High school students from Los Angeles County were "saddened" after their science project was destroyed when a space-bound rocket exploded Tuesday.

Students from San Marino High School in the city of San Marino could not believe it when the Antares rocket exploded just six seconds after it launched from a NASA launchpad in Virginia at 6:22 p.m. ET.

A worker at the school said juniors David Hengky and Nathaniel Rolfe, whose work had won a spot on the rocket as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, reacted maturely upon learning of the accident.

"The students who sent up the project are obviously shocked by the incident but are relieved that no one was hurt," teacher facilitator Wyeth Collo said. "I was texting student participants about the launch during the day."

Collo said he learned about the accident on social media, then followed TV coverage.

"The kids are sad, but one of the things that teach is that failures happen. What matters is what we make of them,” Collo said.

The boys had proposed an experiment to investigate the development of the common housefly from pupae to adult in microgravity.

Students across the country had science experiments included in the payload.

The projects were chosen from among nearly 1,500 proposals submitted by students in school districts in the U.S. and Canada under the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.

The Orbital Sciences Corp’s rocket was carrying a Cygnus cargo ship filled with supplies bound for the International Space Station.

Courtney Clark is back in the United States after spending 20 months in Guinea as a public health volunteer. The 24-year-old Michigan native would like to return to Ebola-stricken West Africa, but now fears she'd be quarantined when she comes home.

"When I returned in August, it was low-key, and there wasn’t a hysteria in the U.S.,” Clark told NBC. “If I were coming now, I would be worried about how airport officials would treat me. I would also be hesitant to tell people outside of my family.”

As a handful of states enact strict new quarantine protocols, and other groups including schools respond with great caution if not fear about Ebola, aid organizations are concerned that such measures will be a deterrent to other prospective West Africa volunteers like Clark.

On Oct. 24, New York and New Jersey announced a 21-day quarantine for anyone traveling from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea who had been in contact with an Ebola patient. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week revealed new, altered guidelines for how the U.S. should handle travelers from Ebola-affected countries, but said that some measures taken by states go too far.

“We are concerned about some policies that we have seen … that might have the effect of increasing stigma or creating false impressions,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden told reporters Monday.

"Stringent quarantine requirements will be a deterrent for doctors and nurses who otherwise might be able to go and volunteer there,” Dr. Irwin Redlener, a special advisor to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for emergency management and planning said in a statement. “I know for a fact that there are doctors who are saying if I knew that I had to be mandatorily interred for three weeks I wouldn't have gone."

Some say the mandate is based more on fear than on fact.

“We are dismayed that it was put into effect without consultation with health authorities,” said Miranda Sissons, executive director of Doctors of the World USA. The international humanitarian organization provides emergency and long-term medical care to countries all over the world, including West Africa.

“The protocols in effect now keep the community safe. If you follow the protocols of self reporting, you keep the public safe,” Sissons said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie defended the new protocols in an interview on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday, saying that the move was aimed at protecting people in his state. He also said Kaci Hickox, the nurse who penned a critical first-person account after she became the first person quarantined in the Garden State under the mandate, had been discharged after being "symptom-free."

Hickox had no symptoms other than an initial 101-degree temperature taken by a forehead scanner when she was "flushed and upset" by her treatment at Newark Liberty International Airport, she wrote in her Dallas Morning News article.

On Wednesday, Hickox told Matt Lauer on "Today" that she will not abide by Maine health officials' recommendation that she continue to comply with a 21-day quarantine at home.

“I truly believe this policy is not scientifically nor constitutionally just, and so I’m not going to sit around and be bullied around by politicians and be forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public,” Hickox said.

The organization she volunteered for, Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement to NBC News Wednesday it “strongly disagrees with blanket forced quarantine for health care workers returning from Ebola affected countries.” The group said it respected Hickox’s right to “challenge excessive restrictions being placed upon her.”

Sissons said that people who aren't discouraged by the quarantine protocols may still be discouraged by the possible perception they may encounter when they return to the U.S. from an Ebola-stricken region.

"Aid workers in this epidemic risk their lives and stigma associated to their work," Sissons said.

Organizations fighting Ebola in West Africa have emphasized that volunteers are desperately needed to combat the virus.

The president of the World Bank said on Tuesday that West Africa needs more than 5,000 additional health care workers to control its outbreak. In early October, Global aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also said  it had even rejected a donation from Australia of more than $2 million and asked the country for volunteers instead, saying even a small amount of healthcare workers would have a "very significant impact.”

