A Chula Vista 12-year-old girl has been found safe Tuesday afternoon, a day after disappearing.

The girl was reunited with her mom, as of 2 p.m.

Police said the girl disappeared from Chula Vista at 4 p.m. Monday and may have been in the Ocean Beach area several hours later.

Tuesday morning, Chula Vista police told NBC 7 they thought the girl had been found safe at a relative's house. However, later in the morning police said they had been mistaken and the girl had not yet been found.

Police said she was found safe on Tuesday afternoon.

Police said the girl did not have a history of running away and they are still sorting out the circumstances that led to her disappearance.

A pedestrian was seriously injured Monday night after being struck by a driver at the La Jolla Village Drive and Lebon Drive intersection in the University City neighborhood.

The 44-year-old man who is visiting from Texas was crossing at the east crosswalk as two vehicles were approaching the intersection, San Diego police said.

The driver of the first vehicle saw the pedestrian and stopped. The driver of the second vehicle, however, did not see the man and struck him just after 11 p.m., police said.

The pedestrian suffered a serious head injury and was taken to a local hospital. His condition early Tuesday morning wasn’t immediately known.

Police have not released the name of anyone involved in the crash.
Police said alcohol was not believed to be a factor.

The San Diego Police Department’s traffic division is investigating the crash.

Lakeside farmer Frank Hilliker looks at the changes on his ranch this way: "It's like chicken Disneyland."

Hilliker is talking about the changes he's made to his egg farm to comply with a California law that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015.

The law goes back to Proposition 2 that was passed by voters in 2008. It bans close confinement of farm animals in cramped cages and crates.

So California farmers have been forced to make their cages bigger with fewer chickens per cage or eliminate the cages altogether, an option chosen by Frank Hilliker.

"Right now it's a learning curve," said Hilliker, "learning how to feed them properly in a cage-free environment. Learning how to care for them because it's a different ballgame than when they are in cages."

Hilliker's ranch has converted one of the barns to cage-free. It cost more than $200,000 for the conversion, and the barn now holds half the number of chickens.

That's one reason the price of eggs has jumped more than 80¢ a dozen in the last few months.

Farmers say the new methods often require fewer chickens in the same space.

"There's more labor obviously entailed in a cage-free operation," said Hilliker, "because every day you have to go on an egg hunt."

California cannot keep up with its own egg demand but out-of-state farms that want to furnish eggs must also meet the state requirements. Despite legal action, farms in the Midwest and South must follow the law to sell eggs in California. That could also be driving up prices.

A major shift in unauthorized immigration into the United States has just reached a historic benchmark.

For the first time on record, more non-Mexicans are being apprehended along U.S. borders than Mexican nationals, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

Since the turn of the century, what was a flood of incoming undocumented Mexican immigrants has slowed dramatically — from a three-decade peak of 1.6 million in fiscal year 2000, to 809,000 in 2007 and 229,000 in the fiscal year that ended Oct. 31.

Unauthorized, non-Mexican immigrant apprehensions numbered 257,000 — a total led by a surge of fleeing Central American refugees, including 52,000 unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Binational scholars have pointed out that Mexico's birthrate has been in decline and its demographics changing to the point where the cross-border social and economic dynamics of years past don't carry the same push and pull.

And the results can be seen by those who patrol the borders with boots on the ground.

"If you look at it, it's economics,” said Gabe Pacheco, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council’s union Local 1613.

In an interview Monday, Pacheco noted a Pew report finding that unauthorized Mexican immigrant adults are staying in the U.S. for a median of 13 years, versus eight years a decade earlier.

“People don't want to give what it takes to come across the border,” Pacheco told NBC 7. “(They’re) looking at three to ten thousand dollars to come across, to be smuggled over by organizations."

Non-Mexicans can't be returned to their home countries as easily as Mexicans can — and not to Mexico, period.

"The situation in Mexico has gotten better; there's more security at the border,” said Border Angels founder Enrique Morones. “ People don't want have to come and risk their lives dying crossing the desert … Today we need to have humane policies so that there can be, for the first time, a line for these people that are risking their lives in the desert to get into."

