Authorities are investigating an apparent accidental shooting that left an upstate New York man with a hand wound that he wrapped in duct tape because he has an aversion to doctors.

Police in Glens Falls say 56-year-old Carl Critelli was drinking with friends late at night this week when one of them started passing around his .32-caliber handgun.

The gun went off, sending a bullet tore through Critelli's left hand and causing serious damage to two fingers. Critelli told The Post-Star of Glens Falls that he didn't seek medical help because he doesn't like doctors.

Instead, he put bandages on the wound and wrapped it with duct tape.

The 45-year-old man who owned the gun was charged Wednesday after telling police what happened.

Police convinced Critelli to go to a hospital for treatment.

Someone took a 4-year-old boy's wheelchair from the lobby of a Langley Park, Maryland, apartment building this week, according to Prince George's County Police.

The boy's mother typically carries him to their second-floor apartment on Merrimac Drive because it's easier. She did so again Sunday night, but when she returned for the wheelchair Monday morning, it was gone.

"This family already faces challenges and shouldn’t be burdened with the emotional and financial stress of the theft of this wheelchair," Capt. Ken Humbel said. "The suspect we’re looking for has no heart.”

Surveillance video shows the thief pushing the wheelchair through a parking lot.

Anyone with information about the theft should call police at 301-699-2601 or Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS.

Police are also in contact with a foundation that may help find a replacement wheelchair.

As 3-D printing revolutionizes manufacturing, companies are developing greener ways to 3-D print, creating new technologies to cut back on plastic waste and reduce manufacturers' carbon footprints.

Dr. Joshua Pearce, a professor at Michigan Technological University, has worked to develop eco-friendly techniques. He's optimistic about the future environmental impact of 3-D printing, which has already helped build Barcelona's towering cathedral La Sagrada Familia and “robohands” for children.

In a study last year, he created a “Recyclebot” to create plastic filament — the material 3-D printers use to create structures from digital designs — from recycled milk jugs, and found that using recycled materials at home to create filament used one fortieth the amount of energy it would take to create it commercially.

Meanwhile, more companies are taking that same effort commercial. Traditionally, two types of filament are used for 3-D printing: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA). Generally, ABS, a petroleum-based polymer, is less environmentally friendly than PLA, a biodegradable corn-based plastic, but now, some new, greener kinds of ABS filament are being made.

Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am is behind one of those. The rapper turned tech guru said that after a concert in Costa Rica in 2007, he noticed a lot of waste left behind in the stands and was determined to do something about it. He's a strong believer in 3-D printing's potential. “Eventually 3D printing will print people," he told Dezeen Magazine.

He's now the chief creative officer of 3-D printing company 3D Systems Inc., and he partnered with Coca-Cola on a project called EKOCYCLE in 2012 to create branded products made of recycled plastic waste like Coke bottles. His new 3-D printer, the $1,199 EKOCYCLE Cube, takes after Pearce’s Recyclebot and transforms cartridges of filament, each containing at least three plastic Coke bottles, into whatever a consumer designs. 

Three-D printer reseller 3D Printlife presented the first environmentally friendly ABS filament in January. Its material breaks down into carbon dioxide and methane when consumed by bacteria in landfills, making it biodegradable like PLA filament, but just as durable as ABS plastic.

The company's vice-president of marketing Joel Rush said the company wanted to encourage companies to consider their carbon footprints. Every $59.99 spool it manufactures is made out of cardboard and comes with soil paper with seeds, so that consumers can sprout plants.

Another 3-D printing filament maker is sourcing its ABS recycled plastic mostly from landfills. Chicago-based Dimension Polymers, which raised more than $20,000 on Kickstarter, was launching its $30 spools at the New York 3-D design show from April 13 to 17. Co-founder Gerald Galazin says the products could reduce toxins from petroleum-based production by 66 percent.

But new 3-D printing technology might wipe out any need for recycled filament, especially if it succeeds.

Carbon3D's CEO Joseph DeSimone debuted his new technology at a TED conference in Vancouver in March, and told Re/code the company expects to be commercializing in a year.

His technology — known as CLIP, or Continuous Liquid Interface Production — is inspired by a scene in “Terminator 2": Like the T-1000 that comes up from metallic liquid in the movie, a 3-D printed object grows out of a pool of resin by using light and oxygen. The CLIP technology can work 25 to 100 times faster than traditional 3-D printers and can use a variety of materials. 

