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Verizon Call Led to Heart Attack?

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A Virginia woman has sued Verizon Wireless for $2.35 million, claiming the company caused her to have a heart attack during a customer service call.

Angela Hawkins, 53, filed a lawsuit in Chesapeake on Wednesday, The Virginian-Pilot reports. Hawkins told the newspaper she called Verizon last year to straighten out a billing problem. Representatives accused her of saying she was going to kill everyone and threatened to call police.

Hawkins's attorney says the call was so upsetting she was scared the police were going to arrest her. The day after the call, an EKG revealed she had a heart attack. Hawkins underwent surgery and spent four days in the hospital.

The lawsuit claims both negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

A spokesman for Verizon Wireless declined to comment.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Car Smashes Into Physical Therapy

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An elderly woman smashed her car through a Rockville, Maryland, parking garage and into a physical therapy office on Thursday morning, injuring herself and three other people, authorities say.

The car crashed into the office on Parklawn Drive at about 10 a.m. Thursday. Investigators say they don't know what caused it.

"There's not much of a barrier," Montgomery County Fire spokesman Pete Piringer said. "There's a parking space, a little cement, the sidewalk, a grassy area and then the building. It didn't take much effort to get in there."

Piringer says the driver of the car was taken to the hospital, along with a receptionist who was trapped under a desk and debris. Two others were also taken to the hospital. All of the victims have injuries that are not life-threatening.

Several people at the scene were also evaluated.


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Did Smoker on Oxygen Spark Blaze?

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A deadly fire in a Maryland home may have been sparked by a smoker using an oxygen tank, Anne Arundel County fire officials said Thursday. 

A neighbor called 911 just after 11 p.m. Wednesday after spotting flames coming from a window of the Disney Avenue home.

Firefighters say a woman found during a search of the home was pronounced dead at the scene. She was the only person inside the home at the time.

Fire officials say the use of smoking products in conjunction with home oxygen may have started the fire.

No other injuries were reported.

It's unclear whether any working smoke alarms were inside the home.

Obama Library: How Big an Economic Boost Chicago Can Expect

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If President Obama’s library and museum is built on Chicago’s South Side as expected, proponents say it could provide an economic boost to an area that the president himself once worked to revitalize.

Chicago would hope to replicate the growth in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, after former President Bill Clinton built his presidential center there. It transformed a run-down area into shops, restaurants and apartments.

Both Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner have talked up the library's economic possibilities for the city.

But experts are skeptical that Obama's library will draw bigger crowds than any other president's as predicted by boosters. And while such libraries typically bring economic benefits, predicting just how much is tricky, they say.

A report commissioned by the University of Chicago found last year that Obama's library would bring 800,000 visitors a year, 1,900 permanent new jobs and a $220 million economic boost annually for the city.

“I think it is on the optimistic side, though they do have a substantial impact usually,” Benjamin Hufbauer, a professor at the University of Louisville and the author of “Presidential Temples: How Memorials and Libraries Shape Public Memory," said of the report.

President Bill Clinton's library, built in a depressed section of Little Rock, is the best example of a library and museum spurring an economic transformation, he said. An analysis of its effect by the Little Rock-based Boyette Strategic Advisors and released in October found that investment in the downtown areas of Little Rock and North Little Rock have totaled $2.46 billion since the location of the Clinton Presidential Center was announced in 1997.

"Chicago of course is a huge city compared to Little Rock so I'm not sure it's a direct one-to-one comparison," Hufbauer said.

The Barack Obama Foundation could announce a final decision on the location as early as next week though it has been widely reported that the president has selected the University of Chicago's proposal to build the library in the city. The University of Illinois, the University of Hawaii and Columbia University in New York have also been in contention.

Even if visitors flock to a library in the first years after it opens, the numbers drop off. Last year, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, drew 490,887 people. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley, California, was the second most popualr presidential library with 383,470, according to attendance figures provided by the National Archives and Records Administration.

In contrast, the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, drew only 59,499 visitors; the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, 51,703. The least popular presidential library: Herbert Hoover's in West Branch, Iowa, with 43,085 attendees.

"The thing about these presidential libraries is that in general, the first few years it's huge and then it goes into a slow decline," Hufbauer said. "Now, sometimes it can be reinvented, new exhibits can be brought in and it can go up, but the general trend is they open really big and then slowly over time it goes down."

