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Two More Flu Deaths Reported in San Diego County

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Two more people have died from flu-related deaths, bringing the total for the season so far to four, health officials said Wednesday.

The residents were an 88-year-old man and an 86-year-old woman, both of whom had underlying medical conditions, a news release from the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency said.

An 88-year-old woman, who died on Jan. 4, and an 85-year-old woman, who died on Jan. 6., also passed away from similar causes.

Scripps Hospitals have also put in place several visitor restrictions at their hospitals around San Diego in an effort to protect staff and patients from the flu.

The temporary measures put in place Monday aim to prevent flu infections following news from the County’s Health and Human Services that two people in San Diego died from the flu earlier in January.

All visitors will be screened starting Monday, Scripps spokesman Leonel Sanchez said, and those visitors displaying flu-like symptoms will be asked to leave.

Those regulations include not allowing children 14 years old and under inside the hospital – including lobbies and common areas -- unless they are patients or have appointments, Sanchez said. Patients will also be limited to a maximum of four visitors a day.

Influenza caused the death of 70 San Diego residents last fall and winter – the highest number since county health officials began tracking the illness.

Health officials are urging residents to get vaccinated despite the fact that this year’s vaccine is not as effective of a match for one of the strains. The vaccine is a match for other strains, however, and officials have said that partial protection is better than no protection as it helps prevent the severity of the illness.

Health officials said influenza this winter is spreading and sickening San Diegans at a faster rate than last year’s flu season: there have been 263 confirmed cases to date, more than double last year’s number.

Nationwide, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has described this flu season as an “epidemic.”



Photo Credit: NBC 5 News

Recorded Bomb Threat Locks Down San Ysidro HS

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Students at San Ysidro High School were evacuated to the football field after the school received a bomb threat Wednesday morning.

A secretary received the call at 10:12 a.m. It was a recorded message that stated a bomb could go off in a few minutes, according to the San Diego Police Department.

Officials placed the school on lockdown and sent students to the football field, according to the Sweetwater Union High School District.

Students were allowed to return to their classrooms around 11 a.m.

Police are still at San Ysidro High School investigating. There is no word yet where the threat originated.

Check back for updates.



Photo Credit: NBC 7 News Chopper

Gang Conspiracy Charges Still Stand for San Diego Rapper

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San Diego rapper and gang member Brandon Duncan, a.k.a. "Tiny Doo," was not one of the five members of a criminal gang conspiracy case that had charges dropped in court Wednesday, the District Attorney's office said.

A group of 33 active gang members are a part of a high-profile case related to 24 shootings in recent years, including three murders in Southeast San Diego. Because of the number of defendants, the case was split up and assigned to two different judges.

For five of the defendants, one of those judges dismissed a specific conspiracy charge that "allows prosecutors to charge active gang members who had knowledge of the gang’s violent activities and who are promoting, assisting and benefiting from the violent crimes committed by their fellow gang members and to hold them responsible for their involvement," a release said.

Duncan, however, was not one of those defendants.

"Defendant and active gang member Brandon Duncan, aka Tiny Doo, is only charged with one count of PC 182.5, Criminal Street Gang Conspiracy to Commit a Felony," said District Attorney spokesperson Steve Walker. "That charge remains in place as of today. A judge dismissed that specific charge for 5 out of the 33 defendants. Duncan is not one of them."

More than 30 of the defendants are still facing multiple criminal charges, some of them federal. Law enforcement reports gang shootings in Southeast San Diego have gone down by more than 50 percent since the defendants were arrested last year.

A judge declared Wednesday that Duncan is an active member of the Lincoln Park gang and is therefore still facing the original gang conspiracy charges.

Deputy District Attorney Dana Greisen said although song lyrics are used as evidence in the case, it is not the only evidence in the case.

“Rap lyrics have been used by prosecutors across the United States for years as just one piece of evidence to show active gang participation," Greisen said. "Rap lyrics have never been used by the San Diego District Attorney’s Office as the only evidence to prove someone is an active gang member."

At Duncan's preliminary hearing, prosecutors also presented social media posts they say proved he was an active gang member.

The DA's office said the case is not about First Amendment rights; it's about gang conspiracy, the knowledge of criminal gang activity and those who benefit from it. Prosecutors claim Duncan benefited from gang activities through album sales, even though no evidence connects him to the actual shootings.

