An employee at O’Hare International Airport was charged with theft after he allegedly stole items from military foot lockers that were meant to be shipped overseas.

James Matthews, 41, of Sauk Village, Illinois, was charged with two felony counts of theft, police announced early Friday.

Chicago police officers and the U.S. Postal Service Inspector saw Matthews taking mail, a military foot locker that contained a laptop, and other stolen items from flights to the post office just before 7 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

He is scheduled to appear in bond court Friday.

Madonna Badger celebrated a moment of joy earlier this week when she and a college friend got married in New York.

William Duke has been one of the many people to stand by Badger and help her over the two and a half years since a devastating fire in Stamford took the lives of her three daughters and her parents.

The couple got married on Tuesday, according to Badger’s Facebook page. 

Badger suffered a terrible tragedy on Christmas morning in 2011, when fire spread through the Stamford home.

Her three daughters, 10-year-old Lily and 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah, as well as her parents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson, were killed.

Over the last couple of years, Badger has publicly shared her story of devastating grief and healing. 

In November 2013, Badger wrote a column for Vogue Magazine, and said Duke was one of the many friends who made sure she was not alone as she began to deal with the life-altering tragedy.

Over time, they fell in love. On Tuesday, they eloped.

Badger’s Facebook page is filled with well wishes and messages of congratulations. 
 

A 57-year-old man has died after he was confronted by an attacker while he tried to protect a young child, according to police.

Gabriel Ortega was at a restaurant on the 1400 block of Vine Street in Hollywood around 9:30 p.m. on July 14 when he saw a man yelling at a child.

The attacker reportedly clenched his fist and walked toward the child. Ortega then stepped in front of the child to act as a shield and told the attacker to leave the kid alone, police said.

The man then started punching Ortega. He then fled the scene, authorities said.

Ortega checked himself into the hospital on July 17, three days after the attack. He died as a result of the altercation, a coroner determining that Ortega’s cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Police are looking for the attacker. A detailed description was not immediately available.

City News Service contributed to this article.

Two teen girls accused of lighting a threatened gopher tortoise on fire and stomping it to death in a videotaped incident have been arrested, authorities said Friday.

Jennifer Emoke Green, 18 and a 15-year-old girl are facing charges of felony cruelty to animals and taking harassing and killing a gopher tortoise, a second-degree misdemeanor, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

Videos posted on Facebook showed the Orange Park girls dousing the tortoise with a flammable fluid and laughing as the creature tries to get away from the flames.
 
A second video shows one of the girls stomping on the animal until its shell breaks and it's dead.

The FWC received a tip about the incident on July 15 and worked with the State Attorney’s Office of the Fourth Judicial Circuit in the investigation.

"We take these issues very seriously," Col. Calvin Adams, director of the FWC’s Division of Law Enforcement, said in a statement. "We appreciated the help from the public and our partners in working to protect our valuable natural resources."

Green faces up to five years in prison plus up to 60 days in jail and or a $500 fine on the misdemeanor charge. The 15-year-old is being prosecuted in the juvenile system.

San Diego police investigators are unable to determine if a gunshot that killed a Boy Scout at a San Diego camp in June was intentional or accidental, NBC 7 has learned:

San Diego police say, based on their investigation. 12-year-old William Shook somehow got the unregistered gun in Las Vegas and brought it to San Diego while on a camping trip.

Shook was then shot inside his tent while camping on Fiesta Island Monday, June 30.

San Diego police say another boy was in the tent and a third boy was outside when the shooting happened.

The investigation has now been handed over to the Las Vegas Police Department.

Officials in San Diego initially reported that the scout shot himself in the head. However, investigators later said the boy was hit in the torso and it was unclear how many times he had been shot.

The boy’s father, a scout leader, was present at the camp.

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.

The people have spoken: they're worried about water.

Most of them are, anyway.

The biggest environmental concern for Californians is now the drought, according to a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Fifty-four percent of people who responded to the poll said the drought has them on edge, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. That's compared to 25 percent of people who said that air pollution is still the worst thing in the environment.

