A San Diego man was convicted Wednesday of a violent road rage attack in part because of video he recorded on his own cell phone.

Jurors convicted Thomas Sikes, 56, of assault causing great bodily injury and elder abuse for an April 30 fight in an El Cajon parking lot.

Prosecutors characterized Sikes as a “violent bully who can’t control his anger” and presented the recording Sikes took of his confrontation with 76-year-old Ron Tornocello in a CVS Pharmacy parking lot.

“This is the a—hole that is driving here, came in here and ran through this parking lot,” Sikes says on the video as he's sitting behind the wheel of his own car in the parking lot.

Sikes continues recording as he walks up to Tornocello's car and asks him, "Do you have anything to say about your driving habit?”

A short surveillance clip released by officials shows Sikes walking across the parking lot, approaching the victim’s parked car and opening the driver's side door.

Tornocello was sitting behind the wheel of his car just outside the pharmacy's doors. He can be heard explaining to Sikes how his wife was being moved from a rehab center.

“You're going to be in a rehabilitation center in a minute,” Sikes warned.

That's when things got heated.

On the video shown to jurors in Sikes' trial Wednesday, Tornocello flipped off Sikes.

Then, as a CVS employee providing play-by-play to a 911 dispatcher described, Sikes threw a punch.

Tornocello, an Army veteran, was hospitalized for several days and required two facial reconstructive surgeries including one to repair his left eye.

A defense attorney argued his client had acted in self-defense and that it was Tornocello who first kicked Sikes in the groin.

Jurors rejected that argument and convicted Sikes on all counts. He'll face nine years in prison when he's sentenced. 

The San Diego Police Department has released traffic stop and search statistics for the first time in more than a decade, and the data is raising concerns for the ACLU over racial profiling.

The statistics, presented to the San Diego City Council public safety committee Wednesday, show that from January to December 2014, SDPD officers made 144,164 recorded traffic stops and searched 7,142 people.

The racial breakdown of those numbers shows Hispanic drivers made up 30.2 percent of traffic stops and 40.1 percent of searches, although they are 27 percent of the population, according to 2013 SANDAG statistics for people 15 and older.

African American drivers made up 11.2 percent of traffic stops and 23.4 percent of searches, and they comprise 5.5 percent of the San Diego population. Looking at the numbers, black and Hispanic people are stopped and searched at a higher rate than their proportion of the driving population.

Comparatively, 47.2 percent of the population is white, and 43 percent of 2014 traffic stops and 27.6 percent of searches were for white drivers. While Asians and other ethnicities comprise the remaining 20.2 percent of the population, police pulled over Asian drivers 15.6 percent of the time and searched them 8.8 percent of the time.

ACLU Policy Director Margaret Dooley-Sammuli said the SDPD fails to identify where the numbers are troubling and what they play learn from them.

“The rate of disproportion is so great, it’s not acceptable to throw up ones hands and say we can draw nothing from that,” Dooley-Sammuli said.

But the SDPD report says after its officers started collecting vehicle stop data in 2000, they began turning in data less and less. Fewer data entry staff and technical issues with the database also led to gaps in data.

While data collection efforts were revamped in 2013, the department does not have a reliable demographic benchmark, SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman said, “and analysis of exact comparisons continues to be difficult.”

“It cannot be determined with any confidence whether the data indicate any systemic patterns of bias in vehicle stops or searches,” the chief said. She released a PSA last August, encouraging victims of racial profiling to come forward.

Still, the ACLU’s concerns remain.

“Law enforcement does have an important role in preventing crime, but we need to make sure it’s targeted toward preventing crime and not just based on stereotype,” said Kellen Russoniello with the ACLU, “that if you enforce in certain communities, it will drive down crime, so we need to parse data and make sure we’re preventing crime and not just enforcing against communities of color and low income.”

Zimmerman also noted that although cities use the driver population as a comparison, this is a challenge for San Diego because of its proximity to the border. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 12 million vehicles crossed at the San Ysidro Border Port of Entry and 6.4 million vehicles crossed at Otay Mesa Port of Entry last year.

The SDPD report also broke down traffic stops based on the reason drivers were pulled over. See the infographic below for the top explanations.

Attendance and revenue at SeaWorld continued to decline in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to an earnings report from SeaWorld Entertainment.

