Protesters gathered Tuesday morning at the site where officers shot and killed a homeless man on Skid Row, then marched to the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters for a police commission meeting attended by Chief Charlie Beck.

A rally involving LA Community Action Network and Skid Row community members began at about 8 a.m. near Sixth and San Pedro streets, where flowers, notes and other items were left at a memorial for the slain man, known to others on Skid Row as "Africa." Protesters carried signs that read, "Stop Modern Day Lynchings," "End the Police State" and "End the Safer Cities Initiative," a community policing program.

Another sign read, "Body Cameras Won't Stop Police Murders," referring to the body cameras worn by two officers involved in Sunday's fatal confrontation.

The crowd of more than 150 people gathered on the plaza in front of police headquarters before similar sentiments were expressed during nearly two hours of public comments at a regularly scheduled police commission meeting.  Speakers included community activists, a flag-draped man in a Batman mask and people living on Skid Row.

One speaker repeatedly blew a whistle and demanded the commission, "Wake up! Wake up!"

At a news conference after the commission meeting, Beck acknowledged the anger among those who spoke at Tuesday's commission meeting.

"The group today was pretty irate," Beck said.

The protests are part of the backlash after Sunday's fatal shooting of a man who had been staying in a tent in the downtown Los Angeles neighborhood. The man, who was the subject of a 911 call robbery report, tried to reach for an officer's holstered weapon during a struggle that began after he refused to comply with police commands, Chief Beck said.

"Don't take an officer's gun," one speaker said at the commission meeting. "If a person attempts to take a police officer's gun, it will not end up well. My condolences go out to the family of Africa, but let this investigation take its course."

Beck said Tuesday morning that investigators are still looking to speak with more witnesses. He refused to confirm the identity of the man who was killed and said that information would come from the coroner's office.

At a Monday news conference, Beck cited several screengrabs obtained from witness videos that he said show the man attempting to "forcibly grab" one of the officer's guns. He also said an officer in the video said "He has my gun" several times before three other officers opened fire in what the chief described as an "extreme tragedy."

Two Los Angeles Police Department officers involved in Sunday's altercation that led to the fatal shooting were wearing body cameras, providing police with another video for review in the department investigation, Beck said Monday. Investigators also plan to review video from the camera system at the Mission,  where officers responding to the robbery report encountered the man in 500 block of South San Pedro Street.

The man can be seen on a bystander's video recording swinging his arms as officers approach. The man repeatedly refused to comply with officers' commands and a stun gun had "little effect," Beck said.

"While on the ground, the suspect and officers struggled over one of the officer's handguns and then an officer-involved shooting occurred," the LAPD said in a statement.

At least five rounds were fired, police said.

The subject died at the scene. Two officers suffered minor injuries.

Some people who live in the area said they believe police are at least partially responsible for what transpired.

"You can't tell me five officers can't take down one man. What about police training?" One homeless man told NBC4 Monday. "I think they treated him like they normally treat homeless people on Skid Row, with disrespect, with harassment."

Chief Beck said Monday the officer's involved in the Skid Row shooting are well trained.

A judge on Tuesday granted a defense motion suppressing some of the evidence in the case of a Massachusetts teenager charged with raping and killing his high school math teacher in 2013.

Among that evidence is an alleged confession Philip Chism gave to Danvers Police after the killing, as well as certain cell phone evidence police had gathered as a result of that interview.

Additional motions seeking to suppress statements made to Topsfield Police as well as evidence seized at Danvers High School and from Chism's pockets and backpack were denied by the judge.

Chism, now 16, is charged with murder as an adult in the October 2013 slaying of Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer. Chism was 14 at the time.

Superior Court Judge David Lowy said in his ruling that the videotape of the Danvers interview makes it "readily apparent" that Chism's mother wanted an attorney present with her son during questioning.

"Despite this desire, the officers persisted in initiating a conversation and reminded her of a previous desire to find out what happened that night," Lowy said in his ruling. 

