A man was killed when his motorcycle hit a guard rail and crashed into a gully along State Route 78 Sunday.
Members of the Black Hawks motorcycle club wearing red and white jackets were visibly upset following the crash on San Pasqual Valley Road around 2 p.m.
The motorcyclist was approaching Old Milky Way Road when he lost control according to San Diego police.
Officers said they believe speed played a role in the accident.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. He has not yet been identified by the county’s medical examiner or San Diego police investigators.
Seth MacFarlane’s clever, if somewhat protracted, opening bit at Sunday night’s Academy Awards starred his hero, Captain Kirk, who traveled back in time to prevent a hosting performance certain to earn the wrath of Hollywood.
Kirk/William Shatner showed “clips” typical of the MacFarlane we’ve come to expect from “Family Guy” and “Ted” – he sang a number called “We Saw Your Boobs” that named names (and movies), mounted a sophomoric sock puppet version of “Flight” and creepily came on to Sally Field while hovering in a “Flying Nun” outfit.
But with the encouragement of Kirk/Shatner, viewers also were treated to more traditionally Oscar-friendly fare as MacFarlane used the pleasing singing voice that once crudely derided “The Freaking FCC” to croon “The Way You Look Tonight,” “High Hopes” and a gentle parody of “Be Our Guest.”
The comically schizophrenic opening set the tone for a night in which MacFarlane tried to have it both ways – morphing before a worldwide audience from a “Family Guy” to a self-mocking “Oscar Guy.” Not that it always proved a smooth transition during a broadcast whose strength and weakness both rested in being a made-for-TV affair more rooted at times in MacFarlane’s television sensibility than in the movies.
Still, whatever the final critical consensus, “boring” shouldn’t be among the top adjectives to describe MacFarlane’s frequently funny Oscars turn. He tweaked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for snubbing Ben Affleck in the Best Director category for “Argo,” even if he couldn’t help likening the filmmaker to a Kardashian. MacFarlane got tentative laughs with a quip about Daniel Day-Lewis’s round-the-clock method-acting approach to “Lincoln” (“If you bumped into Don Cheadle on the lot, would you try to free him?”). A crack about the prevalence of an insidious slur in “Django Unchained” (“I’m told the screenplay is loosely based on Mel Gibson’s voicemail”) elicited groans.
The Hollywood audience didn’t know how to react to another “Lincoln”-inspired one-liner that invoked the most infamous thespian of them all: “I would argue that the actor who really got into Lincoln’s head was John Wilkes Booth.”
MacFarlane quickly made it clear, even if he was somewhat subdued compared to his usual bawdy TV oeuvre, that he was playing less to the stars in the seats of the Dolby Theatre than to the Peter Griffins in Quahogs across the globe (or at least in the U.S.).
His jokes, taste-pushing and otherwise, helped keep the 3 1/2-hour ABC broadcast moving at a reasonable pace, which came as a relief after recent years of lackluster Oscar nights. MacFarlane provided balance between the scathing wit that Ricky Gervais brought to the Golden Globes from 2010 to 2012, and the more all-around talents required by the Academy Awards. His song-and-dance talent aided the cause in a year in which Oscar celebrated music.
MacFarlane knew coming in he’d be viewed with skepticism by the usual Tinseltown crowd, and drew laughs stressing his outsider status not only in his opening but via his fuzzy, foul-mouthed alter ego Ted, who wanted the address of “the big post-Oscars Hollywood orgy.” He also knew he’d be compared to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who earned raves hosting the Globes last month. MacFarlane turned that into a joke, too – and making himself, like everyone else in the crowd, fair game for barbs.
“Why couldn’t they just get Tina and Amy to host?” Kirk/Shatner asked.
MacFarlane said they’d be in his place next year. Maybe. But give him credit for injecting a breath of fresh – as in cheeky – air that at times propelled the 85th Annual Academy Awards into comic territory where no Oscars broadcast has gone before.