But Duncan's defense attorney argued in court in December that the charges are bogus.

“How can someone benefit from a gang shooting unless you wanted that person dead also?” said Brian Watkins, Duncan’s defense attorney, last month. “That's the only way you can benefit from a gang shooting, but the district attorney's office admits that Brandon Duncan had no involvement in the shooting or even knowledge of the shootings. There's no way you can benefit from something you didn't even have knowledge of.”

Walker said the charges filed were appropriate and the district attorney's office remains committed to the protection of innocent community members affected by these "heinous crimes."

“The focus is holding violent individuals accountable for crimes that terrorized a neighborhood,” Walker said. “Criminal charges against these defendants were filed appropriately under this specific law, which was put in place by voters to stop deadly gang violence and hold active gang members accountable. It’s our hope that this week’s rulings will lead to clarification on how we can use this statute to fight the scourge of criminal street gangs.”

Duncan and six of his co-defendants are due in court again Friday.



Photo Credit: NBC 7

Injured SDPD Officer Has Faced Tragedy Before

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The San Diego Police Officer hospitalized Wednesday after he was run down by a suspect driving a police patrol vehicle has faced tragedy before.

In 2011, Officer Jeffrey Swett joined hundreds of his colleagues as they streamed into a Point Loma church to honor his fallen partner, San Diego Police Officer Jason Prokop.

“Jason said that I'll be the best partner you ever had. And he was,” Swett said during the funeral.

Now it's Swett who the department is pulling for after he was rushed to the hospital Tuesday night.

Swett was interviewing witnesses to a burglary in an alley near Main and Una streets in Barrio Logan just after 10:30 p.m.

Somehow a man got into Swett's Ford Explorer and struck Swett -- who was standing nearby -- causing Swett to fall on the vehicle's hood. The suspect continued to accelerate with the officer still on the hood, according to SDPD spokesperson Lt. Mike Hastings.

Swett fell from the hood of the SUV and suffered what are being described as "serious, serious" injuries.

Four years earlier, Swett's partner was killed in the line of duty. Officer Prokop was 34-years-old when he was struck and killed by a vehicle as he attempted to cross a stretch of the Interstate 15 in Mira Mesa during the early morning hours of October 2.

Swett is expected to survive his injuries. Officials say he suffered a wound to the lower area of his body.

The 25-year veteran works for Central Division. He was honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for working to keep drunk drivers off the roads. He was also one of the 11 officers in 2011 to receive the 2011 Century Award, given to officers that netted 100 DUI arrests or more.


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Suspected Measles Closes Urgent Care in La Mesa

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Sharp Health Care temporarily closed its Rees-Stealy Urgent Care in La Mesa as officials investigate several reported cases of measles, which may be tied to an outbreak at Disneyland.

Six siblings, ranging in age from 22 months to 18 years old, came into the urgent care at 5525 Grossmont Center Drive about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. The urgent care is on the first floor of a medical plaza, across the street from the hospital's emergency room.

Once employees realized all six had rashes and measles-like symptoms, caretakers masked them, isolated them and got doctors and nurses involved, according to Sharp Marketing and Communications Manager Frances Schnall.

They then closed down the facility, posting a sign and two triage nurses at the door to turn away people.

Officials also talked with those in the same room as the possible measles patients. They wrote down each person's name and asked if they are up-to-date on their measles vaccinations. Schnall said the information for about 40 people will be handed over to county health officials for tracking.

Doctors and nurses have tested the potential measles patients and sent those samples to the county. It's unclear when the results of the tests will be released.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads through the air by coughing and sneezing. Since it is airborne, the urgent care had to wait a certain time before the air inside circulated and was clean. They also did a thorough cleaning of the area, disinfecting everything from top to bottom.

By Wednesday evening, all six patients were sent home, and just before 6 p.m., the urgent care was reopened.

All other departments in the Sharp complex operated as usual. Officials said their caregivers are trained to treat such cases and are taking "every precaution to protect the safety of all patients and staff."

If the tests come back positive for measles, these six cases could be linked to a measles outbreak which has been traced back to Disneyland resort. Twenty-six people in four states have been sickened after visiting the theme park between Dec. 17 and Dec. 20, 2014.