The report shows 22.4 million people visited SeaWorld parks last year, compared with 23.4 million in 2013.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, SeaWorld reported $264.5 million in revenue, compared with $272 the previous year.

The continued decline in business has followed the 2013 release of the documentary “Blackfish,” which was critical of SeaWorld’s handling of killer whales.

In December, more than 300 SeaWorld employees were laid off and the CEO of SeaWorld Entertainment stepped down. The company said it was attempting to cut about $50 million by the end of this year.

Overall in 2014, attendance dropped 4 percent.

SeaWorld has long defended its practices and last year announced the construction of larger environments for animals, namely Orcas, and that it would fund research programs to protect whales in the wild.

The company also said Thursday that it expects to select a new CEO within the next six to nine months, according to published reports.

Three executives of a local real estate investment firm that failed to meet insurance requirements when a construction worker died on the job changed their pleas to guilty Thursday and agreed to pay out a trust fund for the man's infant son.

"Three Frogs" of La Mesa bought, renovated and sold homes for profit - a process called "flipping."

Joshua Pudsey, 42, was killed on the job in November 2013. Pudsey was on an aerial lift trimming a 60-foot eucalyptus tree, which he was not licensed to do, when a branch fell and crushed his head.

Prosecutors said the Three Frogs executives – David Wolf, John Murphy and Jonathan Cox – violated OSHA safety regulations and workers insurance laws.

Because the company failed to have workers compensation insurance, the man's son, 8-month-old Jackson, did not receive the payout he should have for his father's death - the father he'll never meet.

The three entered guilty pleas in a San Diego courtroom Thursday and the judge said if the men paid the nearly $300,000 Jackson would have gotten from workers comp by their sentencing date, the plea deal stands.

That deal, he said, could mean up to one year in jail followed by probation.

Judge Timothy P. Walsh said the three men were under the impression they had all the necessary licensing and insurances, but "these pleas reflect the fact that you were wrong."

Early in the proceedings, there was some question about whether Pudsey was an independent contractor or an employee of the company. His mother argued it shouldn't matter.

The charges, originally felonies, were dropped to misdemeanors as part of the deal. Judge Walsh said because the crime was failing to ensure the man's beneficiaries were properly taken care of in the event of his death, paying out what should have been available to Jackson makes up for that crime.

Jackson's mother and Pudsey's fiance Vangie Richards said she is pleased with the change in plea and the three needed to admit they were wrong.

"What they need to remember is a man was killed," Richards said. "A man lost his life due to their incompetency."

Richards said the argument is about insurance and the enforcement of employers to have workers compensation available.

"Insurance needs to be made a big deal. It's a very practical thing that a lot of people take advantage of. It's a corner they cut," Richards said after court Thursday. "Because they cut this corner, obviously a man died, and there's more punishment now for not having insurance and for them being idiots."

Richards was pregnant with Pudsey's son at the time of his death. The family had to fight to have Pudsey's name put on the birth certificate.

Now, Richards said Jackson is sure to be a successful adult.

"Well, if he doesn't get his first round draft pick, then I'm sure he'll pick a very wonderful college to go to," she said.

A 7-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was hit by a car while crossing an El Cajon street as his family looked on.

At 3:45 p.m. Thursday, the boy named Angel went to throw a handful of garbage from his family's minivan into a dumpster across the street.

When he turned back to meet his mother and siblings, he walked in front of a gray Hyundai heading westbound in the 900 block of Peach Avenue.

"He crossed the street and all I saw was him, that the car throwed him past and he fell, and I was really sad and crying," his 10-year-old sister Sinay said.

Witnesses said Angel did not notice the car, and the driver did not notice him.

"All I saw was him flying over, then he dropped in front of our car," said Marreilla Ronquillo.

The force of the impact left a large dent in the hood of the car. Angel was taken to the hospital for serious injuries and is now in critical condition, police say.

The 18-year-old male driver of the car pulled over but did not get out when he first hit the boy.

"Shock," said Susan Ronquillo, Marreilla's mother. " He did not move anything, just stayed inside, maybe until police arrived. He is still in the car."

Police said the driver has cooperated fully with investigators and was released without charges, pending an investigation. However, his car has been impounded. Speed and alcohol do not appear to be factors, according to police. 