A 24-year-old man shot at two pit bulls, killing one, as the dogs attacked a woman and her horse on a San Dimas equestrian trail on Saturday, police said.
The equestrian, identified as Yvette Picconi, 47, was riding her horse, Mecca, on a trail near the San Dimas Equestrian Center when dogs got loose from either a residence or a pit bull dog rescue facility, officials said.
Picconi suffered minor scrapes in the attack that happened near Foothill Boulevard and Walnut Avenue just before 9 a.m., officials said. The woman's horse suffered a 10-inch gash on its leg.
“She's distraught, horribly distraught,” said Shelley Kresan of her friend Picconi. “After the first bite, the horse tried to run off. And the horse collapsed with my friend still on the back of the horse ...”
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies said a neighbor who saw the attack tried to fight the dogs off using a flashlight. The man called for help when one of the dogs latched onto the horse and locked down on its leg.
A relative of that person, identified as John Eichler, 24, of San Dimas, used a rifle to shoot the dog, killing it, said Lt. David Vega, of the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
“They had to shoot him several times to get him to stop,” Vega said, adding that no arrests were made.
Kresan said she believes the man’s quick action saved her friend’s life.
“It could've been a lot worse,” Kresan said.
Officials said the other dog was taken by animal control officers, who will decide whether to cite or charge the dogs’ owners. The dogs may have come from a yard of a residence or a pit bull rescue, officials said.
A San Diego teenager’s film based on her emotional true life story won an Academy Award Sunday.
Inocente Izucar, 19, detailed her dark past in a documentary titled "Inocente." The film was nominated for best documentary in the short subject category.
"For me, the biggest thing was because we won, more people will see it," Inocente told NBC 7 the day after her big win. "Because of this honor we have, hopefully I'll be able to inspire more people and hopefully be able to talk to people and show them how never giving up and following your dreams can get you so far in life."
In the 40-minute documentary, the film tells the story of not only an undocumented homeless young immigrant, but a girl whose mother once tried to commit suicide and a father deported for domestic abuse.
"I didn't understand that we were illegal," Izucar told NBC San Diego. "My mom didn't really tell us so we were left in the dark, which was a good thing 'cause no little kid wants to be scared that he's gonna be deported."
Izucar describes her father beating her in the film, saying that he would find any reason he could to hit her.
Using art as her outlet, she found the support she needed through a program called "ARTS: A reason to survive."
ARTS is a National City nonprofit that provides everything from therapeutic arts programming to education, for at-risk youth.
Matt D’Arrigo, who founded the organization, said the film sends a message about arts education, homelessness and immigration.
"She puts a face to all of it and she's a real person with feelings and I think it's such an important tool that can hopefully have an impact to show that she's not just a number or a statistic that this is what's happening in America," he said.
Izucar’s painful story took the teen from homeless to Hollywood.
"Man, I think everybody cried when we heard it was up for an Oscar," D’Arrigo said.
Izucar attended the Academy Awards with the filmmakers on Sunday. She said she was nervous, but couldn't wait to be reunited with everyone who helped put this film together.
"Because of the fact that it's nominated I think more people will see it," said Izucar. "And that's the biggest thing for me."
Europe’s widening horse meat scandal, which has seen thousands of packages of beef products pulled from store shelves, suddenly stole the attention of U.S. audiences Monday when IKEA announced that a batch of Swedish meatballs tested positive for traces of equine DNA.
Though Ikea products in the U.S. come from North American suppliers and are therefore considered safe, familiarity with the international furniture giant’s miniature meatballs was enough to stir up the mix of outrage and humor in the U.S. that has been reverberating throughout Western Europe for more than a month.
“Gross, these are in my freezer!” tweeted @lisagooder, an editor in New York.
Modern Seinfeld, a twitter account devoted to imagining “Seinfeld” episodes around current events, used the opportunity to invent a scene in which character George Costanza complains to Jerry Seinfeld about the unfair advantage horses have over other animals that are routinely devoured without hesitation.
