A San Diego police officer was punched during a scuffle outside a University Heights convenience store Monday.
An employee of the 7-Eleven at Florida and El Cajon Boulevard called police about an “out-of-control” man.
The man tried to purchase a cigar in the store but was refused service when he couldn't provide an ID. When the customer began yelling at other customers, the clerk called police.
The clerk went as far as to use his own strength to keep the doors shut so the suspect could not enter the store.
When a police officer arrived, there was a fight between the officer and the suspect. The fight was so intense, the officer’s radio fell from his waist prompting an alert to other patrol cars in the area.
"They both were on the floor, just punching on each other," said employee Rishu Maini.
"It was really hard to control him, it was really hard."
By the time the other arrived, the situation was under control.
The suspect was taken into custody. No one was injured.
A woman was struck and killed by a truck driven by her husband in Chula Vista and now investigators are trying to determine what led up to the woman’s death.
The woman was struck near the trolley tracks at Bay Boulevard and H Street around 8 p.m. Sunday.
The victim was taken to UCSD Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
Chula Vista police Lt. Daniel Hardman said what’s unclear is how the woman got outside the vehicle.
“We're not sure if she jumped out herself or if she was outside of the car. We're trying to determine if there was an argument or what was going on,” he said.
Police questioned the woman’s husband. It’s not clear if he's facing any charges.
Thousands of people began pouring into the nation's capital before dawn Monday to witness the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, a battle-tested but emboldened leader who is still chasing the grand vision he laid out four years ago, when he promised to lead an anxious nation on a path to greater hope, unity and prosperity.
This time around, the Inauguration Day festivities, and the country's expectations, are more modest, with about half as many people expected to converge on the National Mall and Obama working to fulfill his original promise.
Obama will take the ceremonial oath of office at 11:20 a.m. ET, with his left hand on two Bibles, one used by Abraham Lincoln and the other by Martin Luther King Jr. At about noon, the president will deliver his inaugural address, in which he is expected to urge Washington to move past the chronic political gridlock that has hindered his ability to pursue his policy agenda, The Associated Press reported.
"What the inauguration reminds us of is the role we have as fellow citizens in promoting a common good, even as we carry out our individual responsibilities that, the sense that there's something larger than ourselves, gives shape and meaning to our lives," Obama told donors Sunday night, according to the AP.
Officially, Obama started his second term on Sunday, when he took the formal oath of office in a private ceremony in the East Room of the White House. That twist was due to the fact that the Constitution mandates presidential terms begin Jan. 20. Custom holds that when that date falls on a Sunday, public inauguration events are held the next day.
As the capital filled with people on Monday morning, Obama started his day with his family and Vice President Joe Biden at St. John's Episcopal Church, a few blocks from the White House.
During his arrival at church and his departure, cheers erupted from people on the streets, and it continued as Obama returned in his motorcade to the White House for a pre-oath coffee with Congressional leaders.
The crowd for the country's 57th presidential inauguration is expected to reach about a half-million people, an impressive size but considerably smaller than the 1.8 million who showed up to witness the arrival of America's first black president in 2009. Security is just as tight as it was then, although authorities say there are no credible threats of any attack, terrorist or otherwise.
Obama, still riding his dominant re-election performance and a triumph in the fiscal cliff showdown, will likely use his Monday speech as a pep talk to a country that is in need of one.
Most Americans remain worried about the economy and see tough times ahead, polls show. And although Obama remains a popular and in many ways transcendent leader, they don't think he's achieved many of the lofty goals he set out for himself in his 2009 inauguration, namely rising above the partisan fray, reversing America's fiscal woes and pulling troops out of Afghanistan.
Obama is expected to address those challenges and remind the country of his most impressive victories, including health care reform, the killing of Osama bin Laden and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, while sketching his plans for his remaining time in office.