El Cajon police say officers arrived so quickly, bystanders initially thought the incident was a police pursuit and reported it to 911. Investigators later determined police were not involved in the crash. Peach Avenue was closed between Peach Court and Mollison Avenue until about 7:30 p.m. 

Aaron Hernandez watched in court Friday as his phone records were shown for all to see.

Ricardo Leal, an official with Sprint, hashed through the complicated details for hours.

At the end of the day, even Hernandez was laughing, as things got tense between Leal and his attorney.

Also Friday, jurors caught an inside look at text messages Hernandez sent to his alleged "right hand man," Ernest "Bo" Wallace of Bristol, Connecticut.

Just hours before Odin Lloyd was killed, Hernandez frantically texted Wallace, "Get ur [expletive] up here," and "Hurry ur [expletive] up [expletive]."

Earlier in the day, before Hernandez allegedly drank and smoked pot at a Providence, Rhode Island, bar, he sent a message to Wallace, presumably about his fiancee Shayanna Jenkins.

"All yall trying to step tonight my girl getting on my nerves," read the text. "Waddup Hey jus don't be too late my [expletive] please cuz with trying to b stuck wit her all day an nite."

A mystery also unveiled Friday, as Hernandez, according to phone records, appeared to have deleted two texts he sent to Wallace on June 15, one day after Hernandez went clubbing with Lloyd and one day before Lloyd was killed.

Just days before Lloyd was killed, Hernandez allegedly made a reference to gun clips, texting Wallace, "U grab everything out of the car...clips and cds and everything?"

Wallace replied, "Yes, sir."

In another text days before Lloyd was killed, Hernandez seemed to apologize to Wallace, texting him, "Love u [expletive] I wanted to kill u but u know I love u hit me tomorrow get some rest and tell the rest I love them."

Wallace wrote, " K. One love. My bad today."

Later in the day, Hernandez's defense team filed a motion to stop prosecutors from showing a gun to jurors. While the prosecution alleges the defendant was seen in surveillance footage holding a Glock .45, which they say was the murder weapon, the gun itself was never found.

Hernandez's attorneys argue that an upcoming witness may infer to jurors that the suspect was holding the murder weapon in the video.

Judge Susan Garsh has not yet made a decision on the matter.

Search crews are racing against an incoming winter storm as they cover San Diego’s East County Friday looking for a hiker last seen two weeks ago.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said it expects search teams from Riverside and Los Angeles to help look for Chris Sylvia.

Sylvia, 28, left Anza Borrego on Thursday, Feb.12 to hike the Pacific Crest Trail south to Campo.

He was supposed to meet a friend in Lost Valley for a refill of food supplies but he never arrived. The friend assumed he had kept hiking but when Sylvia didn’t arrive in Campo, the friend called officials.

On Tuesday, other hikers on the trail found Sylvia's sleeping bag, backpack and other personal belongings just north of Warner Springs about 13 miles off Highway 79.

That area was searched Thursday by 50 to 60 people.

Sylvia is described as 5-feet, 8-inches tall, 155 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.

He was last seen in brown hiking boots, dark colored jacket and green pants.

A winter storm watch has been issued for the mountains east of San Diego with up to a foot of snow expected to fall in some places.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the San Diego Sheriff's Department at (858) 565-5200.

New expansion plans for Google headquarters, known as the Googleplex, has the city of Mountain View in a tough position as city leaders try to accommodate their biggest corporate taxpayer as well as non-Google residents who feel the tech giant is swallowing their town.

“I think most of us in Mountain View are concerned about where are we going to house the employees that work there, the new employees. How will they get to work given the traffic bottlenecks that already exist?” asked Mountain View councilman Lenny Siegel.

Reportedly, the new plans highlight a campus focused on walking or biking to work, which means one thing to Siegel: Mountain View must build new housing.

“We’re expecting as we put housing in north Bayshore and near north Bayshore that we’ll reduce the amount of miles traveled by commuters,” he said.

A mobile home park in the shadow of Google headquarters is also in the cross hairs.

“There is a mobile home park in north Bayshore, about 360 units and a growing number of Google employees are moving in there,” he said. “Now it’s unfortunately displacing some of the residents, they’ve been bought out basically.”

