Every week, I sit down with NBC 7 Sports Director Jim Laslavic to talk about the Chargers and the latest NFL news.

We look at Sunday’s huge win over the Baltimore Ravens and the upcoming matchup with the conference-leading New England Patriots.

1. Will we look back in a few weeks and see this as the win that saved the Chargers’ season?

Why not us? That has to be the question now for the Chargers. They beat a good Ravens team on the road and became the first West Coast team to beat the Ravens in Baltimore.

The Chargers are good. They had a mid-season hiccup. But like last year, they’ve gotten healthy for the stretch run.

Especially at linebacker. But also with the return of Ryan Mathews. Running the ball is key this time of year. Mathews has carried the ball a total of 25 times over the past two games. He’s fresh and ready to carry the load.

2. Philip Rivers has to be considered one of the most clutch QBs around, no?

No doubt he needs to be in the conversation. But keep in mind he has all the weapons.

Teams need to account for Antonio Gates. Malcom Floyd at 6-foot-5 creates some mismatches when teams play man coverage. And that leaves Keenan Allen to do his thing.

3. So many penalties on both sides at critical times on Sunday. Are they calling games too tight, or just undisciplined teams?

It’s too bad. Plus so many of the recent rule changes aid the offense. It’s more and more difficult to play defense.

4. What do you expect from the Patriots on Sunday?

They are well coached. So even with the distractions that come from being on the road for a week, they’ll be ready to play.

Since 2009, the Patriots and Chargers are tied for the best record in the month of December at 17-3. That’s a credit to the quarterbacks. And in the case of the Patriots, the head coach.

5. Is Bill Belichick the best coach in the league right now?

If not, who is? Bill has been in the league since 1975 when he was a special assistant with the Baltimore Colts.

He spent the next two years in Detroit as an assistant. I was on the team then. Bill was quite serious about his craft. It’s no accident he’ll one day be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Urban ants, some of New York City’s tiniest inhabitants, are trash-eating, rat-fighting machines, according to a new study.

Researchers from North Carolina State University found that colonies of the arthropods living in the city’s streets and parks eat thousands of pounds of discarded junk food and keeping populations of rats and other pests at bay in the process.

The researchers said that the ants that live in the medians of the city’s thoroughfares are particularly helpful. Along Broadway alone, researchers said, ants ate about 2,100 pounds of junk food -- the equivalent of 60,000 hot dogs -- in less than one year.

"This isn't just a silly fact," said Dr. Elsa Youngsteadt, the author of the study. "This highlights a very real service that these arthropods provide. They effectively dispose of our trash for us."

Youngsteadt said that researchers came to their conclusions after putting out measured samples of junk food in street medians and city parks during 2012 and 2013. Some samples were put in cages that only ants could access, while others were put in the open so other animals could eat them. Researchers left the food out for 24 hours and then came back to see how much the ants had taken. 

It found that the ants in the medians took the most junk food, eating two to three times what park ants consumed.

They found that food in open areas was also picked at by other city-dwelling species, like rats and pigeons, but the ants ate enough food to keep other animals away.

"This means that ants and rats are competing to eat human garbage, and whatever the ants eat isn't available for the rats," Youngsteadt said. "The ants aren't just helping to clean up our cities, but to limit populations of rats and other pests."

Researchers say they were also surprised to see many of the ants weather Sandy, which struck during the middle of their study. The storm had no measurable impact on the ants’ food consumption, even though many of the areas where the study was conducted had been flooded with brackish water.

A Staten Island grand jury has cleared an NYPD officer of criminal wrongdoing in the chokehold case of Eric Garner, the unarmed man who died while being arrested in the borough earlier this year, the district attorney's office said Wednesday.

In delivering a vote of "no true bill," jurors determined there was not probable cause that a crime was committed by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was seen on a widely watched amateur video wrapping his arm around Garner's neck as the 43-year-old yelled, "I can't breathe!" during the July 17 confrontation.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that the Justice Department will now be conducting its own investigation into Garner's death, and that prosecutors will also conduct a complete review of the material gathered during the local investigation.

"We have all seen the video of Mr. Garner's arrest. His death, of course, was a tragedy," he said.

"Mr. Garner's death is one of several recent incidents across the country that have tested the sense of trust that must exist between law enforcement and the communities they are charged to serve and protect," Holder added. "This is not a New York issue or a Ferguson issue alone."

Garner, who had been stopped by Pantaleo and several other NYPD officers, including two sergeants, on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide caused in part by the chokehold. The father of three's health issues, including obesity, were listed as contributing factors in the autopsy report.

Pantaleo was the only officer facing potential charges. He has been on modified desk duty and doing crime analysis statistics since Garner's death, according to his attorney, Stuart London. The other officers at the scene that summer day were offered immunity for their testimony to the grand jury.

In a statement, Pantaleo said he never intended to harm anyone.

“I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can’t protect themselves," Pantaleo said. "It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner. My family and I include him and his family in our prayers and I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss.”

Garner's family told NBC News they were angry and frustrated by the grand jury's vote, and thought the video showing Garner's arrest was indisputable proof of wrongdoing. 

"There's no doubt in my mind or the mind of all the people out there in the world that what we saw in that video cannot be disputed," said Garner's wife, Esaw Garner. "How they disputed it, I don't know."

