The Boston Yeti was the star of Boston’s miserable winter of 2015, helping to lift spirits and gaining international attention as he traipsed around the city as snowstorm after snowstorm buried the city. 

Now, he’s using his newfound notoriety to help some fellow furry friends by selling Yeti swag to raise money for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 

NECN hosted a Twitter chat with the Boston Yeti on Wednesday. A full transcript of the conversation is included above.

Multiple people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a 3-week-old little girl in Long Beach earlier this year, police said Wednesday.

Little Eliza Delacruz was taken from her home Jan. 3, after assailants broke into her family’s home and shot several family members.

The infant’s body was found the following afternoon in a trash bin behind a strip mall in Imperial Beach.

Last week, officials released sketches of the suspected assailants.

Details of the arrests are slated to be released in a 5 p.m. press conference.

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.

Locally based hospitality property operator Eat.Drink.Sleep plans a March 26 opening for its new restaurant and renovated golf course at Lakehouse Hotel & Resort in San Marcos.

Company officials said a $1.75 million revamp of the St. Mark executive golf course included a clubhouse renovation, the addition of new tee boxes, a new putting green, a full-swing golf simulator with a 12-foot screen, and an interactive practice facility.

The 142-room hotel, which underwent a renovation in 2013, now has a new on-site restaurant called Tap in Tavern, envisioned as a “neighborhood gathering place” with indoor and outdoor seating and 10 craft beers on tap. Lakehouse Hotel & Resort is at 1025 La Bonita Drive, with the executive golf course located at 1556 Camino del Arroyo.

San Diego-based Eat.Drink.Sleep also operates local properties including Belmont Park in Mission Beach, Tower23 Hotel and JRDN Restaurant in Pacific Beach.

A plan to take San Diego streets away from drivers and give them to bicyclists stirred up emotions on both sides Tuesday night in Uptown San Diego’s Hillcrest community.

University Avenue – a very busy street in the heart of Hillcrest – is already congested with parking often at a premium. Both of those issues are front and center in the effort to stop a large bicycling project from moving forward.

But on the other side, cyclists are equally passionate.

“We need to stop this. We need to stop it now,” cried one man who lost a friend who was hit by a car while cycling. “I’m sorry for being upset, but this is something you don’t want any of your friends to go through ever in their life.”

That man and others walked up 5th Avenue Tuesday night holding a candlelight vigil for pedestrians and cyclists who have lost their lives in traffic accidents.

The bike protestors support a SANDAG project where standalone bike lanes will be built in busy neighborhoods like Mission Hills and Hillcrest, connecting the communities to downtown San Diego and Mission Valley. Those bike lanes would be built over some existing parking spaces.

People on both sides showed up at an Uptown Planning meeting to hear the latest on the project.

More detailed engineering analysis and environmental studies still need to be done, but regional leaders are determined to make bicycle transportation a bigger part of local communities.

One side feels that bike lanes are important for the safety of bikers. The other side feels that taking away parking spaces in already busy neighborhoods is not the answer and could negatively impact small businesses and residents who depend on those parking spots.

Many homeowners and business owners in Hillcrest are worried about the immediate negative impact to traffic and would like to see a compromise reached through the project.

“Trying to accommodate both cars and bikers – I didn’t get a flavor that they were attempting to do that; that they were attempting to get rid of the spaces cars have,” said Mission Hills resident Deena Staab.

"We need protected cycle tracks on University and we need them now and the fact we're debating whether a parking spot will be lost or traffic congestion may become worse, versus someone's life is just absurd to me,” argued North Park resident Amelia Anderson.

The Uptown Planning Group, which held this latest meeting, is just one of many groups SANDAG is working with on this project.

But bicyclists will be waiting a bit longer before they can ride in their own lanes through neighborhoods like Hillcrest and Mission Hills.

A planning group rejected SANDAG’S proposal to take out parking spaces and use them for bike lanes. SANDAG is expected to look for more alternatives for the plan.

Newly released video shows a Border Patrol agent shooting a Taser into a car moments before flames erupt from inside, killing the driver as agents looked on.

The family of the victim, Alex Martin, is suing the federal government, claiming the Taser caused the eruption of flames that killed their son. The video, caught on a dashboard camera in an agent’s vehicles, is part of the evidence in that case.

The family’s attorney Gene Iredale said Martin had been driving for 22 hours on his way back from Texas when he got lost in Pine Valley, California, in March 2012. According to court documents, Border Patrol agents tried to pull him over for driving the wrong way on Interstate 8.