The judge said he isn't convinced beyond a resonable doubt that Chism was paying attention to the Miranda warnings to the extent that he could have waived his Miranda rights. While Chism's statements were made voluntarily, Lowy said they must be suppressed because she cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that Chism "knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights."

Lowy also ruled that Chism's cell phone and the victim's cell phone, which were found by police outside Hollywood Hits, should not be allowed at trial because they were discovered as a result of the police interview with Chism conducted at the Danvers police station.

"The police were only made aware of the location of the cell phones from their interview of the defendant," the judge wrote. "Since the defendant's statements during the interview at the Danvers interview must be suppressed and the Commonwealth has not argued an alternative theory of admissibility, the cell phones must be suppressed."

The family of Ritzer released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying in part, "We respect the court ruling and we are confident that law enforcement acted responsibly and lawfully. We are also confident in the ability of the District Attorney's Office to successfully prosecute the individual charged with this horrific crime so that justice is served for Colleen and our family."

Necn legal analyst Randy Chapman says tossing some evidence won't make or break the case. 

“There’s still substantial evidence about his culpability. They have videotape, they have him in possession of the murder weapon,” Chapman explained. “It’s not going to result in the case being crippled."

Attorneys for Eddie Ray Routh filed a motion, on Tuesday, for a new trial after Routh was found guilty in the murders of "American Sniper" author and former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield.

Routh's attorney Wendy St. John also filed an appeal to overturn his conviction on Feb. 24.

No date has been set to hear either motion filed Tuesday.

Because the state did not seek the death penalty, Routh, 27, received an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Routh’s defense claimed he was insane at the time of the crime and unable to tell right from wrong. Experts testifying for the state said former US Marine Routh did not have post-traumatic stress as he claimed in the past because they never saw combat and did not have suffer serious trauma.

The man accussed in several shooting incidents across Maryland, including one near the NSA at Fort Meade, has no terror-related ties, a federal official told NBC's Pete Williams.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, also suffers from mental health issues, Williams reports.

The man's arrest follows several shooting incidents over the last two weeks.

A man was grazed by a bullet in Hanover last week, and Anne Arundel County Police had released surveillance video of a possible suspect vehicle.

Two shootings were reported Monday; one at a Wal-Mart in Laurel and another near an AMC Theater in Columbia.

Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, two men driving along the Maryland Intercounty Connector (ICC) near Interstate 95 were struck by bullets, likely fired from nearby woods. Both are expected to be OK.

About two hours later, U.S. Park Police investigated a report of shots fired near the National Security Agency's headquarters in Fort Meade.

A spokesperson for the police said the NSA is investigating damage to one of its buildings that appeared to be from gunshots. No one was injured. Throughout the evening, Park Police closed down sections of BW Parkway for their investigation.

Rain-slicked roads are wreaking havoc on drivers.

When the rain rolls around in San Diego, experts say one thing you can do to help yourself out when driving in hazardous conditions is to take care of your tires.

Over the weekend, the California Highway Patrol reported 164 wrecks, a number that’s on pace to beat their average number of reported crashes during “normal weather” conditions. That number is usually around 100 to 174.

After a series of crashes Saturday and Sunday, including a one-truck crash from the 52 on ramp, mechanics at La Mesa Auto and Tire Center said tires tend to be an issue for people in San Diego.

In the aftermath of that accident, Manager Carlos Quijada one thing quickly came in focus.

“You can see a straight line, so she needed tires,” Quijada said.

That straight line Quijada's talking about is the wear bars - a standard on all car tires.

Try switching out the old penny test for something else. When the little black knobs are taller than the treat, it’s time for new tires.

“If there's not enough tread on it to separate the water from the road you can hydroplane just like that,” said Aquijada.

Driver Terry Ross said he isn’t trying to be a statistic.

When the tire pressure warning light flashed, he immediately pulled over at a gas station to check the problem and air up.

