Officers used a stun gun to arrest a driver after a high-speed chase in National City Sunday.

An officer driving near Euclid Avenue read the license plate of a passing vehicle. The vehicle had been reported stolen according to police.

When the officer tried to pull the driver of the stolen vehicle over, the man drove off.

After a few blocks, the driver crashed near Paradise Valley Hospital.

Officers used a stun gun to subdue the driver before arresting him.

No one else was injured. 

Friends and neighbors are mourning the death of a Spring Valley teenager whose body was found floating near Scripps Pier over the weekend.

Alyssa Pezzoli, 19, was found in the ocean about 100 yards off the pier just north of La Jolla around noon Sunday.

Authorities say Pezzoli lived with her family, on Highlands Boulevard, in Spring Valley. Relatives were not prepared to talk about the young woman’s death but someone inside the home told NBC 7 San Diego “Alyssa was dearly loved, and will be greatly missed.”

Long-time neighbor Carol Jostmeyer said Pezzoli lived with three generations of the same family.

“It’s a huge house. It’s a wonderful family,” she said.

According to officials UC San Diego Police, her death appears to be an accident. While the county medical examiner is still investigating the cause of death, there is no evidence to suggest foul play.

Friends said Pezzoli would often swim in the ocean at night.

Officials have not yet clarified whether Pezzoli had been diving or surfing in the area. It was unclear how long her body had been in the water, but San Diego Lifeguards Lt. Andy Lerum confirmed rigor mortis had set in.

A U.S. Navy officer was found dead in San Diego Sunday, the possible victim in a stabbing.

Jonathan Jake Tenorio, 25, of Guam was found dead inside his home in the River Front condos in Mission Valley.

Tenorio’s roommate called police to their apartment on Camino De La Reina Sunday at 6:20 a.m..

The roommate told San Diego police that he found Tenorio dead after he woke up.

When officers and medics went into the unit, they saw blood inside and confirmed Tenorio was dead.

Investigators said it looks like Tenorio may have been stabbed. The county’s medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

Homicide detectives were busy Sunday handling the case, processing the scene and checking for witnesses.

Tenorio graduated from the Naval Academy as a Surface Warfare Officer in May 2012. He was assigned to serve on USS Bunker Hill.

A Guam news website reports that Tenorio was the son-in-law of former Sen. Frank Blas Jr.

A car knocked down a hydrant Monday night, causing it to gush water onto the street.

The incident happened around 7:15 p.m. at the intersection of First Avenue and Market Street. Officials said a car knocked over a hydrant.

Fire officials and the water department are working to shut off the hydrant while police direct traffic in the area.

A woman who pleaded guilty to drowning her 4-year-old autistic son was sentenced 15 years to life on Monday afternoon.

Investigators said that Patricia Corby, 26, admitted to drowning her son Daniel in a bathtub last April. Corby then drove her son to the police station, flagging down an officer and telling him she'd just killed her son. The officer then saw the body in a blanket in the backseat of Corby's car.

The child was not breathing and medics were unable to save him. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Corby was arrested later that day.

Daniel had some form of autism and Corby was learning new ways to teach her son, one neighbor told NBC 7 San Diego.

During her first court appearance last year, Corby sobbed, yelled and cried loudly when a witness mentioned her son’s name.

Two people were critically injured in an explosion and fire Tuesday morning after smoking on a catwalk over oil storage tanks in northeast Texas, officials say.

According to Van Zandt County Fire Marshal Chuck Allen, at about 3 a.m. firefighters were called to a fire at an oil storage facility north of Van along state Highway 110.

At the facility are at least six 400-barrel fiberglass storage tanks, three of which caught fire and exploded, NBCDFW reported.  Multiple fire departments responded to the scene and ultimately decided to let the fire burn itself out.

A short time later, a 24-year-old man with burns to his face, chest and arms, and a 24-year-old woman also critically injured, showed up at the Van Fire Department seeking medical attention. Both were both taken to the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler before being transferred to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.

The names of the victims have not been released and neither person has been identified as an employee of the storage facility.

Allen said the victims were believed to be trespassing and smoking on a catwalk above the storage tanks.

Allen added that most of the tanks had very little crude oil in them at the time of the explosion.

The fire marshal is working to identify which company owns the facility.

San Diego leaders on both sides of the immigration issue are calling the senate immigration reform plan a major breakthrough.

Under this new proposal undocumented immigrants will be given a chance to gain citizenship after they pass a criminal background check, show proof of tax payment and learn English.

