For the first time ever, retired military personnel will have a chance to rent homes on base at Camp Pendleton, thanks to a partnership approved by Congress 15 years ago.

One of the most secure neighborhoods in San Diego County, Camp Pendleton offers modern homes with ocean views in Southern California. The housing development has 7,500 homes, and now some 500 are available for a select few to rent.

The public/private partnership that makes the rental opportunities possible was established to help fund the demand for new homes on military bases. The military agreed that, if needed, a select few would be allowed to move on base.

Andy Killion, Director of Military Affairs for the Brown Region, which includes Camp Pendleton, said now that military services are shrinking in size, the opportunity to open homes to retirees becomes possible.

Aside from retirees, select categories of personnel from the Department of Defense are eligible as well, such as international students and officers, Coast Guard, active-duty military bachelors, DoD civil service and other civil service workers such as the FBI.

Killion, also a retired Marine, said former service members are a good fit as base neighbors because they're comfortable with base housing regulations.

"In the Marine Corps we have a saying, 'Once a Marine, always a Marine,'" Killion said.

Lincoln Military Housing - the organization that runs the base housing - also runs an extensive background check and criminal background investigation before approving potential renters, creating an even safer collection of neighbors.

The cost of rent, which ranges from $1,400 to $2,400, covers utilities, club house and pool use. The rental rates are comparable to active duty, but never lower.

Since the partnership began more than a decade ago, many new homes have been built and others renovated, most with energy efficient upgrades.

For more information on the veteran and retiree rental program, contact Lincoln Military Housing by clicking here or calling (760) 994-4100.

A San Diego man found guilty of lighting a house fire that killed his mother and sister was sentenced Friday to three life terms.

Thongsavath Sphabmixay, 46, faces life in prison without parole.

The jury convicted Thongsavath Sphabmixay, 46, of murder, attempted murder and arson, including special circumstance additions of multiple murders and murder by arson.

On April 4, 2013, firefighters discovered Bouakham Sphabmixay, 69, and Pamela Sphabmixay, 48, unconscious in two upstairs rooms after a fire broke out at their Mira Mesa house.

The women were taken to the UCSD burn center, where they died the following day from smoke inhalation.

None of Sphabmixay’s family members showed up for Friday’s sentencing hearing.

Deputy District Attorney Nicole Rooney said “they’ve essentially lost their whole family,” noting the deceased mother and sister and life imprisonment of Sphabmixay.

Rooney said investigators were never able to determine a motive for the crime.

Fire officials said the fire appeared suspicious from the start, for they found gas containers, lighter fluid and lighters inside the home. Rooney said Sphabmixay’s DNA was found on one of the containers.

Local authorities are searching for a suspect caught on surveillance camera robbing a City Heights smoke shop.

The man is seen walking into the Euclid Smoke Shop on the 4200 block of Euclid Avenue on Nov. 12 around 8:30 p.m.

He asked the store clerk for a pack of cigarettes, but when the clerk turned away to retrieve them, the suspect pulled out a handgun from his waistband. He then pointed the gun at the clerk and demanded money, according to San Diego County Crime Stoppers.

He was able to take off with cash as he headed south towards an alley on Euclid Avenue.

The suspect is described as 6-feet tall, approximately 250 pounds. He wore a red baseball hat, red shoes and blue jeans at the time of the crime. He had on a large shiny belt buckle and a black long-sleeved shirt. Officials say he had with him a dark-colored semi automatic handgun.

A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered to anyone with information that leads to an arrest in the case.

Anyone with information is asked to call San Diego Police Department's Robbery Unit at (619) 531-2299 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.

A $5,000 reward is being offered to help find the person who shot a bald eagle, after the bird — a national symbol — was found dead along a road in Rocky Hill, Connecticut.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection received a report of a dead eagle along Great Meadows Road in Rocky Hill at 10:13 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13 and began investigating.

At the time, it was believed that the bird was struck and killed by a car, but that was not the case.