He was motivated by the potentially dangerous weather.

“The rain! The rain of course,” Ross said. “I don’t want tire pressure that’s not level. It wears on your tires and you could have an accident, possibly.”

Beginning in fall 2015, the historic Georgia St. Bridge that spans across University Avenue will soon get the face lift it’s been waiting for.

Councilmember Todd Gloria announced Tuesday that the city council has approved and received $9.5 million in federal funding for the project. This is in addition to the $1.7 million the city previously received, totaling at $11.2 million.

The bridge, which was built in 1914 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, needs some major repairs. Since the bridge is more than 100 years old, the city is working with Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration to follow historic and Caltrans guidelines. These repairs will happen from the arch ribs of the bridge and up, as well as the crosswalks and lanes along University Avenue.

According to a press release from the city of San Diego, the repairs will include new curbs and gutters on both sides of University Avenue, added shared-lane markings for cyclists riding in the outside road lanes, new asphalt between the Florida St. and Park Blvd. intersections and replaced sidewalks on the south side of University Avenue. The portion of University that runs under the bridge will be lowered a little over two feet to increase the vertical clearance between the street and the bridge.

When the federal funding was first announced in February, NBC 7 asked San Diegans what they think about the bridge. As a historical landmark, they are ready to see some improvement to what they consider a gem in their neighborhood.

The renovations for the bridge are being planned with SANDAG’s North Park Mid-City Bike Corridors Project improvements and are estimated to take one year to complete.
 

The rival Little League coach whose accusations cost Chicago's Jackie Robinson West their U.S. championship title was arrested early Tuesday after police say he chased a stranger into her home.

Chris Janes, the vice president of the Evergreen Park Athletic Association, told NBC Chicago he "doesn't remember" what happened but thinks he simply went to the wrong home after having a few too many drinks.

"I did something really stupid, and I feel awful," he said.

Police say Janes chased the woman, who said she had never met him, into her home and began banging on her door after she pulled into her driveway, police said.

The woman said Janes shouted into the home asking for her husband to come out and fight him, then ran down the street, Capt. Peter Donovan said.

Janes was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, assault and resisting and obstructing a police officer. He was ticketed for public intoxication and using vulgar and threatening language.

His car was located on the woman’s block, police said, but he denied using it.

Janes was thrust into the spotlight of the Jackie Robinson West controversy after he filed the initial complaint that the team violated residency rules and alleged they used top suburban players to boost their roster.

Earlier this year, the team was stripped of their U.S. Champtionship Title following an investigation from Little League International. Janes later became the target of criticism, even saying he received death threats from upset fans.

"It was evident to us that there was some wrongdoing and there's rules in place," Janes said. "As tough as it must have been for Little League, they needed to hold these guys accountable for breaking the rules."

The father of a South Florida high school student is demanding the firing of a teacher who he says called his Muslim son a "rag head Taliban."

Youssef Wardani, the father of 14-year-old Deyab-Houssein Wardani, appeared before the Broward School board Tuesday to demand the firing of Maria Valdes, his son's teacher at Cypress Bay High School.

"As a parent, I should not have to deal with this," Wardani said. "I should not have to spend my time in front of them and what should have been done from day one," he said.

Wardani said his son walked into Valdes' French class on Feb. 2 wearing a hoodie after gym class. "Here comes the rag head Taliban," Valdes said, according to Wardani.

"My teacher called me a rag head Taliban," the teen told NBC 6 Tuesday. "I was a bit shocked and disappointed she called me that. But first off, she was my favorite teacher, and I would never have expected that from her."

The family is Muslim. After he found out about it a few days later, Wardani reported it to the school's principal.

Broward County Public Schools spokesperson released a statement saying the incident is under investigation.

"Broward County Public Schools respects and values the diversity of our students, families and communities," the statement read. "This situation is being taken seriously; the District launched an immediate investigation into the matter and will be bringing forward, to the next School Board in March, a recommendation for disciplinary action regarding this situation."