Two of the siblings went to Disneyland during that time period, according to Dr. Wilma Wooten with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.

Three confirmed measles patients live in San Diego. Two of the local cases — a pair of siblings — visited the Parkway Plaza Mall in El Cajon on Dec. 29, possibly exposing others, county health officials warned. Another measles case was confirmed Tuesday. All local patients never had to be hospitalized.

Early symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two to three days in, tiny white spots may develop inside the mouth. After three to five days, the distinctive rash begins to form.

The health officers told NBC 7 they expect the number of California cases to grow as they confirm new instances of the virus. A local pediatrician called the outbreak "alarming" and blames the recent anti-vaccine movement for spreading a disease for which there is already an immunization.



Photo Credit: Danya Bacchus
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Police Investigating Two Potentially Linked Robberies

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Police are investigating two separate armed robberies with very similar descriptions and motives.

One robbery happened in Kearny Mesa on the 4800 block of Convoy Street while the second happened at a Little Caesars Pizza restaurant on the 1600 block of Bernardo Center Drive in Rancho Bernardo, police said.

Suspects in the Kearny Mesa robbery left the Yakyudori restaurant hit one of the employees in the head with a gun before making off with cash. The employee suffered minor injuries.

The two suspects in the Kearny Mesa robbery were described as men in their late 20s, one wearing a dark-colored hooded top and another wearing a navy-colored hooded top.

At the Little Caesars Pizza, police said the suspects robbed one of the employees and left with money from the restaurant. The suspects in this robbery have similar descriptions to the earlier robbery.

Police said the suspects are described as in their 20s. one wore a gray hooded top and the other a dark-colored hooded top.

Police have not yet said if these robberies are linked to a series of ten similar robberies last month involving the so-called Random Bandits. The bandits displayed a similar pattern.

"Exceptional Drought" Expands in Parts of CA

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Nearly 100 percent of California remains in drought after only light to moderate rain fell in parts of the state during early January, according to this most recent report from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The percentage of the state in "Exceptional Drought," the most severe of the Monitor's five categories, increased from 33 percent to nearly 40 percent since last week. Ninety-eight percent of the state is under at least one drought category, representing no change since last week.

At the start of October, more than 58 percent of the state was in "Exceptional Drought" and 100 percent of the state was under some type of drought.

Minor improvements were reported in west-central California, including Marin, Sonoma, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.

"Farther east, improvement has not been as resilient in much of the Sacramento Valley," according to a Drought Monitor statement.

The state's water reservoirs have been well below normal during the three-year dry spell. Reservoirs near and north of the Sacramento Valley are above critically low levels at the start of the water year in October, but water-year-to-date totals have dropped back to near average after last month's storms brought precipitation to the region.

The disappointing state of the Sierra Nevada snowpack is another concern. Springtime runoff from the mountains provides a vital source of water for agricultural areas and heavily populated cities south of the range. "Exceptional Drought" expanded along and east of the central and southern Sierra Nevadas.

"Subnormal winter precipitation has combined with abnormal warmth to leave Sierra Nevada snowpack well short of the historic mid-January average in central and southern parts of the range," according to the Monitor statement. "Since October 1, 2014, precipitation totals are 3 inches to locally over a foot below normal from the slopes of eastern Fresno and adjacent Inyo Counties northward through eastern Nevada County."

The mountain runoff supplies about a third of the water needed by residents, agriculture and industry as it melts in the late spring and summer.

The start of 2015 marked on year since Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the state and called for a 20-percent reduction in water use as the state's reservoirs reached critically low levels and Sierra snowpack diminished.

The latest Water Resources Control Board figures show Californians are having a tough time reaching that goal. Californians cut overall water use by 9.8 percent in November compared to the same period a year ago.

Click the map below for a larger view.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Faulconer's Chargers Stadium Plan

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In his first State of the City address, Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced he wants to build a new Chargers stadium and make smooth all roads leading to it.

Could Fracking Cause Quakes? Scientists Disagree Over Recent Texas Swarm

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A swarm of recent earthquakes that has rattled residents in and around Irving, Texas, has sparked a disagreement among seismologists over how to determine whether fracking could be to blame.

On the one side, the seismologist for the regulatory agency overseeing the state's oil and gas industry said he sees no connection between the two.