But former U.S. Attorney Peter Nunez cautions that Mexico remains an inviting gateway to the U.S. for unauthorized immigrants of all nationalities: "We are being gamed by poor people around the world who know exactly what I've been saying — this isn't a secret to anybody — get to Mexico, get yourself to the border, and you're home free."

Nunez cited a 90 percent no-show rate for immigrants given hearing dates for immigration proceedings.

“For the next two years at least, we’re going to be at the mercy of every person who wants to come here illegally,” he said. “Wherever they are in the world, we're powerless to stop them."

According to the Pew analysis of 60 years of Border Patrol statistics, it's been 45 years since the agency apprehended as few unauthorized Mexican immigrants as it just has.

And back then, they represented 20 times the number of non-Mexican apprehensions.

The report also found that unauthorized Asian immigrant totals are catching up with those for Central Americans.

A Southern California special education teacher is hoping his DUI checkpoint app will help keep drunken drivers off the road this New Year's holiday and year-round.

Geno Rose, a high school teacher from Anaheim Hills, worked with a San Diego developer to create the DUI Dodger app, a searchable app in which users can not only find checkpoints across the country but also upload locations for others to see.

The idea for the app sparked when Rose and his wife got stuck in a checkpoint as their newborn son cried in the back seat, he told NBC4.

"The baby was crying and had a dirty diaper, so I was hoping to get home quick and stumbled upon a DUI checkpoint," he said. "I was sitting in the checkpoint and I said, 'There's got to be a way to know these are up ahead.'"

Rose designed the app in February 2011 to not only prevent drivers from drinking and getting behind the wheel, but also to help sober drivers get where they need to go more quickly.

"You don't have to be drinking to want to use (the app)," Rose said.

The app enables users view and submit checkpoints by marking a map location where they spotted one. It also comes with a Walk the Line test that measures a person's stability as they walk while holding the phone, and a Blood Alcohol Content level calculator.

A message displayed during the tests tell users the results are "for entertainment purposes only," and instructs them, "Use common sense and just do not drink and drive at all."

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) spoke out about the app, noting that while authorities often announce checkpoints in advance to ultimately deter drunken driving, the priority is for people to only drive sober no matter what.

"Regardless of how the information is distributed, we just want people to not drink and drive and get home safely," MADD spokeswoman Amy George said.

While MADD said it does not support apps with BAC calculators because is gives the user a "false sense of security that it's safe to drive" when it isn't, the advocacy group said checkpoints help prevent DUIs.

"Would-be drunk drivers hear the message that if they drive drunk, they will get caught. Would-be drunk drivers then see law enforcement out in force, creating a strong deterrent effect, preventing people from driving drunk in the first place," MADD National President Jan Withers said in a statement.

Some US senators have opposed the checkpoint finder app because it could help drunken drivers evade checkpoints and avoid consequences, Rose said.

"The last thing we want to do is promote drunk driving," Rose said. "I've heard that argument, but people are going to do what they're going to do. I hope it makes them think twice or three times before doing it."

The DUI Dodger app is available for download in the Apple Store for $2.99.

A motorcyclist died Tuesday afternoon following a collision with a minivan in Oceanside.

Oceanside police said the collision happened at 2 p.m. at the intersection of North River Road and Festival Drive.

The motorcyclist was riding west on North River Road at a high rate of speed when he hit a white Toyota van broadside as the Toyota was making a left turn onto Festival Drive, according to a news release from the Oceanside Police Department.

The male motorcyclist died at the scene. The driver of the minivan was taken to the Tri City Medical Center, police said; the extent of the driver’s injuries weren’t immediately known.

Police are advising drivers to avoid the intersection for the next several hours, as traffic will be limited; Festival Drive at the scene is closed and the eastbound left turn lane on North River Road also is closed.

Anyone with information on the crash should call Oceanside police at 760-435-4911.

A man arrested on suspicion of setting his girlfriend on fire was found dead in jail Tuesday, San Diego County Sheriff's officials confirmed.