Gregory Legg, who lives in Mountain View said many of his neighbors are Google employees and they’re doing wonders for property values

“It’s actually bringing it up, the property values, which is good. It’s real good,” Legg said. “I mean, before, it was pretty low. And now it’s brought it up quite a bit.”

But with the higher prices, Rosemary Dozie Antoine said she will probably have to move.

“We would like to get out of here because everything’s too expensive for what I do,” she said. “And for what my husband does. So we need to kinda’ need to get out of here.”

The higher real estate is benefiting some, but pushing out others.

“It’s the housing and transportation issues that make me question the value of all this high-tech growth,” she said.

Siegel said opening up Moffett Field for a type of park-and-ride plan that would help alleviate street congestion could be in the works. But his main focus is discussing new housing developments around Google, something the council said no to last year.
 

A Long Island man allegedly used a wooden figure in a hooded sweatshirt to drive solo in the Long Island Expressway's HOV lane because, he told officers, he was late to his new job, police said.

A Suffolk County Highway Patrol officer noticed the fake passenger when he pulled the man over for speeding at 77 mph at 6:30 a.m. on Friday in Dix Hills.

A photo of the crudely made dummy shows a wooden board with a block-shaped, wooden head wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

"I was trying not to laugh at the guy because I thought it was quite silly," said officer Jonathan Abrams. 

Abrams said for a moment, he actually thought it was a real person.

"The silhouette was realistic enough," he said. "You see people with hoods up, sleeping in the front seat all the time." 

The driver, James Campbell, told NBC 4 New York the officer seemed to have a sense of humor about it.

"He said, 'Passenger, can I see some ID?' And I said, 'Officer, I don't think so,'" said Campbell, chuckling. 

Campbell told the officer that he was driving to a new job and didn't want to be late.

"He said he started a new job and he couldn't afford to be late to his new job, so traveling through the HOV lane allowed him to get there a little bit faster," said Abrams. 

He was issued summonses for speeding and occupancy violation.

Campbell didn't seem deterred. He pulled up to his home Friday evening after work with the dummy still in the front seat, saying he'd been using it for months. 

He said, "He's got a sister down in the basement and on special occasions, I bring her out and she wears a tutu." 

It’s been so cold in New England that even the ocean waves are freezing.

A Nantucket-based photographer and surfer captured images of waves with the consistency of a 7-Eleven Slurpee hitting the coast of Nantucket, in Massachusetts, on Friday, Feb. 20.

“The wind was howling from the southwest which would typically make rough or choppy conditions not so good for surfing, but since the surface of the sea was frozen slush the wind did not change the shape,” Jonathan Nimerfroh said in an email to New England Cable News. “What resulted was perfect, dreamy, slush waves.”

The temperature was a high of 19 degrees that day, according to Nimerfroh, and the waves were around 2 feet high.

When Nimerfroh went back the beach on Saturday to take more photos of slurpee waves, it was even colder. The water had a thin sheet of ice over it and there were no waves at all.

Normally, water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, so it’s not unusual for the harbor to freeze.

New England has experienced outsized snowfall and cold this winter. Boston has received 102 inches of snow, just 5.6 inches shy of the snowiest winter on record, according to the National Weather Service.

Another storm is expected to hit this weekend, dumping 6 inches in some areas. It won't take much to shatter the record.
 

A young woman who says she tried to help a Massachusetts teen before his 2014 suicide now faces manslaughter charges after text messages allegedly revealed that she encouraged him to take his own life.

Court documents from New Bedford court outline a deeper look into the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy, a student from Fairhaven and Mattapoisett.

In July of 2014, Fairhaven Police found Roy's body in his car parked behind a store. They believe he committed suicide by means of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Now, 18-year-old Michelle Carter of Plainville is facing involuntary manslaughter charges, having been indicted as a youthful offender.

After Roy's body was found, according to documents, police accessed his cell phone. There, they found thousands of text messages between Roy and Carter.

"Michelle not only encouraged Conrad to take his own life, she questioned him repeatedly as to when and why he hadn't done it yet, right up to the point of when his final text was sent to her on Saturday evening, July 12, 2014," police wrote after reviewing the messages.

The new charges have reopened old wounds for the Roy family.

