An alert bus driver who helped rescue a 3-year-old who had just been kidnapped from the Milpitas library earlier this month was honored Friday for his actions.

Tim Watson, a Fremont resident, has been called a hero for the way he calmly thwarted the kidnapping once he realized a boy on his bus matched the description from an alert about the child. He calmly delivered the boy to police without tipping off the kidnapper.

Watson was recognized in a ceremony by Santa Clara County and Valley Transportation Authority officials. The 48-year-old bus driver was also flown into the San Jose Giants stadium Friday night by a county sheriff's helicopter to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

"Bus operator Tim Watson was such an integral part of the team effort," VTA General Manager and CEO Nuria Fernandez said.

Watson was driving his bus toward the Fremont bus station on June 5 when he got an alert from dispatch: Be on the lookout for a 3-year-old boy with plaid shorts and red shoes, the very description of a boy who was crying and seated with a man in the backseat of his bus. 

The boy's mother had reported him missing from the library in Milpitas, which is located about 45 miles southeast of San Francisco. 

Watson was told to make his way to the Fremont BART station where police would be waiting, a 10-minute drive. Watson stayed calm.

Once at the BART station, Watson waited for police to get in position then opened the door. Police arrested the suspected kidnapper, 23-year-old Alfonso David Edington, of Pittsburg, and took the boy to safety.

Watson credits the training he received for foiling the kidnapping attempt about an hour after it was reported.

The training provided by Santa Clara County helps people recognize the red flags when a person has been kidnapped or held against their will.

Watson was one of 750 county bus drivers who took the training in April.

"We just had a human trafficking training in April," Watson said. "It does help us to react in these situations."

VTA on Friday also recognized other workers and emergency responders who played a role in foiling the kidnapping.

"We can see now the value of that training in a real-life heroic instance," Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Dave Cortese said.

Watson's actions does not come as a surprise to his family.

"If you know him it's just part of his nature to be this way," said his wife, Jennifer Watson. "He's the type to run into the trouble whereas somebody else might run away from it."

Watson at the time of his heroic actions had only been on the job for six months and was on probation. He was made a full-time staff member on Friday by the VTA as part of the ceremony.

Illinois Rep. La Shawn Ford joined in a protest Friday with family members of a Chicago man they say is being unfairly held in a Chinese prison.

"The United States should step in and do everything that we can to have justice for this family," he told NBC Chicago during the demonstration outside the Consulate General of The People's Republic of China.

Ajamu Johnson grew up on Chicago's West Side and was in China teaching English to students. While there, he got into a fight with an acquaintance, American Andrez Ratajczak. Ratajczak was deported while Johnson was sentenced to one year in prison. He's been incarcerated in the Qing Pu Prison in Shanghai since December.

Family members on Friday delivered petitions with 30,000 signatures to the Consulate-General calling for the Morehouse College graduate's release.

"He's not a threat. He's not a problem. He shouldn't be incarcerated," said Johnson's mother, Dalila Johnson.

Officials at the Chinese Consulate said they couldn't talk about the specifics of the case but a spokesman released a statement:

"Ajamu caused physical injury... China is a country under rule of law, and everyone is equal before the law. The lawful rights and interests of aliens on Chinese territory are protected."

Johnson's father and aunt have both passed away while he's been locked up in China. His family said he keeps busy by teaching English to inmates.

They also said Ratajczak has written them a letter apologizing for the fight. 

A baby was briefly abducted by a car thief in Miami Friday, who wasn't even old enough to drive, police said.

The 6-month-old baby was inside a Jeep SUV when it was stolen from 8450 Northeast Miami Court just before 5 p.m.

The baby's mother was dropping off her two older children to their grandmother when the suspect got in and drove off.

"I stepped out my car for a minute. I was standing just a couple feet away and I see the car backing out and I ran after it... trying to explain to the person that my baby's in the car. My heart just sunk from there," said the mother, who did not want to be identified.

Within minutes, officers stopped the vehicle at 229 Northeast 78th Street, recovered the baby and took the 13-year-old male driver into custody.

