A week after getting torched for four touchdowns and 396 yards by the winless Oakland Raiders and rookie quarterback Derek Carr, the Chargers defense is hunkering down and getting back to basics.

“We worked on getting to the quarterback as a front four,” said defensive end Corey Liuget. “Last week, the guy did have more time than any other quarterback we faced, but they did a pretty good job protecting up front.”

Next up is a new challenge in a Kansas City Chiefs squad that favors the run, but still has a quarterback who can make plays in Alex Smith.

“He’s running the system the way it’s supposed to be run,” Chargers coach Mike McCoy said of Smith. “The success he’s had all last year and the success he’s had this year, he’s very efficient … and his ability to make plays with his feet when things aren’t there.”\

While the Chiefs rank 29th in pass yards per game (197), Smith still brings a mobility the Chargers have not seen much of this season.

“We gotta make sure we’re tight on coverage and when he scrambles, we gotta have good rush lanes to minimize his plays, not only with his arm but with his feet,” McCoy said.

Liuget is confident his line mates can step up and put pressure on a Chiefs offensive line that has allowed 13 sacks this season.

“(Last week) we didn’t play to our standards, definitely,” he said. “We just gotta get back to it. We came out here to practice and got the bad taste out of our mouth."

They are also preparing for a big dose of the ground game from a team that ranks fourth in the league in rushing yards.

“We’re expecting to see Jamaal Charles carry the ball at least 20 times,” Liuget said. “He’s a heck of a runner. He’s a downhill runner.”

As for a secret weapon, the Bolts downplayed the impact of cornerback Brandon Flowers, who spent his first six seasons in Kansas City.

“Anytime you have players that come from other places and things like that, at times you’ll see something,” McCoy said. “But we’re putting our plans in and doing what we do.”

Added quarterback Philip Rivers: “Anything he can lend to the normal preparation, but certainly I’m not overdoing it.”

A mouse trapped in North County has tested positive for the potentially deadly hantavirus and now local health officials are warning residents to be extra careful when cleaning.

The mouse was trapped in a rural part of Fallbrook and was the seventh mouse that’s tested positive for hantavirus in the county this year, according to the San Diego Department of Environmental Health.

In July, another trapped mouse in Pala Mesa tested positive for hantavirus.

Residents can contract hantavirus, a group of viruses that infect rodents and can be deadly to humans, when cleaning or sweeping where infected mice have nested. Hantavirus can also be contracted by inhaling infected rodent droppings.

It’s rare for humans to contract hantavirus as long as wild rodents stay in the wild and don’t creep into garages, sheds, homes and cabins, health officials said.

Here’s how you can protect yourself, according to San Diego health officials:

• Seal up all external holes in homes, garages and sheds larger than a dime to keep rodents from getting in.
• Eliminate rodent infestations immediately.
• Avoid rodent-infested areas and don’t stir up dust or materials that may be contaminated with rodent droppings and urine.
• Clean up rodent droppings and urine using a wet cleaning method.

Drought conditions are likely to "persist or intensify" during what forecasters expect to be a warm winter in California, where water scarcity led to critically low reservoir levels and calls to conserve during the state's third consecutive dry year.

The dire winter outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration comes after a summer of punishing heat and disappointing 2013 rain season that was part of California's driest year on record.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor update has all of California in some type of drought category, just as the government-issued report has shown for the last three months. More than 58 percent of the state is considered in "exceptional drought," the most severe category assigned in the weekly report.

Some regions might see slight improvement this winter, but Californians hoping for significant and widespread relief, especially in the parched Central Valley region, are unlikely to find it during the coming months. California historically sees most of its rain for the year from November through February and early spring months.

"Complete drought recovery in California this winter is highly unlikely," said Mike Halpert, acting director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. "While we're predicting at least a 2 in 3 chance that winter precipitation will be near or above normal throughout the state, with such widespread, extreme deficits, recovery will be slow."

Record drought will likely "persist or intensify in large parts of the state," according to a NOAA outlook released Thursday. The precipitation outlook points to above-average rainfall across the southern half of the state and improved drought conditions for the northwest region, according to NOAA.

But any chance of significant improvement depends largely on El Nino -- the Tropical Pacific weather phenomenon that affects weather patterns. Strong El Nino patterns draw moisture into California, but a weak El Nino would probably not generate enough rainfall to affect drought levels.

Forecasters continue to assess whether El Nino conditions will develop this winter, according to NOAA. The latest estimate places the chance of El Nino at 67 percent.

The warm winter forecast follows a summer of record heat and late-season heat wave that exacerbated drought conditions and sped evapotranspiration -- the transfer of water from soil and other surfaces to the atmosphere by evaporation and by transpiration from plants.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in January, as vanishing snowpack and rainfall has led to farmers fallowing fields and mandatory water restrictions. The next month, the Legislature approved fast-tracked legislation to address the immediate effects of the three-year drought on communities while accelerating bond funding for public works projects that will better prepare agencies for future droughts.

Last month, state water officials released plans for spending almost a third of the $687 million emergency drought relief package. More than $200 million in expedited bond funding would benefit 110 projects throughout the state.

A sinkhole opened up along a major route in Oceanside, causing morning commuters to follow a detour early Thursday.

The sinkhole at El Camino Real and Mesa Drive measures approximately 22 feet wide and 10 feet deep.

The road began to buckle after a 30-inch ductile iron pipe broke just after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

City crews estimate the pipe was first installed back in the late-1980's.