But Iredale told NBC 7 Tuesday that the pursuing agents were all in plain clothes and unmarked cars, so Martin did not stop. For about three minutes, Martin led the agents on a high-speed pursuit that ended when he drove over spike strips that deflated his tires.

Martin, who had pulled over on the side of the road, had no way of knowing the men approaching him were law enforcement, Iredale claims.

“These agents approached in unmarked cars, in plain clothes and never identified themselves by the display of badges or even the simple statement ‘Border Patrol,’” the attorney said.

In the video, a plainclothes agent is seen using a flashlight to break the passenger side window. He then raises up his Taser and shoots inside. Immediately, an explosion rocks the car, throwing the agent against the hillside behind him.

Iredale believes a container of gas had spilled in the car, so the stun gun ignited the flammable liquid. He alleges the agent should have smelled the gas fumes wafting out of the car and known not to shoot his Taser.

Martin burned to death. The video shows that instead of trying to save him, all of the agents pulled their vehicles away from the scene.

“All three of those cars had large fire extinguishers in them and standard equipment,” Iredale said. “Not one of these agents ever even tried to spray any of the fire extinguisher solution on that car.”

In a previous interview with NBC 7, Gabriel Pacheco, a lead Border Patrol union representative, called the incident a high risk one to agents. The agent who shot the Taser suffered minor burns to his face.

Pacheco said all Border Patrol procedures were followed in the pursuit and stop. Martin’s death could have been avoided if he had pulled over in the first place and complied with agents, according to the representative.

However, Iredale claims the Border Patrol agents were not following their own protocol by failing to identify themselves.

“This was a senseless act in a senseless way for somebody who had violated no law and who lost their life needlessly,” said Iredale.

In the latest lawsuit update, the federal government has filed a motion to get the judge to dismiss the case entirely. According to Iredale, that decision should be made in 30 to 60 days.

NBC 7 has reached out to Border Patrol about this story but has not heard back.

The federal court records state that this was not the first time Martin resisted law enforcement, describing an incident nine months prior when Martin fled the scene of a DUI hit-and-run accident in Texas, leading officers on a high speed pursuit then. When he staggered out of his pickup truck during that incident, police found a .38 caliber pistol and ammunition, according to the court records.

Jury deliberations continued Wednesday in the trial of a suspect charged with the murder of a developmentally disabled man who was shot while riding his bike in San Diego’s Lincoln Acres area four years ago.

Juan Ignacio Gomez, now 24 years old, is accused of killing Jordan Hickey, 21, on April 29, 2011. Prosecutors argue Gomez committed the crime just for the thrill of it.

Hickey, a developmentally disabled man, was fatally shot as he rode his bicycle along Grove Street.

For nearly a year, no suspects were arrested in the murder as Hickey’s family members and detectives asked for the public’s help in solving the cold case.

In March 2012, Gomez was arrested in Chula Vista in connection with the shooting. A second suspect, Humberto Emanuel Galvez, was also arrested.

NBC 7 spoke with Hickey’s mother, Jeannine Hickey, right after her son’s murder. The grieving mom said the slaying made no sense and she had no idea why anyone would want to kill her son.

In July 2012, Jeannine came face-to-face in court with the suspects. Overwhelmed with emotion, the mother yelled profanities at Gomez and Galvez as details of the crime were revealed. She had to be escorted out of the courtroom.

Gomez’s fate will be decided by a jury that is currently deliberating its verdict.

Meanwhile, Galvez – now 22 years old and also charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a crime – is scheduled to appear in court on April 3.
 

A San Diego woman will be among dozens people in front of Congress asking for accelerated approval of a potentially life-saving drug for those living with ALS.

Linda Clark will be among those handing out the boxes of signatures on the online petition, asking members of key committees to push for the FDA to approve the potentially life-saving drug.

The group will be in front of Congress presenting more than 500,000 signatures on a Change.org petition that asks the US Food and Drug Administration put Genervon’s GM604 drug on the Accelerated Approval Process track so people living with ALS can access the drug faster.

Clark’s husband is living with the disease and first read about it last October. To him, she said, it was a "no-brianer."

"Now that we understand a little bit more about Accelerated Approval Process, we think that if we can get this drug pushed through the system, we can get other drugs could soon follow and that gives the whole ALS community a reason to keep fighting for their lives," said Clark. 