"I thank them, I give them all my blessings, like I thank God for them because if it wasn't for them I don't know what could've happened to my baby," the mother said.

The baby, who slept through the whole ordeal, woke up in the arms of the sergeant who rescued him.

The young car thief was charged with one count of grand theft auto and transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center.

When asked about the young criminal who took her son and her SUV, the mother said, "I just want that kid to get his life together. I'm angry at him, I'm really pissed off because of his age, that's not what he should be thinking about in his life ... he should be worried about school."

But more than anything she said she's glad she's got her boy back in her arms.

"I was just so happy. He had tears on his face but he was just so happy to see me and he lunged at me... jumped into my arms."

A North Texas woman was arrested Thursday and charged with child endangerment after police say she left her 2-year-old daughter inside a hot car while she went shopping.

"She left the child in the car in order to go inside and shop for a Father's Day gift," said Lt. Colin Chenault, with the Cedar Hill Police Department.

Police took Chelsea Polk, 25, into custody. Police said she left her daughter alone with the windows barely cracked in the scorching heat.

"The officers were able to determine she was inside for longer than 20 to 25 minutes, some estimates as high as 30 minutes," said Chenault.

Good Samaritans noticed the girl in the car and called police. Officers had to break the window to reach inside the car, all while the girl's mom was shopping at a Dick's Sporting Goods store in Cedar Hill.

"They had to startle the child several times for several seconds in order to wake the child up," said Chenault.

The girl was hot and sweaty after officers removed her from the sweltering car, as temperatures outside the car reached well above the 90 degrees.

"While that may be comfortable to us outside in open air, inside a car, that temperature raises significantly and it becomes very hot very quickly," said Chenault.

The girl was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons, but police say she will be OK.

Attempts to reach Polk’s family for comment were not successful.

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A group of activists set fire to two Confederate flags in Philadelphia, only steps from the Liberty Bell.

The activists gathered at Independence Mall Friday afternoon to voice their opposition to the flag.

The activists placed two Confederate flags inside a metal tub, doused them with lighter fluid and set them on fire.

The burning of the flags was in response to the shooting of nine church-goers during Bible study at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, Wednesday night.

“That flag, to us, says terrorism. It’s a slap in the face to those folks that were murdered,” activist Mannwell Glenn told NBC10 outside Independence Mall.

The suspect in the mass shooting is Dylann Roof. The incident is being investigated a hate crime. Investigators say Roof was a devout white supremacist who wanted to start a race war. Roof had a Confederate flag on his front license plate of his car.

“In America, it’s the Confederacy and the Confederate flag. We have a problem with that, as much as maybe a Jewish person would have a problem with a Nazi flag,” Glenn said.

Roof is being held on $1 million bail.

At South Carolina’s state capitol, the United States flag and state flag were lowered in honor of the church shooting victims.

The Confederate flag, which flew atop the statehouse from 1962 until it was moed to a separate pole on the grounds at a Confederate war memorial in 2000, remained untouched.

State law requires lawmakers to approve changes to how the flag is flown and the General Assembly is out of session until January, NBC News reported.

Still, leaders are working to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina capitol permanently.

“That symbol has to come down. That symbol must be removed from our state Capitol,” said Cornell Brooks, of the NAACP.

Opinions on the Confederate flag are divided among those who see it as a symbol of Southern pride or racism.

President Barack Obama weighed in on the controversy saying the flag belongs in a museum, not on top of a government building.

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney weighed in on the debate Saturday on Twitter. 

"Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol. To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims," he said.

A man suspected of being under the influence of alcohol was seriously injured after he fell off his motorized scooter in Rancho Penasquitos early Saturday morning.

San Diego police said the 38-year-old man was riding his scooter in the 12600 block of Darkwood Road just after 2:30 a.m. when, for unknown reasons, he fell off.

He hit the ground and suffered a serious head injury. He was taken to a local hospital.

The accident is under investigation but police said it appears alcohol was a factor.

No one else was injured. The man’s current condition is unknown.
 