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been representing the family, announced in a news conference Wednesday evening that the Garners will be helping to lead a national march in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Dec. 13.

"It is time for a national march to deal with a national crisis," he said.

The grand jury could have considered a range of charges, from a murder charge to a lesser offense like reckless endangerment. It wasn't clear what charges the jurors had considered.

In a statement, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan offered his condolences to Garner's family and friends "who have consistently carried themselves with grace during the past four months" and thanked the grand jurors for their commitment to the investigation "and for the careful manner in which they discharged their solemn duty."

"Clearly this matter was of special concern in that an unarmed citizen of our County had died in police custody," Donovan said, adding that is why he convened a special grand jury to hear the case. "All 23 members of this community who comprised the Grand Jury in this matter dutifully fulfilled that commitment by attending each and every one of the sessions that began on September 29, 2014, and concluded on December 3, 2014."

Garner's mother and widow were expected to hold a news conference with the Rev. Al Sharpton later Wednesday. Previously, relatives said the video and medical examiner's report should be enough to warrant an indictment. Police union officials and Pantaleo's lawyer had argued that the officer didn't use a chokehold but a takedown move taught by the police department, and that Garner's poor health was the main reason he died.

After the grand jury decision Wednesday, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the union was pleased, but "there are no winners here today."

"There was a loss of life that both a family and a police officer will always have to live with," Lynch said. "No police officer starts a shift intending to take another human being's life and we are all saddened by this tragedy.”

The case grabbed national headlines and sparked outrage weeks before the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, set off a firestorm over police tactics and race relations.

The jurors' decision comes about a week after they heard testimony from Pantaleo, one of their last witnesses from whom they heard for about two hours, and several months after they were impaneled to hear evidence. On Staten Island, grand jurors are permitted to call out questions, and London told MSNBC they asked about 20 of the police officer while he was on the stand.

Of the 23 members of the Garner grand jury, 14 are white, nine are non-white and at least five are black, according to two people familiar with the grand jury's racial makeup.

Pantaleo is white, and Garner was black. Garner's family, in an effort to thwart tensions, has consistently said race should not be a factor in the case, but protests in Ferguson have raised concerns in New York.

Crowds began gathering Wednesday evening at the Tompkinsville site where Garner died Wednesday evening and more than 100 people protested the grand jury decision by lying on the floor of Grand Central Terminal as police fanned across the five boroughs to secure the demonstrations.

Ahead of the anticipated rallies, Mayor de Blasio called for "peaceful, constructive" means of expression on this "deeply emotional day."

"We all agree that demonstrations and free speech are valuable contributions to debate, and that violence and disorder are not only wrong -- but hurt the critically important goals we are trying to achieve together," the mayor said.

Garner's mother Gwen Carr echoed the sentiment at the news conference led by Sharpton.

"Make a statement, but make it in peace," she pleaded to supporters, adding that "this thing is just breaking my heart, it's pulling me apart." 

De Blasio said the NYPD has begun implementing long-term reforms this year to "ensure we don't endure tragedies like this one again in the future. But we also know that this chapter is not yet complete."

The NYPD internal investigation into Garner's death is ongoing, the mayor said.

The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating and should the federal government choose to indict, de Blasio said New York City would cooperate.

"All of us must work together to make this right - to work for justice - and to build the kind of city -- and nation -- we need to be," he said.

President Obama, who met with de Blasio and Sharpton at the White House Monday as part of a series of meetings on Ferguson, echoed the mayor's comments Wednesday. He said the nation has been dealing with mistrust between communities of color and police for too long and pledged to work with local governments in those communities to bridge the gaps -- in perception and reality.

"I want to know here that we are not going to let up until we see strength of trust and strength of accountability between communities and law enforcement," Obama said.

Garner's wife, Esaw Garner, vowed at the family's news conference, "My husband's death will not be in vain. As long as I have a breath in my body, I will fight the fight till the very end." 

In New York, the grand jury does not hear opening or closing statements from the district attorney, who simply presents evidence and instructs them on the relevant principles of the law they need to make their decision on whether charges should be filed. To formally charge a person with a crime, at least 12 grand jurors who have heard all the evidence and the legal instructions must agree that there is sufficient evidence and reasonable cause to believe a crime was committed.

Donovan could not disclose further details of the case because of New York law surrounding grand juries, but said he had applied for a court order seeking authorization to publicly release specific elements of the proceedings. The application is under court consideration, he said.

The last time an NYPD officer was charged with using a deadly chokehold was in 1994. In that case, the officer, Francis Livoti, was convicted in federal court of killing 29-year-old Anthony Baez after being acquitted in a state trial. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for criminally negligent homicide.  

A timeline of events after Eric Garner's death while he was being arrested on Staten Island:

Thursday, July 17, 2014: Eric Garner is arrested for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes on Victory Boulevard and Bay Street in the Tompkinsville section of Staten Island. Cellphone video captures the unarmed 43-year-old black man being taken into custody, and he's heard saying "I can't breathe, I can't breathe" as officer Daniel Pantaleo places him in an apparent chokehold, a tactic prohibited by NYPD policy. Garner goes into cardiac arrest.  

EMS workers arrive, and they do not appear to administer CPR on Garner. Garner is taken to Richmond University Medical Center, where he is pronounced dead. 