The teen said it has affected him in class.

"Class has been very awkward. I feel I always get a bad vibe from her as if she doesn't want me to be there anymore," he said.

"I can assure you we take it very seriously," Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said. "I wake up every day thinking about this, it is a priority item I have to resolve."

Wardani has started a Facebook page called "Our son is NOT a "Rag Head Taliban" which has received hundreds of likes.

The Sayreville, New Jersey, board of education has moved to put its troubled 2014 high school football season behind it Tuesday night by naming a new head football coach to replace George Najjar, who last week was demoted to teaching phys ed classes at an elementary school.

Christopher Beagan, currently the head coach at Monroe New Jersey High School for the past nine years, will be paid a salary of $82,553 a year as a phys ed and health teacher, a stipend of $12,051 as coach, and a stipend of $5,573 as strength and conditioning coach.

Superintendent Dr. Richard Labbe said at the meeting Tuesday the board has found "the absolute best candidate" out of 45 candidates to lead the Sayreville Bombers next season. 

Najjar lost his two decades-long job as head coach after a hazing and sexual assault scandal last fall abruptly ended the football season.

Seven students were arrested and faced juvenile charges for sexual acts against other players in the unsupervised locker room.

After Labbe announced earlier this year that he would allow the championship football program to resume next fall, he began an immediate search for a replacement for Najjar, who was first suspended before being reassigned to Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School.

The San Diego Sheriff's Department may soon be wearing body cameras. 

On Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a proposal to outfit deputies with uniform cameras. 

In a letter from the Sheriff's Department to the Board of Supervisors posted on the BOS' website prior to the meeting, the Sheriff's Department said the "geographical and social environments " they cover are "increasingly complex and challenging."

"The interactions between members of the public and deputies responding to and investigating calls for assistance are often an important part of the record of the investigation," according to the letter.

With body cameras on their deputies, the letter said, the department would take a technological leap forward and the cameras would also "help promote a perceived legitimacy and a sense of procedural justice that communities expect from their law enforcement agencies."

In that letter, the sheriff's department said there would be no fiscal impact associated with the request because the SDSO would come back to them with a recommendation for funding before receiving the cameras.

The SDSO will start taking bids from 18 interested parties that would help outfit the officers, according the the letter.

The department is following the lead of other local agencies, including the San Diego and Chula Vista police departments, who have or plan to put cameras on their officers.

The new leader of the Roman Catholic Church Diocese in San Diego has been named.

Robert W. McElroy, 61, an auxiliary bishop in San Francisco, has been named the new bishop for San Diego, which has about one million Catholics.

During his introduction Tuesday, McElroy showed a sense of humor, joking about moving from his native San Francisco to San Diego.

He then turned his attention toward championing immigration in America's Finest City, where minorities are now the majority.

"Immigration is the vitality of our nation. It's the source of its strength and its diversity and all of the richness and beauty that makes us a people, a fabric, as Americans," he said.

He urged lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The foundation of his vision is likely rooted in his studies at St. Patrick's Seminary in Northern California, where San Diego Father Peter Escalante met McElroy.

"Even back then, his area of study was Catholic social teaching," said Escalante.

Thirty-six years later, Escalante said McElroy's passion is evident in his signature issues: economic inequality and outreach to the poor.

Escalante sees those as major issues in San Diego with its homeless individuals, some of whom attend mass at Escalante's church, St. Joseph's Cathedral.

"All of us in parish life and here in the area are aware of issues of immigration," he said. "Certainly here in downtown San Diego, the outreach to the poor is a major part of our ministry. I assume he'll be proactive in those areas."

McElroy is described as a progressive due to some of his writings, which place abortion and same-sex marriage on par with economic and human rights issues.

As Bishop of San Diego, Catholic education will be within his purview. He will make appointments to the board of the University of San Diego's trustees, and he will act as a superintendent of sorts for Catholic schools.

