Two practice bombs determined to be inert were discovered underneath a home in La Mesa Wednesday evening, officials confirmed.

The bombs were discovered at a house in the 5000 block of Keeney Street at around 3 p.m.
According to public information officer Monica Zech, the torpedo-like bombs were found underneath a home that was being fixed up to be sold.

The Sheriff’s Bomb and Arson team was called to the scene to evaluate the devices and officials deemed them inert and harmless. No injuries were reported.

Officials removed both bombs from the home for proper disposal.
 

Several beaches along South Florida's coast line were closed after thousnds of sharks were seen migrating in the waters.

Dozens of sharks were seen migrating in waters off Deerfield Beach on Thursday.

Sharks have been migrating from Boca Raton to Jupiter since the beginning of March, according to marine biologists.

Biologists said the sharks are going north after migrating to the south for the winter.

Lifeguards at Midtown Beach saw spinner sharks in the waters and put up red flags to tell beachgoers they couldn't enter the water.

"It's dangerous. It's not what you would expect. Families come out here to enjoy the weather, beach, and sand, but now they can't.They have to travel a little bit further than they should," said beachgoer Guirlene Exantus.

Great White Shark Spotted Near Hamptons

Doctors at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach told WPTV that they see about five to six shark bite victims annually. These bites are usually minor, but can put the victim at risk for infections.

Swimmers are advised to swim close at beaches with lifeguards and take jewelry off before getting in the water as experts say sharks are attracted to silver, yellow and gold.

Great White Sharks Protected off Calif. Coast

Tourist Tori Bradshaw just arrived in South Florida from her home state of Washington.

"Well, we don't have sharks in Washington," she said "I really wanted to go swimming."

"If there are sharks, you aren't going to find me in there, haha. Only in Las Vegas," said Burt Abrams, visiting from Cleveland, Ohio.

They've actually enjoyed being in the water on the their vacation and were surprised to hear they may have not been swimming alone.

"The water has been beautiful. It's been warm. I don't think they come in this shallow, but I'm not going to test it," Bernice Abrams said.
 

Thanks to a program called Segs4Vets, more than two dozen severely wounded veterans received their very own Segways Wednesday during a special event aboard the USS Midway.

The event – organized by Disability Rights Advocates for Technology (DRAFT) – included a ceremony in which 26 wounded warriors were each given their own personal mobility device.

DRAFT says each recipient of a Segway sustained injuries in combat either in Iraq or Afghanistan, many from improvised explosive device blasts. These veterans suffered leg amputation, soft tissue damage, spinal cord injuries and severe orthopedic and neurological damage while serving.

DRAFT says their Segs4Vets program is meant to give these veterans a newfound level of mobility and independence that’s not always achieved by a traditional wheelchair. The Segway giveaway is also a small way to thank disabled military service members for the major sacrifices they’ve made for our country.

Recipients at Wednesday’s event were thankful for their new mobility devices.

Marine Chris Vanetten, who served two deployments and lost both legs after stepping on an IED during a foot patrol, told NBC 7 his new Segway would allow him to move around with more ease and play with his dog.

“I have a dog at home that loves to run, so this Segway is going to help me out a lot in keeping up with her. This means a lot,” said Vanetten.

It will also help him enjoy the sights in comfort.

“I can go down to the bay and actually enjoy the scenery instead of just thinking about how much my legs hurt and trying to find the next bench to sit down on,” said Vanetten. “I mean, this [Segway] is a life-changer.”

Veteran Scott Schroeder, who lost both his legs when his unit’s military vehicle rolled over an IED, told NBC 7 he’s excited to take his new ride out for a spin..

More importantly, Schroeder, who now has prosthetics, says the Segway will make it easier for him to move around and play with his kids.

“I can’t wait to break it out, go around the yard, go around the block. The mental aspect of this can’t be understood – to be able to go out and do these things again," he said.