There will be music in the air Monday as San Diego’s Waterfront Park hosts open call auditions for the 15th and final season of the reality TV singing competition, “American Idol.”

The auditions run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the northwest section of the park located at 1600 Pacific Highway in downtown San Diego. Organizers expect about 2,500 aspiring singers to show up, with some lining up as early at 6 a.m. for their shot at singing stardom.

Waterfront Park will be open as usual throughout the auditions. Parking around the park is very limited and is expected to fill up quickly, so park officials suggest people take public transit to the area.

As usual, the “American Idol” auditions will be performed a cappella for casting crews. The show’s celebrity judges are not expected to be part of this open call in San Diego.

Any singers trying out for the show must be between 15 and 28 years old and either a U.S. citizen or a permanent legal U.S. resident. For more eligibility requirements, click here.

Additional open call auditions will be held in Pittsburgh, Tucson and Indianapolis, to name a few stops.
“American Idol’s” 15th and final season returns to television next year.

In 2012, Chula Vista resident Jessica Sanchez made it very far in the "American Idol" competition, coming in as runner-up on season 11 of the show. Phillip Phillips won that year.
 

After nine parishioners were gunned down during Bible study at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, many have demanded a Confederate flag—a symbol of racial segregation—be taken down from the South Carolina State House, where it flew at full mast after the killings. 

The flag has been at the center of controversy before, but opponents have gained an unexpected and prominent ally in a former Republican presidential candidate.

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Mitt Romney, who ran for president in 2008 and 2012, called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House in memoriam for the nine victims via Twitter.

This is not the first time the former governor of Massachusetts has publicly demand the flag come down. In 2007, during a debate, Romney weighed in on the flag when he said, "That's not a flag I recognize." 

"That flag, frankly, is divisive, and it shouldn't be shown," he said. 

Republican candidate and former governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, also waded into the conversation on Twitter Saturday afternoon, releasing a statement about the removal of the flag, stating that he believes South Carolina is enduring a "sensitive" time right now but is "confident" the state will do the right thing.

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Bush had the Confederate flag removed from the Florida state Capitol building in 2001, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Both Bush and Romney's comments challenge other current GOP presidential candidates—aside from Bush, none have publicly supported to take down the Confederate flag or comment its racist implications in South Carolina. 

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican presidential candidate, said the problem is with the accused gunman, Dylann Roof, not the flag.

Supporters of the flag, like Lee Wilson, vice president of the Confederate Heritage Trust in South Carolina, argue that the flag is a part of the South's heritage and is an important part of Civil War history. But South Carolina State. Rep. Christopher Hart told NBC News he disagrees with this argument:

"I'm a product of the South. Whose heritage is it? It's not my heritage. It's not Southern to me," Hart said. "There were hundreds of black soldiers in the Civil War, but you don't see black people walking around with Confederate flags now." 

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In the wake of the attack that targeted the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, President Obama pointedly stated that the Confederate flag belongs in a museum. The president began his speech at the U.S. Conference of Mayors commenting on the church attack by saying, "Racism remains a blight that we must combat together.”

For now, the Confederate flag at the statehouse is still flying full-staff because the General Assembly is out of session. State law requires any changes on how the flag is flown to be approved by lawmakers but the General Assembly must wait until January to take up the issue. 

“That flag, to us, says terrorism. It’s a slap in the face to those folks that were murdered,” activist Mannwell Glenn told NBC Philadelphia. Glenn, along with other activists, set fire two Confederate flags steps away from the Liberty Bell in Old City, Philadelphia. 

Surf City USA laid claim to another bit of surfing legend Saturday as a group of surfers banded together to break a world record.

With hundreds looking on, 66 surfers, including surf champions, celebrities and local heroes, rode a custom 42-foot-long surfboard off the shore in Huntington Beach Saturday, breaking the Guinness World Record for "Most People Riding a Surfboard at Once."

The record hadn't been broken in over a decade, since 47 people clambered onto a board on March 5, 2005, according to the city of Huntington Beach. To break the record, the surfers had to successfully surf unassisted for 10 seconds.

