A respiratory infection that has sent more than a thousand children pouring into emergency rooms across the country may soon be spreading to California.

The Enterovirus D68 is described by doctors as starting out like a common cold, but can quickly land children in the intensive care unit.

Bay Area health officials are looking at cases around the country, especially in Denver. Doctors there have reported 900 cases of Enterovirus in the last month.

"In the Bay Area we haven't had any cases of Enterovirus 68 identified yet," said Samantha Johnson, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital Oakland. "If we start to see children with similar symptoms such as severe respiratory comprised with what seems like a common cold, we will be sending samples for specialized testing."

Health officials said symptoms of the virus include extreme trouble breathing, severe cough, wheezing, fever and rash. Infants, children and teenagers are most vulnerable to catching the virus.

Doctors who are dealing with the outbreak said the have never seen anything like it, which is why Johnson said parents in the Bay Area should be on the lookout.

"It can shed in respiratory secretion and in stool," Johnson said. "So parents changing diapers should wash their hands at least 20 seconds."

New signs and other road safety improvements are coming to Fiesta Island nearly one month after a woman suspected of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol plowed into a group of bicyclists in the area.

Craig Gustafson, press secretary for Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office, said several changes are being made to the island, which is a very popular spot for bicyclists.

This includes additional 25 mph signs, directional white arrows at the entrance, one-way directional arrows and wrong-way signs around the island.

Gustafson said the City of San Diego will also add no left turn signs and one-way only signs at the shortcut to a youth camp housed at the island.

“In addition, we will trim back the bushes by the youth camp shortcut and replace existing delineators with new bright orange ones. We are also be adding bike ‘sharrows’ and ‘share the road’ signs,” he told NBC 7.

The total number of signs that will be added to Fiesta Island is currently being reviewed by City staff, Gustafson said. As of right now, the City expects to have everything installed in the area by mid-October.

On Aug. 12, DUI suspect Theresa L. Owens, 49, drove the wrong way on Fiesta Island, crashing into a group of 30 cyclists from the San Diego Bicycle Club who were finishing their group training ride.

Ten of those bicyclists were injured, including La Jolla father and husband Juan Carlos Vinolo, who is now paralyzed as a result of the collision.

Vinolo pushed a fellow rider out of Owens’ path, saving his friend’s life, but wound up taking the brunt of the impact. He was left paralyzed from the chest down.

The impact of the crash shattered the windshield of Owen’s vehicle and sent multiple other bicyclists to the hospital with injuries ranging from facial cuts to bruised ribs.

Owens was arrested at the scene. She appeared in court in a few days later where a deputy district attorney alleged the suspect had been driving under the influence of both drugs and alcohol and had a baggie of methamphetamine hidden in her vagina at the time of the crash.

She was charged with felony DUI causing injury and possession of a controlled substance, but pleaded not guilty.

As of Tuesday, Owens remained jailed at the Las Colinas Detention and Re-entry Facility. She’s scheduled to appear in court again on Oct. 6.
 

The Meadow fire blazing through Yosemite has almost doubled in size since Monday, and its rapid spread has left air quality in Yosemite Valley suffering from all the smoke, officials said Tuesday, as a gray haze settled over Half Dome's iconic granite face.

Parts of Yosemite were closed to visitors Tuesday as the wildfire and smoke spread, among them popular sites like the Little Yosemite Valley, a portion of the John Muir Trail and all routes to Half Dome.

The blaze had grown to 4,400 acres with a total of 5 percent containment as of Tuesday, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.

That's almost twice as large as Monday's report of 2,600 acres. Cobb said that the current acreage was tracked by infrared mapping, as opposed to ground crews, who mapped Monday's numbers by hand.

The rapid spread meant the air quality in Yosemite Valley was rapidly deteriorating, the National Park Service reported on Tuesday. A photo Tuesday showed smoke covering Half Dome's rock face.