The death toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to 4,922 in eight countries through Oct. 23, the World Health Organization reported.

“I wish the U.S. could redirect all of this energy to the people of West Africa,” said Angela Dunn, epidemic intelligence service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "They are the ones with the true crisis. The disaster is in West Africa. We need to do everything we can to stop the suffering. Not only because it will help Americans stay safe, but more importantly because it is the right thing to do. Unfortunately, I fear the current situation in the U.S. will only extend the suffering in West Africa.”

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that the American volunteers going to Africa to fight Ebola were doing "God's work" and need to be supported. Obama repeated the message Wednesday at the White House surrounded by health care workers who have been in West Africa: "What we need right now is these shock troops that are out there leading globally. And we can't discourage that, we need to encourage it, and applaud it," Obama said.

The stricter rules haven't deterred all volunteers. Hickox said on "Today" she planned to eventually return to Sierra Leone, where she volunteered for four weeks.

Ohio native Alexa Gudelsky, 24, who served as a public health volunteer for the Peace Corps in Guinea for nearly two years, also said she would return to the region despite the protocols and possible stigma she would face upon her return.

"These people need help and it’s not like when you step out of the plane you are going to die," Gudelsky said. "We’re obligated to help them because they are part of the human race. When we have thousands of people dying and the capabilities to help — we should."

A group of scientists says it has identified a piece of famed aviator Amelia Earhart's twin-engine Lockheed Electra, 77 years after her ill-fated flight around the world, Discovery.com reported.

The piece of debris — a custom-made, aluminum window patch — was discovered back in 1991 on the uninhabited atoll of Nikumaroro, part of the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati.

Researchers from The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) say that its new analysis suggests Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, made a forced landing on a small, sandy island in the southwest Pacific before dying as castaways there. It has long been believed that Earhart's plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean after running out of fuel.

According to TIGHAR, the patch is "as unique to her particular aircraft as a fingerprint is to an individual." On top of that, TIGHAR says, its 10 archaeological expeditions to Nikumaroro have yielded strong circumstantial evidence that castaways were once present there.

TIGHAR has been trying to unravel the mystery of Earhart's doomed flight for years, and it called its latest identification a breakthrough in the case.

Its researchers are set to return to Nikumaroro in June 2015 to explore a mysterious object 600 feet underwater that it says could be Earhart's plane. The expedition will also search for smaller objects at shallower depths.

Earhart was the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone. Her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, while she was attempting to circumnavigate the globe. She and Noonan, who was also on board, were never seen again.

Several federal search warrants were served at locations throughout San Diego County on Wednesday morning.

FBI agents were tight-lipped on the reason for serving the search warrants, emphasizing that no arrests have been made.

Warrants were served at a home in the 6400 block of La Jolla Scenic Drive South, where a man answered the door and said he was baffled by the FBI raid.

The man, who’s not the homeowner, declined to comment on what agents were investigating.

The Village Club Card Room in the 400 block of Broadway in Chula Vista also was served, as was the Palomar Casino in North Park. Attempts to reach the Village Club were unsuccessful.

The manager of the Palomar Casino declined comment, but added that he planned to issue a statement soon.

FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth declined to reveal how many warrants were served, but said they were in support of an ongoing criminal investigation.

A San Diego woman, awakened by her security alarm, grabbed a gun and shot an intruder, a woman who turned out to be her neighbor.

The homeowner was questioned by San Diego police outside her home on Drew View Lane in Lincoln Park Wednesday morning.

It was 2:38 a.m. when police got the call of a possible burglary and shooting in the neighborhood east of Interstate 805 and south of Euclid Avenue.

Officers said the homeowner was asleep when her home’s security system alarm was activated. When the resident went to check out the home, she found another woman who she said she did not know or recognize.

When she told the intruder to leave, the homeowner said the woman was agitated and became verbally abusive, even threatening her.

The homeowner grabbed a handgun and again tried to get the woman to leave. When the intruder refused again, the resident told police she fired her gun.

The intruder was struck in the leg and ran out of the front door of the home leaving behind a trail of blood, police said.

Officers followed the trail and found the intruder collapsed in a yard just a few houses away.

Investigators have not identified either woman but have described the intruder as a 34-year-old woman.

They say she was transported to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Michael Lindsey told NBC 7 he lives with the suspect in a group sober-living home just four doors down from the victim's house.