Spurred by the schoolhouse massacre in Newtown, Conn., Obama has put gun control at the top of his agenda, along with reforming immigration and tax laws and taking on climate change. He may choose not to delve into specifics of these plans on Monday, and instead save the details for his State of the Union speech Feb. 12. By then he could very well be engaged in a battle with Congress over the debt limit and automatic spending cuts.
Obama might also make reference to the fact that his second inauguration falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, nearly 50 years after the civil rights leader delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech across the mall at the Lincoln Memorial. It would be a reminder that the president is still negotiating his role as a "post-racial" black leader, even as he tries to show African Americans that he remains focused on issues of inequality.
Barbara Perry, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, likened a second inauguration to a couple renewing their wedding vows. "They've had all the fights, they know all the strengths and weaknesses, but they try to fall in love again," Perry said. "After his re-election, the American people want to fall in love with Barack Obama again."
Will Obama aim to make his second term about building an ideological legacy? He is already a transformative president, by virtue of who he is, and what he represents. So he will likely approach the next four years as more of a pragmatist, using his talents as a strategist and tactician to secure meaningful but measured advances from a combative Congress, analysts say.
"Obama has four years of job training under his belt. He has a better sense of what's possible and what's not," Perry said.
In 2009, "he believed more in the hope and change business, and he probably thought he could be more of a change agent in that realm…But I think he's learning how to deal with Congress and in the last few weeks he does seem more aggressive in putting forward new policies, such as gun control."
History is lined with second-term presidents who overestimated their political capital and stumbled, or lost focus and allowed stasis or scandal to set in. Obama, the 20th president—and the third in a row—to serve all or part of a second term, hopes to strike a balance between boldness and prudence.
He'll be working against the clock. Historians warn of a turning point somewhere at the two-year mark where allies and enemies alike begin to think of the next election, and a sitting president's influence begins to wane.
At his first inauguration, with the country reeling from a near-economic meltdown and "a sapping of confidence across our land," Obama told Americans they had "chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord." He called for "a new era of responsibility."
That goal remains a work in progress.
About a third of Americans think the nation is headed in the right direction, and nearly three-quarters don't like where the economy is headed. Democratic pollster Peter Hart told NBC News last week that the results of his latest survey showed that "if 2009 was all about hope, 2013 is about the ability to cope."
But Obama still has a way of inspiring positive vibes. Most Americans say they like him and that he has been a good president.
For his second term, he'll need to draw on that source of goodwill.
"We don't believe they are doing it intentionally, " said Leondis, "however the chances of being overcharged are greater than being undercharged."
So why do people get overcharged at the cash register? Leondis says it is usually human error, the electronic price changes in the computer system but the shelf price or advertised prices was never changed. That means if shoppers are attracted to the item at the shelf they may not get that price at the register.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Randa Trapp just ordered Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to pay $833,136 in penalties and costs for overcharging customers. Assistant City Attorney Tricia Pummill says the store was caught by investigators overcharging for items and charging higher prices on meat and seafood than the state price on the shelf.
"The bottom line is if consumers are overcharged and there is a pattern of that, we will take action," said Pummill.
But not everyone is good about checking their receipts. How often does Meghan Rubin check? "Never, I don't really check my receipt."
But Lisa Leondis says it's important to double-check, the County Sealer says consumers are overcharged by stores about $50 a year.
"That's more than a tankful of gas or money they can use to buy more food or things like that," said Leondis.
Besides the penalties, for the next three years, Fresh & Easy has a greed to take $3 dollars off any items that are overcharged at the register. If the items is priced below $3 the customer can have it for free.
An exoskeleton currently in development may soon provide paraplegics with the ability to walk again.
For Army veteran Theresa Hannigan, taking a few simple steps is like a dream. She was exposed to a nerve agent as a Vietnam-era medic, and the treatment left her paralyzed from the waist down.
A permanent condition, Hannigan thought she'd never walk again.
"It's like a death sentence. You don't want to live - you have to find the stamina you have to find a reason to go on", said Hannigan.