Because of the spread of the flames and smoke, much of which is near granite rock and backcountry, the Yosemite National Park superintendent on Tuesday closed a portion of Yosemite Wilderness, including some popular areas. There are still trails and areas that remain open, however, including the Mist trail to the top of Nevada Fall.

Park officials said the the blaze could have been sparked by a lightning strike or a spot fire on Aug. 16, but at this point, investigators just aren't sure. The fire was actually discovered on Sunday about 12:30 p.m.

About 100 hikers and backpackers were evacuated on Sunday, along with 85 others who were trying to scale the majestic Half Dome.

Others, like Michael McCall, 24, of Texas and some of his buddies who now live in Daly City, including Chris Sarsgard, 24, and Thomas Griffin, 23, were able to hike the whole thing, and capture the smoke and flames on a GoPro video on their way down.

His crew of six friends in all scaled Half Dome by noon, and were nearing the finish line by 4:30 p.m. when they saw helicopters flying above and deer running away from the fire.

"We started chuckling at first," McCall told NBC Bay Area. "We just didn't realize how serious it was."

First came the outrage, as the video showing NFL running back Ray Rice punching his wife in the face eliminated any doubt about the level of violence he used againt her in a hotel elevator.

Now, a day after the video emerged, and the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens cut ties with the former Pro Bowl player, a debate over domestic violence has exploded on Twitter. Two trending hashtags demonstrate the complicated decisions victims face: #WhyIStayed and then #WhyILeft.

Women -- and men -- wrote about trauma and fear.

A statement from Janay Rice, in which she blames the media, added to the debate Tuesday over domestic violence.

“No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted options from the public has caused my family,” Janay Rice wrote in an Instagram post. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing.”

The video, released by the celebrity website TMZ, shows Ray Rice punching her and dragging her from an elevator in a hotel in Atlantic City.

A writer, Beverly Gooden, said on her website that she created the hashtag #WhyIStayed after the Internet blew up with the question. She was physically abused by her ex-husband for more than a year, she wrote.

“I can’t speak for Janay Rice, but I can speak for Beverly Gooden,” she wrote.

“Leaving was a process, not an event,” she wrote. “And sometimes it takes awhile to navigate through the process.”

A San Diego police officer responding to an emergency call was injured Tuesday after the officer’s patrol vehicle collided with another motorist at a busy intersection, officials said.

The crash happened just after 12 p.m. at College Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard in Rolando.

The officer and the driver both sustained minor injuries and were taken to local hospitals.

Officials said the officer was rushing to an emergency call at the time of the accident. It is unknown, at this point, which driver is at fault, but the minor collision is under investigation.

No other cars were involved in the accident.
 

A Northeast Philadelphia middle school teacher accused of having sex with one of her special education students several times appeared in court Tuesday.

Stephanie Amato, who taught eighth grade special education at Ethan Allen School, is accused of carrying on a "consensual" sexual relationship with her student.

Amato appeared in a Philadelphia courtroom Tuesday as her defense requested a two-week delay for her pre-trial conference. The 30-year-old remains out of jail on 10 percent of $125,000 bail, according to court records.

Investigators say one of Amato's 14-year-old male students told the school counselor that he had sex with Amato several times at her home and in her car between March and April of this year. School officials then contacted police and Amato was arrested in June.

Amato was immediately removed from the school pending the investigation and was not allowed to have contact with students as she was suspended with pay.

Amato faces a slew of charges including corruption of minors, indecent exposure, statutory sexual assault, sex with a minor and child endangerment.

Photos posted on Amato's Facebook page show her smiling with a group of teenage boys in her car. NBC10 spoke with two of the teens in that photo who told us they believe she is innocent. 

After her June arrest, a letter was sent home to parents of students at the school alerting them of the situation.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

A disruptive person forced a Carmel Valley school to go into lockdown Tuesday afternoon.

According to the San Diego Police Department, an "irate" person was on the campus of Cathedral Catholic High School at 5555 Del Mar Heights Rd. around 2:30 p.m. The individual was quickly detained by school security, police said.