She called her time at the Capitol a humanitarian mission and said the drug, for the first time, gave both her and her huband hope. 

"My husband views this as a no brainer," said Clark. "He’s not the least bit concerned about any potential side effect because living with ALS on a daily basis you’ve pretty lost all the reasons for living."

The online petition was started by Bethany Cleveland and Jahed Majed and members from the Every 90 Minutes Foundation and the Abigail Alliance joined in distributing signatures.

ALS is a degenerative neurological disease that is currently fatal. More than 30,000 Americans suffer from the disease.

Genervon has been in talks with the FDA about the approval process and petitioners expect a decision in the coming months, according to a release on the event. Without the approval, patients could wait an additional three years before they are able to have access to the drug.

The mysterious reported kidnapping for ransom took a new twist Wednesday night when authorities said the woman and her family who had made plans to talk to police had disappeared.

Denise Huskins, 29, was reportedly abducted Monday morning from a Vallejo home, police said. She was reported to be kidnapped by her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, but was found safe Wednesday morning in Huntington Beach, her family and police told NBC4.

Now, police say, Huskins and Quinn have become the target of the investigation as police probe whether they did anything illegal in their report of a random, violent abduction and a ransom request of $8,500.

Huskins and her family had made plans Wednesday afternoon to speak with authorities but have since disappeared, Vallejo police said.

Police said there was some indication that she would be cooperative and speak with investigators but when the FBI arranged a jet to bring her to Northern California for an interview, she was nowhere to be found.

Huskins has since retained an attorney and detectives do not know where she is, police said.

Since the investigation was launched on Monday, 40 detectives and over 100 personnel have been searching for and investigating Huskins' disappearance, which they said they didn't believe was a random act of violence.

"Today, there is no evidence to support the claims that this was a stranger abduction or an abduction at all," Vallejo police said in a press release. "Given the facts that have been presented thus far, this event appears to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping."

Lt. Kenny Park of the Vallejo Police Department told reporters at a press conference Wednesday night that police are looking into possible state and federal charges in the case. Park also said Huskins and her boyfriend sent police on a "wild goose chase."

"The fact that we've wasted all these resources is really upsetting," Park said, adding that "Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins owe this community an apology."

At an earlier news conference, Park said his department received a phone call from Huntington Beach police at 10:30 a.m. reporting Huskins had been found safe. Prior to the conference, Mike Huskins said his daughter, Denise, is safe in Huntington Beach. He didn't provide any other details.

Huskins' boyfriend claims an intruder broke into his Mare Island home early Monday morning and took Huskins by force while demanding a ransom. But for some reason, her boyfriend waited 11 hours to report it to police. Park said the alleged ransom for Huskins was $8,500.

How Huskins got to Huntington Beach was not made clear in Wednesday's press conference.

Huskins' uncle, Jeff Kane, said Wednesday morning he was relieved to hear his niece was safe. "Now we know where she is, that’s the most important thing, obviously, but now curiosity is kicking in, and we go, ‘what happened here, why her,’” he said.

“It all seems curious to me," Kane added. "it seems diabolical, it seems criminal, but it also seems orthodox in the crime world.”

Kanes said Huskins' dad had answered a call from an unknown number which turned out to be his daughter. "She said 'Daddy, I am safe, they let me go and I am walking to your house'," Kane said. 

Since Huskins' father was in Vallejo at the time, she went to a neighbor's house. Family in Southern California broke into tears when they heard Huskins was back.

"Excitement, overwhelmed ... I didn't know anything that was going to happen. You hear these stories all the time and you watch TV about them and you never know," cousin Natalia Kane said. "I just was happy to hear that she was alive and safe, and home."

Huskins is from Huntington Beach, and according to her Facebook page moved to Vallejo in June 2014. She is a physical therapist at Kaiser Permanente.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle was sent an email with an audio file of a woman claiming to be Denise Huskins, who said in a brief call, “I’m kidnapped, otherwise I’m fine.”

In the short clip, she identifies herself, talks about the French Alps plane crash to establish the date and references a personal detail about herself about the first concert she saw. Her voice is calm and the clip lasts less than 10 seconds. It’s unclear who made the clip, or who emailed it to the Chronicle.

Lisa Fernandez and Bay City News contributed to this report

It was an emotional day in court, as jurors viewed the autopsy photos of Boston Marathon bombing victim Krystle Campbell.

One juror grabbed a tissue as she wiped away tears, while another juror overcome with emotion put his head in his hands.