Saturday, July 19: Pantaleo is placed on modified assignment pending further investigation into the video. Another officer involved in the arrest, a four-year veteran of the force, is put on administrative duty but does not have to surrender his gun or shield. Court records show that within the past two years, three men sued Pantaleo, who is white, in federal court over allegedly unlawful, racially motivated arrests. 

Monday, July 21: The four EMS workers who responded after Garner went into cardiac arrest are suspended without pay, after initially being put on modified duty. The workers -- two EMTs and two paramedics -- were not city employees, but worked for Richmond University Medical Center. 

Tuesday, July 22: NYPD Commissioner William Bratton says the police department would retrain its officers on the use of force, which includes sending a team of officers to Los Angeles to learn how that city's police department modified its use-of-force protocols after several high-profile episodes of brutality.

About 100 people gather in a vigil and march for Eric Garner in Tompkinsville, the first of several protests against what demonstrators deem police brutality. 

Wednesday, July 23: Hundreds gather in Brooklyn for Garner's funeral, including his six children. Sharpton speaks at the funeral: "Let's not play games with this. You don't need no training to stop choking a man saying 'I can't breathe.' You don't need no cultural orientation to stop choking a man saying 'I can't breathe.' You need to be prosecuted and you need to be put away."

Thursday, July 31: Mayor de Blasio hosts a discussion with the police commissioner and the Rev. Al Sharpton -- one of the police department's most outspoken critics -- to try to ease tensions with minority communities after Garner's death. Sharpton provacatively invokes de Blasio's teenage son, whose mother is black: "If Dante wasn't your son, he'd be a candidate for a chokehold. And we've got to deal with that reality." 

Also, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan says he'll determine whether to empanel a grand jury and charges officers in Garner's death. The D.A.'s office has a strong working relationship with the NYPD and has constituents who are overwhelmingly white and include many officers and their relatives.

Civil rights attorney Normal Siegel, a former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said his instincts tell him the jury pool in a criminal case "would be more open and fair if it was in the federal court."

"Without stereotyping all Staten Islanders, there are problems with racial thinking throughout the city, including among segments of Staten Island," Siegel said.

Friday, August 1: The city's medical examiner rules Garner's death a homicide, saying a chokehold killed him. The medical examiner says compression of the neck and chest, along with Garner's positioning on the ground while being restrained by police caused his death. Garner's acute and chronic bronchial asthma, obesity and hypertensive cardiovascular disease were contributing factors

Tuesday, August 5: PBA President Patrick Lynch blasts the autopsy report as "political," and denies that Pantaleo used a chokehold while trying to arrest Garner. He denies that race played any role in the confrontation. 

"It is a person's behavior that leads to interactions with police, not who they are, what they look like or how much money they have in their pocket," Lynch said.

Wednesday, August 13: Donovan tells NBC 4 New York's Andrew Siff that he's assigned eight district attorneys and 10 non-NYPD detectives to investigate the Garner case, more people than any other case since he's been in office. He says he's been clear and transparent with Garner's family, and added that the NYPD "deserves answers too." 

"We've got to collect the dots before we connect the dots," he says. 

Tuesday, August 19: Donovan announces the Garner case will go to a grand jury, saying that after reviewing the medical examiner's findings, his office decided "it is appropriate to present evidence regarding circumstances of his death to a Richmond County Grand Jury."

Saturday, August 23: More than 2,500 people march through Staten Island to protest Garner's death. Many carry signs, some reading "Police the NYPD" or "RIP Eric Garner." The most popular signs were "Hands up, don't shoot," echoing protests in Missouri over the police killing of Michael Brown, and "I can't breathe," Garner's last words. They cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Monday, Sept. 15: As part of a renewed focus on police chokeholds after Garner's death, an NYPD watchdog says instances of NYPD chokeholds may be undercounted across the city because of confusion over what actually constitutes a chokehold. 

"Different teams of investigators have used different definitions to identify chokehold cases," says Richard Emery, the chairman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board. 

Friday, Sept. 19, 2014: Renowned forensics expert Michael Barden -- who conducted an independent autopsy on Michael Brown in Ferguson -- agrees with the New York City medical examiner's findings in Garner's death, saying neck compressions led to his death. He backs the Garner family's assertion that his asthma and other health problems weren't what killed him. 

"Compression of the neck that prevents breathing trumps everything else as cause of death," he said.

PBA President Pat Lynch says there's a difference between "compression" and "asphyxiation": "You did not hear the private medical examiner say they saw signs of asphyxiation. What they saw is compression to the neck, which is consistent to the medical treatment Mr. Garner would have received by EMS."

Monday, Sept. 29, 2014: A grand jury begins hearing evidence in the Garner case. 

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014: Garner's family files notice of claim to sue the city and the NYPD for $75 million, alleging that "negligence, recklessness and carelessness" on the part of police resulted in his chokehold death last July

Friday, Nov. 21: Pantaleo testifies before the Garner grand jury for about two hours, giving his account of Garner's death. The development signals the grand jury could be close to deciding whether Pantaleo should face criminal charges. 

Tuesday, Nov. 25: A grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri decides not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer accused of shooting and killing Michael Brown. The news sets off protests across the country, including in New York City, where people also protested the deaths of Garner and Akai Gurley, who died Nov. 20 after accidentally being shot by a police officer in a dark stairwell in Brooklyn. 