“There are no oil and gas disposal wells in Dallas County,” Craig Pearson, the seismologist for the Texas Railroad Commission, said in a statement. “And I see no linkage between oil and gas activity and these recent earthquakes in Irving.”

But a geophysicist from the U.S. Geological Survey said an investigation must look at all possibilities.

“It’s too early for us to say that we don’t see any connections yet,” said Robert Williams, a coordinator with the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program in Golden, Colorado. “We don’t want to rule anything out at this point.”

And an investigation into whether fracking could be responsible should look at wells over a greater area than the Railroad Commission would consider, Williams said. Recent studies have shown larger distances between wastewater disposal wells and the earthquakes associated with them, he said.

Seventeen earthquakes have been recorded around Irving, Texas, near the old Texas Stadium, since Jan. 6 and 38 since the beginning of last year — all for an area that has historically seen few earthquakes. They are the latest in a series of earthquakes since 2008. Researchers found a plausible connection between earlier earthquakes and waste water disposal wells, and the question now is whether the latest earthquakes are occurring naturally or linked to fracking.

A team from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas has installed 22 new seismographs in the area, some of which are feeding directly back to the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, to pinpoint precise locations of the quakes and then to look for the active fault or faults.

“We’re really in the dark about faults right there in Irving, Texas, that might be responsible,” Williams said. “We don’t know the fault structure really at all."

The researchers are in the first stage of trying to determine why the earthquakes, all of which have been small, are occurring.

"Only after we get that data will we be in a position to investigate the potential cause of the earthquakes," said Heather DeShon, an associate professor of physics at Southern Methodist University, in a statement.

Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a process used to maximize the extraction of oil and natural gas. A mixture of water and chemicals is pumped into wells at high pressure to fracture the rock so that oil or natural gas can flow, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Once the tracking is completed, the fluids may be injected into waste-disposal wells.

There are no disposal wells in Dallas County, where the earthquakes have occurred, according to the Railroad Commission. The closest well is 10 miles away. Models of subsurface flow used to establish rules related to earthquakes provide no evidence that there would be increased pressure beyond 5.6 miles or a 100-square-mile area, according Railroad Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye.

In addition, the commission notes that two gas wells near the Irving earthquakes are inactive; one has not produced since 2012, the other never produced.

But Williams with the USGS said that new research published last year in the journal Science showed a potential connection between high volume waste water disposal wells in Oklahoma and earthquakes generated 12 to 18 miles away. The lead author, Katie Kernanen, is an assistant professor of seismology at Cornell University in New York.

Pearson does not believe that the Oklahoma study is related to the earthquakes in Texas, his office responded. Pearson began reviewing the earthquake data in November, and is coordinating an exchange of information between the seismic researchers at Southern Methodist University and the oil and gas industry, according to Nye, the commission's spokeswomen.

"Dr. Pearson is focused on what’s happening here in Texas," she wrote in an email.

"Specifically, the disposal well operation more than 10 miles away from Irving is not disposing of high volumes, and the geology in Texas is different from geology in Oklahoma," she wrote.

There were more than 400,000 active oil and gas wells in Texas as of the end of December and more than 35,000 wastewater injection wells, according to the commission.

At what the Texas Railroad Commission defines as an “injection well,” the fluid is re-injected to extract additional oil from depleted reservoirs. At a “disposal well,” the fluid is injected into areas that are not producing oil or gas. The vast majority of wells in Texas are injection wells; there are about 7,500 disposal wells.

There have been more than 120 earthquakes in North Texas since 2008, according to Southern Methodist University. All of them have been considered small, with the largest occurring in 2013 at magnitude 3.7. Before that an earthquake large enough to be felt had not been reported since 1950.

The recent earthquakes are the fourth in a series of clusters: near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in 2008 and 2009, in Cleburne between 2009 and 2010 and in the Reno-Azle area between 2013 and 2014.

Southern Methodist University researchers found that waste water wells were a plausible cause for the clusters at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport and in Cleburne. A report on the Reno-Azle area has not been published yet.

The researchers cautioned that there were still many unanswered questions. Though they found a correlation between the earthquakes near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and saltwater injection wells, for example, they said they did not have complete information about how porous the rocks were, the path the fluids took, and how that might induce an earthquake.