There are 21 percent of people who remain unfazed, saying that the drought -- the three driest years on record in California -- are not an issue, the newspaper reported.

In Los Angeles -- where water users increased their consumption by eight percent this year -- only half of respondents said water was an issue, the newspaper reported.

Three siblings who were helping their mother sell fruit along a North Philadelphia street are dead after carjackers ran them down, police say. Their mother, another woman and the carjacking victim are fighting for their lives as police search for the men responsible.

The five pedestrians were working at the fruit cart on the corner of Germantown and Allegheny Avenues around 11:15 a.m. on Friday when a white Toyota 4Runner, stolen minutes earlier by two men, blew a tire and jumped the curb, Philadelphia Police Homicide Capt. James Clark said.

The large SUV plowed into the group, skidded across a grassy lot and rammed head-on into a tree.

A 10-year-old boy drew his last breath on the street, Clark said. His 15-year-old sister was taken to Temple University Hospital where she died a short time later. Their 7-year-old brother, whose father identifies him as Terence, was rushed to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children where, despite doctor's efforts, he died. The names of the elder children are not yet being released because police are still working to notify all their family members.

Officials said the children were helping their mother sell the fruit to raise money for their church.

"I've been in the homicide unit for six years and this is one of the saddest cases I've come across," Clark said. "You have three innocent children who had the rest of their lives in front of them that were taken in this fashion. It's very sad. It's very tragic and we will find the individuals that are responsible."

The children's 34-year-old mother and 69-year-old family friend Thelma Brown were also seriously hurt. Clark said the mother is in extremely critical condition.

A sixth victim, the woman who was carjacked, is also in critical, but stable condition. She was in the SUV when it crashed. Clark said she is a real estate agent and had just finished showing a home near 6th and Cumberland Streets when the men forced their way into her SUV at gunpoint. That's about a mile from the crash scene.

At first, the suspects had the real estate agent drive, but then forced her into the back seat as one of the men took the wheel, Clark said. Detectives believe the SUV was traveling at a very high rate of speed when the tire blew.

Both suspects fled the scene on foot after the crash. A manhunt is now underway. The suspect's descriptions are not fully clear, but one was wearing a white T-shirt and basketball shorts. Police say he was armed with a gun. The other suspect is wearing an orange shirt and basketball shorts.

Authorities say the men may be injured from the crash and they have alerted all area emergency rooms to be on the lookout for anyone who comes in with car crash injuries.

Homicide detectives have also obtained some surveillance video from both scenes and plan to look for any identifying photos of the suspects.

The city is offering a $100,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the men. The reward had begun at $20,000, but continued to rise as each child passed away and additional donors chipped in.

The Fraternal Order of Police added an additional $10,000 to the reward for the arrests of the men wanted in the fatal accident. To receive the $10K, the men must be in police custody by noon Saturday.

"There are really no words for how I feel right now, but we do need to find these people and that needs to be our focus right now," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. "Finding the people responsible for this crime and get them in custody as soon as possible before they harm anyone else."

Police have arrested a man on allegations that he punched a 76-year-old Army veteran in a CVS parking lot in El Cajon.

A tip generated by media coverage led El Cajon police to arrest Thomas C. Sikes, 56, on Thursday in connection to the April 30 attack over some type of road rage incident. Sikes was booked in the San Diego Central Detention Facility on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and assault causing great bodily injury.

The assault happened on April 30 at around 10:10 a.m. in the parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy located at 572 Fletcher Parkway in El Cajon. Officials released details along with a short surveillance clip in hopes of tracking down the accused assailant and offered a $2,500 for a suspect's arrest.

As seen on the tape, the suspect walks across the parking lot, approaches the victim’s parked car, opens the driver's side door and throws a punch.

When officers arrived at the scene of the parking lot fight, they found victim Ron Tornocello suffering from major injuries to the face. His injuries were so severe, he had to have two facial reconstructive surgeries after the incident.

