An iconic ride at SeaWorld San Diego broke down Sunday, leaving people stuck hundreds of feet in the air for hours.

The 48 people on the Skytower were lowered to safety just before 7:30 p.m., nearly four hours after the ordeal started. A teenage boy was taken to the hospital for anxiety, according to San Diego Fire Department spokesman Lee Swanson.

The ride became suspended about 220 feet in the air after losing power, Swanson said. SeaWorld technicians ended up fixing the problem, but the fire department was put on stand-by.

Swanson said firefighters train to rescue people from the Skytower at least once a year, but have never had to do it.

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SeaWorld spokesman David Kontz released the following statement Sunday night:

SeaWorld's San Diego's Skytower ride experienced a power failure this afternoon. With guest safety as our top priority, park engineers spent four hours trouble-shooting the problem before restoring power to the Skytower and safely returning the 46 guests to the ride loading area. The guests were never in danger and park officials were in constant communication with them while the power failure was being addressed. Two SeaWorld employees were also in the Skytower providing guests with water and snacks. The San Diego Fire Department was on scene, however, there was no requirement for an emergency evacuation. We greatly appreciate the patience of our guests, and they received return admission and other park amenities. The cause of the power failure is under investigation.

The Skytower raises riders hundreds of feet in the air and slowly spins to show panoramic views of San Diego.

A suspect in the May 2013 murder of Cromwell resident Felix DeJesus III might not be able to stand trial.

DeJesus was killed while trying to sell a tablet he'd advertised on Craigslist and Marvin Mathis, 20, of Hartford, was arrested Monday and charged with murder, first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery.

When Mathis appeared in court on Tuesday, his attorney said his client has serious intellectual and psychiatric issued and requested competency testing.

Earlier this month, police arrested 22-year-old Rashad Moon, also of Hartford, and charged him with felony murder, first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery.

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Police said DeJesus, 40, was shot to death while sitting in his car on Allendale Road in Hartford waiting to meet who he believed was a prospective buyer.

According to the warrant for Moon's arrest, he was joined at the scene of the crime by a teen with mental disabilities, to whom he handed the gun. It's not sure if Mathis was that teen or who pulled the trigger.

Mathis was originally held on $100,000 bond, but it was increased to $750,000. He is due back in court on Aug. 12.

Moon's bond was initially set at $1 million bond and raised to $1.5 million.

Hartford Police Department Homicide Detectives are investigating along with the Connecticut State's Attorney's Office in Hartford.

Landon Donovan admitted that at first he wasn't rooting for his former teammates in the World Cup send-off series.

"I'll be completely honest, watching them play Azerbaijan, inside, part of me was thinking, I hope the game doesn't go very well today," Donovan told the LA Times. "In my heart of hearts, I thought, if we get a 1-0 win and the team doesn't perform well, that would feel good."

Donovan, 32, and U.S. soccer's all-time lead scorer, was cut from the World Cup roster in May. He had hoped to play his fourth World Cup in Brazil.

The LA Galaxy forward said his initial ill-will toward the American team didn't last long. He woke up the next day and realized his negativity wouldn't help himself or the energy of the team. 

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Donovan holds the American scoring record with 57 goals in 156 international appearances and has won five Major League Soccer titles. He took a four-month sabbatical after the 2012 season, but when he returned U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said his spot on the national team wasn't guaranteed.

Still, when news broke that he was cut from the roster, Donovan, his fans, and even those who used to root against him, were disappointed and shocked.

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Donovan has scored three goals for the LA Galaxy in the three games he's played this season.

He told the Times that playing his first game with the Galaxy after being cut from the national team was difficult and emotional.

But he said "this is what they pay me to do" and he didn't want missing the World Cup to define him.

Facebook is dealing with a lot of unhappy users Monday morning after the Menlo Park company tweaked the feeds of thousands of users, the Today Show reported.

Researchers changed the feeds of almost 700,000 users to show a disproportionate number of happy or sad statuses for one week in 2012.

They found the emotions of others on users' news feeds can affect their moods, but they did not inform users of the experiment. And now, many of them are calling it unethical--but it is not illegal.

When users sign up for the social network, they agree to give up their data for testing and research.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in an article called, "Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks."