Senate leaders are also pushing for a mandatory employee verification system. This allows business owners to screen the immigration status of prospective employers.

But when it comes to other parts of the proposal, like enforced border security, immigrant rights advocate Christian Ramirez says, there are pitfalls.

The Senate said this would mean boosting personnel and providing them with the latest technology.

"So adding more drones to the U.S. Mexico border adding more border patrol agents without recognizing the fact that we have huge bottlenecks at the ports of entry, it's a big issue,”said Christian Ramirez with Alliance San Diego.

Part of the plan is to also create a guest worker program. The Senate said this would meet the needs of industries like agriculture, when American workers are not available to fill these positions.

Longtime republican Raoul Lowery-Contreras says the program would be not only benefit our economy, but that it would discourage illegal immigration.

“Once the work permit situation goes into effect they won't be coming across the border, they won't be streaming across the border. The only people coming across the border at that point will be bad people,” Said Raoul Lowery-Contreras with the Café Con Leche Republicans.

President Barack Obama will discuss his own proposals for immigration reform tomorrow.

According to a White House representative the president is pleased by today's senate announcement.

Meanwhile, Senate leaders hope to have their plan turned into legislation by March, with a goal of passage by late spring or summer. 

The renovation of Balboa Park in time for the 2015 Centennial Celebration appears to be in jeopardy after a judge issued a tentative ruling that the City of San Diego and The Plaza de Panama Committee violated municipal code.

The controversial project includes construction of a bypass road off the Cabrillo Bridge and an 800-space underground paid parking lot in the large public park in the heart of San Diego.

Read: Timeline of Plaza de Panama Project

Planning leaders had been working on the proposal for more than two years when it was approved by city leaders in July.

In response to a petition filed by project opponents Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO), Judge Timothy Taylor ruled the City must set aside its approval of the Site Development Permit needed for the project because of the violation.

In calling SOHO’s argument “short-sighted,” the ruling agreed that the Plaza de Panama Committee wasn’t accurate in describing the area of the park as having "no reasonable beneficial” – a requirement for the permit.

“Certainly the rare Balboa Park visitor who actually finds a parking spot in the Plaza de Panama finds that spot 'beneficial' on that particular day,” the ruling states.

Even the judge recognized the ruling could deliver a real setback to the fundraising needed to complete the project and “at a minimum render very difficult a centennial celebration along the lines hoped for by so many.”

The ruling even suggests that the loss of the funds already raised by the committee would be a “sad day for San Diego.”

That opinion was echoed by San Diego City Council President Todd Gloria who issued this statement:

“The judge's ruling is a blow to the people's dream of polishing our City's crown jewel in time for the 2015 centennial celebration. While this is no doubt a setback, I am confident dedicated San Diegans will continue to selflessly champion needed improvements in Balboa Park just as they have for nearly 100 years."

A spokesperson for the Plaza de Panama Committee said "In plain language, the court stated that the Plaza de Panama Project’s benefits appear to 'far outweigh' its impacts."

The written statement went on to say the team was disappointed with the finding of “reasonable beneficial use” of the car-dominated plazas.

"We believe that this ruling is in error, and, if not changed in the final decision following oral arguments at the February 1 hearing, would make it difficult to remove cars from the Plaza de Panama until such time as the roads were impassable. This could not have been the intent when the code was approved.

It is appropriate that the city, charged with administering Balboa Park and making land use decisions more generally, could determine what are reasonable (and unreasonable) uses for park property."

A hearing set for Feb. 1 will outline the next steps in the project.

Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and the Plaza de Panama Committee have committed to raise $25 million in private funding to help pay for the project designed to remove traffic from the heart of the park and restore the central area to pedestrian traffic.

The remaining funding – approximately $15 million - would come from a revenue bond to pay for the parking structure, repaid by revenue generated from parking fees.

When a water pipe broke in Casa de Oro early Tuesday, one homeowner said it seemed like a river was coming over a wall into his home.

Tony DeMart described the damage done to his home when the water rushed into his sliding glass door just before 3 a.m.

“Through the back coming over the wall and everything,” he said. “It was quite a lot of water for about 45 minutes to an hour before they finally got it shut off.”

DeMart was up and surveying the damage as cleaning crews vacuumed water from his living room. His garage was flooded as well.

He was awaked by police officers and sheriff’s deputies knocking on his door. Law enforcement officers then called the water company who sent crews to help DeMart with the cleaning.