“Cow is fine but not horse? It’s animal racism, Jerry!"
In fact, the aversion to horse meat runs deep in the states, and attempts by daring chefs and restaurateurs to serve horse-based dishes have elicited passionate and even violent responses.
Last week, the owner of Monsu, a restaurant in Philadelphia, was threatened after announcing his plan to add horsemeat to the menu.
“They called into the restaurant and said, ‘You guys start cooking horses, I am going to blow up your restaurant,’” Peter McAndrews told NBC10.com.
M. Wells Dinette, a New York eatery that has served everything from goat liver to beef tongue, pulled plans to serve horse tartare, which it had been touting, after animal rights advocates whipped up more than 1,000 signatures on a change.org petition in opposition to the addition.
The strong reactions, Food Museum co-founder Meredith Sayles said, come from the American perception of horses as something more than just animals.
“In the U.S. and U.K. horses are almost considered pets,” Sayles said. “And we don’t eat our pets.”
Unlike cows, which have long been used for food products ranging from milk to beef, horses have had more of a noble history in North America.
When Spaniards brought their horses to the Americas, Sayles said, they were quickly viewed by Native Americans as important means of transportation. Since then, they have become even more ingrained in American culture through their beloved roles in literature and cinema.
Consider "Flicka," Sayles suggests, a 2006 movie about the relationship between a girl and a wild mustang.
A 2011 Government Accountability report on the subject of horse slaughter in the U.S. — another topic that has stirred up heated debate — noted that many advocates of reviving a federal ban cite the “horse’s iconic role in helping to settle the American West," its history on American farms and value as a recreational animal, in their objections to treating horses like just another beast.
Though the meat was once a common ingredient in dog food for its availability and attractive price tag, horse meat — even for pets — had fallen out of favor in the U.S. by the end of World War II.
“Some of it was that there were fewer horses, and some of it was animal rights,” said Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at NYU, who writes the Food Politics blog. At the time, she pointed out, conditions at horse slaughterhouses "were pretty bad."
The ASPCA, which has been a vocal advocate for legislation that would prohibit the export of horses for slaughter, found that 80 percent of Americans opposed slaughter for human consumption.
"Anyone who has been to the movies lately knows the price horses have paid by carrying us to war, building our nation, and serving our entertainment and companionship needs,” wrote Nancy Perry, senior vice president of ASPCA Government Relations. "Americans have a responsibility to protect these intelligent, sensitive animals from being butchered."
Many critics of the European horse meat crisis, on both sides of the Atlantic, have objected more vehemently to the mislabeling of meat products and the dangers of skirted regulations than they have to the idea of people eating horse.
But that's little indication the American public is ready to add one of its favorite animals to its diet.
“They’re pets, they’re companion animals," Nestle said. "People love them. I mean truly love them.”
The only working from home Yahoo employees will be doing is looking for another job.
The company's remote employees have until June to take a shower and come into the office, according to a company-wide mandate put out by Marissa Mayer, the Business Insider reports.
If they don't like it, they are encouraged to leave, according to reports.
Mayer wasn't interviewed for the story. Her tweets on Monday, or over the weekend, revealed nothing of the new come-to-work saga.
The remote workers simply aren't productive enough for Mayer's liking, according to an anonymous insider, who added that the company itself is bloated with too much infrastructure and too many workers whose duties are unclear. Employees were able to effectively "hide" for far too long.
And "These people aren't just Yahoo customer support reps," Insider reports. "They're in all divisions, from marketing to engineering."
The move not only signals an era of change at the company that brings it more in line with Google and other rivals but also allows Mayer to cut staff — some spurned telecommuters will quit — and add employees who will not only work from the office but also think more in-like with her philosophy.
The Oceanside resident faces multiple felony charges, including stalking and making deadly threats.
Robbins’ lawyer asked that his bail be reduced to $50,000 and that his status as a flight risk be removed. The defense said he has “strong ties to the community” and frequently participates in volunteer activities.