An author of the study, Adam Kramer, has apologized on his personal Facebook page:

"I can understand why some people have concerns about it, and my coauthors and I are very sorry for the way the paper described the research and any anxiety it caused. In hindsight, the research benefits of the paper may not have justified all of this anxiety."

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When the Oakland Raiderettes begin their cheerleading season this summer, “Football’s Fabulous Females” will be paid California's minimum wage, for the first time in team history, for the time they spend practicing, visiting sick children and posing for the annual team calendar.

That translates to about $3,000 a season, or $9 an hour.

In previous years, in addition to twirling and kicking during Raiders' games at the Oakland Coliseum, Raiderettes were required to show up three hours before each home game, attend 10 charity events a year, pose for photo shoots, and attend parties, drills and three rehearsals a week.

All of that work went unpaid, until now.

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The cheerleaders' new hourly salary, quietly divulged by the Raiders this month, might not seem like much. Especially because the trained dancers are being paid by the National Football League, which is valued at $10 billion.

The Raiders announced the salary on audition fliers that have since been taken down from the website. Two cheerleaders and two attorneys confirmed that they saw the new salary amount.

But earning minimum wage in California is a big deal to the cheerleader who first sued the Raiders in December, claiming that all the unpaid time she put into the Raiderettes yielded an illegal salary of just about $5 an hour.

“I think it’s great,” Lacy T. said in an interview last week. “The girls should get paid.”

But the case isn’t over yet.

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In fact, the two sides agreed to begin arbitratrating the matter in mid-July – the results of which, Lacy T.’s Oakland lawyers Sharon Vinick and Leslie Levy argue, must be made public.

The lawyers estimate that each cheerleader is owed back pay of $10,000 to $20,000 and attorneys’ fees. Nothing, however, has been put in writing as to whether the cheerleaders will still have to pay out-of-pocket expenses for such things as makeup and hair.

While many support the women, others – mostly die-hard Raiders fans and even some co-cheerleaders – say the four Raiderettes who have sued in two separate class action lawsuits shouldn't complain.

The young women should consider themselves lucky to have the glamorous jobs, critics say, and should be happy with what they historically have been paid: $125 per game, or $1,250 a year, paid at the end of the football season. They shouldn't complain, the critics add, about not being paid for their time when they're not on the field.
Oakland Raiderettes visit a sick child at the Ronald McDonald house at Stanford University in 2014. Courtesy Steve Bigbee.

Ray Perez, 26, is a Sacramento State University communications major by day who goes by “Dr. Death” at Raiders games. He is an ardent Raiders fan who has often accompanied the Raiderettes at some of their charity events, such as visiting sick children at the Ronald McDonald’s house. The cheerleaders have been mandated to attend these events, but have not previously been paid for them.

“This isn’t supposed to be a career,” Perez said. “It’s an internship. You put in your time and you helped pad your stats. This is something you’re supposed to put on your resume. They weren’t blindsided. They don’t have to work there.” 

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It’s hard to know exactly why the Raiders started paying the cheerleaders $9 an hour for non-game events, because the team refuses to speak publicly about the lawsuit. Spokesman Mike Taylor has repeatedly declined comment.

But the move comes six months after Lacy T.’s lawsuit filed in Alameda County Court, which has since inspired similar suits in by a Cincinnati Ben-Gal cheerleader, a Flight Crew cheerleader against the New York Jets, five Buffalo Jills against the Bills, a Buccaneer cheerleader in Tampa Bay and finally, a second suit against the Raiders, filed by Caitlyn Y. of San Francisco and Jenny C. of Marin County (PDF).

The final suit also takes on the National Football League, claiming a host of other “deplorable” working conditions. The NFL has also repeatedly declined comment. A spokesman has not returned several calls and emails.

All the suits across the country in one way or another allege the teams are violating fair labor standards acts, which address minimum wage and overtime laws.

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In court papers, the Raiders have not yet stated the team’s position on pay. The team did file a motion with the court arguing the plaintiffs have no right to a trial and that but signed contracts require that “all disputes” must be arbitrated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

But just because someone has signed a contract doesn’t make it right or fair if the contract is “illegal on its face,” Vinick said.

Lacy T., 28, a business management graduate from Louisiana Tech who lives in Alameda with her husband and 3-year-old daughter, has been dancing since the age of 4 and doesn’t consider herself an “intern.” She also cheered for the Golden State Warriors, where she said she never had to pay out-of-pocket expenses for hair or makeup.