But then Hannigan was asked to take part in research for the Re-Walk Rehabilitation system, and a year ago November, she took her first steps. The Re-Walk is an exoskeleton that allows paraplegics to walk. It's unique because the patient's body tells the device what to do.
“My foot clears the floor, I shift the weight. As soon as I shift the weight it cycles my leg to go forward again," said Hannigan.
Hannigan says for her, the Re-Walk means independence; a push of a button takes her up or down stairs, and before impossible tasks are now made simple - like getting a glass from her cabinet.
But in some ways right now, it's somewhat of a tease. Re-Walk is cleared for rehabilitation centers, but the personal version is still being approved by the FDA.
Hannigan moves back to her wheel chair before heading home, but with a restored sense of hope, and an eye on the future.
"It gives me back my hope -- I can look to the future and say you know what, if I choose I can sit in a wheel chair, but if I want to walk, I can walk now," said Hannigan.
The study she took part in was funded by the VA and she says they've agreed to pay for her re-walk once the personal version has been approved by the FDA.
Poway Unified School District trustees voted Tuesday night to sell a piece of land to help pay its bills.
The Rancho Bernardo Water tower land was donated to the district. Now, the district wants to sell it to a private developer and put the money into its general fund.
One after another, community members asked the board not to sell now but to find a way to turn the land into a park.
"Their budget, they're doing a short-term fix to a long-term deal,” said Rancho Bernardo resident Nick Anastasopoulos. “It's not right what they're doing."
PUSD Superintendent John Collins disagreed saying every year the district is millions of dollars short of what they need.
"It is the responsibility of this board, and this administration to provide for the 35,000 students who attend this school district. It is not our responsibility to provide parks for the community," Collins said.
Despite that overwhelming opposition, the board voted to go ahead and try and sell the land.
Also on the board’s agenda was a 24-page report on whether the school district did anything wrong or illegal when selling $105 million worth of bonds that will cost roughly ten times that to pay back.
Collins told the board the report found no wrong doing. Reporter Will Carless with our media partner, the Voice of San Diego said the report "provides scant information."
The public will have two weeks to look it over, and then discuss it at a meeting next month.
An Escondido family awakened to the smell of smoke managed to escape a frightening house fire early Wednesday.
The fire started around 3:30 a.m. in the family’s home on West 15th Avenue.
Rebecca and Michael Dikes told NBC 7 San Diego they woke up to the smell of smoke and flames coming from the closet of their home office.
Rebecca, who doesn’t recall a fire alarm going off, said she was frightened and immediately began screaming.
For about 10 minutes the family attempted to put the fire out themselves.
But soon -- the mother of three, with one on the way -- said she knew it was time to call 911, get their dogs, and get out of the home they were renting.
"It was going well until I went and checked on them at one point and they had kind of stirred each other up, oh my dolls are in the house and that kind of thing, but then we had a quick family meeting about what's important and they're fine now," Rebecca Dikes said.
Firefighters were very concerned the roof might cave at one point according to an Escondido Fire Battalion Chief.
Crews knocked down the fire and believe the cause may be electrical.
San Diego Gas and Electric crews were called to fix a downed power line that had fallen on a police patrol car. The officer was not in the car at the time.
Investigators were looking to see if the house fire and downed electrical lines were related.
Those who feel bad after browsing their friends' vacation photos on Facebook are in good company.
A new joint study (pdf) by Berlin’s Humboldt University and Darmstadt's Technical University found that more than a third of the 600 participants felt frustration and envy after visiting the social network, citing “good news” like vacation photos and the profiles of successful friends as the source of their misery.
"Although respondents were reluctant to admit feeling envious while on Facebook, they often presumed that envy can be the cause behind the frustration of 'others' on this platform – a clear indication that envy is a salient phenomenon in the Facebook context," said project manager and Humboldt University researcher Dr. Hanna Krasnova. "By and large, online social networks allow users unprecedented access to information on relevant others – insights that would be much more difficult to obtain offline."