#BigBoardHB World record! 66 people for 13 sec ride. #SurfCityUSA pic.twitter.com/4tOCY7ds3U

— Cary Strouse (@cbstrouse) June 20, 2015

The surfers in Huntington Beach were also hoping to claim the title of riding the "World's Largest Surfboard," but that record attempt remained unconfirmed Saturday morning.

The official record-holding surfboard is 39-feet and 4-inches, Huntington Beach said.

The record-breaking event was part of Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, Newport Beach and Long Beach's celebration of International Surfing Day festivities.

Two drivers were killed in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 15 early Saturday morning near Fallbrook, officials confirmed.

California Highway Patrol (CHP) officials said they began receiving phone calls reporting a white Honda Civic driving the wrong way northbound on southbound Interstate 15 one mile south of Gopher Canyon Road just before 3 a.m.

Minutes later, the Civic slammed head-on into a Mercedes. The impact killed the drivers inside both cars. No passengers were inside either vehicle, officials said.

CHP investigators said the wrong way driver was a 51-year-old man, but his name has not yet been released. The driver of the Mercedes was a 57-year-old woman. Her name too is being withheld until her family is notified.

Officials said some items found inside the man’s sedan indicate he may have had a medical problem at the time of the crash, though that’s still under investigation. Officials do not believe alcohol or drugs contributed to this accident.

CHP Sgt. Patrick Holt said at least three lanes on the freeway would be closed for about four hours following the deadly crash.

He said in wrong way driver situations like this, CHP officers do everything they can to quickly catch up with the driver and “get ahead of the vehicle to try to stop it before any collision can occur.”

The Medical Examiner’s office will determine the cause of death for both drivers at a later time.
 

Police shot a man after he pointed what they believed was a gun wrapped in a towel at them in Los Feliz Friday.

But the man was unarmed; no gun was recovered at the scene of the shooting, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Rosario Herrera said Saturday.

The incident happened after the person allegedly waved a patrol car down in a parkway near Lowry Road and Los Feliz Boulevard at 6:35 p.m, Los Angeles Police Department Lt. John Jenal said.

"The officers stopped to investigate and see what was needed," Lt Jenal said. "This person then extended their arm, which was wrapped in a towel."

The shooting occurred after the lawmen demanded he drop his weapon, with locals saying they heard four gunshots. No officers were shot during the confrontation.

Graphic cellphone video taken by a passerby shows officers handcuffing the wounded man on the ground.

The suspect was in critical condition Friday night. Herrera had no update on the man's condition Saturday.

An official probe into the shooting is ongoing. Severe congestion was caused after Los Feliz Boulevard was closed in the vicinity of Lowry Road due to the investigation. It finally reopened at 1:50 a.m. Saturday.

Jason Kandel and Asher Klein contributed to this report

A 5K through the empty fairgrounds, a huge beer festival, some mixed martial arts and lots and lots of live music mark this weekend at the San Diego County Fair. Here are the highlights:

Saturday, June 20

San Diego County Fair 5K
8 a.m. to 10 a.m., throughout the fairgrounds
This all-ages 5K gives participants the chance to run, skip and stroll their ways through the fairgrounds before the big daily crowds arrive. A ticket to the race ($49) includes a 5K shirt, two admission tickets to the fair (one for now, one for later), a free beer or beverage and a $10 discount to the San Diego International Beer Festival starting at 11 a.m. Kids ages 5 and under can participate in the fun for free. Space is limited and as of Wednesday afternoon, the race was 95 percent sold out, so hurry and grab your ticket.

San Diego International Beer Festival
Five Sessions (Friday through Sunday; times vary) Del Mar Arena
This massive beer fest goes down at the Del Mar Arena inside the fairgrounds from Friday through Sunday with five different sessions. Saturday’s sessions run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Sunday session is 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Attendees can enjoy unlimited 1-ounce samples of more than 400 beers including award-winning local craft brews and suds from around the globe. General admission tickets cost $62 per person, while VIP tickets cost $105. For more on this brew fest, click here.