Vidal Webb, 41, jumped from the second tier of jail cells onto the day room floor, according to the sheriff's department. Jail medical staff tried to save him, but Webb was pronounced dead at 10:21 a.m.

Investigators say Webb may have started a fire inside a Poway home early Sunday morning. Those inside told deputies a woman was on fire, so they tried to save her by dumping water on her.

The woman, Webb's girlfriend, was taken to the UCSD Medical Center's burn center, where she is in critical condition.

Webb and the woman, who had known each other for 25 years, had been having a dayslong argument before the fire started, according to detectives.

Webb was not at the Poway home when deputies arrived to investigate, so a manhunt for the suspect ensued. An anonymous tip led them to a City Heights residence.

There, they found Webb, who refused to come out for nine hours -- three of which were spent negotiating with deputies. Finally, at about midnight, he emerged with his hands up.

He was booked into jail on suspicion of arson causing great bodily injury and attempted murder.

The exact cause and manner of his death will be released by the medical examiner's office at a later time.

Three more women have come forward saying they were molested by a former East County elementary school teacher, bringing the total number to eight.

On Tuesday, seven of the eight alleged victims started testifying in a preliminary hearing against Robert Anderson, 59.

The alleged incidents took place between 2003 and 2013, when Anderson was teaching fifth and sixth grades at Dehesa Elementary School in El Cajon, California.

One by one, the former students – now in their 20s – took the stand in Judge Kirvin’s courtroom. They said students would sit on Mr. Anderson’s lap and that sitting on the teacher’s lap was kind of a status symbol.

"He would choose someone in the classroom to sit on his lap. It was a stature thing, where girls wanted to sit on his lap. It made us feel special at the time,” one woman testified.

But that alleged victim says things changed.

"I was sitting in his lap, and he reached into my underpants and touched me inappropriately,” she said.

Some of the women came forward years ago, and Anderson’s defense attorney Kerry Armstrong says their stories have changed since then.

“The core of the stories don’t deviate, but the details, there are a lot of deviation in that. That’s why I keep walking up there with prior transcripts with what they said before. Maybe they said the left thigh before versus the right thigh now. To me, that’s big,” Armstrong said.

“This is 10, 11 years ago. Which student was standing at the desk or how many kids were standing in the classroom or in the classroom at the same time? It’s natural for them not to recall those types of details, but they never wavered on what they actually did to him,” said prosecutor Chantal De Mauregne.

The defense plans to call an investigator who had the case years ago when no charges were filed.

Because of the sensitive nature of the testimony, cameras were not allowed in the courtroom Tuesday. Anderson appeared much thinner than in the past.

The judge is expected to decide Wednesday whether or not he will stand trial.

Anderson was arrested in September and has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of committing a lewd act on a child. If convicted, he faces 22 years in prison.
 

Boston police say seven teens attacked two officers who were trying to arrest one of them Monday in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood, an accusation one of the arrested teens told NECN was “a lie."

Woobenson Morisset, 19, and Lorcien Morisset, 18, both from Dorchester, were arrested after police say they "kicked, punched and choked" two officers, a man and a woman, as they tried to arrest the older teen on a warrant. The teens were both arraigned Tuesday.

Police say a 17-year-old boy and four girls between the ages of 13 and 16 also joined in the alleged attack at a home on Wayne Street.

Lorcien Morisset denied the accusation that he and his relatives had attacked the officers.

"That's a lie," he told NECN. "We didn't touch them."

"They took us — me, my sister and cousins, plus my brother," he added.

Police said at a press conference that the officers were treated and released from a hospital.

A startup owner is reeling after his drone business was broken into for the second time in just a matter of months.

Owner Ben Lepoff said his store, EZ Drone in the Miramar Village Shopping Center, has been open less than two years, yet they’ve already dealt with two break-ins.

The most recent happened on Sunday, when a suspect backed a truck onto the grass out front, propped a ladder on the building, climbed to a second-story window and broke the glass with an ax, according to Lepoff.

The person then raided the store, taking custom helicopters, repair jobs and their entire stock of Go Pro cameras. Whoever was responsible apparently had extensive knowledge about the EZ Drone location.