Wednesday, Nov. 26: Garner's family joins the families of Michael Brown and Akai Gurley in Harlem as Sharpton speaks about the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury decision. 

Saturday, Nov. 29: As anger over the Michael Brown case in Ferguson persists, protesters take to the streets of Harlem to voice their concerns about the pending grand jury decision in the Eric Garner death. Gwen Carr, Garner's mother, says: "We don't know what the outcome is, but we're praying." 

Sharpton says, referring to the Brown case: "Can we show in New York something different. We're not going to have violence, but we want justice."

Tuesday, Dec. 2: Sources familiar with the grand jury proceedings tell NBC 4 New York a decision in the Garner case is imminent. The 23-member panel is made up of 14 white members and nine non-white members, at least five of whom are black, NBC 4 New York learns.

Officials say they're confident there won't be violent protests in New York City. De Blasio says: "In some places, people may feel the voice of the people are not heard. In this city, the voices are heard." 

Nevertheless, Bratton says the NYPD is prepared for protests in any case. D.A. Donovan says he realizes not everyone will accept the outcome, no matter what the grand jury votes.

Garner's mother Gwen Carr has said she "wouldn't want to see that violence" that swept Ferguson. 

Wednesday, Dec. 3: The Staten Island grand jury declines to indict Pantaleo in Garner's death, determining there was no probable cause that a crime was committed. 

Moments after sources told NBC New York that a grand jury has declined to indict an NYPD officer in the death of Eric Garner, people posted their reactions on social media. 

Within an hour, Eric Garner's name was the top trending term in Twitter in the U.S. and among the top 10 trending terms worldwide. 

Chris Rock tweeted "This one was on film" with a link to an image of a widely watched amateur video showing NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo wrapping his arm around Garner's neck as the 43-year-old yelled, "I can't breathe!" 

Garner had been stopped by police on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

New York Assemblyman Matthew J. Titone, who represents Staten Island, tweeted: "Right now we must keep Mr Garners family in our hearts & prayers and to remember their calls for calm & peace."

More reaction on social media: 

A Pacific storm is bringing a second day of much-needed rain to drought-stricken San Diego County as well as concerns about possible street flooding along the coast and mudslides in burn areas to the east.

While the region did not receive the heavy rain expected with the storm system Tuesday, it did get the amount of rain forecasted.

San Diego received a steady stream of rain that produced an inch of rain in the coastal areas with 2 inches inland. Palomar Mountain received 3 inches as of 6 a.m. Wednesday.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch through 10 a.m. Thursday.

"You should take your umbrella with you because it will be scattered throughout the day today," said NBC 7 meteorologist Jodi Kodesh.

Downtown Los Angeles had received 1.15 inches of rain Tuesday, breaking a 1961 record for the day, according to the weather service. More than 2 inches fell on Santa Barbara. Totals of around an inch also set daily records in Oxnard and at airports in Los Angeles, Camarillo, Long Beach, Lancaster and Palmdale.

In Northern California, nearly 1 1/2 inches fell on San Francisco, where historic cable cars and their 100-year-old braking systems had to be shut down. Stockton and San Jose also saw more than an inch.

California's drought has left the Sierra Nevada snowpack -- which counts for most of the state's water supply -- at just 24 percent of normal for this time of year.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in January and called on residents to reduce consumption by 20 percent.

As the storm blew in, new state data was released showing Californians aren't meeting his goal: Statewide water usage was down just 6.7 percent in October.

Eric Garner's family say they feel "anger" and "frustration" after a grand jury on Staten Island voted not to indict the police officer who placed Garner in a fatal chokehold. 

Garner's wife and his mother told NBC News Wednesday they were devastated but not altogether surprised by the grand jury's decision.

"I kind of expected it because I didn't really think that he would get a fair trial on Staten Island from day one," said Garner's wife, Esaw Garner. "I felt it in my heart that he just wasn't going to get a fair trial, with all the things that they were trying to crucify him with." 

"Regardless to his past, he didn't deserve to be killed like that," she said.

Esaw Garner and Gwen Carr, Garner's mother, said they thought the video showing Garner being taken down by NYPD officers was indisputable proof of wrongdoing. 

"There's no doubt in my mind or the mind of all the people out there in the world that what we saw in that video cannot be disputed," said Garner. "How they disputed it, I don't know." 

"It was a modern-day lynching," she said. 

Esaw Garner said she does not accept Pantaleo's condolences. 

"The time for condolence would have been when my husband was gasping for air, asking them to let him breathe, begging for his life," she said. "That would have been the time to have some compassion and remorse and condolence."

Garner and Carr said they were hopeful a federal investigation would yield a different result. 

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday the Justice Department will now be conducting its own investigation into Garner's death.

At a news conference along with the Garner family later in the evening, the Rev. Al Sharpton said the family will be helping to lead a national march in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 13. 

Esaw Garner said at the news conference, "I'm determined to get justice for my husband."

"Someone who gets paid to do right did wrong, and he's not held accountable for it," she said. "My husband's death will not be in vain. As long as I have a breath in my body, I will fight the fight until the very end."