State Environmental Conservation police turned the eagle over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which conducted a preliminary examination that indicated the eagle’s injuries were from a gunshot.

Bald and Golden Eagles are protected under federal law and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and State Environmental Conservation Police are jointly investigating. 

The Humane Society of the United States and The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust work with state and federal wildlife agencies to offer rewards of $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of suspected poachers, according to DEEP.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Environmental Conservation Police’s Emergency Dispatch Center at 860-424-3333 or toll free at 1-800-842-4357 or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent at 860-871-8348.  

An SUV full of people on their way to a funeral Friday rolled over on Interstate 15, leaving three dead and another three injured.

A 2001 Ford Expedition was headed south on I-15 when it flipped into the northbound lanes near Old Hwy 395, causing traffic to be blocked in the left lanes of both sides of the freeway and killing three people inside.

Two of the deceased were girls: a 12-year-old from Azusa, Calif. and an 11-year-old from Los Angeles. CHP said it does not appear either were wearing seat belts.

The female driver was wearing a seat belt, but was also killed.

A 2-year-old restrained in a car seat survived, as well as two adults that sustained non life-threatening injuries.

A survivor of the crash told CHP the group was traveling to Mexico to board a plane for a funeral.

Deputies happened to be driving behind the vehicle when they said the tread on the left rear tire appeared to separate, causing the driver to lose control. Reports also said the tread on all four tires looks different.

CHP, fire rescue and the Medical Examiner were on the scene.

 This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.

When Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers missed practice this week, it sent a ripple of panic through the Bolts’ fan base.

What if he can’t play in Saturday night’s critical game against the San Francisco 49ers? Can you remember the last time he wasn’t out there? Do we even have a backup?

Before we get any further, let’s get one thing out of the way: It looks like quarterback Rivers is going to suit up on Saturday night. Just like he has all season, every season since 2006.

That’s 142 straight starts, tied for the second-longest current streak in the NFL.

This is as good a time as any to take a minute to contemplate what that means. In a league where it’s hard for anyone to get through a season without some sort of injury banging them up for at least a few weeks, Rivers has been a rock.

Ever since taking over the starting job from Drew Brees, he has been there. Say what you will about Rivers’ play on the field, but you can’t question his toughness or drive.

“I hate not practicing,” Rivers said.  “But I think at some point you’ve got to do what’s best for me and the team.”

About that missed practice, it’s his first since 2007. Do you know how many players miss practice each day? At this point in the season, a lot of guys don’t even bother with more than a brief walk-through, saving their strength for Sundays.

There have been rumblings for much of the second half of the season that Rivers is not close to fully healthy. Tight end Antonio Gates even let a little too much slip after a win over the Oakland Raiders last month.

"For those who don't know, he's been dealing with a rib injury," Gates said after the Nov. 16 game. "A very severe rib injury, so he's been toughing it out these last three, four weeks."

Rivers won’t divulge how much he’s been hurting, only saying that everyone is banged up this time of year. And the coaches seem to have his back.

"Sometimes you have to use discretion and get a little rest,” offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. “Just give yourself the best chance to be the strongest you can be for when it really matters most.”

Both Rivers and McCoy said he would be "ready to roll" on Saturday, so Bolts fans don't need to prepare for the worst just yet.

In case you didn't know, the backup is Kellen Clemens, a career backup who has completed one pass this season. He did win four games filling in for an injured Sam Bradford in St. Louis last year. Here’s hoping he won’t be called upon to do that again this season.

About $331 million worth of cocaine was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy during patrols from September to this month.

Of that, more than 8.5 tons of cocaine were offloaded Friday from the San Diego-based Navy ship the USS Vandergrift. The drugs were then turned over to federal officials as evidence for the prosecution in the case.

The contraband was intercepted by U.S. Coast Guard teams and U.S. Navy ships patrolling in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central and South America, according to the Coast Guard.

The Vandergrift and its Coast Guard law enforcement counterpart intercepted six loads from suspicious vessels or loads drifting at sea, officials said.