At the rate 3-D printing technology is growing, experts say its will become faster and greener. Siemens predicts that 3-D printing will be 50 percent cheaper and 400 percent faster in the next five years. And Pearce points out that even now, 3-D printing has a crucial advantage over traditional manufacturing techniques: its relative lack of waste.

In 2013 he conducted a life-cycle analysis that found 3-D printers used 41 to 64 percent less energy than traditional manufacturing machines — mostly, he said, because they created less waste than mass manufacturing. The more waste left over, the more energy is needed to melt it, he explained, whereas 3-D printing uses only the amount of material required to finish the product.

“Even though your 3-D printer will use more energy per product, you are making a better product with less material,” he said.

Friends, family and loved ones lined the dock Friday, waiting for service members aboard the USS Gary to return from its final deployment. 

The U.S. Navy guided-missile frigate docked after its final deployment at approximately 10:30 a.m.

During its seven-month deployment, its embarked “Scorpions” of Helicopter Maritime Strike 49 Detachment 4 and a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment played an integral role in Operation Martillo.

Operation Martillo is a multi-nation partnership effort launched in 2012 to target illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American isthmus.

"This has been a very successful deployment in many regards, a deployment I would refer to as a 'strong finish' for the last remaining west coast frigate in the fleet," said Cmdr. Steven McDowell, Gary's commanding officer, in a statement. "When we departed for this deployment our intent was to make a difference and we did."

Throughout the deployment, the team interdicted 13,921 kilograms of cocaine worth a total of $278.4 million in addition to 18 pounds of marijuana, valued at $17,100. 

Following its return, the ship will begin to prepare for decommissioning.

Cardinal Francis George, the sixth cardinal to lead Chicago's 2.3 million Catholics, has died after years of battling cancer. He was 78.

"A man of peace, tenacity and courage has been called home to the Lord," Archbishop Blase Cupich said Friday, remembering the Cardinal as a respected leader and proud life-long Chicagoan.

George passed away at 10:45 a.m. at his residence, Cupich confirmed.

"He pursued an over-full schedule, always choosing the church over his own comfort and the people over his own needs," Cupich said. "Let us heed his example and be a little more brave, a little more steadfast and a lot more loving. This is the surest way to honor his life and celebrate his return to the presence of God."

A group of Chicago Catholic priests received a text message just after noon about his passing.

"Please add Cardinal George to your prayers today," St. Giles Parish in Oak Park wrote in a post online. "May he rest in eternal peace."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said George "led a remarkable life of faith and service."

“He lent his counsel to those in distress, his comfort to those in despair and he inspired us all with his courage in his final days," Emanuel said. "He could always be counted on to provide those granite qualities to the countless people who relied on them when it mattered the most."

A Chicago native, George was born on the city's West Side to parents Julia and Francis. He attended St. Pascal before leaving the city to attend seminary in high school and pursue his dream of becoming a priest.

"I'd like to think it was a call from God," George recalled to NBC 5. "I started to think about it when I received First Holy Communion."

He was known for his endurance. George contracted polio at age 13, and Chicago's Quigley Seminary rejected him. Instead he joined the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Despite a leg brace, he was determined to enjoy life.

With the Oblates, George rose through the ranks and was based in Rome for 12 years, traveling the world as their Vicar General.

He returned to Chicago by way of Portland, where he was archbishop, and Yakima, Washington, where he was bishop for five years.

A year after his Chicago appointment, Pope John Paul II elevated George to the College of Cardinals, and in 2007, he became the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"It's a symbolic post," George said in November 2007.

As a cardinal, he played a role in the selection of two popes, Benedict the 16th and Francis, and was known as the go-to American church leader.

"It was necessary to make some changes," he told NBC 5 in March 2013. "The style is the substance."

Difficult church finances forced George to close Catholic schools and lay off staffers. His handling of the priest sex abuse crisis, he told reporters, was a low point, and he admitted he did not fully accept how grave the situation was.

"Things came a little unraveled," he said. "Then you're not quite sure whom can you trust."

He didn't back away from social controversies, though. He opposed Obamacare, met privately with Catholic politicians like Gov. Pat Quinn and spoke out against same-sex marriage.

"Over the years he tangled with Father Michael Pfleger's outspoken style but eventually asked him to be the archdiocese's voice against violence.