Repairs to the pipe could be completed by noon Thursday. However, it may take another day before the road is repaved.

Robert Gutierrez, City of Oceanside Water Utilities Department said it was a 30 inch transmission water main that had blown out.

No one is without water.

Nearby customers should anticipate two to three days to complete the repairs.

A U.S. Navy petty officer injured when his truck was pushed off a San Diego highway overpass and fell 50 feet to the ground says he has experienced pain he wouldn’t even wish on the man who hit him and then drove off.

Years in the military and seven deployments couldn’t prepare Kenneth Freudenvoll for the devastating accident along the off-ramp from Interstate 8 in Mission Valley on September 21.

“When I went over, I literally thought that was it. I thought, 'I’m done - this is where my life ends. I’m never going to see my family again,'" Freudenvoll told NBC 7.

Freudenvoll’s truck was struck by a Ford Excursion driven by Jose Uribe, 20. The impact caused Freudenvoll to lose control, go over the guardrail and fall more than 50 feet to the parking lot below.

Uribe is accused of leaving the scene of the crash after Freudenvoll’s truck went over the guardrail.

“I wonder how he feels knowing he’s completely changed my life from how it was to now,” Freudenvoll said.

Freudenvoll is employed as an E6, First Class Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy with a young son Jacob Tyler and a wife who is four months pregnant.

Jacob Tyler used stickers to decorate Freudenvoll’s brace which he called “Daddy’s turtle shell.”

While his command has been very supportive as he recovers, Freudenvoll was still concerned about the future of his military career.

The concern for his family’s future brought the Navy boat tech to tears.

The fall obliterated a portion of Freudenvoll’s lower spine, crushing his second and fourth vertebrae.

A bone shard in his spine caused him to lose feelings in his legs. Once that was removed, he regained some sensation.

“It was almost like getting to hold my son for the first time. It was an awesome feeling,” he said.

He has had two surgeries so far. Metal rods now hold it together as it heals. He said there are months of therapy ahead and he has been told there is a good chance he will walk again with some assistance.

On Monday, he was grateful to spend the afternoon outside the hospital for the first time since the crash.

Freudenvoll believes the Dave and Busters building helped him survive the fall. He said if his truck had not hit the building and leveled off before hitting the ground, he would have hit the concrete nose first.

He’s also very pleased with his choice of vehicle.  “I’ll attest to anyone Ford trucks are built “Ford tough” for sure,” he said.

He said the manager from Dave and Busters sat with him while he waited for emergency crews and even called his wife.

Witnesses reported seeing Uribe’s vehicles driving erratically on the ramp moments before the accident.

He has pleaded not guilty to hit-and-run charges. Prosecutors claim Uribe left the scene because he was driving without a license.

He is being held without bail because he’s on probation related to a false imprisonment charge and concealing evidence in a 2012 rape case.

Police are looking for a couple who has allegedly been scamming strangers in New York City into giving them thousands of dollars in cash as part of an elaborate fake-lottery winnings plot. 

In each case, a woman approaches a victim and claims to be an undocumented immigrant with a winning lottery ticket, according to police. The woman asks the victim if they could help cash the winning ticket.

Then a second suspect, a well-dressed man who sometimes carries a Bible, swoops in and offers to help, claiming to know a lawyer who could help claim the lottery winnings and split the money, police said. The man says the lawyer would require money up front, and that's when the victim is persuaded into giving up cash. 

The victims were approached in Manhattan and Brooklyn from March through August, and the suspects have gotten anywhere from $450 to $6,000 in cash from each victim, plus up to $3,600 worth of jewelry, according to police. 

The victims were all women, ranging in age from 28 to 81. 

The male suspect is described as being in his 50s, about 5 feet 3 inches in height with a slim build. The female suspect is in her 40s to 50s, about 4 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 3 inches tall and known to wear a wig. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS. 

A nurse's simple three-day trip from Dallas to Cleveland and back triggered a new batch of Ebola precautions Thursday by an airline, an Ohio bridal shop, nine schools and an untold number of people worried about the spread of the potentially deadly virus.

Amber Vinson, who is the second Dallas nurse to contract Ebola and one of 87 health care workers who cared for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan before he died last week, is being treated at the Atlanta hospital where two other Americans have recovered from the virus.

She had traveled to Ohio last weekend to visit her mother and fiancé and to plan her upcoming wedding. She flew to Cleveland on Friday, Oct. 10, and back to DFW Monday.

Officials and others in Dallas and in Ohio were making new efforts Thursday to ensure the virus didn't spread.

Ohio health investigators are trying to track down people who visited Akron bridal shop Coming Attractions when Vinson was there with friends Saturday afternoon and set up a hotline for customers who may have been exposed. The shop's owners voluntarily shuttered it after Vinson was diagnosed.

The airline that Vinson had flown to and from Cleveland, Frontier Airlines, was taking new precautions Thursday to protect its customers on seven flights as well.

The CDC said Thursday that it had contacted and interviewed 105 of the 132 people on Vinson's flight from Cleveland to DFW on Monday, Frontier Flight 1143, and advised several passengers who were near her on the plane will be monitored by health officials for symptoms.

CDC Director of Public Affairs Dr. Barbara Reynolds said that passengers on the Monday flight will be split into two groups. The first group is people of low risk, and that’s the vast majority of passengers. They will be contacted to be informed and to have their questions answered. The second group, a “few passengers” who sat close to Vinson, will be interviewed about their potential exposure to Vinson on the flight. Reynolds said a health official will monitor them for fever and other symptoms for 21 days.