Medical examiner Dr. Jennifer Hammers testified that Campbell died from blast injuries to her torso and legs, saying that she lost so much blood that she likely survived less than a minute before succumbing to her injuries on Boylston Street.

The autopsy photos were only shown to the jury, witness and attorneys on either side, but defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev turned around in his chair and glanced quickly at the display screen before being told to turn back around.

Earlier in the day, jurors heard testimony from FBI agent Edward Knapp, who pieced the thousands of bomb components found on Boylston Street and in Watertown back together and created mock ups of the devices.

He let the jurors handle and examine each replica bomb and explained to them how the components were modified - from remote controlled car transmitters, receivers and batteries to send energy to a modified Christmas tree light, and how fireworks powder was placed into pressure cookers and pipe bombs, fashioned with hobby fuse as a back up detonator.

Agent Knapp then showed the jury how the electrical components worked, by arming the inert replica devices and pressing the trigger on the transmitter which lit the Christmas tree light that glowed brightly green.

He explained in the actual device the filament on that light would have set off the bomb.

A family in mourning has started a memorial fund for boy who wandered into a neighbor’s pool and drowned.

“Four-year-old Gunnar was a true Aquarius by nature, an affectionate child who loved hugs and kisses as much as he loved the water,” a friend said on Gunnar Atkins’ GoFundMe page.

Among those grieving is the victim’s twin brother.

Gunnar Atkins died Saturday after he fell into a backyard pool in Ramona. When a dog started barking, the homeowner spotted Gunnar and called 911. Even though she and medics performed CPR, the boy did not survive.

Now, his family is raising money for his funeral, planned for this weekend. Their goal is to reach $5,000.

City surveyors doing work in Alpine stumbled upon skeletal remains Wednesday, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department says.

The workers reported their find at 11:20 p.m. in the 3000 block of Alpine Boulevard.

According to investigators, it appears the remains have been there for quite some time.

Detectives from the sheriff's homicide unit are investigating, and the medical examiner's office has been called in to help determine a cause of death.

According to the county assessor's office, the land where the remains were found is owned by the Grossmont Union High School District.

A spokeswoman for the district told NBC 7 SDG&E workers were on the property to survey the lines and poles there. A state mandate requires landowners to remove all wooden poles in the East County fire area.

If you know anything about this incident, call the homicide detail at 858-974-2321 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

A meeting will be held Thursday at an elementary school in Solana Beach where a 7-year-old girl was nearly kidnapped this week when a stranger tried to wrap tape around her head and carry her off.

Parents and school officials plan to gather at 9 a.m. at Skyline Elementary School on Lomas Santa Fe Drive to discuss the frightening incident, get the latest details on the investigation and talk about ways to teach their children how to avoid a similar situation.

According to the girl’s father, the would-be kidnapper brazenly walked onto the elementary school campus Monday about 15 minutes after the dismissal bell rang. The girl was walking to her after-school program when the stranger confronted her behind the school.

The father said the man was carrying a roll of duct tape.

He tried to wrap the tape around the child’s head multiple times and, according to the father, used the line “if you want to see your mommy again” to lure her.

Deputies said the girl screamed and got away. The man then ran off.

"She did the right thing," said sheriff's Capt. Theresa Adams-Hydar. "She screamed and made herself not a victim; she did a great job."

Staff members and some parents saw the encounter and gave detectives a description of the man. He’s described as having light brown hair and a tan skin tone. He’s possible in his 40s with a medium build, standing at approximately 6 feet tall.

"He was wearing, it looked like, a red, white and blue athletic, maybe baseball jersey, buttoned down; a green baseball cap; off-white baseball pants with athletic shoes; and was holding a small duffle bag," said Adams-Hydar.

The man was driving a silver Ford Flex-type car with chrome trim on the back and a black top.

A sketch of the suspect was released by officials on Tuesday. No arrests have been made in the case and anyone with information is urged to call the sheriff's department at (858) 565-5200.

Meanwhile, volunteers are trying to spread the word around the community with flyers that were handed out Wednesday at businesses on Highway 101.

The Solana Beach School District plans to give students training on what to do when a stranger approaches them. In part, students are being taught to use their voices to yell for help and attract attention and to run away.

School officials also urge parents not too drop off students too early at school before supervision is on campus and to be prompt about picking up children after school is dismissed.