"I always had a good relationship with Father Pfleger, but sometimes he says things I can't agree with," George said in 2012.

The cardinal's first bout with cancer came in 2006, in his bladder. The cancer then returned in his kidney and liver in 2012. In early March, he wrote to parishioners that he would begin a more aggressive round of chemotherapy and said, "it will probably eventually be the cause of my death."

Just weeks before celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest, the cardinal spoke of one day meeting the next archbishop of Chicago.

"I would hope that I would meet my successor," George said at the time.

On Sept. 20, he did just that, meeting Spokane's Bishop Blase Cupich, Pope Francis' pick to succeed Cardinal George.

An apartment steps away from Holy Name was ready for the cardinal's retirement, but he never moved in. In his final months, George tried a new clinical trial to fight his cancer.

He will be remembered for enduring a rigorous schedule to the end. Chicago is known as the flagship American diocese, and the changes the Church has witnessed here have often shaped it worldwide.

"I love Chicago, I love being here, but sometimes I don't love everything that happens, nobody does," he said.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett is taking a leave of absence amid a federal investigation into a no-bid contract awarded to one of her former employers, and Board of Education Vice President Jesse Ruiz has been named interim CEO, President David Vitale announced Friday.

Ruiz said he was "ready and eager to take on the responsibility" of the position. 

Both men at an afternoon press conference defended the district and the process by which the 2013 contract to a Wilmette-based professional development agency was handed out. 

Vitale acknowledged he knew Byrd-Bennett was a former employee of the firm and said that fact gave him no pause.

"Many of us have prior lives in which we've engaged with organizations .. that still might provide quality service to CPS," he said. 

Asked of his own affirmative vote on the contract, Vitale said SUPES offered a "unique" program for principal training and that discussions were "extensive and well thought-out." And he pressed that he'd done nothing wrong.

"I have no intention of stepping down," he said. 

In a statement, Mayor Rahm Emanuel spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said that while there have been no formal allegations, the mayor "has zero tolerance for any type of misconduct from public officials."

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis told NBC Chicago that Byrd-Bennett's leave of absence could be a good move for her. 

"I think, if she were out trying to do work, there's this cloud," Lewis said. "It's a distraction. This is a good opportunity for her."

Byrd-Bennett's contract with CPS matures in June. She has the option to extend it for another year but Vitale said she so far has not exercised that option. 

Byrd-Bennett's longevity with the district was questioned this week when it was confirmed that federal authorities were looking into whether she received any kickbacks from the SUPES agreement. 

The principal of a North Side school on Thursday described the training SUPES provided as a "colossal waste of time." 

The Board of Education’s Inspector General has been looking into the SUPES agreement for months. While nothing official has been released, there was a cryptic reference in the IG’s year-end report which spoke of an investigation which may have been the inquiry into the controversial deal.

Byrd-Bennett, hand-picked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, came on board and within six months helped to shutter dozens of public schools in an effort to address the district's financial problems. She said at the time that closing the schools was an urgent matter, and that delaying the decision would be "criminal."

She had previously served as the Chief Education Advisor for CPS before stepping into the top spot of the nation's third largest school system in 2012 following the resignation of Jean-Claude Brizard.

She came to Chicago from Cleveland, where she spent seven years as CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Prior to that, she was the Chief Academic and Accountability manager for Detroit Public Schools and had jobs jobs as a teacher, principal and superintendent in her native New York City. 

A retired marine accused of killing his girlfriend in Panama, dismembering her body and dumping her remains in the jungle before undergoing an elaborate scheme to cover it up, pleaded not guilty to federal charges. 

A federal grand jury in San Diego indicted Brian Karl Brimager, 37, on first degree murder charges Friday for the killed Los Angeles woman Yvonne Baldelli, the U.S. Attorney's Souther District of California's Office said. 

Brimager pleaded not guilty to one count of foreign murder of a U.S. national, obstruction of justice and false statement to a federal officer. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Mark Conover wrote earlier in April that his office would pursue charges against Brian Brimager for foreign murder of a U.S. national, according to a status report filed.

Brimager is suspected of killing Baldelli, 42, who went missing while they were on a 2011 vacation in Central America.

The U.S. Assistant Attorney General in Washington D.C. recently gave the local office written approval to prosecute Brimager. Conover said they plan to seek an indictment against him before April 17 and arraign him on that day.

