A single-engine plane made a hard landing at Gillespie Field in El Cajon on Tuesday afternoon.

Firefighters said the plane landed on the runway, but as it rolled to an abrupt stop, the nose of the plane rammed down into the concrete. The crash landing was reported at 3:30 Tuesday.

Both people inside were out of the plane by the time Heartland Fire crews arrived. Neither were injured, bu there was a minor fuel leak reported, according to the city of El Cajon.

CT scans give medical professionals detailed pictures of the inner workings of your body but can also expose you to high doses of radiation.

More than 80 million CT scans are performed in the U.S. every year. But about a third of those scans serve no medical purpose, according to research published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

And Consumer Reports’ medical advisor says that the misuse of CT scans can lead to serious consequences.

It’s estimated that CT scans may be responsible for at least 2 percent of future cancers in the U.S., resulting in 15,000 deaths per year.

So it’s clearly critical to avoid unnecessary CT scans. Just one CT scan can expose you to as much radiation as 200 chest X-rays.

But according to a recent Consumer Reports survey, only 15 percent were warned by a doctor of the radiation risks of medical imaging.

One factor in the overuse of CT scans is doctors who own their own CT equipment. Consumer Reports says that they have a tendency to order more CT scans than doctors who don’t.

Consumer Reports advises that patients should always ask why a CT scan is necessary and whether some other test such as ultrasound or an MRI, which don’t emit radiation, could be just as effective.

If a CT scan is the right choice, keep in mind that less radiation is needed if you are small and thin, so ask the radiologist to check the dose. Once you get a CT scan, be sure to get a copy of it so that you don’t undergo repeat, unnecessary testing when you go to a new doctor or specialist.

Consumer Reports also says to avoid “whole body” scans that are often touted as a way to detect cancer early. They expose you to more radiation than regular CT scans and often lead to unnecessary follow-up tests.

One of San Diego's warmest welcome mats for out-of-towners is about to be whisked away from waterfront.

It’s a visitors center that’s been on the North Embarcadero for three decades, most recently in a modular temporary structure north of the cruise ship terminal.

The operation is overseen by the Tourism Authority created in 2013, whose spending regulations don't allow subsidies to keep it afloat.

The center's "in the black," but failure to meet a huge port rent increase will shut it down by March 31.

"Sophisticated visitors expect to find this kind of service, they expect to find a visitors center and come in for us to help them,” said center volunteer Bill Brittingham. “And our contacts last anywhere from 10 seconds to 45 minutes depending on what they need. And no one -- certainly no profit-making company -- would be expected to spend the amount of time telling people how to get to SeaWorld on a bus. What the difference is between Safari Park and the Zoo."

Brittingham and the center's 60-some other volunteers helped nearly 102,000 visitors last year.

We heard this testimonial about the service there on Tuesday from cruise ship passenger Kathie West of Grass Valley, CA: "Oh wow, it was awesome! I mean we didn't know what to do and I'm a travel agent -- I brought a group of 20, and I didn't really know what to show my group, so I came in here and I got all these pamphlets that were very helpful. And I have a family that's on a budget so they gave us information on what to see and do. There's so many options, I don't know how I would have done that."

Said Eddie Romo, a Pacoima resident: "They helped me, they answered all my questions real quick, gave me some brochures, what I wanted to know. And I was in and out of there within five minutes with what I needed to know. I got this, and now I'm right here with my wife talking it over , ready to go back and make our decisions."

Exterior and interior billboard advertising revenues and a cut of discount ticket sales have been covering the center's annual rent of $350,000.

But the port district hiked it to what operators concluded is an unmanageable $1.2 million.

Old Town Trolley Tours eventually won the bidding for what otherwise might have been a permanent new spot in the North Embarcadero redesign.

Still unknown is how much tourism business the center has generated by virtue of the volunteers’ advice, and not gotten credit for.

"Every day we recommend to hundreds of tourists what to do in San Diego,” Brittingham noted in an interview. “We recommend restaurants, hotels; we recommend that they visit a certain venue. And in most cases, they walk out of this building and immediately go spend their money. Nobody counts that. But it's a very important service."

