State police and Hartford firefighters are responding to a crash involving an ice cream truck on Interstate 91 southbound in Hartford.

There are no lane closures currently due to the ice cream truck rollover near exit 33.

State police said to reduce your speed when traveling through that area.

No one was injured.

No further information was immediately available.

One person has died after an early morning crash in Fallbrook that split a car in half, officials said. 

The crash happened at approximately 1 a.m. Sunday morning on State Route 76, just east of Interstate 15. 

One car involved in the crash had to be hosed down after it caught fire and the other car was split in half by the impact.

One of the victims involved was taken to Palomar Hospital and later pronounced dead. 

The California Highway Patrol is investigating the cause of the crash. Officials have not released the identities of those involved. 

San Diego Police have identified the officer and the suspect involved in a shooting Thursday that left the suspect dead after he allegedly tried to charge at the officer with a knife.

24-year San Diego Police veteran Michael Alberts was one of several officers that was called to a condominium complex in the 14600 block of Via Fiesta around 11:40 p.m. to investigate a reported assault among neighbors.

A couple called police to report that a neighbor started yelling at them while they were walking in the area. The couple said the neighbor then threw cigarettes and lit matches towards them, and then kicked one of them.

When officers arrived, they found the victim who said he had been allegedly attacked and kicked by the man who lived in the complex.

Police went to the suspect’s home and knocked on the door. 60-year-old Ton Nguyen of San Diego exited holding a knife -- possibly a large kitchen knife -- the SDPD said. Officers told the man to drop the knife, but he allegedly refused, and charged at one officer and attempted to stab him.

The SDPD said Alberts fired one shot from his service weapon, hitting the suspect in the torso. After Nguyen as down, the officers rendered aid until medics arrived on scene, the police department said.

The suspect was taken to Scripps La Jolla Hospital where he died a short time later. 

SDPD Homicide Lt. Paul Rorrison said detectives are now in the process of interviewing neighbors and witnesses and digging into the suspect’s past. Lt. Rorrison said police had been called out to the suspect’s home at least once before this, but he couldn’t elaborate further.

He said police officers did not have body cameras on during this shooting, as the Northwestern Division of the SDPD does not have the cameras on their uniforms yet.

The lieutenant said one other person was home with the suspect at the time of the shooting, but he couldn’t give details on that bystander.

Neighbors told NBC 7 that police had been called to the suspect’s home several times for domestic disputes. One resident said he had allegedly kicked her dog once.

Other neighbors said the suspect was generous and nice, and would share homecooked meals with them.

Lt. Rorrison said the officer is very emotional and shaken up. He is being placed on administrative leave.

The case remains under investigation. Anyone with information should contact the SDPD Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
 

A Sig alert has been issued after a 7-year-old girl was hit and killed by a vehicle in Oceanside, officials said. 

The crash happened Sunday afternoon around 2 p.m. on Mission Avenue near Frontier Drive in Oceanside. 

The young girl was struck by a Toyota Tundra when crossing the street on Mission Avenue with her family, Oceanside police Lt. Taurino Valdoninos said. Paramedics on scene took the girl to Tri-City Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. 

The California Highway Patrol and Oceanside Police are responding. 

A Sig Alert was issued around 2 p.m. Those nearby are advised to avoid the area. 

The initial investigation revealed DUI was not suspected to be a factor in the crash.

Check back here for updates. 

Oreos are getting a skinny new look, and its maker says the new cookie is a "sophisticated" snack for grown-ups that isn't meant to be twisted or dunked.

Mondelez International Inc. says it will add "Oreo Thins" to its permanent lineup in the U.S. starting next week. The cookies look like regular Oreos and have a similar cookie-to-filling ratio, except that they're slimmer. That means four of the cookies contain 140 calories, compared with 160 calories for three regular Oreos.

And since they're for adults, Oreo says they weren't designed to be twisted open or dunked. That's even though about half of customers pull apart regular Oreos before eating them, according to the company.

"If people want to do that, it's clearly up to them," said Janda Lukin, senior director of Oreo for North America at parent company Mondelez International.

In explaining what exactly made them more grown-up, she said that if regular Oreos are like pancakes, then Oreo Thins would be like crepes.

Despite having fewer calories per serving, Mondelez says the new cookies aren't meant to be a diet snack. Still, the "Thins" name could be a stealth way to appeal to people who want to watch their weight, without the stigma of being seen as a diet food.

Although the original Oreos started in the U.S. in 1912, Americans won't be the first to taste the Thins. The slimmer cookies were rolled out last year in China to address the company's tumbling cookie sales in the country.

Lukin said the slimmer cookies helped win back "lapsed users" in China, or younger women who wanted something that wasn't quite as rich. In the first eight months, she said Oreo Thins generated $40 million in sales.

During a conference call in April, Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld had noted the success of the Thins in China and said the company would make them available "around the world."

The Thins could help the company's North American cookie business, which declined in the first three months of this year. Mondelez said the Thins will be available starting July 13, and that they'll cost the same as regular Oreos.

