Parts of La Mesa Boulevard are now open after hazmat teams concluded their investigation of a potential hazardous material situation in La Mesa.

Officials said the incident is secure and they reopened the street to daily traffic.

Shortly before 8 a.m., city engineeers digging on the 8300 block of La Mesa Boulevard discovered an underground tank. There are unknown materials inside, officials said, and the County hazmat unit was requested. The crews were testing and collecting samples.

The Hazmat team said the liquid in the tank tested positive for water and there was only a small amount of flammable liquid. Further testing is needed, though officials said the area is safe for people.

Chopper 7 showed fire trucks lining the streets with parts of the road cornered off.

The Heartland Fire Department  responded.

La Mesa Boulevard was shut down between 3rd and 4th Street. No evacuations or shelter-in-place orders were requested.

Tournament play at the Farmers Insurance Open ground to a halt almost immediately after the initial groups of golfers began.

The fog which delayed play for one hour Thursday morning, cleared the course at 9:15 am. The first group of golfers on the Torrey Pines North Course 10th hole finished on the green but the next group stalled after one player hit at 10:10 am.

Chatter on radio from tournament officials described visibility issues. "We can see the green but we can't see the flag," the voice over the radio said.

Tournament officials were overheard telling players to stay warm and be ready to play as soon as the fog cleared.

The problem was not a surprise to spectator Kevin Knutson of Orange County who has visited the tournament before. "It seems like every year we have problem with the fog," he said.

"All of a sudden it started getting really thick" said Kate Gilchrist visiting from Boise Idaho. "I guess it's just par for the course!"

Play was scheduled to restart at 11:40 am.

A pack of pit bulls involved in a violent attack on another dog last month in Campo have been euthanized at the owners’ request, county officials confirmed Thursday.

All five dogs were put down as of Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services.

The pack managed to dig under a fence and get into Dan Hare’s backyard on Jan. 24 where they mauled Hare’s Bull Mastiff named Ziggy.

Ziggy was recovering from more than 350 puncture wounds, according to Hare.

“Like a deer. It was like a dead deer, and they were just ripping him apart at both ends," said Hare.

Hare was also injured when he tried to step in and help Ziggy, suffering severe bite wounds to his hand, wrist and leg.

The put bull owners share a fence with Hare and had posted a "Beware of Dog" sign facing Hare's property.

The Jan. 24 incident wasn't the first time Hare said the dogs had broken through the fence. He said he was previously "nipped" by one of the dogs.

He said he planned to sue his neighbor to cover veterinary and medical costs and lost wages.

“The law is quite clear that the responsibility lies with the dog owner to prevent their dogs from running loose and not the neighbors,” said Daniel DeSousa, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Services.

DeSousa said Hare requested a private person’s arrest against the dog owners. The case is still under investigation.

In the meantime, the pit bulls’ owners relinquished the animals to the county and agreed to have them euthanized.

“It is always unfortunate when a dog is euthanized due to the lack of responsibility on the part of the dog owner. Once it was known that these dogs were getting into the neighbor's yard, the dog owners should have taken the necessary steps to prevent that from ever happening again,” DeSousa added.

After the investigation, the case will be submitted to the District Attorney's Office for a determination as to whether charges would be filed.

A dog that was plucked from the rushing Los Angeles River in a dramatic helicopter rescue was adopted Thursday by the woman who first saw him in trouble.

Rachel Dalby spotted the animal, who has been named Lucky, being swept along by the current as she watched from a bridge near Burbank. She alerted the authorities and followed the Welsh corgi mix from her car before he was finally saved by a firefighter lowered down from a helicopter in Griffith Park Friday.

"The moment I saw him in the river I immediately wanted to take him home," Dalby said, "I think I mentioned it at one point to one of the dispatch officers, who said, 'Let's get him rescued first.'"

Since his rescue, she had been checking every day on the pooch, who is estimated to be between 6 or 7 years old, and was counting the days until she could take in the pet. There is a mandatory five-day waiting period so owners can claim lost animals before they are adopted.