Did somebody influential actually not think the Visitors Center is enough of an economic engine to include on the harbor front going forward?

“I don't want to say that they discount our efforts,” volunteer Ellen Levy told NBC 7. “I don't know what happened here because all we are is volunteers, and I'm not politically involved … We need somebody to put their name on a visitors center so we can help visitors again."

According to Port District spokeswoman Revekka Balancier, the agency is working with the Tourism Authority to find additional space on the North Embarcadero for the center to move into.

Balancier offered no word on the rent-hike issue.

And so far, no philanthropists have come forward to pay the increased freight – and get their name on the place, if they so desire.

A 61-year-old woman has been arrested after police say she attacked her 60-year-old neighbor with a snowblower during the blizzard Tuesday in Arlington, Massachusetts.

The victim's foot was lacerated when officers arrived around 4:30 p.m., police said. They arrested Barbara Davis, with whom the victim was involved in an ongoing dispute.

Davis is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and mayhem. She is also charged with violating a harassment protection order the victim had previously filed against her.

The victim's injuries were treated, but are considered minor.

Davis was ordered to be held on $35,040 bail. She will be arraigned in Cambridge.

For first lady Michelle Obama, just a few hours in Saudi Arabia were enough to illustrate the stark limitations under which Saudi women live.

Joining President Barack Obama for a condolence visit after the death of the King Abdullah, Mrs. Obama stepped off of Air Force One wearing long pants and a long, brightly colored jacket — but no headscarf.

Under the kingdom's strict dress code for women, Saudi females are required to wear a headscarf and loose, black robes in public. Most women in Saudi Arabia cover their hair and face with a veil known as the niqab. But covering one's head is not required for foreigners, and some Western women choose to forego the headscarf while in Saudi Arabia.

As a delegation of dozens of Saudi officials — all men — greeted the Obamas in Riyadh, some shook hands with Mrs. Obama. Others avoided a handshake but acknowledged the first lady with a nod as they passed by.

San Diego Crime Stoppers are asking for the public’s help in finding and identifying an unknown suspect that robbed a pharmacy on Navajo Road.

Crime Stoppers are offering $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect.

The incident happened at approximately 11:45 a.m. on January 21 when a male walked into a Walgreens Pharmacy on Navajo Road in San Diego, police said.

The man, described as a 25 to 35-year-old man about 5 feet 11 inches, gave the employee a demand note telling the pharmacist he had a gun and wanted oxycodone. The employee handed the man the pills and the male left the store in an unknown direction.

Officials believe the man also robbed a San Diego CVS Pharmacy on Eads Avenue in La Jolla on January 13 with a demand note asking for Roxicodone, a generic name for oxycodone.

The suspect is described as a tall man of thin build and is unshaven. At the time of the robbery, he was wearing a dark colored hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, brown work boots, dark sunglasses and a baseball cap with “Oakland” across the front.

Officials are asking anyone with information to call the San Diego Police Department’s Robbery Unit at (619) 531-2299 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.

San Diego County moved one step closer Tuesday to implementing Laura’s Law, a measure that would allow counties to request court-appointed outpatient treatment for people with severe mental illness.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors passed the plan to implement the law with a 4-1 vote.
Board Vice Chairman Dave Roberts and Supervisor Dianne Jacob are fronting the effort to implement Laura’s Law in the county.

“We need to do this…We need to take the next step to bring Laura’s Law to San Diego County,” Roberts said in a statement. “This affects so many people.”

Laura’s Law would impact those people with severe mental illness that have a history of refusing to accept treatment and who have recent history of psychiatric hospitalizations, incarcerations, or threats or attempts of serious violence toward themselves or others. Those patients would be compelled by court order to take required medications and receive treatment if they pose a danger to themselves or other.

It is similar to a voluntary program currently in place in San Diego County called the In Home Outreach Team, which allows for voluntary treatment for similar individuals.

