A fire was reported in a City Heights laundromat Tuesday afternoon, fire officials said.
The fire at Pronto Laundry in the 4600 block of University Avenue started at about 1 p.m., according to the San Diego Fire Department.
Firefighters responded to the scene as smoke and flames became visible.
The fire was knocked down at about 1:15 p.m.
One person was treated for smoke inhalation.
Who knew that carting home your Christmas tree could be so dangerous?
In this video, testers from a German automobile club find out what happens when a car with a tree strapped to its roof has to stop suddenly.
It isn’t pretty.
The group advises people to secure trees tightly from more than one direction - with straps that ratchet closed.
Putting the tree inside the car is also dangerous, the group says, because it can block the driver’s field of vision.
Tide's up everybody!
Some of the year’s highest tides will hit California shorelines this week.
The swells are caused by an astronomical event called "king tide."
King tides come between two and four times a year when the gravitational forces of the sun, the Earth and a full moon are all in alignment.
The swells are expected to cause some large breakers along the beaches and could cause minor coastal flooding as well, according to the National Weather Service.
The group that named the tides "king tides" says what happens this week gives us a glimpse of what the state can expect as sea level rises in the coming years. The California King Tides Initiative sites a report released earlier this year, the National Academy of Sciences projects approximately one foot of sea-level rise by 2050 and up to five feet by 2100 along the California coast.
They are asking people to take photos of the tides and post them to a tide flickr page.
King Tide events for the 2012-2013 season:
Possible flooding concerns according to California King Tides Initiative:
North Coast/Humboldt: Eureka: Woodley Island; Indian Island; Del Norte St. Pier; Halvorsen Park/The Adorni Center. Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. King Salmon Beach. New Navy Base Road in Manila/Samoa.
San Francisco Area Outer Coast: Ocean Beach; Stinson Beach; Pacifica: Beach Blvd. Sea Wall near the municipal pier; Laguna Salada. City of Capitola. City of Santa Cruz.
Inner SF Bay: Proposed Treasure Island development site. South Bay: Redwood Creek and proposed Redwood City dev. site, Dumbarton Bridge. Marin: Corte Madera, Richardson Bay, Gallinas Creek (north of China Camp).
Central Coast: Monterey: Marina State Beach, Monterey State Beach, Cannery Row; Carmel: Carmel Beach; Big Sur: McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Andrew Molera Beach, Garrapata Beach, Pfeiffer Beach.
Santa Barbara Area: Isla Vista beaches, Goleta Beach County Park, Leadbetter Beach, Butterfly Beach, Miramar Beach, Padaro Lane, Carpinteria Salt Marsh, Hobson State Beach, Faria, and Emma Wood State Beach.
Santa Monica: Broad Beach, Malibu shoreline homes, Marina del Rey, Port of Long Beach, Port of Los Angeles.
Orange County: Seal Beach/Sunset Beach Oceanfront (City of Seal Beach), Huntington Harbor (Huntington Beach), Newport Beach islands and peninsula (Newport Beach).
San Diego: San Diego Bay, Oceanside Beach, San Elijo Lagoon, Del Mar Dog Beach/San Dieguito Lagoon Entrance, Torrey Pines (where Penasquitos enters the ocean), La Jolla Shores, Mission Beach, and Imperial Beach/Tijuana Estuary.
Among the belongings of a Carlsbad housewife accused of killing her husband were a resume listing martial arts and military weapons training, several prescriptions for powerful painkillers and a book on how in-laws can ruin a life according to pre-trial testimony.
Julie Harper, sat straight-faced in a court hearing Tuesday while prosecutors described the events leading up to her arrest on first degree murder charges.
Carlsbad High School teacher Jason Harper, 39, was found dead from a gunshot wound inside the couple's home on August 7 just days after his wife had filed for divorce.
The couple's three children, ages 8, 6, and 1, were home at the time their father was shot. One child told investigators they heard their father yell and then a thump.
Julie Harper told the children their father fell off a chair prosecutors allege.
Then she took the kids to the La Costa Coffee Roasting for coffee and sandwiches, tried to set up a playdate with a neighbor, stopped at a children's activity center and then arranged for her sister to watch the kids during the afternoon before surrendering herself to police at her father's home in Scripps Ranch.
At the time of her arrest, the former real estate agent had collected passports, birth certificates and important papers in a backpack according to prosecutors.