Any other monitoring or movement restrictions will be imposed by local or state health officials.

The airline was also reaching out to passengers on Vinson's Friday, Oct. 10, flight from DFW to Cleveland, even though she was asymptomatic at the time, the airline said Thursday afternoon.

"We can't rule out that she might have had the start of her illness on Friday," Dr. Chris Braden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, citing new information developed by investigators tracing all of Vinson's contacts. "This new information is saying we need to go back now to the flight she took on Friday the 10th and include them in our investigation of contacts."

Before returning to Dallas on Monday, Oct. 13, Vinson had called the CDC to report a low-grade fever, a symptom of Ebola. She was not told that she could not fly back to Dallas-Fort Worth, the CDC and Associated Press reported Wednesday.

A day after she landed, she was hospitalized and confirmed to have contracted the deadly disease. On Wednesday, in a hazmat bubble suit, Vinson was flown to Atlanta to be treated at Emory University Hospital.

Her mother remained in Dallas, under voluntary quarantine, and is being monitored for symptoms.

Airline Tracks Passengers Who May Have Been Exposed

Frontier also wants to talk to passengers approximately 750 additional passengers who were on five other flights that the plane she took Monday made after she returned to Dallas and before she was diagnosed, to let them know they too may be at low risk for infection.

Those five flights included Flight 2042 from DFW to Cleveland, Flight 1104 from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale, Flight 1105 from Fort Lauderdale to Cleveland, Flight 1101 from Cleveland to Atlanta and Flight 1100 from Atlanta to Cleveland.

Frontier said Thursday the CDC has no concerns that these passengers are at risk, however, if they have any concerns, they should contact their local health authorities.

In addition to being cleaned every night at the end of the service day, the plane was also cleaned after the airline was notified about Vinson's condition. It was then flown to the airline's hub at Denver International on Wednesday, where airline officials said seat covers and carpet in the vicinity of Vinson's seat were being removed.

The six-member crew that worked on Vinson's flight has already been removed from duty and placed on paid leave for 21 days while its members self-monitor for Ebola symptoms.

Schools in Texas, Ohio React to Ebola Threat

Central Texas' Belton Independent School District closed three campuses Thursday after learning that two students were on the same flight as Vinson. The schools, the North Belton Middle School, Sparta Elementary School and Early Childhood School, will all be cleaned.

The Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District said the parent of a student was on the same flight and that the family is under voluntary quarantine for 21 days and will self-monitor for symptoms.

The district said on its website they disinfected the school twice out of an abundance of caution. Tarrant County Public Health said the district chose to do that, there was no request or requirement because no one has presented symptoms of the disease.

The parents of four Garland Independent School District students who attended North Garland High School and Schrade Middle School were aboard the flight with Vinson. All parents have been in contact with the CDC and have been assured their seating location was in a no-risk area. The schools are being cleaned as a precaution.

Two people in Lewisville related to three students and a staff member in the Lewisville Independent School District were also on Vinson's flight. According to the CDC they were at minimal risk of exposure to Ebola and, according to Dr. Matt Richardson with the Denton County Health Department, there is no need to quarantine anyone or close a school. The names of the schools have not been released by the district or Denton County Health Department.

In Royse City, two schools are being closed for cleaning because a family member with children at Davis Elementary and Ruth Cherry Intermediate schools is a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas and worked on one of the Ebola cases.

"We chose to do what we did. No one told us to," Royse City Indpendent School District Superintendent Kevin Worthy said. "We just want to make sure it's a safe environment."

Additionally, two schools in the Cleveland area were closed Thursday after it was confirmed a middle school staff member traveled on a different Frontier flight from Dallas to Cleveland that may have been the same aircraft on which Vinson traveled.

NBC 5's Chris Van Horne, Sam Schulz and Todd L. Davis contributed to this report.

An irate group of women, armed with mace and a baseball bat, went after a school bus full of children along the Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia Thursday afternoon, leaving a teenage student cut up from broken glass, police say.

“For someone to get out of a vehicle and use a baseball bat and break a window of a yellow school bus knowing that it’s full of students – that’s pretty bizarre,” said Philadelphia Chief Inspector Scott Small.

The apparent road rage incident occurred around 3 p.m. when the bus stopped for a red light in the southbound lanes of the Boulevard (U.S. Route 1) near Levick Street, according to Philadelphia Police.

An initial investigation revealed that a group of 14- and 15-year-olds -- 21 students in total -- on the bus began yelling at a Chevrolet Tahoe full of women.

“There was some verbal argument between the students on the bus as well as four occupants of the Chevy Tahoe,” said Small.

The women became angry and pulled their green SUV in front of the bus, blocking its path, said police.

Two women then got out of the SUV and began attacking the outside of the bus using a baseball bat and mace, said investigators. During the attack the women sprayed mace onto the front of the bus and broke the window directly behind the bus driver, sending broken glass onto a student who injured his wrists. Police said that student is expected to be OK.

The unidentified driver of the Tahoe and her passenger got back into her vehicle and drove off down Horrocks Street, said investigators.

Police said there was no indication the women also tried to board the bus.

The bus stopped a short time later across the street from Gilbert Pruance Elementary School at Horrocks and Hellerman streets. The school nurse then treated the injured student and sent him on his way.