The next step in the process is for the San Diego Health and Human Services Agency to assemble a multidisciplinary team that will develop a plan to provide the services.

The team, which will report back to the board in 90 days, will include officials from various County agencies, the Sheriff’s Department, Office of the District Attorney, Office of the Public Defender, Probation Department. The team will also be comprised of officials from outside the County government, including representatives from the Superior Court, the San Diego Police Department, and patients’ rights advocacy representatives.

Laura’s Law was passed into state law in 2002.

A new 53,000-square-foot YMCA opened its doors Tuesday.

The Copley-Price Family YMCA will serve the City Heights, Talmadge and Kensington communities nearby.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer, City Councilmember Marti Emerald and San Diego County YMCA President and CEO Baron Herdelin-Doherty came together to cut the red ribbon on the new building on El Cajon Boulevard.

Faulconer said he was "so proud" of the work done on the project and said the new YMCA would change the lives of many in the surrounding neighborhoods.

"To see the finished product after all of the work, after all of the designs, after all of the hours and hours of fundraising is extraordinary and its fantastic," Faulconer said. "The work that you did represents the best of who we are as San Diegans."

The facilities include two swimming pools, a splash park, a gymnasium, a fitness and wellness center, exercise rooms, a demonstration kitchen, teen center, preschool and school-age child care centers

A jury has found a Serra Mesa woman guilty of first-degree murder in the death of her 79-year-old mother, whose body was found days later near the Barona Indian Reservation.

Ghazal Mansury closed her eyes for a brief moment of seeming resignation when the verdict against her came down Tuesday.

Mansury had admitted to disposing of her mother Mehria Mansury's body in a remote area, but she pleaded not guilty to killing her.

One juror told NBC 7 it was a hard case because of the subject matter, but in the end, there was never any doubt that Mansury killed her mother. Mansury faces 25 years to life in prison at her March 6 sentencing.

Mehria was last seen alive on Sept. 23, 2013 by other family members. Mansury told relatives her mother went on a walk and never returned, which prompted a missing person search throughout the area.

On Oct. 2, 2013, investigators discovered Mehria's dead body under a tree near the Barona Indian Reservation. The next day, Mansury was arrested for her mother's murder.

Prosecutors say on Mansury's computer, they found online search terms like "homicide" and "how to clean blood stains." 

Mansury claims she opened a door and knocked her mother over, and when she asked if she was OK, her mother replied, "Yes," according to the defendant. When Mansury returned, she says she found her mother dead, so she put her body in the trunk and dumped her elsewhere.

A witness who testified at trial told the jury Mansury had strangeld her mother with a bicycle inner-tube. Others said Mansury had a long-standing animosity toward Mehria. The tipping point allegedly came when a dog was taken away from her.

"There was a documented history of a relationship that had broken down. We knew that the drugs played a part. We knew that Ms. Mansury's choice of friends played a part," said Deputy District Attorney Paul Greenwood. "But more than that, Ms. Mansury unfortunately did not like her mother. That was very clear."

Investigators do not have a cause of death because Mehria's body was exposed to the elements and wild animals, prosecutors say.

America’s Finest City is also one of America’s richest cities.

In a newly released list by Wall St. Cheat Sheet, San Diego was ranked the No. 5 richest city in America.

The ranking looked at cities with a population greater than 500,000 people that have the highest percentage of households earning at least $150,000 per year.

It also provides the salary you would need to live comfortably in each city. In San Diego, that salary is $101, 984. (The Cheat Sheet says the magic income to feel comfortable is $75,000.)

Three other California cities made the top 10 list: San Francisco came in at No. 1 (no surprise there), San Jose sits at No. 2 and Los Angeles was ranked No. 8.

Here’s the full list:

1.) San Francisco
2.) San Jose
3.) Washington, D.C.
4.) Seattle
5.) San Diego
6.) Boston
7.) New York City
8.) Los Angeles
9.) Denver
10.) Austin

How do you feel about where San Diego stacks up? Let us know in the comments section below.