Lukin noted that it took months for the company to perfect manufacturing for the Thins. Early on, she said 60 percent of the cookies were breaking, but that the rate eventually came down to 3 percent. 

A Brooklyn centenarian celebrated her 116th birthday Monday by being certified as the world's oldest living person. 

Guinness World Records presented Susannah Mushatt Jones with a certificate naming her the world's oldest person on Friday, three days ahead of her birthday. Jones takes the title for oldest woman from Jerlean Talley, a Michigan woman who died in June at 116.

The recordkeeping organization said that Jones is celebrating her milestone Monday with family and again on Tuesday with members of her housing community. 

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 and has more than 100 nieces and nephews.

"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.

Convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has filed a motion for a new trial, despite personally admitting his guilt in court as he was formally sentenced to death for his role in the bombings and manhunt that left four people dead.

The motion was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston.

"A new trial is required in the interests of justice and judgments notwithstanding the verdict are required as a matter of evidentiary insufficiency," the motion reads.

Tsarnaev's lawyers said the motion was filed following the court's suggestion at a status conference, as a placeholder to address the court's concerns about ensuring compliance with time and preservation requirements.

Necn legal analyst and Massachusetts School of Law Associate Dean Michael Coyne says it's not unusual that this initial filing does not give specific grounds for the request for a new trial.

"I don't think they're suggesting there's newly discovered evidence, but they are suggesting that justice requires a new trial because of the insufficiency of the evidence as they see it with respect to the charges that the defendant was convicted of," Coyne said.

The court had given Tsarnaev until Aug. 17 to submit any post-trial motions and supporting material. Additional filings are expected before that date.

Tsarnaev was formally sentenced to death on June 24.

In May, a federal jury condemned Tsarnaev to die for bombing the 2013 marathon with his brother, Tamerlan. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when the brothers detonated two pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line.

Soccer fever hit San Diego hard after the United States’ World Cup win in 1999 and has continued to surge here, coaches say.

On Sunday, 23 million Americans watched the U.S. Women’s National Team defeat Japan 5-2 and San Diego was one of the markets where the most viewers tuned in.

A lot of those viewers were young girls, like 10-year-old Maggie Taitano, who attends a soccer camp at University of San Diego.

She watches every U.S. game and even went to two World Cup matches in Vancouver, B.C.

“She tested the goalie on her third goal for a hat trick and that was really good,” Maggie said of the United States' star midfielder Carli Lloyd.

Many of the young girls who spoke to NBC 7 on Monday could rattle off the lineup of the women’s national team without hesitation. The popularity of female soccer has been felt all over the United States, as our country boast the second highest number of female soccer players in the world, according to FIFA.

Ada Greenwood, the head coach of USD’s women’s soccer team, runs a youth soccer camp every year. He saw a huge uptick in popularity of soccer after the 1999 World Cup win.

Sunday’s victory will energize the next generation of female athletes and keep that momentum going, he said.

“The numbers, the ratings on TV have been going way up over here,” he said. “The coverage has been good, so it’s been very, very positive. It’s going to have a massive effect on women’s soccer and youth soccer all over the country.”

A year-round school was briefly locked down Monday after a teacher reported hearing a gunshot in the Skyline area, San Diego Unified School District officials say.

A teacher said she may have heard gunfire outside the Audubon K-8 school, located at 811 San Vicente Street, after 3:30 p.m.

As a precaution, the principal put the school on lockdown as San Diego Police investigated.

However, officers did not find anything suspicious, so the lockdown was lifted a short time later.

According to SDUSD officials, students had been released at 3:30 p.m., so it's unclear how many people were on campus during the lockdown.

The school, which sits near Lomita Park, has a prekindergarten through eighth grade classes and follows the district's year-round calendar.

Every day we are surrounded by heroes, and each year the San Diego branch of the Red Cross honors local individuals and organizations that have made a difference through its Real Heroes Breakfast.

Starting now, the Red Cross is accepting nominations for the 13th Annual Real Heroes event.

To submit a nomination, visit the Red Cross website, email it events.sandiegoca@redcross.org, fax it to 858-309-1285 or mail it to the following address: 

American Red Cross
Attn: Real Heroes
3950 Calle Fortunada
San Diego, CA 92123

The breakfast, which features amazing stories, will be on Sept. 25 aboard the USS Midway Museum. Nominations are due no later than July 15.

Heroes are nominated by the public and are chosen by an awards selection committee made of local community and business leaders. They are selected based how much their actions in the community reflect the Red Cross' values, as well as the impact they will leave on residents.

Awards will be given in eight categories: adult, animal, community partner, fire/rescue, law enforcement, military, youth and the Wendell Cutting Humanitarian award.

Another major effort to bring San Diego's worst streets out of their shabby state of disrepair got underway Monday.

Over the next year, the city expects to upgrade about 300 miles -- double the distance of last year’s fixes -- at a cost of $74 million.

