The world learned of the late comedian Robin Williams' suicide in excruciating detail, and now the man who released the detail is defending his office from criticism that he offered too much.

"The Sheriff’s Office understands how the release of the kind of information you heard yesterday may be viewed as disturbing by some, and as unnecessary by others," Marin County Sheriff's Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Lt. Keith Boyd told NBC Bay Area in an email Wednesday. "But under California law, all that information is considered 'public information,' and we are precluded from denying access to it."

At a news conference Tuesday that was livestreamed around the globe, Boyd described in grisly detail how Williams committed suicide. The release of that detailed information on the beloved actor's tragic death sparked a backlash from some who were outraged that so many specifics were revealed.

"None of this information should've been released until the autopsy and toxicology results were in," Debby Vitale-Riddle wrote on NBC Bay Area's Facebook page, which posted the story of how Williams died. "Then it should've been at the family's discretion as to how much information was released."

Vitale-Riddle was one of the many critics on social media and at kitchen tables cringing at the brutal way Williams ended his life.

But on Wednesday, Boyd defended his office's decision to release what was in Marin County Chief Forensic Pathogist Joseph Cohen's preliminary autopsy report.

"Frankly, it would have been our personal preference to withhold a lot of what we disclosed to the press yesterday, but the California Public Records Act does not give us that kind of latitude," he wrote. "These kinds of cases, whether they garner national attention or not, are very difficult for everyone involved."

He said he made the decision knowing that his agency will be required to release to the media the 911 phone call dispatch received from Williams’ home. And already, he said, the sheriff's department has received a "staggering number of formal Public Act Requests" seeking that information.

In a phone conversation, Boyd wouldn't disclose whether he had gotten Williams' wife Susan Schneider's permission to discuss the autopsy findings. But he did say that it was common protocol to "actively work" with families of the deceased when it came to releasing information.

He also differentiated criminal investigations – which are often not released to the public – and coroner's reports in non-criminal matters, which are public record.

Boyd also noted that the media had the discretion to refrain from publishing any information they thought inappropriate to publish. He also suggested that news agencies had the option of putting a time delay on their livestreams if journalists were concerned.

Boyd has the support of the Judicial Council of California, which initiated a "High Profile Special Press Information" amendment. That was enacted after the high-profile death of Michael Jackson in 2009 that urged the courts to err on the side of releasing more information so as not to tax the records clerks and personnel who would have to deal with invidual media inquiries.

And his actions have the support of Terry Francke, a national open government expert at CalAware in Sacramento.

"I assume the reason he released that detail is that he knew there would be a records request anyway," Francke said. "And he was trying to minimize the demands on his staff. He probably said, 'Let's get it all out there to get as many answers to the public as possible.'''

As for whether Boyd should have gone into such detail, on a personal note, Francke said: "I think that's a judgment call that he made. I don't know why he should be faulted for it. The notion that being provided too much information is a bad thing seems pretty silly, especially in a market that has such a high demand for this information.''

Come next month, visitors to the North Embarcadero and Ruocco Park areas will have to being a little extra change to park in the metered lots by the waterfront.

On Tuesday, the Port of San Diego Board of Commissioners gave the green light to the expansion of the Tidelands Public Parking Meter Pilot Program, which will now include changes to the rates and hours of meters in North Embarcadero and Ruocco Park, in addition to Tuna Harbor.

The program will be implemented beginning Sept. 12 and will last at least six months. After that, the Port will review their data and determine whether or not they’ll keep the program in place.

Port of San Diego Public Information Officer Tanya Castaneda told NBC 7 the rate and hour changes will be made to existing meters. New meters will not be added to the areas.

Currently, the rate to park at North Embarcadero or Ruocco Park is $1.25 per hour. That rate will now go up to $1.75 per hour, Castaneda confirmed.

Parking meter enforcement hours will also shift to 10 a.m. through 8 p.m. every day, including Sundays. Previously, meters were enforced from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and were free on Sundays.

Castaneda said this parking program has already gone into effect in the Tuna Harbor lots and will help the Port make better use of the prime spaces along San Diego’s waterfront.