He said he and his housemates have gone through turmoil with the suspect's sometimes violent temper.

"She attacks, she curses, she uses foul language and makes you feel uncomfortable," said Lindsey.

One official said investigators haven't spoken to the intruder yet so he wasn't sure if the woman was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the shooting. He also said there was no clear motive as to why she was in the home.

The homeowner, who was described as 30 years old, was detained and then released.

Police say the suspect will likely face burglary charges.

California Gov. Jerry Brown stopped in San Diego on a visit to Southern California to talk about a proposed drought-prevention plan.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins among other local lawmakers supported Brown as he urged voters to approve Propositions 1 and 2 on the November ballot.

Prop 1 is a state water bond. Water Districts across the county will compete for the money to use projects that will build facilities to provide water recycling, water storage and protecting water shed. Eleven percent of the funding will go to projects in San Diego, officials said.

Known as the “Rainy Day Fund”, Prop 2 will work to rebuild California finances by saving money when the county is doing well and therefore, protect the state's budget when it has a tough year. It will also use half of this money to pay state debts.

The ballot measures have been approved unanimously by both houses.

Voters will consider the measures on Election Day next Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Ferrari is rolling out a new car, but only a few people will be able to own one.

The luxury automaker is creating only six models of Ferrari Sergio. Designed in partnership with Italian firm Pininfarina, the car is expected to cost several million each (the price hasn’t been disclosed).

But if you thought you could be one of the six lucky owners, it’s probably too late. Ferrari has already pre-sold all Sergio cars, according to CNBC. Only long-standing Ferrari clients got the invites to purchase the limited sports car. Their names have not been reveled.

A spokesperson from the automaker told CNBC the production on new models will start "shortly” with deliveries expected next year.

The Sergio is modeled on the Ferrari's 458 Spider mechanical base and technologic components. The doors rise up and the car can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in less than 3.4 seconds, the company said. It's named in honor of Sergio Pininfarina, an Italian automobile designer who died in 2012.

The car made its debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor show as a concept, with no windshield or mirrors. The design will be tweaked to comply with road laws.

Ferrari, which is owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has built a world-class brand by limiting the number of vehicles it produces to 7,000 per year, making its cars all the more desirable.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced Wednesday it plans to spin off Ferrari into a separate entity and sell 10 percent of Ferrari's shares in a public offering in the United States and Europe, The Associated Press reported. The remaining 90 percent will be distributed to its own shareholders.

The company said the move was part of a plan to raise capital to support the new merged carmakers' growth plans, according to the AP.
 

If all the potholes or sections of cracked pavement around San Diego County were added up, a new report suggests the repairs would total $7.2 billion.

The "California Local Streets & Roads Needs Assessment 2014 update is a report with a big name and a big number for San Diego County.

The report looked at the pavement condition for every corner of our county. The two cities with the lowest grades were San Diego and Escondido.

It estimates we would need billions to get roads and bridges up to par. When it comes to streets in need, our county trails only to Los Angeles County.

Highlighting the county's problems is the city of San Diego. After years of deferred maintenance for infrastructure,- the backlog of potholes and crumbling pavement is a continuing issue for drivers.

"It really does do a number on your suspension, truthfully it does on your wheel bearings, tires, everything, it's pretty bad."

City leaders say the current commitment to infrastructure is unprecedented. Fifty percent of all new major revenue will go towards neighborhood repairs. That is estimated to be extra $21 million this fiscal year.

"They're like starting to catch their tail and working on the streets and stuff, but it's still a bad drive getting from point A to point B here in North Park."

Along with roads, storm drains, and sidewalks, the report says nearly one out of four bridges in the county needs repair or replacement.

However, local leaders say that's somewhat misleading. For example, every city bridge is safe to drive on but may not be structurally modern.

What's more: 7.2 billion dollars in total repairs would make everything perfect.

Even locals admit San Diego doesn't need perfection. They'll settle for safe and functional, which these
days is still a high price to pay.

Law enforcement is dismantling a cross-country drug trafficking organization that they say smuggles drugs through San Diego and distributes them across the country.

A federal grand jury indictment charges 14 people with conspiring to distribute large amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl – an opiate more powerful than morphine. Eleven of those suspects were arrested in Southern California, New York and North Carolina Tuesday as local, federal and state law enforcement served a number of search warrants.