A Miami-Dade judge has struck down Florida's gay marriage ban, becoming the second Florida judge in a week to find it unconstitutional.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel found that the state's ban, approved by a referendum in 2008, "offends basic human dignity" and violates the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a notice of appeal of the ruling within an hour of the ruling being issued.

“Preventing couples from marrying solely on the basis of their sexual orientation serves no governmental interest,” Judge Zabel wrote in her order. “It serves only to hurt, to discriminate, to deprive same-sex couples and their families of equal dignity, to label and treat them as second-class citizens, and to deem them unworthy of participation in one of the fundamental institutions of our society.”

Florida originally enshrined a ban on same-sex marriage in the state constitution in 2008. Voters approved an amendment that year banning same-sex marriage. Since then, the Supreme Court has overturned the Defense of Marriage Act at a national level and lower-level courts have repeatedly overturned state laws as appeals over state bans moves towards the U.S. Supreme Court.

“At its heart, this case is about the right to marry the person of one’s choice. It is about whether the right to marry can be denied to members of a particular group based upon their sexual orientation, and whether couples and families who have members that fall into that group are entitled to the respect, benefits, and protections which marriage brings,” Judge Zabel wrote.

Zabel put an immediate stay on her order pending the outcome of the expected appeals to be filed by the state of Florida.

Judge Zabel’s order came in a motion for summary judgment in the case Catherina Pareto, et al vs. Harvey Ruvin, and the State of Florida. The summary judgment was granted, giving the plaintiffs an immediate victory.

Pareto and Karla Arguello were one of five gay couples who sued in Miami to overturn Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage. The couples claimed the ban on same-sex marriage violated the equal protection and due process clause, which Judge Zabel agreed with.

Pareto and Arguello have been together for 14 years. At the time the lawsuit was filed, Pareto told NBC 6, "Florida is our home, it is where we are raising our child, and where we want to get married," Pareto said. "Karla and I wish for our family the same things that other families want. We want to build our lives together, provide a safe and caring home for our child, and share in the responsibilities and protections of marriage."

Judge Zabel ruling also said that Article I, Section 27 of Florida’s Constitution is “void and unenforceable.” She also declared the Florida Statutes that prohibit the issuance of marriage licenses “unless one party is a male and the other party is a female is similarly void and unenforceable.”

The ruling also said that the Clerk of Courts should not be prosecuted for complying with the order and that the Clerk of Courts should modify marriage licenses to conform to the ruling.

The ruling from the Miami-Dade Court would apply only in Miami-Dade County. It comes just a week after Monroe County Circuit Judge Luis Garcia ruled that Florida’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional.

Judge Garcia’s order was immediately stayed when Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a notice of appeal. Garcia later declined to lift the stay while the case is on appeal.

Stay with NBC6.com for updates on this developing story.

On Saturday, Comic-Con fans will be on the lookout for Cumberbatch, standing in line to see “True Blood” stars and getting ready for Masquerade.

The lines for Hall H have not been as ghastly as in years past and there could be several reasons for it.
We’d like to think it’s all the great stuff happening outside the largest panel room.

Here’s our look at what you should try and make Saturday:

For the first time, S.H.I.E.L.D. divulges some of its most confidential scientific findings on what makes  superheroes unique.

Who isn’t planning on being somewhere special to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of TMNT?

There’s also the annual behind-the-scenes look at Phineas and Ferb that’s sure to please.

Perhaps you’d prefer the world of Indiana Jones?

Or The Mythbusters?

And there’s always Entertainment Weekly’s Women Who Kick Ass.

Delve into some serious business with the pitfalls and obstacles to becoming a professional gamer.

Or what the next few years hold in store for robots and androids.

Check in on the Temple of Art, an ongoing 2-year art and photography project.

Or make this weekend one to remember by entering to meet and get an autograph from Weird Al Yankovic.

There’s always room for surprises. The Family Guy panel may just provide some.