A 15-year-old Indiana girl weighed less than 40 pounds when she was taken to the hospital Monday and police reportedly called her case one of the “worst cases of neglect” they’ve ever seen.

The girl was taken to an Indiana hospital Monday. Police said she was so severely malnourished that “her bones were protruding more than her flesh,” according to an affidavit. There were also “feces on her feet.” She was listed in critical condition.

"The best way I can explain her physical condition would be a Holocaust victim," Anderson Police Det. Joel Sandefur told NBC affiliate WTHR.

The girls’ guardian, 58-year-old Steve Sells, was arrested Monday and faces a preliminary charge of child neglect.

Officers who checked the home where the girl lived, in Anderson, northeast of Indianapolis, said they found an upstairs room with clasp lock at the top of the door. Inside was a mattress, a space heater, blankets a bucket and a bowl of oatmeal. Police also found blood.

Police said a 4-year-old child in the home told officers the girl was locked in the room and “would stick her fingers out around the door trying to get out,” according to the affidavit.

Sells, who weighs between 200 and 225 pounds, told officer he locked his daughter in there to protect himself because she was strong and threatened him with a knife. He told officials the girl has a chromosome disorder that keeps her from gaining weight.

"With a 15-year-old girl weighing less than 40 pounds, that's not a very plausible explanation. That's something we're not buying as a police department," said Sandefur.

Sells said the girl fell and her condition grew worse over the last few days.

Sells’ wife, 54-year-old Joetta Sue Sells, was also being questioned in the case. Prosecutors expect formal charges to be filed against Sells by Friday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.

San Diego may be America’s Finest City, but it also ranks as one of the most expensive for buying a house, too.

San Diego is the second most-expensive metro city in California and in the U.S. overall for buying a median-priced house, according to one new study.

A new study by HSH, the largest publisher of mortgage and consumer loan information, ranks 27 metropolitan cities by how high of a salary a resident would need to be able to afford a median-priced home.

In San Diego, a median-priced home costs $517,800 at a mortgage rate of 4.28 percent. To be able to afford such a home with principal, interest, taxes and insurance payments, the buyer would need to earn an annual salary of $101,682.60. That equals out to monthly payments of $2,372.59 – and those prices have increased since last year.

Those numbers are still second to San Francisco’s housing market, which takes the cake for highest salary needed for a median-priced home in the nation.

In the Bay Area, buyers need to earn $145,361.06 annually to be able to afford the median-priced home at $744,400. Monthly payments on a home that price are $3,391.76, even after a quarterly decline in required salary.

Los Angeles ranks third on the list with a salary of $96,513.64 needed for a median-priced home of $481,900, with New York City and Boston close behind.

The holiday gifting season is here, and with it, one of the most odious of traditions: package thefts.

San Diego County Sheriff’s officials say they’ve nabbed a gift Grinch who was taking packages from East County homes.

Starting on Nov. 21, the suspect targeted homes in Lemon Grove, Spring Valley and unincorporated El Cajon, getting away with $1,000 worth of merchandise.

Finally, deputies got a lead when one home’s surveillance cameras caught the crook in the act. The sheriff’s department says Martha Lampley, 37, was booked into jail on burglary charges in connection with the series. She was recently released from prison, so she also faces charges of violating her parole with drug and drug paraphernalia possession.

More charges are pending against her after detectives discovered stolen packages and merchandise in a storage unit tied to Lampley. According to Sgt. Greg Hampton, the suspect may be responsible for other commercial and residential burglaries from stores like Kohls and Target.

Many of the stolen items were returned to their proper owners Wednesday, but the investigation is ongoing to see if others were involved.

Hampton said deputies see a rise in package thefts around the holidays.

“We’ve seen it on the news before where people follow the delivery trucks, they see them drop off packages, and they just come up right behind them and take them off the porch,” he said.

Officials are hoping to halt more package thievery by helping residents keep their deliveries safe.

The sheriff’s department listed the following tips:

• Choose the delivery option that has you sign for your package and ask friend and relatives sending you items to do the same. Request a tracking number from them.
• Sign up for email and text alerts to watch out for your items’ delivery status.
• If you won’t be home when it is scheduled to arrive, have it shipped to your work or other location.
• Give mail carriers special instructions on where to place packages, like behind a bush, on a side patio, etc.
• Choose to pick up your package instead of delivery.
• Get to know your mail carriers.
• Insure your packages.
• Look out for neighbors and they’ll look out for you.
• Report suspicious activity to the sheriff’s department or police.

If your deliveries are stolen, have proof of ownership like a receipt, tracking information, insurance claim or crime report ready when you report the theft to law enforcement.

U.S. Postal Service mail or package thefts should be reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, since it is a federal crime. Call the U.S.P.S. inspectors at 877-876-2455 or submit a report online.

You can also put your mail on a vacation hold by visiting the USPS website.

Hours after a grand jury cleared an NYPD officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, crowds gathered at the site in Staten Island where the 43-year-old father died as others began a silent "lie-down" protest at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan and still others marched toward Times Square shouting, "I can't breathe!"

Some headed toward Rockefeller Center in an apparent effort to disrupt the tree lighting ceremony, but were unable to get past police. Later, demonstrators marched on the West Side Highway near the 40s and 50s, gridlocking it for blocks at a time. There were also backups at the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.