The study noted there were more than 200 saltwater disposal wells active in the production of natural gas in the area where the Barnett Shale formation traps gas deposits in subsurface rock.

“If the DFW earthquakes were caused by saltwater injection or other activities associated with producing gas, it is puzzling why there are only one or two areas of felt seismicity," the study said.

One of the university's seismologists, Brian Stump, is scheduled to address the Irving City Council on Thursday on what information might be expected from the instruments that have been installed and the university's past studies.

Though recent studies have looked at the relation between earthquakes and disposal wells, a much smaller number have looked at the fracking itself. One published in January in The Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America linked earthquakes outside of Youngstown, Ohio, in March to fracking.

“These were attributed directly to the hydraulic process itself,” said one of the study’s authors, Robert Skoumal, a graduate student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. “This is not waste water injection. This is hydraulic fracturing that reactivated a pre-existing fault.


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SD Explained: Operation Lemon Drop

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The San Diego County Sheriff's Department is using piles of data to target people it says are prolific criminals through Operation Lemon Drop. NBC 7's Catherine Garcia and the Voice of San Diego's Andrew Keatts explain why this has to do with prison overcrowding in this week's San Diego Explained.

Photo Credit: San Diego County Sheriff's Dept.

Man Says Shooting Cops "Easy: NYPD

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A 32-year-old Brooklyn man was arrested this week after he allegedly said it would be "easy to shoot a police officer" and then pointed an iPhone at two officers sitting in their patrol car at a traffic light, according to the NYPD.

Unique Johnson was arrested Tuesday night after two police say he allegedly pointed an iPhone at them as though it were a gun and mimicked a shooting motion twice when the SUV he was driving pulled up next to the officers’ patrol car at West 125th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Police said Johnson's car sped off once the light turned green, leaving the two officers terrified by the ordeal.

"I absolutely thought we were dead," said one of the officers.

The officers pulled over Johnson’s SUV a moment later, the NYPD says. When they asked Johnson what he was thinking when he pointed the phone at them, he allegedly said he was showing one of the six coworkers in his vehicle how easy he thought it would be to shoot an on-duty cop.

Johnson is charged with menacing a police officer, harassment, disorderly conduct and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. It's not clear if he has an attorney.

The arrest comes days after the NYPD issued a memo to all rank-and-file officers telling them to stay alert for possible attacks following the deaths of three police officers in last week's terror attacks in France and the re-release of an Islamic State video calling for supporters to kill authority figures.

The memo advises officers to pay attention to approaching cars and pedestrians as well as their hands. It also told officers stationed with cruisers at fixed locations to split up, with one officer sitting inside the car and another standing outside to look for possible threats.

Johnson is one of nearly 30 people to be arrested after making alleged threats against police officers following the deaths of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, who were both shot and killed while sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn last month.

The department says it has investigated 126 threats against officers since the shootings.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Hiker Rescued at Cowles Mountain

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Officials are responding to a report of an injured hiker at Cowles Mountain in San Carlos near Barker Way and Boulder Lake Avenue, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said.

Firefighters have made their way to the patient and are working to bring her down the trail, SDFD said.

The extent of the hiker’s injuries is unknown.

NBC 7 Newschopper spotted several emergency vehicles by an entrance to the canyon preparing to rescue the hiker.

Wedding Nightmares Over Pope Visit

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Nearly everything was set by the end of August.

The church was chosen, hall booked. The groomsmen would wear gray tuxes and light blue dresses for the bridesmaids. At the reception, there will be touches of the Jersey Shore — the place where Brittany Lowell and Jeff Doney first went steady.

“I'm not a huge fan of flowers, so I am incorporating other things in place of flowers and I am planning on making everything — bouquets, centerpieces, place cards,” Lowell said of her upcoming wedding on Saturday, September 26.

Everything was going smoothly and then last November planning hit a big roadblock: Pope Francis.

The leader of the world’s largest Christian church confirmed he'd make his first trip to the United States and spending three days in Philadelphia from September 25-27 to take part in the World Meeting of Families conference and deliver mass to some 2 million people.

“As soon as that happened I went into panic mode,” the 26-year-old legal secretary and dance instructor from Northeast Philly said.