“To wake up to that kind of shock at first but you know, things happen and you have to live with it,” DeMart said.

The pipe, buried underneath the 3800-block of Rogers Road in 1952, was only 6-inches wide but because of its proximity to a pump station it carried more pressure than most of the department’s pipes.

Other nearby homes experienced some flooding. Nineteen customers were without water when service was shut down Helix Water officials said.
 

La Mesa police are searching for a suspect who robbed and beat a liquor store clerk Monday night.

A man walked into the Sierra Market on Massachusetts Avenue after 8:30 p.m. carrying a gun and demanding cash the clerk told police.

The suspect struggled with the 68-year-old clerk and ended up hitting him on the head with the gun police said.

The clerk told police he was able to fight back by hitting the robber in the head with a bottle.

The suspect eventually fled the store.

Now, officers are looking for a man described as 30-35 years old, 6-foot-2 inches tall, heavy build and a goatee. The man was wearing a black hoodie with white lettering.
 

WOOFING IN WINTERTIME: Through books, movies, and popular lore, the dogsled team has become very much the province of Alaska. Or, perhaps Montana and Colorado, too, what with the Rockies and all, but a bunch of energetic pups pulling a couple of people over frozen ground isn't an idea much associated with the Golden State (perhaps because sunshine is in our very nickname). But we do have some excellent pup-driven sledding around California, including near Mount Shasta, which, as you might expect, enjoys a rather spectacular cold season. Teams of dogs lead 8.4-mile tours around some of the prettiest parts of the Shasta Cascade. Naturally, there's a musher in the house, calling commands to the excited hounds.

DOGSLED EXPRESS GUIDED TOURS: The company has been mushing for well over two decades and has enjoyed a mix of tours and racing. You can reserve a spot on a sled through February, though days and times will vary. But, worth noting? Both adults and kids are welcome (grown-up tickets are $95 each, kid tickets are $55). We'd also recommend looking in advance to the next holiday season, when a lot of tours are on the books and families make for Shasta to celebrate.

SKIING IN SHASTA, TOO: Where there is gorgeous snowy terrain for dogs to run, there are often snowflake-covered slopes, too. Such is the case with the Mt. Shasta Ski Park, which has 32 runs in all.

The news on Monday that the Boy Scouts of America has signaled its readiness to end the exclusion of gays as scouts or leaders came as a welcome surprise to one California family, whose teenage son has become a media celebrity for being openly gay and denied his Eagle Scout status.

"This was a big surprise," said Eric Andresen, whose son, Ryan, has been very public about his scouting experience, even sharing his tale on NBC's "Ellen."  "But it's a welcome surprise. This is a baby step, though. I hope they don't think that they can dodge the whole bullet on this one with just this step."

What Eric Andresen is referring to is the Boy Scouts' announcement, which would not only possibly allow homosexuals to become scouts or leaders, but also give the sponsors of local troops the freedom to decide the matter for themselves. The Scouts' national executive board could meet as soon as next week, and if approved, the change would be another momentous milestone for America's gay-rights movement, following a surge of support for same-sex marriage and the ending of the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

Eric Andresen, who works as a property manager in San Francisco, told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday that his son is glad that change seems to be on the horizon.

Ryan Andresen, 18, joined the Boy Scouts 12 years ago, and completed all the requirements to become an Eagle Scout, but was deemed ineligible to receive the award from Troop 2012 because he was gay. Despite support from heavy hitters such as U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, a national representative told Ryan Andresen that he didn't meet all the requirements.


"I hope people understand discrimination is not OK," Andresen told Ellen DeGeneres, who is also gay, when he appeared on her show in October. He added that he felt "so blessed" to have been a Boy Scout and that the organization offers opportunities "like nothing else will ever grant you in your whole entire life...I don’t think its fair that not everyone gets the opportunity to go through it."

Under the proposed change outlined Monday by the Scouts, the different religious and civic groups that sponsor Scout units would be able to decide for themselves how to address the issue - either maintaining an exclusion of gays, as is now required of all units, or opening up their membership. It's unclear at this point if Ryan Andresen would receive his Eagle status or not.

Of course, not everyone is happy with the Boy Scouts' proposed change. Southern Baptist leaders - who consider homosexuality a sin - for example, were furious about the possible change and said its approval might encourage Southern Baptist churches to support other boys' organizations instead of the BSA. Protests over the no-gays policy gained momentum in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the BSA's right to exclude gays. Scout units lost sponsorships by public schools and other entities that adhered to nondiscrimination policies, and several local Scout councils made public their displeasure with the policy.
 