Anthony Clark, another presidential library expert and the author of “The Last Campaign: How Presidents Rewrite History, Run for Posterity & Enshrine Their Legacies," said a library is most popular the year it opens and the year the president dies. He argued that the National Archives' attendance numbers can be inflated because they may include counts of guests at outside events being held at the libraries or other such visitors.

“Some of the libraries are more diligent at being conservative with the numbers and some of them are widely inflated,” he said.

The National Archives and Records Administration responded that the libraries provide data in a number of areas, including attendance at museums and public programs, according to its reporting requirements.

The administration has not done any studies on the libraries’ economic impact.

The report for the University of Chicago by the Anderson Economic Group in Chicago, released a year ago, acknowledged that its prediction for visitors was twice that of the Reagan library, the perennially popular facility. It noted that an Obama library on Chicago's South Side would be an urban institution more accessible to transportation and a large base of visitors and would benefit from Chicago's tourist amenities. Because Obama is the first African-American president, his library would draw tourists for reasons other libraries do not.

Other conclusions: Of the 800,000 visitors, 350,000 would come from outside the Chicago metropolitan area, and they would spend about $110 million annually, including $31 million on food and goods in the neighborhood near the library. That's enough to support 30 new restaurants, 11 new shops and a new hotel, according to the report.

Construction would cost $380 million, a figure the report authors based on the price of other presidential libraries and the Chicago market. The construction costs plus other expenditures would bring the economic impact to $600 million.

Taxes to the city would increase by $5 million a year, according to the prediction.

Clark said that the report on the Clinton center was only one he was aware of that assesses completed libraries.

The Obama library, meanwhile, has sparked controversy over plans to build it in one of the city’s parks — either on 20 acres in Jackson Park along Lake Michigan or on 21 acres in Washington Park next to the university, both designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Some residents have threatened a lawsuit over the loss of parkland, which prompted Illinois lawmakers to change state law to specifically permit presidential libraries provided the public still has access. Rauner signed the bill on Friday.

Emanuel, Obama’s former White House chief of staff, has called the library a unique opportunity, economically and culturally, and one that the city should not miss.

When the University of Chicago could not assure access to the parkland, Emanuel orchestrated the transfer of 20 acres from the Chicago Parks District to the city for the library's use.

"It can be on the South Side. It can be on the West Side, but it cannot be on the Upper West Side of Manhattan," Emanuel said while campaigning for a second term at Chicago City Hall.



Photo Credit: AP

WATCH: Puppy Takes First Steps

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Jesse, the adorable mastiff mix puppy that was found lying in the woods and unable to walk last month, continues to recover and earlier this week stood on all four legs without help.

Video posted to Facebook by the New York Bully Crew shows the pup standing on all fours without a harness and very little help from a handler as she tries to grab a treat. The pup's progress comes weeks after she was found abandoned with an inhumanely hacked-off tail near a blanket in a park in Harlem.

NBC 4 New York first reported on Jesse a few days after she was found in mid-April. At the time, she couldn’t walk without the help of a special harness, and the group was taking her to veterinarians and neurologists to figure out why she couldn’t use her legs.

The group said in a Facebook post Wednesday that it may never be known why Jesse couldn't use her legs when she was found, or if she'll ever be able to walk unassisted. But it appears she has made some strides: other posts show Jesse swimming in a therapy pool, walking with the help a trainer and sitting up on her own. One video shows her running into therapy with the help of a harness.

“We also know that we must follow through for as long as needed to ensure that we do not give up on her, as we know she will never give up,” the group said. “We are all elated to see the progress that Jesse has been making, but we know there is so much more work to do.”

The rescue thanked donors in the post for their help in rehabilitating Jesse but asked for additional contributions to her care. The group has started an online fundraiser for the dog’s care and is already more than halfway to a $10,000 goal. Donations can be made here.



Photo Credit: New York Bully Crew
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Small Fires Burn Along NB I-805

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Two small fires sparked along a San Diego highway in the morning commute Thursday.

San Diego Fire-Rescue crews were called to northbound Interstate 805 just north of the Interstate 8 interchange where two small fires were spotted just before 6 a.m.

The fires were knocked down within 20 minutes.

Even though the fires caught the attention of drivers along I-805, and caused some slowing, no lanes were blocked.

A preliminary incident report from the California Highway Patrol tied the fires to a vehicle traveling along the road.

No injuries were reported.
 