DeStorm Power
7 p.m., Paddock Stage
This YouTube sensation hits the stage as part of the fair’s new “YouTube Concert Series” highlighting viral artists who have risen to fame via social media. DeStorm Power is a hip-hop and comedy star known for his ability to create a song from any subject. He has an audience of 1.7 million YouTube subscribers and more than three million Vine followers, and is American Music Awards and YouTube Music Awards winner. This show is free with paid admission into the fair. There’s also a meet and greet session for a limited number of fans that costs $60 per person, not including fair admission.

Clare Bowen & Charles Esten
7:30 p.m., Heineken Grand Stage
Two stars of the hit TV show, “Nashville,” will take to the stage together in this concert at the fair. Paid fair admission is required to attend this concert. Unreserved areas (the 3rd and 5th level seats and standing room in front of the stage) are included with fair admission. Reserved seats (2nd and 4th levels, and Terrace) range from $24 to $36 for children, adults and seniors.

Mike Tompkins
7:30 p.m., Paddock Stage
Also part of the “YouTube Concert Series” at the fair, a cappella producer and artist Mike Tompkins will take his viral act live and show off his pop music remix skills. He currently has more than 200 million views on his online videos. This show is free with fair admission. Tompkins will also host a meet and greet with fans for $60 per person before his performance.

Billy Idolized
9 p.m., Coors Light Rock-On Stage
“Dancing With Myself.” “Rebel Yell.” “White Wedding.” This 21+ Billy Idol tribute show has it all and is free with fair admission Saturday night. The “Billy Idolized” band, of San Diego, is the ultimate tribute to the 1980s superstar – hair, hits and dance moves included.

Sunday, June 21

Grupo Intocable
7:30 p.m., Heineken Grandstand Stage
This Tejano-Norteño musical group from Zapata rose to fame in the 1990s with Norteño folk rhythms and pop balladry. Unreserved seats (3rd and 5th levels) are free with paid fair admission. Reserved seats (2nd and 4th levels, and Terrace) range in price from $24 to $36. Standing Room tickets on the floor cost between $28 and $34 for kids, seniors and adults.

SummerFist Mixed Martial Arts
11 a.m.; 1 p.m.; 3 p.m.; 5 p.m., Paddock Green
Mixed martial arts action hits the Paddock Green on Father’s Day. Two 20-minute bouts will be contested during each of the four sessions. This event is free with paid fair admission.

World Tour: Legends of Rock
9 p.m., Coors Light Rock-On Stage
This 21+ show features a tribute band rocking out the most high-energy, legendary anthems of all time from the 1980s. The members of the band have toured with the best, too, including icons like Guns N Roses, AC/DC, Tom Petty and REO Speedwagon, just to name a few. This show is free with paid fair admission. Rock on!

A Jewish family in east San Diego has appealed a federal judge’s ruling allowing a museum to keep a painting taken from their ancestors as a result of Nazi persecution.

The California judge’s ruling declared a museum in Spain is the rightful owner of the Pissarro masterpiece even though the owner was forced to sell it to Nazis in 1939.

That owner was Lilly Cassirer, the great grandmother of David Cassirer. David spoke exclusively with NBC 7 about the court’s decision from the family’s La Mesa home.

“I think Ronald Lauder in New York put it best when he said these paintings, wherever they are, are the last prisoners of war of World War II,” he said.

David’s great-grandmother, Lilly, was forced to sell the painting for a few hundred dollars to Nazis. Today, the masterpiece is worth tens of millions of dollars. David said his great-grandmother had no choice but to give up the art piece.

“My father assures me she would've gone to one of the worst concentration camps,” David explained.

An attorney for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Spain has said the institution acquired the painting in good faith and has had it on public display for more than 20 years.

U.S. District Judge John Walters ruled earlier this month that the museum owns the masterpiece under Spanish law, however he urged the institution to think about what would be fair to victims of Nazi persecution like the Cassirer family.

The Jewish Federation of San Diego County has agreed to be a co-plaintiff on the appeals case with the Cassirer family.
 

A proposed aerial cable car system that would take people from the San Diego Bay to Balboa Park was reviewed Friday and a report gave a sneak peek at what the so-called “Skyway” might look like.