According to the court document, prosecutors are still waiting on the results of a DNA test and tool mark comparison examination in the case, which they should have next month.

In September 2011, Brimager, a former Camp Pendleton Marine, and Baldelli traveled to Panama to stay on Isla Carenera, an island off the coast accessible only by boat. Baldelli was last seen with Brimager at a Panamanian restaurant on Nov. 26, 2011.

Prosecutors say Brimager killed Baldelli and later disposed of a bloody mattress at their hostel. According to another indictment, Brimager had used Baldelli’s laptop to search how to get blood stains out of a mattress.

The suspect is accused of then packing up Baldelli’s belongings into garbage bags and leaving them on the dock outside their hostel.

Throughout this time, prosecutors allege Brimager posed as Baldelli and sent emails to her friends and family to make it seem as though she was alive. The emails said she met another man and was going to Costa Rica with him. Brimager then allegedly used her ATM card in Costa Rica and San Jose.

When investigators questioned the suspect about Baldelli’s disappearance, they said Brimager lied to them and claimed she took her laptop to travel. That same laptop was found in his possession in 2012, at which point he changed his story and said the device never went to Panama and he never sent emails from it.

Nearly two years after she vanished, Baldelli’s body was found on a small island off the Isla Carenero coastline. Scientists used DNA analysis on her skull and bones to identify her.

Brimager is back in the U.S., though charges are pending against him in Panama.

NBC 7 is attempting to reach out to Brimager’s defense attorney for a comment on this story.

City officials unveiled a new type of crosswalk and crossing signal in Mission Valley Friday, meant to improve safety for those crossing the street.

The new traffic control device features double flashing beacons and stop signals at the Mission Center Road crosswalk near the San Diego River Park Pathway.

Linda Marabian, Deputy Director for Traffic Engineering Operations, said the new device would maximize the safety of pedestrians and minimize the delays cars face when they wait for pedestrians to cross the crosswalk.

“At a reg traffic signal you have to wait for a pedestrian…to walk the entire length from curb to curb,” said Marabian. “In this particular instance, it is timed, so the pedestrian can walk by you and the light will flash red and when the path is clear, you can proceed. And so it minimizes the vehicular delay.”

Here’s how the new system works. When a pedestrian presses the cross button, the lights – visible from a distance – will flash yellow. When the lights become a solid yellow, the driver should stop if safe. A red light means the driver should stop. After a certain amount of time, when the pedestrian has moved out of the car’s way, flashing red lights will indicate the car can proceed.

When cars can drive while a pedestrian is finishing the cross, it minimizes the delay for cars.

“It’s really important because it does take longer for a wider street for pedestrians to cross,” Marabian said.

The cost of the system activated Friday is $200,000. The systems will be installed at a Camino Del Este intersection and Torrey Pines Road intersection soon, Marabian said, with more planed.

It’s back to the grind – and gridiron – Monday for the San Diego Chargers as the team begins its offseason workouts.

The Bolts will start their 2015 offseason workout program Monday. The session will be closed to the public, but the media will hear from several players after the workout.

This includes wide receiver and kick returner Jacoby Jones, wide receiver Stevie Johnson, runnin back Danny Woodhead and tackle King Dunlap.

The official 2015 Chargers regular season schedule – with playing dates and times – is expected to be announced by the NFL in late April.

A list of the 2015 preseason and regular season opponents for the San Diego Chargers can be seen on the Bolts website.
 

A Maryland man pleaded guilty after climbing the White House fence in October, 2014 and running through the North Lawn.

Dominic Adesanya, 23, formerly of Bel Air, Maryland, was taken down by Secret Service officers and K-9 units after he got over the fence on Oct. 24. He was briefly hospitalized after suffering dog bites to his arms, back, chest and knee.

His guilty plea to entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds carries a statutory maximum of a year in prison and a potential fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 2, 2015.

Adesanya could have been released on person recognizance, but he is being held in two other cases, including one that charged him with jumping a security barrier at the White House in July, 2014.

President Barack Obama was at the White House during the October incident.

A few businesses in San Diego’s East County are raising concerns after an unknown man dressed as a woman allegedly flashed employees earlier this week.

According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, a man went into a business at a shopping center in the 9200 block of Carlton Hills Boulevard on Wednesday around noon.