“I have an expectation that I should be paid for my work,” she said. “It’s just so ignorant to me that in the year 2014, you aren’t being paid for the hours that you work.”

She said she’s gotten a few emails from people calling her a “dumb rookie” after filing her suit. And she’s decided she’s not going back to the team, and not only because her husband has gotten a job in London.

“Why would I go back? I don’t think I would get picked for any appearances. I think they’d put me in the back. It wouldn’t be worth my time," she said.

Check out the photos from 2014 Raiderette Finals. http://t.co/A4s6cNLhqE pic.twitter.com/3jsooW6spH

— OAKLAND RAIDERS (@RAIDERS) June 30, 2014

Caitlin Y., however, is taking a different approach.

On Sunday, the 26-year-old, who grew up in Palo Alto, joined dozens of other young women at this year’s Raiderettes tryouts. Walking in by herself in a gold dress with three-inch high heels, the Santa Clara University graduate decided to face the squad – and the team she sued.

“I’ve wanted to be a Raiderette since I was a kid,” she said, adding that she has been dancing since she was 6, and trained most of her life at the San Francisco Ballet School. “I just loved watching them.”

When she started with the team four years ago, Caitlin Y. said, “I would have signed anything. I felt so lucky to be there.”

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But she kept “brushing things aside, the money, the way we were treated,” she said. “I kept wondering if it was legal. Can they do this do us?” She saw that ballet dancers were unionized and treated fairly. She wanted more.

“I have trained my whole life for dancing,” Caitlin Y. said. “I have respect for my skills.”

She’s surprised at some of the hate she’s gotten since filing her suit. Some Raiders’ fans have defriended her from Facebook. A few “nasty comments” have popped up in her news feed.

But mostly, she said, the negativity hails from the close-knit Raiders’ circle. “People outside that bubble,” she said, “have been really supportive.”

She relied on that support on Sunday, she said, when she put a “smile on my face” and headed into tryouts.

“I’m 100 percent ready to go back,” she said. “I love being a Raiderette. I love the Raiders. I’m just trying to make our working conditions better.”

A man is facing a first-degree murder charge after police say he strangled a fellow patient Thursday in their shared room at Aventura Hospital.

Raul Alexander Rios, 32, was found dead Thursday in the hospital room he shared with Alexander Thadeus Jackson, 31. Jackson was found in the room's bathroom, taking a shower, police said.

A witness said Jackson told her "he had done something wrong and that he had killed somebody," and Jackson later told detectives he had strangled Rios with his hands and a bedsheet, a police report said.

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Police said Jackson was admitted into the hospital around 10 a.m. and placed into the room with Rios, who was already a patient. Rios’ family said he suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and was Baker Acted into Aventura Hospital’s psychiatric treatment unit two weeks ago.

“He was in there because he was sad, depressed, didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to drink, and he said, 'Please take me to the hospital,'” Rios’ sister Francis Paloumbis said.

Rios’ family said the last time he was seen alive was around 2:45 p.m. A housekeeper found Rios face down on the floor and unresponsive at 3:36 p.m., and although life-saving efforts were performed, he was pronounced dead.

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“Now he’s gone. We can’t bring him back, and they treated him like roadkill at the hospital,” Paloumbis said. “One hour, his body was dead on the floor, facing down. Where was security? Where were they? Where were the nurses, the doctors? We have no answers from anybody.”

“We trusted him in the hands of Aventura Hospital treatment, and this is what we get,” she added.

The hospital said in a statement Monday that it was helping the police investigation even as it also conducted an internal review.

"The security and well-being of our patients, staff and visitors remain of utmost importance and we are committed to providing care in a safe environment to the community we serve. We extend our deepest sympathy to the family during this very difficult time," it added.

A Florida wildlife sanctuary employee bitten by a cobra while cleaning a snake cage is out of the hospital and looking forward to going back to work.

Aneth McCarthy told WPTV that she thought she was going to die after she was bitten Thursday on the hand by a 3-foot-long spectacled cobra at the privately run McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary in Loxahatchee.

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She says she'll return to caring for the cobra when the swelling in her hand goes down. She still likes the cobra, and she'll continue to clean its cage, she says, though now she'll be more careful.

McCarthy's husband is the sanctuary's director. He says he's been bitten by snakes nearly a dozen times, but this was his wife's first snake bite.