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore J. Cordileone congratulated McElroy in a release:

"Bishop McElroy is exemplary in his outreach to many groups and communities in the Archdiocese and we are all grateful for his wise advice and guidance to people and parishes in the Archdiocese," Cardileone said. "We pray for God’s blessing upon Bishop McElroy as he assumes pastoral leadership of the priests and priestly people of San Diego and Imperial County."

McElroy was born in San Francisco in 1954 and was raised in San Mateo County, according to a biography on the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Before his appointment as auxiliary bishop, McElroy spent 14 years as the pastor of St. Gregory Parish. 

The new San Diego bishop has history degrees from Harvard and Stanford universities, and he studied at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkley. His doctorates are in moral theology from Gregorian University in Rome and in political science from Stanford.

McElroy will succeed Bishop Cirilo Flores and will be installed on April 15 at St. Therese of Carmel Church. Flores died Sept. 6 after suffering from a series of medical ailment at the age of 65. Msgr. Steven Callahan took over for Flores on an interim basis.

A day care owner charged with the murder and assault of an 11-month-old baby will stand trial, a judge decided Tuesday.

James Patrick Nemeth was arrested and charged last year with murder and assault in the May 2012 death of Louis "Lou" Oliver. He pleaded not guilty in November, nearly two years after Lou’s death.

In court Tuesday, a dozen witnesses answered questions from Deputy District Attorney Nicole Rooney and defense attorney Albert Arena Tuesday.

The mother of 11-month old Lou Oliver, Cristina Oliver, gave an emotional account of what happened when she arrived to Rady Children’s Hospital on May 23, 2012.

“I wasn't able to see him right away,” Oliver said. “I knew something terrible had happened because the EMT’S were outside and they were pacing and I could tell something horrible had happened. I finally asked if I could see him and they brought me into the ER room and he was not doing well, he was hooked up on all these machines and there must have been 10 people nurses and doctors trying to stabilize him.”

Lou was alert and healthy when he was dropped him off at the San Diego Daycare, also known as the James Nemeth Family Childcare, on May 23, 2012, according to this mother.

Just a few hours later, she says she got an alarming text message from Nemeth telling her to "come quickly, Lou did not wake up from his afternoon nap," Oliver told NBC 7 in February.

Nemeth's former day care assistant, Christina Duran, also testified Tuesday. She said the day Lou died, she heard a loud sound coming from the room where Nemeth was trying to put Lou down for a nap.

“I was sitting there and I heard a slam,” Duran said. She said she overheard Nemeth talking to Lou saying to the baby, “there is no reason to cry you’ve been fed, you’ve been changed, you need to take a nap.”

Rooney asked Duran if Nemeth seemed frustrated at the time. She said she answered “yes.”

Marilyn Kaufhold, a pediatrician at Rady Children's Hospital and expert in child abuse, also testified Tuesday. She said she reviewed Lou's medical records and said his cause of death was "most likely child abuse" and specifically "shaking that caused internal bleeding" in the brain, spinal cord and eyes.

She acknowledged there was evidence of an earlier, prior minor head injury. But Kaufhold said that earlier injury, which happened about a week before he died, did not cause Lou’s death. Kaufhold said people who shake babies are usually trying to make them sleep and don't know how dangerous and deadly it can be.

Last year, NBC 7 Investigates reported that before Lou's death, Nemeth had a lengthy history of serious violations, including allegations that he was physically rough with his own child. In November, Nemeth emailed a statement to NBC 7, saying in part: "I cared for Louis, he was an amazing child. I tried everything I could to save him and the fact I failed is something that will be with me forever."

The NBC 7 Investigates report also found it was very difficult for parents to review files on what happens to their children while in the care of individual day cares. After our reports,state lawmakers changed the way parents can access information about day cares in California, making the information available online, instead of only in person by appointment.

Click here to see the complete investigation.

Defense attorney Al Arena questioned the medical experts including Kaufhold, trying to show evidence of a prior head injury. In an exclusive interview, he told NBC 7 Nemeth is not the only suspect.