The five-year target is to fix a thousand miles, almost a third of San Diego’s roadway system.

The last complete survey of city streets in 2011 showed that 40 percent were in "fair" condition, with 25 percent rated "poor."

By now there’s increasing momentum toward getting those numbers into higher categories.

Monday’s starting point for the latest push was the 9900 block of Rio San Diego Road in Mission Valley.

It's a heavily traveled stretch through dense housing complexes, business and commercial centers that gets even more traffic during Chargers game days and holiday shopping season.

Nearby residents watching the news conference involving a delegation of City Hall bigwigs, including Mayor Kevin Faulconer and two councilmembers, were happy to get the word.

"I like that they're actually fixing the roads. Potholes can be pretty inconvenient to everybody and it's dangerous," Tonia Gamara told NBC 7.

"Especially when it rains, obviously the new potholes emerge and it's pretty important that they do this … it's the danger factor and people can get hurt," she added.

Officials say about a third of the work calls for a "mill and pave overlay," which should last about five years.

Most of the rest will take a more superficial "slurry seal" application," with a small fraction needing deep new concrete replacements.

It's a given that motorists will applaud the accelerated improvements, but the news figures to be even more welcome to folks traveling on two wheels.

Bicyclists don't have cushy tires and shock absorbers to soften the jarring of cracks and potholes, or seat belts and air bags to protect them from worse outcomes.

"It's needed, to put some money into it -- I could definitely see that,” said Greg Bayard, as he lugged a racing bike into North Park’s Adams Avenue Bicycles for tire repairs.

"It's pretty easy to get a flat tire," he said. "When the rain comes, you can see the cracks open up. It's definitely not the quality that you would see in some other cities."

Nate Whitsell, one of the shop’s mechanics, seconded that observation.

"I've had my hands knocked off the handlebars, not seeing a pothole, not seeing a crack in the road, and had some close calls,” Whitsell recalled. “But that's something we've come to expect and accept bicycling in San Diego … obviously, as they continue to pave, we're just thankful."

All this work isn't just being bankrolled by San Diego bond money.

Also in the mix are regional TransNet gas taxes and state Proposition 42 funds, accounting for the many other drivers – and cyclists -- who use city streets.

From national parks to amusement parks, the selfie stick is everywhere.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park got a gangly new resident for its East Africa habitat Monday morning.

A Ugandan giraffe calf, born on June 22, left his care area for the first time, following his mother Chinde to the habitat’s watering hole.

The zoo baby, named Congo after the famous African river, already stands more than six feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds.

Zoo officials say though all nine types of giraffes are in decline, the Ugandan giraffe is the only endangered subspecies. Fewer than 700 remain in small, isolated populations in Kenya and Uganda, experts believe.

Congo is the 161st giraffe born at the Safari Park since its opening in 1972, and he joins the 11 other members of the park’s herd.

Along with Giraffe Conservation Foundation, the San Diego Zoo Global organization is trying to work with Kenyan pastoralists to protect the remaining giraffes on the savanna.

Police have ended their initial search for the body of a 7-month-old who may have plunged into the Connecticut River when his suicidal father jumped off the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown late Sunday night.

Police said the baby's father, Tony Moreno, 22, of Middletown, called someone threatening suicide before jumping into the river around 11:45 p.m. Sunday. That person dialed 911 and told officers Moreno's baby boy, Aaden, was making noises in the background.

Officers rushed to the scene and saw Moreno jump. Middletown firefighters pulled him to shore and a LifeStar medical helicopter airlifted Moreno to the hospital, where he was initially listed in serious condition.

After searching the water for nearly 24 hours, authorities called it quits for the night, with no sign of Aaden's body.

State police issued a Silver Alert for the boy Monday morning but later said the chances of finding him alive are slim.

"The Middletown police department has been able to confirm that a 7-month-old listed as missing did enter the Connecticut River last night. The search for the 7-month-old boy is now classified as a recovery," Middletown police spokesman Lt. Heather Desmond said during a news conference Monday afternoon.

Moreno, meanwhile, has improved in the hospital and is now listed in stable condition. Police said he's conscious and alert, but it's not clear if Moreno has told investigators what may have happened to his young son.

Police are still investigating but said they expect to file charges.

Community members gathered at the Middletown green Monday evening to hold a candlelight vigil for Aaden. A Facebook group entitled "Help Find Aaden Moreno!!" has garnered the support of more than 1,500 people.

Aaden is 2 feet tall and weighs 23 pounds, according to the Silver Alert issued Monday. He was last seen wearing black pants and a black-and-white striped shirt with a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front.

In Connecticut, police will issue a Silver Alert for any child who is missing, along with missing people over the age of 65 and any other missing people who might have a medical condition requiring treatment.

Connecticut State Police will issue an Amber Alert when there is an "absolute emergency" in which the life of a child is in danger.

Middletown police ask anyone with information on the baby's whereabouts to call the police department at 860-638-4000.