“The spaces are a public asset and must be managed right,” she said. “Our goal is to gather data through this pilot program that will help us make a decision about long-term parking rates and enforcement.”

With the lower rates, Castaneda said the Port found people were parking in spots all day, feeding the meters every few hours. This set limits on how many visitors could park in the area throughout the day.

Now, with higher rates and different hours, Castaneda said the goal is to increase turnover in parking at the waterfront and allow for more visitors to drop in for an hour or two.

“Now everybody has a chance to visit and get a parking spot,” she said.

Castaneda said the metered lots at Tuna Harbor, Ruocco Park and North Embarcadero give visitors access to many attractions. This includes the new Waterfront Park and The Headquarters at Seaport District.

The lots are also near San Diego’s new open-air seafood market located on the pier between Tuna Harbor and Seaport Village. The market is open every Saturday at 8 a.m. For early birds, this means free parking in the area until meter enforcement kicks in at 10 a.m.
 

For the second time in one week, San Diego police put out an alert to its officers: be on the lookout for a man with a clown mask and rainbow-colored wig. 

Officers were called to a convenience store at 6615 Linda Vista Road Wednesday after a man with a gun robbed the clerk.

The suspect’s description was the same as a previous robbery in Bay Park that occurred a week earlier.

The man, described as 5-foot 7-inches tall with a thin build, was wearing a clown mask and rainbow-colored wig when he walked into the store around 1:30 a.m.

Officers say the man fled in a dark-colored SUV traveling westbound on Northrim Court.

The 7-Eleven owner told NBC 7 she’s been at the location for about eight years and has seen the store robbed only once before.

She said the suspect got away with less than $100.

A Spring Valley man is accused of killing his female roommate and then trying to take his own life, officials said. 

The suspect has been identified as 58-year-old Michael Mifflin.

San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home in the 600 block of Parkbrook Street near Noeline Avenue around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. Officials said a woman called 911 and reported she had found her roommate was dead.

When deputies got to the home, they found the dead woman in one room and Mifflin in another with self-inflicted cuts to his wrists.

Sheriff's officials said the victim showed signs of trauma but did not share details of her injuries. Her name has not been released.

Mifflin was treated at the hospital and then taken into custody. However, he suffered an emergency while in jail and was taken back to the hospital, officials said. The suspect remains in the hospital and has not been charged with murder yet.

Neighbors told NBC 7 that the people who lived in the home kept to themselves.

“It’s surprising. Nothing ever happens like this in this neighborhood. Never had so many cop cars here," neighbor Gisela Tello said.

Deputies said they have not identified a motive, but they don't believe the two were romantically involved.

The woman behind the wheel of the car that drove into a group of cyclists, sending several to the hospital with serious injuries, was under the influence of drugs officials said Wednesday.

Theresa Lynn Owens, 49, has been arrested on charges of driving under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.

San Diego police said Owens was driving her vehicle on Fiesta Island Road around 6:30 p.m. when her car struck a number of cyclists who were finishing up a training ride.

Two cyclists who hit the windshield were pinned in the glass, officers said. Witnesses said one cyclist suffered a broken facial bone and another suffered a punctured lung.

Cyclist Juan Barrintos who was hurt in his arm, knee and ankle was at the head of the pack of riders and estimated the woman was driving 30 to 40 mph in a 10 to 15 mph zone.

Cyclist Joel Price was among those who suffered minor injuries in the crash. He told NBC 7 it was a tragic incident because Fiesta Island is considered one of the safest places to ride in San Diego.

NBC 7 obtained court records that show Owens has had a history of possession of illegal drugs, disturbing the peace and intent to commit theft dating back to 2006.
 

The number of pertussis, or whooping cough, cases in San Diego County has reached a record high, surpassing the previous all-time high that occurred four years ago, health officials said Wednesday.

The number of confirmed cases here has hit 1,183, compared to the number of cases in all of 2010, which was 1,179, according to a news release from the San Diego County Health and Human Service Agency.

While whooping cough has been especially pervasive throughout California, San Diego’s number of cases is slightly more than double the state’s rate per 100,000 people.