Deflategate Fallout? Fans Share Opinions on Facebook

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Soon after the investigative report was released, showing Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was "generally aware" that game balls were underinflated, many local football fans took to social media to express their opinions.

Some folks commented on NBC 7's Facebook page that it would surely tarnish Brady's legacy as one of the best quarterbacks of all time. Others, however, indicated it was common to bend the rules in professional sports.

Others pointed out the rampant use of steroids, noting Chargers players have been guilty of that trangression.

Here's how folks weighed in on Facebook:



Photo Credit: Getty Images

FBI Alerted Police Before Shooting

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The FBI sent a bulletin to the Garland Police Department about suspected shooter Elton Simpson three hours before the start of Sunday's Draw Muhammad art contest at the Curtis Culwell Center, NBC News' Pete Williams has learned.

The FBI, according to NBC News, said Simpson was "interested in the event" but that FBI Director James Comey said they had no reason to believe he intended to attack the event and didn't know he was on his way to Garland.

Comey also said he did not believe the officer who shot Simpson and Soofi Nadir, originally known and published as Nadir Soofi, was aware of the FBI bulletin.

Comey said the FBI investigation into Simpson and Nadir is ongoing.

According to Comey, the Texas plot is a dramatic example of the changing nature of terror threats and the FBI now has hundreds of investigations of potential home grown extremists under way, with cases open in every state.

"I know there are other Elton Simpsons out there," Comey said. "Only a few years ago ... if someone wanted jihadist propaganda, they would have to go find it on the Internet. So we focused on the places they'd go."

Messages from terrorist groups such as ISIS are now pushed into the pockets of people who are interested in it through social media.

"Its recruiting and tasking at the same time. The old distinction between inspiration and direction is no longer relevant," Comey said, adding that hundreds of people in the US - maybe thousands - "are consuming this poison."

While Comey said investigators can follow messages that are posted on public twitter accounts, ISIS recruiters are steering people off Twitter into encrypted forums, which the government cannot see.

Comey said finding other Elton Simpsons in the US is a "very hard task."

"We have hundreds working on it around the clock. But in almost every case of violence," he said, "Someone saw something. A friend, a family member. Its more important than ever for people to speak up."


Suspected Stowaway Burned on Bus

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A man in a Greyhound bus luggage compartment was critically injured in a fire Thursday afternoon on Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia.

A 35-year-old man from Plainfield, New Jersey, apparently stowed away in the luggage compartment in New York, state police said. A lit cigarette is believed to be the cause of the fire.

The bus driver smelled and saw smoke coming into the cabin and pulled over near exit 143. All 28 passengers and the driver got off the bus without injury, state police said.

The suspected stowaway was flown to MedStar Washington Hospital Center in D.C. with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Traffic was backed up for 8 to 10 miles as the southbound lanes of I-95 were intermittently closed during the investigation Thursday afternoon. All lanes reopened after 5 p.m.

The Greyhound bus was traveling from New York to Atlanta with a stop scheduled for Richmond to change drivers.

The passengers were taken via school bus to the nearest Greyhound station, in Fredericksburg, to get another Greyhound bus.

Greyhound said it is cooperating with state police and planning to do its own investigation.

Stay with News4 and NBC Washington for more on this developing story.

SeaWorld Sees Optimistic Start to Year

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Attendance at SeaWorld parks rose 5.6 percent in the first three months of this year, a turnaround for a company that’s business has been sinking since the release of “Blackfish.”

Attendance was 3.2 million visitors and SeaWorld Entertainment’s revenue was $214.6 million, an increase of $2.3 million over the same period last year.

Still, the company, which has parks in Orlando and San Antonio in addition to San Diego, reported a net loss of $43.6 million, compared to $49.2 million in the first quarter of last year.

SeaWorld, which has been battling negative publicity, said Thursday that more people visited its theme parks in the first three months of the year because of the earlier Easter holiday, but warned that competition remains tough.

Its shares fell more than 2 percent in morning trading Thursday.

The theme park operator, best known for its water shows featuring killer whales and dolphins, has launched marketing campaigns to combat the 2013 documentary "Blackfish," which suggested its treatment of the mammals can provoke them and has led to the death of trainers. SeaWorld has denied this.

“The timing of Easter, our consumer event programs, strong passholder visitation and increased promotional offerings helped drive attendance growth in the first quarter of 2014,” SeaWorld President and CEO Joel Manby said in an earnings report. “Looking ahead to the remainder of the year, we remain cautious as the first quarter accounts for a relatively small portion of full year attendance.”



