The San Diego City Council gave the controversial One Paseo project their final stamp of approval Monday.

A final vote on the 23.6-acre mixed-use development project in Carmel Valley went before the council on Monday afternoon.

The One Paseo Project includes the construction of stores and eateries, the expansion of a movie theater and the addition of more than 600 family apartments and a parking structure in Carmel Valley.

The council gave their initial OK to the plan in late February, though they did say developer Kilroy Realty must add 60 affordable housing units and a synchronized traffic system. Council President Sherri Lightner and Council President Pro Tem Marti Emerald were the dissenting votes.

The San Diego Planning Commission approved the proposal for the $750 million, 1.4 million square-foot, mixed-use village slated for the corner of Del Mar Heights Road and El Camino Real.

The panel agreed to the plan on the condition that developer Kilroy Realty agreed to make 11 changes to the master plan.

Hundreds of people showed up to hear the debate at council chambers on Feb. 23 -- so many that Golden Hall had to be used as an overflow area. About 600 people signed up to speak on the issue, many wearing red shirts to show their opposition to One Paseo.

The Carmel Valley Planning Board voted against the current proposal but its members have said they support a smaller version of the plan.

Opponents say the project is too big and would create a traffic nightmare.

If all goes as planned, Kilroy Realty will break ground by the end of the year. Its completion date is set for 2018. 

A piece of kindness will be the souvenir one woman remembers most from her trip to San Diego.  But she has no idea who gave it to her.

Susana Serna recently spent a few days in San Diego on vacation from Tacoma, Washington.   Almost every day during the trip she says she ran along the downtown waterfront.  At some point during a run on Harbor Island, Serna dropped her driver’s license.  She didn’t realize the license was gone until the end of her trip.  Fortunately, she had her passport to help get her home, but was still concerned the wrong person may have picked up her license.

“I realized there’s a lot of personal information on there,” Serna told NBC 7 Monday.

Serna says before she could file a police report, something arrived in the mail.  It was an envelope with no return address.  Inside was her driver’s license, and a note that read:

“I found your drivers license on a recent walk around Harbor Island in San Diego.  I wanted to return it to you to make sure you got it back.  Have a great day!”

The note was not signed.

“I was very grateful,” says Serna, “I almost cried.”

She says she realizes it may not seem like much to most people, but to her it was a big deal that someone went out of their way for her.

“We always remember the bad people, but we hardly every say things about the good people,” she says, “I think we need more stories like this.”

So, whoever you are out there, your letter found its owner, and she says thank you.

Can you afford a home in some of the top metro areas across the country?

A mortgage research site has calculated the yearly salary needed for median-priced homes in markets across the country, from the priciest to more affordable cities such as Pittsburgh.

To be able to make the monthly mortgage payments in San Francisco’s expensive market, you would have to earn $142,448, according to data compiled by HSH.com.

San Francisco’s median home price of $742,900 led the country’s housing market in the final quarter of last year.

Rounding out the top five were San Diego at $95,433 a year, Los Angeles at $89,665, New York at $87,536 and Boston at $80,050.

Other selected metro areas: Washington, D.C., $77,395; Miami, $58,431; Chicago, $54,346; Philadelphia, $50,914; and Dallas, $48,787.

The cheapest city on HSH.com’s list of 27 metro areas is Pittsburgh, where the median home price was $135,000. You would have make $31,716 to pay the principal, interest, taxes and insurance payments.

The difference between home prices in San Francisco and San Diego was nearly $250,000. The gap between San Francisco and Pittsburgh: $607,900.

Pittsburgh was the most affordable area on the list for the third quarter in a row, according to the data, which was released last month. It tied Washington, D.C., for the lowest mortgage rates at 3.98 percent.

HSH.com used fourth-quarter data for median-priced homes from the National Association of Realtors. It assumed 20 percent down and a 30-year fixed mortgage.

Fourth-quarter prices dropped when compared to the third quarter, but on a year-to-year basis, home prices continued to rise, HSH.com noted. On average they rose 25 percent over the past three years, it said.

For a home priced at the country’s median, with a 20 percent down payment, a buyer would have to make $48,604. With 10 percent down, the income needed rises to $56,140, which also includes the cost of private mortgage insurance or PMI required by the smaller down payment.