During the crackdown, officials also seized firearms, 15 pounds of methamphetamine, 8.8 pounds of cocaine and 2.2 pounds of fentanyl.

The suspected drug traffickers, who prosecutors say have ties to the Sinaloa cartel, imported their illicit products from Mexico, smuggled them into San Diego and used a network in California, North Carolina, New Jersey and New York to send them throughout the U.S., according to an affidavit.

Marketed as a “super high” additive, the rise of fentanyl is most concerning to law enforcement because just a small amount, even a few grains, can prove fatal.

In the medical field, the drug is used as an anesthetic in surgery and is given to people with chronic pain, including end-stage cancer patients.

Deadly doses of fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin just by touching it, according to U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

“All of these drugs are dangerous, but fentanyl is particularly troubling because it is lethal in very small quantities,” said Duffy in a release. “We will keep striving to interrupt the supply and keep users from making a tragic mistake.”
The Drug Enforcement Agency has issued a warning to local police departments to look out for “killer heroin,” a 50-50 mix of heroin and fentanyl.

Fentanyl-laced drugs are nicknamed “Bud Light,” “Theraflu,” and “Income Tax.”

The court documents say the trafficking operation as a family one, allegedly led by Corona, California resident Huge Adalberto Adrian Ramirez. His wife Maria Ayala is accused of collecting drug payments in the form of structured deposits into bank accounts under her name. Their son Hugo Norberto-Adrian Jr. and daughter Crystal Adrian are also suspected of playing a part.

New York rapper Sonja Shenelle Holder, known as “Sonja Blade,” was charged alongside another suspect, Paul Dwight Doyley, accused of conspiring to purchase cocaine and fentanyl from Ramirez and his son to distribute it in New Jersey.

The 14 suspects listed in the indictment range in age from 19 to 49 and live in Corona, California; Ontario, California; Huntington Park, California; Booklyn, New York; and Ashbury Park, New Jersey.

Many are being prosecuted in federal court in San Diego, making their first appearances Wednesday.

A man was arrested Wednesday morning in Vista after sheriff’s deputies say he beat his wife with a dumbbell while she slept.

The incident happened just before 4 a.m. in the 2200 block of Primrose Avenue. Deputies discovered the woman had been beaten in the head and face as she was sleeping, according to a news release from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies said the woman’s husband attacked his wife with both his fists and a 5-pound dumbbell and that several children witnessed the assault. Then, the suspect ran away, deputies said.

The victim was rushed to Palomar Medical Center with injuries that didn’t appear to be life threatening.

The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Octavio Savalza, was arrested about an hour later, in San Marcos, the news release said.

Savalza was booked in the Vista Detention Facility on suspicion of attempted murder, felony spousal abuse and felony child endangerment.

The pilot of a military jet was killed when the aircraft crashed in a field in the Point Mugu area on Wednesday, the Ventura County Fire Department said.

The Hawker Hunter MK-58 came down about 5 p.m. just off Highway 1 and Hueneme Road, said Allen Kenitzer of the Federal Aviation Administration.

A witness told NBC4 that the jet just "nosed down" and described the scene as a "tremendous crash."

Responders located the pilot seat in the field with the deceased pilot belted in.

"They saw a parachute in the debris field. It is unknown whether he tried to eject or whether that was just part of the field,” Ventura Co. Fire Capt. Mike Lindberry said. 

The jet crashed about a mile short of the Naval base runway. 

Naval Base Ventura County spokeswoman Kimberly Gearhart said the single-seater jet was a contract aircraft that flew out of Point Mugu and was operated by the company ATAC. The Navy uses the aircraft for training missions as the enemy in mock aerial operations. The jet was returning from an offshore exercise when it went down. 

Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating, Kenitzer said.

"The investigation for this is going to be a lengthy one," Ventura Co. Sheriff's Capt. Don Aguilar said. 

Two and a half years ago, the pilot of another Hunter Hawker had been killed when it also went down on a training mission. A temporary grounding of the fleet was later lifted. It will be the responsibility of federal investigators to determine what went wrong in Wednesday's crash.

The name of the pilot who died in the crash is being withheld until his family is notified.

Willian Avila and Rosa Ordaz contributed to this report. 

Nurse Kaci Hickox, who recently returned from treating Ebola victims in West Africa and has challenged the legality of a quarantine, spoke outside of her Maine home after health officials announced they are seeking a court order to force her to stay home in quarantine for three weeks over public health concerns.