A SANDAG meeting was held to discuss the proposed project and the San Diego Association of Governments' transportation committee reviewed a feasibility report on the Skyway prepared by the consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, commissioned by SANDAG and the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS).

The purpose of the meeting and report was to take a look at whether the Skyway system could work as a mode of transportation for the San Diego region.

The two-mile aerial cable car system would be strung along cables from towers and would take riders from the San Diego Bay to Balboa Park.

“A ‘Bay to Park’ connection has long been identified as a key and desirable linkage between these two iconic features of the San Diego landscape, with the dual objectives of re-establishing Balboa Park’s relationship to downtown and better integrating downtown with the surrounding neighborhoods,” the report reads.

The Skyway would be constructed in the 6th Avenue corridor from the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego to Balboa Park, ending at the parking lot immediately north and west of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The route would include four stations – two end stations and two intermediate stations, according to the report. The two intermediate stations would be located at B and Ivy streets.

Each Skyway car would be able to accommodate a maximum of eight riders.

At first, the Skyway would be able to serve 2,000 passengers per hour. However, the report says cableway systems like this have potential for high-capacity ridership between 4,000 and 5,000 passengers per hour, or up to 1.1 million patrons annually.

“This capacity is competitive with high-capacity bus service,” the report states.

Depending on fare pricing, ridership could generate annual revenues of $1.9 million to $4.9 million, the report says.

Travel time from start to finish would be less than 12 minutes, with the cable cars traveling at 13.6 mph, but slowing down at stations. The report notes the Skyway could serve both local commuters and tourists.

It would likely operate seven days a week, between 12 and 16 hours per day, depending on the day.

The initial cost of the two-mile Skyway is estimated between $65 million and $75 million. The report says this is "cost-effective" when compared to the costs of building other transit modes for this route. Annual maintenance costs would range between $2.6 million and $2.8 million.

Funding for the project remains unsecured, but the report cites:

“There are a number of viable funding sources, ranging from local improvements districts and public-private partnerships, to federal, state, and local transit improvement programs that could be sought. The innovative feature and cost-effectiveness of the Skyway makes the project a strong candidate, setting the cableway apart from other more expensive transit systems and making it more competitive for transit-project funding opportunities and investments.”

The report says the Skyway could lessen traffic and parking demands in the busy area between the San Diego Bay and Balboa Park, but more analysis on that and how to integrate the system into the designated historic districts is still needed.

At the conclusion of Friday’s meeting, the transportation committee agreed to explore the project further. For now, the next steps include focusing on engineering and design considerations and a number of environmental challenges and regulatory issues.

If the plan works out, it could begin service by 2020.

To read the full Skyway feasibility report, click here.

Both the northbound and southbound lanes of State Route 67 have been closed after a wildland fire near the road, officials said. 

Cal Fire said the wildland fire near Sycamore Canyon is five acres and the forward rate of spread has been stopped. 

A Sig Alert is in place from Vigilante to Scripps Poway on SR 67, the California Highway Patrol said.

Both sides of SR 67 have been closed.  

Check back for updates on this breaking news story. 

Construction has begun at a Point Loma crosswalk, the scene of a stroller crash that left a seven-month-old infant dead and a father with serious injuries in March. 

In March, Juniper Aavang and her father were hit by an SUV while crossing Canon Street at a marked crosswalk. The mother made it across, but the driver of the SUV turning from Catalina Boulevard did not see the father and stroller.

City officials say they are putting up another traffic signal and re-stripe the crosswalk, but neighbors do not think it will be enough. 

One man who lives in the area thinks that entire stretch of road should be shut down. 

"I really think that that should be completely shut down," said Monica Jackson, a resident. "That new light is just going to give a false sense of security. All these cars whip around that corner quickly and there's not be time to stop, and so it wouldn't surprise me if something like that happened again."

Other neighbors in the area want to see Canon Street closed from Talbot to Catalina and are proposing a small park in memory of Juniper.