But prosecutors claimed that Robbins poses a safety risk.
When prosecutors alleged that Robbins threatened to kill a surgeon, he spoke out of turn.
“That’s incorrect,” Robbins said.
He was quickly silenced by officials.
“You don’t need to talk right now,” said the judge. “You just listen or you’re out of here.”
Prosecutors also claimed he threatened to kill other people in the past, had recently been arrested in Mexico for smoking marijuana and claimed he had attempted to contact his ex-girlfriend.
“What has started to come to light is extremely erratic and aggressively and confrontational behavior,” said prosecutors. “It’s very difficult to find out where the truth lies with this man,”
The judge kept Robbins’ bail at $550,000 and he could face up to nine years in prison if convicted.
Police are searching for a man in connection with attempted murder who they consider armed and dangerous.
Christian Dominguez is wanted in connection for shooting a man in the chest yesterday night, according to officials. The day before, he allegedly strangled his wife unconscious and fled the scene before officers arrived.
The gun has not been recovered and detectives are investigating the attempted murder, according to officials.
Dominguez was last seen in a red Mitsubishi Eclipse and is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information concerning this case should contact the San Diego Police Department's Domestic Violence Unit at 619-533-3500 or San Diego County Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
Ann Helms, 57, will spend three years in jail after being convicted of practicing medicine without a license and committing grand theft.
Helms faked diagnosing patients and then illegally injected them with chemical solvents, according to the district attorney’s office. Helms did not have a license as a doctor, osteopath or naturopath.
“By posing as doctor, diagnosing people and then charging thousands of dollars for what amounted to a dangerous cure, this defendant showed a callous disregard for her victims,” said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis in a statement. “Our Consumer Unit works to hold individuals who provide dangerous treatment accountable for their actions and the harm done to their victims.”
One of Helms’ patients became seriously ill after the fake treatment, and was taken to the hospital for organ failure. That patient has yet to recover from her injuries by Helms.
New forces have just joined the struggle over tens of millions of dollars a year in San Diego hotel-guest fees.
The city’s lodging industry says that money is its to spend -- on promoting San Diego as a tourist destination.
There are now four lawsuits in play involving San Diego's Tourism Marketing District.
It's an industry trade group governed by the city's largest hotels, which have added a 2 percent surcharge to their guests' bills, to bankroll advertising campaigns to attract visitors.
"If we can't be out there talking about San Diego throughout the world and throughout the nation, like all the other major destinations do, there will be a major negative effect." Says Mike McDowell, CEO of the San Diego Lodging Industry Assn.
"Everybody says, 'We're San Diego, we're wonderful, just let 'em come’,” McDowell added during a Monday afternoon interview at City Hall. “Well, we're still competing against San Francisco, Orlando, Las Vegas. They all spend a significant amount of money to promote their destinations. We need to do it as well."
McDowell was part of a delegation of hundreds of local visitor-industry interests that brought a show of force to the City Council’s chamber Monday, defending the district's controversial funding at an ‘informational-only’ hearing.
To sometimes thunderous applause and sustained cheering, speakers outlined an economic impact of $18.3 billion dollars a year that supports 160-thousand jobs, and a return on promotional investments -- running at an annual rate of $30 million -- of 19-to-1.
But critics say that hotel surcharge money is actually an illegal tax created by a private election among hotel owners, with the largest holding the most ‘weighted’ votes.
Mayor Filner has refused to sign a contract that would free up the funds for tourism marketing, without concessions that hotel owners have rejected.
Local 30 of Unite Here, which represents over 4-thousand hotel workers, convened a downtown news conference to announce a Superior Court lawsuit seeking a writ of mandate against the setup.
"I applaud Mayor Filner for standing up to the biggest bullies in this city, who think our money is their money,” Local 30 President Brigette Browning told reporters gathered on Civic Center Plaza. “If they want to take us on, we're ready to do that. We feel we're going to prevail, ultimately."