If you still haven’t gotten your kicks by 10 p.m., be around for adult-themed anime after hours (18 and over please).

It's been three months since the adorably cute baby bear Tahoe arrived at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care center, capturing the imagination of hundreds across the country.

The story of her survival – she was mysteriously left on a doorstep one night and transported to LTWC – is a happy one, thanks to her caretakers Tom and Cheryl Millham, who bottle-fed her and looked after her every need.

Now, the Millhams have their hands full with eight new bear cubs at LTWC, the only place in California licensed to care for wild bear cubs. (Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously stated the LTWC is the state's only wildlife rehab organization.)

No one really knows the reason for so many black bear cubs showing up at once. All the cubs are orphans with one exception, Meyers, who was hit by a car at 5 months old.

"Mom was crossing the street with two cubs behind her, and the car swerved to miss the mom and the second cub but didn't see the first cub," Millham said. 'When we got there we thought it was dead. We picked it up, and it kind of opened its eyes and looked at me like, 'What are you doing?'"

Millham hopes that all nine cubs will be ready to go back into the wild in about seven months.

Until then, this is home.

Tucked away inside a leafy residential street on Cherry Hill Circle in South Lake Tahoe, the center is a haven for sick animals: bears, bobcats, fawns, porcupines, birds – Millham even helped rescue a mountain lion once, but didn't bring it back with him.

"We started because there was a need," Millham said. "It's made a world of difference."

LTWC is getting ready to move to a bigger $10 million, 27-acre space nearby and has already raised $3 million towards it.

The center relies entirely on donations, which funds everything from food — it costs about $800 per week to feed growing cubs — to special cages and medicine.

NBC Bay Area caught a glimpse of the cubs this week as they played with each other inside one of the bear enclosures. Missing from most of the action was Tahoe, who decided she'd rather spend the time hiding in the room next door.

And that's not because she doesn't like humans. "It's because she's likes them too much," said Millham, who is trying to limit any human interaction with her and instead make her socialize with the other bears.

"She sometimes make noises out there — it's kinda like a dog in pain — and we know she's not happy and will not associate with other cubs," he said. "They want to play with her, but she doesn't."

Tahoe is sharing her cage with Bieber 1 and Bieber 2, who hail from Bieber, California, population 312 as of the 2010 census. The cubs saw their mother get hit by a car and killed, and California Fish and Wildlife brought them to LTWC on June 29.

Tahoe makes an appearance toward the very end, lured by the fresh trout lying on the floor. The cubs also eat a ton of fruits -- watermelon, canteloupe, grapes -- for their diet.

Also in the bear cage are two cubs from Conway Summit and one of a pair from Paradise, California. His sister is in a different cage by herself, recovering from gum surgery.

"Our volunteers have named her 'Toothless' because she's missing a tooth," Millham says, adding that they are hopeful it will grow back.

Brockway, the newest arrival, is also in a cage by himself until he puts on some weight. At 11 pounds, Millham says he's still too small to socialize with the other bear cubs. He was found next to the body of his dead mother near Lake Tahoe's north shore.

"It's kind of a double-edged sword here, but we hope that a cub is picked up only because the mom is dead," Millham said. "That's obviously a sad situation — but don't pick up a cub just because it's there by itself. The mom may be somewhere nearby."

For more information on Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care or how to donate, visit their Facebook page or website.

The mother of a man charged with murder stemming from the fatal shooting of his alleged accomplice by a homeowner during a Long Beach robbery has been arrested on suspicion of robbery in connection with the case.

Ruby Adams, 49, of Long Beach, was booked into jail on Thursday night. She is the mother of Gus Polly Adams, a suspect in a Tuesday night robbery that ended with his accomplice getting shot by the homeowner.

The accomplice, Andrea Salina Miller, 28, from Long Beach, was killed after telling the homeowner she was pregnant, which coroner's officials said was not true.

The homeowner, Tom Greer, told NBC4 that he shot the woman twice in the back with his .22-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver as she was fleeing with a male accomplice.