It’s not the serious influx of visitors or the traffic or the increased security that is causing a snag, rather, finding a place for the newlyweds-to-be and their guests to stay.

Anticipating the pontiff’s trip, hotels blacked out large portions of the 30,000 rooms in the Philadelphia region to accommodate visitors for the Catholic conference and historic visit. The couple called hotels around their venue in Southampton, Bucks County, in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Each time, they were told there was either no room at the inn or they needed to book extended stays, Lowell said.

“It’s been a nightmare,” she said. “A lot of hotels said that they were completely booked and the ones that weren’t said they were $300 a night and had a three-night minimum. No one’s going to pay $1,000 to stay for our wedding and we can’t ask anyone to do that.”

Lowell and Doney have guests traveling from South Carolina, the Jersey Shore and Delaware County. She says even though the latter two are driving distance, they’re concerned about people driving home after the nuptials.

Adam D’Alonzo and Amy Vandegrift have the same concerns. They booked their wedding for Friday, September 25 in Ambler, Montgomery County. That’s the day Pope Francis is set to arrive. They went far in their planning before finding out booking hotels is near impossible.

“We do have family coming from California and Florida. I have family from South Philly as well,” D’Alonzo, a 27-year-old nurse from Bensalem, told NBC10. “I don’t know what the area is going to be like around that time, too, with all the people in town, so even driving may be a problem.”

Like the other couple, they called hotels all over, but have been unable find reasonable rooms. They considered looking in Atlantic City, reaching out to bed-and-breakfasts or asking family to house people from far away, but are still looking for a miracle.

“We’re kinda hoping that some hotels are going to open up,” D’Alonzo said.

“I think some people were hoping for the hotel thing. I think they’re kind of disappointed by it, but I don’t really have a choice,” added Vandegrift, a 23-year-old nursing student.

Ed Grose, Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, said the only real option for couples is to move their wedding date.

“The papal visit is the biggest event in our generation in Philadelphia and the economic impact and the jobs and the exposure for the city is priceless,” he said. “I’m very sympathetic and I hope that the 10 months’ notice was enough.”

Cathy Gough and Jason DeCampli did move their date. Their Great Gasby-inspired wedding was originally set for Saturday, September 26, at Stotesbury Mansion right off Rittenhouse Square. The square is where they got engaged.

DeCampli, a 38-year-old architect from Woodbury, New Jersey, said some hotels would begin the room blocking process before turning around and saying rooms were blacked out. Not getting help from the hotels, he called the city. He didn’t fare any better.

“It was interesting process and it was hard. No one would help. Do I have any options? We’re spending a ton of money, it would be nice if someone could offer some suggestions,” he said.

Luckily, their venue was able to switch the date without penalty and they hadn’t booked many vendors.

“I’m glad I’m a procrastinator, I guess,” said Gough, a 36-year-old high school librarian.

But for others, moving the date is not such an easy decision.

“If you don’t do the wedding, you have to bet on 10-plus vendors being able to change the date,” said Lowell. “We would lose so much money.”

Grose said he hopes vendors would give couples a break with rescheduling their weddings. “Something of the magnitude of a papal visit, I would hope that the vendors of a wedding would understand and work with their clients,” he said.

Lowell was able to secure a small room block at a Bucks County hotel, but expects her 200-person head count to drop. They included a warning to their guests in Save the Dates sent out this weekend.

“Something that’s so positive for the city and so positive for Catholics is turning out to be not so positive for me,” she said. “I’m honestly surprised that the priest hasn’t called to cancel it yet. That was my first worry.”

Still, all three couples agree Pope Francis’ visit is great for the city and they’re trying to make the best of the situation.

“We definitely say we’ll never forget it. We’ll take the memory,” D’Alonzo said.

Quipped Gough: “If it had to happen, the pope seems like a pretty cool guy. If the date had to be moved for someone, he’s a good reason."


Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter and Facebook.



Photo Credit: AP/Toni Cameron Photography
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K9 Promoted to Join Escondido Police Detectives

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The Escondido police will be welcoming one new detective this week…a little furrier than the rest of its colleagues.

Jena, an eight-year-old German Shepherd born in Czech Republic, was the first K9 to become a detective in the department’s history.

