A semi-truck carrying up to 30,000 pounds of frozen Butterball turkeys took a turn too quickly Wednesday morning, flipping over on its side, spilling diesel and thousands of Thanksgiving meals headed for Costco.

But since stores can't sell food that's spilled on the road – even though the turkeys were kept perfectly safe in cardboard boxes – the poultry is instead headed to feed the hungry and homeless at the Alameda County Food Bank in Oakland, spokesman Michael Altfest said. Some of the turkeys will be shared with shelters in Contra Costa County, too.

"This is a fantastic windfall as our Food Bank heads into one of the busiest times of year," Altfest  said. "Receiving this volume of meat protein is rare for us any time of year – and a donation like this simply couldn’t come at a better time. This is going to add a significant helping of holiday joy to thousands of households throughout our community.”

The shipment was handed over before noon on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately an accident happened, and fortunately low-income people in both Alameda County and Contra Costa County are going to benefit," added Suzan Bateson, executive director of the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Joseph Azevedo told NBC Bay Area that the driver "got confused" when he was traveling on Interstate Highway 680 in San Ramon about 2:30 a.m. He originally tried to take the I-580 interchange, but ended up taking the Alcosta Boulevard ramp instead.

And because he was "not familiar" with the ramp, he rounded it at a "high rate of speed" and his rear trailer went out of control, Azavedo said. He hit the brakes but wasn't able to prevent his rig from hitting the guardrail, he said. Between 20 and 40 gallons of diesel spilled on the road, shutting it down for hours.

The driver and co-driver were trapped inside, Azevedo said, and had to be extricated by San Ramon Valley firefighters. The driver suffered minor injuries.

The turkeys had been headed to a wholesale distributor for their eventual delivery to a Costco in Livermore.

In July, 60,000 pounds of African jackfruit and bananas spilled on the side of Interstate Highway 580 in Livermore. The load of squished fruit went to feed the elephants, giraffes and bears at the Oakland Zoo.

Get that turkey and stuffing to go, because Black Friday doorbusters are no longer confined to Black Friday. Retailers like Target and Best Buy are starting their Thanksgiving sales even earlier than they did last year—and in many cases, those sales will keep going for days afterward. Here’s how the biggest stores are trying to lure customers away from Thanksgiving dinner and into the checkout line:

Walmart: After years of ever-earlier sales on Thanksgiving Day, the world’s largest retailer has transformed Black Friday into a five-day event. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Wednesday that sales will begin at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Walmart will roll out sales in stores and online on different categories of merchandise like home goods, toys, and electronics. “This year, we're blowing it out with five days of deals in store and online,” said Duncan Mac Naughton, the company’s chief merchandising officer.

Target: Target is launching its “biggest, most digital Black Friday ever” at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, with a range of deals over the weeks leading up to Black Friday. Target, which opened its doors last year at 8 p.m., is also offering free shipping up to Dec. 20. The biggest steal? Target is selling the Samsung Galaxy S5, regularly $200, for one whopping cent each (with a two-year contract).

Best Buy: In an attempt to one-up its retail competitors, Best Buy will kick off its sales at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, an hour earlier than the store opened last year. (Best Buy is even handing out tickets up to two hours before the doors open.) As to be expected for an electronics giant, Best Buy’s flagship deal is a 50-inch Panasonic TV for $199.99.

Macy’s: Macy's will kick off its Black Friday sales at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving afternoon, two hours earlier than its opening time last year. The department store's big deals, which last until Nov. 30, are focused on clothes, shoes, jewelry and homewares.

The Holdouts: Many retailers are bucking the Black-Friday-on-Thanksgiving trend. Costco, for one, is giving shoppers a chance to digest their Thanksgiving dinner, saying that its employees “deserve the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with their families." Nordstrom, Dillard's, Barnes & Noble and GameStop are also closed on Thanksgiving, but are planning Black Friday sales.

The body found Tuesday in the San Francisco Bay was that of missing San Francisco tech worker Dan Ha, who vanished on Halloween, his family said Wednesday.

Ha's body was identified by his clothing and identification found with him, the family said at a press conference. They do not believe he committed suicide, but they have no other theories on how he ended up in the water.