"All I can think of is his smiling face," said Conrad's grandmother, Janice Roy. "He used to come play with his cousins on the beach."

Police also allege Carter misled friends and Roy's family members when he was missing.

The documents say that in other texts following his death, she told friends she heard him killing himself over the phone.

Police say Roy had told Carter he was scared to leave his family, but that Carter encouraged him to commit suicide.

"When he actually started to carry out the act, he got scared again and exited his truck," read the court documents. "But instead of telling him to stay out of the truck and turn off the generator Carter told him to 'get back in.'"

The court documents also show that Roy confided in Carter, saying, "I feel like I'm only staying alive for other people, not myself." He also reportedly said, "There's nothing anyone can do for me that's gonna make me wanna live."

Carter's attorney says his client is not a killer.

Roy's Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Anthony's Church, Mattapoisett. Visiting hours will be held on Friday from 4-8 PM at the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd., Route 6, Mattapoisett. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the Captain Conrad H. Roy III Scholarship Fund, c/o Northeast Maritime Institute, 32 Washington St., Fairhaven, MA 02719. For directions and guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.

Staff who have been out of work since a grease fire burned the kitchen at PB Ale House are getting a second chance.

They'll start working at Backyard Kitchen and Tap when it opens Friday in Pacific Beach.

Close to 120 people escaped injury Feb. 16 when the popular PB AleHouse on Grand Avenue was damaged by fire.

A grease fire traveled through the building's exhaust system and started a second fire in the attic.

Since the business has closed for repairs, the community has pitched in according to Johnny Leal, General Manager with PB Ale House.

“They're really stepping up to the plate and reaching out to us and trying to find different ways to help our staff which is great,” Leal said.

“We're a lot more of a family versus a place of employment for a lot of these people," he added.

So now, the restaurant is putting employees to work its three locations.

The restaurant is part of OMG Hospitality Group, which includes PB AleHouse, and Union Kitchen & Tap restaurants in Encinitas and the Gaslamp.

PB Alehouse was expected to open in the next 60 to 90 days, he said.

State wildlife officials say Northern California fishermen could be treated to an abundant salmon season this fall, despite the lingering drought.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife said Thursday its forecast includes a strong return of more than 650,000 adult king salmon from the Sacramento River and more than 420,000 adult salmon from the Klamath River. The Klamath and Sacramento River salmon runs bring in most of the salmon entering California's ocean and inland fisheries.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat says the forecast represents about an 18 percent increase from a year ago.

Commercial and sport anglers say the outlook is good, particularly given their experiences in 2008 and 2009, when low salmon stocks cancelled the commercial season entirely.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says that salmon numbers are promising in 2015 because this year's salmon were hatched 2 to 4 years ago. This year's salmon are old enough to avoid the full impact of the dorught. But starting next year, the Department of Fish and Wildlife expects the drought will have a more noticeable impact on fishing opportunities.

Heart disease is the second leading cause of death in the county, and Scripps Health has unveiled its new state-of-the-art hospital dedicated to treating the heart.

The Prebys Cardiovascular Institute, which opened Thursday, has more than 160 rooms specifically designed to treat patients with heart problems, and six high-tech operating rooms used for less invasive procedures - something Scripps employees said can't be found in any other hospital.

San Diego loses nearly 4,000 people to heart disease annually, so the new facility will be a major benefit to locals, particularly the elderly.

Darla Calvert was diagnosed with heart failure in 2003 and underwent heart surgery that left her with a five pound device that pumps her blood for her.

Calvert said she credits Scripps Health doctors for saving her life.

"So far Scripps has approximately 23 patients with the L-VAD and as a result, all of us are alive and we wouldn't be without it," Calvert said.

The Prebys Cardiovascular Institute will treat its first 100 patients in under two weeks.

For more information, click here.

Virginia mom of three Brooke Taheri opted to spend her Valentine’s Day working on her taxes and didn't expect the holiday to get any less romantic.

Then she discovered her identity had been stolen.

“You get that sinking feeling in your stomach,” said Taheri, 37, of Fairfax County, describing the moment she realized something was wrong.

Tax-related identity theft is a growing concern, according to the Internal Revenue Service, which named it as one of its “dirty dozen” tax scams of 2015.