The busts were part of an ongoing effort, called Operation Martillo, involving international law enforcement and U.S. military that targets illicit drug trafficking in the waters off Central America.

Of the Vandergrift’s involvement in the bust, Cmdr. Kevin Ralston said: “USS Vandergrift’s superior performance and exceptional operational success during this seven-month deployment were nothing short of outstanding."

A federal court judge approved a request to continue the Thursday sentencing of former San Ysidro Superintendent Manuel Paul to January 13.

Paul pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor charge of "deprivation of benefits for political contributions," meaning withholding work or another type of benefit unless a political contribution is made.

Federal court Judge William Gallo cited the necessity to give Paul due process, even though he indicated he was not pleased with the defense attorney waiting for the day of the sentencing to argue facts in a pre-sentencing report.

The defense attorney said he was unable to file a response to that document, which is used by the judge in handing down a sentence, because issues in the report would then become available to the public.

Paul declined to comment coming into federal court Thursday.

NBC7 Investigates first reported how, in 2010, Paul accepted $2,500 in parking-lot cash from a contractor seeking work with the district.

After our reporting, Paul agreed to resign from the board with a $200,000 severance package. He promised at the time that if he was ever convicted of any of the accusations, he would return the funds.

The San Ysidro School District is now suing Paul to seek return of those funds.

NBC7 Investigates also reported how Paul continued to run the district by email after leaving his post, about a suspicious burning of public documents at the district headquarters, and about his extensive home renovations.

On Thursday, defense attorney Dan Rodriguez said all those issues were outside the facts of this case.

"I think the right thing happened in court," said Rodriguez. "The court decided that they were going to consider some of the information that's been provided by the media to the probation department. We had hoped that the court would make the decision based on the facts of the case and not on media reports."

Other items he said were not relevant are the financial state of the district and civil lawsuits Paul may be involved in, but community activists say it is Paul's fault the district is now insolvent.

"The children didn't even have paper in their classrooms last year," said Mary Ann Saponara, who worked for the San Ysidro School District for about 40 years.

In letters to the court, some of those activists said it was the misuse of construction funds and over-priced construction projects, awarded in a culture of exchanging contracts for expensive gifts and favors, that caused the district's financial woes. Thursday, six community members submitted letters in support of Paul, but those documents are not yet available on the electronic court records website.

Carol Wallace, the president of the San Ysidro teacher's union, said the judge should not accept the plea deal.

"What it does, if they let him off, is it tells kids that 'I can cheat,' and 'I can extort,' and 'I can just be given a slap on the wrist,'" Wallace said.
 

A safety review is in the works for Uber following allegations of rape and assault on a passenger by a driver.

The company has already announced changes for 2015, including tweaks to its highly criticized procedure for conducting background checks. What the changes will exactly be is still in question, but fingerprinting could be one new measure. For now, however, Uber is only providing a "road map for change" on its website.

One local Uber user, Lisa McKnight, said she's more aware of the risks involved in the convenience of an Uber car, when before she was just excited to use the new service.

But after the rape allegations in Boston, she says she'd rather take a cab.

Another Uber driver also recently faced vehicular manslaughter charges after hitting a 6-year-old girl while allegedly talking on a cell phone.

"I haven't had a bad experience with Uber," McKnight said. "But I would prefer a taxi just for that reason alone."

The company is apparently reevaluating things too.

In a blog titled "Our Commitment to Safety," Uber says they're looking into ways to build new programs and enhance others - biometrics and voice verification, for example.

While voice verification might create a peace of mind, it still doesn't verify the identity of the driver or the passenger, Deputy Director of Digital Forensics Incorporated James Kitt said.

"With a background investigation, I can provide all the documents to tell you I'm somebody else," Kitt said. "With fingerprints, I can't do that, and it's going through an agency that can verify that."

McKnight said drivers should absolutely be fingerprinted because it's easy to bypass a lot of screenings without the certainty of prints.

While Uber's blog said it will work on building safety response teams, partner with experts and act on recommendations from drivers, it doesn't give any examples of actual actions being taken, Kitt points out.