Asked about warnings that continued withholding of promotional funds will hurt tourism efforts, Browning declared: "Every one of those hotels have their own sales and marketing department. And these are the same people that come out constantly saying government can't do as good a job as private industry. If their sales department isn't doing a good job filling up their hotel, maybe they need to fire them and get a new sales team."
City officials will discuss how to handle the lawsuits behind closed doors on Tuesday.
One of the suits due for a court hearing next month, so the Tourism Marketing District has canceled a $3 million advertising campaign scheduled for April, targeting other cities.
It's already pulled the plug on $5.4 million in ads created for next month.
As San Diego city leaders celebrated the completion of repairs to the historic Balboa Park lily pond, they warned those who took part in last summer’s water fight that they’re still building a case.
Gloria said the city’s investigation is ongoing into who caused the roughly $12,000 in damage to the historic pond in front of the San Diego Botanical Garden.
“I am hopeful that someone will be held directly responsible,” Gloria told NBC 7 San Diego.
As for the koi, they were relocated but will be reintroduced to the pond soon.
City officials asked the residents not donate koi or other fish to the pond. If you want to help, the Friends of Balboa Park organization offers a variety of volunteer options.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested two people after discovering an indoor marijuana farm in Ramona.
On Feb. 22, deputies served a search warrant and found an indoor pot growing facility at a residence on 312 Feghali Rd. Five pounds of marijuana worth $15,000 were also found inside the home, along with $17,000 in cash and a firearm.
Officials said the suspects had fortified the house with a steel security screen, steel gates and an aggressive dog.
Two people were arrested on site following the month-long investigation by Ramona detectives.
Anyone who wishes to report suspicious activity can call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
The parents of murdered Poway teenager Chelsea King argue every state should have a one-strike policy for anyone convicted of certain sex offenses.
For the first time since the 17-year-old Chelsea was kidnapped, raped and killed by convicted sex offender John Gardner, the family released a statement on the anniversary of her death.
Often relatively upbeat on these anniversaries, Brent King expressed his feelings toward Gardner, calling him “the coward that shattered our world” and added that he “will someday rot in hell.”
Brent King also took the opportunity to call for a broader reach for California’s “Chelsea’s Law” writing “We need this law in every state and can only do it with your voice.”
John Gardner of Rancho Bernardo pleaded guilty in Chelsea King’s death and at the same time confessed to killing Dubois and hiding her body a year earlier. Dubois, 14, disappeared in February 2009. Her remains were found in March 2010.
Gardner was previously convicted for molesting a teen girl but was released after serving five years in prison.
He is currently serving two consecutive life terms without parole at Corcoran State Prison near Bakersfield.
The family and supports of the foundation worked to pass Chelsea’s Law in California. The measure was signed into law in February 2011.
The legislation enhanced criminal sentences for violent sexual offenders that commit crimes against children. It also provides for mandated lifetime parole and GPS monitoring and the creation of "Safe Zones" which prohibits registered sex offenders from going places where children are known to congregate.
Their daughter’s life will be remembered on Saturday at "Finish Chelsea's Run." The event begins at 7:30 a.m. at Balboa Park. NBC 7’s Artie Ojeda will be part of the event, serving as emcee.
Money raised at the 5k event will help fund scholarships for local students headed to college and support effort to continue the expansion of Chelsea's Law.
President Barack Obama on Monday said looming automatic spending cuts are already affecting the economy, while a top administration official warned that the nation's borders would be less secure if billions of dollars are yanked from the budget Friday.
"The uncertainty is already having an effect," Obama said. "Companies are preparing layoff notices. Families are preparing to cut back on expenses. The longer these cuts are in place, the bigger the impact will become."
Despite the urgent rhetoric, there was no indication the White House and congressional Republicans were actively negotiating a deal to avoid the so-called sequester ahead of the end of the week deadline. The last known conversation between Obama and GOP leaders was last week and there have been no in-person meetings between the parties this year.