According to DRAFT, Segs4Vets received a blanket waiver from the Pentagon in 2006 allowing the non-profit organization to donate Segways to military personnel. Since then, the organization has given more than 1,000 Segways to disabled warriors and to military rehabilitation facilities in San Diego, Washington, D.C., and San Antonio.

These latest veterans to receive Segways in San Diego were trained on their new mobility devices earlier this week by DRAFT founders who are skilled Segway users despite their own disabilities.

To find out more about DRAFT and their Segs4Vets program, visit this website.

To donate funds toward the purchase of Segways for wounded veterans click here.

A teenager accused in a violent two-day crime spree will stand trial.

Cindy Garcia, 18, faces 16 felony counts, including attempted murder of a peace officer. In the last day of her preliminary hearing this week, a detective recounted what Garcia told him after her arrest, saying she was uncooperative.

Garcia said her husband woke her up in a frenzy, on the night they allegedly committed their first crime.

The couple’s crime spree began Oct. 29 with a car fire in 2600 block of East Mission Bay Drive. An hour later, a man was shot in Hillcrest in the1200 block of Upas Street.

Read: Timeline of Violent Crime Spree

Then, around 9 a.m., a man was robbed in Mission Valley East. Hours later, veteran off-duty SDPD officer Les Stewart was robbed and shot in the head while using an ATM in Escondido.

A carjacking at a Sam’s Club in Oak Park followed. Later in Chula Vista, the stolen car was found on fire.

Garcia's husband Phillip Hernandez later died Halloween night in a gun battle between police when police discovered his location. She was arrested at the scene.

San Diego County residents can sign up to get an email when a convicted sex offender moves into their neighborhood.

Under the Registered Sex Offender E-mail Notification System, residents can sign up to be notified when a convicted sex offender moves in or out of their zip code within San Diego County.

The new program was unveiled at the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Tuesday.

County Supervisor Bill Horn said the current system of people checking a statewide Megan’s Law website was too passive.

“It is tremendously important that we commit to doing our best, keeping our residents up to date on these dangerous criminals,” Horn said.

State law prohibits officials from providing the same information on the website in an email to subscribers.

“It protects the wrong people,” Horn said.

However, subscribers will be notified to check the Megan’s Law website when there has been a change to those sex offenders registered within their zip code.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office tracks nearly 5200 sex offenders in San Diego County.

“Anything we can do to protect our kids is very important, very worthwhile,” said San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore.

Gore suggested parents include more than one zip code when they subscribe.

You can include not only your own address but also a school, park, or relative’s address.

To find out more about the new county email notification alerts and how to register, go to the website.

Megan's Law has made information on sex offenders required to register with local law enforcement available to the public since 2004.
 

A television consultant claims that former Vice President Al Gore and others at Current TV stole his idea to sell the struggling network to Al-Jazeera.

Los Angeles resident John Terenzio is demanding more than $5 million in a lawsuit quietly filed in San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday.

Al-Jazerra announced Jan. 3 that it would pay $500 million for San Francisco-based Current TV.

Terenzio alleges he first brought the idea of the Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera's purchase of Current TV to board member Richard Blum in July, and he expected to be paid if his plan was used. The lawsuit claims Blum was open to the plan, which Terenzio laid out with a detailed PowerPoint presentation but feared Gore would find such a deal with the oil-rich government of Qatar "politically unappealing."

Neither Gore or Blum, nor their representatives, could be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Gore co-founded Current TV in 2005 with Joel Hyatt, with each receiving a 20 percent stakes in Current, a politically left leaning news and talk network. Comcast Corp. had less than a 10 percent stake. Another major investor in Current TV was supermarket magnate and entertainment industry investor Ron Burkle, according to information service Capital IQ.

Blum, a venture capitalist and husband of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, is also an investor in Current TV.

Terenzio claims he presented to Blum "a step-by-step approach for making the sale of the liberal media outlet to Al-Jazeera palatable to U.S. lawmakers, pro-Israel factions, cable operators and, most importantly, the American public."

Terenzio claims he created the English version of China Central Television and reprogrammed it for American audiences. He said he planned to use the same strategies in rebranding Current TV into Al-Jazeera America.