He was wearing a tie-dye shirt and short denim skirt and told an employee he was experimenting with cross-dressing. The man then allegedly lifted his skirt and flashed his underwear inside the business. The employee asked him to leave.

Shortly thereafter, the man allegedly entered another business in the same shopping center – the Hair It Is salon – and asked an employee questions about hair products, saying he wanted to grow out his hair.

Again, the man said he was experimenting with cross-dressing. He then allegedly lifted his skirt and flashed the salon.

He left the business and drove away in white pickup truck with an extra cab, officials said.

The sheriff’s department said Santee deputies are investigating the incidents. Since no private body parts were exposed, officials said what the man did is not considered a crime.

According to a witness at the hair salon, the man said his friends put him up to going into the business and told him to lift his skirt.

"In our business, cross-dressing is not a big deal. It wasn't a big deal to me until the end," said hairstylist Suzanne Basore. "But I could tell there was something mentally wrong with him."

"At first I just had compassion. I felt sorry for him. But when I heard he's been doing it all over the county -- it's a little scary," she added.

Deputies are not sure if this was all nothing more than a prank. If caught, the man would likely not face charges, but his detainment would be documented.
 

In 2014, when the Padres fell behind by two runs, fans would pretty much know the game was over. In 2015, that is in no way the case.

The Padres overcame a somewhat sub-par start by ace James Shields (at least by his standards) and a 4-2 deficit to beat the Cubs 5-4 on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Outfielder Wil Myers dealt the big blow, a 3-run home run in the 7th inning that proved to be the game-winner. Myers had three hits on the day.

The Padres were the first team to face Kris Bryant, the Cubs third baseman, former USD Torero, and top prospect in baseball, who made his MLB debut. Bryant went 0-4, striking out his first three at-bats, but did play a solid 3rd in the field.

The Padres are now 7-4 on the season.

At least 15 people were injured, four of them critically, in a gas line explosion that prompted the closure of Highway 99 near Fresno, authorities said.

The explosion occurred at about 2:30 p.m. Friday and was triggered by a county worker driving a tractor, according to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.

"He was driving along a roadway and that's when the explosion broke out," Sheriff's Public Information Officer Tony Botti said.

The worker was critically injured. In addition, several jail inmates working in the area were badly hurt. 

The cause of the blast is still unknown.

"We're trying to get to the bottom of what happened," Botti said. "We have multiple agencies out right now. But nothing was actually being dug at the time, so it's kind of a head scratcher right now."

All lanes on Highway 99 were back open as of 5:30 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A retired Navy Chief has been arrested for stealing three Navy trailers, the California Highway Patrol said Friday.

Multiple agencies conducted a search warrant at 50-year-old John Johnston’s Sun City home Wednesday.

The agencies found three stolen trailers, an All Terrain Vehicle, two LED TVs, a 13-foot-long metal tool storage, multiple power tools and several other stolen items in his possession when multiple agencies conducted a search warrant on his property.

The California Highway Patrol, Border Division’s Investigative Services Unit, Commander Navy Region Southwest Criminal Investigation Division and the Naval Criminal Investigation Service first received information of the stolen trailer.

Throughout the joint investigation, officials determined Johnston had stolen all of the items from the U.S. Navy.

He was arrested in Riverside COutny and charged with Grand Theft, Possession of Stolen Property and Vehicle Theft.

Nearly four months after Fernando Quandt’s therapy dog disappeared, the local Marine veteran and his wife haven’t given up the search.

The couple is holding a candlelight vigil Saturday night in Chula Vista for Nahla as well as for other lost pets to raise awareness of their missing dog.

Nahla ran away from the couple’s Chula Vista neighborhood on Christmas Eve while the couple was out of town visiting a sick relative.

The dog helps Fernando Quandt cope with his post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the Marine Corps and without her he’s lost.

“It’s almost like she could sense when I’m kind of in the middle of one of these episodes and she’d lick me or come and make the physical contact she made with me (that) kind of pulled me back,” he said.

The couple hired a well-known pet detective, launched a Facebook page and started tacking up giant posters in town. But after weeks of no luck, they hired a person to bring in specially trained dogs to try and track Nahla’s scent.

The scent brought them to the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The couple asked the government for special clearance to allow Quandt to camp out in hopes of tracking down Nahla.

The Quandts also check in regularly with animal shelters and since Nahla is microchipped they say they’d be notified even if her boyd was found on the side of a road.