Police have yet to confirm that the body is Ha's.

Coast Guard and fire crews pulled the body from the bay around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, an hour after police responded to Pier 22 for a report of a body in the water near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Crews brought the body back to shore on board a city fireboat. It appeared the person had been dead for about a week, Coast Guard officials said.

The body was turned over to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office, which will determine the cause of death and identify the victim.

"In speaking with the medical examiner, while the face and body were indistinguishable, the clothes, wallet contents and phone matched Dan’s personal belongings," Ha's younger brother Joseph Ha said at the press conference. "At this time, we believe the body is Dan’s. We are still waiting to hear from SFPD for a full confirmation. We have no reason to believe that this was a suicide. Dan has never indicated having any intention of harming himself."

Joseph Ha said that his brother did not leave a note, had scheduled a doctor’s appointment the morning of his disappearance and was scheduled to attend a work event the next day. He added that his brother had even kept a note on his desk about returning a shirt he had recently purchased.

Ha, 26, was last seen Halloween night leaving his SoMa apartment. A roommate reported last seeing Ha around 8 p.m. near the intersection of Fourth and Brannan streets, police said.

Friends and family set up a "Find Dan Ha" Facebook page in the hopes of spreading the word about the 26-year-old's disappearance. Ha is an i0S developer at a local startup called Metromile and a Stanford University graduate.

"Dan was a talented and inspirational brother, son and friend with a huge heart and brilliant mind who touched the lives of so many people," Joseph Ha said. "He truly loved life and lived it to the fullest. We are overwhelmed by the love and prayers of our friends and family back home and here in San Francisco."

Ha thanked the local community for their support, including Ha's friends and roommates, his employer Metromite and the Stanford community which helped to search for him. The family also thanked StartX, Facebook, Square, Postmates, Apple, Uber and others in the tech community as well as the media for covering the story.

Ha's mother, father, sister and brothers had been desperate to find him, and they joined in a public search party for him on Sunday, driving to San Francisco all the way from British Columbia.

“Pray for us in our time of sorrow and shock,” Ha's father said.

Ha's family will be holding a memorial service for him Friday at 7:30 p.m. at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in San Francisco. The family is accepting donations to help offset the cost of funeral expenses which will be held in Washington.

NBC Bay Area's Mark Matthews and Riya Bhattacharjee contributed to this report.

A Connecticut middle school principal accused of making erotic slasher movies has stepped down, according to the school system.

Dr. Mark Foley, the principal of Granby Memorial Middle School, and Aaron Vnuk, a guidance counselor at Sage Park Middle School in Windsor, allegedly produced the films through a company called Moongoyle Entertainment, whose slogan is "Fresh blood, hot babes, cool flicks."

Both educators were suspended when the allegations came to light. Vnuk went back to work late last month and told school officials he would stop working with the production company.

Foley, meanwhile, is stepping down.

"The Granby Board of Education has accepted the resignation of Dr. Mark Foley from his position as Principal of Granby Memorial Middle school," Granby superintendent Dr. Alan Addley said in a statement Wednesday. "Dr. Foley has served successfully as Middle School Principal since July 2013; however, Dr. Foley acknowledges the distraction caused by the recent publicity concerning his involvement in Moongoyle Entertainment LLC."

Addley said Foley's involvement in the production company was "completely legal" and that the principal had been trying to end his involvement with Moongoyle Entertainment.

But members of the school community have expressed concern over the allegations, according to Addley.

"Dr. Foley acknowledges that the confidence in the principal by the school community is imperative for the success of the school and Dr. Foley does not want the issue of media coverage of Moongoyle Entertainment to distract parents, students or staff from the important work at the school," Addley said.

The Facebook page for Moongoyle Entertainment was deleted after the allegations came to light in early October.

Those wanting to get their California driver’s licenses will soon have more opportunities, as the Department of Motor Vehicles will be extending its hours and adding appointment slots starting in January.

The changes come in response to passage of Assembly Bill 60, which requires the DMV to issue a driver's license to applicants who cannot submit proof that their presence in the United States is authorized by federal law.

DMV officials expect about 1.4 million additional driver’s license applications over the next three years because of AB 60.