"Blum greeted Terenzio's proposal with enthusiasm, indicating that he and other investors were eager to salvage their multi-million investment in the floundering cable network," Terenzio claims in his lawsuit.

Terenzio said he believes Gore did turn down the deal in July and was "adamant" in rejecting it.

Terenzio's attorney, Ellyn Garofalo, said an "insider" told her client of Gore's rejection but refused to identify that person in a brief email interview Wednesday night. Garofalo represented Dr. Sandeep Kapoor when a jury acquitted him of illegally funneling prescription drugs to Anna Nicole Smith.

Terenzio said Al-Jazeera's January announcement of the sale was the first he heard of it.

Dressed in his trademark hoodie and jeans, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took the stage today at the company's headquarters to unveil the social networking giant's new News Feed, which has been overhauled to reflect the new ways in which people are using the site.

During an hour-long presentation in Menlo Park, Calif., featuring Zuckerberg and three of his top people, Facebook announced a number of new changes that will be progressively rolling out, including bigger pictures, a choice of feeds and a consistent mobile experience.

The changes will appear to Facebook's tablet and mobile sites in the coming weeks. On the web, a small number of people will be migrated to the new site at first, so the company can collect feedback and put a final shine on the new experience.

"Our mission is to make the world more open and connected," Zuckerberg said in his opening remarks. "What we're trying to do is give everyone in the world the best personalized newspaper... it should have socially and locally relevant updates... let you drill into any topic you discuss, that you want to go over."

One of the reasons for the change, he said, was the change in which people were using the site. Since News Feed launched, the percentage of posts that are photos has nearly doubled, to just less than half of all posts.

The company is focusing on the News Feed because that's what people care about, Director of Design Julie Zhou said. Everyone they talked to told them, "This is what matters to me, these are things that my friends are saying and seeing and doing," Zine said.

Changes to the news feed will include:

Links posted by multiple friends will show more prominently.

• Bigger photos and more prominent galleries. In galleries, one photo will be featured, and thumbnails of others will appear below. Profile photos of friends of friends will be bigger, too.
• Check-ins will include a map and a description of the location. Third-party apps will get better treatment, with bigger photos.
• Videos will play inline, with photos of the posters running alongside. And you can read their comments by putting your mouse over their profile photo.
• Upcoming Events will appear in your News Feed, selected from things your friends are doing, as well as based on place where you've checked in in the past.

"We've really spent a lot of time over the last year...trying to understand what we could do to make their experience with the product better," said Chris Struhar, Facebook's tech lead. "And we really heard from people that they wanted more choice and more control over the stories they were seeing on their homepage."

To do that, Facebook is giving the user a choice of feeds to display, using a the "switcher" at the top-right of the page to toggle between them. The choices include All Friends, Most Recent, Close Friends, Music, Photos, Games and Following.

The Music Feed will show photos, concert and album info, stories and posts related to your favorite artist. The Photos Feed will show you all the different pictures you're friends are posting. The Following feed will show you what's happening with the people, places and periodicals you follow.

"The story we're trying to adhere to here is really about getting Facebook out of the way as much as possible," said Chris Cox, Facebook's VP of product. "On the web that really meant pushing the content to the front of the experience and trying to pull back the 'chrome' around it as much as possible."

The team focused on the mobile app, Cox said, because that's where content dominated the Facebook experience. The tablet and smartphone navigation will look mostly the same, while the PC will begin to match their look.

"We're gonna start rolling this out on the web today," announced Cox. "And you're gonna see these design show up on your phone and tablet over the next few weeks. Because this is a big change on the web, we're going to be very, very careful and slow about how we roll it out.

"What we're likely to see over the next period of time is a small amount of people moving into the experience, us getting a lot of feedback, and as soon as we've got it to a super polished and good place, we'll be rolling it more broadly."