School officials placed the school on lockdown during the ordeal.

We are currently in a lock-down situation. Our students and faculty are safe. No one is in danger. Will keep you updated. #prayers

— Cathedral Catholic (@CCHSDONS) September 9, 2014

As of 2:50 p.m., Cathedral Catholic was no longer on lockdown.

Multiple students tweeted that a roller blader caused the disruption. No one was injured.

A group of students from a San Diego school experienced a magnificent sight at sea Monday when a pod of dolphins joined them during a training swim at La Jolla Cove.

A parent videotaping the kids swimming caught the group’s surprise encounter with dolphins on video tape. In the footage, dozens of dolphins can be seen swimming in the vicinity, jumping a bit out of the water, as students look on with excitement.

“Oh my God. This is so cool!” one girl exclaims on the video.

The students are from the Arch Academy, a year-round, K-12 private school for kids struggling to become socially, emotionally and academically successful.

The students recently completed a swim relay from Catalina Island to Palos Verdes and are now in the process of training for an English Channel swim.

Many of the swimmers involved in the school’s swim challenge struggle with autism, ADD, ADHD and learning disabilities and training at sea has become a positive outlet. They train several days per week at La Jolla Cove.
 

A University of Southern California medical student has now been missing for more than a month and his family says the search has intensified after a potential sighting.

Derek Seehausen, 26, a fourth year USC student, has been missing since Aug. 5. According to NBC 4, authorities said he was last seen leaving his home in the 400 block of Glenoaks Boulevard in Glendale, California.

He hasn’t been to class since. When he was first reported missing, his family told police they feared Seehausen may be suicidal.

His family has scheduled a press conference to give updates on the case for this Friday at 10 a.m. at the Aretsy Auditorium at USC Medical School.

The family, along with a private investigator, is expected to offer details, including photos of a “potential sighting” of Seehausen, whom they believe is still alive.

On Tuesday, a family spokesperson told NBC 7 that Seehausen has several ties to San Diego.

The student is known to frequently visit San Diego, including Mission Beach where he liked to surf.

Seehausen and his friends had discussed moving to Mission Beach many times. Also, his best friend is currently working in San Diego and Seehausen had been planning to visit him during this time.

The family spokesperson said Seehausen and his friends have also gone camping at Agua Caliente, a campsite in San Diego County.

Seehausen’s family currently runs a website, Help Find Derek, which details his case.

Police have described Seehausen as 6 feet tall and 180 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing a light-colored T-shirt and jeans. Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact the Los Angeles Police Department Adult Missing Person Unit at (213) 996-1800.
 

Surveillance footage taken where a US. Marine jailed in Mexico was detained at the San Ysidro Port of Entry was being reviewed in court on Tuesday.

The evidentiary hearing, the third in Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi’s case, was expected to last all day and no immediate rulings were anticipated, said Tahmooressi’s attorney, Fernando Benitez.

Benitez spoke with reporters outside the Mexico courthouse.

“We will see surveillance footage from 18 different cameras that were inside the customs area at the border crossing,” Benitez said.

His attorney said he hopes this evidence will bring to light how Tahmooressi’s rights were violated by custom agents who arrested him.

It was unclear whether Tahmooressi attending the hearing. Defendants were driven to a side secure parking lot and more than a dozen were brought in through a side door. The defendant’s mother was seen entering the courtroom.

Tahmooressi, of Weston, Florida, has been in Mexican custody facing weapons charges since he was arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on April 1 with three U.S.-registered guns in his possession.

Tahmooressi has claimed he entered the country by accident.

Benitez said that his client was not provided an interpreter or legal representation in the eight hours he was in the custody of customs officials, before he was presented to the Mexican federal prosecutor.

Benitez said that is not justified under the Mexican constitution.
 

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

A Honolulu man accused of killing his wife seven years ago and dumping her body in the Anza Borrego Desert told a judge he looked forward to returning to San Diego to vindicate his name.