More recently, pressure surfaced on the Scouts' own national executive board. Two high-powered members - Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson - indicated they would try to work from within to change the membership policy, which stood in contrast to their own companies' non-discrimination policies.
 
Amid petition campaigns by Change.org, Intel, shipping giant UPS Inc. and drug-manufacturer Merck & Co. announced that they were halting donations from their charitable foundations to the Boy Scouts as long as the no-gays policy was in force.
 
The announcement came shortly after new data showed that membership in the Cub Scouts - the BSA's biggest division - dropped sharply last year and was down nearly 30 percent over the past 14 years. According to figures provided by the organization, Cub Scout ranks dwindled by 3.4 percent, from 1,583,166 in 2011 to 1,528,673 in 2012. That's down from 2.17 million in 1998.

Eric Andresen noted that all these reasons - especially the loss of corporate funding and the 1.2 million people who had signed the multiple Change.org petitions - probably fueled the fire for the switch in gears. Whatever the reason, or reasons, Eric Andresen said, his son is hopeful "they're finally doing something."

"As he's said before," Eric Andresen said. "He just doesn't want another scout to have to go through this."
 
 
 Associated Press writers David Crary, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Rachel Zoll in New York contributed to this report.

Police are investigating the death of Thomas Boone "Ty" Pickens IV, the 21-year-old grandson of billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, as a possible drug overdose, two sources familiar with the investigation told NBC 5.

At least one witness told investigators that Pickens, a student at Texas Christian University, took the prescription drug Xanax and later injected heroin in the hours before he died, the sources said.

Pickens was pronounced dead Tuesday morning at Baylor All Saints Medical Center, where a friend brought him after saying he wouldn't wake up. He already may have been dead for several hours, the sources added.

Pickens had been staying at off-campus condos located in the 1800 block of Rogers Road, Fort Worth police Cpl. Tracey Knight said. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner will determine his cause of death, she added.

Police had not yet decided late Tuesday whether or not to file criminal charges against anyone who may have been involved in the drug use.

Knight said homicide detectives were notified of the death but hadn't yet decided if they would lead the investigation.

News of the death and the possible drug connection was certain to spread fast across the TCU campus following a well-publicized drug raid just last year.

A spokesman for Pickens' grandfather issued a written statement.

"Ty’s loss at such a young age is an unspeakable family tragedy for the entire Pickens family and his many friends.  We mourn his passing and respectfully request that the family be allowed to grieve in private in this time of sorrow," said Jay Rosser, spokesperson for T. Boone Pickens.

The university also emailed a statement.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of this member of our community and our hearts and thoughts are with Ty’s family at this time,” said Cavins Tull, TCU vice chancellor for student affairs. “Staff members are available if students need to speak with someone about this sad news.”

TCU360.com reports Pickens was a junior majoring in strategic communication.

A spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner did not immediately return a call for comment.

NBC 5's Amanda Guerra and Meredith Land contributed to this report.

When President Barack Obama announced his plan for immigration reform on Tuesday afternoon, many San Diegans celebrated the possibility of a clearer path to citizenship.

Obama outlined three clear goals for immigration reform, backing similar principles in the Senate’s bipartisan immigration proposal.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” he said. “Do we have a resolve as a people, as a country and government to put this issue behind us?”

Here are the three goals Obama made and what they mean for San Diego.

1. Stay focused on enforcement.
Obama said there needs to be a crackdown on businesses that hire illegal immigrants. As San Diego is a border town, there are some businesses that employ non-citizen workers. Stricter rules against hiring illegal immigrants could change the way San Diego companies do business.

2. Create a “pathway to citizenship.”
With more than 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally, Obama said he wants to give those residents the opportunity to gain citizenship. Obama mentioned the possibility for current illegal immigrants to pay a fine before getting in line behind legal applicants, while they continue to live in the U.S. This means some San Diego residents would be able to continue living in the area while working to obtain citizenship.

3. Improve the current legal immigration system.
Obama made it clear he wants to streamline the process for people to become citizens.  

“You shouldn’t have to wait years before your family can join you in America,” he said.

San Diego residents who are already working toward becoming a U.S. citizen could see quicker, more efficient procedures to permanently bringing their families to America.

The House and Senate will still need to act on legislation based on these principals, but the president’s support of reform is crucial for its passage.