“We're not conceding that the child was injured at the day care center,” he said. “But, if you look at in the light most favorable to the prosecution, there were three adults that were there at the day care."

Nemeth will be back in court March 19, but his trial date has not been set. If convicted, he could spend 25 years to life in prison.

While a picture can be worth a thousand words, powerful is probably the one word most fitting to the images on display in Alpine.

The Remembering Our Fallen exhibit features pictures of the 710 California men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since September 11th, 2001. And these are not just the typical posed in uniform pictures. The creators of the exhibit approached the families and asked for two photos of their choice.

“There’s pictures from their high school days. There’s pictures from their childhood, from funny things they’ve done to happy joyous things,” says Dan Foster Chairman of the Wall of Honor in Alpine. “We want to remember them. We want to see their smiling faces. We want to see how wonderful these men and women are."

Taped onto a lot of the pictures are notes from family members and strangers.

“It’s an incredible sight,” said Dougan Dimmitt, who came to see the opening of the display in Alpine on Saturday. “It’s an incredible way to capture the memory of real heroes.”

Some of the family members came to see the exhibit like Sherrie Fredsti whose son Nick was killed in Afghanistan in June of 2012. It was his six deployment in 12 years. His family says he spent 86 months away from home during that time. One of the pictures they chose to display was taken a few hours before he was killed.

“Our biggest fear is that they’ll be forgotten,” said Sherrie Fredsti, “And this reminds people, and keeps their faces and their memories fresh for all of us.”

The exhibit opened at the Ronald Regan Presidential Library in Simi Valley in January. It’s now traveling around the California. There are similar displays going on in more than a dozen states.

The goal is to have a collection from all 50 states and tour them around the country together in 2016.

Remembering our Fallen will be on display at the Alpine Community center until March 7th. From there, it goes to Poway.

Members of the military have a new, high-tech way to pick out the right meal for them -- and hopefully enjoy it more.

The Department of Defense created the website called Combat Rations Database (ComRaD) in an effort to give service members more choices when it comes to selecting what to eat for their MREs, or “meal ready to eat.”

The site offers a pull down menu that shows service members the calorie count and nutritional content of pre-packaged military meals. The choices can be made on a desktop computer or on a cellphone.

Veteran Jason Byrd said he thought it was a good idea. “I think it would be useful for some people,” he told NBC 7.

In each option like spaghetti or chicken pesto pasta, the website lists the total number of calories, sodium, cholesterol, saturated fat, transfat, vitamins and other nutritional items for the whole meal. Keep in mind, troops in combat need more calories than the average person.

Having a variety of things to eat rather than the same MRE all the time can give a person different kinds of benefits, according to Vickie Nickerson, a personal trainer and owner of Envision Personalized Fitness.

She thinks showing service members what is inside a meal so that they can choose what to eat makes good dietary sense.

“I think the more educated you are about what you are putting in your mouth is only going to help you with your health,” said Nickerson. “Then you can make the better choices for that.”
 

Deputies who went to a Lakeside apartment to evict the tenant instead found a body inside a  suitcase-like container Tuesday.

Court Services deputies said they went to the Riverview Villa Apartments at 11665 Woodside Avenue to serve an eviction notice for failing to pay rent at about 8:30 a.m. However, the woman living there volunteered information about a body inside.

She allowed the deputies to go in, and they quickly smelled the odor of decomposition coming from a duct tape-sealed container, according to San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Ken Nelson.

The home was sealed off until a homicide team could arrive with search warrants. They soon confirmed there was a body inside the container. It may have been there six months to more than a year, according to sheriff's investigators.

They believe the body belongs to an adult relative of the tenant, described by neighbors as a quiet woman in her late 50s.

"We'd see her walk her dog all the time, and she's kind of standoffish," said neighbor Chris K.

The woman has been questioned by investigators and was taken to a hospital for treatment, though officials would not say for what. No charges have been filed at this point.