On Saturday, August 4, just days before his death, Jason visited his parents home to help with some repairs. While there, he told them his wife had filed for divorce.
The divorce filing accused Jason Harper of abuse. A Carlsbad police log details a call for help made from the Harpers’ home on Badger Lane November 22, 2011.
New evidence presented in court Tuesday included Julie Harper’s work resume which listed weapons handling, martial arts training and experience shooting guns of various sizes.
In addition, court documents show the couple's bathroom was littered with bottles of Oxycontin and Valium prescribed to Julie Harper.
Jason’s mother, Lina Harper, was the preliminary hearing's first witness and described her relationship with Julie as cordial up until late 2011.
“He was very happy and we treated her as a member of our family,” she testified.
Lina testified that she and her husband didn’t trust their daughter-in-law with their financial information enough to hire her as a realtor. In response, she said Julie scheduled the baptism of her grandchild when she couldn’t attend.
After that, she said their relationship cooled.
In November 2011, Lina Harper created a list called “Mom’s List of Concerns” that included items like “extreme retaliation”, “takes revenge and sabotages.” Under cross-examination she said she created the list of Julie’s behaviors after discussions with her son.
Lina Harper testified that Julie had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2009 and was under the care of several doctors.
When defense attorney Paul Pfingst asked if Lina Harper discussed the defendant’s medication she said, “No I’m the mother-in-law, I kept my mouth shut.”
Jason told her about fraudulent checks drawn on his credit card that upset him she testified.
She also told the court that her son bought a cell phone because Julie controlled the use of the house phone by hiding the phone in the closet without the battery.
In June, Jason told his mother that his wife had begun reading a book about how in-laws ruin a marriage, telling his mother “’Watch out Mom,” she testified.
“I was concerned about Jason’s well-being and I was concerned about the children’s well-being,” she said.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar endorsed a plan Tuesday to remove a disputed inscription from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, rather than cut into the granite to replace it with a fuller quotation.
Salazar said he had reached an agreement with King's family, the group that built the memorial and the National Park Service to remove a paraphrase from King's "Drum Major" speech by carving grooves over the lettering to match existing marks in the sculpture.
Memorial sculptor Lei Yixin recommended removing the inscription this way to avoid harming the monument's structural integrity.
Critics including poet Maya Angelou complained after the memorial opened in 2011 that the paraphrased quotation took King's words out of context, making him sound arrogant. The paraphrase reads: "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."
The full quotation was taken from a 1968 sermon about two months before King was assassinated. It reads:
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."
In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Salazar explained the resolution of the long disagreement over the inscription and how it should be repaired.
"I am proud that all parties have come together on a resolution that will help ensure the structural integrity of this timeless and powerful monument to Dr. King's life and legacy," Salazar said.
Work is scheduled to begin after the presidential inauguration, which falls on the King holiday, to commence in February or March of 2013 with completion expected in the spring, according to federal officials. The National Park Service expects thousands of people to visit the site around the time of King's birthday in January and didn't want to obstruct their views.
Federal officials will submit plans to two panels that must review and approve the design work.
Lei, the original sculptor, will perform the stone work to remove the inscription. The memorial will remain open to visitors during the project, though the statue of King may be obstructed at times by scaffolding.
In a joint statement released by the U.S. Interior Department, King's family voiced support for the new plan. King's youngest daughter Bernice King, who is chief executive of the King Center in Atlanta, thanked Salazar and the National Park Service for taking "care to maintain the spirit and appearance of such an important monument to our country's history and my father's memory."
King's sister, Christine King Farris, said the family had wanted the entire quotation to be inscribed in the memorial.
"While our family would have of course preferred to have the entire 'Drum Major' quote used, we fully endorse and support the secretary's proposal," she said.
The group that built the memorial said it was pleased with the compromise of removing the inscription.
Ed Jackson Jr., the memorial's executive architect, told the AP that the lettering will be replaced with horizontal "movement lines" that are already part of the design to show the movement of the central "Stone of Hope" out of a "Mountain of Despair" behind it.
The design was inspired by a line from King's "I Have a Dream" speech: "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope." That message is inscribed on the other side of the sculpture and will remain.
Cutting granite out of the sculpture and replacing it to make way for a longer quotation would have looked like a "patch job" forever, Jackson said. Removing the inscription retains the integrity of the artwork, he said.
"We had put forth this idea over a year ago. It took a while for everyone to come to an agreement that everyone could live with," Jackson said.