The National Association of Realtors also calculated the qualifying salaries for 5 percent and 10 down payments.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Monday used a pile of garbage on Chicago's South Side to illustrate how city services are lacking in impoverished neighborhoods and said Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia was the better candidate to lead the city.

The high-profile endorsement from Jackson is a big boon to Garcia as he tries to earn the support of black voters, who are seen as crucial in the April 7 runoff with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Garcia over the weekend was endorsed by Rep. Danny Davis and by Teamsters Local 743, which endorsed Emanuel four years ago. Meanwhile, a poll out over the weekend continued to show that Emanuel and Garcia are in a statistical dead heat in the race.

But Garcia also has big-name detractors. At a separate event Monday, a group of city leaders said everything Garcia has promised during the campaign --  additional police officers and the removal of all red light cameras -- could cost the city an additional $1.9 billion.

"Since November, Chuy Garcia has been promising, promising, and promising to spend the city's money like it's a money tree," said Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), who chairs the City Council's Committee on the Budget and Government Operations. "But after 20 years in public office, he isn't doing, he has no plan to pay for all of these pipe dreams."

Emanuel worked with Jackson's son, Jesse Jackson Jr., when both were in the House of Representatives. Jackson Jr. is currently serving time in prison on charges he used campaign cash on personal items. Jackson Jr.'s wife, Sandi Jackson, was a Chicago alderman until she resigned in 2013.

A man who served nearly 21 years in prison for a rape and kidnapping he didn't commit has been exonerated after new DNA evidence proved his innocence — but officials say he may not be freed yet, because of charges that he destroyed a prison sink while in solitary confinement.

The charges against Angel Gonzalez, now 41, in a 1994 rape and kidnapping in north suburban Waukegan have been dismissed, Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Nerheim announced Monday.

Gonzalez served nearly 21 years at the Dixon Correctional Center, after he was convicted and sentenced in 1994 to more than 50 years in prison.

The Innocence Project, which worked to free him, says that Gonzalez, who spoke little English, falsely confessed in 1994 after being interrogated for several hours "under humiliating circumstances using deceptive interrogation practices." He had no prior criminal record, the group added.

Recent DNA testing proved his innocence, the group said.

"If words were enough I'd say I'm sorry and I am sorry," said Nerheim. ""we are sorry this has happened and it seems trivial when you’re talking about 21 years of a person’s life but it’s important to note that we did work alongside the Innocence Project."

Although both the rape and kidnapping charges were vacated Monday, Gonzalez was not released from prison because of an outstanding conviction on a charge of criminal damage to state property from 1996, according to the Department of Corrections.

That 3-year sentence stems from an incident where he allegedly destroyed a sink while in solitary confinement, officials said.

Officials expect a hearing on that charge soon. 

"I just to say thank you to everybody for coming for brother," said Gonzalez's brother Saul Gonzalez. "I hope he can get out soon."

On July 11, 1994, prosecutors say a woman was abducted by two men from her apartment.

The Chicago Tribune reported the two men dragged the victim to a sedan and drove her to another location, where the woman says she was raped in some bushes by a man she said was Gonzalez. The woman ran and hid from her attackers, but the second man reportedly found her and raped her.

An officer testified in court that Gonzalez matched the description the woman gave them for one of her attackers, and the woman identified him, testifying in court that “he was wearing the same clothes, everything,” the Tribune reported.

Gonzalez reportedly confessed to participating in the assault. Despite the confession, he also gave officials an alibi, which the Innocence Project claims wasn’t fully investigated.

New DNA testing revealed that forensic material from the victim came from two men, but neither of the DNA profiles matched Gonzalez.

"This new evidence is substantial and casts serious doubt on the guilt of Angel Gonzalez," the Lake County State's Attorney's office said in a release.

Prosecutors say the news has been hard for the victim in the case, who is now in her 50s and whose attackers have not been caught.

Gonzalez, a Mexican national, was also in the process of obtaining a visa before he was arrested, but it wasn’t clear if he would be deported after his release, according to Innocence Project spokesman Paul Cates.

A 34-year-old New Hampshire man skiing at a Make-a-Wish fundraiser plunged 60 feet off the slopes to his death Monday morning.

Samuel Moore of North Conway was skiing in the 5 Corners area at Wildcat Mountain in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire, around 9:30 a.m. when he lost control, tumbled down the trail and fell over a 60-foot drop, state police say. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Moore was at the ski mountain participating in the Make-A-Wish Foundation's 12th annual 100,000 Vertical Foot Challenge fundraising event.