There were also gatherings at Times Square, Union Square and Foley Square following the grand jury's decision Wednesday not to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was seen on amateur video wrapping his hand around Garner's neck July 17 as the heavyset, asthmatic man gasped for air.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said earlier in the week that the NYPD was anticipating protests and that the department had been preparing for them for months.

Extra patrols were deployed at Rockefeller Plaza, and to the site of the chokehold in Tompkinsville, Staten Island, where several protesters rallied outside a store chanting, "No justice, no peace." A police spokesman said mobile units were in place to respond to protests developing across the city.

City officials and business owners pleaded for calm, "constructive" demonstrations.

"We all agree that demonstrations and free speech are valuable contributions to debate, and that violence and disorder are not only wrong -- but hurt the critically important goals we are trying to achieve together," Mayor de Blasio said shortly after the grand jury decision was announced.

Protesters like Doug Brinson said they were shocked by the lack of indictment.

“Not to indict the man is like a double slap in your face,” Brinson said. “It’s like stomping you down on the ground.”

Operators of some local businesses said they were more worried about outsiders causing trouble than Staten Island residents.

“If you worry about people coming from outside Staten Island, like agitators, that could be bad,” said Ed Varoulo of Hypno-Tronic comics on Stuyvesant Place. “I think it’s good as long as we don’t have to pull the gates down and close early.”

"I'm doing this for my ancestors and for all of the blood that has shed in America," said Talibah Newman, who joined the lie-down protest at Grand Central. "As a black woman in America, I feel numb."

Eric Garner's mother Gwen Carr asked supporters Wednesday to "make a statement, but make it in peace." 

The protests were reminiscent of the ones that shut down major highways and bridges last week after a grand jury in Ferguson decided not to indict the police officer who shot and killed unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. 

Protests against the Staten Island grand jurors' decision were planned in other cities across the country, including in Washington, D.C., and Ferguson, Missouri.

The Rev. Al Sharpton announced Wednesday he and the Garners, along with the families of Michael Brown and Akai Gurley, will lead a national march in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 13. 

A 22-year-old man accused of fatally shooting his parents in a quiet Point Loma neighborhood the morning after Thanksgiving will be evaluated to determine whether he’s mentally competent to stand trial.

Peter Haynes appeared in San Diego County Superior Court on Wednesday to be arraigned on two counts of murder relating to the Friday killings of David Haynes and Lissa Haynes.

His defense attorney, Richard Gates, requested the arraignment be postponed so that Haynes can be evaluated on whether he’s competent to understand the charges against him and can assist in his own defense.

The judge granted the request, rescheduling the arraignment for Jan. 7.

The attorney gave no details about why Haynes should be evaluated. But Haynes sister, Kimberly Haynes, has told NBC 7 that her brother has paranoid schizophrenia.

Two weeks before the killings, she posted a picture on her Facebook page showing her brother teaching her how to hold a gun.

Haynes was arrested hours after his parents were shot in their home in the 1000 block of Tarento Boulevard. Police said they found him walking near the crime scene with a semi-automatic handgun in his pocket.

Prosecutors are including in their criminal complaint against Haynes special circumstances in the killings that hint at premeditation.

First, prosecutors said Haynes was lying in wait when he shot his parents and that he committed a burglary in commission of the homicides.

If convicted of the charges, Haynes faces 25 years to life in prison.

A judge ordered six teens accused of killing a homeless man and injuring another be held on $1 million each.

At their Wednesday arraignments, all defendants pleaded not guilty  to charges of murder and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury. One minor, Cheyenne Maloof, is being charged as an adult.

Prosecutors say the group got into an argument with two homeless men riding their bikes on Mission Gorge Road Saturday evening under State Route 52.

The teens first attacked Edward Allen, but his friend Stephen Hissom, 55, quickly came to Allen's defense, according to Deputy District Attorney Liz Rodriguez.

The suspects then turned their aggression toward him, beating Hissom to death, Rodriguez said.

"All six defendants in this case actively participated in either punching or kicking both victims including the deceased. We do believe two of the defendants were primary aggressors," Rodriguez told NBC 7.

Daniel Swan III, 19, and Tyler Dare, 19, are accused of being those aggressors. The other accused teens include Maloof, 16; Cassidy Rowin, 18; Brian Kish, 18; and Sarah Baillie, 18.

"I was totally blown away to read about five or six young people actually beating to death a human being," said Jean Emmons, who often hikes along the path where Hissom was killed.

Deputies have not released a motive and could not say if alcohol, drugs or gangs were involved.

The teens face 25 years to life in prison for the murder charge and up to four years for the assault charge. Their next scheduled court appearance is Dec. 16 for a preliminary hearing.

The town of Newtown will be the new owners of the property where the former Lanza home stands.

In a meeting on Wednesday, the Legislative Council approved the acquisition of 36 Yogananda Street, which Chairwoman Mary Ann Jacobs said "has been accepted at no cost at all."

That's the home where Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza lived. It's also where he killed his mother, Nancy, before shooting and killing 20 children and six educators at the elementary school on Dec. 14, 2012.

"There is no exchange of money for the property at 36 Yogananda. Hudson Savings Bank has been wonderfully generous and compassionate in deeding the property to Newtown," First Selectwoman Patricia Llodra said in a statement. "The [Legislative Council] did approve the motion to accept the property, as required by our Town Charter."