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The newly discovered remains of an American soldier who once helped track down millions of dollars-worth of stolen jewels after World War II are finally headed home to Delaware. The homecoming comes 62 years after his plane went missing over Alaska.

Colonel Eugene Smith, fondly known to his relatives as "Uncle Gene," loved investigating crimes and solving mysteries, according to Smith’s nephew.

The height of Smith’s mystery-solving career was in 1946 when he acted as the lead investigator on the Hesse jewel heist, court martialing the three U.S. officers responsible for the $2.5 million (approximately $31 million today) theft.

"As a kid, I always imagined him recovering artifacts that the Nazi Germans had taken," Smith’s nephew Brian Gorman said. "Later, I learned that he actually found jewels [throughout Europe] that American officers stole from a German estate. He brought them to justice."

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Along with Smith’s remains, those of 17 other service members have been recovered and their identities confirmed from the crash site of a C-124 military aircraft. The plane collided into Mount Gannett in Alaska on Nov. 22, 1952. The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) is working to bring the remains of the men and women home under full military honors.

For “Uncle Gene,” this dignified transfer will occur on July 24.

A "Good-Spirited Trickster"

Born in County Cavan, Ireland, Smith immigrated to the United States when he was 13 years old. He settled in Wilmington, Delaware, with his father, mother, and seven brothers and sisters.

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"He was known to be a bit of a good-spirited trickster, always playing with and teasing the younger kids," Gorman said.

The playful immigrant felt a loyalty to his new country, joining the Delaware National Guard while in high school. He went on active duty with the Army, and in 1942 was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the military police, investigating crimes during World War II.

After being tasked with the Hesse case, Smith became chief of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. Later, when the Air Force was formed, he switched branches to become a senior Air Force investigator. In 1952, he was named the director of the office of special investigation for the Alaskan Air command at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

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With 11 crewmen and 41 passengers, he left Seattle, Washington, by plane on Nov. 22, ready to take up his new position. The group never made it, hitting a patch of inclement weather that forced the plane 20 miles off course to its inevitable crash.

Smith’s family was notified of the accident as they were sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. They waited as a recovery mission was attempted, but the storms that had caused the plane to go down also buried it beyond detection by search parties.

For all intents and purposes, the plane was lost — for six decades.

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“He was the uncle we never met, but we never missed him,” Gorman said. “Stories of him always filled our house.”

Smith’s sister Peg even created an area in her dining room to remember him, placing his desk with his nameplate “Eugene Smith: Colonel USAF” and service ribbons in a place where all could see them.

The Discovery

In June 2012, an aircraft was discovered on Colony Glacier during an Alaska National Guard training mission. The recovery effort, headed by JPAC, has been ongoing for three years so far, with investigators collecting artifacts and remains for analysis. With each year, the top level of the glacier recedes further, revealing more evidence of the wreckage and keeping the search alive.

"We will continue operations until the glacier reveals all of its secrets to us," says JPAC Public Affairs officer Lee Tucker.

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DNA testing has allowed investigators to identify the collected remains.

At the end of May 2014, the results were confirmed: Colonel Eugene Smith had finally been found.

“After 62 years, we finally had something positive to bring back to the family,” Gorman said. “The entire family was ecstatic.”

The Air Force Mortuary Specialist brought Smith’s family a book filled with the history, findings, and pictures of artifacts from the plane. The family even received pieces of the plane recovered from the crash, which now hang in a shadow box by the rest of Smith’s service medals.

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Gorman and his cousin Jim will travel to Hawaii at the end of July to accompany their “Uncle Gene” as he is escorted from JPAC facilities back to Wilmington. Though all that was found of Smith was a piece of his skull, he will receive a full casket complete with his rank and uniform.

Smith’s remains will arrive in Delaware through dignified transport on July 24, and he will be buried with full military honors at All Saints Cemetery beside his parents and some of his siblings the following day.

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"We’re finally bringing Uncle Gene home," Gorman says. "This last mystery is finally solved."

A bicyclist hit by a taxi near Columbus Circle Monday morning was rescued by a group of bystanders who rushed to lift the car off the elderly woman, police and witnesses say. 

The FDNY says a bicyclist was struck at 60th Street and Columbus Avenue at about 9:30 a.m. 

The victim was pinned underneath the SUV taxi, according to witnesses, and several people -- most of them construction workers from a work site nearby -- ran to her aid and lifted the vehicle. 