The Facebook experience is especially painful for passive users who do not engage in interpersonal communication, but rather use the social network for information like friends’ postings and browsing photos, the study said. In fact, the researchers identified a link between passive users and personal happiness.
"Confirming full mediation, we demonstrate that passive following exacerbates envy feelings, which decrease life satisfaction," the report said.
To combat the negative feelings, some users tend to embellish their own Facebook profiles, which in turn provokes feelings of envy in other users in a phenomenon known as “envy spiral.” These instances that occur in the Facebook environment make up one fifth of the events that induce envy among the respondents.
The report also found that people in their mid-30s were more likely to envy family happiness and that women tended to envy physical attractiveness.
Some users avoid jealous feelings by unfriending, or avoiding friending, people who cause the negative experiences, according to the report. This strategy can result in social tension and should give Mark Zuckerberg a cause for concern.
"From a provider’s perspective, our findings signal that users frequently perceive Facebook as a stressful environment, which may, in the long-run, endanger platform sustainability," the report said.
A popular maker of prepared organic foods has recalled several types of frozen pizza because it may contain fragments of metal.
All varieties of "Annie’s Homegrown Rising Crust" pizzas, made by Annie's, Inc., are being recalled, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.
These include Organic Four Cheese Pizza, Organic Pepperoni Pizza, Organic Spinach and Mushroom Pizza, Four Cheese Pizza, Pepperoni Pizza and BBQ Recipe Chicken Pizza.
The company said that a metal mesh screen failed at a flour mill it uses to prepare ingredients for the pizza. Pieces of the screen were found in both the flour and in prepared pizza dough.
The company said there had been no consumer complaints, illness or injuries so far.
Pizzas affected by the recall are those with a "best by" date between Jan. 9 and Sept. 14, 2013.
The Berkeley-based company issued the recall voluntarily, the FDA said.
Annie's makes a variety of products aimed at children and some for adults. The company's offerings include Cheddar Bunnies, Bunny Grahams and several varieties of macaroni and cheese.
The ranger saw there was a body inside the truck and called deputies.
Homicide detectives are working with the county’s medical examiner to positively identify the body and determine the cause of death.
The park and its small, quiet campground are located along S-2 south of State Route 78 and north of Interstate 8.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Homicide Detail at (858) 974-2321/after hours at (858) 565-5200 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-TIPS(8477).
Agents working along the U.S. – Mexico border in San Diego recently arrested a man and a woman for attempting to smuggle illegal drugs inside the woman’s private parts.
Samantha Kurdilla and James Perry were walking in the pedestrian area of the San Ysidro Port of Entry on January 15 when a narcotics dog signaled an alert to its handler.
According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court, the dog alerted to Kurdilla’s “groin area.”
Prosecutors allege that Kurdilla had a condom with 100 grams of cocaine inside her vaginal cavity.
Perry who was walking “arm in arm” with Kurdilla at first told questioning agents “I’m not with her” the documents suggest.
However, he later admitted he had bought the drugs in Tijuana and told her how to conceal them to get them into the U.S. the documents show.
Prosecutors also claim Kurdilla had a saved text message on her cell phone at the time of her arrest that stated “I’m smuggling cocaine and heroin in my coochie.”
The two defendants are in U.S. custody and face a charge of unlawful importation of a controlled substance.
Apple's profit surge halted in the latest quarter, as a flood of new products like the iPhone 5 meant high start-up costs for new production lines.
Apple posted net income for the October to December quarter that was flat with the year before. It was the first time in years that Apple didn't post a double-digit earnings increase. The report also made clear that Apple is no longer able to sustain the breakneck sales increases of the last three years, even with a fresh iPhone on store shelves.