While in training camp with the Chicago Bears a few years ago, Hunter Hillenmeyer noticed a large chunk of the team was obsessed with “Words With Friends,” the popular Facebook mobile game that pits friends against each other in a Scrabble-like environment.

At that moment, Hillenmeyer wondered what it would be like if fans could also join in with players on the fun.

A few years later, with an eight-year NFL career behind him, Hillenmeyer’s dream is almost a reality. OverDog, the app he’s currently developing, allows gamers to play their favorite games with their favorite athletes.

The way it works is simple. After the free app is downloaded, gamers share their gamertag for their gaming system and tell OverDog what teams they root for. After that, the player, once they become a subscriber and pay a monthly fee, can see challenges made by professional athletes. Hillenmeyer said that the yearly free would be sold for $20 on Kickstarter and once the campaign is over, a yearly subscription would cost $25. Once the gamer clicks on an active challenge, they will be placed in a random drawing to see who gets to play with the athlete. If they win, the game begins.

Ever wanted to play a virtual game of your favorite sport or even “Halo” or “Call of Duty” with your favorite athlete? OverDog wants to make it happen.

“We want to build a platform for connecting people for any fun activity,” Hillenmeyer, who attended Vanderbilt University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a double major in Human & Organizational Development and Economics, said. “Playing Guitar Hero with Slash or some trivia game with Ken Jennings just sounds like too cool of an experience for someone not to be providing.”

Although the project has not yet been completed, NFL veterans Randy Moss, Matt Forte and Madden 13 cover athlete Calvin Johnson have already pledged their allegiance to it. Football players aren’t the only ones interested in the project. MMA star Heath Herring, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher and MLB 2K13 cover athlete David Price and USA Olympic Gold Medalist Swimmer Conor Dwyer have agreed to back OverDog.

In the process of gaining funds via Kickstarter, in a week, OverDog has already raised $28,614 of the $100,000 it needs to get the project fully functional. Hillenmeyer, 32, who became a tech entrepreneur and has also written financial columns for The Street.com is confident this new path will be a worthwhile one.

“I'm all about pursuing your passions,” said Hillenmeyer a former draft pick of the Green Bay Packers. “For me, that involved a lot of things, family and faith first, but I have always the start-up itch and getting the chance to build a company like this in the sports space is just too cool not to embrace.”

Hillenmeyer however admits that he didn’t play video games with fans during his playing days.

“I think part of the reason for that is there is no easy way to make that happen right now,” Hillenmeyer said. “The athlete has to share his gamer tag publicly, risks getting harassed, once he does and that still leaves all the steps of friending each other on the console, and getting the game started. OverDog automates all of that.”

But if the funding for the project is successful, Hillenmeyer doesn’t see any reason why he wouldn’t jump in on the fun himself.

“I will definitely be on there trying to play against guys from teams I like,” he said. “I might try to take down a few Packers players too, just to put them in their place.”

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Dignitaries, law enforcement, family members and strangers on Thursday lined the roads and filled a huge memorial hall to bid a mournful goodbye to two Santa Cruz police officers killed in the line of duty.

The crowds were there for Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and Det. Elizabeth Butler, a Los Angeles native who came to Santa Cruz in college.

The two officers were killed last Tuesday when they were investigating sexual assault allegations against Jeremey Goulet, 35. Twenty minutes into the interview with the pair of police, sheriff's deputies say he pulled out a .45-caliber handgun and shot them to death. His criminal record shows a string of sexual assault arrests, and his father had called Goulet a "ticking time bomb."

The officer deaths were the first of their kind in Santa Cruz's 150-year history.

The three-hour service at HP Pavilion in San Jose - attended by dignitaries including Gov. Jerry Brown - began with silence, and then a somber march of family down the aisle as bagpipes wailed in the background.

"For all of us, the pain is too fresh," Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel told the crowd. "There are no words that can heal us. No fixes to ease the pain."

He cited Butler's "compassion" and Baker's "counsel and passion for the job."

As his former partner, Vogel said he often turned to Baker for advice and help.