A formidable race is beginning to take place in San Diego's District 4, where a special election will soon be held to replace former council president Tony Young.
Young officially resigns at the end of the month and an election will be held within 90 days for his replacement. The city has not yet picked a date to hold the election.
Young announced last month he would be leaving the council to head the local American Red Cross. The organization said Young will receive a base salary of $190,000.
Educator Dwayne Crenshaw announced his candidacy in a statement Tuesday for the district race. He faces an employment recruiter in the technology industry named Barry Pollard. Pollard ran unsuccessfully against Young in the district in 2010.
Pollard said this year will be different, and that he has a better understanding of the problems facing his district’s neighborhoods and how to solve them.
“I’ve gotten close to the organizations and the problems that have been identified in [District 4], such as working with the city budget trying to figure out why capital projects haven’t been done here,” he said.
Crenshaw also ran for the position in 2002 against Charles Lewis, whose death in 2005 led to Young’s election.
“I have lived, worked and fought for the neighborhoods of the 4th District for more than 37 years,” Crenshaw said in a statement. “I look forward to reaching out to the voters in the days ahead and asking them to join with me in continuing to fight for stronger neighborhoods with good jobs, quality schools and safe streets.”
Both Crenshaw and Pollard are native San Diegans.
The Registrar of Voters estimated that the election will cost upwards of $350,000 dollars, unless it's consolidated with a special State Senate election, such as the one to fill Juan Vargas’ seat. That date has not been set either.
An East County man was convicted today for molesting three children over the course of two years, according to the district attorney’s office.
Patrick Pawlicki, 63, was found guilty of sexually abusing his developmentally challenged daughter and two former stepchildren between 2003 and 2004.
The Santa Ysabel resident was arrested in 2009 and fled jurisdiction prior to his trial, according to the DA’s office. Pawlicki was then found last year by a bounty hunter in Georgia, where he was booked into jail. He was then transported to San Diego and held without bail.
More than 40 witnesses testified during the trial and the jury deliberated for three days before convicting Pawlicki, according to the DA's office. He will reappear in court on Jan. 9, 2013 to be sentenced.
San Diego County is making free sand and bags available to residents in anticipation of rain.
Seven fire stations will offer free bags and the sand to fill them. All you need to do is bring a shovel and do the work.
The county released the locations Tuesday as forecasters are calling for a 90-percent chance of rain beginning Thursday.
Here’s the list from San Diego County’s Department of Public Works:
One state employee misused time and equipment posting thousands of comments on a news website according to a report released Tuesday.
The report, issued by the California State Auditor, listed a number of investigations into inappropriate activities by state agencies and employees from April 2011 through June 2012.
One of the most shocking incidents involved a California Department of Education employee who found the time to post 4,900 comments in one year on The Sacramento Bee website.
Click here to see the entire report
The unidentified employee registered for an account with the paper using his state email address in December 2010.
Investigators say the man posted comments during the time the state was paying him to work as an information systems analyst. He averaged 25 comments a day but posted up to 70 comments in a single day according to the report.
The commenting occurred between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. and was not restricted to lunch or break times officials said.
Even after the commenting was discussed between the employee and his supervisor, the employee continued to post comments during his state work hours.
In fact, the report suggests that after the department was notified of the employee’s actions, nothing was done to limit his access to the Internet and the man’s immediate supervisor was not reprimanded as suggested by the state’s investigators.
The University of California at Berkeley announced on Tuesday that it has received the largest single scholarship in the country for undocumented students.
The Evelyn & Walter Haas Junior Fund has awarded Cal $1 million to be used exclusively for undocumented students at the school best known for its diverse campus and history championing liberal issues and civil rights. At this point, fund spokesman Denis Chicola said Cal is the only school to be awarded such money.
"We are committed to advancing rights and creating opportunities so that all people can live, work and raise their families with dignity,” said Haas, Jr. Fund President Ira S. Hirschfield. “These motivated, hardworking and inspiring students are an asset to our state and our country."
Until last year, it was illegal to give undocumented students scholarship money. Because of the Dream Act, it is now possible to award undocumented students money, Chicola said, but just how Cal will disburse the funds has yet to be decided. Some of the language in the act ensures that undocumented immigrants have the same access to state financial aid as all other low-income students. Undocumented students can now receive privately funded scholarships through UC Berkeley and eventually will receive Cal Grants and publicly funded scholarships.