Starting Jan. 3, up to 60 DMV field offices across the state will extend Saturday office hours for all new driver’s license applicants.

In addition, new driver’s license applicants will be able to schedule an appointment 90 days in advance, up from 45 days. Plus, the DMV will make more appointment times available in many offices.

Starting Dec. 1, you will need to make an appointment if you’re applying for a driver’s license.

You can make an appointment online and see the hours of the DMV office closest to you here.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California counties can't require gun owners to show good cause beyond the need for self-defense to get a concealed weapons permit after a federal appeals court on Wednesday let its previous ruling stand on the issue.

Most of California's 58 counties had the requirement, and some were awaiting the outcome of the appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit before changing it.

Other counties have been issuing concealed weapons permits under the new rule that requires only a desire for self-defense rather than showing the applicant is in danger.

Police and county sheriffs have the authority in California to issue concealed weapons permits. The applications process has, for the most part, been left to county sheriffs.

A divided three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit ruled in February that law-abiding citizens are entitled to carry concealed weapons outside the home for self-defense purposes. The court ruled after a San Diego man was denied a concealed weapons permit and sued the sheriff over the more stringent policy.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris had asked the court to reconsider its ruling. But the court found Wednesday that Harris waited too long to intervene in the case that began four years ago.

Harris made the request after San Diego Sheriff William Gore said he would not appeal the February ruling.

David Beltran, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said it was reviewing the 9th Circuit ruling to determine if it should appeal.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, was also barred from intervening in the case. Center director Jonathan Lowy said his organization is also considering its next steps.

The San Diego sheriff has been accepting applications for concealed weapons under the new policy and awaiting more clarity from the court before acting on the requests. San Diego Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Janet Caldwell said the ruling Wednesday was being reviewed.

Legal experts said the initial ruling by the appeals court relied heavily on a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that law-abiding citizens have a fundamental right to keep handguns in the home for self-defense. The U.S. Supreme Court didn't address whether that right extended outside the home. The 9th Circuit panel concluded it did.

"A right to bear arms is no right at all if you need to demonstrate a need to carry that firearm which satisfies the police," said Joyce Malcolm, a law professor at George Mason University law school.
 

If you’re like most people, the first word that follows “Thanksgiving” is usually “turkey.”

And if you’re like most people, you’ll buy one of those huge birds from a grocery store that gets them from outside San Diego.

This year, a Valley Center project hopes you switch up the tradition and buy the centerpiece of a Thanksgiving meal locally.

On nearly 300 acres of sprawling farm land, 200 turkeys cluck and gobble in their poultry pens in the weeks leading up to the holiday.

They’re virtually the only ones raised and sold in a local zip code.

“It just makes a difference in the meat and the quality of the bird,” said Noel Stehly, the owner of Stehly Farms Organics. “It’s just a better way to raise them.”

Stehly is partnering with Taj Farms to pasture and sell these birds of November, ready to go on San Diego tables at the end of the month.

“If you’ve had a fresh turkey, you’ll never go back to a frozen bird,” said Jack Ford, Taj Farms owner.

Both men are local leaders in the growing farm-to-table movement. Words like sustainable, organic and biodynamic are part of their life mission to get people to think differently about what they eat and where it comes from.

But quality does not come cheap. These birds run about $160 a piece – six to seven times more than a store-bought bird.

They’re hand fed three times a day with brewery grain and homegrown veggies fit for humans.

Unlike those in a store – factory-bred, frozen and in some cases processed over the summer – these turkeys will live right up to Thanksgiving.

Their onsite demise is based on when the customer wants it.

“Get it cold in an ice bath and then into a bag and then packed in an ice chest and put in a cooler, in that ice chest, and delivered either that day or the next day,” said Stehly.

The farmers are offering a box of their vegetables to round out a perfect Thanksgiving feast.

Giving what it costs them to raise the turkeys, they don’t anticipate to turn much of a profit.

They say this is about the bigger picture.

“It’s an education, and it’s teaching people what good food is and cheaper food is not better food,” said Ford.

The man accused of pushing his estranged wife's red Corvette into the Delaware River amid a messy divorce turned himself in to police Wednesday.