Hickox walked out of her Fort Kent home Wednesday night, defying the Maine CDC's protocol for health care workers who have treated Ebola patients.

"We have to make decisions based on science," she told reporters while standing outside with her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur. "You could hug me. You could shake my hand and not get Ebola."

The state wants people who have had direct contact with Ebola patients to remain home and avoid public contact until the virus' 21-day incubation period had passed, and it will seek court orders to force them to if they don't of their own accord, officials said at a Wednesday press conference in Augusta.

"Our true desire is for a voluntary separation from the public. We do not want to legally enforce an in-home quarantine unless absolutely necessary," Maine Commissioner of Health and Human Services Mary Mayhew said. "However, we will pursue legal authority if necessary to ensure risk is minimized for all Mainers."

Mayhew defended the state's effort to enforce what it continued to call a "voluntary" quarantine, saying it reflected a "common-sense approach" that would "guard against a public health crisis in Maine."

The court order seeking to force Hickox to remain home will ideally be filed Wednesday, Mayhew said.

Officials also said state troopers are outside of her door waiting to tail her and see who she comes into contact with if she leaves home.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hickox, a nurse who had first been quarantined in New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport over the weekend and was released after showing no symptoms, told Matt Lauer on "Today" that she wasn't abiding by Maine CDC's recommendation; the state's CDC recommendation is more strict than federal guidelines.

"I truly believe this policy is not scientifically nor constitutionally just, and so I’m not going to sit around and be bullied around by politicians and be forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public," Hickox said. 

Gov. Paul LePage said in a statement earlier on Wednesday that while he's concerned with the safety and health of Hickox and the community of Fort Kent, the state is "exploring all of our options for protecting the health and well-being" of Hickox and the community.

"While we certainly respect the rights of one individual, we must be vigilant in protecting 1.3 million Mainers, as well as anyone who visits," LePage's statement said.

When a Chicago teenager opened her birthday gifts, she never anticipated she’d wind up with $4 million.

Deisi Ocampo said her dad gave her two $100 Million Money Mania instant tickets for her 19th birthday.

“It turned out to be the best birthday present ever,” she told Illinois Lottery officials.

Ocampo said she scratched off the tickets on Oct. 7 while on her way to work. She didn’t win anything on the first ticket she scratched, but when she finished scratching the second ticket, she realized she had won $4 million.

“I started sweating. I couldn’t believe it was possible,” she said. “I worked the whole day without saying a word to anyone.”

The Chicago native lives with her parents and sister. When she got home that day, she said her parents didn’t believe it either.

“When I told my dad I won he asked, ‘How much? $500?’ and I said, ‘No, Dad, $4 million,’” she said.

Ocampo, who works at a clothing store while attending college, says she plans to use the money to help pay for school and buy her family a new house.

“This lottery win will make it easier to pursue my dream of completing my degree and becoming a nurse,” she said.

The tickets were purchased at the Austin and Montrose Citgo at 5959 West Montrose Ave. in Chicago.

As seasoned trick-or-treaters know, strategy is everything Halloween night.

You want a neighborhood with as many homes as possible giving out those king-sized candy bars. Get in, get out, get that sugar high.

"So if we can get the most bang for our buck with the closest house walking, then that just makes it a lot easier,” said Carlsbad resident Diana Hagerty, who will be spending Halloween with a 2-year-old.

The yards and costumes may be spooky, but for parents, there’s another layer of fear: their children’s safety.

The Nextdoor neighborhood app and website aims to spirit away some of that concern with its Treat Map.

Users can go on and say whether they are offering candy or if their place will be transformed into a haunted house. If the former, the app will place a little candy corn at the address; if the latter, a little, purple haunted house will pop up at the correct spot.

"This is something that when you go onto the map, only people who have been authenticated to live in your neighborhood can see, so you've built up a trust of your community," said Hagerty, an avid user of Nextdoor.

The app verifies neighbors by asking them for a credit card billing address, social security number or postcard sent to your address. That way, each user has to prove they actually live in the area.

So with the candy corns and haunted houses mapped out, parents can plan their routes ahead of time: a nifty time-saving tool if you want to be first to that cauldron of candy.

Hagerty said the app also helps residents keep an eye out for each other, especially if they’re listed as a no trick-or-treating spot.

“Or we've got some people who are across the street. They're not going to be there. We can watch out for them," she said.