Gus Adams, 26, of Long Beach, was booked into jail on charges of robbery, burglary and murder, prosecutors said. He faces a murder charge in Miller's death because he was allegedly involved in a felony that led to a death, authorities said.

He also faces a gun theft charge because he allegedly stole a gun from Greer's home, according to the felony complaint.

It was not immediately clear whether Adams hired an attorney.

• Updates: Download Our News App

"She says, 'Don't shoot me, I'm pregnant -- I'm going to have a baby.' And I shot her anyway," Greer said. "The lady didn't run as fast as the man so I shot her in the back twice, she's dead ... but he got away."

An autopsy completed on Friday concluded Miller was not pregnant, said Lt. Ed Winter, of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

• Read: "She Best Be Dead": Homeowner Shoots, Kills Intruder

Long Beach police said they are investigating whether Greer should face charges for Tuesday night's shooting in the 3900 block of Country Club Drive.

Even though the woman was running away, Greer said he regards what he did as self-defense.

He said he arrived at home Tuesday night to find a couple in the middle of a late-night break-in when they attacked him.

"When I went in there, they tackled me," Greer told NBC4. "Both of them jumped up on top of me."

At one point, Miller stopped hitting Greer to help Adams break into a safe, police said.

While the suspects ransacked his home, Greer got his gun from another room, returned to confront them and fired his gun while they were still inside his house, police said.

Both suspects ran out, making off with items taken during the burglary. Greer followed them as they ran out and fired again.

Miller was struck by gunfire, fell in the alley, and died, authorities said. Adams got away, but was captured later.

Greer told detectives he believes the suspects broke into his home and stole cash and property three times before, police said. Greer's estranged wife, Dorothy, said on Thursday one of the burglaries happened while she was at home. She saw her jewelry stolen.

But she never expected such violence.

"It's scary," she said. "Either way it goes, it's scary. It was just a bad situation, all the way around."

Greer was treated at a hospital Wednesday for a severe shoulder and collarbone injury.

NBC4's Rosa Ordaz and Gordon Tokumatsu contributed to this report.

San Diego's top cop is standing up for her officers named in a lawsuit filed by dancers at a local strip club after a March incident.

Nearly 30 dancers at Cheetahs Gentlemen’s Club and Expose claim officers held them against their will and took inappropriate photos of them when they walked into the Kearny Mesa club for a mandatory compliance check.

The lawsuit names the department and San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman and claims the dancers’ Fourth Amendment rights were violated.

During the inspection, officers checked the dancers’ licenses but after that, the women claim the visit went too far.

Attorney Dan Gilleon, who is representing the women and Cheetahs, said photos are not normally part of a routine police inspection at a strip club and are only allowed to be taken if officers are investigating a crime scene.

On Thursday, Zimmerman defended the officers’ actions, “the city's regulations are written to protect the general welfare.

Specifically, the regulations are designed to prevent prostitution, lewd acts, money laundering, organized crime, and the deterioration of neighborhoods."

Chief Zimmerman said only female officers took photographs, which included the entertainers' faces and some tattoos.

Gilleon said the City of San Diego has sent Cheetah’s a letter to revoke its license on the basis that it is allegedly violated the rules for an adult entertainment business.

However, Gilleon argues he has not seen any evidence of this and believes it’s “retaliation” for the women filing a civil rights claim against the police department back in March.

Officers are mandated to conduct inspections and check permits at adult entertainment businesses and officials said documenting tattoos is a critical way to verify a person’s identity.

Don’t look now, but the Padres have quietly won two straight series coming off last week’s All-Star break.

In those victories, they are scoring more than seven runs a game. Wait a second, could there be a correlation between scoring runs and winning ballgames? Why didn’t someone tell them earlier?
Seriously though, the Padres are now 32-5 when scoring four or more runs – second best in the league. The problem is they’ve now played 101 games on the season. That’s a lotta three-runs-or-less performances, resulting in too many losses.