"I didn't realize that I did anything wrong," John Kramer said as he was led away in handcuffs. "I didn't know anybody was gonna go in and try to get the car! I didn't even want anybody to see me do it!"

Kramer, 50, surrendered to police at the 15th District headquarters around 2 p.m. He is charged with contempt, violation of protection from abuse order, harassment and recklessly endangering another person. Police said that last charge is for endangering the divers who searched for the car.

Kramer's wife told NBC10 the two are in the midst of a messy divorce and he was "disgruntled" over a protective order she has against him. The Northeast Philadelphia resident also claimed her husband sent threatening texts to her and their teenage daughter moments before he pushed their car into the river.

"He had threatened that he would put the car in the river," the estranged wife said. "He then texted my daughter and said, 'You have two minutes,' and then he texted back and said, 'It’s done LOL.'"

The woman asked not to be identified, saying she has a protection from abuse (PFA) order against her husband.

"I have a PFA, and he was disgruntled about that,” she said.

The woman said she called 911 Monday night after seeing breaking news reports about a 1990 red Corvette in the water near Magee Lane and New State Road, just below Interstate 95, in Northeast Philly.

"I called 911 and asked them if that was my car, and they confirmed that it was, but we didn’t know at the time if he was in the car or not,” she said.

Witnesses told police a man matching Kramer's description fled the scene shortly after the car fell into the water.

The woman said she recently tried to work out a car exchange with her husband, but it didn't go well.

“He had wanted to switch the Corvette for the van and indicated that he wanted to come get it,” she said. "I told him he had to leave the ‘vette in order to get the van. He wasn’t allowed to come here, so he would have to wait for somebody to meet with him.”

The woman claims Kramer violated the PFA and repeatedly tried to get in touch with her throughout the day Monday.

"Because I have the PFA ... I ignored him all day, and he was texting me and also calling my work phone, and I just saved the messages and showed them to the detectives,” she said.

The couple is going through a divorce. Their issues escalated after her adult son died in June, the wife told NBC10's Rosemary Connors.

A 52-year-old retired NYPD officer convicted of murdering his wife in their Queens home three years ago was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years to life in prison.

Clarence Cash was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2011 death of his wife, 42-year-old Tracy Young. Authorities have said the couple got into an argument and Cash pulled out his licensed gun and fired. Young was shot 13 times in the face and torso.

She was an investigator with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

Cash fled their Briarwood home after the slaying but turned himself in to police the following morning. He had the murder weapon with him, prosecutors have said.  

The San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival will roll out the red carpet for culinary royalty Nov. 16-23.

Fifty-six superstar chefs will bring their unique flavors to the event, which is back on the San Diego bayfront for an 11th year.

These celebrity chefs come from some of the best restaurants in San Diego, the U.S. and even Mexico. Take Rogue 24 in Washington, D.C. where executive chef R.J. Cooper cooks creations you’ve never heard of, like carrot Jello-O and onion ice cream. Another name on the menu is David Bull. His restaurant Congress in Austin, which puts a sophisticated spin on Texas classics, was named a top new restaurant by “Esquire” and “Bon Appétit.”

You’ll recognize many of the chefs from their cookbooks and TV appearances, like Gale Gand (an award-winning pastry chef who hosted “Sweet Dreams” on the Food Network) and San Diego’s own Brian Malarkey who recently appeared as a judge and mentor on ABC’s cooking competition show “The Taste.”

As these chefs will tell you, there’s no one recipe for success. Richard Blais, executive chef of Juniper & Ivy in Little Italy, began his culinary career at McDonald’s, while Rodrigo Bueno sold sushi at school before becoming executive chef at Rancho Pescadero in Baja.

To learn more about the celebrity chefs and all the events on tap for the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival, click here.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. said Wednesday that its third-quarter earnings fell 28 percent from a year ago as attendance to its theme parks fell.

Shares of the company, one of San Diego’s most recognizable attractions, fell 10 percent in morning trading Wednesday

SeaWorld has been battling negative publicity surrounding its treatment of killer whales after "Blackfish," a documentary that aired last year, suggested its treatment of the mammals provokes violent behavior in them and has led to the death of trainers.

Attendance to its theme parks fell 5.6 percent to 8.4 million in the third quarter from 8.9 million in the same period a year ago, SeaWorld said.