According to Skiwildcat.com, the field was limited to 40 participants and challenged skiers and riders to log a total of 48 runs on the Lynx Trail to achieve 100,000 vertical feet over nine hours, non-stop.

That leaves an average of 4.5 minutes to complete each run. The event was open to skiers and riders of all abilities, and helmets were required for the event.

Prior to this year, the event had raised more than $595,000 to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Hampshire.

Organizers stopped the event following the incident, Wildcat said.

"This is a tragedy to what is traditionally a fun and self-fulfilling challenge for participants and a major fundraising event for Make-A-Wish of New Hampshire," Wildcat General Manager Brian Heon said. "My thoughts, and those of Wildcat Mountain and its employees, go out to the family and friends of this man."

Assisting at the scene were the Gorham EMS, Wildcat Ski Patrol, the U.S. Forest Service and state police. Anyone with information is asked to contact state police Detective Sgt. Sheldon Belanger at 603-846-5517. 

The reward has grown to $12,000 for information about the young men believed to have shot dead an Iraqi man as he took photos of the falling snow last week, less than three weeks after he moved to Dallas from Iraq.

Ahmed Al-Jumaili, 36, was with his wife and brother when he was fatally shot last week in an apparently random shooting in the parking lot of the Walnut Bend Apartments late Wednesday night.

"I know someone in this community. Someone knows the identity of one or all four of those individuals, and they are going to come forward to us," said Dallas police Maj. Jeff Cotner.

Alia Salem, executive director of the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Monday that $7,000 has been raised to help in the investigation into the death of 36-year-old Ahmed Al-Jumaili.

CrimeStoppers had previously announced a separate $5,000 reward, bringing the total to $12,000.

"As North Texans, we cannot let this senseless violence go unanswered," said Salem.

CAIR teamed up with the Murrell Foundation to raise the reward for information that leads to justice.

"It is the responsibility of the citizens of this community to step forward and help stop violence in our community," said John Murrell.

Tipsters can remain anonymous and should call 214-373-TIPS (8477) or Detective Montenegro with the Dallas Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 214-671-3624.

Dallas police have released surveillance video that shows four people walking in the apartment complex where 36-year-old Ahmed Al-Jumaili was killed on March 5. Those four people could be involved in the killing, police said.

Al-Jumaili and his wife and brother were taking pictures outside their apartment when police said a group of people began firing a gun at random, hitting Al-Jumaili in the chest.

An ambulance brought Al-Jumaili to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where he soon died.

Al-Jumaili had moved to the United States just 20 days earlier to marry his wife, after working up to the move for more than a year, his father-in-law Mohammed Al Taae said.

In Iraq, he had been a contractor for an Internet company in Baghdad and often worked with the U.S. Army and Air Force.

Al Taae told NBC 5 he couldn't believe his new son-in-law had escaped ISIS and other dangers in Iraq, only to die in a random and senseless shooting in Dallas.

A man police say drunkenly drove the wrong way and crashed head-on into a Burleson woman's car Sunday, killing her and her two young sons and wounding her teen half-sister, has been arrested on murder charges.

Ricardo Martinez, 53, of Fort Worth, had a blood alcohol content of .240, three times the legal limit, nearly three hours after the crash, Alvarado police said. He has two previous convictions for driving while intoxicated, one in Denton County and one in Tarrant County.

Police said they obtained three arrest warrants for Martinez for the murders of 22-year-old Maranda Abshire and her sons 5-year-old Christopher Adrian Dominguez and 2-year-old Cruz Dominguez. A fourth warrant was obtained for intoxication assault of Abshire's 13-year-old half-sister Lindsey Reynolds, who survived the crash but was hurt.

Martinez is in the hospital and in Alvarado police custody. Once he's discharged, he will be transferred to Johnson County Jail, police say.

Wrong-Way Crash Kills Mother, Two Sons

Maranda Abshire was driving along U.S. Highway 67 in Alvarado at about 1:30 a.m. with her two sons and her 13-year-old half-sister when a Toyota pickup traveling the wrong way on the highway hit their Ford Mustang head-on.

Abshire and two sons were killed in the crash. Her family said Reynolds was treated at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth for injuries that were not life threatening.

Family members said Abshire worked at Chili's restaurant in Cleburne. She had just picked up her boys and her half-sister after work when the pickup truck slammed into their car.