Maybe some good ol’ southern hospitality will do the Padres well, as they travel to Atlanta this weekend for a four-game series with a Braves team that just dropped three of four to the Miami Marlins to fall out of first place in the National League East.

Matchups:
Friday, 4:35 p.m.: Jesse Hahn (R, 5-2, 2.21) vs. Alex Wood (R, 7-7, 3.24)
The wins just keep on piling up for Hahn, who has won five of his last six starts, allowing three earned runs or fewer in each of them. Wood has four quality starts in five outings since rejoining the rotation last month.

Saturday, 4:10 p.m.: Odrisimar Despaigne (R, 2-1, 1.31) vs. Julio Teheran (R, 9-6, 2.64)
OD took a no-hitter into the eighth inning on Sunday, and has yet to have a bad outing in his month in the majors. Teheran has won three of his last four decisions.

Sunday, 2:05 p.m.: Eric Stults (L, 3-12, 5.00) vs. Zach Minor (L, 3-6, 5.32)
The defeats just keep on piling up for Stults, who took over the league lead in Ls with his 12th on Tuesday. But he still has a better ERA than fellow lefty Minor, who has allowed 12 earned runs in his last two starts.

Monday, 9:10 a.m.: Ian Kennedy (R, 8-9, 3.66) vs. Ervin Santana (R, 9-6, 3.87)
With six more strikeouts on Wednesday, Kennedy jumped to second place in Ks in the NL with 143. Santana has won four of his last five starts, striking out 10 against the Marlins this week.

What’s at stake: These two teams might as well get used to each other. They meet in seven of the next 10 games for each – the only times they will face off all season.

While the Padres are keeping their phone lines open to entertain trade offers from contenders, the Braves could be looking to shore up their pitching staff as the trade deadline nears. They would love to be able to flip underachieving outfielder B.J. Upton for a low-end starter or bullpen arm. Good luck with that.

Who to watch:
Padres: Outfielder Seth Smith has nine hits during his current five-game hit streak and continues to lead the team in home runs (11), RBIs (31), average (.293) and walks (43). Fellow outfielder Will Venable is hitting .393 in his last 10 games. Catcher Rene Rivera is coming off a three-hit game that includes a homer and two-run single.
Braves: Outfielder Justin Upton (B.J.’s brother) has a hit in eight of his last nine games. He leads the team with 18 homers, 57 RBIs and a .287 average. First baseman Freddie Freeman leads the team and is fifth in the NL with 28 doubles. Third baseman Chris Johnson has a pair of homers in his last five games.

Coming up: Welcome the Padres back home next week with a series against the St. Louis Cardinals starting on Tuesday, followed by a visit from these Braves next weekend.

A man who served time in connection with the 2007 disappearance of 19-year-old San Diego State University student Donna Jou was released from prison Thursday, a day Jou’s family had been dreading.

Jou disappeared on June 23, 2007. Her mother last saw her getting on a motorcycle with John Steven Burgess, a registered sex offender who had answered an ad for math tutoring from the San Diego State University student.

"She said I love you, bye," Donna Jou's mother Nili Jou recalled.

Burgess pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2009 and claimed that while he and Jou were partying, he gave her cocaine and heroin. Burgess said that Jou overdosed on drugs and when he found her dead, he panicked and dumped her body in the ocean. Jou’s body was never found.

• Read: Student Dumped in Ocean After Possible OD: Cops

"He got away with the murder," Nili Jou said.

Burgess served two and a half years of a five year sentence and was paroled. After his release in 2012, he placed a Craigslist ad looking for a roommate. Two women who answered his ad and discovered his identity contacted authorities, who found drugs and ammunition at his residence – a violation of his parole.

"Every time he is in and out, you know, it means the system is not working," Nili Jou said.

Burgess returned to prison after violating parole. He was released Thursday and now has until Monday to report to the Los Angeles County Probation Department where he will be equipped by a GPS tracking system because of his standing as a sex offender.