She joined the police department in 2010 and has worked as a Patrol K9 her entire career. Jena searched for suspects and evidence such as narcotics, assisting officers in apprehending violent offenders and providing demonstrations to community members.

As a Patrol K9, she worked to find drugs on suspects or in vehicles. She located those drugs or suspects 88 times and was used more than 1,000 times in her time as a Patrol K9.

Jena was promoted so detectives could use her skills to assist detectives with narcotic interdiction.

Police said she would also not be subject to the physical demands of a patrol service dog.

7th Suspected Measles Case: Officials

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A seventh suspected case of measles has been reported in San Diego County, health officials said Thursday.

The person is "closely connected" to the six previous cases reported Wednesday after Sharp Health Care temporarily closed its Rees-Steely Urgent Care center in La Mesa.

If confirmed, this new case would bring the county total to 10 since the outbreak began, officials said.

More than two dozen people in four states have been sickened after visiting the Disneyland theme parks between Dec. 17 and Dec. 20, 2014.

NBC 7 has learned that county health officials are working to collect a detailed account of places where the patients have been to alert residents of potential exposure.

Six siblings, ranging in age from 22 months to 18 years old, sought treatment at an urgent care center across from Grossmont Center Wednesday morning.  Test results were expected by end of the day Thursday to confirm if the six patients have the measles.

None of the seven people with measles were ever vaccinated, officials said.

Dr. Robert Bjork, a Scripps Health pediatrician, said for the first time, physicians are recommending measles vaccines for babies as young as 6 months of age.

"It’s probably wise for domestic travelers who are taking 6-month-old babies on an airliner to get them vaccinated," Bjork told NBC 7 Thursday.

Currently the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends all children get two doses of MMR vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12 through 15 months of age, and the second dose at 4 through 6 years of age. Children can receive the second dose earlier as long as it is at least 28 days after the first dose.

Bjork said he's seeing more concern among parents and members of the medical community.

"We thought it was just going to be a small limited phenomenon, with a limited number of cases but what we've seen in the last year is a record number of 644 confirmed measles cases in the United States," Bjork said.

"We're very concerned and it's expanded much more rapidly than we thought."

None of the patients in San Diego County needed to be hospitalized.

The 40 or so people at the urgent care who may have been exposed have been identified for tracking by county officials.

Early symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two to three days in, tiny white spots may develop inside the mouth. After three to five days, the distinctive rash begins to form.


Millionaires Make Up Half of Congress: Report

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Congress is getting richer and seeing its number of millionaire members grow, as average Americans continue to struggle to recover from years of economic distress, according to a new report.

The median net worth of a member of Congress hit nearly $1.03 million by the end of 2013, an analysis of financial disclosure forms by the Center for Responsive Politics found. That figure, up 2.5 percent fron the previous year, makes the body's average elected representative 18 times richer than the average American household, which one recent study found was worth about $56,000 the same year.

In all, Center for Responsive Politics identified 271 millionaires elected to federal office— about half the total membership of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. That's up slighly from the year before, when the group counted  at least 268 millionaires.

 “At a time when income inequality is much debated, the representatives we choose are overwhelmingly affluent,” CRP’s Executive Director Sheila Krumholz said in a statement. “Whether voters elect them because they are successful or because people of modest means do not run, or for other reasons, is unclear, but struggling Americans should not assume that their elected officials understand their circumstances.“

The Senate is the wealthier of the two bodies, with a median net worth of $2.97 million compared to the House of Representatives' $843,000.

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of California led both houses with an estimated net worth of $448.4 million. At $254 million, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., was the wealthiest senator, the group found.

Not all members boast anywhere close to those nine-figure sums, though. About two dozen members, including Rep. David Valadao, a Republican from California who was named Congress' least wealthy member, reported being in the red.

Click here to read the full report.



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San Diego Airport Unveils Remodel Proposals

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Four different proposals to revamp San Diego International Airport’s Terminal 1 were unveiled on Thursday.

The airport’s authority board reviewed the four ideas, which include a linear look, a satellite look (with one of the concourse being accessed by a pedestrian bridge), a courtyard setting or an open-air courtyard.

After receiving input from the public, business and community leaders, board officials say the open-air courtyard concept is the most popular. They say it has a compact and efficient look and the open-air setting would be unique to San Diego.