“Clearly, 2014 has been a challenging year, but I am confident we are taking the necessary steps to address our near term challenges and position the company to deliver value over the long term,” SeaWorld CEO Jim Atchison said in a statement on the park’s website.

SeaWorld is attributing the decline bad publicity and competition from other popular attractions, such as the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando.

Atchison said the park will start a $50 million cost savings initiative, although he didn’t reveal specifics on the initiative. He also said SeaWorld would boost marketing to spotlight new attractions and has longterm plans to expand in the Middle East and Asia.

The Orlando, Florida-based company said it earned $87.2 million, or $1 per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $120.7 million, or $1.34 per share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 7.9 percent to $495.8 million in the period. That number beat the $494.2 million analysts expected, according to Zacks.

Shares of SeaWorld dropped $1.90, or 10.2 percent, to $16.70 in morning trading Wednesday. Shares of SeaWorld had been down 31 percent through Tuesday's close since its initial public offering in April 2013. They have fallen 36 percent since the beginning of the year.
 

When rapper Nicki Minaj apologized for controversial imagery in her new "Only" music video, she shifted attention to her videographer, a Carlsbad High School alum.

Nicki Minaj's "Only" music video came under fire for its use of what many perceived to be Nazi imagery, and for that, the rapper is very sorry.

"I didn't come up w/the concept, but I'm very sorry &take full responsibility if it has offended anyone," Minaj wrote on Twitter Tuesday. "I'd never condone Nazism in my art."

"The artist who made the lyric video for 'Only' was influenced by a cartoon on Cartoon Network called 'Metalocalypse' & Sin City," she noted, referring to the animated clip's black and white imagery, which unfortunately resembled Adolf Hitler's propaganda.

She added: "Both the producer, & person in charge of over seeing the lyric video (one of my best friends & videographer: A. Loucas), happen to be Jewish."

A. Loucas is Alex Loucas, identified by Minaj as her boyfriend on Monday at LAX, according to Access Hollywood.

AH reports that the 25-year-old videographer is an alum for Carlsbad High School in San Diego.

Loucas has been touring with the artist since 2012, according to a FB post on a page used by the school's alumni.

The animated clip, which also features Chris Brown, Drake and Lil Wayne, portrayed Minaj as a cartoon dictator and included imagery resembling a Nazi swastika. Mr. Foxman called this imagery "deeply disturbing and offensive," says it is "insensitive to Holocaust survivors and a trivialization of that era."

On Monday, Abraham H. Foxman, the national director for the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, told ABC News Minaj's video " disturbingly evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop culture's exploitation of Nazi symbolism."

A suspected DUI driver is responsible for a three-vehicle crash that tied up traffic on an Escondido road Wednesday night.

Escondido Police say just after 9 p.m., a black truck driving in the 1100 block of East Washington Avenue slammed into a silver sedan.

When they collided, it caused the car to roll over and hit another white sedan.

Officers say the truck driver tried to run from the scene, but he was arrested later on suspicion of DUI.

The victims' injuries are not significant, according to the EPD, but the crash sent debris flying across the roadway.

The area will be closed to traffic while officers investigate and begin the cleanup process.

Inexpensive wireless devices used by private pilots for GPS, weather information and more are susceptible to hacking or spoofing, which could lead to catastrophic outcomes, a team of researchers recently revealed.

Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego and Johns Hopkins University presented their findings Nov. 5 at a conference in Arizona to increase awareness among pilots who use the devices.

They looked at three combinations of devices and apps most commonly used by private pilots:

• Appareo Stratus 2 receiver with the ForeFlight app (one of the top grossing apps)
• Garmin GDL 39 receiver with the Garmin Pilot app
• SageTech Clarity CL01 with the WingX Pro7 app.

Each combination uses a tablet to display information such as an aircraft’s location, data on nearby aircraft, weather or airspace restrictions, according to the team.

In all three, researchers were able to tamper with the connection between receiver and tablet, effectively giving a hacker full control over safety-critical real-time information shown to the pilot, they said.

In two of the combinations, an attacker would be able to replace completely the firmware, which is home to the programs controlling the devices, according to a UC San Diego news release.