With Congress back from a weeklong recess, House Speaker John Boehner showed little willingness to move off his long-held position that the sequester be offset through targeted spending cuts, not the package of cuts and tax increases Obama supports.
"Mr. President, you got your tax increase," Boehner said, referring to the tax rate increases that took effect on Jan. 1. "It's time to cut spending here in Washington."
The $85 billion budget-cutting mechanism could affect everything from commercial flights to classrooms to meat inspections. Domestic and defense spending alike would be trimmed, leading to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of government workers and contractors.
The White House continued laying out in stark terms what the cuts would mean for government services, dispatching Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to warn of the implications for critical security functions.
"I don't think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country with sequester as without sequester," said Napolitano, adding that the impact would be "like a rolling ball. It will keep growing."
Napolitano focused in particular on the impact to the border, saying her agency would be forced to furlough 5,000 patrol agents. She tamped down the notion that budget cuts would make the nation more vulnerable to terrorism, but said the sequester would make it "awfully, awfully tough" to minimize that risk.
Also Monday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said visiting hours would be cut at all 398 national parks, just as they prepare for an influx of spring and summer visitors.
Elsewhere in the government, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the cuts would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said travelers could see delayed flights. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 70,000 fewer children from low-income families would have access to Head Start programs. And furloughed meat inspectors could leave plants idled.
Obama will seek to build public support for his sequester offset plan Tuesday when he travels to Newport News, Va., a community that would be impacted by the defense cuts.
The sequester was designed as an unpalatable fallback, meant to take effect only if a congressional super-committee failed to come up with at least $1 trillion in savings from benefit programs.
Many of the nation's governors, who are gathered in Washington for their annual meeting, voiced frustration over the impending cuts, saying Washington's inability to strike a deal had created widespread uncertainty in the economy and hampered economic recovery in their states.
"The president needs to show leadership," said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican considered a potential 2016 presidential contender, following a meeting with Obama. "The reality is it can be done. This administration has an insatiable appetite for new revenue."
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a favorite of her party's conservative wing, pointed her anger at both Democrats and Republicans.
"No one should be playing golf. No one should be taking vacations," Haley said, taking a shot at Obama's recent golf outing and Congress' latest recess. "What they need to do is do what these governors do every day. We stay until we get it done."
Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut concurred.
"They need to get out of that box that sits under the dome and understand that this has real implications in people's lives," he said. "Work with the president, find a way to get it done — or if you want, just turn it over to us governors, and we'll negotiate."
The governors, emerging from a closed-door meeting with Obama Monday, said the president had assured them the administration is pursuing solutions, but offered no assurances that officials would find a way ahead out ahead of the deadline.
If Congress fails to reach a budget deal this week, California will lose more than $500 million in funding for schools, the military, disability services and other federal spending, according to a report released by the White House.
The steep cuts, put into place in 2011 as a way to dissuade the ever-feuding Democrats and Republicans in Washington from refusing to reach a deal, are set to go into effect March 1. They have become known in politcal jargon as "sequester cuts," or "sequestration."
In California, the cuts would trim $87.6 million in federal funding for primary and secondary education, and $62.9 million from special education, the Obama Administration’s report said.
About 10,000 college work-study jobs be eliminated, along with spots for 8,200 children in the public preschool programs Head Start and Early Head Start, the White House report said.
In addition, 64,000 civilian defense employees would be furloughed for some period of time, and army base operations would lose about $54 million in California, the report said.
About $3 million in funds for job support for the unemployed would also be affected.
The administration’s decision to release the report on Monday was part of a nationwide media blitz aimed at persuading Republicans to sign on to a deal. Some Democrats have also opposed compromise on issues that are keeping the two sides apart.
A man who formerly served as a San Diego police officer and Marine at Camp Pendleton was found dead in Maryland on Sunday morning, according to officials.