Anthony Edward Simoneau, 46, of Honolulu, Hawaii is in custody awaiting extraditionon one count of murder in the San Diego County homicide investigation.

“I look forward to going back to vindicate myself of these charges,” Simoneau said in court Monday.

The Hawaiian judge held Simoneau without bail while he awaits extradition to San Diego to face a murder charge in connection with the death of his wife 41-year-old Fumiko Ogawa.

Ogawa, a Japanese national, was last seen near her Point Loma home around Jan. 4, 2007.

At the time, it was her family in Japan -- not Simoneau-- who notified police that she was missing. When SDPD investigators interviewed her husband, he told them she had gone to Hawaii, police say.

A body was found in a shallow grave near the Bow Willow Campground on Jan. 20, 2007. Four years later, investigators identified the remains as Ogawa.

Simoneau has denied killing his wife, but police identified him as a suspect after learning he had sought a divorce before her death.

The defendant has been working as a tour guide. He has a felony theft charge on his record in Hawaii.

If convicted, Simoneau faces 25 years to life in prison.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

Co-workers of a slain police officer are trying to lessen her family's burden.

The Escondido Police Officers Association (POA) is hosting a fundraiser on Monday, Sept. 15 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria at 3958 5th Avenue in Hillcrest. One hundred percent of proceeds will benefit the Officer Laura Perez Memorial Fund.

Perez, 25, was found shot to death inside a storage locker on July 23. Before her body was discovered, there was a fire at her Murrieta home that investigators determined was arson.

The victim’s husband, 27-year-old Freddy Perez-Rodas, has been arrested and charged with the murder.

Perez leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter, who is now being raises by her grandmother. The POA wants to help pay for Suzeth’s care as well as replace her possessions, like toys and clothes, that were lost in the house fire.

Autographed NFL memorabilia will be raffled off at Monday’s fundraiser.

Perez joined the Escondido Police Department in October 2013 and “was on the fast track to being named rookie officer of the year,” according to a statement from the POA.

EPD held a car wash on Aug. 10 that raised $12,000 for Suzeth’s college fund. However, not all fundraisers for Officer Perez have been well-intentioned. Sami Ahmed Saeed, 25, is accused of setting up a fake fundraising website in Laura Perez’s name. Saeed faces four counts of identity theft, three counts of passing a fraudulent check, one count of possession of a forged identity and one count of receiving stolen property.
 

Vitamin C, anyone? A road in north San Diego County was covered in oranges Tuesday morning after a truck’s trailer overturned, spilling the fruit by the thousands into the street.

The trailer tipped in the 38600 block of Pala-Temecula Rd. in Pala just before 9:30 a.m.

Aerial images of the scene showed the fruit had spilled from dozens of bins secured on the tipped-over trailer. As a result, the road was a very bright orange color ,as opposed to its usual earth tones.

California Highway Patrol officials shut down southbound traffic at Pechanga Parkway and Pala-Temecula Road at Deer Hollow Way after the spill. A SigAlert was issued for the area.

No injuries were reported, officials said. The accident is under investigation.

Apple unveiled a sleek new smartwatch dubbed the Apple Watch and two new, bigger iPhones on Tuesday, marking its much-heralded entry into wearable technology and signaling its intentions to keep innovating three years after co-founder Steve Jobs' death.

The event, held at the same Cupertino venue where Jobs unveiled the industry-shifting Mac computer a generation ago, was capped by a performance by U2, whose new album "Songs of Innocence" would be available for free on iTunes.

Apple's big reveal wasn't without its hitches, as technical problems marred its livestream and frustrated would-be watchers online.

But at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts itself, CEO Tim Cook's announcement of the new watch — "the most personal device we've ever created," he said — was met with a standing ovation from Apple fans.

The smartwatch, with its square display and rectangular bezel and screen, can function, Cook explained, as a fitness monitor, communication device and, of course, timepiece. It will start at $349 and be available in early 2015.