Alvarado police had already been alerted that there was a wrong-way driver on the road and were responding to that call when Abshire's car was hit.  Few details are available, but police say all four people in the Mustang were properly restrained with seat belts or car seats.

Alcohol containers were found in Martinez's truck, police say.

The California Highway Patrol identified the wrong-way driver who collided head-on with another car down the street from a wedding, officials said.

A vehicle driving southbound in the northbound lanes of Deer Springs Road collided with another car around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

In all, three people were sent to Palomar Hospital with what was described as major injuries.

Injuries could have been much worse if not for seatbelts and airbags, said City of San Marcos Battalion Chief Bill Frederick.

It appeared some of the injured may have been involved in a wedding taking place nearby but Frederick could not confirm that information.

California Highway Patrol officers said Monday the driver of the Camaro would be charged with felony driving under the influence once he is released from the hospital.

Ryan John Mills, 25, of Ashbourne County, Meath, Ireland, suffered a serious leg injury in the crash.

Mills, who was in San Diego County on a temporary work visa, lists a police department in Ireland as his place of employment. 

CHP could not confirm if either driver had left a nearby wedding just before the crash. 

A good Samaritan helped to stop a driver who was allegedly under the influence of drugs as her out-of-control vehicle wove in and out of traffic on Staten Island over the weekend. 

Aiman Youssef was driving behind the allegedly impaired driver in Midland Beach when he and his passenger noticed the car drifting over double lines and narrowly missing other vehicles on the road, he told NBC 4 New York. 

"She was extremely dangerous. She was jumping on other cars, and other cars were trying to avoid her," he said. 

"She put a lot of people in jeopardy," he added. 

Youssef's dash cam captured the woman's car swerving on the road as he followed closely behind her. His passenger called 911, and when they reached the corner of Rockland Avenue and Richmond Street, he said he knew he had to make a daring move to stop the driver.

As the driver slowed down at a red light, Youssef cut her off and boxed her in.

"I stopped, jumped out, took off her keys, and she said, 'It's OK, I'm not going to drive anymore,'" he said. "I said, 'You're drugged out, you can't drive anymore.'"

Seconds later, police arrived, and the 30-year-old woman behind the wheel was arrested and charged with driving while impaired by drugs. 

No one answered the door at the woman's listed address Monday. 

Youssef runs Half Table Man, a charity that's grown out of his makeshift donation tent on Midland Avenue days after Sandy hit Staten Island, and was out picking up produce and other donations for local Sandy survivors when he encountered the allegedly drugged driver. He said he never thought twice about stepping up. 

"I'm not a hero. I'm just a regular human being who cares," he said. 

The San Diego County District Attorney’s office has issued an arrest warrant for the driver who hit and killed a teacher while she was out jogging with her daughter.

Nicole Lynch, 51, died on Dec. 28 when Joseph Knight, 52, swerved his SUV into her on Carlsbad Boulevard. According to Carlsbad police, Knight said he was distracted by his 3-year-old daughter in the back seat.

Nicole’s husband Pat told NBC 7 he and his family were angry no arrest had been made for months in this case.

But on Monday, the DA’s office announced it filed charges of driving on a suspended license and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter against Knight. He faces one and a half years in jail if convicted.

Pat does not believe the charges are not strict enough.

“The facts of having my wife struck at 35 MPH on a sidewalk, impaled on the front of the vehicle, driven @ 300 feet,” he said in a statement sent to NBC 7, “then when the driver saw my wife on his hood, he continued to drive until she fell under his truck, having him drive over her with his front and rear wheels killing her at the site, resulting in a slap on the wrist, is unconscionable.”

Knight did not answer NBC 7’s calls for comment.

A 9-month-old baby girl found dead Monday in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood was killed with a power saw, apparently because she wouldn't stop crying, sources tell NBC5.

The baby was found unresponsive around 9:40 a.m. in the 2800 block of South Avers Avenue with “visible trauma” to her body, according to Chicago Police News Affairs. 

Police sources told NBC5 a saw was used to kill the baby, apparently because she wouldn't stop crying. Sources said the saw was used after a failed suffocation attempt.

The baby was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 52-year-old woman -- a relative to the baby -- was taken into custody. The woman was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition with self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said.

The relationship between the woman and the baby was not immediately clear, but a domestic-related murder investigation was underway Monday afternoon. Sources say the woman may have been the infant's grandmother.