“Preventing and detecting identity theft and refund fraud remains a top priority for the IRS," the government agency said in a statement. "We have added and strengthened protections in our systems, and we continue to make important progress in stoping identity theft and other fradulent refunds."

Last year, the IRS initiated 1,063 identity theft-related investigations and the Federal Trade Commission reported receiving 109,063 complaints about tax-related identity theft, according to the IRS website.

Taheri found out she was a victim when she tried to e-file her taxes and got a notice saying the IRS already received her forms.

“I was livid and completely frustrated,” Taheri said.

Yet submitting your tax return is the only way to uncover the distressing news before the tax season's deadline hits.

Credit card companies continually monitor customers’ behavior, making it easier for them to pick up on any unusual activity. The IRS, however, only connects with taxpayers once a year. Fraudsters typically file early, beating taxpayers to the punch and making it difficult for the IRS to detect discrepancies against employers’ information, which the government agency receives in late spring.

• READ MORE: The IRS' “Taxpayer Guide to Identity Theft”

Since many Americans have yet to file their returns this tax season, it is too early to tell how many others are victims of tax-related identity theft although the majority should not be affected.

About 1.5 million taxpayers received Identity Protection PINs, a six-digit unique number, by the IRS last year as part of a pilot program. The agency provided them with the extra security measure to all identity theft victims, including those whose data was compromised in schemes unrelated to their taxes.

• Get an Identity Protection Pin

The IRS also offered the PINs to another 1.7 million taxpayers whose accounts signaled they could be victims.

Filing early is one recommendation, but that didn’t prevent Taheri from experiencing a “very labor intensive” aftermath.

“Thus far I’ve spent over four hours on music hold with different federal and local government agencies and then once I talk to people it’s been another hour and a half,” she said.

Taheri filed a police report, contacted the IRS and the FTC, and checked with the Social Security Administration and other agencies to determine if her information had been used illegally, she said. And she still had to file her taxes, but now she must submit a paper copy along with an identity theft affidavit so the IRS can conduct its investigation, she said.

Updating your passwords and usernames regularly, and monitoring your credit report are a few other steps taxpayers should take to avoid identity theft, according to resources available on the FTC and IRS websites. Another suggestion: Don’t give your personal information when it is not required of you or through unsecure channels.

Taheri, who works in finance, admonished herself for failing to set up identity theft protection earlier.  She said she has now signed up for it. Taheri is also keeping a close eye on her credit reports and planning how she’ll avoid this in the future.

“As soon as I get my W-2s and tax information, I will be filing as early as I physically can,” she said. “I will be the first to file.”

And after a headache-filled Valentine's day, Taheri — who wasn't expecting a big hoopla — was finally able to celebrate with her family.

"By the time I got off all the phone calls, I think we got carry-out."

Uber says a database containing the names and drivers' license numbers of 50,000 of its drivers was breached in May.

The ride-sharing service says it has notified the drivers and hasn't received any reports of the information being misused. Uber says it will offer a one-year membership in Experian's ProtectMyID Alert identity theft protection service to the drivers involved.

The company said Friday the breach affects drivers in multiple states, but involves only a "small percentage" of its current and former drivers.

Uber says it discovered a potential breach in September. It announced the events in a statement posted on its blog and described them as a one-time occurrence. The San Francisco company says it has changed the access protocols for its database to prevent similar breaches.

Uber is the latest company to report a data breach in recent months. Others include retailer Home Depot, health insurer Anthem and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The problems can be costly as well as damaging to consumers' perception of a company.

Uber is privately-held and valued at $40 billion. It lets passengers summon cars through an app in more than 250 cities worldwide, but faces multiples legal and regulatory challenges as it expands in the United States and abroad. The company has been criticized over the thoroughness of the background checks it does on drivers and other safety issues as well as its method of raising prices when demand goes up.

Earlier this month Uber introduced new safety features for riders in India, include a "panic button" on its app that would let riders notify police in an emergency and a "safety net" that would let riders share trip details with others. The features were rolled out after a highly-publicized case where a passenger said she was raped by an Uber driver.

You know that spring is on the way in Brooklyn when The Soup Bowl becomes Uncle Louie G's Italian ices.