What looks like an ordinary crown on the watch's side is a dial that lets users zoom, scroll and navigate, in a departure from the commands iPhones use. Its touchscreen, with a sapphire crystal, also senses force.

"What we didn't do was take the iPhone and shrink the user interface and strap it on your wrist," Cook said.

The watch, available in two sizes and in 18-karat gold with a variety of straps to choose from, was the crowning new product announced at Tuesday's event, closely watched by Apple fans and industry-watchers, near the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Its unveiling came after two new iPhones, iOS 8 and Apple's first game were announced.

Each model also promises a more powerful camera, with autofocus and face detection that's twice as fast as older models' and that works seamlessly in video, in a move by Apple that seemed designed to preclude users from needing separate cameras. The iPhone 6 Plus comes with optical image stabilization, too, to adjust for users' unsteady hands.

Both models also use a new payment system, dubbed Apple Pay, that CEO Tim Cook said was safe, simple and a vast improvement for users' experience.

It will let users use credit cards already on file with iTunes or take a photo of their cards to use them, and to preserve their safety, no credit card information will be stored on their phones.

"We're totally reliant on the exposed numbers and outdated and vulnerable magnetic stripe interface," he said. "This whole process is based on this little piece of plastic." 

I'm backstage and this is my first tweet from my iPhone 6. It's amazing. You're going to love it.

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 9, 2014

Prices for the iPhone 6 start at $199 for a 16 GB model and go up to $399 for 128 GB, while the 6 Plus starts at $299 and goes up to $499. Pre-orders will begin Friday, and the products will begin shipping a week later, on Sept. 19.

Apple also launched its first-ever own game, a battle game called Vain Glory.

That wasn't the only exciting news for gamers: The new iPhone also boasts a new 64-bit chip, the Apple A8, which Apple promises will make for a 20 percent faster CPU and 50 percent faster graphics, according to The Verge.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

A mid-year report released on Tuesday shows property and violent crimes in San Diego County declined so far in 2014 compared to the same period last year.

The SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments) report shows property crime decreased 13 percent and violent crime fell 1 percent. However, arson cases increased 21 percent, the report showed.

The newly released statistics were in sharp contrast to the mid-year report last year, which saw property crime spike by 5 percent.

Sixteen of 19 local cities saw drops in property crime, ranging from a 3-percent decline in La Mesa to a 37 percent drop in Del Mar.

Here are other key findings from SANDAG:
 

• A total of 30,549 property crimes were reported to local law enforcement in the first six months of 2014. This translates into an annualized rate of 19.40 per 1,000 residents, down from 22.23 in 2013. Sixty-five percent of the property crimes were larcenies, 19 percent burglaries, and 16 percent motor vehicle thefts. Notably, larcenies declined 12 percent in mid-year 2014 compared to mid-year 2013, after two years of increases.

• There were 216 arsons reported in the region in the first half of 2014, up from 179 in the first half of 2013. Six of ten local law enforcement agencies reported increases.

• There were 38 homicides in the first of half of 2014, a 7 percent decline from the 41 reported in mid-2013.

• The number of rapes across the region increased to 376 in the first half of 2014, up 20 percent from the 314 that occurred in the same period last year.

A local website for student scholarship information was hacked, displaying a hard-core porn site instead of financial aid options.

Now, the FBI may get involved, as some members of the Sweetwater community accuse the foundation in charge of the website for the Sweetwater Education Foundation of not acting soon enough to take down the site.

Kevin O'Neill, who is running for a position on the school board for Sweetwater Unified School District, said he and other concerned community members alerted the foundation and the district about the website early last week -- yet the site is still up.

"They are sort of a deer in the headlights," said O'Neill. "And quite frankly if I had a website and mine had been hacked, I don't know what I would do. I understand the plight they're in. I would just hope they would have been galvanized into action sooner."

Foundation President Ed Valerio said it hasn’t been easy taking it down.

"Since I learned about this late last week I've been on the phone with multiple tech companies trying to take control of this,” he said. “We hope that will be done in the next couple of days."