Neighbors said a couple with their two grown daughters and at least one infant lived in the home.

"They're great people," said neighbor Francis Arreola. "I've known them over 20 years."

Witnesses said emotions were high outside the home Monday.

"I saw a young girl with a man, and she was crying saying, 'When am I going to see her again? When am I going to see my mom again?'" said neighbor Virginia Otero. "It's terrible news to hear that, because I'm a sentimental person and you know, to see something like that... terrible, terrible."

Check back for details on this developing story.
 

There is always an element of danger when choosing a military career.

But for 23-year-old Capt. Niloofar Rahmani, the first female fixed-wing pilot in the Afghan Air Force, the risk is compounded. She comes from a country where women are considered far from equal to men and success could mean a death sentence, so to speak.

“It is like very hard to change all of the society, but that is what I wanted to do,” she said during a visit to MCAS Miramar on Monday.

But her bravery has earned her a place as one of the 2015 U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage.

At age 18, she seized the opportunity to join the Afghan Air Force after seeing a recruiting advertisement that said the military was looking for women, even for pilot training.

She decided to pursue her dreams and her father's passion; he wanted to be a military pilot.

“I think I could complete his dream, and he's so proud and he's so happy," said Rahmani about her father.

They both knew for her safety, they had to keep quiet because women do not have the same rights as men.

“We have to keep this secret; our family should not know that I'm in the military,” she told the MCAS Miramar Marines.

As Rahmani met with the Marine leadership, the captain talked about her training with U.S. military instructors in Afghanistan. She said they treated her the same as the male pilots and told her to never give up.

It took about two and a half years to complete her training. After her first solo flight in a Cessna 182, Rahmani went on to expand her skills and graduate from advanced flight training. She soon became qualified to fly the C-208 military cargo aircraft.

During one mission, she landed only to find several injured Afghan soldiers. She defied orders that women not be allowed to carry the wounded or dead. Rahmani took full responsibility for her decision to fly the wounded to the nearest hospital in order to save lives. Her commanding officer did not punish her for the bold move.

Hearing her stories, Maj. Gen. Michael Rocco, the commanding general of Third Marine Aircraft Wing, told Rahmani, “Not only do you feel the pressure of being the first, but you also feel the pressure of the responsibility that comes with being the first.”

She shared the extreme pressure she is under with female pilots from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Rahmani said she has been subjected to multiple death threats from members of the Afghan military, people in her own country, the Taliban and eventually her extended family.

Her sister she said was beaten and is forbidden from seeing her own daughter. Her bother had to hide from gunfire while walking home from class one day. Her family has to move every couple of months to stay safe.

While serving in the military is something to be proud of, for Rahmani, there is a huge price to pay. “Being a female in the military is a shame for all family,” she said.

Maj. Natalie Walker, a Marine pilot who is trained to fly the F-18, had this reaction to Rahmani’s story: “I can't imagine having to deal with the adversity that she's had to face, not only from her government, but from her own family.”

But no matter the challenge, Rahmani stays strong, she said, for the women who will follow in her footsteps and change the path for women in Afghanistan.

“I am never going to give up,” she said.

Rahmani is now on a five-day tour organized by the San Diego Diplomacy Council, following a State Department ceremony in Washington D.C., a White House tour and meeting with First Lady Michelle Obama.

In addition to the MCAS Mirmar visit, the captain will ride with the Blue Angels and a meeting with community leaders and Girl Scouts.
 

The mother of two missing New Jersey boys publicly pleaded for help finding her young sons after police say the boys' father abducted them. 

Sandye Dohm has not seen or held 8-year-old Parker and 7-year-old Jaxon in over a month. Police said they were abducted in Hopatcong by her ex-husband Kristopher Dohm, who had shared custody.

"I don't know where they are, but I know I want them to be returned as soon as possible," said Sandye Dohm in an emotional news conference Monday. 

Parker is asthmatic, and his 36-year-old father is diabetic and relies on insulin. Sussex County prosecutors say the medical conditions have them concerned for the health and safety of the two boys. 

Authorities said Kristopher Dohm's gray Nissan Pathfinder was last spotted in Maryland with stolen plates. They believe he was headed to Nevada and may have shaved his head and the boys' heads to alter their appearances (see video). 

Parishioners at the church Jaxon and Parker attended vacation Bible school are praying for the boys, and over the weekend they used Legos -- the boys' favorite toy -- to build a house of hope. 