"They're not really telling us what they are looking to do," he said. The company's willingness to invest research, time and money into addressing the concerns is not just a good thing, but a move necessary to stay in business, Kitt added.

A multi-agency enforcement and probation compliance sweep led to 24 arrests Thursday at trolley stops in La Mesa, El Cajon and Santee.

Deputies and officers checked on 620 people and searched about 57 of them for possible probation violations between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Three people were arrested for felonies and 21 for misdemeanors.

Many of the arrestees were realigned offenders. In 2011, A federal court ordered the State of California to reduce its overcrowded prisons. Non-violent criminals became the responsibility of local law enforcement rather than state agencies, so some offenders are now sent to county jails instead of prisons.

Following tips, deputies and investigators checked to see if the arrestees were linked to various crime cases.

The goal of the sweep was to track known offenders and their associates. Deputies can then trace that information to actual crimes and address safety issues in local neighborhoods.

In addition, 19 people were cited for trolley violations as a result of the sweep.

The operation was conducted by Rancho San Diego and Santee Sheriff's Stations, along with the help of deputies from the San Diego County Sheriff's Analysis Driven Law Enforcement Team, La Mesa and El Cajon police departments and MTS.

President Obama said Sony Pictures Entertainment had made a mistake pulling the movie “The Interview," and defended normalizing relations with Cuba in his last press conference of the year before heading to Hawaii for vacation.

“We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” he said of the cyber attack during which embarrassing emails were made public.

Here are the main topics that he addressed during the exchange with the press, during which he only called on female reporters.

North Korea

On the day that the FBI identified North Korea as the source of the cyber-attacks on Sony, Obama refused to reveal what the U.S. response would be other than to say it would be proportional and in a place and time of U.S. choosing.

He said that although he sympathized with Sony, he wished its executives had talked to him before making the decision on “The Interview.”

“We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” he said.

If Sony could be intimidated over the release of a satirical movie, imagine what might happen if the issue were a documentary or a news report, he said. Even worse, imagine if producers and other start engaging in self-censorship, he said.

"That's not what America's about," he said.

Cuba

Obama said he shared worries that Cuba would fail to address human right or move toward democracy.

“This is still a regime that oppresses its people,” he said.

But he said he believed normalizing relations, announced this week by his administration, would give the United States more leverage over Cuba. Visiting Americans and better access to telecommunications and the Internet will chip away at what he called a hermetically sealed society and offer the best prospect for self determination, he said.

“Change is going to come to Cuba,” he said. “It has to.”

The country’s economy does not work and it can no longer rely on subsidies from allies such as Venezuela.

He recounted that in his conversation with Cuba President Raul Castro, after Obama had apologized for his 15-minute opening, Castro told him that he was a young man and still had time to break Fidel Castro’s record for speaking for seven hours straight.

State of Race Relations

Black Americans like the rest of Americans are better off than when he took office, Obama said, though the income and wealth gap between black and white America remained.

He said that educational changes his administration has initiated have meant higher high school graduation rates and record numbers of people attending college.

Race relations are now "colored" by police shootings in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, and the perception that law enforcement was not fair, he said.

He said a task force he created would return with practical changes that could be implemented.

“People are basically good and have good intentions,” he said.

Systems and institutions don’t always work as well as they should and can be fixed, he said.

Dealing With Congress

Obama said he would continue to take unilateral actions on issues important to the American people if Congress failed to act.

Immigration was the classic example, he said. He acted only after the House failed to move on a comprehensive bill passed by the Senate.

If Republicans were angered by his executive actions, he said, “There is a very simple solution: Pass bills.”

He urged Republicans to work with him because both sides would have to compromise.

Obama again said that the Keystone XL pipeline would not have much effect on gas prices in the United States, but instead would benefit the Canadian oil industry. The pipeline would bring oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, where it would enter the world oil market.

He said he hoped to work with Republicans on fairness in the tax system, particularly involving corporations. Some are paying taxes at a rate of 35 percent, others of which are paying nothing.