It wasn't clear what school the students attend, but they apparently don't attend school in Philadelphia.

Investigators continued to search for the Tahoe and its driver Thursday evening. It wasn't clear if the on-board bus video were operational at the time of the attack.

A referendum to overturn San Diego’s minimum wage increase has the green light after it received 56,000 signatures, well more than the required 44,000 signatures to qualify for the 2016 election.

The San Diego Small Business Coalition-led referendum will now go before the San Diego City Council, which has ten business days to act. The council can do one of three things: rescind the ordinance, schedule a special election, or place it on the next regularly scheduled election, which is June 7, 2016.

The council will decide what to do with referendum at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday.

Council President Todd Gloria said he is confident the city’s new minimum wage, which was supposed to take effect in January, will eventually be enacted.

“I will ask my Council colleagues to place this measure on the June 2016 ballot and am confident voters will approve this necessary and common sense increase to the minimum wage and the provision of five earned sick days,” he said in a statement.

Gloria said 63 percent of San Diegans support increasing the minimum wage, according to a recent poll.

Under the San Diego’s Earned Sick Leave-Minimum Wage Ordinance, the minimum wage in San Diego will rise to $9.75 on Jan. 1, 2015. Further wage hikes would be phased in to $11.50 an hour by 2017, followed by automatic inflation escalators.

Through the proposal, 279,000 will have the opportunity to earn up to five sick days per year.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer vetoed the measure on Aug. 8 but a 6-2 vote from the City Council was enough to override the veto.

Some local business owners said they couldn’t absorb the costs associated with a higher minimum wage.

“The extreme increase in local wages, just months after the state-mandated 25 percent increase, is too much for small businesses to absorb,” small business owner Ann Kinner said in a statement. “It is already very difficult to keep a business open in this environment and to now increase costs by this amount is just too much. It will force us to cut jobs and benefits, raise prices, or close our doors.”

A Harvard college student who finally got permission to return to the U.S. after he took his dying mother to Mexico spoke to NBC4 Los Angeles on Wednesday about his journey home.

Dario Guerrero Meneses, 21, and his mother left Long Beach in July to find medical help in Mexico when chemotherapy had failed, aware that his illegal status could prevent him from ever returning to United States once he left.

Meneses was granted permission to return home Tuesday.

"I was immensely relieved, because for a second I was starting to believe I would be stuck here for more months, maybe years," Meneses said.

Thanks to a humanitarian parole order, Meneses thinks he'll be back in Long Beach in a week or two.

"We're just counting the days," he said.

Meneses, who came to the U.S. illegally, was granted reprieve from deportation in 2012 under the Dream Act. When Meneses left the U.S. without getting permission to leave, he violated those terms. When he tried to return, his attempts were denied.

He risked never being able to return to the U.S. by going to Mexico -- a decision he says he will never regret.

He was by his mother's side when she died in August.

"What I wanted my mom to know is that she was first in my thoughts, always," Meneses said. "It's unfortunate that I couldn't do more for her, but I'm glad i was able to with her for her journey."

He wants to turn his journey into a documentary he hopes will inspire change.

"Many sway, some people who have a skewed view of what being undocumented means and who the undocumented people in the United States are, what kind of people they are," Meneses said. "What I hope to achieve by sharing my story is to give at least some of the undocumented students hope, hope that they can actually make a future for themselves in the United States, and hope that things will be OK."
 

The wrongful death lawsuit filed in the case of Rebecca Zahau, whose body was found hanging at a historic Coronado mansion, will move forward, a federal judge ordered this week.

Zahau’s family claims her death was a murder, not a suicide, perpetrated by family members of the alleged victim’s millionaire boyfriend Jonah Shacknai, who owned the famous Spreckels Mansion where Zahau’s nude body was discovered dangling from a second-story balcony on July 13, 2011.

"Nobody that's looked at this evidence has said it's anything other than murder," said Zahau family attorney Keith Greer.

After a lawsuit was dismissed three times, the family filed an amended wrongful death complaint in July 2014 against defendants Adam and Dina Shacknai — Jonah’s brother and ex-wife — and Dina’s twin sister Nina Romano, claiming they conspired to batter Zahau.

"The judge in this case made us really come forward with evidence and show exactly who did what, when they did it and how they did it," said Greer. "And we included that in this complaint."

On Wednesday, United States District Judge Thomas Whelan denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The Zahau family refuses to accept the results of the San Diego County Sheriff’s investigation, which found Zahau committed suicide by hanging because she felt guilty over the death of Jonah’s 6-year-old son Max. The boy had died just two days before her death after falling at home under Zahau’s watch.

Instead, the $10 million lawsuit claims Adam, Dina and Nina “actively participated in the planning, implementation, execution and subsequent concealment of the scheme to murder (Zahau).”

Dina is accused of striking Zahau in the back of the head four times with a blunt object as she and Nina confronted the alleged victim about Max’s death.

"We had an independent medical examiner look at the case. He found four blows on the back of her head that the San Diego Cororner didn't find," said Greer.

He claims once Zahau was unconscious, the three defendants had to figure out what to do next.

The plaintiffs say Adam carried Zahau’s body into the house, where the trio stripped off her clothing, gagged her, and tied her up with tape.

According to the lawsuit, Adam allegedly bound Zahau with a rope and chocked her to death, later throwing her body over the edge of an adjacent balcony while “either Dina or Nina was sitting on the bed to which the rope was secured,” the court document states.