Dalby said she spent a sleepless night before heading to the shelter Thursday morning.

"It's been a waiting game... (with) building excitement as the day comes closer," Darby said, "I'm looking forward to giving him a safe and loving home and getting him settled in."

Darby picked up Lucky at the shelter Thursday morning and said she plans to go on a shopping spree for toys and other items. She will be retaining his now famous moniker.

"He is doing great, he has bounced back from his ordeal," LA Animal Services Director Jan Selder said. "He is an awesome dog. He is potty trained, walks on a leash and puts his head on your lap when you pet his head, which means he had a home."

A San Diego Unified principal who was arrested in 2013 for possession of a stolen, loaded gun; hydrocodone; meth; marijuana and an open bottle of vodka in her car is still working for the school district.

Rachel Escobedo, 47, was placed on paid administrative leave at the time of her 2013 arrest, but NBC 7 Investigates has learned she's since gone back to work as a central office resource teacher.

It's a classic example of the ongoing debate in California about the legal difficulties school districts face when trying to dismiss those accused of wrongdoing.

The California Education Code makes getting rid of a convicted administrator equal to the process of removing a teacher from their job.

“Because they demoted her to a teacher, they’re never going to be able to get rid of her. What’s really horrible is there’s nothing stopping the district from putting her back in the classroom, right in front of a group of children," said child advocate Judy Neufeld-Fernandez, a former teacher at SDUSD.

Escobedo served as the principal of Lee Elementary in Paradise Hills until she was arrested in September 2013. Last year, Escobedo was convicted on two misdemeanor drug and weapon possession charges and received three years probation.

According to San Diego Police, Escobedo had a loaded .22-caliber Ruger pistol in her trunk — which had been reported stolen -- four small plastic bags containing 1.17-grams of methamphetamine, 22 hydrocodone pills, a small amount of marijuana and an open bottle of vodka.

NBC 7 Investigates learned Escobedo is still working for San Diego Unified pending disciplinary action. According to public records, Escobedo, in her new role, also received a 5 percent pay bump in July.

San Diego Unified released the following details about Escobedo's new assignment:

"She began her assignment in September 2014. A project resource teacher assists departments and teachers in the development and implementation of projects or initiatives within the instructional program(s) of the district in a very general sense. Very much related to curriculum development and implementation. Can be site-based or based within the central office."

According to the district, Escobedo does not work directly with children in her new position.

NBC 7 Investigates made several attempts to reach Escobedo and her attorney but did not receive a response.

Our media partner, Voice of San Diego, has been paying close attention to the statewide debate about the long and difficult process to terminate an educator.

"Firing an educator is an extremely difficult thing to do," said Scott Lewis, the editor-in-chief. "You have to not only have cause, but you have to be willing to go through not only an appeal process at the school and the school district level, but one that actually goes further into the courts as well."

Neufeld-Fernandez told NBC 7 she believes the district made a mistake keeping Escobedo as an employee.

“This is not an education system, it’s an employment agency for adults," she said. "They are more set on retaining employees, even at the peril of children.”

A rush of people – many of whom once were opposed to vaccination – are flooding doctors’ offices and hospitals for measles vaccine.

The surge in vaccinations follows a measles outbreak that originated in Disneyland last month. More than 90 cases of measles have been linked to the theme park, and some doctors blamed the anti-vaccination movement for how quickly the disease spread.

In San Diego, the rush to get vaccinated is being felt at Scripps Family medicine.

“Probably about 50 percent of my patients who weren’t vaccinating before are now coming in to vaccinate,” said Dr. Mark Shalauta.

Shalauta also said many adults are calling his office to see if they need a booster shot.

A small vial contains a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella and doctors say a shot of this vaccine can protect you up to 95 percent throughout your adult life.

“Physicians or health care should have to, but otherwise adults if they just had one, that’s considered enough and that’s considered immune,” Shalauta said.