“Pertussis activity tends to go in cycles and peaks every three to four years,” County Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten said in a statement. “We are working with local health care professionals and educators to stress the need for everyone to be up to date with their vaccinations and for pregnant women to get vaccinated.”

No pertussis-related deaths have been reported in San Diego, though there have been three baby deaths this year statewide.

Children and teens seem to be hit the most hard. Nearly half of San Diego's cases are teens between 13 and 18.

It’s especially important for pregnant women and infants to get vaccinated, as newborns and unborn infants are especially susceptible to whooping cough.

Pertussis starts with a cough and runny nose for one to two weeks, followed by weeks to months of coughing fits marked by a "whooping" sound.

For information on where to find a vaccination clinic, call the HHSA Immunization Branch at 866-358-2966 or go here.

The serial stowaway arrested at LAX this month, just a day after she managed to board an LA-bound flight without a ticket and was warned to stay away from the airport, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly six months in jail.

Marilyn Hartman, 62, was sentenced to 177 days after admitting Wednesday to having violated her probation, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office said.

Hartman was first arrested Aug. 4 at Los Angeles International Airport after Los Angeles police say she got through security at Mineta San Jose International Airport and boarded an LA-bound flight.

After pleading no contest to a misdemeanor trespassing charge on Aug. 6, she was ordered to 24 months probation and told to "stay away from LAX."

The following day, she was arrested again at LAX after being seen wandering through terminals, LAX officials said. 

"I just knew she would come back," said Los Angeles World Airports Police Chief Pat Gannon after her second arrest. "She is a serial attempter of being a stowaway."

Hartman said after her release last week that was trying to reach Hawaii but did not say how she bypassed security. She described herself as homeless and "desperate."

Hartman has previously breached security at San Francisco International Airport and has a history of trying to get on flights without a ticket, officials said. She had at least seven encounters with police at SFO and was arrested four times, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

Indonesian police say a Chicago teen and her boyfriend are refusing to cooperate with investigators after they were arrested in connection with the death of the girl's mother.

Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, formerly of the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, was discovered Tuesday in a suitcase in the back of a taxi at the upscale St. Regis Hotel in Denpasar.

Wiese-Mack's daughter, Heather Lois, 19, and 21-year-old Tommy Schaefer were arrested on Wednesday in connection with her death.

The suspects are being held at South Kuta police station at Nusa Dua where investigators say they are refusing to talk.

NBC 5 has learned that Oak Park police made 86 calls to Wiese-Mack's former home between January 2004 and June 2013 for a combination of domestic violence, theft and a missing person.

The domestic incidents involved the daughter and mother, according to authorities.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports Lois used her mother's credit card to charge for a room at the Conrad Chicago Hotel on Rush Street last month. NBC 5 has learned that Schaefer and a female were arrested following an incident at the hotel. The female was released and Schaefer was charged with disorderly conduct.

Brittany Strangmann lived on the same dorm floor as Schaefer at Northern Illinois University before he dropped out last year. She describes him as a "nice guy."

"He was so focused on his music. That was his life," Strangmann said. "He would show me videos of stuff that inspired him."

"A few days ago on Facebook he said he was going to Indonesia and wasn't sure when he was coming back, and then going to China. I thought that was odd."

Denpasar police chief Djoko Hari Utomo told local media that Wiese-Mack and her daughter had been staying at the hotel for several days before Schaefer joined them. Surveillance cameras later recorded Wiese-Mack and Schaefer arguing in the hotel lobby, The Daily Mail reported.

The morning after that argument, Lois and Schaefer checked out of the hotel and took a large suitcase out to a taxi stand. The pair then went back into the hotel and snuck out through the back of the resort.

After a two-hour wait, the taxi driver was instructed by hotel personnel to drive to the police station. Authorities there opened the suitcase and found Wiese-Mack's body.

Utomo said Lois and Schaefer were tracked down and arrested while they slept at a hotel in the Legian tourist area.

A doctor who performed an examination on Wiese-Mack's body said there were defensive wounds.

Wiese-Mack and her husband, composer/producer James Mack, lived in Oak Park for a number of years, a neighbor said. James Mack died in August 2006. His widow remained in the home before moving to a downtown Chicago condo after taking a big hit in the 2008 real estate market crash.