An NBC 7 map of accidents in Point Loma shows at least eight other accidents in that exact same area in the past few years. There have been 78 other accidents in the general vicinity of that intersection. None of those were fatal, according to police data, though 96 people have been injured.

Residents in the area said they want to propose a small park in memory of Juniper and hope to meet with city traffic engineers and Councilwoman Laurie Zapf to possibly come up with a plan to move forward. 

City officials said they hope the improvements will increase visibility and improve safety at the intersection. 

The San Diego Chargers and Clear Channel Media, one of the team's broadcast partners, have decided to change their radio broadcasting team. Hank Bauer will not return for the 2015 NFL season.

Bauer has been a member of the Chargers organization on and off since 1977. He was a fullback with the team from 1977-82 and coached special teams from 1983-86. Bauer, who in 2009 was named one of the All-Time Greatest Chargers, returned to the Bolts as a radio color analyst in 1998.

In 2014 he was suspended for one pre-season game for making an anti-Semitic remark. Bauer apologized and worked the entire 2014 regular season. It is unknown if that incident contributed to the decision not to bring him back for 2015..

Bauer's replacement has not been decided yet but those in the mix are said to include Mark Malone and James Lofton, who both work on national NFL broadcasts and have ties to San Diego. When Bauer was suspended NBC 7 Sports Director Jim Laslavic, who works on the Chargers radio pre-game show, served as a last-second fill-in.

Community members saddened by one young boy's story packed the Bar Method Saturday for donation-based classes, leaving messages for a toddler who died after a kindergarten pool party. 

Four-year-old William Abbott died after he was rushed to the hospital following a kindergarten pool party at the San Diego Yacht Club, according to the medical examiner's office.

"It's hard as a parent to really think about how devastating this could be to a family," said Kathy Graulich, tearing up as she spoke. "I think everyone just really wants to support them as best they can through this tough time and let them know they love them."

On a board by the entrance to the studio, those that passed through left notes of support for the family. 

The owner of the studio, Allison McCurdy, said she does not personally know the family, but wanted to host several donation-based classes Saturday to help the family. 

"A lot of our clients were there when it happened and or were effected directly by the loss of Will," said McCurdy. 

Graulich's three boys knew William, she said, and said they used to play t-ball together and spend time with the family. 

"I think the entire community has really embraced the Abbott family and are hoping they can find some peace and comfort in the thoughts and prayers that are coming their way," Graulich said. 

On June 9, William was spotted face down in the pool. He was unconscious and blue when he was pulled from the water, a witness told NBC 7.

William was taken to the hospital in critical condition, and on Friday, his parents learned he wouldn’t wake up, according to a friend’s post to a GoFundMe page. He died that evening from brain injury due to resuscitated drowning, the medical examiner says.

His manner of death was an accident. 

San Diego police are investigating how the drowning happened. Officers say the pool was full of kids, celebrating the end of the school year, but there was just one lifeguard on duty. William’s unconscious body was first spotted by someone other than the lifeguard.

The general manager of the yacht club said the business will be assisting local authorities to determine what happened.

McCurdy said she wanted the family to know that the community was here for them.

"We're a community that cares and if you need anything, let us know, because we're here and people will respond," she said. "It doesn't matter if we know you or we don't, that's what community is about and Point Loma is a really, really great place for that." 

At 115 years old, Susannah Mushatt Jones, of Brooklyn, is now the world's oldest person.

Jones, known as "Miss Susie," inherited the title from 116-year-old Jeralean Talley, who died Wednesday evening at her home in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, according to her daughter.

The Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group considered Talley to be the world's oldest person, based on available records, followed by Jones, according to The Associated Press.

Jones was born July 6, 1899. At that time, the Spanish-American War had just ended, William McKinley was president and "automobile" was still a new term.

Jones was the daughter of Alabama sharecroppers and the third of 11 children, all of whom she has outlived. She moved to New York City during The Roaring Twenties.

"Are you an old lady or a young lady?" asked her niece Lois Judge during an interview earlier this year with NBC 4 New York's Roseanne Colletti.

"I'm old," Jones said.

Judge said Jones credits her longevity to not drinking, smoking or partying.