One of my favorite things about Super Bowl Media Day is this:

Nowhere else on earth will you find as much talking with as little being said.

All 106 players, plus the head coaches and coordinators, are available to speak with the 6,000 or so media members in attendance. All of them are asked multiple questions. None of them say anything (I think they all learned from Falcons defensive back Ray Buchanan wearing a dog collar, calling out Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe, then watching Denver beat Atlanta to a pulp, 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII).

So, these days you get a whole lot of clichés and learn basically nothing about the game we’re all allegedly here to cover. The Seahawks and Patriots were on top of their say-nothing game in Phoenix. Here’s a sampling of the answers to a few questions on Tuesday.

Seattle head coach Pete Carroll on how to beat the Patriots:

“The game plan for us is to play like we always play. That’s the big challenge, that we can play with the same kind of intensity and attitude, the execution that gives us the chance to win. So, regardless of what they do, we have to play like we’re capable of playing. That’s a greater challenge in itself, but that’s really what we’re after. If we do that, that gives us our best chance to win.”

New England head coach Bill Belichick on how to beat the Seahawks:

“Seattle’s a great football team. We’re going to need a great effort out of everybody: our offense, defense, special teams, coaching staff. Seattle’s very good in all phases of the game. They’re well coached. They have a lot of great players. You can see why they were a championship team last year and why they’ve had so much success with the No. 1 seed in the NFC this year. So we’re going to have to do a lot of things well, we’re going to have to do them consistently for four quarters and that will be a big challenge for us. It’s going to take all of the above.”

Seattle defensive back Richard Sherman on playing against a QB like Tom Brady:

“It’s fun, it’s fun for competitors. It’s a great challenge for us and anybody who’s ever been an elite competitor or an elite player enjoys those moments against other great players. It brings the best out of you. I think we as a group and as a team enjoy going against an elite team because it brings the best out of us.”

New England quarterback Tom Brady on the spectacle that is Super Bowl week:

“Well, we just got down here yesterday so we’re trying to obviously get settled here in our hotel. It’s a big game, obviously, with a lot going on here. But we’re locked in on practicing. It starts tomorrow.”

Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin on the Patriots defense:

“Sound. They are extremely dangerous because they are athletic. They are physical. They fly around to the ball. They are one of the fastest front seven we have seen. We are anxious about the opportunity. We know that they have some dogs over there. We know about the dogs on our defense, so like I said we are just excited about the opportunity.”

New England tight end Rob Gronkowski on the Seahawks defense:

“They’re very, very good. They’re very, very talented. Very, very tough mentally and physically. Probably one of the best defenses out there, if not the best defense. We’ve got to go out there and prepare and we’ve got to be ready.”
Not exactly earth-shattering stuff here, is it?

Of course, part of the problem is the football guys are not getting fed great questions and are not asked to elaborate when they spew the obvious, and that’s our fault as media members. But, for the foreseeable future, Super Bowl Media Day will be more about reporters trying out out-outrageous one another and the NFL making lots of money.

They did, after all, have it sponsored by Gatorade and sell a few thousand tickets to fans for the event.

License plate readers, a tool often touted by law enforcement, have raised privacy concerns by the ACLU over the federal government’s access to those plates’ numbers.

San Diego County agencies use the readers to capture plates and the date, time and locations of where they were spotted. That information is stored in a database managed by SANDAG and accessed by local, state and even some federal agencies.

The Drug Enforcement Agency has said it uses the databases in border states like California to monitor vehicle used for drug trafficking.

But a Wall Street Journal report revealed the DEA expanded the plate reading application to track people accused of other crimes, such as rape, murder and kidnapping.

The ACLU calls it a classic case of “mission creep and privacy invasion.”

“It’s the government having the ability to create a permanent surveillance state,” said David Loy, an attorney with the ACLU. “Tracking everyone’s movement in real time wherever they go. That’s not the kind of America most people want to live in.”