Photo Credit: SeaWorld San Diego

Rattlesnake Calls on the Rise

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The San Diego heat is notorious for bringing out rattlesnakes and this year, rattlesnake sightings and calls are on the rise, according to Animal Services.

Daniel E. DeSousa, deputy director for the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services, told NBC 7 that as of Thursday morning, Animal Service has received 385 calls reporting rattlesnakes throughout the county.

That’s compared to 356 calls at this same time last year. Animal Services’ numbers show that the highest number of rattlesnake calls came in March 2015 – with a total of 174 calls compared to 130 in March 2014.

DeSousa said the top zip code for rattlesnake calls is 92124 – the Tierrasanta area near Mission Trails Regional Park. So far, 32 calls have come from that zip code alone.

Other top zip codes for rattlesnake calls in 2015 include: 92131 (Scripps Ranch, with 27 calls so far); 92127 (4S Ranch, with 24 calls); 92129 (Rancho Penasquitos, with 23 calls); and 92130 (Carmel Valley, with 21 calls).

Last year’s popular rattlesnake zip codes included 92129, 92126, 92127, 92131 and 92123.

According to Animal Services, residents can discourage rattlers from making themselves at home by getting rid of wood piles, fallen fruit, garbage heaps and outdoor dog food bowls around homes and properties.

They attract mice and rats, which in turn attract snakes, the department said.

It’s important to remain alert and aware of your surroundings during rattlesnake season, as the critters tend to hide in tall grass, weeds and brush alongside paths.

Those who encounter a rattler should give the animal space and calmly back away from it.
The Department of Animal Services said the following rattlesnake precautions should be taken:

  • Wear sturdy hiking boots with ankle support so that your feet are protected.
  • Stay on paths and trails. Avoid tall grass, weeds and brush where snakes may hide.
  • Make sure you can see where you are reaching and that you can see ahead of you. Look for concealed snakes before picking up rocks, sticks or wood.
  • Consider bringing a walking stick while hiking. If you encounter a snake it may strike the stick instead of you or your pet.
  • If you live in an area where rattlesnakes have been found, check your yard before letting your pets and children out to play.

There are five varieties of rattlesnakes found in San Diego County. If bitten, you should immediately call 911 and remove any constricting clothing or accessories from your body, like rings or watches.

If you spot a rattlesnake on your property and you live in unincorporated areas or Carlsbad, Del Mar, Encinitas, San Diego, Santee or Solana Beach, call County Animal Services at (619) 236-2341. Other residents should contact their local animal control departments for help.
 



Photo Credit: Monica Garske

Car Plunges Off Cliff in Police Pursuit

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Two pursuits ended early Thursday with one suspect’s car landing over a cliff.

Just before 4 a.m., two Honda Accords were following each other in Mid-City area around Central and University.

When San Diego Police ran the plates, one of the cars turned up stolen.

Neither driver pulled over for the officers, police said. They then drove off in different directions.

One headed northbound along Interstate 15 and spun out on an off ramp at Aero Drive. That driver was taken into custody. The vehicle he was in was an unreported stolen vehicle, police said.

The second driver headed down Adams Avenue and Mission Cliff Drive, south of Interstate 8 and east of State Route 163.

Instead of stopping the driver jumped out and the car smashed through the gate and went over the edge and the driver took off down the embankment.

The driver of the second vehicle is believed to be in his 20s and may be injured, police said.

San Diegans to Deliver Tents to Nepal

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A San Diego company is sending a team of people to Nepal to support its orphanage and surrounding residents after April’s devastating earthquake.

Eleven people with Restore International are scheduled to leave Thursday for Kathmandu.

Executive Director Deborah Eriksson says she feels compelled to go and remind the people of Nepal that they are not forgotten.

"I am relieved to be going because it's been weighing on me,” Eriksson told NBC 7.

The organization just opened an orphanage for 10 girls in the city last year and seeing the devastating images really hits home. Thankfully, the children in their orphanage were not injured.

“I really want to help but I don't exactly know what to expect and I think it's going to be hard to see it because there's going to be so much damage,” Eriksson said.

The group plans to take things like tents, sleeping bags, water purification tablet and vitamins. They leave Thursday from LAX and will be in Nepal for about six days.

With each of them bringing a tent, they will be able to provide shelter to about 100 people.