The medical examiner's office soon arrived to take the container and body away, covering it in a tarp and blanket to conceal it.

Neighbors in the complex say they feel like they're in a TV crime series. They cannot believe a woman next door may have been living with a dead relative for the past year.

"It smelled like that — it was so awful. The upstairs neighbor said she could smell it through her walls," Chris said.

Investigators cleared the scene Tuesday night, but winds were still wafting the foul odor of the body out to the complex's sidewalk.

Once again the San Diego Bowl Games generated some serious cash for San Diego.

The Poinsettia and Holiday Bowl games combined brought in $35.3 million for the 2014 season, which is nearly $5 million more than the previous season, according to a study conducted by the SDSU Center for Hospitality and Tourism Research.

The games are organized by the nonprofit San Diego Bowl Game Association and have been held in San Diego since 1978.

On Dec. 23, the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl between SDSU and United States Naval Academy generated $5 million. Although this game was the smaller of the two, it brought in a large crowd: more than 33,000 people, 9,000 of whom were out-of-towners. More than 5,000 hotel rooms were sold.

Four days later, on Dec. 27, the 37th Annual National University Holiday Bowl between Nebraska and USC came to town, which brought in over $30 million to San Diego. This included nearly 40,000 outside fans who traveled to San Diego for the game and about 56,000 people total at Qualcomm Stadium. About 25,000 hotel rooms were sold, which was nearly five times the amount sold for the Poinsettia Bowl.

According to a press release from San Diego Bowl Game Association, the mission of the nonprofit is to generate tourism, exposure, economic benefit and civic pride for San Diego and its citizens.

San Diego Bowl Game Associations President Vince Mudd said the games prove to be an economic asset to San Diego during the slowest time of the year for the local tourism industry.
 

Two San Diego homes were burglarized Monday as their owners were distracted by a man claiming to be a city pest control worker.

The victims say a man wearing a blue shirt with a city of San Diego emblem and the name “Bill” on it knocked on their doors and said he worked in pest control.

One of the victims, who wished only to be identified as George, told NBC7 the suspect was very convincing and seemed official.

“He was a pretty young guy, really charming, seemed like he knew what he was doing,” said George.

He said at the suspect requested he show him the backyard of his University City home to help measure for raccoon and possum traps.

While the suspect and victim walked to the back, another person got into the home and burglarized it. George said his cash and jewelry were taken.

“I never thought I could get burglarized while in my own house,” he told NBC 7.

Just a few hours earlier, Yen Vuong’s husband and father of two had a similar experience at their Clairemont house.

Vuong said she was not home at the time, but her husband described the suspect as looking official and insistent.

“If I had a gun, I would have shot him right away,” said Vuong.

As the suspect played out the same ploy, his accomplice ransacked the Vuongs’ bedroom, taking more than $2,000. The family had a break-in some time ago, after which they put steel bars on their windows and doors. Unfortunately, those did not protect them against this scheme.

The man who posed as a city worker is between 25 and 35 years old, standing between 5-foot-8-inches and 5-foot-11-inches and weighing between 210 and 225 pounds.

Nearly two years after bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260 others, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is going on trial in the city, accused of making the bombs with his brother and detonating them in a crowd of spectators cheering on the runners.

Tsarnaev, who has pleaded not guilty, faces the death penalty if found guilty of some of the charges.

Who is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev?
Tsarnaev, 21, is an ethnic Chechen who came to the United States about a decade ago. His family, parents Anzor and Zubeidat, his brother, Tamerlan, and two sisters settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He was well liked at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where he was captain of the wrestling team and took honors classes, and he was enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed after the bombings during a shootout with police, after he received gunshot wounds and was apparently run over by his brother.

The charges he faces

Tsarnaev faces a 30-count indictment that includes 17 charges that carry the death penalty. He is accused of improvising bombs from pressure cookers, explosive power and shrapnel, and detonating them at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Among the charges: conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, possession and use of firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence resulting in death and malicious destruction of property resulting in personal injury and death.