Doctors say the silver lining of the measles outbreak is the heightened awareness of the disease.

“Probably the one good thing that has come out of this whole thing is that people are rethinking it and a lot more are getting vaccinated as a result,” Shalauta said.

Local Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez has also introduced legislation that would eliminate waivers for parents choosing not to vaccinate their kids.

A North Texas jury has acquitted a father of manslaughter in the death of his two-year-old son, who was found unresponsive in the family car on a summer day.

Joshua Cartee was acquitted Thursday of manslaughter and one count of criminally negligent homicide. The jury could not reach a verdict on a second count of criminally negligent homicide, forcing a mistrial.

Jurors told NBC 5 that the split in the jury room over whether to convict was 11 in favor of convicting to one holdout against.

Prosecutors say they'll pursue a new trial on the remaining count in April.

In September 2013, 2-year-old Jorden Cartee let himself of the family's Anna home while Joshua Cartee was asleep. Jorden crawled into the family's car parked in the driveway and was later found unconscious there. He died four days later.

Prosecutors charged that Cartee's negligence had led to his son's death, saying he had failed to lock the home's doors to prevent Jorden from leaving and had failed to call police for more than an hour after realizing he was missing, instead searching the acres around the rural home by himself.

Although locks had been installed less than two months earlier during a CPS investigation, and although the family had signed a safety plan with the agency promising to supervise the boy and lock the doors, the locks were not fastened when the boy left the home, prosecutors said.

The family has maintained the boy's death was a tragic accident. Cartee's defense attorney David Kleckner said his client was a “frantic parent,” not a reckless one.

Jennifer Kindle, Cartee’s wife and Jorden’s mother, said the family has not been able to fully mourn the loss of their son for a year and a half while going through the legal system.

“It is just great to tell the world that my son was so loved, and not a child that was abused or hurt,” Kindle said. “God took my son, not my husband, and it showed in the court today.”

Cartee’s lawyer, David Kleckner, said the acquittal of the manslaughter charge was a positive step.

“The fact that he was found not guilty of a second degree felony [where] he could have been facing two to 10 years in the penitentiary, that he is not a convicted felon -- that is a great day for him,” Kleckner said. “We’ll be ready for [the second trial].”

A court reissued a $100,000 bond for Cartee on Thursday following the verdict.

His family plans to bond him out of the Collin County as soon as possible.
 

First off, congrats to Nick Hardwick -- who announced his retirement earlier this week -- for a wonderful career. He was a pro in every way.

And what helped set Nick apart was that he played the game with a smile on his face.

He had a keen appreciation for how blessed he was to be able to live his dream.

But ponder this Chargers fans. What’s next at the center position?

Over the past 35 years, when the Chargers have been good, they’ve had an outstanding player in the middle of the line of scrimmage.

When Air Coryell took flight in the early ‘80s, Don Macek rarely missed a snap over a 14-year career.

When the Chargers went to the Super Bowl in the mid-90s, Courtney Hall was the man in middle.

Like Hardwick, Macek and Hall were outstanding players, teammates and people.

Yes, the NFL has turned into a passing league. But it’s still a line of scrimmage game.

If you can’t control the line of scrimmage, you can’t win.

So what’s next for the Chargers? Offensive back Rich Ohrnberger will be coming back from back surgery. That’s always iffy.

When he got a chance to play last season, he played well. Same for offensive guard Chris Watt, who proved during his rookie season that he can get the job done.

Can the Chargers dominate opponents if they don’t have a Macek, Hall or Hardwick. Not likely.

The engineer of the Metro-North train that slammed into an SUV at a Westchester railroad crossing, killing six people, ran back into the burning train after the fiery crash to rescue people inside, his attorney told NBC 4 New York exclusively Thursday. 

The engineer, Steven Smalls, met with National Transportation Safety Board investigators Thursday. His attorney, Jeffrey Chartier, told NBC 4 New York he was "completely cooperative" in his meeting with the NTSB, described as a "standard investigation and interview." 