“When you attack these devices, you don’t have control over the aircraft, but you have control over the information the pilot sees,” Kirill Levchenko, a computer scientist at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego said in the university’s news release.

Researchers say the FAA does not regulate the systems because they are not an integral part of the aircraft.

The findings were presented at the 21st ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Scottsdale, Ariz.

NBC 7 reached out to the manufacturers of the apps tested to get their response to the findings and received no response.

Read more on what researchers found and their suggestions for making the systems more secure here.

The former business partner of a man whose remains were found with his wife's and two children's in the high desert north of Los Angeles pleaded not guilty to murder charges Wednesday afternoon, more than four years after the slayings.

Charles Chase Merritt, arrested one week ago in the San Fernando Valley, was in handcuffs when he appeared in court for Wednesday's arraignment. The 57-year-old Merritt's arrest marked a stunning development in an investigation that began after Joseph McStay, 40, Summer McStay, 43, and their two young children, ages 4 and 3, mysteriously vanished from their Fallbrook home in February 2010.

"I've been given 900 pages today in a disc that I have to read," Merritt's attorney Robert Ponce said outside the courthouse. "My background on this case is limited to having this in my hand, reading some of the things that I read in the newspapers, and online."

Few leads developed until the discovery of the family member's remains three years later about 100 miles from their San Diego County home. The skeletal remains were found in and around shallow graves in the high desert near Victorville in southwestern San Bernardino County.

Merritt, who was working on a project for Joseph McStay's custom water fountain business, was charged last week with four counts of murder. During a Friday news conference to announce the arrest, investigators provided few details about what led them to Merritt.

When asked whether the was a break in the case that cast suspicion on Merritt, investigators said there was "no smoking gun." Investigators said they reviewed evidence provided by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department that pointed to Merritt's involvement.

Authorities have not discussed a motive for the slayings, which authorities said occurred inside the McStay family's home. All were victims of blunt-force-trauma, sheriff's officials said at Friday's news conference.

Since his arrest was announced, Merritt's friends and family members have portrayed him as a "good guy" who would not hurt anyone. One friend described him as a "real pleasant cowboy type."

"My message is, next time you do it, you're done."

That's what Connecticut convenience store owner Malik Ali has to say to the four robbers who held him up at gunpoint late last week in a violent encounter that was caught on camera. 

According to police, four suspects entered the Dairy Market at 241 Silver Lane in East Hartford around 7:30 p.m. Friday. Two of the men had guns and lunged toward Ali.

"One of them jumped over the counter. We entered into a fight, and at the same time, within seconds, another group came," Ali explained. "There were two guys, too. One of them had a big gun in his hand. I grabbed the gun from him and we had a fight."

The store owner said he fought hard to fend off his attackers. One of the robbers held a gun against Ali's stomach, but he wrestled it away from the suspect and ended up with little more than a few scratches.

Ali said he tried twice to call police but the calls didn't connect, so he took matters into his own hands.

"If you're a man, come face to face, you know? Fight like a man. You can give a gun to any kid and that's not the fight. You want to fight, fight like a man," Ali said.

When police finally arrived, Ali was holding one of the robber's guns and handed it over to the officers, he said. The robbers had run off.

Although Ali escaped serious injury, his store suffered a more serious blow. Police said the robbers made off with $3,000 worth of cigarettes and a register drawer full of money.

"I'm not just concerned about myself," Ali said. "I'm concerned about the rest of the people working in the community, and they're working very hard."

Witnesses saw the suspects drive off in a newer black or dark-colored four-door car, possibly a Ford, police said. The suspected robbers were last seen entering the HOV lane on Interstate 84 eastbound.

Police have released surveillance footage from the attack and are working to identify the suspects.

In the meantime, Ali is getting a gun to protect himself and has a message for the criminals:

"Don't come with the guns, because I'll kick your a--," he warned.

Anyone with information is urged to call East Hartford police Det. Dan Ortiz at 860-291-7669 or email dortiz@easthartfordct.gov.

A statewide crime sweep snags dozens of San Diegans in its crosshairs.

The months-long operation was aimed at putting the brakes on auto insurance fraud.