"I loved them both dearly, " Vogel said in an emotional closing. "I will miss them both forever."

Former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who lives in Monterey, then addressed the city of Santa Cruz, a city he had served as a U.S. congressman from 1977 to 1993.

He called Santa Cruz a "little offbeat," but "always, always, a place where people could enjoy life" and feel safe." Panetta then credited the officers for their work, and said their lives were "shattered by a sense of senseless violence."

The bullets that killed them, Panetta said, "ripped the fabric of our community." He said there is no way to understand "what the killer did," in what can be described as an "act of execution."

He then made a plea to the public: If ever, people see  a person with troubling tendencies - like Goulet, who had a history of violence and sexual assault - they should not turn away, they should seek help for those people so that innocent victims do not have to be harmed.

"God bless all of those who fight to keep us safe," Panetta said.

Before the service, slideshows of both families were shown on a big screen, showing Butler as a loving mother to her two young boys, 5-year-old Joaquin and 2-year-old Stellan, along with her partner, Peter Wu.

Images also showed Baker kissing his wife, Kelly, and feeding her cake at their wedding, which looked like it took place in the '70s. The program read that Baker and his wife had been childhood sweethearts. Family photos showed the Bakers at birthday parties and a Giants game at AT&T Park.

Baker, a 1979 graduate of Bellarmine Preparatory School in San Jose, leaves behind his wife, two daughters, Jillian and Ashley, and a son, Adam, who was a community service officer for the police department.

Vogel had called him the "best investigator" in the office, and cited Baker's love for the Giants and a good prank.

Butler is a Los Angeles native and graduated from Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance in 1992. She then attended UC Santa Cruz and earned a degree in community studies four years later and ended up staying in the beach side city.

Before that, she had worked as a patrol officer, hostage negotiator, and an agent assigned to the Santa Cruz County drug task force.

Hours before the funeral, crowds of friends and strangers lined up along the processional route from Santa Cruz to San Jose. Tim Shae, who called himself a "regular guy,"  stood alongside Highway 17 early in the morning, holding a sign for the officers.

James Campbell, a videographer from San Jose, also came out to show his support for officers he never knew.

"I just want to pay tribute," he said. "This is very emotional."

FULL LINEUP OF MEMORIAL SPEAKERS:

Santa Cruz Colors Honor Guard, Welcome by Pastor Rene Schlaepfer, Remarks by Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel. Dignitary remarks by former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Attorney General Kamala Harris, Mayor Hilary Bryant, Santa Clara County Supervisor Zach Friend, and eulogies by Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark and Alexis Butler. There will also be readings by Jillian Baker, Rudy Escalante, Wendy Bynes, and Jeff Rosell. James Durbin will sing "Arms Wide Open." 

Related stories:

• Santa Cruz Suspect's Dad: He Was a Ticking Time Bomb
• "Darkest Day" For Santa Cruz, Two Officers Killed
• Two Santa Cruz Police Officers Killed
• Santa Cruz Neighbor Records Shootout on Video
• Slain Santa Cruz Police Officers Remembered
• Santa Cruz Community Mourns
• Santa Cruz Firefighters Heroes During Gun Battle

 NBC Bay Area's Kim Tere contributed to this report.

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-432-4758 or lisa.fernandez@nbcuni.com.

What do you do when you come face to face with the person who stole your identity?

A woman in Colorado was arrested after she attempted to use a fake ID at a restaurant that belonged to the waitress serving her.

Brianna Priddy was working as a server at an Applebee’s in Lakewood when one of her customers handed her a driver’s license that Priddy knew she had to report. "Four people come in, walk in sit down. They start ordering drinks, this girl hands me my ID as a fake ID," she told NBC Colorado's 9News.

Priddy’s wallet was stolen on February 13 during a night out with friends, and she lost cash, credit cards and her driver’s license, police say. Someone had also been “writing hundreds of dollars in bad checks” under Priddy’s name, police told 9News.

Priddy said that tried to act nonchalant during the bizarre encounter and handed back her own ID before later calling police.