There are about 200 undocumented immigrants who currently attend Cal, according to Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.
"The giving at this level for undocumented students is unprecedented," Birgeneau said, adding that he is extremely grateful to the Haas family.
Students such as Ju Hong will be eligible to benefit from such scholarship funds. Hung, who is from South Korea, is not legal and felt like he had done something wrong, like he was an "inferior being." Even though he got into prestigious universities and works long, hard hours, he felt "less than." He decided to speak out, though, because he wanted to empower other undocumented students to become more active and vocal.
Uriel Riveras of Los Angeles is another undocumented student at Cal, who is in dire need of extra financial help in order to return to the school, where he had to take a temporary leave to get a job. Because of the scholarship money, he is now eligible to apply for the scholarship.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity,” Rivera said. “You’re not just paying for a student to go to college, you are helping a whole community.”
Also at UC Berkeley, there will be new services to help high schoolers transition to Cal, provide funds for emergency needs, create an online resource that centralizes information for the students and their families, offer legal services support, and create a textbook lending library and mental health resources.
In addition to the $1 million for the scholarship fund, Elise Haas is donating $300,000 toward the Robert D. Haas Dreamers Resource Center, named in honor of Elise Haas’s father.
The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund has awarded more than $408 million in grants since its founding in 1953, according to its website.
The fund supports "organizations and initiatives that share our values and our commitment to the work of advancing and protecting fundamental rights and opportunities for all people.," which means the "deep appreciation for the vitality and beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area and its diverse people and cultures."
The jet that was carrying star singer Jenni Rivera had been substantially damaged in a 2005 landing accident at Amarillo International Airport in Texas, federal aviation records show.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says Christian Esquino Nunez, a Mexican businessman with close ties to San Diego, owns the Las Vegas-based company Starwood Management, which owns the plane, according to federal court records.
Built in 1969, the plane twin-turbojet hit a runway distance marker in 2005 after losing directional control. No one was injured.
Esquino has been convicted on numerous counts of falsifying aircraft records and drug-trafficking charges, court records show.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has seized two of Starwood’s planes – one that landed in Tucson, Arizona and another that landed in McAllen, Texas this year, according to the DEA.
Mexican authorities are searching for Esquino, asking him to provide maintenance records and other information about the plane that crashed Sunday. He did not return multiple requests for comment.
Several law enforcement sources told NBC7 that Esquino is scheduled to testify in Mexico City on Friday as a witness in a criminal case between the Mexican government and a Coronado woman.
The Mexican government claims a San Diego-based business firm and Gabriela Davila-Cueto, a real estate agent from Coronado, attempted to use one of Esquino’s planes to smuggle Saadi Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, into Mexico.
Esquino claims to have tape-recorded planning sessions of the failed smuggling plot for the Mexican government.
The defendants, who have been held in Mexico since their December 2011 arrest, maintain their innocence, saying they were on a fact-finding mission to Libya. Both defendants were business associates of San Diego-based Veritas Worldwide Security.
The head of that company, Gregory Gillespie, said there was never any smuggling plot and that evidence in the Mexican government’s case is being fabricated.
A DEA agent said Tuesday the agency does not know where Esquino is.
In the 90’s, Esquino Nuñez was accused of providing aircrafts to smugglers who transported 487 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to South Florida, according to federal court records.
Esquino pleaded guilty in federal court in Orlando, Florida in 1993 to conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine.
He was also sentenced in 2004 for conspiracy to commit fraud involving an aircraft in Southern California. Those charges related to falsifying airplane maintenance records, according to court records. After serving two years in U.S. prison for those charges, he was deported to Mexico.
In a lawsuit between Starwood and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the company is attempting to recover an aircraft seized by the DEA. In court affidavits, the company claims Esquino is not involved in Starwood and that Norma Gonzalez is the only member of the company.
In June, the DEA subpoenaed financial documents from Gonzalez showing the business relationships of Veritas Worldwide Security, Gabriela Davila-Cueto and Starwood Management.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A San Diego woman was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for conspiring to provide support for a foreign terrorist organization, the U.S. Attorney's office announced Tuesday.
Nima Yusuf, 25, is guilty of sending nearly $1,500 to four Somalian men fighting for al-Shabaab, a foreign terrorist organization, according to U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.
Court documents also show that Yusuf tried to recruit a local man to fight for the organization.