The majority of Californians say their neighbors are failing to do enough to respond to the state's severe drought, according to a new poll from the Public Policy Institute.

Two-thirds of residents surveyed, 66 percent, said people in their part of the state are not doing their share when it comes to water conservation and drought-relief measures. About 24 percent said their neighbors are doing just enough and 6 percent said they were doing too much, according to the poll.

"The ongoing drought is raising concerns about the long-term water supply," said Mark Baldassare, PPIC president and CEO. "Most Californians think their neighbors could be doing more to save water today."

The poll, released Wednesday, showed that 66 percent of those surveyed believe their regional water supply is a "big problem," near a record high of 68 percent in October. The problem seemed most urgent in the Central Valley, the heart of California's agricultural operations, where 76 percent said the water supply is a major problem.

When asked about the most important issue facing California, poll participants were just about as likely to indicate water and the drought as they were jobs and the economy. Those issues were much higher priorities than education and immigration, according to the poll.

More than 93 percent of the state is under severe drought, according to this week's U.S. Drought Monitor report, which categorizes drought into five levels of severity -- abnormally dry, moderate, severe, extreme and exceptional. Nearly 42 percent of California is under exceptional drought, an increase of nearly 2 percentage points over last week.

One year ago, 24 percent of the state was under exceptional drought.

The state's critically low reservoirs received little relief this winter as California nears the end of its wet season. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where springtime water runoff benefits an estimated 25 million Californians, precipitation since October is 10 inches below normal.

The poll comes a week after the governor, who declared a drought emergency in January 2014 and called on residents to reduce water use by 20 percent, announced a plan to accelerate funding for water projects. That $1 billion proposal to speed up spending and offer about $75 million in immediate aid to residents and wildlife was sent to the governor's desk Thursday.

The legislation accelerates water infrastructure spending, some of which can boost local water supplies in future years. It includes $267 million to give out grants for water-recycling projects and expand drinking water in small and poor cities.

Earlier this month, the State Water Resources Control Board extended and expanded restrictions on water use, admitting that its actions so far have been focused on the easier ways to immediately cut down urban water use. Members voted to extend statewide outdoor water limits imposed in July, barring washing down driveways, decorative fountains without recirculating pumps and sprinklers that spray pavement.

New rules will require local water departments to restrict the number of days residents can water their lawns. If they don't, residents must follow a state rule limiting their sprinkling to twice a week. Homeowners are also barred from using sprinklers on days when it rains and for the next two days.

Editor's Note: The Public Policy Institute of California poll results are based on a telephone survey of 1,706 California adult residents conducted March 8 to 17.

The co-pilot of the Germanwings jet that crashed in the French Alps this week apparently brought down the plane deliberately, killing all 150 people aboard, officials said Thursday, as Tuesday's tragedy took a horrifying turn.

Andreas Lubitz, 27, appears to have intentionally flown the plane into the side of a mountain while he was alone at the controls, while the plane's pilot pounded on the locked cockpit door, officials said flight recordings showed.

Deliberate crashes of commercial passenger jets, while rare, are believed to have occurred before. Here are some of the most well-known of them. 

2013 — Mozambique Airlines Flight TM470
Bound for Angola from Mozambique, this flight went down in heavy rain in Namibia on Nov. 29, 2013. Mozambique aviation experts said they believed the crash, which killed all 33 people on board, was intentional. The pilot, Hermino dos Santos Fernandes, locked himself in the cockpit and refused to let the co-pilot back in until just before the plane hit the ground, the BBC reported.

1999 — EgyptAir Flight 990
This plane crashed into the ocean en route from New York City to Cairo on Oct. 31, 1999, killing all 203 passengers, four crew members and 10 flight attendants. A National Transportation Safety Board report released two years later blamed co-pilot Gamil al-Batouti’s "manipulation of the airplane controls"; U.S. investigators said he cut power to the engines, turned the plane down and repeated the phrase, "I rely on God." He had been demoted hours before the trip over accusations of sexual misconduct, The New York Times reported. Egypt's aviation authority charged, however, that American investigators had failed to consider evidence supporting the possibility that multiple failures in the airplane’s elevator control system may have caused the crash.

1997 — SilkAir Flight 185
A SilkAir airplane crashed into a river shortly after leaving the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Dec. 19, 1997, killing all 104 people on board. American investigators believe that the pilot acted deliberately, the BBC reported. The investigators said the pilot, Tsu Way Ming, did not try to stop the plane’s nosedive. In addition, the cockpit voice box recorder appeared to have been disconnected. An Indonesian investigation was not conclusive.

