1933, surprised his family with the eulogy.

“It was a complete surprise to me,” Bruhl’s grandson Sam told BuzzFeed. “I couldn’t help but cry and laugh hysterically through the whole thing.”

Sam uploaded the whole thing to Reddit and from there it took off. Since landing on the Internet, Walt’s obit has been read by tens of thousands of people.

“I knew immediately that it needed to be shared,” Sam told BuzzFeed. “People need those little bits of inspiration each day, and I know my PopPop would love to be that for people.”

Walt served as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War and then worked as an electronics apprentice at Philadelphia’s Naval Yard before carrying on a 31-year career with DuPont.

“…After 31 years with The Co., he was given a fine anniversary dinner and a token gift and then ‘downsized’ in Dec. of 1993. He was rehired as a contract employee in June of 1994, doing the same job that he had been ‘downsized’ from, and stayed until July of 1995."

A truncated (and edited) version of Walt’s ode to himself appeared on Delaware Online that focused more on Bruhl’s accomplishments and less on his musings.

The printed obit kept Walt’s own words at the end:

"Everyone who remembers him is asked to celebrate Walt's life in their own way, raising a glass of their favorite drink in his memory would be quite appropriate. Instead of flowers, Walt would hope that you will do an unexpected and unsolicited act of kindness for some poor unfortunate soul in his name."

A memorial luncheon is planned for Saturday at 1 p.m. at Deerfield in Newark, Del.