The colonial home, built in 1998, was assessed at $366,540 in 2012, according to town property records. It belongs to Nancy Lanza's estate.

Ryan Lanza, the heir to the estate, authorized the deal of deeding the property to town, the Hartford Courant reported. The home has not been lived in since the Sandy Hook tragedy, the newspaper said.

It's unknown what the town plans to do with the property.

Influenza is spreading and sickening locals at a faster clip than last year’s flu season, the deadliest in San Diego County, health officials say.

To date, 141 cases have been lab-confirmed, which is 86 more than this time last year, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA).

In 2013, 70 people died from flu complications – the highest number ever recorded by the county.

While no deaths have been reported this year, 3 percent of emergency room visits were for influenza-like symptoms last week, compared to 2 percent the week before.

Deadly complications from the flu are most likely to develop in people 65 years and older, pregnant women and those with chronic medical conditions like asthma, diabetes and lung disease, the HHSA says.

That’s why they recommend everyone 6 months old and over get an annual flu shot to prevent the disease.

Health officials also have these recommendations for avoiding sickness:

• Wash your hands often and well
• Use hand sanitizer
• Avoid sick people
• Clean commonly touched surfaces
• Avoid touching your face
• Stay home if you are sick to prevent the spread

For a list of places to get a flu shot, visit the San Diego Immunization Program’s website.

Stockton police are looking for thief they say has been documenting his crime by taking selfies on a stolen iPhone.

Detectives know what the alleged thief looks like from the above photo. Now they are trying to figure out his name.

The iPhone was stolen from a car back in November. Soon after, the victim noticed photos of the suspect uploaded to this iCloud account.

The photo was posted on the Stockton Police Department's Facebook page. As of Wednesday afternoon, the post had more than 2,000 shares and 700 comments.

Anyone who recognizes the man is asked to contact Stockton police.

The Stockton suspect is not unique in his vanity. In February, a selfie taken by a San Diego burglary suspect led to his arrest. Last year, in Oakland, police released a photo taken by a man wanted for armed robbery who officers said used a victim's cellphone to snap a selfie.

The trailing edge of back-to-back storm systems parked over part of Riverside County early Thursday and caused flash flooding that sent mud onto roads, trapping people in vehicles, before moving out of Southern California.

Flooding was reported in Hemet and other parts of Riverside County, where 14 people were rescued after a flash flood washed out a road in the community of Gilman Springs. Seven residences on the 20500 block of Gilman Springs Road were evacuated by Riverside County firefighters as a precaution. 

A flash flood warning in effect for western Riverside County expired at about 8:30 a.m. Radar showed heavy rain east of Hemet at 6 a.m., part of what the National Weather Service called a "nearly stationary" storm.

Resident Muriel Dufresne said she was sleeping until the startling sound of thunder overnight.

"It was outrageous, I couldn't figure out what is happening," said Dufresne.

The area received about 2 1/2 inches of in just a few hours. Eric McGinley was one of about 40 people who were rescued after their vehicles became trapped in mud.

"My windshield wipers just couldn't move fast enough," said McGinley. "It just looked like the road was going on and had a little bit of dirt on top, until I got out in the middle of it."

The mud was waste-deep in some areas, McGinley said.

Aerial video showed at least two vehicles, including a sport utility vehicle, surrounded by mud on Gilman Springs Road in Gilman Hot Springs, about 30 miles southeast of Riverside. In nearby Hemet, at least three drivers' vehicles stalled as they attempted to cross a flooded intersection in the 1000 block of Sanderson Avenue.

Flooding was reported in the Rancho Viejo Middle School parking lot, according to the Hemet Unified School District. 

Temperatures are expected to climb and skies will clear for most of the region, but some inland areas continued to face the threat of flooding. Runoff from the overnight rain was expected to continue for several hours Thursday morning. 

The hazardous conditions follow two consecutive days of heavy rain that included steady downpours and forced evacuations in Los Angeles and Orange county neighborhoods below wildfire burn areas. The National Weather Service canceled a flash flood watch for Los Angeles County early Thursday.

Scattered showers are possible in the high desert, mountain and inland areas Thursday. Dry conditions are expected Friday before another round of wet weather this weekend.

Fourteen people stranded in their vehicles after flash flooding washed out a road early Thursday in Riverside County were rescued by a California Highway Patrol officer and specially trained swift-water rescue team members.

They were rescued from five vehicles that were stranded on a road in Gilman Springs, which lies between Hemet and Beaumont, at about 1:15 a.m., according to the Riverside County Fire Department. The vehicles were surrounded by about 4 feet of mud and water after part of a hillside washed away in the downpour

A passenger in a Honda Civic was trapped in the flood and screaming for help when California Highway Patrol Sgt. Adrian Horta arrived. Horta was driving an all-wheel drive CHP sport utility vehicle that allowed him to navigate through mud to pull up next to the trapped passenger.

"I had her crawl out the window and into my patrol vehicle, along with an adult male," Horta said.

Riverside County Fire Department personnel arrived to help others trapped in the flood.

"There was a big thunderstorm, lightning, thunder and everything. I came out and it was a tremendous amount of rain, just an incredible downpour," a woman who was in a nearby studio at the time of the incident said, "It brought all the mud down from the mountains."