The board hopes to decide on one of the concepts by the end of the year. The planning period will conclude in 2017 and groundbreaking and construction won't begin until a finance plan has been determined.

The airport development plan, not including the building and construction, will cost $6.5 million and will be paid by airport revenues and not taxes.



Photo Credit: NBC 7

New Hospice Care Center Opens in Bonita

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A new Sharp HospiceCare center opened in Bonita Thursday, the first of its kind in the South Bay.

BonitaView Home celebrated the grand opening of its newest 6,100 square foot residence on Valley Vista Road. The project first broke ground last June and is the first in the area for end-of-life care designed around the needs of patients and their families.

The home has six large patient rooms with private patios, a wheelchair-accessible garden patio overlooking a valley, a spacious living room, kitchen, dining room, library, and a meditation room.

Additionally, Sharp HospiceCare operates two other hospice residences, one in La Mesa and another in Del Cerro.



Photo Credit: David Villasenor

Immigrants Can Now Get Mexican Birth Certificates in US

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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- The Mexican government Thursday began issuing birth certificates to its citizens at its consulates in the United States to make it easier for immigrants to obtain U.S. work permits, driver's licenses and protection from deportation.

Until now, Mexico has required its citizens to get birth certificates at government offices in Mexico. Many of those living in the U.S. ask friends and relatives back home to retrieve the paperwork, but the delay can hold up their applications for various benefits.

Now, even as Republicans in Congress try to undo President Barack Obama's plan to shield millions of immigrants living illegally in the U.S., Mexico is trying to help them apply for programs that would allow them to remain in this country and continue sending money back to relatives across the border.

"It is a huge help. It helps individuals really begin to formulate their formal identity in this country," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

About half the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally are from Mexico, and immigration experts say roughly 3 million of them could be eligible to apply for work permits and protection from deportation under the administration's plan.

People applying to stay in this country will probably have to produce photo ID, such as a passport. And a birth certificate is necessary to get a passport.

About two weeks ago, California -- home to more Mexicans than any other state -- began issuing driver's licenses to immigrants who are in the country illegally.

From now on, Mexico's 50 consulates in the U.S. will be able to get access to data maintained by regional governments in Mexico and print birth certificates, said Arturo Sanchez, consul for press and commercial affairs in Santa Ana, California.

Consulates should be able to issue birth certificates for nearly all places in Mexico, though some villages where documents are not digitally recorded may not be covered, Sanchez said.

Over the past year, the Santa Ana consulate has seen a surge in the demand for documents. Daily appointments have jumped by a third to nearly 400, with many people trying to get birth certificates, Sanchez said.

Those who cross the border illegally to reach the United States rarely carry documents with them on the treacherous journey, partly to avoid detection. And many Mexicans born in remote, rural communities do not make the necessary journey to the nearest government office to obtain a birth certificate, Salas said.

The move comes a day after House Republicans voted to overturn Obama's immigration policies and remove protection for immigrants brought illegally to America as children.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, who represents a San Diego-area congressional district, complained that U.S. and Mexican policies have combined to send more people across the border illegally.

"The administration's position and efforts seem to better align with Mexico's interests than they do with our own -- and that's disappointing," he said.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said she believes Mexico is trying to make it easier for its citizens to stay here because of the money they send back.

Mexican migrant workers living abroad sent home $21.6 billion to their families in 2013, according to the country's central bank.

Vaughan, whose organization wants tighter limits on immigration, said ensuring birth certificates are authentic is critical because they are used to obtain key identity documents such as passports.

"If we can trust the Mexican government to do its due diligence and establish a system with integrity, then this will work," she said. But she added: "That is a big if."



Photo Credit: Getty Images

I-5 Ramp to SR-52 to Close Tonight

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Attention, drivers: The ramp from northbound Interstate 5 to State Route 52 will be closed Thursday night until early Friday morning.

Also, the ramp from northbound State Route 125 to westbound SR-52 will closed from 11 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday, as Caltrans crews perform bridge maintenance.

These detours will be setup during the closures:

  • Northbound I-5 drivers will be directed to exit at Gilman Drive/La Jolla Colony Drive and then take southbound I-5 to eastbound SR-52.
  • Northbound SR-125 drivers will be guided to westbound Mission Gorge Road and then to westbound SR-52.
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