"To think they disappeared, not knowing where they are, I can imagine this mother is tormented every night," said Ledgewood Baptist Church Rev. David Holwick. 

In a message to her boys Monday, Sandye Dohm said: "Parker and Jaxon, I want you to know that I love and miss you, and I will never, ever stop looking for you, no matter what." 

Anyone with information on their whereabouts should call the Hopatcong Police Department at (973) 398-5000 or the New Jersey Regional Operations and Intelligence Center at (609) 963-6900 ext. 1.
 

The woman whose body was found inside a suitcase at a Lakeside apartment last week was the resident’s paraplegic daughter, neighbors told NBC 7.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office identified the woman as Brooke MacBeth, 28, on Monday. Officials have not released the cause of her death.

"She was a parapelic and she lived there," said Kari McKee, who lives right next door. "There was a hospital bed and she'd stay in that."

Deputies discovered the body-filled suitcase last Tuesday when they served an eviction notice to her mother, identified by neighbors as Bonnie Macbeth. The tenant of the Riverview Villa Apartments had failed to pay rent, but when court services deputies arrived, she told them there was a body inside her apartment.

Homicide investigators soon discovered Brooke’s remains in a duct tape-sealed suitcase, from which a foul odor was wafting.

Neighbors told NBC 7 Monday that they remember seeing Brooke around the area with her mother. But months earlier, she seemed to disappear. Investigators say Brooke could have died in the apartment at least six months ago, if not more than a year.

Though McKee never met Brooke, she said it's been hard to sleep since her body was found.

"When I found out someone was dead there for frickin six months," said McKee, "Good Lord, have mercy, that just freaked me out."

Brooke’s mother was taken to the hospital on Tuesday, though deputies would not say for what. No charges have been filed in this case.

A church in Carlsbad has recovered all its silver stolen during a February break-in after the suspect was pulled over for an expired license plate.

Carlsbad police say Jeremy Rayburn, 24, broke into the St. Michael’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in the 2700 block of Carlsbad Boulevard on Feb. 18. That was Ash Wednesday, a holy day for many Christians.

During the burglary, the onyx tabernacle and communion hosts were smashed, and more than a dozen silver chalices and decanters were taken.

“Lord have mercy,” said Rev. Doran Stambaugh, the church’s rector. “I mean, who breaks into a church and steals all this stuff?”

On Sunday, a San Diego County Sheriff’s deputy pulled Rayburn over in Vista for expired plates, but he soon arrested him on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana and heroin.

As the deputy investigated, he noticed some unusual items in Rayburn’s trunk. He saw they were inscribed with “St. Michael’s Church.”

The deputy called a Carlsbad Police detective, who helped confirm the silver did belong to the church. They say Rayburn confessed to breaking into St. Michael’s.

“He said that he had been driving around with the material in his car for 19 days and felt that pawning it was just as bad as stealing it,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell.

He was arrested and booked into the Vista Detention Facility on suspicion of burglary and vandalism. He has since been released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court on March 17.

Rayburn also tried to make amends with the church, Stambaugh said, returning all the silver.

“He showed great courage to be able to stand there in front of me and say what he did and apologize in his way,” said the rector.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent faces federal charges for placing a video camera inside a bathroom stall that went undetected for years and recorded an estimated 300 videos, officials said Monday.

Supervisory Agent Armando Gonzalez, 45, of El Cajon, was taken into custody and booked into jail Friday on two charges stemming from the discovery of a hidden camera in the women’s bathroom of the Chula Vista Border Patrol Station on Beyer Road.

In a complaint unsealed Monday, prosecutors claim the camera was placed in the drain sometime in July 2013.

The camera was set to automatically begin recording when someone entered the bathroom, officials said.

A female U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employee found the camera on Jan. 9 and reported it to authorities.

The complaint alleges one image stored on the camera shows Gonzalez installing the device. After a search of Gonzalez's office, investigators allege they found close to 170 images of naked women or those wearing only undergarments on a separate SD drive.

Federal prosecutors said Gonzalez faces one charge of video voyeurism and a charge of providing a false statement to authorities.

When the agent was confronted with the recording device, he told investigators it had been in place for several days according to U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano.

The complaint alleges Gonzalez initially said he had placed the camera to monitor co-workers for illegal drug use.