Shannon Algeo, who was walking by when he saw the commotion, said about seven to 10 people lifted the vehicle while others got the woman out. 

She was responsive but clearly injured, Algeo said.

Another person on the scene with medical training assisted by talking to the victim. 

The South Jersey McDonald's worker wanted in the brutal beating of a young mother in front of her toddler and a group of bystanders turned herself in to police Monday night and is in jail.

Latia Harris surrendered to Salem City Police without incident around 7 p.m. after an extensive search, officials say.

She is being charged with aggravated assault and two counts of making terroristic threats and was lodged in the Salem County Correctional Facility in default of $35,000 full bail.

• McDonald's Worker Attacks Co-Worker in Front of Toddler

Harris, 25, had been hiding from authorities since cell phone video surfaced of an attack near a McDonald's in Salem City last Tuesday where both Harris and the victim, 27-year-old Catherine Ferreira, worked.

The beating was videotaped by many of the onlookers, who did nothing to help Ferreira or stop the attack. The only person to try to help the victim was her 2-year-old son, who could be seen in the video yelling and kicking his mother's attacker.

"Mommy!" the boy cried as his mother was beaten just inches away.

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"I think it's messed up no one came to my rescue," Ferreira said.

The nearly minute-long video was posted online. It showed a woman, who police identified as Harris, punching, kicking and spitting on Ferreira, who admits talking about her attacker's love life, a move that she says provoked the beating.

"I'm trying to tell her, I don't want to fight you," said Ferreira.

But the attack continued, ending when the suspect threatened to kick the toddler before making one last threat to the victim.

"It's not over... you almost made me lose my job," Harris allegedly yelled at Ferreira before spitting on her and walking back to work.

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The victim contacted police after the attack, which left her with a concussion, a broken nose and two black eyes.

Travelers apparently desperate to make it to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Tuesday morning abandoned their rides and walked along the side of the expressway -- with luggage in tow -- only to be turned away by airport security.

The last-ditch effort was an attempt to escape a massive traffic backup caused by flooding in the area and traffic attempting to merge onto one lane.

"There's absolutely no way into the airport. So here we go," said Jami Cloud, who was trying to make a 7:30 a.m. flight. "We tried to take a cab and then started walking. ... We've been in traffic for about two hours and weren't going anywhere."

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Sharon Rogers was stuck in her car during the time her flight to New Jersey was to board.

"Fortunately we are rescheduled for another flight at 11:50 [a.m.] so hopefully I'll get to Philadelphia today and then get to New Jersey," she said while trying to remain positive.

Her trip east is to spend time with her ailing mother, she said.

But some of those who tried to walk to the airport were turned away by security before they even set foot in the facility, leaving frustrated would-be travelers trying to reconnect with the rides that were still stuck in traffic.

"They just said, 'Get back in your cars,'" said traveler John Cain.

Heading to the airport, just one lane of Interstate 190 was open at Mannheim Road. Even worse, for those attempting to leave the airport, all lanes of eastbound 190 were blocked just east of the property until 8 a.m. with Illinois Department of Transportation Crews detouring drivers to northbound Mannheim Road.

On Twitter, some O'Hare pilots and crew members were posting messages indicating they were also stuck in the traffic jam.

IDOT crews were called in with snow plows to attempt to move the standing water left from Monday night's dual line of storms. IDOT officials could offer no explanation as to why the water pooled where it did and why it wasn't drained by the morning rush.

 Snow plows were used to clear the standing water.

A 60-year-old woman faces felony charges after she allegedly assaulted a child last week.

Julie Rodenhuis is accused of spraying poisonous weed killer in the face and eyes of a 7-year-old at a condominium complex at 676 N. 12th Street in the San Luis Obispo County town of Grover Beach around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.

• Read: McDonald's Worker Beats Mother, Threatens Tot

It was unclear why Rodenhuis may have done so.

Family members and medical personnel treated the young victim, who was then taken to a hospital for further medical treatment and has since been released.

• Read: Girl, 12, Dies After Thrown From Top of Car

Rodenhaus faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious injury and child endangerment.
 

 The U.S. Coast Guard pulled 7,600 pounds of marijuana from a drug-laden panga boat off the coast of San Diego Friday.