The documents state that on one occasion, when Yusuf heard from one of the men she was helping that a "martyrdom operation" was successful, she praised God.
It is illegal to provide financial support to foreign terrorist organizations, Duffy said in a statement. This particular organization is believed to be linked to suicide bombings and other acts of terror in Somalia and elsewhere.
The men she reportedly helped are being charged separately.
Yusuf was arrested in 2010 and pleaded guilty to the allegations in December 2011. She has been in custody since her arrest. The case was investigated by the San Diego Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI.
Yusuf's prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.
We're seeing an increased number of motorcycle fatalities these days, and that's partly because more people are riding them.
Many people are opting for motorcycles over cars because of high gas prices and a tough economy, and being able to get through a traffic jam shaves time off your commute.
But we've all seen motorcycles weave in and out of traffic at high speeds, and California Highway patrol says that isn't safe, or legal.
Yuri Sanchez rides a motorcycle to work almost every day. And seeing bikes weave in and out of traffic makes even him nervous.
"When traffic is really moving and you know, a bike comes between cars you wonder 'wow - what if I'd have done a lane change right there and not seen those people,'" he said.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the number of motorcycle fatalities increased by twenty percent between 2010 and 2011. That's partly because there are more people driving them; over a hundred thousand more in California in the last year.
Many of those who ride say it's a cheaper and shorter commute because they can maneuver around traffic by splitting lanes; and in California, it is legal. But sharing lanes can be dangerous, especially at high speeds when it amounts to weaving in and out of traffic.
According to California Highway Patrol, unsafe lane changing isn't legal no matter what you're driving. They caution those who ride bikes to be when moving around traffic, and remind drivers of cars to watch out for them.
Over 30 cans of marijuana were shot into Yuma via cannon, Customs and Border Protection officials said Tuesday.
The suspicious cans were discovered near the Colorado River in Yuma, Arizona on Friday.
Border Patrol agents said the discovery was "another unique but unsuccessful attempt" to smuggle drugs into the U.S.
An investigation of the area determined that the cans were fired from about 500 feet away with a pneumatic-powered cannon. A carbon-dioxide tank was found nearby.
Mexican authorities are also looking into the incident.
The marijuana weighed 85 pounds and was valued at $42,500. It will be destroyed, according to a statement from the agency.
The pope's first Twitter message to his followers was a blessing that used up all 140 characters.
Pope Benedict XVI marked the auspicious date of 12/12/12 by sending out his inaugral Twitter message from his personal account, @Pontifex.
"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," the 85-year-old pontiff wrote.
The pope is expected to respond to a few messages later in the day sent to him from around the world. His first tweets will answer questions about faith sent to #askpontifex. The account will also share content of the pope's weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays, Reuters reported.
In addition to his English account, the pope will also tweet from seven other official accounts, including Spanish, German, Polish, Italian, French, Portuguese and Arabic.
Wednesday's tweet marks the pope's second time using the social media platform. Over a year ago, Benedict XVI sent his very first tweet on the Vatican's official Twitter account to launch the Holy See's news information portal.
Vatican officials acknowledged that going forward the pope will be tweeting with the help of a team of employees.
Starting today, Facebook Gifts is available to everyone in the U.S. . . . You can also make charitable contributions to one of our non-profit partners, such as Blue Star Families, Girls Inc., or Donor's Choose, in celebration of a friend or family member. And starting today, you can donate to the Robin Hood Foundation's Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
Two people were arrested after leading police on a chase and crashing their car in the Golden Hill area officials said.
San Diego Police tried to stop the man and woman in the East Village and question them about a series of car burglaries.
But, the suspects didn't pull over.
As they tried to get away from the officers, they crashed into the tree and wall at 19th and B Streets in Golden Hill.
The driver was taken to a nearby hospital with a broken collar bone. Officers say the passenger broke her arm, suffered internal injuries and a broken vertebrae.
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The man was booked on several charges including suspicion of driving under the influence, felony evading and hit and run.
A suspected grenade at a National City auction house was reported to authorities Monday night.
According to the National City Fire Department, the suspected grenade was reportedly found in a locker at the H&M Goodies Family Auction House on 130 E. 8th Street Tuesday evening.
The individual who found the device took it outside to an empty parking lot and called 911.
The device was inside a box labeled "grenade."
Fire authorities determined the device was, in fact a grenade, but that it was deactivated.
The auction house and a small apartment complex nearby was evacuated, according to employees.