FBI officials say the hackers appear to be sophisticated, which makes it challenging to fix. Plus, Special Agent Darrell Foxworth said the Foundation could be a victim of a crime.

Community members agree, but say the Foundation should have been able to get help sooner.

The 12-year-old Boy Scout who fatally shot himself at a camp on Fiesta Island was being treated for psychological problems and had Asperger syndrome, the medical examiner's office said Tuesday, as it ruled his death a suicide.

William Shook was found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head the morning of June 30, according to the ME. There had been confusion in media reports about where the boy was shot.

William had arrived in San Diego along with his scout leader father and about 20 other Boy Scouts from Las Vegas the day before his death. He was attending summer camp at the Fiesta Island Youth Camp and Youth Aquatic Center in Mission Bay.

The boy was inside his tent getting ready for a flag-raising ceremony, and there was one other scout inside the tent, the ME said. The other boy had his back turned when he heard a “pop” and looked to see William fall to the ground.

The boy’s father told police that he heard commotion and ran to his son’s tent. He discovered his son lying on a ground inside the tent with a handgun nearby. The father said he grabbed the gun and took it to his tent to secure it.

The gun – a Glock 27 .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol – reported belonged to the boy’s grandfather in Las Vegas, according to the ME.

Other campers told authorities that they never saw a gun and that William never mentioned he had one, the report said.

Although police did investigate the possibility of someone else pulling the trigger, the autopsy found his injuries were consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No suicide note was found.

The report revealed that the boy had Asperger syndrome and was on medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorder and migraines. He was treated for depression and suicidal ideations in 2011, the ME said.

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 provides 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.

A number of services will give San Diego Catholics the chance to honor the late Bishop Cirilo Flores, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego announced Tuesday.

Flores, 66, died on Saturday at the Nazareth House after a battle with an aggressive form of bone cancer.

The church released plans for his Rite of Christian Burial, which will include five ceremonies.

The first three will be on Sept. 16 at the Saint Joseph Cathedral on Third Avenue. At 10 a.m., leaders will hold a reception of the body, when Flores’ remains will be delivered to the cathedral.

From 10:15 a.m. to 6:45 p.m., friends, family and followers will be able to pay their respects during the visitation session.

A vigil – or prayer service – for Flores will begin at 7 p.m., during which people may offer eulogies. In the Catholic tradition, eulogies are not given at the funeral.

The next day, mourners will gather at noon for the funeral mass at Saint Therese of Carmel, located at 4355 Del Mar Trails Road.

Finally, Flores’ body will be buried during the Rite of Committal at the Holy Cross Ceremony, 4470 Hilltop Drive, directly after the funeral mass.

The Diocese requested that instead of flowers, donations should be given to the Bishop Flores Memorial Fund for Catholic Education, Diocese of San Diego, P.O. Box 85728, San Diego Ca 92186.

Now the church is faced with the prospect of appointing a new bishop to take Flores’ place.

In the interim, Monsignor Steven Callahan has been appointed the diocesan administrator by the College of Consultors, tasked with maintaining the status quo of the diocese.

Ordained in 1991, Flores served as the fifth bishop of San Diego for a year after accepting the position last September.

News of his illness spread in April when he suffered a stroke in his office.

A chemical spill at a cleaning supply company sent Hazmat crews rushing to Little Italy and one dog owner rushing to a veterinarian.

San Diego Fire officials say various chemicals spilled and mixed inside the store near India and Grape streets around 5:45 p.m. The company sells cleaning supplies to restaurants.

The chemicals leaked out of the building, into the roadway, so Hazmat crews were called to monitor the cleanup and make sure the problem did not pose an environmental hazard.

Three people and a dog wandered through the chemicals. The people were deemed fine, but the dog’s owners are taking it to the vet to be checked out.

A few cars parked along the road may need to be towed since the chemical splashed all over them, fire officials say.

Aside from that, the spill is not affecting the public at this point.