Music producer Willie Nance is a long time family friend who said when he spoke with Lois last week, it was clear she was "hurting inside."

"I never thought it would go this far. I never dreamed it would go this far," Nance said.

Neighbors said the Oak Park home masked a volatile relationship between the mother and daughter, but none expected it would end in such tragedy.

"I heard they had some domestic issues especially after Heather's dad died but I didn't know it was this bad," said Lois' former classmate Alex Bailey.

"[Sheila] had a hard time of it since her husband died," said neighbor Barbara Watkins. "She didn't deserve this."

San Diego is good about blue and black but not so good about green. I’m talking about the green recycling bins that only 15 percent of the city has for collecting grass and yard clippings.

As it is now, you can put out “greenery” in regular plastic trash cans. Those cans are picked up every other week and turned into compost and mulch at the Miramar Landfill. But the city doesn’t have enough money to distribute green bins similar to the blue recycling bins.

Joan Williamson uses the green bins at her Clairemont home and thinks they encourage green recycling.

“It automatically gets you to organize what you are throwing away,” says Williamson. She says she notices her neighbors putting out the bins as well.

But adding more green bins on San Diego streets costs money and that’s the problem.

“We would like to take the program city wide,” said San Diego Recycling Program Manager Ken Prue. “But it is something at this point we don’t have the funding for.”

San Diego does not charge an extra fee for trash pick-up and Prue says that’s what it would take to deliver the green bins to everyone. Other cities like Chula Vista have the bins but they charge for the service. Expanding the service inside the city would take additional funding from the city budget or another source of revenue.

Right now sections of Tierrasanta, La Jolla, Clairemont, Allied Gardens, San Carlos, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and Point Loma have green bins. Scripps Ranch and Rancho Penasquitos are next to expand. Recycling officials believe the green bins encourage more people to collect their green waste.

“They are not going to be putting that greenery into their black trash bins and putting it into the landfills,” said Prue.

The bins are 96 gallon wheeled carts and hold about the same as three regular trash cans. Right now about 30,000 bins are being used in the city with 160,000 using manual collection.

The compost made from the green waste is offered free to city residents.

A major step in a 40-year plan to widen Interstate 5 in North County, among other developments, was approved on Wednesday.

The California Coastal Commission unanimously signed off on the plan, which would widen I-5 to include four new express lanes and provide a series of rail, public transit, bicyclist and pedestrian improvements between La Jolla and Oceanside.

Four lanes designed for car pools, buses and toll-paying solo drivers would be built along the middle of the freeway. Two conventional lanes would also be added.

The project was estimated to cost $6.5 billion.

Environmental groups had expressed concerns about the impact on wildlife living in six coastal lagoons, 32 acres of wetlands and 74 acres of coastal sage. Developers have since said they’ve addressed these concerns.

A long-running legal dispute that could have been settled with a $6,100 tuition payment to a private school will end up costing the Solana Beach School District nearly $1 million.

Kate Doyle is now a thriving 11-year-old, doing well at a school in Utah. But when she was entering preschool in Solana Beach, her mother Kyla Doyle says she wanted her autistic child to be placed in a general education classroom and given support.

Doyle did not want Kate placed with severely disabled students and given visits to general education classroom. Doyle says when the district could not provide that, she sent her daughter to private school. When the district refused to pay the $6,100 tuition, she took the case to court.

A federal court ruled in Doyle's favor under the federal guarantee of a free and appropriate education. The school district appealed the ruling, and when it lost, it attempted to get the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The bottom line is this: After seven years, the legal fees for both sides amount to nearly $1 million, and a judge has ruled the district must be the one to pay.

“It makes me sad so much money, over that amount of time, was really wasted, and I think it's sad that didn’t go to education programs and improving Solana Beach,” Doyle said.

District Superintendent Nancy Lynch said the district did not want to start a precedent where parents could unilaterally say they don't like the program provided by the district, a program she says is equal or superior to other programs. Lynch also said the attorney for the Doyle family charged fees that were beyond reason.

The firm representing the district did not return our calls or request for comment about why the lawyers continued to litigate the case.