“…She’s not just a pet to us. If she was just a dog to us, we’d just go get another dog,” Vivian Quandt said.

Quandt and his wife, Vivian, realize some people might call them crazy: spending so much time and thousands of dollars to find their dog.

“I don’t know if it would ever go away,” he said. “It’s always on my mind. Always present. It’s playing itself out somewhere inside my mind.”

“I don’t know if we’d ever stop looking for her.”

Analysis

California’s virtual perma-drought crisis is being called "the new normal" for life going forward in the Golden State.

Scientists think it actually might be the “old normal," given climate and sparse rainfall patterns going back centuries -- to when coastal Southern California, especially, was a barren, semi-arid landscape.

But it seems water conservation alone is far from the only or optimum way to manage the challenges, and that myriad other approaches aren’t quite evolved enough to bring the necessary “bang” for all the bucks that must be spent to stabilize a society begging for hydration.

There have been calls for moratoriums on residential construction, among them.

Many frustrated homeowners who have cut their water dramatically are wondering why they should keep saving when builders keep adding to the population.

Temporary halts to homebuilding construction are already under discussion in a few California communities – and could wind up being taken to court.

Local homebuilders warn that shutting their operations would cause vast, unintended consequences because the area's population-driver is the local birthrate.

"Even if you put a fence around the county and said 'No more building, no more people,' the population is still going to increase,” says Matt Adams, a vice president of the San Diego Building Industry Association. “And we still have to provide homes for our future citizens here in San Diego County."

In a Friday recording session for Sunday’s edition of NBC 7’s “Politically Speaking” program, Adams pointed out that what the industry has been bringing to market cuts water use in half, compared to homes built before 1980.

And, that the less-efficient older housing stock actually needs replacing.

It may be that backyard pools become more of a liability than a selling point.

But whatever trends develop as water gets scarcer, Adams says homebuyers shopping in the current drought cycle might welcome incentives to be part of the solution, rather than the problem – especially when it comes to outdoor irrigation.”

"On the average, 70 percent (of home water use) is in landscaping outside,” Adams said. “There's where the water is going that is not for human consumption."

Water policy consultant Carl Nettleton buys into that logic: "The market comes from people wanting houses that are sustainable, that use water and energy wisely -- because it saves them money and makes them feel good about the future."

Another issue that’s prompted outcries is the fairness of across-the-board cutbacks that don't take into account people's baseline use in recent months in years.

Should those who have managed the largest decreases in their water consumption be given more of a break?

And those who have done the least be obliged to save a much greater percentage -- and pay higher conservation rates?

Could that be addressed through rebates and surcharges linked to different use trends, and customer tiers?

Experts offer cautionary words about potential devils in the details.

"There are lot of cuts being handed down from wholesale water agencies as well as the state,” noted Stephen Heverly, managing director of San Diego-based Equinox Center.

“And some water districts started responding by handing down emergency or drought conservation rates even as early as last July,” Heverly added. “But that impacts water bills."

The relative bargain prices for water being paid by agricultural interests are coming under fire.

“We’ve got to raise the price of water,” argued Milt Burgess, an engineer with four decades’ experience in hydro-delivery systems. “Let the market decide where we grow fruits and vegetables in California … if we can get the price of water up, then the market would make that decision.”

Focus also has intensified on replacing -- as well as reusing -- whatever water that remains available in a thirsty state.

Residents have gotten comfortable with the practice of reclaiming water from sewage for the purpose of irrigation.

But it's taken a longer time for people to accept the production of "potable" drinking water, and using it in showers, sinks, dishwashers.

That's just what modern scientists have managed pull off -- to the point where the finished product is just as safe and savory as the bottled water consumers readily buy.

Surveys now show that the so-called "ick factor" of what used to be dismissed as "toilet to tap" is evaporating, since the reality of a seemingly endless drought is really sinking in.

Potable H20 also is cheaper to produce than desalinated seawater, with fewer environmental downsides.

However, desalination is expected to become more widespread due to the diminishing number pristine lakes, streams and underground aquifers to meet our needs.

Next year, in Carlsbad, the $1.3 billion Poseidon desalination plant is expected to begin full operations, producing about 7 percent of our current consumption level countywide.

A splash in the bucket, so to speak -- but a sorely needed start.

After all, San Diegans daily flush 160 million gallons of bathroom and kitchen wastewater into deep ocean canyons off Point Loma, after so-called "advanced primary" treatment.