Zahau’s family accuses Dina of instructing Adam to paint the cryptic message “SHE SAVED HIM. CAN YOU SAVE HER” on the door outside.

The motive: Max's death, Greer alleges.

"Dina thinks that Rebecca was involved with her son's death, Rebecca stole her husband. That's the kind of rage that kills," said Greer.

Attempts to reach Dina on this latest development were unsuccessful.

But in court documents, the defendants flatly deny all the accusations put forward in the lawsuit.

Their attorneys say the complaint remains “devoid of facts and this lace of factual content makes the allegations made on information and believe implausible.”

The claim directly contradicts the coroner’s findings, which stated Zahau’s cause of death was suicide.

However, Judge Whelan said looking at the accusations in a light most favorable to the plaintiffs, the factual allegations are sufficient to support the conspiracy theory.

Greer believes the case will not be settled and will go to a jury trial. Depositions start next week.

The parents of James Foley, the New Hampshire journalist slain by ISIS, say it is "deplorable" that an image of their son moments before his execution has appeared in a conservative ad campaign.

James Foley's mother and father, Diane and John, told NECN in an emotional interview that they are demanding that the ad be pulled from New Hampshire.

Diane Foley remembers her son as a courageous and compassionate man who helped give a voice to people suffering in Syria.

"He was just the best of America," she said.

The image of her son in an orange jumpsuit just seconds before Islamist extremist militants executed him is something she tries to forget. But a new campaign ad from a conservative group called Secure America Now is forcing the Foley family to relive that horrific moment.

"I think it is deplorable, and there should be an apology," said John Foley.

Secure America Now uses the image in a 15-second internet ad attacking Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and other Democratic incumbents in critical Senate races nationwide.

"It makes me very sad that people would use the brutality of our son's death for their own political purposes," Mrs. Foley said.

The president of Secure America Now, Allen Roth, says the group did not contact the Foley family before making the ad public.

"The image has appeared around the world millions of times. We meant no harm; we just took an image that is in public domain, and we used it," Roth told NECN in a phone interview Thursday.

Sen. Shaheen has called the ad disgraceful, and her Republican challenger Scott Brown called it disrespectful. People in Foley's hometown of Rochester couldn't agree more.

"To see this brought back and put in our faces has been really appalling, and I hope the ad goes away very soon," said Rochester Mayor T.J. Jean.

Roth says the group doesn't plan to issue any apologies, saying the ad is simply not controversial.

"I am saying there is an attempt to create a controversy here, and that attempt is purely political," Roth told NECN.

Foley's parents say this has nothing to do with politics. This is about being human.

"I would just like them to have the sensitivity and compassion to withdraw that image from their campaign," Mrs. Foley said.

Secure America Now emphasizes that the Foley execution video and the image have been used in other campaigns across the country several different times.

After talking with NECN, Roth said the group would consider pulling the ad from New Hampshire out of respect for Foley and his family.

Because of the ad, the state Democratic party is now calling on Scott Brown to return $10,000 of campaign funds it says Brown received from John Bolton, a Secure America Now board member.

The Brown campaign did not respond to NECN's specific request for comment on that issue.

However, Roth made it clear that SAN board members are not involved in creating ads, nor do they see them before they go public. Roth says Bolton had nothing to do with this.
 

A family grieving the loss of a loved one says it's now dealing with a second loss, after they say the funeral home gave them the ashes of a stranger.

“She was sick and suffering while she was alive,” said Maley Michel, sister of the late Annie Hughes. “Her body went through so much. And now that the Lord has done called her to rest, her body is still not resting. Where is my sister? Where is she?”

Michel, her daughters and other family members say Hughes, 54, died in June. The family said they began to get suspicious about things when weeks went by and the ashes of Hughes weren’t returned following cremation. The family said they know the ashes given to them weren’t Annie’s.

“I got nightmares. I dream she’s in a garbage disposal. I dream she was packed in a bag thrown on the highway somewhere,” Michel said. “I dream her body is just decomposing somewhere with no dignity.”

The family said Hughes’ daughter, Rhonda Mitchell, chose the Taylor Smith West Funeral Home in Belle Glade to fulfill her mother’s wish to be cremated. Mtchell said four months ago she paid over $5,000 for the cremation. When no ashes arrived, she started asking questions, and then ashes were delivered.

“She told me it was my mom,” Mitchell said about the ashes that were delivered.

The family said the funeral home gave them a document to prove the ashes that were delivered came from Annie Hughes. However, the operation of the cremation facility in West Palm Beach told the family, and NBC 6, that Hughes’ body never came to them.

“We have no record of her being in here at all,” said Diane Edgley of Edgley Crematory.

When asked what she thought when she saw the paperwork that was given to the family, Edgley said, “It was a forgery, no doubt.”

The crematory said on the alleged forgery, the permit number and ID number for the body at the top are completely missing. In addition, the crematory said the alleged forgers used the wrong address for the crematory business and that the signature on the document wasn’t accurate.

NBC 6’s Willard Shepard went to the funeral home trying to get an answer, but Sonya Rumph of the Taylor Smith West Funeral Home said she didn’t want to comment on the story.

Fort Lauderdale attorney Vincent Pravato filed a complaint with the state and said the family has filed suit against the funeral home. In addition, the state is opening an investigation to determine if the ashes given to the family are in fact those of Annie Hughes.

“So many things have transpired that fly in the face of law and all reasonableness,” Pravato said. “My first and foremost thought here is locating the body.”