A man who police said was beaten and left for dead in San Francisco's Castro District was taken off of life support Wednesday afternoon.

Police are now searching for the person responsible for killing Bryan Higgins, who was discovered by passers-by around 7 a.m. Sunday on the corner of Church and Duboce streets.

"He was an incredibly heart-centered human being," friend Justime said. "The fact that somebody would hurt him just seems insane."

Higgins, 31, also went by the name Feather Lyn. He was a member of the Radical Faeries, a movement of gay men searching for a spiritual dimension to their sexuality.

Police said they originally did not know what happened to him, or even who he was, until a photo released to the public helped identify Higgins. Officers also said they have surveillance video that shows Higgins was beaten.

"We do not know what the motive is at this point or if this was a hate-crime motivated type incident," San Francisco Police Officer Albie Esparza said.

Police are not releasing the surveillance video. The video shows a suspect in the attack, described as a white man in his 20s or 30s, and wearing a grey-hooded sweatshirt.

The attack happened in an area known for transients, according to local property manager Michael Smithwick.

Friends gathered at Duboce Park on Wednesday afternoon for a prayer circle as Higgins' family removed him from life support at the hospital.

"He had a huge impact on the entire LGBTQ community here in San Francisco and the Bay Area, but especially within the radical faeries," Justime said.

Higgins leaves behind a husband and family. Higgins described himself on his Facebook profile as a "starving artist" who worked at Rosenburg Delicatessen at 276 Noe St., only a few blocks from where he was found.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

A ferry traveling from Provincetown, Massachusetts, to Boston made its way into port after its engine was temporarily disabled when a large wave slammed into the vessel.

Officials say 42 passengers and crew were on board when the ferry was temporarily stranded just north of Scituate around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Passenger cell phone video shows people walking around with life jackets on, water on the floor of the boat, and water pouring from the ceiling of the passenger cabin.

One woman could even could be heard saying, "The boat is sinking."

U.S. Coast Guard says a patrol boat and a cutter was deployed to help the Bay State Cruise Company's Provincetown IV before the ferry was able to get its starboard engine running as help was coming. The Provincetown IV came to Boston on its own power with the Coast Guard's cutter by its side in the event there were more problems, officials said.

"The water hit and it was like this huge green sheet of water," said passenger Polly Burnell.

"People started getting life vests on, and people were crying and throwing up," Ariel Shrum, a Berklee College of Music student, said.

Shrum says when he finally calmed down, he played his trumpet on the deck to calm others' nerves.

The Bay State Cruise Company says the captain of the ferry was taken away by ambulance after suffering a minor hand injury from a cut. The wave broke two of the seven windshields of the pilot house, where the captain navigates from. Officials say there were no other injuries.

In a statement, the Bay State Cruise Company said, "When the wave broke the windows, the vessel's control systems went off line for a period of time. The captain was able to bring the starboard engine up to speed, but not the port engine."

The Coast Guard says the incident is under investigation.

Police are searching for three brazen suspects caught on video defacing an American flag in a north San Diego senior community, spray painting “F*** USA” on the Stars and Stripes.

According to police, the vandalism happened on July 18 at a home in the 3800 block of Rosemary Way in Oceanside.

At around 11:45 p.m., three suspects vandalized three American flags in the neighborhood – a senior community near El Camino High School. Police said the vandals also damaged other private and public property in the area, including in the 3800 block of Mesa Drive.

The suspects – two young men and a young woman – were caught on surveillance video spray painting a flag at one of the homes. In blue paint, the vandals wrote “F*** USA” on that flag. The second flag was tagged with monikers, police said, and the third was spray painted with blue streaks.

One the surveillance video, the two young men can be seen smiling while holding the flag and spray painting it. The girl looks on, also smiling, and appears to take a photo of the action on a cellphone.
After they’ve finished their work, the trio walks away with smirks on their faces.

The Oceanside Police Department released the video and details of the vandalism case for the first time Wednesday. Investigators said the suspects are still at large.

All three are described by police as Hispanic juveniles between 16 and 20 years old.