• Read: Husband Killed Rookie Cop, Burned Home in Cover-Up Attempt: Police

Nili Jou wants to make sure people are aware of Burgess’ presence. She said that she plans to have flyers made and spread in the neighborhood he lives. Because of Megan’s Law, his exact address will be made public.

"I'm afraid and I'm sure he’s going to do it again," Nili Jou said.

Nili Jou said she goes to bed looking at a photo of her daughter and says the photo is also “the first thing” she wakes up to every morning. Despite the seven years that have passed since Donna Jou’s disappearance, her mother is still hopeful.

"I don't think it’s ignorant or denial or anything like that, but my heart tells me she is still alive somewhere," Nili Jou said.

A powerful storm cell moved through San Diego Friday bringing thunder, lightning and heavy rain.

The storm system appears to be small on radar but it is packing a punch, bringing rain to Eastlake and Otay Ranch with the threat of rain from El Cajon to Poway.

Cal Fire has a few extra personnel on staff because of weather pattern.

It's cloudy on Laguna Mountain but no reports of rain, thunder or lightning.

There was some rain in Pine Valley earlier according to folks at the Laguna Mountain Lodge.

The storm brought .15 inches of precipitation to Ramona and Mt. Woodson with .13 inches in Julian, according to NBC 7's Whitney Southwick.

There is a large storm system off the coast of Baja heading north.

It didn't take NBC 7 users long to let us know where the rain was falling and where it was headed.

Tony Mitchell sent us an update on Twitter, "Thunder, heavy downpour greets El Cajon this morning! I like it!"

Julie Williams of Lakeside told us on Facebook that she loved hearing the thunder this morning.

In the South Bay, Casey Marie posted this update to our Facebook page, "I hope it rains all month! We are hearing some thunder in Otay ranch part of Chula."

We even got reports of hearing thunder in Pacific Beach, Tierrasanta, Hillcrest and Paradise Hills.

Got storm images or video? Upload them here, share them with us on our Facebook page or tag them as #NBC7 on Instagram.

Check back for updates on this developing story. Download our free mobile app for storm information and alerts.
 

San Diego fell prey to a sci-fi phenomenon on Thursday: a big, fierce Sharknado.

The cast and crew of SyFy’s “Sharknado 2: The Second One” hosted a panel at San Diego Comic-Con International 2014 where director Anthony C. Ferrante, along with stars Ian Ziering, Vivica A. Fox and Judah Friedlander, spoke candidly about the magic of the action-packed sequel.

Turns out, the production was a bit of a whirlwind.

But the crew and cast said that’s what made it a unique and fun project, much like the wildly successful first “Sharknado” flick.

Ferrante said he attributes the success of the project to its low budget. He believes the energy created in that environment brought the movies to life.

Fans might not realize it, but the film was shot in only 18 days. Unlike most big budget productions, the team didn’t have the leisure of a flexible schedule.

Ferrante said that when something went wrong they couldn’t, “pine it off on another day, you have to make magic happen.”

To that end, much of the film was left to the last minute. Ferrante said that nights before filming a scene they would be writing in new characters.

“Anyone can come up with an idea and if it works, we put it in the movie,” he said of the creative process.

Newcomer to the sequel, “30 Rock” actor Friedlander said the quick pace of the project added a new level of passion among actors and crew.

Ziering added that there is an immense amount of trust between the actors and digital effects artists. Many of the scenes are filmed on green screens and the animation team is responsible for making the shark attacks look as realistic as possible.

Fox told fans at the panel that in the sequel, the sharks take a “bite out of the Big Apple.” In a surprising twist of weather conditions, the main characters have to protect New York City from an invading Sharknado.

Fox also teased several celebrity cameos in the film, including Kelly Osbourne and Matt Lauer.
The cast also added that they were impressed with all the support they received from New Yorkers while shooting the movie there in late February.

“Sharkando 2: The Second One” premieres July 30 on SyFy.
 