“The building [manager] tells us that the cameras on the building were turned away by him at night,” said Lepoff, “so he walked and turned the cameras away. And then he came through a back window in the second story, so obviously no entrance way that we'd be able to protect.”

The owner said the suspect threw the goods out the window before climbing down the ladder once again, possibly breaking the equipment.

The first break-in happened months before but was much simpler, with the suspect entering through the front door.

“It's pretty devastating. The first time wasn't that bad because there wasn't that much stolen and we kind of had prepared our store for that situation,” said Lepoff. “Obviously someone entering through a second story window you can't prepare for. This one's gonna hurt a lot worse, it's definitely going to set us back.”

Still, he said his customers have been understanding, and the building management is considering building a vault for them to store their higher-end projects.

As he deals with insurance claims and making his business more secure, Lepoff warns that if you see a cheap deal on drones or Go Pros, it may be too good to be true. If you suspect goods may be stolen from EZ Drone, Lepoff asks that you call the store at 858-751-4644.
 

The city of San Diego is warning drivers of an email scheme that uses parking violation notices to access personal computers, robbing them of a lot more than the $40 it says they owe.

The sophisticated phishing attack is just now hitting the area. The scammers send emails that appear to be from the city, warning victims they have an outstanding parking ticket. They are told to pay $40 and click on a link.

By pressing the suggested link, you could infect your computer with malware, possibly exposing sensitive identity information, according to city spokesman Bill Harris.

“It was using the city's good name to get people to do inappropriate things. We're angry about it,” said Harris.

San Diego’s traffic department is warning visitors to its website about this scheme. In the last 48 hours, the city has been inundated with complaint calls from all over the country.

Victim Dennis Bond got hooked in a similar PayPal phishing scheme a few years back. A bogus email warned his account would be closed if he didn't respond. Two hours after doing what was requested, $1,800 disappeared from his bank account.

“It was horrible at the time. I don't know but at the time, I had $20,000 in the account. They could have taken the whole thing,” Bond said.

So when he got an email notice saying he had an outstanding parking ticket in Philadelphia, a place he had never been, Dennis didn't bite.

“I don't trust anything I don't know,” Bond said.

Harris told NBC 7 the city’s parking administration does not contact you by email, so if you get a notice about a delinquent parking ticket from the city of San Diego or elsewhere, don't open it nor click the suggested link.

Instead, log on to SanDiego.gov, the only legitimate website to determine whether you have a traffic violation in the area.

San Diego is just the latest city used in this phishing scheme. It has previously appeared in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Houston and Los Angeles.

The emails offer no clues as to where they are coming from or any connection between those who have received them.
 

A pregnant woman who went into labor on a plane taking off from San Francisco forced the emergency landing of the flight Wednesday morning, less than a month after a baby was actually born on a separate flight also out of SFO.

Delta Airlines Flight 2566 left San Francisco International Airport at 6:49 a.m. but made the emergency landing in Salt Lake City at about 9:30 a.m. local time, Salt Lake City airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann told NBC Bay Area. The plane was headed for Minneapolis.

Gann could not provide further details on the woman's condition, saying on that she was pregnant and was taken to the hospital. But a watch commander said it was his understanding that the woman went into labor.

Once the woman was taken off the plane, the flight resumed to Minneapolis. Gann said she didn't know how long the delay took.

On Dec. 9, a Phoenix-bound Southwest Airlines flight that took off from San Francisco had to land in Los Angeles after a woman on board actually delivered a baby on board, with the assistance of a doctor and nurse who just happened to be on board.

Not to be outdone by airplanes, another baby decided to be born on a subway train in Philadelphia on Christmas Day.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Unprepared SoCal residents rushed to stores to purchase clothes and other essentials as the first cold snap of the winter hit Tuesday.

Many were forced wear shorts and sweatshirts for their shopping excursions as temperatures hit near record lows.

James Allen of Palmdale was one of those who discovered his wardrobe was not up to the task of keeping him warm this winter, with the current storm casuing temperatures to plunge.