While the group isn’t opposed to using license plate readers to solve crimes, they believe a standard set of rules needs to be adopted for its use. The ACLU is calling for strictly regulated access to the databases to make sure privacy is not exploited.

Cmdr. David Myers with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department says video from the readers is only accessed for investigative reasons, and it helped them crack the high-profile murders of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois.

“It’s helped us detect child molesters, helped us detect rapists, contact and find bank robbers. It’s an investigative tool,” said Myers.

According to SANDAG, car-mounted video is kept in their database for two years. Video from fixed cameras placed on poles is kept for one year. Next month, SANDAG’s board is expected to approve a change in policy so that all video is kept for just one year.
 

The whodunnit from Tuesday’s blizzard -- Who shoveled the snow off the Boston Marathon’s finish line? -- has been solved. At least partially.

One of the mystery men has been identified as Chris Laudani, a runner and bartender at the Back Bay Social Club on Boylston Street. He has run the Boston Marathon a few times and is just a fanatic about it, said Ryan Swann, the club's general manager.

"He was actually working that day and then he asked if he could borrow the shovel for a little bit so he could go do it," Swann said.

Laudani told Boston magazine that he wanted to send a message.

"I love the Boston Marathon and everything it stands for," he said. "The finish line doesn’t deserve to be covered in snow.”

But he is not a hero, a word being used about him on social media, he told the magazine.

"I’m just a nut who loves the marathon," he said. "The real heroes are the people who were out there clearing the streets and sidewalks, the [Boston Police Department], and the [Boston Fire Department] who risk their lives every day to keep people safe."

Philip Hillman took photos of what appears to be Laudani clearing the spot from the Charlesmark Hotel on Boylston Street and he started the search.

He and others began tweeting with the hashtag #whoshoveledthefinishline in hopes of finding Laudani.

“I had no idea it would have this response,” Hillman told Runner’s World in the wake of the storm, which dumped 18.5 inches in Boston on Tuesday.

Hillman, the northeast district manager of the Rodney Strong Wine Estates in Healdsburg, California, told NBC that he had stayed overnight at the hotel because of the blizzard and was working in his room around noon on Tuesday when he stood up to stretch. He looked at the window and spotted the then mystery shoveler.

“And I said, ‘How cool is that?’” he said. “This city loves the marathon and that little patch of ground is like sacred ground.”

So he took a photo with his iPhone, another of the finish line alone and put it first on Facebook and then Twitter.

“And the rest is history,” he said. “My buddy, he retweeted it and it’s been ongoing. I think we broke Twitter.”

By Wednesday afternoon, even the Boston police department was tweeting the photos.

Hillman said Laudani was there for about a half hour keeping the snow off as it fell.

Another photographer, Adam Reynolds, got a close-up.

And apparently, a second man also was out in the blizzard doing the same thing. Kelsey Karkos took a photograph of him and wrote on Instagram: "The guy was so nice to shovel off the #bostonmarathon finish line today to remind us why we go out there and run #everyday even in the blizzard! #bostonstrong #boston."

She wrote that he saw her looking for the finish line while he was shoveling the sidewalk.

"He knew exactly what I was looking for and came over to help me!," she wrote. "Such a great person with some boston spirit during the blizzard! I wish I knew his name!"

The marathon will be run this year on April 18.

Jury selection in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accused of setting off two bombs near the finish line in 2013, was delayed because of the blizzard. The attack killed three people and wounded more than 260.

Tsarnaev’s brother, Tamerlan, was killed during a shoot-out with police.

A 15-foot-tall Christmas tree may have sparked a massive fire that killed six family members at an Annapolis-area mansion, sources say. 

Officials will release the findings of their investigation at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

According to a preliminary investigation, the fire was an accident that may have begun in a Christmas tree on display in the family's great room.

The victims were grandparents Don and Sandy Pyle, and four grandchildren, the parents of the children have said. 

Investigators found the remains of the final victim Monday, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department said.