Smalls did everything he could to stop the train from impact, and after the crash in Valhalla, "did everything he could do to help people even though he was injured himself," Chartier said after he and Smalls left their interview with the NTSB. 

"He went in and out of the train dragging people out," he said. "He went in there risking his own life until he was overcome by the smoke and the fire. He went back and directed others to get off the train in a safe fashion afterward." 

Chartier described Smalls as "devastated."

"He saw horrors someone shouldn't have to see and did everything he could to help every single individual involved," he said. 

He added that he couldn't detail what he and his client discussed with the NTSB but said, "Just know that from tragic circumstances, someone's true character shows, and he's a real hero." 

Smalls declined to speak to NBC 4 New York. 

NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Thursday that Smalls told investigators he saw the SUV move onto the railroad crossing and that he hit the emergency brake.

The agency hasn't mapped out how far before the Commerce Street crossing Smalls hit the emergency brake on the train, which takes about 950 feet and 30 seconds to stop, Sumwalt said.

The train was also traveling at 58 mph, just under the 60 mph speed limit, he said. 

Ellen Brody's SUV was in the danger zone inside railroad crossing gates for about 30 seconds before the train smashed into it, according to Sumwalt. All traffic and crossing signals were working properly. 

Six hundred and fifty people were on board train No. 659 when it slammed into an SUV stopped at a crossing in Valhalla at about 6:30 p.m., less than an hour after leaving Grand Central. The train burst into flames and pushed the SUV nearly 10 car lengths down the track, killing the driver of the SUV and five passengers in the first car.

Nurses turned out in force Thursday in Los Angeles to hear officials discuss proposals for tough new rules aimed at preventing hospital violence, just two weeks after one of their own was shot at a local California hospital.

California’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health is working to develop the new rules, which many think could have prevented the shooting of a nurse at a mental health clinic at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in South LA two weeks ago as well as other attacks across the state.

Nurses said the work is more dangerous than many people realize.

Rose Carcamo said she's been struck "many times" by patients. She said she's been spit on, slapped and kicked.

"How can they keep a drunk from hitting you? You know, you can't. We try to do the best we can," she said.

The nurses, and others represented by various health care unions around the California, are hoping Cal-OSHA can formulate a stricter policy, and want employers, including major hospitals, to protect them.

The nurse in the most recent incident was shot in the leg during a struggle with a patient. Other nurses said a metal detector might have prevented the man from bringing in a gun.

Last spring, two other nurses were seriously injured within hours of each other - one was stabbed at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar and the other was stabbed in the ear with a pencil at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance.

Both survived, but Cal-OSHA officials on-hand Thursday to discuss proposed tightened security in hospitals heard similarly disturbing accounts from dozens of other health care workers.

"There's three gang members standing right behind me while I'm working on their gang leader," said Scott Byington, a registered nurse.

Byington and others said the health care workers are basically sitting ducks when police officers are not around.

"Our security is not armed. We have no metal detectors. Nothing like that at our hospital," he said.

If approved, the proposal would be the first of its kind in the country, and healthcare workers said it needs to happen.

"So I'm holding a three month old baby and the man comes in and tries to attack me and lunge at me," said Rosa Carcamo, a registered nurse, outside of Thursday’s meeting, which was a first look at the proposed plans.

According to Cal-OSHA, nearly 5,000 incidents of workplace violence in healthcare settings were reported in California between 2010 and 2012. Many go unreported.

A Pennsylvania man, accused along with his wife and family members in a more than $20-million insurance scheme, committed suicide in front of one of the family's homes, multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation told NBC10.

Thomas French shot himself in front of a Risoldi family home along Danielle Drive in Buckingham, Pennsylvania Thursday afternoon, said sources.

After the shooting, police could be seen towing a vehicle from the scene.

French, who was 64, was married to Claire Risoldi, the family matriarch at the center of an arson scheme.