David Draa, 30, was found dead at the 7300-block of Flower Avenue in Takoma Park, Md. Investigators found the bodies of Draa and 30-year-old Kyle Hickman on the driveway around 1:45 a.m.
Investigators said the incident appears to be a murder-suicide. Draa and Hickman worked together a special education school in Washington, D.C. and police said the two men were friends.
Draa served in the Marines from 1999 to 2008 as a 1st Lieutenant and platoon commander before becoming a police officer in San Diego, according to his social media profiles. After a year at SDPD he moved to Maryland to work at High Road School.
Police said Draa and Hickman spent Saturday biking while Draa's fiance was out of town. After Hickman's bike got a flat tire on the trip, he texted his wife to let her know he would stay at Draa's home and fix the bike on Sunday.
Authorities believe during the night alcohol was consumed by one or both men. Around 1:40 a.m. Hickman appeared to take the bike out to fix it. Evidence from the scene reveals while Hickman was working on the bike, Draa shot him from behind and then took his own life.
"We can only speculate as to why this occurred," read a statement from the Takoma Police Department. "We believe that David had experienced severe trauma during his tour of duty while serving in the Marine Corps, as well as some difficulties in his personal life."
Takoma police said there was no indication of hostility prior to the shooting and they are investigating the incident.
The cancer charity founded by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong is focused on moving forward in the wake of the former icon's resignation and subsequent doping confession.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation, now known simply as Livestrong, has removed the yellow jersey's representing Armstrong's now-disqualified Tour de France victories, though symbols of his more virtuous public contributions remain at the Austin-based headquarters.
Livestrong CEO Doug Ulman said Armstrong's name will remain on the Founder's wall. "We're not going to rewrite history. At a very young age, he was faced with a life-threatening illness and he came through that and decided at that time, before he ever had notoriety and fame, to start an organization to help people. Those are the facts."
Ulman makes it clear that it is time to move on. "We owe it to the people who have invested in the mission to grow what we do, not retreat. Actually double down and go forward with more vigor and resolve than we've ever had," Ulman said.
Ulman knows how to fight. He has guided Livestrong for 12 years and he is a cancer survivor himself. Ulman says donations are strong and that big sponsors, like Nike, who severed all ties with Armstrong, re-signed with Livestrong.
"They've always been invested in the mission and have always wanted us to achieve our goals, so their re-commitment is important to all of us and we're grateful and we've had other partners step up as well," Ulman said.
Some of Livestrong's employees still have Lance Armstrong's picture and books on their desks. The best therapy, most say, has been staying focused on the cancer patients who come here for help.
People like Iram Leon, who is battling brain cancer and says free counseling here has helped him accept his diagnosis.
"All of a sudden, realizing you might be dying soon is much bigger than just, 'hey, how do I pay the bills?'" Leon said.
Leon still wears his Livestrong bracelet. "This was never about the guy on the bike," he said.
Cecile Hollyfield is battling breast cancer. She uses Livestrong's free transportation program to get to and from chemotherapy treatments. "I simply wouldn't be able to get to treatment without Livestrong. I don't know how I would."
When asked about her thoughts on the Armstrong scandal, Hollyfield said, "I hope that when the song and dance dies down, in 20 years, 50 years, the man is remembered for one shining, golden idea that he had, that helped thousands of people continue their lives or end them in dignity."
Ulman said he's not sure Livestrong needs a celebrity front man. "I don't know. As you said, our country is always sort of, onto the next thing or next person or next story. For us, we just have to stay focused on the mission."
The man on the bike may be gone, but Ulman says the cause is too important to quit. "Our mission will survive, actually it will thrive in the long run," he said.
In Livestrong's 15 years, it's raised $500 million and helped 2.5 million people affected by cancer. All services are free of charge and offered in English or Spanish.
The estranged wife of a NYPD officer told a court today about her husband's disturbing online activities. The defense doesn't deny his activities, but both sides differ on his intent. Brynn Gingras reports.