Apple shares fell $31.70, or 6.2 percent, to $482.31, in extended trading, after the release of the results. Net income in the fiscal first quarter was $13.1 billion, or $13.81 per share. That still beat expectations, as analysts polled by FactSet had forecast earnings of $13.48 per share. Revenue was $54.5 billion, up 18 percent from a year ago. Analysts were expecting $55 billion.
"The revenue number is dismal as far as what the expectations were,'' said Jeff Sica president and chief investment officer of SICA Wealth Management. But he added that while it's an "incredible number'' on its own, Apple has "fallen victim to the curse of high expectations.''
Apple shipped 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, about 1 million less than analysts were expecting, and 22.9 million iPads, also about 1 million short. Looking ahead, Apple said it expects sales of between $41 billion and $43 billion in the current quarter, which ends in March.
Apple routinely lowballs its forecasts, but the outlook will likely prompt analysts to lower their own expectations, which were at $45.6 billion. Apple's report comes as investors show concern that the company's rocket-like growth may stall as consumers purchase a growing number of cheaper smartphones from competitors such as Samsung. Apple's stock has plunged 27 percent from its all-time high in September.
Last week, the stock fell below $500 for the first time in 11 months. There's speculation that the company will produce a cheaper iPhone, but that would cut into its stunning profits, which are the whole reason it's become the world's most valuable company.
Apple had warned that the holiday quarter's profits would be lower than Wall Street was initially expecting, because it had so many new products coming out, including the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini. New production lines are more expensive to run and yield more defective products that need to be redone or thrown out rather than sold.
A 3.1 earthquake struck off the coast of San Diego on Wednesday afternoon.
The quake's epicenter was 14 miles west of La Jolla offshore around 2:30 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was 9.6 miles below surface.
Local whale-watchers have reported what they believe was the largest pod of gray whales seen in Southern California waters in at least three decades.
The pod of 23 gray whales was spotted Sunday afternoon off the coast of Palos Verdes by whale-watchers stations at Point Vicente, then confirmed by a whale researcher aboard a crowded vessel off San Pedro.
"ONCE IN A LIFETIME ENCOUNTER!" exclaimed local American Cetacean Society board member Alisa Schulman-Janiger on Facebook.
Schulman-Janiger said in an interview with NBC4 that the pod was first spotted by amateur scientists with the ACS-Los Angeles chapter's annual gray whale census. The volunteers called a local whale-watching boat, which reported the animals were sperm whales, a truly rare sight.
She raced to board the whale-watching vessel Christopher as it departed Long Beach harbor for its afternoon cruise.
As the boat got closer to the whales, which were now about 7 miles off San Pedro's Point Fermin, she saw with disappointment that they were gray whales, not sperm whales. Then she began counting.
And counting.
"Just when you though that it was over, MORE whales came up," she wrote in an email. "Over 30 years of watching and studying whales, and I was awestruck! I will NEVER forget this day!"
With Catalina Island as a backdrop, jostled by shouting tourists and excited children, Schulman-Janiger and a friend counted 23 flukes – the powerful tail of the whale.
"It was mindboggling how many there were," Schulman-Janiger said. "The sun was getting very low in the sky, and the blows were coming up pink, like pink cotton candy blows."
In 30 years of overseeing the ACS-LA's Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project, Schulman-Janiger said she has never seen a pod larger than about 16 whales.
Aboard the boat, she tried to stay calm.
"I was trying to count and stay very dispassionate. My friend and I were trying to count," she recalled. "We knew this was like once in a lifetime."
The news of the sighting spread rapidly among the tight-knit whale-watching community. When Schulman-Janiger returned to shore, she alerted a friend in San Diego who spotted a pod of about 20 whales on Monday morning.
"This is the largest sighting all in one group of gray whales that we’ve ever seen from shore and that I've ever seen in my life and I've heard of in Southern California," Schulman-Janiger said of the pod she saw.
Gray whales, which can grow up to 50 feet long, migrate from Arctic waters to Baja Mexico in fall, passing by Southern California beginning in December. They return to their Alaskan feeding grounds throughout the spring.