In mid-March, the sign comes down for the hole-in-a-wall take-out place with a devoted following and a daily selection of some 18 soups, and Uncle Louie G takes its place. The seasonal switch on Seventh Avenue keeps the storefront in the black throughout the year.

A similar change takes place at the Brooklyn Porridge Co. and the Vendome macaron bar, two other Brooklyn spots that turn into Uncle Louie G's Italian ice shops when a frozen treat no longer feels like a cruel joke.

"Today, the way the economy is, it’s a great concept," Uncle Louie G’s Dino Russo said. “This way you earn 12 months out of year."

Richard Gussoff approached Russo five years ago with his plan to offer soup in the Seventh Avenue shop, which until then had closed in November for the winter. Gussoff had sold three restaurants in Manhattan’s theater district not long before — a decision prompted by proposed monthly rent increases of up to $5,000 — and had noticed the shuttered space.

“Soup was always my forte in my restaurants,” he said.

J.P. Eggers, an associate professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, compared the phenomenon to pop-up stores, increasingly popular in high-traffic areas where rents are high. A seasonal shop in a vacation location has little value once visitors go home, but real estate costs remain high for a store in a place like Brooklyn, he noted.

“The idea of leaving it with either no business because it’s closed or with a business that is just not going to make any money at that time of day or in that season just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “It’s far too valuable a property to do that.”

Uncle Louie G, which also sells ice cream, was started about 20 years by Russo’s brother and sister-in-law. Russo and three friends took it over in 2009 and expanded the company so that today there are nearly 60 outlets throughout the metropolitan New York area and as far as Florida, Oklahoma, California and even Malaysia. The individual stores are owned by license-holders who pay $15,000 and agree to buy ices and ice cream from Uncle Louie G.

Russo was skeptical when Gussoff first came to him, doubtful that he would be able to sell enough soup to afford the space. Each man jotted down a number for the monthly rent on a napkin, and each wrote the same -- $2,000. The Soup Bowl opened.

“I’m not a spiritual person, but if something was meant to be, that was a good sign,” Gussoff said. “They’re happy because I’m paying the rent. It works because in the winter, you don’t really want ice cream except for a few kids, and in the summer you don’t want soup.”

The owners of the Brooklyn Porridge Co., Emily Hannon and Karyn Seltzer, similarly approached Uncle Louie G after spotting an empty store on Union Street. The two had worked together at a corporate restaurant, were fast friends and wanted to offer something to customers with dietary restrictions.

“We started researching porridge, and the whole idea of porridge and discovered it exists in every culture,” Hannon said. “It’s an ancient comfort food.”

Their porridge, gluten- and dairy-free, is made from steel cut oats, grits, amaranth millet or brown rice and is served with savory or sweet toppings, everything from braised red cabbage to wildflower honey.

Hannon and Seltzer hope to keep their restaurant open year-round by finding another location and adding summer items to the menu. They are looking for other ways to expand: making the restaurant replicable and franchising and selling their sauces, compotes and sweet and savory granolas online.

The seasonal store has allowed them to test their ideas without making a large investment, they said.

“It’s been a warm, friendly way to start something, to start a business,” Hannon said.

Vendome on Smith Street is the brainchild of Taryn Garcia, who had studied film and landed at the Food Network after moving from Colorado to New York.

“I wasn’t totally in love working in production, and I just thought, “God, they’re having so much more fun in the kitchen,” she said.

She ended up in Paris studying pastry art and while there noticed the long lines at some of the shops selling macarons, the meringue-based French confections. She knew then she would make them when she returned to the United States.

She and her partner, Adriana Troli, sell their macarons at Saks Fifth Avenue and later this year will open a permanent shop at 1 Brooklyn Bridge Park, the former Jehovah’s Witnesses’ printing plant that has been turned into condominiums.

In the meantime, Garcia found the Uncle Louie G space advertised on Craigslist as a pop-up store for just over $3,000 a month.

“We looked at the cost to see: How are we going to make money? Will we break even? Is this going to be a loss?” Garcia said. “We decided to go for it.”

In the new store, they will offer not only macarons, but also coffee, some breakfast and lunch foods and maybe even wine and Champagne.