Rescue International isn't the only group from San Diego that will be in Nepal.

A team of Scripps Health doctors, nurses and support staff arrived recently and have been reporting back to NBC 7 about conditions there.

Over the course of the week, the team has reportedly been working in small villages at elevations of 8,000 feet or higher, where helicopters transporting supplies has become essential.

Team members have seen more than 100 patients a day, but only a few with injuries relating to the earthquake. 

At least 54 foreigners were among the more than 7,000 people killed in the quake on the April 25.


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Craft Beer Contributes $6.5B to CA Economy: Report

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It’s no secret that craft beer is a major industry in San Diego and across California, so much so that it contributed $6.5 billion to the state’s economy last year, a newly-released report states.

According to new data from the California Craft Brewer’s Association (CCBA), the craft beer industry’s contribution to California’s economy in 2014 was an 18 percent increase from the 2013 stats.

That growth means the craft beer industry in California has a higher economic impact than in any other state in the nation. The CCBA said the $6.5 billion figure is still a conservative number and even more accurate data will be tapped in June.

The craft beer industry also contributed to employment across the state. In 2014, craft brewers employed more than 48,000 Californians.

The number of operating breweries across the Golden State also grew in 2014 by more than 24 percent resulting in a total of 520 operating breweries that produced 3.5 billion barrels of beer. Exports totaled 1.3 million barrels last year, higher than the total production of every other state except Colorado and Pennsylvania.

The CCBA said craft brewers paid more than $56 million in state and federal excise taxes in 2014, and more than $1.3 billion in income and other local, state and federal taxes.

To learn more about the CCBA and check out a map of California breweries – including San Diego-based ones – click here.
 



Photo Credit: Getty Images

SDSU Professor Refutes Probe Results: Report

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The college professor, who sexually harassed students according to internal university investigations, refuted reports by NBC 7 Investigates according to a student-run newspaper.

NBC 7 Investigates was the first to expose the investigation into actions by San Diego State University Spanish Professor Vincent Martin.

NBC 7 has learned three women have accused the professor of inappropriate behavior ranging from unwanted text messages to an attempted kiss.

One “Notice of Investigation Outcome” from SDSU summarizes a nearly year-long investigation by the University's Office of Employee Relations. According to the investigation documents, Martin was found to have "engaged in conduct of a sexually oriented nature… deemed sufficiently severe to constitute sexual harassment.”

Martin has not responded to our requests for comment on this story. His attorney told us last month Martin disagrees with the finding that he sexually harassed the first student, but that lawyer has not responded to questions about the second student’s allegations or the findings of that investigation.

On Wednesday, the Daily Aztec website published an article that quotes Martin as saying, “On the one hand, the headline is basically asking for my head on a platter assuming guilt but hidden within the story is the fact that my attorney and I are challenging all allegations. Their entire story is just yellow journalism.”

SDSU issued a statement that said, in part, “While we appreciate that the campus community has significant interest when allegations of sexual harassment are made, it is also important that the process for adjudicating claims be a fair one and that all facts be heard.”

The university does not comment on specific complaints or investigations.

NBC 7 Investigates confirmed Martin is still teaching classes.

According to SDSU’s Chief Communications Officer Greg Block, Martin was scheduled to teach a Summer Session class this June at SDSU but the class was recently cancelled due to low enrollment.
 


Kids Run 5K for Classmate With Cancer

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After training for four months, a group of San Diego fifth graders took on the challenge of running a 5K Thursday in support of their classmate who is battling leukemia for the second time.

Fifth graders from Explorer Elementary Charter School laced up their sneakers at ran a 5K at Liberty Station as their way of showing support and raising funds for their friend and fellow classmate, Isaac.

Isaac is currently undergoing chemotherapy that will have him going in and out of the hospital for treatments for the next few months.

The 10-year-old boy is keeping positive through it all. He told NBC 7 seeing his friends running for him made him feel “awesome.”

“Just all the support I get from my family and friends –it’s amazing,” Isaac said. “I just keep positive and keep pushing through it.”

Isaac had to sit out the run Thursday because his stomach was feeling upset, a side effect of recent treatments. The boy said he will run again once he’s finished with his chemo treatments.

His friends aren’t the only ones pounding the pavement for him.

Last month, NBC 7 reported on a group of firefighters at Station 61 on Miramar who have banded together to run the Rock n’ Roll Marathon in their firefighting gear, also in support of Isaac.