No injuries were reported. Gilman Springs Road is closed from North Sanderson Avenue to State Street.

Seven residences on the 20500 block of Gilman Springs Road were also evacuated due to the mud slide following the rescue.

City News Service contributed to this article

Police and city crews on Thursday began dismantling the nation's largest homeless encampment, notoriously named "The Jungle," in a controversial move that aims to move hundreds of transients from the center of San Jose and find them affordable housing.

Streams of homeless people wheeled their lives out of the encampment on Story Road, their shopping carts full of their belongings. Some cried they didn't have time or the ability to move everything they own out in time.

Earlier, before the sun had come up, officers had set up road blockades, hoping to create a clear path to move the estimated 200 homeless people left in the encampment without any fuss. Teams in white suits and orange hats moved in about 8 a.m. to clear all the trash from the site. 

At least 130 people voluntarily left the sprawling makeshift community, a short drive from some of Silicon Valley's wealthiest tech giants. City homeless advocates said those people have already been helped with either permanent housing, subsidies or housing vouchers, though social workers have not been able to find homes for everyone.

San Jose's homelessness response team project manager Ray Bramson said that increased violence, wet weather and unsanitary conditions had made it imperative the camp that the camp be cleared.

In the last month, one resident tried to strangle someone with a cord of wire, he said. Another was nearly beaten to death with a hammer. And the State Water Resources Control Board has been demanding that polluted Coyote Creek, which cuts through the middle, get cleaned out.

He also has stressed that the closure of "The Jungle, " one of 247 homeless encampments within the city limits, coincides with the opening of the county's cold-weather homeless shelters.

"People who live in this encampment are in jeopardy every day and we need to do better,” Bramson said Thursday morning.

The eviction had the backing of at least one man who had once been homeless.

"How is this controversial?" asked Michael Photopoulous, 45, of San Jose, who has lived on the streets and worked for homeless organizations and now lives in Section 8 housing, less than $200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment with his wife.

He has several friends who live in The Jungle, and he feels they should move out of what he described as a toxic wasteland, like he did.

Photopoulous, who worked as a janitor until his wife needed his fulltime care because she's on dialysis, said he believes the city is right in cleaning up the camp. But he knows that many homeless people will choose to live outdoors "so that they can do dope under a bridge" and "party like rock stars."

Not everyone is a drug user, he said, but he's not quite sure why the homeless people didn't choose to work with the band of social workers sent to help them over the last several months.

Added Carlos Balencia, who lives nearby: “I think it’s a great idea. I mean, look at how dirty it is. Think about the poor people who live around here.”

But the move angered many in the homeless community, who have made this garbage-strewn outdoor area their home.

Homeless advocate Robert Aguirre, who lost his own job in the tech sector and who still "hasn't recovered," told NBC Bay Area early Thursday that the city's eviction of "The Jungle" likely won't work.

"It's a game of 'Whack-a-Mole,''' he said.

Aguirre said some homeless people either won't find traditional housing, or don't want to find traditional housing, and will look to set up their lives in another non-sanctioned spot.

"And if the police find it," he said, "they'll come and run you out of there. They're scattering people around the city. They'll just cause them to go further and further away from traditional housing. And they'll end up in people's neighborhoods."

He also said that homeless people already have an "economy" in "The Jungle," and when they're forced to move, they'll have to work on creating another one. The same problems and issues will still exist — just somewhere else.

"I don't see this as (making this) a safer city," Aguirre said. "They're going to be angry. They have homes now. Now, you're really going to make them homeless."

Sandy Perry, of the Affordable Housing Network of Santa Clara County, said there just isn't enough housing to place everyone. More than 7,600 homeless residents of Santa Clara County were counted in a census last year.

"They’re making a lot of publicity about the 144 they’ve housed," Perry said. "I think that’s excellent. I’ll give them credit for that. But since then, 200 to 300 people became homeless. So they’re going backwards.”

But the city is committed to finding residents of "The Jungle" — about 68 acres near Coyote Creek in the center of San Jose — suitable housing in a pilot project.

Closing the encampment has been a hot political issue in the city as well. Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese, who lost his bid for mayor last month, wanted to find $10 million in county funds to pay for affordable housing. But Mayor-Elect Sam Liccardo said that housing developers should pay for it, as they do in other cities.

In the past 18 months, the city of San Jose has spent more than $4 million trying to solve the problems at the encampment. The last camp clean-out was in May 2012 when about 150 people were moved out of The Jungle. Many returned and others, swept from other encampments in San Jose, joined them.

The encampment is in stark contrast to its surrounding area in the heart of the Silicon Valley, a region leading the country for job growth, income, innovation and venture capital.

Tech giants Google, Apple, Yahoo, eBay, Facebook, Intel and many more call the 1,850-square-mile stretch of business parks, small cities and suburbs south of San Francisco home. But as tech roars back from the recession, housing costs have soared, and more than 5,000 now people sleep outside in streets, parks and under freeways there.

Aguirre is well aware of this dichotomy.

"This is the wealthiest county in the U.S.," he said. "And this is the largest homeless encampment in the U.S... This is a tale of two cities."

NBC Bay Area's Robert Handa, Damian Trujillo and Martha Mendoza from the Associated Press contributed to this report.