Gussoff said he was not sure what he would do once Uncle Louie G returns next month. His soups are widely popular — his lobster bisque sold out the first day, thanks to the staff of nearby New York Methodist Hospital — but he said he knew business would drop off by 90 percent once the temperatures rise.

Still, his customers return each year, he said.

“There are people that come to us, and they say we're the only thing they like about winter,” he said.
 

An NYPD detective on his way to work in Queens, New York, was killed in a wrong-way crash on a Westchester highway early Friday that backed up traffic for hours, and the 46-year-old officer's wife was tragically stuck in the jam as she tried to take the couple's teenage daughter to school, officials and relatives say.

The officer, Paul Duncan, was headed south on the Sprain Brook Parkway near Greenburgh in a Honda Pilot at about 4 a.m. when a 2013 Honda Civic headed the wrong way crashed into the detective's SUV head-on. Duncan was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Civic, 20-year-old Efren Moreano of Yonkers, was taken to Westchester Medical Center and is in a coma, police say. It's not clear why Moreano was driving the wrong way.

Aerial footage from Chopper 4, which was first on the scene, showed one mangled vehicle on the highway and another stopped off the roadway.

Duncan's wife, Rechelle, said her husband normally leaves for work at the department's Internal Affairs Bureau in Queens around 8 a.m., but got an unusually early start Friday.

When she went to drive her daughter to school in the city shortly before 7 a.m., she encountered a police car blocking access to the Sprain Brook Parkway by her home. It took her two hours to get to the city, and she had no idea the traffic was related to a response to an accident that had claimed her husband's life.

"I don't even know how that's possible," a composed yet stunned Rechelle Duncan told NBC 4 New York.

She and her husband were high school sweethearts who had been married for more than 20 years. Rechelle Duncan said her husband was planning to retire from the NYPD this year.

"He was thoughtful, he was disciplined. He made really good dinners," Rechelle Duncan said of her husband. "He thought he was funny, a sharp dresser, a really good dad."

Now, she says, shes plans to focus on staying strong for her 13-year-old daughter.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor said after the crash that the state police and Department of Transportation should both look into ways to improve infrastructure on the highway. 

-Jonathan Dienst contributed to this report

Some land their dream job just weeks after graduation, but for Barbara Beskind, 91, it took several decades.

Beskind finally fulfilled her longtime dream of becoming a tech designer when she was hired at a top design firm in Silicon Valley two years ago.

"As a 10-year-old I wanted to be an inventor,'' Beskind told NBC's "Today show. "I've arrived. But it took me about 80 years."

She had a knack for design at an early age, making a hobby horse out of old tires during the Great Depression when she was just ten years old.

But she was discouraged to pursue a career in design by her high school guidance counselor who told her engineering schools don't accept females. So she decided to join the U.S. Army, where she served as an occupational therapist, while also writing books and learning to paint," she told "Today."

Two years ago she read about IDEO, known for designing the first mouse for Apple and other devices, and decided to apply for a vacant position. 

"Our culture is telling us, aging equals decline,'' IDEO associate partner Gretchen Addi told "Today". "And Barbara is very solidly standing there and saying, you know, 'I'm gonna call you on that.'''

Beskind focuses on projects related to aging. She has designed what she has dubbed a "trekker,'' a modified version of a walker, which is being developed into a prototype by IDEO.

She said coming to work every Thursday makes her "feel 30 years younger."

"Age is not a barrier to performance," she told "Today."  "Live life as an adventure, and expect change and endorse it, embrace it."

A newborn that lived only moments inspired a San Diego man to raise money for a memorial that may outlive us all.

Michael Rothstein of San Diego learned a Boston couple lost their newborn just moments after the birth. He was friends with little Eva's parents and felt he had to do something.

So, the Mira Mesa man set up a fundraising site to raise money to plant trees in Eva's honor.

Using a Go Fund Me site, he set an original goal of $500. In just six days, people donated more than $4,200.

As a result, Rothstein said 2500 trees will be planted in New Jersey as part of a restoration effort in areas hit by Superstorm Sandy.

He purchased the trees through TheTreesRemember.org, an organization that uses programs established by the U.S. Forest Service.

"It’s good for the environment, it’s a positive thing,” Rothstein told NBC 7. "These trees will last a long time."

He added that he couldn’t think of a better way to memorialize the newborn than planting trees.