Nextdoor only allows users to see participating homes directly in their neighborhood, but for those looking to venture into the eerie night, the app has its Trick-or-Treating Heat Map. It shows hot spots where many homes say they’re giving out the goods.

Here are the top ten trick-or-treating neighborhoods, according to Nextdoor:

1. Santa Fe Hills in San Marcos
2. The Foothills at Carlsbad in San Marcos
3. Park Village in Carlsbad
4. Kensington in San Diego
5. Talmadge in San Diego
6. Rolando Park in San Diego
7. Verrazzano in San Diego
8. Adobe Bluffs in San Diego
9. Waters End in San Diego
10. Carmel Country Highlands in San Diego

A Staten Island woman who lost her husband and daughter during Sandy says she survived for a reason.

"It's very important I can't curl up in a corner, I have to get up every day and try," said Patricia Dresch of Tottenville, two years after Sandy.

"It's a miracle. I survived for a reason," she said. "Maybe to help someone down the road, give somebody courage to go on."

Dresch and her family ignored evacuation orders on Oct. 29, 2012, because their home had been looted when they left before Irene. So they stayed. They soon realized it was a mistake.

"I saw the waves are coming up across the street," she said. "I said 'Oh my God, what's happening?'"

She said she tried to grasp her 13-year old daughter Angela, but the storm waters soon became too intense. One wall of her Yetman Avenue home collapsed, and her husband George was killed after getting whisked away in the flood.

“I'm holding onto Angela, and the water’s coming up over us, and we went under. I thought we were going to fall through the floor," she recalled.

"All of a sudden the wall just opened up, and we went out the whole yard," she said. "I don't know if I let go of her or she let go of me -- she just slipped away from me.”

Angela was found dead right in front of the property.

Hours later, somehow, firefighters found Dresch hundreds of yards away, still breathing in the rubble. Her body temperature had dropped to 81 degrees. She was bruised and battered but had no broken bones.

Her spirit — and her heart — would need healing.

For months, she slept on a cot in her church, while working to keep her mind off the nightmare. Then the city bought her old property, and she used the money to buy a new house, about a mile north of where the tide surged.

She’s been able to recover emotionally day by day thanks to friends, family and a new grandson. Her older daughter recently gave birth to baby Shea, named after the stadium.

But she’s never been back to her old block.

"Maybe 10 years from now. Right now I can't," she said.

"I want to remember the block the way it was. I want to remember it in my mind the way it was."

Comedians like Zach Galifianakis, Bob Saget and Lewis Black can make people laugh at just about anything.

This is likely why they signed on to do “Comedy Warriors,” a documentary about five wounded veterans, four men and one woman with a sense of humor on the road to recovery from severe injuries.

But this takes joking around to a whole new level. The idea behind the film is to find something funny about their personal tragedies and share it on stage, says Joe Kashnow, one of the veterans featured in the film.

“Healing through humor, that you can use comedy to overcome the difficult situation you are facing I think is one of the big messages of it. For us, it was a way of talking about our injury and moving on with life,” Kashnow said.

The film takes a closer and serious look at wounded veterans, like Army veteran Kashnow who lost part of his leg in a roadside blast while serving in Iraq in 2003.

He has learned to cope and face the days ahead forever changed by war but still very much the person he was before.

“It helps people see other people with a physical limitation still as a person and not as defined by their injury,” he said.

As much as serving his country in war was at times a frightening ordeal, so is baring your soul and making light of a pivotal moment in your life. The first day of filming, Kashnow said he was was so terrified he hid behind his mic stand.

But this brave veteran soldiered on, and today, he is doing comedy across the country he gave so much to protect.

For more information on the documentary, click here.

The husband of a Democratic incumbent lawmaker now up for re-election in Delaware stole Republican campaign signs under the cover of darkness, according to police.

And Republican party supporters, concerned about a series of recent thefts of GOP party signs, captured the heist on cellphone video.

Middletown, Delaware, police issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Dana Long following the thefts at Middletown Odessa and Silver Lake roads.

"My husband is the man depicted in the video," said state Sen. Bethany Hall-Long (D-Middletown) in a prepared statement.

Police say Dana Long stole signs with slogans such as “Delaware Needs Jobs, Vote Republican” and “Fix the Economy, Vote Republican” written on them.

Hall-Long, who took office in District 10 in 2009, is currently running for re-election against Republican challenger John Marino, a retired New York City police officer. Hall-Long served in the state House before serving in the Senate.