This year, the northern waters began freezing sooner than normal, so the migration began early – just as it did last year, Schulman-Janiger said.
So far this year, the whale-watchers at Point Vicente have spotted 488 southbound whales as of Jan. 22. For the same date last year, there were 476 whales – a fairly similar number, she said.
For more recent years, however, the volunteers had only counted between 150 and 300 as of Jan. 22.
There are about 21,000 gray whales in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, Schulman-Janiger said. It's not clear why more have been spotted off Southern California in the past two years, she said.
Her whale census project is the longest-running such shore-based project in the world, she said. They're always looking for volunteers.
Next week should mark the peak of the southbound migration. So if you’re an amateur scientist or just a lover of wildlife, get yourself to the Point Vicente Interpretive Center in Rancho Palos Verdes during daylight hours and see the gray whales for yourself.
"All you need are binoculars and patience," Schulman-Janiger said.
Photo Credit: Alisa Schulman-Janiger, ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project
Deputies have arrested a suspect in connection with an alleged rape that happened in the Fallbrook area earlier this month.
According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, rape suspect Fidel Bernal, 28, was arrested Wednesday morning at his home in the 31000 block of Silex Court in Riverside County after detectives served a search warrant.
Detectives say Bernal is accused of raping an acquaintance in Fallbrook on Jan. 13.
After being taken into custody, Bernal was transported back to San Diego County and booked into the Vista Detention Facility on rape charges, deputies said.
His bail has been set at $150,000. Bernal is scheduled to appear in court Friday.
Per policy, the Sheriff’s Department will not be releasing the name of Bernal’s alleged victim.
A vehicle crashed into a Poway donut shop Wednesday morning, authorities said.
The Lexus appeared to have accelerated into the structure at about 9:20 a.m. on Twin Peaks Road, according to a sheriff's department spokesperson.
The damage to the shop on 14149 Twin Peaks Road is unknown at this time. Authorities on the scene said the vehicle hit a post just in front of the business.
A support beam was put in place near where the car crashed. No injures were reported.
Authorities are looking for suspect in an attempted kidnapping of an 11-year-old boy in Vista.
The boy was walking home from Madison Middle School near 1601 S Melrose Dr. when he noticed a man following him, according to the sheriff’s department.
After walking half a mile, the suspect allegedly chased the boy and grabbed his backpack. The boy then shook off his bag and continued to run.
The man is described as 30-40 years old with a dark complexion. The Sheriff’s Department also said he has a normal build with a double chin.
The suspect was also carrying a skateboard and wore dark jeans, a white long sleeve collared shirt with rainbow stripes, and black "baseball batting" gloves.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
The San Diego Chargers have added two more new faces to their coaching staff, the team announced Wednesday.
Head coach Mike McCoy has named Denver’s Ron Milus as secondary coach and Cleveland’s Kent Johnston as the Chargers’ strength and condition coach.
Milus has spent the last two seasons coaching the Denver Broncos’ secondary. He broke into the NFL in 2000 as the defensive backs coach for the Broncos, then returned to the team in 2011.
Between his stints with Denver, Milus coached defensive backs in Arizona, the New York Giants, St. Louis and Carolina.
Meanwhile, Johnston has spent the last three seasons as the Cleveland Browns’ strength and conditioning coach.
He began his NFL coaching career in Tampa Bay before joining the Green Bay Packers coaching staff for seven years, from 1992 to 1998. During that time, the Packers went to the playoffs six times and played in two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XXXI after the 1996 season.
Post-Packers, Johnston spent five seasons in Seattle and then two years at the as the strength and conditioning coach at the University of Alabama.
He left football for a short time to work in the non-profit and business sectors, but returned to work at the NFL with the Browns in 2010.
Earlier this week, legendary Chargers wide receiver-turned-coach Charlie Joiner announced his retirement from the NFL after a career spanning 44 years, including 21 years with the Bolts.