1994 — Royal Air Maroc Flight 630
All 44 people aboard a turboprop were killed when a captain deliberately flew the plane into a North African mountainside on Aug. 21, 1994, the Los Angeles Times reported. The co-pilot could be heard screaming, "Mayday, mayday, the pilot is..." The captain had disconnected the autopilot, according to Moroccan officials, and newspaper reports suggested he was upset over a love affair. The flight union disputes those findings.

1982 — Japan Air Lines Flight 350
A Japan Air Lines captain crashed his plane into the ocean on its approach to Tokyo on Feb. 9, 1982. His fellow crew members struggled with him in the cockpit, The New York Times reported, but 24 of the 174 people on board died. Days afterward, the airline's president said the pilot had had a "psychosomatic illness" in 1980 but had later been found fit to return to duty.

Divers and police launched a search for a student Thursday morning at Lake Murray in La Mesa after park rangers found a backpack and a cell phone next to the lake shore, officials said.

Rangers reported their discovery around 7:20 a.m. at the lake located at 5500 Kiowa Dr. Officials began a search shortly thereafter with boats and divers scouring the water and officers searching the area by ground.

San Diego police told NBC 7 the ID of an 18-year-old San Diego State University student was found near the abandoned belongings. Clothing, the ID and a phone were inside the backpack left near the water.

Police said no witnesses reported seeing the student go into the lake, but some footprints were found leading to the water’s edge. The investigation at the lake will continue through the morning, until they find the student, SDPD Lt. Kevin Mayer said.
 

A U.S. Army National Guard soldier and his cousin have been charged with conspiring to support ISIS, federal prosecutors say.

Army National Guard Specialist Hasan Edmonds, 22, and Jonas Edmonds, 29, both from the suburban Chicago community of Aurora, are accused of plotting to provide material support and resources to the terror organization, U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon announced Thursday.

They also allegedly planned to use Army uniforms and military knowledge to attack a U.S. military facility in northern Illinois.

According to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday, the pair allegedly devised a plan in late 2014 for Hasan Edmonds to travel overseas and use his military training to fight on behalf of ISIS. As part of the plan, Hasan Edmonds booked a flight scheduled to leave Wednesday from Chicago and arrive in Cairo Thursday.

Both men also met with an FBI undercover employee to present a plot to carry out an armed attack against the military facility where Hasan Edmonds had been training, according to the complaint. As part of the plan, Jonas Edmonds and the undercover officer would use Hasan Edmonds’ uniforms and his knowledge of the facility to access the grounds and target officers for the attack.

“Disturbingly, one of the defendants currently wears the same uniform of those they allegedly planned to attack,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin said in a statement.

Hasan Edmonds was arrested at Midway Airport during an attempt to fly to Egypt, and Jonas Edmonds was arrested at his home in Aurora, prosecutors say. Both were charged with conspiring to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

"We will pursue and prosecute with vigor those who support ISIL and its agenda of ruthless violence," said U.S. Attorney Fardon. "Anyone who threatens to harm our citizens and allies, whether abroad or here at home, will face the full force of justice."

Conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
 

A major step was taken toward getting an NFL stadium built in Carson after a petition was delivered to city hall.

While 8,041 signatures were needed, the group Carson2gether managed to get almost double that number.

More than 40 boxes full of paper were handed over to officials Wednesday calling for the city council to immediately discuss the proposed joint San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders stadium.

It comes after a rally was held last weekend in the city in an attempt to secure the required number of signatures. The council will now be able to approve the proposal outright or make the issue a ballot measure. 

The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders announced in February they are working on a joint proposal to build a 72,000-seat stadium at Del Amo Boulevard and the San Diego (405) Freeway in Carson. However, this is dependent on them being unable to strike deals for new facilities in their respective cities.

Inglewood City Council has already approved a plan by St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke to build a stadium at the former Hollywood Park racetrack site.

Members voted unanimously on February 24 to approve the mooted 80,000-seat stadium. Despite this, the Rams have not announced any plans of moving back to the Los Angeles area.

LA has not had an NFL team since 1994.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Monday it is not good enough the city does not have a franchise.

"I don't think it's good that we've let a generation of fans, young kids, grow up without a team," Kraft said. "It's not good for the NFL. I really believe within the next year we'll have two teams in this market. We have some real good options."