Risoldi's family set fires in their matriarch's home so they could collect more than $20 million in insurance claims, then used the cash float an "excessively extravagant lifestyle" marked by $1.2 million in jewelry and six Ferraris, according to charges announced last month by Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

Claire Risoldi, four members of her Bucks County family and two alleged co-conspirators were hit with several fraud charges after a more than year long statewide investigation.

Fire spread through the Risoldis' New Hope home, named "Clairemont" by the woman, three times between June 2009 and October 2013. According to prosecutors, each fire started near a stockpile of highly flammable materials, including hair spray, and the cause was ruled undetermined.

In one case, home surveillance video captured Risoldi leaving the house a minute before smoke appeared and may have been inside when the home was burning, prosecutors said.

The family then would collect insurance money for lost jewelry, art and home treatments.

The attorney general said the family inflated the price tenfold of Romanesque paintings that were destroyed by fire, depicting the Risoldis wearing "flowing robes gazing down from the heavens." They also attempted to file a $2 million claim for damaged window treatments.

Risoldi accused firefighters of stealing more than $10 million in jewelry from "Clairemont" while fighting one of the blazes, Kane said.

"I knew my guys didn't take anything out of the house, but we were accused," said Midway Volunteer Fire Company Chief Hugh Hager.

After collecting the insurance money, the family allegedly used the cash to carry out real estate transactions, buy expensive cars and fund their lavish lifestyle, prosecutors said. More than $7 million in assets seized by the state included $3 million from bank accounts, $1.2 million in jewelry, six Ferraris, two Rolls Royces and a Shelby Cobra.

The grand jury investigation found Risoldi increased coverage for her jewelry from $100,000 to nearly $11 million less than a month before the last fire in October 2013. Kane said jurors also found a pattern of questionable insurance claims by Risoldi spanning some 30 years. In one example, investigators found jewelry the woman said she lost in 1993.

In addition to Claire Risoldi, prosecutors charged French; her 43-year-old son, Carl Risoldi; 43-year-old daughter-in-law, Shiela Risoldi; and 48-year-old daughter Carla Risoldi.

Two other men, private investigator Mark Goldman and fabric vendor Richard Holston, were also charged in the scheme.

All seven suspects remained free on bail.

SUICIDE PREVENTION: If you know someone who needs help, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Some towns have experienced record breaking snowfall amounts in the last 10 days. No one will argue it's turned into a rough winter, but imagine weathering all these storms from inside a tent in the Maine woods.

Sixty-seven-year-old Ed Warden is trying to do just that. He is a volunteer camp host at Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal. He gets the campsite for free and, in return, must provide 20 hours of labor.

He liked the job in the summer and thought he would try it in the winter. His 12-by-20 tent does have a small wood stove and electricity, but no running water.

During the recent blizzard, he got up every hour to get the snow off of the tent.

"People say, 'aren't you scared?' No, I'd be more scared in the middle of a city somewhere," said Warden.

Warden says he tried a more conventional life, but he was more suited to this one. He believes being so close to nature offers him serenity
and keeps him healthy.

Warden says he'll stay in his tent at least through next summer.

Outspoken Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is known for his controversial views on immigration and prison management. But Thursday, he took a hard-line stance on a topic constituents are sure to love: cracking down on animal abuse.

The sheriff of Maricopa County visited San Diego Thursday as a guest speaker at Helen Woodward Animal Center’s 3rd Annual Business of Saving Lives Conference.

Arpaio’s talk focused on his program that kicks inmates out of cells and jails dogs and cats, giving them life sentences to save their lives. The jail shelter was created about 15 years in response to cat slayings in Phoenix.

“I had an idea. Everybody loves their animals. I'm going to do something,” said Arpaio. “At the same time, about 300 inmates were destroying the plumbing in our only air-conditioned jail at the time.”

So Arpaio decided to move out the inmates and move in abused animals. His one rule: there is no euthanasia.

"The inmates take care of the animals. They get to love the animals,” he said. “It's a two-way street, so there's some therapy involved here too, trying to help the inmates."