"Sadly, this race has become tough and personal," said Hall-Long. "I was not aware that he had allowed his frustration over the campaign attacks to get the better of him. Of course I'm disappointed and wish that it had not happened."

On her campaign website, Hall-Long says that she married her high school sweetheart Dana, a U.S. Navy veteran, 27 years ago.

Hall-Long withheld further comment citing potential legal action by the GOP.

Wednesday’s incident was the third time the Republican signs placed along Middletown Odessa Road went missing, according to investigators. On Sunday about 28 went missing, were replaced and by Tuesday morning were missing again.

Police said that local Republicans put the signs back up and waited to see if anyone came by to take the signs. The Republicans captured him removing the signs and returning to his car around 4 a.m. Wednesday, according to investigators.

In video the local GOP supplied to NBC10, you can see a man rush back into his car after being approached by the Republican advocates.

“Those aren’t your signs, bud,” said one man.

“There’s no name on these signs,” replied the man with an armful of signs.

The GOP says that the signs do state that they are the property of the Republican Party of Delaware.

Police expect Long, 54, to surrender Thursday morning.

The leader of Delaware’s Democratic Party denounced any theft of signs.

"The bottom line is that this is not a Republican or Democratic issue -- this is a campaign issue happening by all parties, and it must end," said Democratic Party chair John Daniello.

"Each campaign season, we deal with candidates removing their opponents signs. This behavior is absolutely unacceptable. There are more positive ways in which to support your candidate regardless of party affiliation," he said. "Candidates, their supporters, and their campaigns must lead by example and discourage this behavior. We understand that this election is coming to a close and tensions are high, but Democrats shouldn't waste their time on such senseless acts."

A 16-month-old girl died Wednesday evening after she was hit by a truck in Vista.

California Highway Patrol said the toddler darted into the road just as a Ford F-150 was driving slowly up the hill in the 1300 block of York Drive just after 6 p.m.

The driver struck the girl and immediately came back to the scene, according to CHP Officer Eric Newbury.

"She said she couldn't see anything in the roadway at the time of the collision," said Newbury of the driver. "She said that she felt the thud."

The child was airlifted to Rady Children's Hospital for head trauma, but the CHP later confirmed she died.

Investigators closed two lanes of York Drive as they gathered evidence.

Refresh this page for updates on this developing story.

Ed. Note: Initial information stated the victim was a boy and 7 years old, but CHP corrected it and told NBC 7 the child was a 16-month-old girl.

Balboa Park will soon be one of the largest free WiFi hotspots on the West Coast, according the San Diego Mayor’s Office.

On Wednesday, community leaders announced Balboa Park has received a $1 million grant from the James Irvine Foundation.

The money will go toward technological upgrades at Balboa Park, including doubling the park’s WiFi network to about 250 acres, according to the mayor’s office. The grant will also help create a smartphone app that will lead visitors on a self-guided tour of Balboa Park and enhance the park’s web interface.

The park’s Explorer Pass program will also see upgrades. The park will develop a mobile version of the Explorer Pass and install kiosks around the park where people can buy or renew passes. Passholders get access to 17 park institutions for one year, including San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego Natural History Museum and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. The passes cost $199 for families, $129 for adults and $99 for students and seniors.

The Irvine Foundation is a nonprofit organization that gives grants to programs benefiting the arts, democracy and youth in California.

San Diego has a lot to be proud of: its world-class weather, world-class zoo and now, a world-class university.

In its global university and college rankings, the U.S. News& World Report named UC San Diego as the 18th best university in the world.

The school was one of just five public universities in the country to make the top 20, and fellow University of California schools UC Berkeley and UCLA ranked #3 and #8, respectively.

UC San Diego got high scores for publications by professors and how frequently their works are studied.

“San Diego is a world-class city with world-class institutions and people are taking notice,” said Mayor Kevin Faulconer in a statement. “The City of San Diego is a City of Innovation and that starts with education. Congratulations to the leadership, staff and students at UC San Diego for helping to make our city a top-notch place for learning, innovation and opportunities.”

This is the first year U.S. News & World Report has incorporated universities from other countries in its annual rankings, which weigh doctorates awarded, international collaboration, publications, global and regional research reputation and more.

Harvard University topped the list of 500 institutions from 49 countries.

San Diego State University tied with a Turkish university for the 492nd spot.