Pravato said the next step in the case is to go to court to try to secure an injunction to get inside the funeral home to see if Hughes’ body may still be there. 

Chula Vista Police officers trying to solve a recent theft of more than $20,000 from a gas station have released surveillance images of two potential suspects.

The men walked into the Optimart at Third and Orange avenues just after 2:30 p.m. on Friday, August 15.

Investigators say one of the men distracted the clerk while the second man walked into the gas station through a back door into a back office. There, officers say the man stole the bank deposit worth approximately $21,000.

The first suspect is described as 5-feet, 7-inches tall, 160 pounds with a goatee and short hair.

The second suspect is described as 6-foot tall, 250 pounds with short dark and gray hair and a salt and pepper goatee.

Both men wore Bluetooth earpieces in their right ears, police said.

San Diego Police are looking into the possibility that the second suspect may be responsible for a similar theft in Mira Mesa that occurred on July 1 at 1:38 p.m.

In that incident, someone stole $11,200 in cash from an unlocked safe at a Wines & Spirits store.

Anyone with information on either case may contact Det. Scott Schneider, Chula Vista Police at (619) 407- 3582 or call the CVPD "Help Us Solve-A-Crime" tipline at 619-422-TIPS (8477).
 

Chula Vista City Council candidate John McCann filed a lawsuit today against a trade union he says defamed him in a political mailer.

McCann claims the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, distributed the mailer last week saying he was “sentenced for felony.”

McCann served on the Sweetwater School District board with four other members who were convicted in a widespread corruption scandal that included Sweetwater District president Jim Cartmill. He was the only member not indicted.

“Chula Vista deserves better,” McCann said at a press conference on Thursday. “The negative campaign that the special interests that are supporting my opponent and my opponent’s negative campaign is something that is turning people off.”

He is running against former Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla in the City Council race. Padilla said he received the mailer and didn't see anything inaccurate.

"I think what this entire lawsuit and press conference says is that John is running from his time at Sweetwater," he said. "Just because he was not indicted does not mean he wasn’t part of the culture of corruption in this community."

McCann said he wants to focus on other issues in the area, such as his controversial plan to put a two-month moratorium on the toll on State Road 125.

A Southern California community college evacuated part of its campus after a student told an instructor she and her family had been quarantined for possible exposure to Ebola — a story she made up so she would not be dropped for missing class, school officials say.

Students at Southwestern College in Chula Vista were evacuated Thursday morning after the student contacted her instructor to report why she had been absent. She told her professor she wasn't feeling well and her sister was hospitalized after a trip to the Midwest.

As a precaution, school officials shut down one building and sent a safety alert via text to all students and staff, according to Public Information Officer Lillian Leopold.

The student was isolated, and about 50 other students and two faculty members were kept inside the building as the San Diego County Department of Health and Human Services was notified.

Officials quickly brought in a school nurse to evaluate the student.

"Our campus nurse has thoroughly examined the student, and there is no expectation of Ebola," Leopold said.

After the student was found to have no infectious disease, she recanted her story and admitted no one in her family has been in the hospital. The Associated Press reported that she made up the story so she would not be dropped because of her absence.

"This is now a student conduct manner and will be treated in accordance with the district's policy and procedures," a release from Leopold stated.

The university was following protocols in place that include contacting county officials as well as Chula Vista Police and Chula Vista Fire.

“Help us communicate that Southwestern is OK,” Cash said.

Second year student Michael Hall told NBC 7 that he was in Room 472. He said the student was in Room 471 and then moved to a teacher’s office.

History professor Laura Ryan arrived to campus Thursday morning and was told not to go to her normal classroom, room 471. She said other faculty and union members told her it was being cordoned off by students and faculty.

Ryan said approximately eight of her students were held in a hallway.

Southwestern College posted this message via Facebook:

"A precaution has been taken regarding a student whose family member reported flu-like symptoms and was hospitalized. The Campus Police have cordoned off the 470 area. The County Department of Health has been called and is in transit to assess the situation."

Images posted to social media by students showed a large number of students still on campus but standing outside buildings.

Check back for updates on this developing story. Send breaking news images or video to isee@nbcsandiego.com or hashtag #NBC7 on Instagram. 

The controversial One Paseo project is one step closer to construction after the San Diego planning commission unanimously approved its plan Thursday.

The proposal for the $50 million mixed-use village in Carmel Valley, slated for the corner of Del Mar Heights Road and El Camino Real, will now be sent to the San Diego City Council for final approval.

The development would include more than 600 family apartments, a parking structure, retail shops, eateries and a movie theater expansion, filling more than 23 acres across the street from the Del Mar Highlands Town Center.

The city planning commission gave its OK on the condition that 11 changes be made to the master plan, to which developer Kilroy Realty agreed.

“We are gratified by the Commissioners’ acknowledgement that One Paseo clearly implements the General Plan’s City of Village strategy and is the very best use for this last undeveloped piece of land in Carmel Valley,” the company said in a statement.

But many disagree. In recent months, the One Paseo plan has encountered opposition from residents concerned about overdevelopment and the impact it will have on Carmel Valley.

Last month, the Carmel Valley Planning Board voted against One Paseo’s Reduced Main Street plan, but it supported the Reduced Mixed Use Alternative with additional square footage.

"They've downsized it and they've named it 'reduced,' which is great marketing, but it's really not reduced,” said opponent Ken Farinsky. “It's really three times the size of what's allowed there now and four times the traffic. It's just -- it's not a reduced project."

Others argue the buildings will be too tall and will only add traffic and pedestrian problems.

But resident Virginia Partridge said she has seen developers listen carefully to locals’ feedback and make changes based on it.

"The opponents are very emotional. They're boisterous, and they're heard,” said Partridge. “The people that support the project, I'm finding, assume it will be approved because it's so good for the community."

She told NBC 7 it provides a place for people to be entertained, to meet and to work, and Partridge is in favor of the 24/7 traffic control system in the works.

If approved by the city council, construction on One Paseo would begin in late 2015 and finish up in mid-2017.

A suspicious device investigation at Nestor home led to the discovery of an illicit "military starter kit" inside a girl's room.

An emergency call came in at 4:40 p.m. Thursday from a home in the 2000 block of Grove Avenue.

San Diego Police say a mother told them her 20-year-old daughter had something in her room that seemed suspicious.

Investigators called in a bomb squad to determine if that item posed a threat. Sgt. Brad O'Donnell said inside the room, the team found a "military starter kit," which the woman was not supposed to have. He did not specify what that kit contained.

However, they say the items were not an immediate threat.

The daughter has been detained for questioning.

Officials suspect the kit was taken from a military post somewhere, and they will continue investigating it.

Check back here for details on this developing story.

The first Dallas nurse diagnosed with Ebola is in fair but stable condition after being flown to Maryland for treatment at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, her doctors said Friday.

Nina Pham's admitting physician Dr. Anthony Fauci said Pham is "still experiencing some symptoms" but is "resting comfortably."

"We fully intend on having this patient walk out this hospital and we'll do everything we can to make that happen," Fauci said at a news conference Friday morning.

Pham appeared to be in good spirits in a rare, emotional video shot in her Dallas hospital room Thursday, just before she was flown to Maryland.

"Come to Maryland, everybody!" patient Nina Pham told Dr. Gary Weinstein and another health care worker treating her in the video, both of them wearing full protective suits, as the three of them became emotional. "I love you guys," she said.

• “I Can No Longer Defend My Hospital”: Dallas Nurse Says Texas Health Presbyterian Unprepared for Ebola

World renowned immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci confirms he will be admitting physician for #ebola stricken nurse @NIH @nbcwashington

— Jackie Bensen (@jackiebensen) October 17, 2014

Pham, who contracted Ebola after caring for patient Thomas Eric Duncan at a Dallas hospital, is now in the "care of physicians nurses and technicians with extensive training, experience and knowledge of infectious disease and infectious disease control,” Fauci said. Pham, 26, is the first patient diagnosed with the disease in the U.S.

She was flown to Frederick, Maryland, on Thursday night, after having been treated at the Dallas hospital where she works, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Her plane touched down at about 10:35 p.m. Pham was able to walk from the plane to a waiting ambulance.

Some residents of Frederick drove to the airport to witness Pham's arrival.

"I don't think people are worried," said resident Dan Horan. "I think they have confidence that NIH and people know what they're doing."

But another resident, Frances Brown, told News4, "I have concerns about the people of Frederick County, that, you know, they shouldn't be bringing this young lady into Frederick Airport, Frederick, Maryland. So take her somewhere else."

A young woman who visited the scene at the airport bore a sign reading, "Get well soon, Nina."

Pham's ambulance arrived at NIH shortly before midnight. She was expected to be taken directly to the Clinical Center, a hospital located on the grounds of the 312-acre campus in Bethesda.

Pham contracted Ebola while helping to care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S., from the day he was placed in intensive care at Texas Health Presbyterian until the day before he died Oct. 8, NBC5 in Dallas reports.

As medical workers prepared to transport Pham via ambulance to Dallas' Love Field Thursday, her coworkers at Texas Health Presbyterian held up signs to encourage her.

Drivers in Texas were asked to honk in support of Pham if they saw her ambulance motorcade.

Pham was transported to Maryland on a charter flight operated by Phoenix Air, which took off around 8:10 p.m. and arrived at the Frederick, Maryland, Municipal Airport a little more than two hours later. From there, Pham was taken to NIH in Bethesda.

Fauci, one of the most highly respected immunologists in the world and the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Pham is now in the "care of physicians nurses and technicians with extensive training, experience and knowledge of infectious disease and infectious disease control."

Frederick's mayor, Randy McClement, said the State Department, Centers for Disease Control and local, state and federal health officials were all working to make sure the transfer happened safely.

"This transfer is being handled by experienced professionals who have coordinated the transport of many similar cases without incident," McClement said in a statement. "I have been assured that every precaution will be taken to move the patient safely and securely and to provide critical care en route."

Pham, meanwhile, expressed her gratitude.

"I'm so thankful for the outpouring of love and support from friends and family, my coworkers and complete strangers," Pham said in a statement released through Texas Health Presbyterian on Thursday. "I feel very blessed, and have gained strength from their support. I appreciate everything that my coworkers have done to care for me at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. I'm doing really well thanks to this team, which is the best in the world. I believe in my talented coworkers. I am #presbyproud!"

Texas Health Presbyterian said the decision to transfer Pham was made in consultation with Pham and her family, adding that many of the medical personnel who would usually work in the intensive care unit are currently "sidelined" for monitoring.

"It was a difficult decision to transfer Nina, a member of our own family and someone who is greatly loved and respected," said Dr. Gary Weinstein, chief of pulmonology and critical care medicine, in the statement. "We're so glad she has improved so much in such a short amount of time. Our prayers are with her, and she'll be in wonderful hands at NIH."

Pham will be admitted to the Special Clinical Studies Unit of the NIH Clinical Center, which is "specifically designed to provide high-level isolation," according to a statement released by NIH. The transfer request was made by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, according to NIH.

Pham will occupy one of two beds NIH has for Ebola patients. Last month, an American doctor who was exposed to Ebola while volunteering in Sierra Leone was monitored at NIH for the virus, but tested negative.

Fauci said it's too soon to say whether Pham will receive any experimental treatments, The Dallas Morning News reported.

"We're going to make that decision when she arrives," Fauci said, according to the newspaper. "I haven’t seen her yet. We haven't had the opportunity to examine her. So as soon as we get her into the unit and do the appropriate diagnostics -- we'll ask her first if we can make a statement because there's patient privacy involved."

Pham will be the first patient diagnosed with Ebola to be treated at NIH.

The staff in the Special Clinical Studies Unit is trained to prevent the spread of infectious diseases using "strict infection control practices."

NIH says it is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of its patients, staff and the public.

Pham and other health care workers wore protective gear, including gowns, gloves, masks and face shields -- and sometimes full-body suits -- when caring for Duncan, but she became the first person to contract the disease within the United States.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects, such as needles. It's not clear how Pham contracted the disease.

Duncan contracted the disease in his home country of Liberia after neighbors said he helped take a woman dying of Ebola to the hospital. Officials have said Duncan did not disclose having contact with an Ebola patient before he flew to Dallas to visit family members.

The D.C. Department of Health said Thursday that so far there have been 12 patients who have been presented with Ebola-like symptoms in their jurisdiction, and all of them have been cleared.

D.C. Department of Health Director Dr. Joxel Garcia said every hospital in the District is fully prepared to handle an Ebola patient, and there's no reason to panic. He said a task force is in place to monitor other jurisdictions and determine best practices.

The District is not requiring schools to ask students about their travel to West Africa, Garcia said, adding that they don't want to create a stigma for people traveling to Africa.

On Thursday, Dulles International Airport began temperature screenings for travelers coming from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in West Africa. Passengers are also being asked about exposure to anyone sick in conjunction with their temperature being taken with no-touch thermometers.

Airport officials expect to screen 15 to 55 people per day.

Several other airports have implemented similar screenings.

A second nurse who also cared for Duncan at the Dallas hospital tested positive for Ebola days after Pham. Amber Joy Vinson, 29, has been transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Vinson is being treated in the special isolation unit where three other American Ebola patients have been treated, the hospital said Wednesday night. Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were both successfully treated and discharged, and a third unidentified American still being treated there.

NBC5 contributed to this report.

The Oakland teen who set a gender non-conforming high school student's skirt on fire on an AC Bus last year pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of felony assault and inflicting great bodily injury, and agreed to serve seven years in prison.

Richard Thomas, now 17, will be sentenced on Nov. 14 in Alameda County Superior Court, after being charged as an adult in the case, according to the District Attorney's Office. The hate crime and aggravated mayhem charges, which carried a sentence of up to life in prison, were dropped.

The parents of Sasha Fleischman, who identifies as agender rather than as male or female, said in a statement that they had "mixed emotions" about the prison sentence. They have long fought to have Thomas tried in juvenile court, not as an adult.

"On the one hand, we are relieved that Sasha will not need to relive the events of past November in court. They are well on the road to recover and have moved to to the next chapter of their life," Fleischman's mother Debbie Crandall wrote.

"At the same time, our hearts go out to Richard and his family. Because of what seems to have been a childish, impulsive, tragic lack of judgement on the part of Richard, his and his family's lives have been altered even more severely than ours. We have stated before, and continue to believe, that a 16-year-old's actions, however severe the results, have no place in an adult judicial system."

Thomas had set Fleischman's skirt, and subsequently legs, on fire while riding AC Transit bus No. 57 in Oakland on Nov. 4, 2013. Fleischman, who was 18 at the time and a student at Maybeck High School in Berkeley, suffered second- and third-degree leg burns and spent nearly three weeks in the hospital. Surveillance video from the bus led to Thomas' arrest a few days after the attack.

District Attorney Nancy O'Malley charged the then-16-year-old with a hate crime, aggravated mayhem and felony assault. She also took the unusual step of charging the teen as an adult, a move Fleischman's family opposed. Thomas' family told reporters at one of his court hearings that he intended the act as "a joke."

Many in the Bay Area rallied around the agender teen, lining the streets with rainbows and wearing skirts to school, to show their support for Fleischman and the spectrum of gender identities.

Shortly after the arrest, Thomas' attorney William DuBois told NBC Bay Area that the teen hurt Fleischman as a prank, but he was not filled with hate.

"As a matter of fact, he doesn't even know how to spell homophobic, let alone be homophobic," DuBois said at the time."There are members of his family who are gay. He has absolutely not a homophobic bone in his body."

Just before Thomas turns 18 in July, a judge will be able to modify his sentence to five years if he has behaved well in prison, under the terms of the agreement with prosecutors.

NBC Bay Area legal analyst Steven Clark said Thomas should feel lucky.

“He was facing a life sentence because they first charged him with aggravated mayhem and a hate crime," Clark said. "He should be grateful for both the sentence and Sasha’s forgiveness.”