"It’s freezing, very cold, very cold. I don't even have a jacket so two sweaters, but I need to go buy a jacket," Allen said.

Marissa Schultz had travelled home to Palmdale from San Diego to see in the New Year, and as soon as arrived headed to Target with her family to buy a new jacket

"I brought two sweatshirts with me and went, that's not going to work, it’s too cold." Schultz said, "It was a lot colder than I expected it to be, so I was like 'ahhhh,I need a jacket."

The storm, which has come in from Canada, has brought near record lows, widespread snow and caused temperatures in the Antelope Valley will be dipping down into the 20's overnight.

Sylvia Mendoza made an emergency visit to Home Depot  buying a heater for her home in Littlerock. 

"It’s kind of hard to keep the kids warm, we have grandkids and they come and visit. It’s cold, it goes through your bones, it's cold," Mendoza said.

Firefighters rescued hundreds of motorists stranded due to the storm at Mount Baldy and Crestline overnight. 

Near the Mount Baldy ski area approximately 25  people were stranded, while further down the mountain near Mount Baldy Village another two dozen motorists awaited rescue. 

Rescue operations were completed at around 3 a.m, and a total of 40 people were sheltered at Mount Baldy Lodge, while  others were shuttled to Fire Station 12 in San Antonio Heights, San Bernardino County Fire Department said.

Calls began coming in from stranded motorists around 7 p.m. Tuesday, as drivers found increasing difficulty negotiating the 10 percent grade and tight hairpin bends on the descent from the Baldy ski lifts. The ski lifts are situated at an altitude of about 6,000 feet. 

In nearby Crestline, a total of 136 motorists in dozens of vehicles became stranded on State Highway 138 from one mile north of Old Mill Road to Pilot Rock.

An incident command post was established, and County Fire crews from High Desert, Crest Forest and Lake Arrowhead came to their aid. No serious collisions or medical emergencies were initially reported.

A total of 50 rescued persons were eventually sheltered at the First Baptist Church in Crestline. Some motorists were either able to eventually drive away as plows cleared snow on the periphery of the incident. Still others abandoned their vehicles and walked to shelter or were able to reach their homes.

The National Weather Service said the winter storm that hit Southern California overnight would bring snow levels down to 2,000 feet in some areas.

City News Service contributed to this report

Hasbro Inc. says it will replace a Play-Doh toy that looks similar to a penis.

The syringe-like "extruder tool" is part of Play-Doh's Cake Mountain toy. It squeezes modeling compound through a round tube with corkscrew-type ridges around the outside and a dome-shaped top.

Its phallic appearance upset some parents.

An Oklahoma TV station blurred the image of it when it did a piece about the complaints in November. Since Christmas, Play-Doh's Facebook page has received thousands of comments about it, saying it looked like a penis or a sex toy.

Some were upset. Others thought it was funny.

The Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based company says it is replacing the tool in future sets. It also says it will replace it for anyone who already bought one.

Click here to see an image of the controversial Play-Doh "extruder tool."

California lawmakers passed over 900 new laws that will go into effect in 2015. Here’s a look at the ones that’ll bring some of the biggest changes:

• Immigrants’ Driver's Licenses (AB 60) -- The DMV must issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants who meet every other qualification, like passing driving tests. About 1.4 million people without U.S. citizenship are expected to apply in the first three years.

• 'Yes Means Yes' (SB 967) -- To receive state funding, colleges must only consider sex consensual if both parties actively agree to it and are not drunk or passed out, throwing out the old refrain of “no means no” and replacing it with "yes means yes." California becomes the first state in the nation to use this rubric for sexual consent.

• • Calif. Governor Issues 105 Pardons, Retracts 1

  Groundwater Management (SB 1168, 1739, 1319) - A sweeping set of groundwater regulations that requires local water agencies to manage how much water is drawn from wells, making California the last Western state to end “pump-as-you-please” rules during a severe drought. 

• Plastic Bag Ban (SB 270) -- Grocery stores across California must follow the lead of cities like Los Angeles and stop bagging items in single-use plastic bags and allowing them to charge 10¢ for paper bags, the first statewide plastic bag ban in the nation.