Economy

Obama touted America's economic gains and said the country could enter the new year confident that the United States was making strides.

This year was the strongest for job growth since the 1990s; over a 57-month period, businesses had created nearly 11 million new jobs, he said. About 10 million Americans have gained health insurance in the past year. Deficits has been cut by about two-thirds since he took office.

"America's resurgence is real," he said.
 

A judge has given the green light on the proposed placement of a sexually violent predator into a Jacumba home.

No community members showed up to give their opinion at Friday morning's hearing at the Downtown San Diego courthouse where Judge Louis Hanoian said he didn't find any legal barrier against the placement of 49-year-old Gary Snavely.

The diagnosed pedophile will now move into 45612 Old Highway 80 under a conditional release by Feb. 20.

The home is about a mile away from Jacumba Elementary School. There are about 600 people living in the area, according to the 2010 census.

In total, ten letters opposing the placement were submitted, including one from San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

Judge Louis Hanoian said the decision was not made lightly. He said Snavely will be closely monitored and will get treatment. He doesn't believe Snavely is not a danger to society anymore.

The diagnosed pedophile was originally supposed to be placed in Borrego Springs by the Department of State Hospitals, but the landlord took back his offer to rent the property after finding out he would be renting to a sexually violent predator. The man currently renting was shocked to find about the proposed placement.

In 1987, Snavely was convicted of molesting two young girls in Orange County. The molestations included fondling and oral copulation. He served three years in prison. He was later arrested for a patrol violation.

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 District Attorney'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 back in August.

Anti-police sentiment has materialized in the form of graffiti along a busy avenue in West Philadelphia.

Three messages were scribbled in spray paint on a fence, bar and abandoned church on Baltimore Avenue between 48th and 50th streets.

They read "PPD Killed Brandon Tate Brown," "F--- the Cops" and "Cop Lives Don't Matter."

Brandon Tate Brown is the man shot in the head and killed by a Philadelphia Police officer on Monday following an altercation during a traffic stop. The last message is a play on the chant "Black Lives Matter" that demonstrators have been using recently while protesting against police treatment of African-Americans.

The protests in Philadelphia and other cities around the nation began after grand juries declined to indict white officers in two high profile cases surrounding the deaths of unarmed black teen Michael Brown and the chokehold death of Eric Garner.

It's not clear when the structures were tagged.

"Back in the day you could really run to a cop and trust the cop, but now people are scared to go to cops," nearby resident Sharon Weaver said after seeing the message on the fence.

Kale Good, another resident, said he doesn't agree with defacing a person's property, but that he understands how a person might feel it's the only way to have their voice heard.

"I think what the person is trying to express is that they feel police in general are disregarding their lives or aren't valuing their lives, and so they probably feel an amount of frustration and this is how they expressed it," he said.

A painter was removing the "Cop Lives Don't Matter" message from the fence around noon Friday.

"It’s a shame that someone defaced someone else’s property. We’re going to handle it as a vandalism case, just like we would any other,” Philadelphia Police spokeswoman Tanya Little said.

Little said it is one person's point of view and that the department has and continues to have positive interactions with the community.

"Regardless what the message said, even if it said ‘I love the police,’ this was really a crime against someone else, the property owner," she said.

There were no leads or an estimate on the vandalism's cost, police said.

The city would handle removing the other messages, Mayor Michael Nutter's spokesman, Mark McDonald, said. He didn't immediately have further comment on the graffiti.

NBC10 also reached out to the police union, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, for reaction.

The physical anti-police commentary comes a day after city leaders condemned online commentary by a Philadelphia Fire Department paramedic.

The medic, who works in Southwest Philadelphia, posted a photo to his personal Instagram account of two black men pointing guns at the head of a white police officer. The accompanying message said: "Our real enemy ... Need 2 stop pointing guns at each other and at the ones that's legally killing us and innocents."

The post has since been deleted, an apology made and investigation launched.