California drivers could soon have a new way to help catch hit-and-run drivers under a bill that passed the State Assembly on Wednesday.

The bill entails that car and driver information be displayed on freeway signs relating to hit-and-run accidents that resulted in injuries or death. After passing through the State Assembly, the bill will now go to the Senate.

Passage of the Yellow Alert system hit especially home for one San Diego woman.

Katie Conner was hit by a driver as she was biking home from work in Ocean Beach more than five months ago. The crash landed her in the hospital in critical condition. The driver, who sped off, was never found.

Conner is slowly recovering and trying to move on with her life.

“I’m back to work and exercising and doing the majority of the things that I was before,” she said. “I try and just keep it in my past and just keep continuing to live the life that I was before.”

Sadly, on average, between 2009 and 2012, 87 percent of drivers responsible for deaths and injuries were not punished, according to The Voice of San Diego.

California Assemblyman Mike Gatto spearheaded the Yellow Alert, an expansion of the Amber Alert system. Similar to an Amber Alert, freeway signs would display detailed vehicle description, such as make, model, color and license plate number in close vicinity to hit-and-run accidents.

Unlike an Amber Alert, cellphones wouldn’t be buzzed about those accidents.

Conner said had the Yellow Alert system been in place at the time of her accident, she thinks the driver could have been caught.

“I’m just really thankful that this is going to help a lot of victims just like myself,” she said.

The investigation into the reported kidnapping-for-ransom of a woman found Wednesday in Southern California was a "wild goose chase", Vallejo police said.

The purported victim Denise Huskins and her whole family disappeared a day after she turned up safe in Southern California, despite the FBI arranging for a  jet to fly them back to the Northern California city, police said.

Huskins, 29, was reportedly abducted Monday morning from a Vallejo, California, home. She was reported to be kidnapped by her boyfriend but was found safe Wednesday morning in Huntington Beach, her family and police told NBC4.

If Huskins or her boyfriend committed any criminal act in the false story, Vallejo police will seek federal charges, said Lt. Kenny Park, of the Vallejo Police Department.

"(The search is) what I would classify as a wild goose chase," Park said, "(It) was such an incredible story, we initially had a hard time believing it. As of right now, we have not heard from Ms. Huskins and we are no longer in contact with any of the family members."

Huskins and her family had made plans to speak with authorities but has since disappeared, Vallejo police said in a press release.

Police said there was some indication that she would be cooperative and speak with investigators but when the FBI  arranged for the jet to bring her to Northern California for an interview, she was nowhere to be found.

Huskins has since retained an attorney and detectives do not know where she is.

Her uncle Jeff Kane told NBC4 that the claims made by police are "absolute c***."

"I imagine maybe she's seen enough of Vallejo to be quite honest with you," Kane added.

Since the investigation was launched on Monday, 40 detectives and over 100 personnel have been searching for and investigating Huskins' disappearance, which they said they didn't believe was a random act of violence.

"Today, there is no evidence to support the claims that this was a stranger abduction or an abduction at all," Vallejo police said in a press release. "Given the facts that have been presented thus far, this event appears to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping."

Huskins' boyfriend claimed an intruder broke into his home early Monday morning and took her by force while demanding a ransom. But her boyfriend waited 11 hours to report it to police, officials said.

On Wednesday morning, the woman went to her mother’s house in Huntington Beach, but her mother wasn't home because she went to Vallejo to look for her daughter, Huskins' aunt said.

She then walked to her father’s home, also in Huntington Beach, but he is also in Vallejo. Huskins called her father from a neighbor's residence.

Relatives and friends hugged and cried outside the apartment building in Huntington Beach, relieved she was OK.

"Excitement, overwhelmed ... I didn't know anything that was going to happen. You hear these stories all the time and you watch TV about them and you never know," cousin Natalia Kane said. "I just was happy to hear that she was alive and safe, and home."

Huskins spoke with officers before they drove her in a car to be reunited with family in a more private place.

Additional details were not available, and it was not clear how she got to Huntington Beach.

"I wish I could tell you that it was party time jubilation and all that, but it was just relief more than anything," her uncle, Jeff Kane, said.

Police on Tuesday did not elaborate on what the ransom demand might be.

Huskins is from Huntington Beach, and according to her Facebook page moved to Vallejo in June 2014. She is a physical therapist at Kaiser Permanente.

Hetty Chang, Jason Kandell, Jodi Hernandez and Michael Larkin contributed to this report.