The parents said the children -- two sets of cousins -- were in the mansion near Annapolis when a massive four-alarm fire tore through the home early Jan. 19. Last week, they shared memories of sisters Alexis and Kaitlyn Boone, 8 and 7; and siblings Charlotte and Wesley Boone, 8 and 6.

"Life is fragile. Make time today to embrace your loved ones," a statement from the Boone and Pyle families read in part.

Alexis and Kaitlyn are the daughters of Randy and Stacey Boone, while Charlotte and Wesley are the children of Clint Boone and his ex-wife Eve Morrison. The family says Clint and Randy are the sons of Sandra Pyle and the stepsons of Don Pyle.

Fire officials say the home did not have a sprinkler system. An alarm monitoring company and a neighbor who saw flames reported the fire in the 900 block of Childs Point Road in Annapolis about 3:30 a.m. that morning, said Capt. Russ Davies, spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department.

The families said in a statement that they "are blessed that so many family, friends, and neighbors have come together for us in our time of need."

Stay with News4 and NBCWashington.com for more shortly.

Loretta Lynch had no shortage of sister support as she fielded questions from a U.S. Senate committee in her bid to become the first black woman to serve as the nation's attorney general.

At least ten members of her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, attended the top Brooklyn prosecutor's confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, according to a photo posted by Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, another alumna.

The "Deltas" in both Beatty's photo and another picture of the packed committee room posted by Rep. Alma Adams donned the African American Greek organization's signature colors of crimson and cream, as Time.com noted.

Lynch, who was nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed current Attorney General Eric Holder, was reportedly a founding member of Delta Sigma Theta's chapter at Harvard University.

Holder's wife was also a charter member, according to reports and the chapter website.

The debate about whether or not San Diego should build a new stadium that can be used by the Chargers (among many other things) is going to be heated until San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s task force comes to a conclusion. It’s easy to see the validity of arguments on both sides of that discussion.

What is not being questioned is the fact Qualcomm Stadium is not a very good place to see a football game. During the December 7th game against the Patriots on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, broadcasting legend Al Michaels even said traversing the halls at the Q is like, “walking through the ruins.”

His broadcast partner Cris Collinsworth feels very much the same way. In Arizona at a Super Bowl XLIX event on Tuesday, NBC 7 asked Collinsworth his opinion on the San Diego stadium situation.

You will notice in the video above, he did not pull any punches.

"It's probably last or next to last depending on where you want to rank it with Oakland. I don't meant to be offensive, but that's a fact," said Collinsworth.

Hear more by clicking the video player at the top of this page.
 

A record high number of exonerations occurred last year in the United States, in part because of prosecutors willing to admit mistakes, according to a report released Tuesday.

In 2014, The National Registry of Exonerations recorded 125 exonerations. The previous highest total was 91 in 2012 and again in 2013, followed by 87 in 2001.

See the report here.

Local law professor Justin Brooks is the director of The California Innocence Project, which is located in Downtown San Diego.

His project has exonerated 17 people since it started 15 years ago. NBC 7 asked for this thoughts on the report.

“People are seeing innocent people in prison. They’re seeing the public react positively with prosecutors and police going back on their own cases and fixing mistakes,” Professor Brooks said.

The California Innocence Project has been a part of a number high-profile exoneration cases, some of them recent. Michael Hanline’s murder conviction was reversed last November. He had spent 36 years behind bars for the crime. Then there’s NFL hopeful Brian Banks who lost five years of his life after a woman accused him of rape and kidnap.

Brooks hopes these new numbers and each exoneration will be viewed as opportunities to improve procedures/policies for the future. He adds the local District Attorney’s Office works very well with the Innocence Project, however that’s not the case in different parts of the state and country.

 A bomb squad was called out to the Stockton area of San Diego after police discovered a grenade there. 

San Diego Police officers say they were following up on another investigation when they found the device in the 3200 block of Island Avenue at about 6:15 p.m. 

No evacuations or road closures were put into place. 

The bomb squad determined the device is an actual grenade, though it is inert, so it would not explode.

Police cleared the scene a short time later.