Coast Guard officials say a C-130 Hercules aircraft crew spotted a suspicious panga while on routine patrol about 160 miles southwest of San Diego.

Soon after, Coast Guardsmen on a cutter were ordered to check the boat. On board, they discovered 257 bales of marijuana and three suspected smugglers.

The crew detained the suspects and towed the panga back to San Diego, where it arrived Saturday morning.

The suspects were handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s San Diego Marine Task Force for prosecution, and the agency confiscated the marijuana as evidence.

Thousands of undocumented, unaccompanied children flooding across the U.S.-Mexico have created a vast processing backlog at U.S. Border Patrol stations, complicated in part by a 2008 law, immigration attorneys told NBC 7.

The government is required to act in the best interest of the unaccompanied minors and cannot deport them under the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.

The law – passed during the Bush administration – is designed to protect child victims of sex trafficking.

But the measure is being applied to more than 52,000 lone child immigrants from Central America apprehended at the border since October.

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The children now have a right to their day in court, regardless of immigration status.

“It’s not like U.S. can say, ‘Take them to the border, to Mexico, and dump them on Mexico.’ That’s impossible,” said San Diego immigration attorney Lilia Velasquez.

Instead, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must hold these children humanely until the courts can find a suitable relative or adult who can sponsor them. If an adult cannot be found, they stay in a refugee shelter.

However, with such large numbers coming in at the Texas border, the HHS is having problems housing the detainees and finding personnel to process them.

The Border Patrol is alleviating some of that bottleneck by sending undocumented migrant families to Southern California for processing.

• READ: Boy, 12, Dies in Scout Camp Shooting

“Now the effects today are that these children from South America or Central America understand that they're not gonna necessarily be sent back right away to their home country,” said San Diego immigration attorney Chris Macaraeg. “There is a process in the United States for them to seek out any kind of benefits."

For example, those children can seek political asylum to escape the conditions of their home country – a process which could take years, said Valasquez.

Since immigration cases go through civil court, not criminal, a child will not be appointed an attorney. However, he or she is granted time to find one, a judge can then continue the case for another year until an attorney is secured.

If that day in court comes and the child loses, he or she can appeal it, another lengthy procedure.

The immigrant children who are ordered to be deported must then go through a long repatriation process with their own consulate. The exact time it takes varies from country to country.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not review the decades-long legal dispute over the Mt. Soledad Cross, a 43-foot-tall cross erected on public land in San Diego in the 1950s that has since become a veterans memorial.

On Monday, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the issue must go through the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals before the high court can step in.

In December, a federal judge ordered the cross to come down, saying it violates the establishment clause of the Constitution by unlawfully endorsing one religion over others.

The giant cross overlooking Mission Bay and La Jolla is visible from Interstate 5 and is a popular tourist destination.

Opponents of the cross have argued that it is a religious symbol on government land and violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

In a petition, however, the veterans group asked Supreme Court justices to step in and review the decision.

In a statement, an attorney for the plaintiff, Steve Trunk, said his client was pleased with the decision.

"We agree with the Supreme Court that the case should go through the regular appellate process before any decision is made by the Court whether or not it will hear the case," said attorney James McElroy.

The cross was placed on public land in 1954. In 1992, the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association purchased the land and in 2006, the memorial was officially transferred to the Department of Defense.  There are hundreds of plaques honoring veterans of all religions surrounding the base of the cross

In 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the cross violated the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, and it was sent back to federal court in San Diego, where the December ruling was issued.

The lower court's ruling states the cross must be moved within 90 days.

After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals makes its ruling, it's expected the case would again go to the Supreme Court, according to legal analyst Dan Eaton.

"The Supreme Court is going to have to make the hard decision as to whether the site cross and all violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment or whether it is okay to keep that memorial site with the cross intact," Eaton said.

He said we can expect the legal process to last another two to three years.

The deadly shooting of a 12-year-old Boy Scout at a summer camp in San Diego appeared at first to be self-inflicted, but now investigators are interviewing witnesses and examining forensic evidence to determine the cause of death.

The boy was shot at a campsite at the Fiesta Island Youth Camp and Youth Aquatic Center in Mission Bay on Monday morning, just a day after he had arrived with a troop of about 20 scouts from Las Vegas, police said.

San Diego police responding to a report of a suicide attempt at 7:35 a.m. found the victim inside a tent with a handgun nearby, Lt. Mike Hastings said. Paramedics tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the campsite, fire officials said.