A rally in support of the city's men and women in blue is being held on Friday night in the Mayfair section of the city. According to the event's Facebook group, more than 2,000 people said they planned to attend.

There was a lot said at President Barack Obama’s annual year-end press conference, but it was who he spoke to during the conference that had people talking.

The President took questions from reporters at the end of his speech, but he only called on female reporters, a move that set the Twittersphere ablaze.

Eight women posed questions during the conference, asking Obama about the Sony hacks, Cuba, race relations, the economy and more.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed after the event that the move was in fact intentional.

"The fact is, there are many women from a variety of news organizations who day-in and day-out do the hard work of covering the President of the United States. As the questioner list started to come together, we realized that we had a unique opportunity to highlight that fact at the President’s closely watched, end of the year news conference," Earnest said, according to Politico.

While seemingly subtle, the move didn’t go unnoticed by viewers.

A Waukegan woman has filed an application to trademark Eric Garner’s dying words, “I can’t breathe.”

Catherine Crump, 57, submitted her request to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 13 in hopes of registering the phrase for use on apparel such as “hoodies and t-shirts for men, women, boys, girls, and infants.”

In the application acquired by the Smoking Gun, Crump claims to have been using the term for merchandising since “at least” Aug. 18, one month after Garner’s fatal arrest.

The July video of a NYPD officer placing a chokehold on unarmed Garner for selling loose cigarettes went viral after the father of six was seen shoved to the ground pleading, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe” in his final moments of life.

When a grand jury decided not to indict the officer who killed him protesters erupted nationwide using, “I can’t breathe,” as their battle cry against police brutality.

Crump told the Smoking Gun she has “nothing to do with the Garner family,” and did not speak with them regarding her intentions to trademark the term.

A San Diego couple has a wedding proposal they'll always remember after a Navy technician popped the question to his unsuspecting girlfriend during Friday's "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

"I had an idea this was coming, but I had no idea when or how," the lucky bride-to-be Andrea Nguyen told NBC 7. "By far that exceeded my expectations."

Nguyen may have not known when, but her now-fiance Josh Swain knew it had to happen soon. Come Jan. 24, he will be stationed in Hawaii and then deploy from there.

"I was looking for an idea, I really didn't know what I was going to do," Swain said.

The opportunity came Monday after Nguyen called him excitedly about a chance encounter she had at the UTC mall. A producer for "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" approached her with a chance to win tickets to Ellen's "12 Days of Giveaways." Nguyen was on her way to the show after winning a game on the spot.

With only four days to set up the proposal, Swain quickly called the show's producers. By Tuesday night, he was given the green light.

The couple attended the show taping Thursday, and while Nyugen was ecstatic for the chance to meet and hug Ellen, the moment was about to get even better.

The talk show host called the couple up during the show, Swain got on one knee and asked the big question. His girlfriend of four years said yes.

"It still hasnt hit me," Nguyen told NBC 7.

"Words can't describe, we've been really blessed," Swain added."This year, I really didn't know what was going to happen with my orders, but things just started aligning."

The couple now plans to wed Jan. 2, just weeks before Swain is set to leave to Hawaii. They're planning on something small and local.

Ellen DeGeneres is definitely invited to the wedding, they added.

The organizer of a grass roots weekend of events during next year’s Balboa Park centennial celebration has just pulled the plug on his efforts — blaming city bureaucracy.

Attorney David Lundin cited “recent arbitrary and capricious actions by staff” in a letter to volunteers, friends, the news media and city officials.

The centennial commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, which brought San Diego worldwide recognition.

Celebration planning got off to a false start, then regained some footing after San Diego's first official Centennial organizers spent millions of public dollars with nothing concrete to show.

Since then the city then stepped in with a modest program of events involving the park's museums and galleries.

Lundin’s group of volunteers formed to put on a weekend of historical-themed festivities in mid-September next year.

"It's 'turn the clock back,' it's period music, period costumes,” Lundin told NBC 7 in early November. “It reflects on 'How did the park get built in 1915? Why is it cool? And how can we preserve and maintain it to make it better over the next 100 years?'"