Efforts to recycle and re-purify it lag way behind.

Less than 30 million gallons a day are recycled locally for industrial and freeway landscaping irrigation purposes.

A potable water purification plant in Eastgate Mall has been yielding a million gallons of potable water a day, also for irrigation use during still-ongoing testing phases.

Once it’s state-certified to go on line for general use, the output could be cranked up to about 15 million gallons a day by a decade later.

By contrast, potable water production in Orange County, with the benefit of deep underground storage capacity, is trending toward 100 mgd.

Whatever approaches are cobbled together and brought to bear on the crisis, there are no guarantees that legislation and logistics won't lead to litigation involving government agencies, water districts and various private interests.

If so, courtroom battles seem infinitely preferable to the kind of water wars fought here in the "Wild West" days of yesteryear -- with bullets and bloodshed.

Several women got into an all out brawl in the middle of a popular clothing store in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square neighborhood Friday afternoon.

At least five women slapped, threw punches and pulled hair while toppling over store displays and sending clothes flying around 3:20 p.m. inside Zara at 1715 Walnut Street. One woman climbed on top of a display table and jumped onto another woman during the fight.

Some shoppers stood and watched in disbelief while others recorded the scene and posted videos to social media sites.

A store security guard worked to break up the battle as employees called 911. 

A Zara employee confirmed the fight happened, but would not comment further. It's unclear what spurred the brawl.

The women were gone by the time police arrived. No arrests have been made and the incident remains under investigation, police said.

WARNING: Videos contain explicit language. Viewer discretion is advised.

The customer shot and killed during a robbery of a Clairemont gas station has been identified as 48-year-old Eric Schade.

Meanwhile, police continue to search for the gunman.

The shooting happened early Wednesday morning at the AM/PM at Balboa and Mount Abernathy avenues.

A man walked into the gas station and demanded money.The clerk complied and handed over some cash and then dropped to the ground to take cover behind the counter, police said.

The suspect ordered a male customer to get down on the ground for the second time, but he apparently refused.

That’s when the customer, identified in a medical examiner’s report as Schade, was shot. He was described as a “regular” at the gas station.

The gunman fled. San Diego Police were looking for the man, who is described as short and thin, in his 20s, wearing a blue beanie, blue jeans and a blue hooded sweatshirt with a black bandana over his face.

Beatrice Spence's life changed forever Friday afternoon after a romantic rival ran her down, severing her leg, moments before her house caught fire and was destroyed, her family and police tell NBC10.

The intentional hit-and-run took place at 2:19 p.m. outside Spence's home along the 4400 block of N. 17th Street in the Nicetown section of the city, police said.

The violent act left the 24-year-old, nicknamed De-De, with at least one leg tore off, according to police. She was rushed to Temple University Hospital in critical condition.

"I heard a car rev up, and then I heard a bunch of people screaming," said neighbor Jayson Massey. "Honestly, I thought she was dead. She was not responsive."

After striking Spence, surveillance video shows the white Dodge Durango fled eastbound on Wingohocking Street, police said.

The driver of the Durango, who lives a few blocks away, knew the victim, investigators said.

The victim's family told NBC10 that the driver and victim were in an ongoing fight over a man — recently throwing bricks at each other's windows.

"She came back — the driver came back and she ran her over. She ran her over," exclaimed relative Ruby Fields.

Immediately after the crash, the victim's mother rushed to the hospital leaving something cooking on the stove. The house then caught fire, said the family.

No one was injured in blaze, but the home was left unliveable.

Investigators tell NBC10 they know the woman they're looking for, but have not made an arrest in the case.

The USS Carl Vinson, which had been deployed in combat operations over Iraq and Syria for six months, has left that area, the U.S. Navy reported on Friday.

The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group with Carrier Air Wing 17 left that area of operations on Thursday.

While there, the Carrier Air Wing flew 12,300 sorties, including 2,383 combat mission, landed more than 9,220 aircraft and dropped 869 precision-guided munitions.

Rear Adm. Chris Grady, commander of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, said the efforts were crucial in blunting the momentum of ISIS.

"Since combat operations began in October of last year, ISIS is no longer able to fight like an army, but like a band of terrorists with a corrupt ideology," Grady said in a news release.

The Carl Vinson will now operate in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations on the way to its homeport of San Diego.