• SEE: Shooting at Camp Fiesta Island: Images

Investigators said Monday afternoon that the boy may have been shot more than once in the upper torso, but would not say where the scout was wounded or how many times he was shot. Earlier, police had said the boy had shot himself in the head.

While investigators would not comment on whether anyone else were in the tent at time of the shooting, they said there are no eye witnesses.

Officials say they will not be able to determine if the shooting were a suicide until an autopsy has established the bullet's trajectory.

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Just after the shooting Monday morning, police blocked off the camp entrance and began interviewing scouts and leaders, including the child's father, who was present at the camp.

The campground will be closed to outside people until the investigation is complete.

Homicide and child abuse investigators were assisting in the case, while lab technicians processed forensic evidence.

Caterer Robert Peletier was serving breakfast to about 400 scouts at the camp when he saw the shooting's immediate aftermath, including lots of tears when the victim's Las Vegas troop was told of the tragedy.

Bob Jones, the grandfather of another camper, had just arrived to the camp early Monday to bring his 12-year-old grandson trail mix when he learned of the shooting.

His eyes watering, Jones said he was shocked and also concerned for his grandson who has been diagnosed as autistic.

"I know this will affect him emotionally so I would just like to be there for him," Jones said. "I'd like to get some word to him if I can." 

The Bay Park resident said camp was scheduled to last the week.

A camp counselor walked out Monday morning to talk with parents who had gathered near the entrance to the camp. He would not discuss reports of a shooting but did confirm there was no firearms program at the camp.

An NBC 7 news crew on the scene said there was a large group of scouts gathered in the center of camp just after 9 a.m. It's not known what was announced to the group.

Parents have not been told to come and pick up their kids, and camp will continue as usual.

Crisis counselors were made available by the San Diego Police Department to those attending the camp, and the director of camping for the San Diego Boy Scouts council responded to the shooting in a statement Monday.

"This is an extremely sad day for our entire Scouting family. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and all those who experienced this tragedy," camping director Karl Shelton said. "Our top priority is providing support to our community and for those in the grieving process. Grief counselors are on site and available to support those who are involved.

"It is during these trying times that we renew our commitment to our nation's youth and come together as a community to do all that we can to support each other," Shelton added.

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The Boy Scouts of America runs a summer camp on the patch of land in the middle of Mission Bay from June to August, offering merit badge opportunities in everything from kayaking to SCUBA to fire safety.

The location focuses on aquatics activities and does not include a shooting range.

San Diego County provide free and confidential support for those in crisis or need immediate help. Phones at the Crisis Hotline at (888) 724-7240 are answered by trained professionals available 24/7. The call is free and confidential.

As of Monday evening, no arrests had been made. An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday.

People are questioning why SeaWorld San Diego visitors were trapped on a ride for four hours Sunday.

The Skytower lost power, stranding 48 people – including 46 park guests and two SeaWorld employees – about 220 feet above the ground.

“They were stuck at the top, then they had it drop down slowly. They had to physically push the doors to the side so they could open the doors and let them out,” witness William Zelaya said.

A teenage boy was taken to the hospital for anxiety, according to fire officials. Witnesses saw paramedics give oxygen to some of the riders.

The San Diego Fire Department was on stand-by as SeaWorld technicians worked to restore power. The fire department’s Technical Rescue Team trains at SeaWorld every year in case of an emergency on the Skytower ride, fire officials said.

• READ: Boy, 12, Dies in Scout Camp Shooting

Some people are asking why firefighters didn’t intervene and rescue the riders, instead of waiting for the ride to be fixed.

"An emergency evacuation rappelling procedure for the 46 guests would have also taken several hours to complete, which would have been far longer than it took to restore power and bring the capsule with all the guests safely to the ground,” SeaWorld spokesman David Koontz said in a statement. “Again, the emergency evacuation is a method of last resort."

The passengers were never in danger and had water and snacks, Koontz said, so an emergency rescue wasn’t required.

Technical Rescue Team Fire Captain Michael De Guzman said it would have taken the team an hour to set up, then an additional 15 minutes to rappel each passenger to the ground.

"We would send rescuers to the top. They would rappel down to the top of the car, enter to the car. The car has two levels, and we would extract the people down through the hatches. Through the hatches we would send ropes, and we would lower the victims down to the ground," De Guzman explained.