• Audrie’s Law (SB 838) -- Teenagers convicted of sexually assaulting someone who is unconscious or can't give consent will face stiffer punishments, including mandatory sexual-offender treatment. The bill is named for Audrie Pott, a teenager who killed herself after photos surfaced of her sexual assault.

• Selfie Revenge Porn Rights (SB 1255) -- Expanding a law that makes it a misdemeanor to distribute a naked picture of someone, often in an act of revenge, even if the photo was originally taken by the naked person.

• Sex Abuse Rights (SB 926) -- Children who claim they’re victims of a sex crime have until their 40th birthday to file charges, up from their 28th birthday. (Applies only to crimes committed on or after January 1, 2015.

• Mandatory Sick Leave (AB 1522) -- Starting July 1, anyone who works for 30 days is eligible to accrue sick pay under this law, known as the "Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act." About 6.5 million workers are estimated to be affected by the law.

• Massage Parlor Oversight (AB 1147) -- Local governments get greater oversight of massage parlors, which have been used as a front for sex trafficking.

• Gun Owner Welfare Check (SB 505) -- Requires law enforcement agencies to encourage their officers to consult with gun ownership records when conducting welfare checks -- something agents didn’t do before Isla Vista shooter Elliott Rodger killed six people in May.

PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) - Authorities say there's no indication of criminal activity in the death of a 27-year-old California woman whose body was found in September in the Nevada desert.

Nye County deputies said Tuesday that autopsies were conducted by two agencies, but neither could determine what caused Margay Edwards, a recent San Diego State University student, to collapse and die several miles away from her disabled vehicle.

Edwards was from Los Osos, California. Her body was found Sept. 25 by all-terrain vehicle riders near a dirt trail outside the community of Pahrump.

Investigators said Edwards last contacted her family in mid-September.

Her rental car was found nine days later, stuck in a ravine with a flat tire and bumper damage and two cellphones and a computer inside. Footprints in Edwards' shoe size were found leading away from the vehicle.

A naked man running through traffic on Interstate 8 in La Mesa caused a minor traffic backup and two minor accidents, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The man was seen running through traffic lanes at about 11:15 a.m. State troopers said the situation led to two minor accidents, thought it was unclear whether the man was the driver of one of the accidents.

Troopers arrived and detained the man. He was taken to the San Diego County Mental Health Department, troopers said.

Westbound traffic was briefly backed up on I-8.

Residents in Fallbrook, Murrieta and Temecula got a rare treat this New Year’s Eve morning: Measureable snow for the first time in years.

Seldom do the snow levels drop as low as 1,500 feet – the elevation at Fallbrook – but temperatures dipped down to freezing, leading to several inches of snow across the lowland parts.

“People were running outside in their pajamas,” NBC 7 meteorologist Jodi Kodesh said of messages she received from friends and viewers. “I thought it was awesome.”

The last time snow elevations dropped down to 1,500 was two years ago, said National Weather Service meteorologist James Thomas. However, that weather event did not produce significant snowfall, as was seen on Wednesday morning.

Thomas said the weather service is still collecting data on the last significant snowfall in that area.

One Murrieta resident told NBC 7 the last time he's seen measureable snowfall there was in 2004.

Between 2 and 2.5 inches of snow fell in Murrieta and 3 inches accumulated on the south side of Temecula, Thomas said. Fallbrook snowfall was estimated at 1 inch.

The snow was awesome to see, yes, but the unusual early morning snowfall led to a major traffic backup on Interstate 15 between Fallbrook and Temecula. The snow was falling so hard that crews couldn’t get snow plows out on the roads fast enough, Kodesh said.

Traffic was shutdown on the 15 near Clinton Keith Road at about 3 a.m.. According to published reports, the snow caused a number of drivers to be stranded in their cars.

“Cars were forced to stop,” Kodesh said. “They couldn’t even drive.”

As of 8 a.m., traffic appears to be running smoothly again.

Will the rare lowland snow continue into midmorning? Kodesh said with temperatures warming up and the moisture departing, it looks like it was only an early morning rare treat.