Arpaio’s ideas are some of dozens to be shared this weekend at the convention. The goal, according to Helen Woodward’s President and CEO Mike Arms, is to teach animal shelters how to run as businesses.

"A lot of shelters throughout the country and around the world run themselves as a mom and pop candy store,” said Arms. “They don't know the first thing about marketing and advertising."

Arms hopes to give them the skills to sustain their operations, which can in turn save pets’ lives through decreased euthanasia.

His strategy is easy to sum up.

"Take the cutest, most mushy-faced puppy or kitten that you have on TV; 20 families will come down for that one. That one will get adopted, but five others will get adopted because of the exposure that you bring," he said.

While it may bring him political brownie points, Arpaio said his actions on this issue, which include dedicating five detectives to animal abuse cases, is more than politics.

"This is one of my top priorities. Mahatma Gandhi said you judge the morality of a country by the way they treat their animals. I feel those were great words,” the sheriff said.

A big real estate deal approved by the San Diego City Council last week is getting a lot of second-guessing and "what ifs" right now.

Documents behind the complex, lease-to-purchase transaction indicate the city was between a rock and a hard place, and had to scramble fast to make the best of the situation.

The properties involved are downtown, just north of city hall: the 18-story Civic Center Plaza tower built four decades ago and a low-rise building nearby that houses a campus of King-Chavez High School.

Their sale price to a third party: $44 million.

But the city will pay more than triple that amount to lease and buy them — in a rush-rush, layaway-styled deal.

"We were told the seller said, 'We've been wanting to sell this property for some time. The city's dragging its feet,’” recalls city fiscal and policy analyst Charles Modica Jr. “’Get your act together — or we're just going to go and sell this building at market.'"
 
The deal's present-value price tag has been cited at $91 million.

But as NBC 7 pointed out on January 26, the total cost to taxpayers is far more than that -- $160 million dollars over 20 years  in rent, operating expenses and improvements.

"Apparently the buildings are owned by a family trust that was having some kind of dispute among the different members of that trust as to whether or not they wanted to sell the building,” Modica said in an interview Thursday. “And those were some other considerations that were presented."

Those considerations set a hard-and-fast deadline of last week to green light long-term acquisition of the properties.

The office of the city's independent budget analyst wanted more time to study the numbers.

Bottom line?

The taxpayers will spend $160 million in rent, operating expenses and improvements over 20 years — money going to a holding company that's buying the buildings for only $44 million because the city couldn't float bonds to do so itself.

"Our real estate assets department said bond financing is not an option, based on the compressed timeline. And we took them at their word on that," said Modica.

But city real estate officials say their hands were tied from exercising that option “as a result of litigation and unknown appeals” -- even though the escrow closure deadline was pushed back twice, from December 31 to March 15.

More than 800 city employees work in the Civic Center Plaza under a month-to-month lease – a situation that former city attorney Mike Aguirre said essentially turned what earlier might have been a renter's market into a seller's market.

"What the city probably should have done is looked for some alternative space,” Aguirre told NBC 7. “It's like Al Capone said, 'You can get further with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word.' And that's what we're talking about here."

Officials emphasize that the deal will save taxpayer $9 million through "below-market" lease rates; there also will be income from parking and King-Chavez High.

If the building had been sold out from under the city on the open market, they noted in an email to NBC 7, the city could have faced much higher current market rates than the city has negotiated, with a new lease limited to five or six years.

“This deal,” they wrote, “locks the city into knowing exact terms for the next 20 years.”

Second-reading council approval of the agreement is expected next week.

Researchers have mapped out the particles found across the city’s subway system, and they found a range of DNA from mozzarella cheese to the Bubonic plague.

The “PathoMap,” created by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers, maps out microbes and pathogens found on hand rails, kiosks,  benches, turnstiles and passenger seats. The research team used nylon swabs to collect DNA in 24 subway lines in all five boroughs over a period of 17 months.