"I put on my server smile and tried to take care of them, but I was shaking like crazy,” she told 9News.

The name of the woman arrested has not been released.

However, police spokesman Steve Davis said narcotics were found in the woman’s possession, “so she’s in quite a bit of hot water.” Interestingly enough, the woman accused of using Priddy’s stolen ID is 26-years-old and did not need a fake ID to buy alcohol, according to Davis.

The woman was charged for theft, identity theft and criminal impersonation.

It was a busy day for bears – koala bears, specifically – at the San Diego Zoo Wednesday.

Zoo officials said three Queensland koalas that are new to the zoo were given their initial veterinary exams at the Jennings Center for Zoological Medicine.

The koalas, two males named Bradlee and Simba and a female named Beejay, received thorough check-ups that included overall body measurements, ear and eye exams, assessment of their teeth and radiographs of their hips and shoulders to check bone health.

Vets also took tissue swabs and blood to assess the bears' general health, zoo officials said.

Bradlee, Simba and Beejay arrived at the San Diego Zoo last month from Dreamworld in Australia.

The trio will soon join the zoo’s larger koala breeding colony.

Eventually, the zoo’s “Conrad Prebys Australian Outback” exhibit will become home to all of the zoo’s koalas.

The exhibit opens on May 24 and will also feature other marsupials from Australia including wallabies and wombats. Australian Outback will boast aviaries of native Australian birds including the kookaburra and bowerbird, too.

The San Diego Zoo is known to have the largest breeding colony of Queensland koalas outside of Australia. Researchers are studying koala populations at both the zoo and in the wild to better understand the  complex species and educate others on the threats facing native koala populations.

To learn more about the Australian Outback exhibit at the San Diego Zoo, visit this website.

Lifeguards are performing a rescue at the Torrey Pines Glider Port.

Around 4 p.m. lifeguards received a call of a glider down by the cliffs. 

The man in his 20s has made contact with a rescue team. Medics requested a helicopter to assist in lifting the patient off the cliffs.

It is unknown if the man sustained any injuries. He was taken to Scripss La Jolla Hospital.

Check back for updates on this story. 

Lego cleanup needed on highway 79!

Commuters on Interstate 79 in West Virginia faced at least an additional hour wait in traffic Sunday, WDTV reported. As drivers approached mile marker 117 in Harrison County, they saw thousands of tiny Lego building blocks scattered across the highway.

Firefighters and cleanup crews were there to pick up the pieces. Eric McClain, a firefighter on scene of the toy disaster, posted a photo of the highway littered with thousands of colorful bricks.

At least one person claimed responsibility for the spilt Legos. Tiffany Lantz posted on Facebook, “Those legos belonged to my 11 yr old son they where in totes strapped to the top of the durango they fell off strap came loose he cried it seemed like forever but I tried to recover as many as I could cause I don't have the money to buy him anymore." Lantz added an apology to those commuters stuck in traffic because of the Legos.

WDTV reported that traffic was down to one lane until crews could clean up the mess.

Turns out you really can build anything -- even a traffic jam -- with Legos.

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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul stood up shortly before noon Wednesday and announced his intention to filibuster President Barack Obama's nomination of John Brennan to lead the CIA.

"I will speak until I can no longer speak," he said. And so he did.

While it was far cry from South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond's 1957 filibuster that went on for more than 24 hours, Paul's dilatory tactic earned him a spot in Senate history.

In a move out of the "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" playbook, the tea party Republican, for 12 hours and 52 minutes, criticized the Obama administration's lethal drone program, which has vastly expanded under the influence of Brennan, the president's counter-terrorism adviser.

While Paul's style veered occasionally into wacky territory — like when he re-imagined a portion of "Alice in Wonderland" to make a point about the American justice system — he remained focused on his chief gripe: Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to rule out the hypothetical targeted killing of Americans on U.S. soil — something Holder said the government had no intention to carry out but would keep on the table for "extraordinary circumstances."

"It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States," Holder initially wrote in a letter to Paul.