Upon further inspection, investigators say they found around 300 videos and evidence the camera had been concealed for up to two years.

Defense attorney Jan Ronis spoke with reporters outside the federal courthouse in San Diego and would not answer questions about a missing computer hard drive, describing any discussion about mishandled evidence as speculation.

“He has a wife who, sadly, is ill,” Ronis said. “The family is doing the best they can.They’ve been aware of this for about 60 days. They’re coping.”

The judge ordered Gonzalez be held on $50,000 bail. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 19.

A CBP spokesman says Gonzalez has been placed on paid adminstrative leave. "The agency will review the latest developments to determine if any future changes to Gonzalez' employment status are warranted," he said in a statement.

A new study has found that a new blood-based measure could lead to a test that spots signs of autism in young boys as old as one or two years old, a finding that could help children with autism get the help they need earlier on. 

The study, conducted by a team of international scientists led by UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers, found that certain genetic fingerprints might lead to an earlier method of diagnosing autism in male toddlers. Researches were able to identify those biomarkers, or genetic fingerprints, in blood samples from boys with autism as young as 12-months-old. 

Researchers analyzed two different blood samples with two groups of participants. The first group had 147 toddlers and the second group had 73 toddlers.

"The mean age of autism identification in the United States right now is four to five years so by that point, a lot of brain development opportunities have passed," said Eric Courchesne, PhD, Professor of Nuerosciences and Director of Autism Center of Excellence. "What you really want to do is identify the child at the youngest possible age."

Autism is four times more common in males, researchers said, so the study started with looking at young toddlers because it would be easier to recruit young boys with autism for the study.

Because the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are complex and can vary, it can be difficult to conclusively diagnose a child before the child turns four. 

One parent said an earlier diagnosis in her son could have had a positive impact on his development. 

"I thought I knew how to parent boys," said parent Karen Heumann. "And he came along and he was wild and he was out of control and I thought, 'Oh, he's just trying to keep pace with his brothers,' and instead, he's autistic."

Heumann said as soon as her family found out about her son's Asperger's syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum, they were able to get him therapy. 

That was when her son was five years old. She said learning of the diagnosis earlier would have meant more services for him before he started school. 

In the study, researchers looked at blood-based genomic biomarkers that could lead to the development of a clinical test for ASD in boys as young as one or two years old. Blood is expected to carry autism-relevant molecular signatures that can be used to detect early signs of autism, said first author of the study, Tiziano Pramparo.

The study found that the genes related to translation and immune/inflammation functions, as well as cell adhesion and cell cycle, were different in boys with ASD and boys without ASD. Genes such as those can have an effect on early brain development in toddlers.

The results of the study may lead researchers to diagnosing autism earlier than current methods. Early diagnosis methods could boost the efficacy of intervention and remedial treatments.

The study is co-authored by Karen Pierce, Cynthia Carter Barnes, Steven Marinero, Clelia Ahrens-Barbeau and Linda Lopez, from the UC San Diego Autism Center of Excellence; Michael V. Lombardo from the University of Cambridge and University of Cyprus; Sarah S. Murray from the Scripps Translational Sciences Institute; and Ronghui Xu from UCSD.

It was published in the current online issue of JAMA Psychiatry.

Two people were seriously hurt when a small bus veered off the road, smashed through a stone wall and careened down an embankment near the George Washington Bridge in New York City Tuesday morning, fire officials say.

The bus was heading on a ramp connecting the Henry Hudson Parkway to the bridge on Manhattan's west side when it slid down the embankment north of Fort Washington Park, authorities say. 

The FDNY says two people were hurt in the crash. Their injuries were considered serious, but were not believed to be life-threatening, the department said. Chopper 4 captured two people who appeared to be adults being secured on stretchers, and the FDNY said they were the only two aboard.

Aerial footage showed the bus sitting upright in a small wooded area as about a dozen firefighters picked their way around the snow and branches. Above, yellow caution tape cordoned off a stone wall that appeared to be destroyed.  

The entire front of the white bus was crumpled from some type of impact, though it wasn't clear if the damage was caused by the barrier or a tree. Brooklyn Transportation Corporation was written on the side of the vehicle; reached by phone, the company said it had no information at this time. 

It's not clear what caused the crash. No other vehicles appeared to be involved.

Traffic backed up to the Henry Hudson Bridge. 

-Jen Maxfield contributed to this report