Dodging the death penalty?

A prominent addition to Tsarnaev’s defense lawyer is Judy Clarke, a defense attorney noted for keeping her clients off death row.

Her infamous clients have included Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber; Susan Smith, the mother who drowned her two children; Jared Loughner, responsible for killing six people and injuring then-U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords; and Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber. All received life sentences.

Clark, a staunch opponent of the death penalty, knew at a young age that she wanted to be a lawyer, according to a profile by The Associated Press. She told an audience at Loyola Law School in 2013 that many people charged with capital crimes have suffered severe trauma.

"They're looking into the lens of life in prison in a box," she said. "Our job is to provide them with a reason to live."

Courthouse protests

Supporters of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could be outside the federal courthouse in Boston protesting throughout the trial — over the objections of his lawyers. Tsarnaev’s defense team had argued that he would be unfairly associated with their outrageous conspiracy theories and wanted them kept a reasonable distance away.

“Survivors, jurors, witnesses, and members of the public must be able to attend court without being assaulted by inflammatory accusations from any source,” the lawyers wrote. “If they cannot, the fairness of the defendant’s trial is likely to be gravely harmed.’’

But U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. ruled against them, though he gave no written explanation for his decision.

Tsarnaev's supporters include the mother-in-law of Ibragim Todashev, a friend of Tsarnaev’s brother, Tamerlan, who was shot and killed in Florida while being questioned by law enforcement officials. Elena Teyer traveled to Boston in December to shout encouragement to Tsarnaev during one of his court appearances.

Some of the protestors insist that the bombings were the result of a government conspiracy, and that Tsarnaev was framed with flimsy evidence.

Unhappy in Boston

Tsarnaev’s lawyers have tried repeatedly to move the trial out of Boston, arguing that it would be impossible to find an impartial jury in a city so affected by the bombings, but O’Toole has rejected all of their requests.

The lawyers appealed to a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, but on Feb. 28, a divided panel rejected their petition.

The majority wrote that Tsarnaev had not met the well-established standards for the court to intervene. The dissenting judge wrote that the media coverage had been unparalleled in American legal history, making the idea that Tsarnaev would receive a fair and impartial trial absurd.

Scores of pot plants were seized and three people were arrested after one of them accidentally "butt-dialed" 911 and a dispatcher overheard their incriminating conversation about drugs, sheriff’s officials say.

The call came in at about 11:30 p.m. Monday when a deputy pulled over to have lunch in his marked patrol car close to an Alpine house.

When three men inside noticed the car, they started talking about drugs, about items needed to make butane honey oil and about wanting to hurt the deputy.

Unbeknownst to them, one of the three had accidentally “butt dialed” 911, according to San Diego County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell. A dispatcher, trying to find out if there was an emergency, overheard their whole conversation.

Deputies found out where the call was coming from and searched the home, where they discovered 93 marijuana plants.

They arrested 35-year-old Mark Stuhr, 32-year-old Kristopher Kondly and 38-year-old Christian Feugere on suspicion of marijuana cultivation and possession, possession of a controlled substance and probation violation.

A man that led police on a high-speed chase through North County at speeds of up to 130 miles per hour has not been found, police said.

The pursuit started shortly after midnight at Via Rancho Parkway and Del Dios Highway when an officer tried to pull over a motorcyclist for speeding, police said.

The driver took off to the 78 and 15 freeways on a chase, at times reaching speeds so fast that the police helicopter lost track of the suspect, police said. Officers estimated he was speeding up to 130 miles per hour at times.

The chase went through some side streets and at least one dirt road last for more than 30 minutes, police said, until the suspect ditched his motorcycle and ran off near Third Place and Upas Lane in Escondido.

Officers found the suspect’s bike in a neighbor’s driveway but are still trying to figure out if the bike is registered to the suspect or if it was stolen.