The firefighters work with Isaac’s father, Adam Martinez, a fellow fireman. Like Isaac’s classmates, running is the firefighters’ way of raising money for Isaac and cancer awareness.

So far, the firefighters have raised nearly $11,000 for Isaac through this GoFundMe page. Everything beyond the family’s costs, they say they will donate to pediatric cancer research.

Meanwhile, Isaac’s schoolmates have raised more than $2,500 for him on GoFundMe through their Run for Isaac page.
 



Photo Credit: NBC 7 San Diego

Thieves Breaking Into Cars Using Key Fob Tech

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Your newer model car with its wireless key allows you to open the door and start the engine without ever taking the key out of your pocket.

Now, some tech-savvy car thieves may be taking advantage of the technology for their own criminal gain.

Cars with wireless key fob technology constantly search for a signal to the key fob, but it will typically only work within a few inches or feet of the car.

A USA Today story points to growing instances of break ins where thieves use an amplifier to boost the car’s signal and project it more than 300 feet away.

This means if the key fob is on a kitchen counter and the car is in a driveway, it’s well within the range of a criminal using the device.

“I think it’s crazy,” said Joel Hinson, owner of Cutting Edge Audio a business specializing in car alarms.

Hinson says the key fob technology is generally secure and reliable. “But if they have something defeating it, there really is no answer for that yet,” he said.

The article tells concerned car owners to store their key fobs in the microwave or freezer because they block the amplifier.

“It’s a very rare example. It’s not going to be a big issue,” said Hinson.

Auto theft investigators with the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Sheriff’s Department are generally aware of the scenario but say it isn’t a problem in our county yet.

“To our knowledge, the San Diego Regional Auto Theft Task Force has not seen a vehicle stolen in San Diego county using this specific device or process,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Seiver.

"El Gordito Bandit" Wanted by FBI

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Suspects in area bank robberies - caught in the act on camera.

Photo Credit: FBI

California Family Missing on Camping Trip

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The owner of a popular Oakland barbershop, his 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter are missing after a camping trip to Sierra County with family members, the sheriff reported Wednesday.

The Sierra County sheriff’s spokesperson confirmed the father is Nicholas Vlahos, and that the search for him and his children is treacherous and snowy in the rugged and remote terrain.

A co-worker who wouldn't identify himself confirmed to NBC Bay Area that it's the same Vlahos who owns Temescal Alley Barbershop, which was the lead anecdote in 2014 in the New York Times article," Oakland: Brooklyn by the Bay." The co-worker said that Vlahos was an experienced camper, but declined to comment any further. People describe the old-fashioned shop, which only takes walk-ins, as the "Cheers" of barbershops.

Authorities said on Tuesday, about 7:15 p.m., the Sierra County sheriff received a report that a 41-year-old man and his children were “overdue” from a camping trip.

They were last seen in western Sierra County, between Sacramento near Nevada, traveling in their 2015 Black Toyota Tundra 4X4 pickup truck from their campsite.

Reports indicated the family planned to take a drive through a remote and rugged portion of Sierra and Plumas counties on their return trip home. The family was reported to be in good health and in possession of ample food and water supplies, the news release said.

On Wednesday, the sheriff’s office, CalFire, a California Highway Patrol helicopter and other agencies conducted a search with no luck.



Photo Credit: David Cannon

Photo Helped Mom Find Cancer

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A Rockford, Illinois, mother's cellphone turned out to be a life-saving device when it helped her confirm what she'd feared: her son had cancer. 

Julie Fitzgerald began noticing an usual twinkle in the back of her 2-year-old son's eye a couple of months ago. A search online turned up a story about a woman who found cancer in relatives after she saw a white eye instead of the normal red eye in family photos.

"I took a picture, and I did not want to take the picture because I had this dreaded feeling in the pit of my stomach. I took the picture, and "boom," his whole pupil was just white, and that's when I knew," Julie told NBC station WREX.

A doctor's visit after that photo confirmed that little Avery Fitzgerald had retinoblastoma, which the Mayo Clinic indicates is the most common form of cancer affecting the eye in children. In Avery's case, 75 percent of his left eye had tumors and had to be removed.

Doctors said the cancer could have spread to the boy's brain and blood had the family delayed.

The boy will eventually get a prosthetic eye, and the family is awaiting the results of testing to see if he has a genetic marker that could indicate the risk for more cancer.

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