Costumes and characters are a major part of San Diego Comic-Con International, but beyond that, the convention also offers a wealth of knowledge for those who seek it.

Past the costumes, crowds and massive, star-studded panels at the pop culture event are many other opportunities for Con-goers – many of which are educational.

Outside those notorious jam-packed rooms like Hall H and Ballroom 20, the convention hosts a series of smaller-scale panels formatted as breakout sessions.

These sessions provide attendees with valuable lessons and advice from professionals in the comic industry while also giving fans an opportunity to network and collaborate.

A glance at Friday’s schedule and attendees could find small panels such as “From Fan to Creator: Making the Dream a Reality” and “How to be a Nerd for a Living: Career Paths Within Nerd Culture.”

“These panels probably don’t get as much attention as they should,” said Laura Hareron, who has attended Comic-Con three times.

Hareron attended the session, “The Future of Geek.” The panel touched on topics such as advertising to a diverse audience, the growing popularity of fandoms and franchises and even the future of Comic-Con itself.

“You can learn something that you never knew you wanted to do, that you’ve never even considered before,” Hareron explained. “It’s just not something that a lot of people think about.”

The panelists themselves even note a complexity to Comic-Con that exceeds what the public typically perceives.

Heidi McDonald, who manages her own website and has attended Comic-Con for the past 33 years, continues to marvel at the change in demographics seen at the convention.

“Thirty-three years ago, there weren’t very many like me here – girls, I mean,” McDonald told the audience at “The Future of the Geek.”

Today, statistics show that there is an almost perfectly even split between male and female attendees. Even so, McDonald believes there is still plenty of change to come.

“In five years, we will see a very different Con,” she added.

In addition to these informative and educational panels, some might also be surprised by the significant presence of families at the convention.

Calixto Pena, third-time Comic-Con attendee, has brought his daughter Karissa for the past two years to the convention.

“There’s lots of fun activities that I can do here,” Karissa excitedly announced.

“They have a lot of things that are geared toward kids and even a lot of things geared toward girls,” her father added.

Amidst Comic-Con’s changing landscape over its 45 years in San Diego, almost every attendee is in agreement that the unity and culture found at the pop culture spectacular will be preserved.

Race Dendel, also a third-time Comic-Con attendee, sees great value in the convention’s ability to provide a safe environment for all people.

“It’s all the outcasts and everybody who is weird and abnormal,” Dendel said. “They’re all walking around and having a great time and not feeling weird and abnormal because it’s normal to be weird.”

A self-proclaimed “Godfather of Camp Pendleton” was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for accepting $100,000 in bribes.

Investigators say U.S. Department of Defense employee Natividad “Nate” Cervantes used his position to extort bribes from companies seeking to do business with Camp Pendleton. According to the FBI, Cervantes accepted bribes since as early as September 2008.

Cervantes, 64, pleaded guilty in January in federal court along with six other government contractors in connection to bribery and the kickback scheme at federal facilities.

In pleading guilty, Cervantes admitted using his position at Camp Pendleton to solicit bribes from construction companies seeking to do business on the base,

From 2008 until March 2013, Cervantes served at Camp Pendleton as supervisor of the Construction and Service Contracts Inspection Branch, Facilities Support Contract Division.

During that time, Cervantes used his position supervising construction and service contracts to solicit contractors for bribes from their companies, prosecutors said. In return for helping to steer contracts, Cervantes received cash payments and extensive free construction work on his personal condominium.

 A fight between brothers ended violently Friday when one stabbed the other with a pair of hedge clippers in San Diego's Normal Heights community, according to police.

Around 5:30 p.m., two brothers got into an argument over money in the 4000 block of Casita Way.

Police say the older of the two became angry, grabbed the hedge clippers and began chasing his little brother.

He finally stabbed him at least once in the forearm, opening a large gash.

The victim in his early 20s was taken to a nearby trauma center for non-life threatening injuries, while his older brother was arrested at the scene.

Officials say he will be booked into jail on a charge of attempted murder.