Researchers say most of the DNA found across the subway system is harmless, like the cheese DNA, but the study also found some drug-resistant, disease-causing bacteria, including some DNA fragments associated with anthrax and the Bubonic plague.

Other disease-causing bacteria found in the subway system include E. coli, staph infections, meningitis, sepsis and strep infections.

At the DeKalb Avenue station in Brooklyn, researchers found 52 different kinds of bacteria, including ones associated with urinary-tract infections, sauerkraut and oil cleanup. Bacteria associated with food poisoning and respiratory ailments was found at the Forest Hills-71st Av station in Queens, and samples associated with heart-valve infections and toxic cleanup were found on turnstiles and MetroCard vending machines at the Upper East Side's Lexington Avenue station.

The South Ferry station in lower Manhattan, which was flooded by Sandy, is a virtual marine environment, the researchers found. Each of the samples from the floors, walls and railings of the station were clustered with the dozen samples collected from the water and shores of the Gowanus Canal. 

The diversity of bacteria found by subway line reflects the diversity of the population in the borough through which it runs, the researchers said. The Bronx had the most number of different bacteria species, followed by Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.  

For information by subway station or bacteria type, check out The Wall Street Journal's interactive based on the study. 

Of the known bacteria identified in the transit system, 57 percent have never been associated with human disease, the study found. Researchers say the results are mostly reassuring and there’s no need to avoid the subway system or wear protective gloves or masks. 

As Weill-Cornell University scientist Chris Mason, one of the authors of the study, told Gothamist, "You wouldn't want to lick all the poles, even though you'd probably be fine." 

The study can be used for long-term disease surveillance, bioterrorism threat mitigation and large-scale health management, according to researchers.

Researchers' complete analysis is available here. 

Police have arrested a New York man on a variety of charges following a rampage through a Long Island neighborhood. 

Nicholas Patrikis is accused of crashing a Jeep, breaking into a nearby home and killing a cat while ransacking the Oyster Bay Cove place. He then allegedly menaced passing drivers with a kitchen knife and boarded a school bus where he robbed two students.

Patrikis pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges including burglary, robbery, animal cruelty, weapon possession and criminal mischief. Bail was set at $100,000. His attorney did not immediately comment.

Police say he was taken for medical evaluation before being charged.

Newsday reports that the two Oyster Bay High School students who were robbed were fine.

The Bay Area's Power Couple is at it again.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan have announced a $75 million donation San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center to complete an acute care and trauma facility.

The gift is the biggest donation the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation has received since it was established in 1994, the foundation said Friday. It supplements an $887.4 million bond issue that San Francisco voters approved in 2008 to start building the facility.

According to the Foundation, the grant will "Fund critical state of the art equipment and technology for the new building and will help convert the existing hospital building into an ambulatory care facility."

Zuckerberg and Chan recently also donated $25 million to fight Ebola. In a press release, Zuckerberg said, "Priscilla and I believe that everyone deserves access to high quality health care."

Chan, a pediatrician, is completing her residency at the University of California, San Francisco and works regularly at the hospital, where she focuses on treating underprivileged children.

The newest donation is the latest in a series of tech windfalls helping Bay Area hospitals. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff donated about $250 million for the newly minted Benioff Children's Hospital.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.

A person died Thursday night after a caller reported hearing about 30 gunshots in Escondido.

Multiple people called 911 to report the shots near 11th Avenue and Orange Street.

Just before 10 p.m., Palomar Hospital told Escondido Police that a gunshot victim, later identified as Jonathan Vazquez, 22, had been dropped off at their emergency room. Vazquez died there from his wound.

A second man, Jose Angel Rojas, 23, was brought to the Palomar Medical Center with a gunshot wound to his leg, police say. His injury is non-life threatening.

Investigators discovered a car with blood in it at Palomar Hospital, so they are checking to see if it was involved in the shooting.

If you have any information about this shooting, call Det. Miguel Ramirez at 760-839-4925.