But Lundin now says city staff gave him snarls through red tape, imposed unreasonable requirements, and ran out the clock on his efforts to secure corporate funding in a timely fashion.

Carolyn Wormser, the city's special events director disagrees, saying he was unable to meet what's expected of everyone seeking use of municipal facilities.

"Mr. Lundin at times has wanted special treatment and waivers of fees,” Wormser said in an interview Friday. “And he has wanted space to store equipment and a lot of things that we just can't do with the use of public property and public access."

Responded Lundin: “The real question is why city and special events leadership never said ‘What can we do to help expedite this and make it successful?”

Wormser said she recognizes that first-time special event organizers face a learning curve they may not be fully prepared to undertake.

"Sometimes it's a challenge to do not only all that the city needs, but to find sponsors and funding sources and participants in the events,” she explained. “And all of those came together. And sadly, sometimes the city is blamed for that."

City Hall observers see the original Centennial planners as having undergone a similar experience.

"I think maybe what we've learned is that it's easier to get these things moving from inside city government,” said Andrew Keatts, who covers civic issues for the Voice of San Diego.

"The city seems to have succeeded, to put together some additional events and make some things happen,” Keatts pointed out. “But important to note — it's way scaled back from what the initial discussion was."

In all, the city expects to spend more than $33 million getting the park ready for the Centennial, most of that, on infrastructure and facility upgrades.

CalTrans has invested $38 million in further retrofits to the Cabrillo Bridge, leading into Balboa Park from the west.

A pedestrian, possibly in a wheelchair, was hit by a car in unincorporated El Cajon, according to California Highway Patrol.

The accident happened just after 5 p.m. Friday at the corner of East Bradley Avenue and North Magnolia Avenue. CHP said a Kia sedan hit the pedestrian.

The victim was unconscious and transported to Sharp Memorial, according to Heartland Fire Department. Details on the driver are still unclear.

This story is developing. Check back here for updates.

A San Diego judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by the family whose round-the-world sailing expedition ended with a military rescue in April when their 1-year-old became sick.

Eric and Charlotte Kaufman filed the lawsuit in July, blaming their broken Whenever Communications satellite phone for the loss of their boat, the Rebel Heart, after they were rescued hundreds of miles off the Mexican coast.

Their attorney Dan Gilleon said the suit claims if the Kaufmans had not lost service, they would have gotten medical advice over the phone instead of calling in the Coast Guard.

The judge ruled Wednesday that the Kaufman’s phone contract stated any lawsuits against the company must be filed in Florida, where Whenever Communications is centered. The case was then dismissed.

Gilleon says the family plans to refile in Florida court.

The phone company’s attorney Matthew Herron told NBC 7 this case should never should have come to San Diego in the first place and he is pleased the judge sided with him. He said Whenever Communications was in the process of switching SIM card providers, so another company was responsible for shutting off the Kaufman’s phone service.

Eric, Charlotte and their daughters, a 3-year-old and a 1-year old, were two weeks into their sailing adventure when the 36-foot boat lost its steering and communication abilities. At the same time, the youngest, Lyra, became seriously ill with diarrhea, a rash and vomiting.

Desperate for help, her parents messaged the Coast Guard, which launched a rescue effort with the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing. The Navy’s USS Vandegrift picked up the family after pararescuemen jumped from a helicopter into the ocean to board the Rebel Heart and stabilize Lyra.

The sailboat was sunk for safety reasons, rescuers said, and the Kaufmans were taken back to San Diego.

The ill-fated trip attracted national attention and widespread debate about the families taking young children on open ocean journeys.
 

An Amtrak train on its way to San Diego struck a person while traveling through the eastern Los Angeles area.

The incident happened Friday evening near the Montebello/Commerce Metrolink Station, delaying passengers for more than an hour.

The victim's condition has not been released.

According to Metrolink, three tracks in the area were shut down. Metrolink's Orange County and Riverside lines will be backed up, as will Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner.