Dozens of people in Pacific Beach woke up Monday morning to discover their cars had been vandalized overnight.

Someone keyed more than 25 cars parked around Emerald Street, according to the San Diego Police Department.

The vandal keyed and pulled the antenna off PB resident John McMillan’s lime green VW bus.

“It's such a fun, happy-looking car. It’s like a little surf mobile,” he said.

McMillan said he heard the bad news from a neighbor.

“She's like, ‘hey, you should probably come outside. Police are here, Everyone's cars got keyed,” he said. “That's not a great way to start a Monday.”

Most of the damage was deep scratches on driver’s side doors and hoods.

“It wasn't like someone just dashed up the street. They were very thorough,” said PB resident Terrie Petree. Petree’s minivan and her husband’s Kia were hit.

“We live in PB, so we know it's not exactly crime-free. At first we kind of felt targeted because we thought it was just our car, but when we saw it was everyone up and down the street, we figured maybe someone was bored,” she said.

“Maybe the guy needs a hug, who knows,” McMillan said.

Some of the cars– including McMillan’s other vehicle – were vandalized despite being parked on his apartment building’s property. Residents plan to ask their landlords to install security cameras and motion sensor lights.

No arrests have been made.

The jury has found Robel Phillipos, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, guilty on both counts of lying to investigators. 

Phillipos has also been found guilty of impeding a terrorist investigation by making false statements. 

The jury deliberated for 34.5 hours before reaching a decision. 

With this verdict, Phillipos faces a maximum of 16 years in prison. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 29. 

Phillipos was charged with lying about being in Tsarnaev's dorm room at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth when two other friends removed a backpack and other potential evidence several days after the April 2013 attack.

Phillipos attended high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with Tsarnaev and later attended college with him.

A defense lawyer had argued that Phillipos, now 21, was a frightened 19-year-old who couldn't remember certain details because he had smoked marijuana for at least 12 hours straight.

Prosecutors say Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, planted two pressure-cooker bombs near the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013.

Three people were killed and more than 260 others were injured. An MIT officer was later killed as he sat in his car. Police say he was also a victim of the Tsarnaev brothers.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a shootout with police several days after the bombings.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges and is scheduled to go on trial in January. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Beverly Hills mom Cheryl Shuman may not look like the stereotypical stoner, but she’s hoping her new crowdfunding website will be a driving force to help bring medical marijuana to the masses.

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, Shuman was given just months to live. She refused hospice and started smoking marijuana. Now, she’s known as an advocate of the drug.

"My name is Cheryl Shuman and they call me the Martha Stewart of Marijuana," Shuman, founder of the Beverly Hills Cannabis Club, said.

Shuman, who has been on TV shows and in magazines promoting her business, said she frequently hears that she doesn’t fit what people think a pot smoker should look like.

"Well you don't look like a pot smoker, you don't look like a marijuana person," is what she said people tell her. "I always say, 'What were you expecting me to look like?'"

She doesn’t have a stereotypical business model either.

She credits cannabis for saving her life, and her passion for its benefits has led to her business and a 68-acre marijuana farm in Northern California.

And now she's hoping her newest venture, crowdfunding website Canna-dabba-doo, will help other potential medical marijuana entrepreneurs.

"Medical marijuana is as close to being a miracle drug and if it were discovered in the Amazon jungle today it would be heralded around the world as a miracle drug," Shuman said.

So far, the website only has three business ideas posted and no money has been pledged. But Shuman says it's just beginning.

"It allows anyone with a small business idea and a dream to post their project on the website and all the people we generate through social media can help fund it," she said.

"This is like the 90s and the dot-com boom. This is the pot-com boom!"

But the pot business comes with critics.

"The 'green rush' is nothing more than a revitalization of drug dealing in California and the U.S.," a spokesman for the group Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana said in a statement. "With fraudulent labeling of pot as medicine, we have seen increases in drug use particularly among teens and young adults."

Spokesman Scott Chipman said in a written statement that as a society "we must beat back big marijuana just like big tobacco of 20 years ago.

"It has the potential to be much more harmful and deadly," he said.

While cannabis has been shown to alleviate side effects of cancer treatments and other effects of the disease, no clinical trials on humans have shown it to be an effective treatment for cancer, according to the National Institutes of Health. The FDA has not approved the drug for cancer treatment.

Still, Shuman points to her clientele's need for the various strains of the marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"This is a legitimate medicine, that legitimately helps people," Shuman said.

It reads like a story ripped from crime show drama: A San Diego Police crime lab technician worked in the same lab where evidence from a 30-year-old homicide he's accused of committing was processed.

Criminalist Kevin Brown was a member of the SDPD lab team from 1982 to 2002, joining the department two years before homicide detectives there started investigating the death of 14-year-old Claire Hough in August 1984.

The teen was found brutally beaten and strangled on Torrey Pines Beach with one of her breasts cut off.

For decades, the case ran cold, but in 2012, the SDPD homicide unit got two matches for DNA found on Hough’s body. Police say they tied Brown and a second suspect, Ronald Tatro, to the crime.

But attorney Gretchen von Helms, who represented Brown, believes her client’s DNA showed up because of evidence cross-contamination at the lab.

SDPD Cpt. Al Guaderrama told NBC 7 that is not the case.

"There are several safeguards that are actually put in place in regard to cross-contamination and we do not believe that was an issue in this case at all,” said Guaderrama.

Those safeguards include tracking each and every lab technician that works on a case and requiring lab personnel to submit DNA samples before they are hired.

The police captain said Brown did not take part in Hough’s case but mainly processed evidence for firearms and narcotics crimes.

"We know for a fact he had nothing to do with the Claire Hough case, and this was obviously determined (because) we knew where he was working at the time and with several other lab personnel interviews that actually took place during this investigation,” said Guaderrama.

Neither suspect can give their side.

Tatro, who served prison time for trying to abduct another young girl, died in a boating accident in 2011.

Brown was found dead of an apparent suicide on Oct. 21 in Cuyamaca State Park, just before investigators were prepared to make an arrest in the case.

Von Helms told NBC 7 her client’s suicide should not be interpreted as guilt. Instead, it was a result of anxiety and deep depression brought on by this investigation, she said.

On Friday, von Helms revealed Brown had taken an independent polygraph test by a retired SDPD employee, and the results showed he was innocent, according to his attorney.

Guaderrama said he could not comment on those results at this time. However, he did respond to questions about the suspects’ possible tie to a similar case from 1978, when 15-year-old Barbara Nantais was found dead on the same beach as Hough, strangled and beaten to death with one of her breasts severed.

"What I can tell you at this time is there's nothing at this time to link these two suspects to that murder,” said Guaderrama.

Investigators are still looking into whether Brown or Tatro are tied to other crimes.

A North County family is going to trial Tuesday to accuse Vista Detention Facility staff of walking by and ignoring calls for help as their 21-year-old son slowly died from asthma asphyxiation.

The lawsuit against the county of San Diego, which will be heard in federal court, centers on Cardiff by the Sea resident Daniel Sisson, a heroin addict on probation who was booked into jail for possession of a controlled substance in June 2011.

His family says his dependence on the drug grew from a painful arthritic disease called Rider’s syndrome.

As he sat in a jail cell, Sisson suffered an asthma attack as he started going through a withdrawal.

In the complaint, his parents say San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies disregarded Sisson’s failure to appear at sick calls and ignored his cell mate’s protestations that “resorted to the posting of written pleas for help.”

Without medical attention, Sisson died from asphyxia due to asthma, a condition the lawsuit says is a slow, agonizing way to die, akin to drowning.

The suspect had been dead for at least three hours by the time deputies conducted a welfare check on him, the lawsuit alleges.

In court Tuesday, the family’s attorney Chris Morris plans to show a video that he says shows deputies walking by Sisson’s cell.

“When deputy did their checks, they did little if any actual monitoring,” said Morris. “They simply walked by and it was a cursory glance. They didn’t break stride and they kept going.”

The attorney said under California Corrections Standards Authority policies, when an addicted inmate comes into custody, law enforcement has an obligation to monitor signs, symptoms and complications of withdrawal, placing the inmate in a “sober cell” where they are checked on at least every hour.

Although they knew he was a chronic asthmatic, staff left Sisson unsupervised in a general population cell without mandated checks, the complaint says.

His parents say had deputies looked in on him, they would easily have been able to treat his asthma and prevent his death.

“The family hopes to accomplish that this doesn’t happen to anyone else again,” said Morris, “that what happens out of this case, that the sheriff’s (department) fulfills its duty to monitor their inmates under their custody and care.”

The lawsuit for an unspecified amount of money accuses the county and sheriff’s department of cruel and unusual punishment, deprivation of life without due process, negligence, failure to summon medical care, wrongful death, deprivation of familial relationships and negligent supervision, training, hiring and retention.

NBC 7 reached out the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for a comment. Since the case is going to trial, the spokeswoman said they cannot make any statement.

A woman walking on the streets of Manhattan for a full day stands to get catcalled more than 100 times, according to a nonprofit group trying to end street harassment. 

The group, Hollaback!, said volunteer Shoshana Roberts was catcalled by men 108 times over the course of a day as she walked around Manhattan earlier this year.

A video of the day, captured on a hidden camera embedded in a videographer's bookbag, shows dozens of men asking for her phone number, telling her to smile and calling her beautiful. Hollaback! said that the 108 cases of harassment don't include dozens of whistles and winks.

“I’m harassed when I smile and I’m harassed when I don’t,” Roberts said. “Not a day goes by when I don’t experience this.”

Two of the men in the feature are particularly aggressive. One says, “Hello, good morning,” and then proceeds to walk beside Roberts for five minutes. Another walks beside her for several blocks, asking Roberts if she thinks he is ugly and berating her for not talking to him.

Rob Bliss, the man who walked in front of Roberts throughout the day with a camera hidden in his book bag, said he volunteered to shoot the video because he doesn’t think men see the cumulative effects of catcalling.

“They see it as just an innocent compliment but are missing the forest for the trees,” he said. “I intentionally left out any messaging and just laid bare what it's like, so that everyone could objectively see the reality of this problem.”

According to Hollaback!, between 70 and 99 percent of women are catcalled or harassed while walking down the street at some point in their lives.  

A police pursuit traveling from North Park to Chula Vista ended when the suspect crashed into a chain link fence.

Just after 1:30 a.m., San Diego Police ran the plate of a 2014 Jeep in North Park near University and Interstate 805. When they realized the vehicle had been reported stolen, officers attempted to pull over the driver.

Instead, the man drove at speeds of around 80 miles an hour down southbound I-5 before exiting on Bay Boulevard in Chula Vista.

Suddenly, the driver crashed into a chain link fence, tearing it down to the ground.

The driver tried to make a run for it but he was soon taken into custody, police said.

The unidentified driver now faces charges for driving a stolen car and auto theft.

The pursuit lasted a little less than 10 minutes. Police didn't know how long ago the car was reported stolen.

It appeared to be a brand new vehicle with dealer plates.
 

A San Diego-area high school sophomore told fans she has "no regrets" after being eliminated on "The Voice" Monday.

Chula Vista native Katriz Trinidad performed “Super Woman” by Alicia Keys in her knockout round against Danica Shirey who performed “Saving All My Love For You” by Whitney Houston.

In the end, despite a "knockout" performance by Trinidad, Shirey was selected to continue on.

“My journey on the Voice may have ended but I have no regrets on how I performed,” Trinidad posted on Twitter adding that she gave 110%.

The 15-year-old sophomore at Otay Ranch High School urged her fans to reach for their dreams.

See her official "The Voice" photo gallery here.

A group of lifeguards practicing cliff rescues along the San Diego coast got some real-life training Monday when three men nearly drowned just down the road.

Witnesses say two men in their mid-20s, dressed in jeans, ran into the water near Hill Street and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard at about 3:50 p.m.

"They were screaming for help forever and when the lifeguards were coming, I mean that guy's head was barely above the water," said Nicole Harper.

Harper was the one who called 911. She and Kyle McBride could hear screaming from the shore.

The three men soon ran into trouble and began fighting through the large surf and strong rip currents off the cliffs. Their friend, another man in his mid-20s, rushed in to help them but got caught up himself, becoming the worst off.

Dispatchers called in the lifeguards working not far from the men. They were on the scene within two minutes.

One man was taken away by helicopter, another was lifted out by a large yellow crane poised on the cliffs and the third was carried out by stretcher.

"When it happens you're ready for it, you just shut off and get into that routine and go for it," said Lt. Rich Stropky with San Diego Lifeguards.

All three men are considered near drowning victims, authorities say.

Apparently out of town visitors, they showed up in jeans and unprepared for the dangerous waves at the bottom of the dangerously steep cliffs.

At last check, two of the victims were in serious condition according to officials. The third was able to walk up the cliffs after the rescue.

Authorities say two teenagers died when the vehicle they were in was swept away as they tried to cross a rain-swollen creek in Northern California.

The bodies of Darian Powner and his girlfriend, Tristan Mitchell, were found Monday around the Shasta County city of Shingletown. Shingletown is about 150 miles north of Sacramento.

The Record Searchlight of Redding reports the 19-year-olds had been missing since Saturday night after leaving the home of family friends they had visited for dinner. They were in a Ford Focus when a heavy storm came through.

California Highway Patrol Officer Matt Clark says the car was swept away as it tried to cross a bridge over Lack Creek. It came to rest about a half-mile downstream.

The bodies were found a few hundred yards away.

Mando Lopez can't sleep or eat.

And when his 5-year-old daughter padded out into the hallway on Monday — asking, "Daddy, Daddy, where's Mommy?" — the Oakland father of four and recent widower couldn't answer her. The only thing he could do was break down into tears.

That's because his wife, Perla Avina was shot Sunday afternoon — church day, as neighbors noted —as the couple was returning from the grocery store near their home. They had gone out about 12:30 p.m. to get ingredients for breakfast as their children, ages 1 to 14, stayed at home with Grandma.

Investigators have not yet figured out who fired bullets into Lopez's 1998 Toyota Camry as they traveled south on 98th Avenue in a rough section of the city near their home on Rossmoor Avenue, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said. But she did say it was likely related to some type of road rage.

Lopez, whose full name is Luis Armando, told sister station Telemundo that everything happened so fast that he isn't sure what happened.

What he does remember is that a car tried to veer in front of him on the way back from the market, and "I guess I didn't let him go."

The seemingly random act of cruelty now has Lopez wondering how he'll continue. He said Avina, a medical receptionist originally from Los Angeles, was his life. She cooked, she cleaned, she took care of the kids, she was his partner in life, he said.

His children aren't doing all that well, either.

His 1-year-old daughter cried all night. His 10-year-old daughter couldn't sleep at home; she went to Avina's mother's house to sleep. His 14-year-old son has barely spoken.

The family has already suffered a loss. In 2005, Lopez said Avina's brother was stabbed to death in their neighborhood.

The children and Lopez live with his parents. As his mother, Erlinda Aviña, lay on the couch with her husband at her side, she tried the best she could to express her grief and her vow to help her son.

“I will take care of them,” Aviña said of her grandchildren. “She was a good mother that worked for her kids.”

For now, the family is hoping that a $30,000 reward offered by police and Crime Stoppers will help lead to information to find the shooter. It's all they can think about.

A tangible symbol of the tragedy looms over them all. The car Lopez was driving when his wife was shot is parked outside his home, where candles adorned with images of Jesus line the sidewalk. The windshield is pierced by a bullet hole, the front passenger seat stained with blood.

Lopez could barely bring himself to pull the car into the driveway. But eventually he did, late Monday, to bring it closer to home.
 

One week after spewing racist insults about San Francisco's Chinatown and its people, a former tour guide is offering an apology and an explanation.

Declining to give her name or show her face, she explained to news media that she was not drunk. "I intended to do it as a satirical comedic portion of the tour," she said.

A video recording of the woman’s rant quickly went viral after it was posted to YouTube last week, garnering nearly a million views as of Tuesday morning.

“[Expletive] your pre-schools … making all that noise at 6 a.m. … [Expletive] your salons ... [expletive] your seafood markets, with your little turtles and frogs inside — OK? Here in America, we don’t eat turtles and frogs,” the guide told tour-goers during her 2 1/2-minute-long rant on her last day working for the tour company, City Sightseeing San Francisco.

The now-ex-tour guide is calling the diatribe an act, saying that it was supposed to be a satirical comedic portion of the tour. The woman would not give her name, but she said she called San Francisco Supervisor David Chiu, admitting that she went way too far.

Chiu said that the woman told him she would call back Tuesday to discuss how she can start making amends to the Chinatown community and all of San Francisco.

Get More at NBC News.

[Warning: Some viewers may find the language used in the video disturbing.]

San Diego County will implement a new rating system to help improve long-term care for the elderly.

The county’s Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed today to develop the plan, which they say will help reform elder care in the area.

“Our goal is to put a spotlight on the best facilities so families can find a home they can trust for their loved ones,” Board Chairwoman Dianne Jacob said. “Many families today aren’t even sure where to start their search for quality care, but a rating system will help steer them in the right direction.”

Nearly 20 facilities have already signed up for the program, which is in a pilot stage.

The ratings system will be based on factors such as staffing levels, medication management and dementia care.

County official say it’s a concerted effort to improve the overall quality of elder care. They have also created a special unit in the district attorney’s office to prosecute crimes against facility residents and beefed up a program to investigate patient complaints.

The Cabrillo Bridge,also known as the Laurel Street Bridge, will close for several nights this week as part of an ongoing construction project.

The crossing on the west side of Balboa Park will be closed to vehicles Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m.

Caltrans said if a fourth night is needed to complete the work, it will be scheduled the following Monday, Nov. 3, during the same hours.

The Cabrillo Bridge acts as a gateway into Balboa Park from Mission Hills.

Its renovation project, which started last year, replaced deteriorating concrete and steel to make the 100-year-old bridge stronger in case of an earthquake. The city is set to finish work inside the structure in early 2015.

In June, the bridge reopened to traffic after a five-month closure.

After a grueling first half of the season, the Chargers finally get a few days to rest and reflect before battling the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

Coming off Thursday’s game against the Denver Broncos, the Bolts more or less get five days without any significant practice time. They are off today after a quick walk-through on Monday.

What’s on the to-do list with the time off?

“For me it’s keep those feet elevated and try not to do anything stressful,” said linebacker Dwight Freeney, a 12-year veteran. “It just depends on what’s going on, just don’t go out and try to have a mini-scrimmage in the back yard or anything.”

It’s been more than just eight straight weeks of football. The Charges played two straight divisional games against teams who enjoyed their bye weeks right before playing them, followed by Thursday’s grueling matchup with the Broncos on four days’ rest.

Fortunately, after this weekend's trip to Miami, the Bolts get their bye week before hitting it hard for the final seven games of the regular season.

“I think the break is needed,” said defensive end Corey Liuget.

He said he will try to keep his regular routine and encouraged the rest of the team to do the same. That includes getting massages, chiropractor and hitting the ice tub.

“Take care of your body,” he said. “Do the things that are going to help you get ready for Sundays.”

For a mostly veteran team, the rest is necessary. But it will also help that they know how to handle the workload and prepare for the second half of the season.

“We got some experienced veterans on the team that know how to take care of their bodies,” said receiver Malcom Floyd, who is in his ninth year in the league. “When they’re away, they’re not just partying. And we got younger guys who look up to those guys and carry on the same way.”

Floyd said he was in the practice facility, even on the off days, doing some light running and weights.

“You just gotta listen to your body and keep your routine up,” he said.

Has the extra down time paid off?

“I already feel faster.”

Is your current electric bill lower than your last one?

It’s not a mistake. All San Diego Gas and Electric residential customers received a $36.24 credit on their October bill.

Starting this year, Californians will receive automatic “climate credits” on their electricity bills twice a year. The first climate credit was issued in April. Small businesses have been receiving credits every month.

It’s part of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent by 2020. Under Assembly Bill 32, California power plants and major manufactures are charged based on how much pollution they emit. Some of those fees go toward climate change programs, and the rest is given to customers in the form of credits on their electric bills, according to Energy Upgrade California.

All SDG&E households receive the same amount regardless of how much electricity they use, totaling $72.48 a year. Other electric companies in California are offering customers credits between $30 and $40.

The state hopes customers will use the savings to buy energy-efficient home upgrades, such as LED light bulbs, low-flow showerheads and smart thermostats.

Although it’s great to save on an electric bill, there is concern consumers may end up paying for these savings in other ways. Starting next year, fuel distributors will also have to pay pollution permit fees, meaning the price of gas could increase.

A new list of the best cities for veterans transitioning from military-to-civilian life was released this week and San Diego didn’t make the cut.

The omission of our robust military town came as a surprise considering we have multiple naval and Marine bases and a Coast Guard base.

The list, compiled by the USAA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, considered 379 metropolitan areas. Such factors taken into account include G.I. enrollment, ability to transfer military certifications and licenses, employment opportunities in industries that employ veterans and health resources.

The ranking also considered cost of living and excluded any cities where the median cost of living is 10 percent above the national average. Sorry, San Diego, that’s you. (A recent, separate ranking identified our city as the fourth most expensive place to live in the United States.)

The list named Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the No. 1 place for a veteran starting out. Here are the other cities that rounded out the top 10:

2. Austin, Texas.
3. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
4. San Antonio, Texas.
5. St. Louis, Missouri.
6. Columbus, Ohio.
7. State College, Pennsylvania.
8. Cincinnati, Ohio.
9. College Station, Texas.
10. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Federal officials said the list was compiled to aid veterans starting out, in light of higher unemployment rates among the military compared to their civilian counterparts. The unemployment rate in 2013 for a veteran under the age of 25 was 21 percent, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Also, 53 percent of veterans reported the transition from military service as “difficult,” according to a recent survey.

Members of a large nurses union claim the hospitals recently identified as "priority hospitals" in potential Ebola cases are far from ready to treat such cases.

Thousands of nurses at the five University of California medical centers across the state are now demanding that all hospitals step up in personal protective equipment (PPE) and training.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, which represents 12,000 RNs at the five UC medical center, organized "speak out" events in San Francisco and San Diego Tuesday. Nurses in Los Angeles were planning to organize a similar event Wednesday.

Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, two Texas health care workers who were infected while caring for Ebola patient Thomas Clark Duncan, underwent treatment and have been declared virus free.

At UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, nurses warned that if the potentially deadly virus makes its way to San Diego, residents may be at risk.

"They said the equipment is going to be updated.. as of last week, the PPE equipment that my co-worker shared with me, it left the side of your face and your neck exposed, so they said that equipment is going to be changing," said Michael D Jackson, VP of National Nurses United.

Despite the claims made by nurses, officials at UCSD Medical Center told NBC 7 they are confident with their plan of action in the face of an Ebola patient.

They said the facility is "fully prepared to care for any adult patient who is confirmed to have the Ebola virus, if needed.”

Their statement goes on to say, “The hospital has invested in the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to achieve the highest standard of safety for a select team of personnel who are designated to care for patients with the Ebola virus. These customized PPE kits are available to care teams at UC San Diego Health System and are based on the latest, scientifically driven information from the Centers for Disease Control, with additional advice from Emory and Nebraska medical centers.”  

Baseball hall-of-famer Tony Gwynn could soon be memorialized on a major San Diego freeway.

County supervisors voted on Tuesday to approve $7,500 to purchase signs along a portion of Interstate 15 as the “Tony Gwynn Memorial Freeway.” The state Legislature must now vote on whether or not to support the memorial.

If passed, the signs would be erected on the 15 between Scripps Poway Parkway and Pomerado Road near Poway.

Gwynn, 54, died on June 16 after a long battle with cancer of the salivary gland. He was a longtime Poway resident.

Gwynn played his entire 20-year career with the San Diego Padres and earned the nickname Mr. Padre. To locals, he was also known to local as “Mr. Poway.”