People who were stuck on the ride received return admission and other park amenities.

The cause of the power failure is under investigation. The Skytower, which raises riders hundreds of feet in the air and slowly spins to show panoramic views of San Diego, was closed on Monday.

 The Padres start a 3-game series against the Reds Monday night at Petco Park. Baseball is a statistics-driven game, and Friars fans will be happy to know the numbers point to a Padres win. Well, one number in-particular:

The number 57.

Monday is Manager Bud Black's 57th birthday, and during his managerial career, the team is 5-1 on his birthday. Even though he doesn't let anyone know it's his birthday.

Watch the video above to find out who Bud would trust to make his birthday cake. 

Sixty children witnessed Allen Calloway being gunned in broad daylight - including his 10-year old son - as he was playing dodge ball in a San Francisco park . And now, his family and community members are mourning the loss of a former gang member who they say had been turning his life around.

Calloway, 32, was playing with the group of kids at about 2 p.m. Friday at Herz Playground in the Visitacion Valley area when a man walked up and shot him multiple times.

"As Allen gets the ball they just started shooting," Natae Armstrong, Calloway's niece, told NBC Bay Area. "All the kids ran to the corner and were crying and screaming."

Calloway was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

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Witnesses and community members expressed shock and outrage over the brazen daylight shooting.

Calloway was named in San Francisco's 2010 gang injunctions as a marijuana dealer, but had left the gang life behind him. Relatives said he was trying to turn his life around after spending time behind bars.

"When he got out of jail he said he wanted to make it right," said Latae Armstrong, his niece.

Calloway was working for Together United Recommitted Forever as a part-time outreach worker, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He usually showed up for his shift early in order to play with the kids.

A memorial of balloons, candles and empty liquor bottles mark the area where Calloway was gunned down. Police have beefed up patrols in the area and said officers will continue to keep up their presence at Herz Park as the investigation continues.

Fatal shootings by Southern California law enforcement officers have been vastly under-reported in recent years, but there appears to be no solid evidence pointing to outright cover-ups.

Instead, according to an exhaustive five-year study by the Orange County Register, the overriding explanation seems to be confusion, errors and cracks in the reporting and data systems between local agencies and state justice officials.

During the five-year period (2007-11) studied by the Register, 11 men were fatally shot by members of seven different law enforcement agencies in San Diego County.

They were among 67 in four Southern California counties (Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernadino were the others) whose “officer-involved” shooting deaths went unreported to state officials -- a one-in-five overall ratio – even though some of the deadly incidents had gotten extensive news media coverage.

A San Diego Sheriff's spokesman told NBC 7 that his department has upgraded its record-keeping and data procedures after its four unreported cases were brought to its attention in January by journalists from the Register.

He noted that the state’s database occasionally misses amendments or neglects to enter updates on pending cases from local jurisdictions.

The Register reported that the Los Angeles and San Bernardino sheriffs' departments also had made adjustments in response to the study.

Other agencies involved in San Diego County officer-involved death cases reviewed by the newspaper were the U.S. Marshal’s Service, California Highway Patrol, San Diego County Probation Department, and San Diego El Cajon, and La Mesa police departments.
           
Meantime, one finding in the Register analysis is raising eyebrows among civil rights advocates:  22 percent of the unreported fatalities involved African-Americans, in a region where African-Americans represent only 6 percent of the population.

"I think the community should be very concerned,” said Lei-Chala Wilson, president of the San Diego chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “Right now we're dealing with issues of racial profiling. And to me it goes hand in hand with the fact that African Americans are more likely to get stopped, detained or arrested by police. But now it's even more horrific because they're more likely to be shot."

In an interview Monday, Wilson offered this view of law enforcement’s attitude toward men of color: "They just have a perception that maybe they're more dangerous. So it goes back to human bias. It goes back to the training. It goes back to perception. And I think they need a little more 'cultural competency'."

Wilson later met with San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, telling NBC 7 she raised the issue of disproportionate African American fatalities in that study -- and that Zimmerman said she'd take a close look at it.
           
The two also discussed body cameras that hundreds of SDPD officers soon will begin wearing body cameras, a step aimed at improving accountability and community relations.

“I am fairly confident that the community, the NAACP, the ACLU will address these issues,” Wilson said. “And we'll make sure it's not forgotten."