On Thursday, however, Holder sent the senator a follow-up letter clarifying that the president does not have the authority to kill Americans that are not engaged in combat on U.S. soil, according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who read excerpts from the letter to the press.

If the U.S. were under attack or if there were an "imminent threat," however, the president had the authority to protect the country from that assault, Carney added.

Though Brennan is widely expected to win confirmation, Paul's filibuster garnered plenty of publicity and achieved what was surely one of his goals — turning the spotlight on the controversial program that has become one of the U.S. military's key tools in the war against terror.

His political move divided Republicans but won him rare support from Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and other liberals and praise from the American Civil Liberties Union.

It was the country's eighth-longest filibuster and one of the first in recent history to stick to the traditional procedure — blocking or delaying a vote by refusing to yield the floor to anyone else. Of late, lawmakers have been engaging in a softer style of filibustering, wherein they essentially vote to not vote (which was the case with the recent Republican move to delay a vote on Chuck Hagel's confirmation to lead the Pentagon).

But Paul did what no other U.S. lawmaker had done since Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2010: He spoke until he absolutely could no longer. "I would go for another 12 hours to try to break Strom Thurmond's record, but I've discovered that there are some limits to filibustering," Paul said in a comical conclusion. "And I'm going to have to go take care of one of those in a few minutes here."

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Here's a look at the seven lawmakers who somehow surpassed Paul's biological limits:

STROM THURMOND: 24 hours, 18 minutes
In 1957 the South Carolina senator tried to thwart a vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1957 with the lengthiest filibuster in history. The senator reportedly took steam baths to dehydrate himself in preparation for his epic talkathon that Sen. William Knowland referred to as "cruel and unusual punishment."

ALFONSE D'AMATO: 23 hours, 30 minutes
In 1986, the New York senator protested a military spending bill that would cut off financing for planes built by a Long Island-based company. The New York Times wrote that "even the threat of missing the opening game of the World Series between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox on Saturday would not deter the Republican of New York from continuing a filibuster."

WAYNE MORSE: 22 hours, 26 minutes
The Oregon senator filibustered the Tidelands Oil legislation in 1953, which ultimately handed U.S.-owned swaths of the Gulf of Mexico to the state of Texas. According to reports, his longest speaking break lasted just two minutes when he paused to allow a colleague to make a statement. While he was permitted to lean against the desk behind him, he was called to order when he tried to sit down.

ROBERT LA FOLLETTE: 18 hours, 23 minutes
In 1908 the Wisconsin senator launched a filibuster to block debate on the Aldrich-Vreeland currency bill, which established the National Monetary Commission and gave the Treasury the authority to lend to banks during financial crises.

WILLIAM PROXMIRE: 16 hours, 12 minutes
The Wisconsin Democrat in 1981 tried to halt a debt limit hike with what he called a "genleman's filibuster." He agreed in advance not to delay regular Senate business, which was scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. the following day, and he ended his long talk with an apology to "the chief presiding officers, the pages, the reporters and all the people who have just been so courteous and so helpful and so gentle in spite of the fact that I've been such a trial to them," the Washington Post reported.

HUEY LONG: 15 hours, 30 minutes
In 1935, the senator from Louisiana  delayed a vote on a bill that would require Senate confirmation for the National Recovery Administration's senior employees. The senator, in what he called "the greatest speech in history," according to the New York Times, read the entire U.S. Constitution aloud, told stories about his uncle and provided recipes for fried oysters and potlikker.

ROBERT BYRD: 14 hours, 13 minutes
West Virginia Sen. Bob Byrd was part of a group of Democrats who tried to roadblock passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and kept the bill pending in the Senate for 57 working days.

SimCity residents might have to put their city-building dreams on hold.

A reboot of the popular video game launched on Tuesday in North America and it has been rife with bugs and connectivity issues, leaving fanboys waiting for hours before they can begin building their cities. The game was released in Europe on Wednesday and in the U.K. on Thursday.