Suspect No. 1 was wearing a black Orioles baseball cap with white lettering, a dark sweater and dark shorts. Suspect No. 2 wore a black hooded jacket, black jeans and a white baseball cap with black brim and marijuana leaf on the left side of the cap. The young woman wore a gray zip-up jacket, black shirt and black and white shoes.

Anyone with information on the identities and whereabouts of these vandalism suspects should contact Officer Munoz with the Oceanside Police Department at (760) 435-4682.

If you were to walk around the East Village today, it would seem a world away from a decade ago. At least that’s the story for most of that part of downtown that’s enjoyed a rebirth thanks to Petco Park opening 10 years ago. High rise condos surround the ballpark and 2014 has seen multiple new restaurants take up residence.

However, walking five or six blocks Northeast can seem like traveling back in time. The area from 14th to 17th avenues between G Street and Broadway has been mostly left out of the redevelopment boom.

Now, a group of developers is hoping to change that.

The five-and-a-half block area is being called Makers Quarter, and the end goal is a neighborhood geared towards attracting a mixture of new residents, along with tech jobs, and a focus on the arts.

“We, and many of the folks involved in this long term vision are very passionate,” explained Makers Quarter Urban Planner Stacey Pennington.

The area will eventually be transformed into 2.5 million square feet of new development. This includes knocking down the old Jerome’s furniture building.

San Diego based Lankford and Associates is part of the development team, along with Hensel Phelps construction and Portman Holdings.

While none of the construction in the area will start before 2015, the people are already coming. A dirt lot at 15th Avenue and F Street is where they gather. It’s called Silo.

The dirt lot with hay on the ground and graffiti on the walls is now home to weekly events like Food truck Fridays and other special events like BYOW every Wednesday. It stands for "bring your own work." People are encouraged to bring their laptops, and make the area their desk for the day. The organizers call it an urban experiment.

“So, we see that more and more people want to be outdoors in collaborative environments, and it’s really about connecting with people you don’t know,” said Pennington.

They know experiments don’t guarantee success, and change like this does not happen overnight.

Even the planners of Makers Quarter call this a part of downtown that has been neglected, and it’s impossible to walk through the area after dark without noticing a considerable homeless population. 

“One of our biggest challenges is perception,” said Pennington, “The thought process we’ve had is the more we bring people to this neighborhood, the more eyes on the streets, per say, the safer it actually ends up becoming.”

The higher homeless population does not necessarily translate into a safety issue. In fact, according to the ARJIS crimemapping website, violent crimes in the Makers Quarter area have been lower than most other neighborhoods downtown over the past six months. Having the San Diego Police headquarters a few blocks away is a pretty good crime deterrent.

The neighborhood is slowly changing but there’s a lot of work ahead. Even Silo’s days are numbered. That dirt lot at 15th and F Street will eventually be developed into residential units.

How long will it take? The estimate is seven to 15 years before it’s all done.

Until then, Silo and a community garden across the street are meant to create a buzz and start establishing a reputation for what the neighborhood will become. More than 10,000 people have visited events or the garden since September.

“It’s this focus on developing community before the buildings come,” said Pennington, “We’re inviting everyone to be a part of that conversation."

A California appeals court on Wednesday denied Donald Sterling's latest effort to halt the historic $2 billion sale of the LA Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

The Court of Appeal rejected Sterling's petition for emergency relief to unwind the sale of the Clippers because "the sale has closed."

"There is nothing for this court to stay," the ruling read.

"Shelly is thrilled that her decision to sell the Clippers to Steve Ballmer has been upheld by the Court of Appeal," Shelly Sterling's lawyer Pierce O’Donnell said in a statement Wednesday.

The move was Sterling's last legal maneuver to block the record-breaking team purchase negotiated by wife Shelly Sterling, a sale that was officially completed Tuesday.

"While we have no doubt Donald Sterling will appeal to the Supreme Court, we are beyond thrilled and gratified and supremely confident that this is now over and done and Steve Ballmer is the undisputed owner of the Los Angeles Clippers," Ballmer's attorney Adam Streisand said Wednesday.

Shelly Sterling said she was initially given her husband's blessing to sell the team, but Donald Sterling later refused to sign the deal and challenged in court her right to negotiate the sale.