“Operation Crash and Buy” was given that name because uninsured and underinsured drivers would get into accidents, then tried to get insurance after the wreck.

It's an insurance scheme officials say amounted to $1 million in fraud across 22 California counties, including San Diego.

Thirty-five people in the San Diego area were charged with 84 insurance-related felonies as a result of the investigation. They're accused of crimes that include filing a false police reports, attempted arson and lying about when an accident happened.

Deputy District Attorney John Philpott with the DA's Insurance Fraud Division says it has to do with the cost of fraud.

“When cost of fraud goes to the insurance company, all the insurance companies, because all of them are victims of fraud, are going to pass that on to the consumer,” Philpott said.

Punishment for these crimes runs the gamut, from community service to up to five years in prison and fines.
 

The Department of State Hospitals says a sexually violent predator should be released in Jacumba, not Borrego Springs as the agency initially suggested.

On Wednesday, the DSH proposed that diagnosed pedophile Gary Snavely, 49, be placed at 45612 Old Highway 80 in Jacumba, a town with fewer than 600 people, according to the 2010 census.

In 1987, Snavely was convicted of molesting two girls between the ages of 8 and 9 in Orange County. The molestations included fondling and oral copulation, according to the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.

The DSH originally proposed that Snavely’s home be in Borrego Springs, but they withdrew the suggestion earlier this month after the landlord rescinded his offer to rent the property. The man currently renting there had no idea it was the possible location for a sexually violent predator.

Before the new location is approved by the court, the public will get to comment on the proposed Jacumba home. Comments can be sent either through the sdsafe@sdsheriff.org email, by phone at 858-495-3619 or by mail addressed to SVP Release/SAFE Task Force, 9425 Chesapeake Drive, San Diego, CA 92123.

A hearing about the placement, which is about 1.2 miles from Jacumba Elementary School, is scheduled for Dec. 19 at 9 a.m. in San Diego Superior Court.

Snavely served a three-year prison sentence for his 1987 conviction, but a patrol violation landed him back behind bars, the DA’s Office says.

After his release, he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender in San Diego in 1996, for which he served 16 months. Two years later, the DA’s Office won a petition to civilly commit Snavely to the state hospital as a sexually violent predator.

A judge granted Snavely’s petition for conditional release in Aug. 2014.

If you thought the fight for Chula Vista City Council Seat No. 1, couldn’t get closer, it has.

Only 66 votes separate the candidates.

Republican candidate John McCann is hanging on to a slight lead with 18,334 votes. Democratic candidate Steve Padilla is gaining some steam at 18,268 votes as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Still, both candidates are calling each other out right until the very end.

“We know the truth,” McCann said. “My opponent ran the dirtiest campaign in Chula Vista history, and we know we did the right thing and we know we will continue to support the citizens and not the special interests."

McCann showed NBC 7 a mailer which, he says, shows Padilla supporters defaming him by insinuating he was sentenced to a felony and was involved in the Sweetwater pay-to-play scandal.

Meanwhile, McCann says Padilla was kicked out of mayoral office and had a staffer convicted of a felony.

Padilla says he is proud of the campaign he ran and will continue fighting for what’s right for Chula Vista families.

“I’m sorry that Mr. McCann is upset that we drew attention to his record at Sweetwater,” Padilla said. “He doesn’t seem to like to be accountable for his decisions unless they make him look good, but that’s not what leadership is about. That’s not what public responsibility is about.”

The County Registrar of Voters says it still has 14,000 mail-in and provisional ballots left to count.

Ready, set, Rokerthon!

Longtime NBC Today Show weatherman Al Roker is continuously forecasting the weather from the NBC studios in New York in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record.

Occasionally he'll take a break with some kombucha or green tea and a visit by NBC news teams across the country (including NBC 7).

However, it's Twitter that's really helping fuel the effort.

Throughout, viewers can submit questions and request their hometown forecasts by tweeting @alroker using #Rokerthon. Follow @TODAYshow for live updates. 

San Diegans are getting into it. See some of the best Tweets from our region below:

The Rokerthon will support Roker's Shine a Light TODAY initiative for the armed forces via Crowdrise.

Watch the Rokerthon livestream here or at TODAY.com.