Gamers have taken to Electronic Arts' forum to air their grievances about overloaded servers, error messages and the unimaginable -- losing entire cities.

"That I can't play at 7am in the morning two days after launch because the servers are 'full' seems ludicrous" wrote one user on EA's forum.

Amazon temporarily stopped selling the digital version of the game. And while they continue to sell the boxed version, the online retailer is warning potential buyers of its issues.

"Many customers are having issues connecting to the SimCity servers," the note says. "EA is actively working to resolve these issues, but at this time we do not know when the issue will be fixed."

SimCity requires players to be connected online to play the game so they can share resources with other players. This is unlike other games where players can play portions of the game offline if there are Internet issues, according to USA Today. This feature also safeguards the company against software piracy.

The problem is exacerbated by the lack of resources needed to accomodate the surge of gamers logging on for a highly anticipated and popular video game, according to CNET.

SimCity is a simulation game where players, or "mayors," are tasked with building and maintaining a virtual city. The game was first launched in 1989 and has inspired different versions sold worldwide.

Senior Producer Kip Katsarelis issued a statement on the forum to assuage users lobbing complaints.

"We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and enthusiasm from our fans which has made it even more upsetting for us that technical issues have become more prominent in the last 24 hours" he wrote on Wednesday. "We are hitting a number of problems with our server architecture, which has seen players encountering bugs, and long wait times to enter servers. This is, obviously, not the situation we wanted for our launch week and we want you to know that we are putting everything we have at resolving these issues."

But as of Thursday, the complaints kept pouring in with many asking for refunds and compensations in the form of additional special buildings.

"EA launched what was supposed to be one of the most anticipated games of 2013, and it doesn't even work properly," one person wrote. "Here's an idea: shut all servers down until you actually get it fixed, and those of us who have already purchased the game, compensate us with the European buildings pack upon actually getting the game to where it works."

Snow, rain and high winds are expected across San Diego County Friday and Saturday.

The National Weather Service issued a Hazardous Weather Warning for a cold Pacific storm beginning Thursday and lasting through Sunday.

The storm will bring heavy showers, strong winds. Thunderstorms and hail are also possible.

Click here for our interactive radar

Mountain neighborhoods above 3,000 ft. could also see some light snow, according to NWS.

“Certainly as the colder air hits, things are going to get much snowier, “said NBC 7 weather anchor Whitney Southwick.

Southwick also warned the Friday morning commute could be brutal with heavy rainfall and advised drivers to give themselves plenty of time to get to work.

Saturday precipitation should begin slow down, but high winds up to 40 mph could last throughout the weekend.

Check back for updates on this story.

A Los Angeles parent who got into a physical altercation with her child’s middle school teacher was in jail Thursday morning, county records showed.

Kiki Lolita Fowler was arrested by Los Angeles Unified School District police after the incident, which took place on Wednesday at John Muir Middle School, LAUSD spokesman Thomas Waldman said.

The 33-year-old was booked at the LAPD’s 77th Street station on suspicion of an unspecified felony, jail records showed.

She was arrested at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the records showed. Bail was requested in the amount of $10,000.
 

A coffee shop in Hillcrest is adding a little color to the neighborhood block.

Filter Coffee House on University Avenue has commissioned San Diego native Cody Griffith to paint a mural on the corner of Richmond Street. 

The coffee shop is providing Griffith with supplies, and in exchange he can paint whatever he’d like.

“Part of the project is that he gets full reign of what he wants to do with it,” said Steve Price of Filter Coffee House.

The same artist also painted a mural less than a mile away alongside Crest Café on Robinson Avenue.

Price said he’s hoping the mural will be completed by the weekend.

The neighborhood is no stranger to public art. Across the street from Filter is a chalkboard wall that allows people to write about what they want to do before they die. The city also added a multi-colored bicycle corral as part of the initiative to encourage residents to bike to local businesses.

Famous graffiti artist Shepard Fairey also had a mural in Hillcrest on Fifth Avenue three years ago, but it was later covered by a building.