The path to approval appeared clear after a judge in the case ruled against him last month.

College campuses aren’t typically known as culinary havens, but two San Diego universities are making a mark with their meals and have just been ranked among the best colleges for food in the United States.

The Daily Meal released a list of the “75 Best Colleges for Food in America” and both the University of San Diego (USD) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), landed solid spots on the round-up.

According to the list, impressive dining programs garnered USD the No. 30 spot, while UCSD ranked No. 19.

Food events throughout the year made USD a scrumptious standout, including the school’s fall Applefest and Strawberry Fest in the spring. The school also hosts an annual student cooking competition where the winner gets their dish featured in the dining halls.

The Daily Meal also points out USD’s focus on sustainability, and the fact that the school uses a bio-digester to reduce waste and turn it into energy. The campus was the first in the country to install a bio-digester.

For dining, USD offers many options, including the campus food truck, “Torero Tu Go.” Embracing the Mexican influence in San Diego, the truck serves dishes like chicken skewers and skirt steak tacos and sets up shop at the Vistas and Copley Library throughout the week.

There are also 17 off-campus dining locations that accept USD Campus Cash. Plus, there’s a grocery store and deli on campus so students can have convenient access to all kinds of food.

As for UC San Diego, its high ranking on the list is attributed to the professionally-trained chefs on campus and dining programs that have won awards for quality and taste.

The university also hosts themed food fairs for students throughout the year, including the Chocolate Festival at Sixth College.

And, in terms of sustainability, UCSD offers Eco Tours for students that highlight the eco-friendly buildings on campus and hydration stations.

The Daily Meal compiled its list by looking at approximately 2,000 four-year colleges across America. Criteria included sustainability and access to healthy food for students, as well as the food scene of the area surrounding a campus.

The top 75 colleges that made the cut were also chosen for their efforts to improve taste, nutrition and community through their dining programs, and efforts to offer educational, food-centered events on campus.

The colleges that ranked in the top 5 on the list included, in order: Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine; Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; Columbia University in New York; Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga.; Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

To check out the full list, click here.

Officials hope a new economic plan will create a business boom in San Diego’s South County.

The South County Economic Development Council (EDC) revealed the five-year plan on Tuesday.

The plan focuses on growing six industries over the next five years: Aerospace, Maritime-Related Industry, Tourism, Advanced Manufacturing, Health Care and Food Processing Distribution.

They also want to create synergy among projects already in the works, including Brown Field, the Cross-Border Terminal and the Chula Vista Bayfront, according to a news release from the EDC.

Simply put, it’s about creating jobs, says EDC President and CEO Cindy Gompper-Graves.

“With the economy just starting to turn around, we want to capture the opportunities to create more jobs so people who live in South County can also work in South County,” she said.

Now that the goals are in place, the EDC will meet with business owners and focus groups to decide how best to achieve them.

“We’re all going to have to roll up our sleeves to ensure we’re maximizing what can happen in South County,” Gompper-Graves said.
 

A 2-month-old baby boy found not breathing at a child day care in Otay Mesa has died, San Diego police confirmed.

Police said the infant was found not breathing just after 12:30 p.m. at an in-home day care in the 4800 block of Sea Coral Drive. Officers were the first on scene and gave the baby CPR until paramedics arrived.

The infant was transported to Sharp Chula Vista. Police said the boy was pronounced dead at 1:26 p.m.

The incident is under investigation. Further details were not immediately released.

The day care program at the Otay Mesa home is licensed and goes by the name of Mona's Playhouse Day Care.

Grandmother Emma Paguio has been bringing her children to the day care program for the past six months and told NBC 7 she's never had any issues with the child care there.

She said at least three people, to her knowledge, help run the day care. Whenever she picks up her grandkids Paguio said she's seen four or five other children there.

Upon hearing that an infant being cared for at the home had died, Paguio was visibly upset.

"Oh my God. That's very sad. I feel very sorry for that," she said between tears. "I'm very sad for the [baby's] mom."

Paguio said the news makes her concerned for her own family.

“I want my grandkids to be safe, too," she added.