After weeks of counting ballots, the Chula Vista City Council race is hours away from officially being decided.

Democrat Steve Padilla suspended a recount request Thursday after opponent John McCann won the District 1 seat by two points last month.

In a statement Padilla said it's clear that "many valid ballots are not being counted and this recount is unlikely to change the result."

""In the most common case, registered Chula Vista voters cast ballots on Election Day, but in listing a mailing address on their voting materials, had their votes thrown out. The Registrar’s decision to throw out these valid votes and silence these voters’ voices is wrong," said Padilla.

Now that the recount has been suspended, members of the public have 24 hours to request an additional recount. If no one requests a recount, the results will be official Friday morning.

The race went to a recount earlier this month after a recount was requested by Humberto Peraza Jr., who is lobbyist and a Southwestern Community College board trustee.

San Diego County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu said Dec. 2 certified results from the election showed McCann won with 18,448 votes to Padilla's 18,446.

McCann said in the future, he and his staff will look into alternative options to help Chula Vista residents ensure their voice is heard, saying he remains “more committed than ever to counting every vote.”

The last time Chula Vista saw a close race like this was in June 2010, when U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) went up against then-Assemblywoman Mary Salas for the 40th state Senate District. The race did end in a recount, but Salas halted it on the third day, allowing Vargas to win by 22 votes.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park caretakers are hand-raising a baby rhino after he wasn't gaining enough weight.

The 3-week-old greater one-horned rhino calf weighed 160 pounds at birth. Every mother's dream, right? But for this big boy, that is actually the lower end of the 160-176 pound norm for these tough-skinned newborns. His first-time mother Kaya gave birth to the still-unnamed calf on Nov. 27, according to the San Diego Zoo.

Kaya nursed the calf herself for two weeks, but the zoo said when her baby failed to get adequate nutrition, he was taken to the Safari Park's animal care center for hand feedings every other hour and round-the-clock observation. (What a tough job those zoo keepers have: Who wants to watch an adorable baby rhino tromp around all day?)

Because the rhino calf is being raised in a nursery now, exercise is an important part of building up his strength and health. After hanging with his new pals for a week, the baby boy is gaining nearly four pounds per day, weighing in at 190 pounds now.

Yes, you read that right: a 190 pound 3-week-old.

A fully grown greater one-horned rhino clocks in at a whopping 4,000 to 5,000 pounds. Could you imagine how much he'll eat!

Baby No Name's relatives used to be widespread in Southeast Asia, but are only found in India and Nepal now. The International Union for Conservation of Nature calls the species endangered due to the threat of poaching and illegal use of their horns.

It's estimated that baby rhino only has 3,250 relatives left in the world and one dies of poaching every eight hours. This little guy, though, is the 68th greater one-horned rhino to be born at the Safari Park since 1975. For that reason, they're the "foremost breeding facility in the world for this species," the zoo said.

Baby rhino can have visitors at the animal care center nursery corral during his daily exercise time, between 12:15 and 12:45 p.m., as long as the weather permits. And seriously, who can resist? Everyone loves a new baby.

Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy accused of knocking a 99-year-old woman to the ground and stealing her purse while she was delivering homemade Christmas cookies to a senior center in Windsor, Connecticut.

The woman was bringing treats to the LP Wilson Community Center when authorities say the teen came up behind her, pushed her down, took her purse and ran off while she was still on the ground.

Windsor police took the teen into custody in Hartford at 10:30 a.m., about half an hour after obtaining the juvenile arrest warrant. 

The teen's name has not been released because of his age. He has been charged with third-degree robbery, sixth-degree larceny and assault of an elderly person and will appear in juvenile court.

"This guy took advantage and made her a victim," Capt. Kelvan Kearse, of the Windsor Police Department, said Wednesday.

The senior center where the woman was attacked, located at 599 Matianuck Avenue, includes a senior center, a youth service bureau, the recreation office and social service.  

A 35-year-old woman has been accused of pointing a rifle at several children after getting into an argument with them outside of her New Jersey home Wednesday afternoon, police say.

The woman was charged with making terroristic threats, endangering the welfare of a child and several weapons crimes after police say she threatened the children with a Remington 597 rifle outside her home on Schooner Avenue in Barnegat.

"She was waving the rifle around. She was leveling the rifle at people," said Barnegat Police Lt. Keith Germain. 

Police say the woman went inside her home to grab the gun after getting in an argument with the children after a basketball game. 

Neighbor Beverly Meila said the woman had been driving her SUV down the street when she saw her son playing at a basketball hoop on the street. She yelled at him to get in the car, according to Meila.

"The kids were all screaming and yelling, and the kid got in the car and she tore off down the street," said Meila. 

Moments later, she came out of her house with the rifle, according to police. 

Several people called 911, and the woman was allegedly still in the street holding the gun when police arrived at the scene.

"They were able to talk to her, get her to place the rifle on the ground and take her into custody with no force," said Germain. 

She was arrested at the scene and was being held at the Ocean County Jail in lieu of $175,000 bail, police say. The woman did have a permit to own a rifle. 

"The children did abolsutely nothing wrong," Meila said. "They were just playing basketball like kids do. They're good kids." 

-- Brian Thompson contributed to this report. 

Last week's massive downtown LA fire at an apartment complex that was under construction was an act of arson, authorities said Thursday.

Investigators said they recovered an accelerant, pointing to arson. The fire on Dec. 8 at 900 West Temple Street destroyed a seven-story complex under construction, damaged a nearby high-rise structures and the Harbor (110) Freeway.

Flames billowed into the air, making smoke visible for miles and radiating enough heat to shatter the windows of nearby office towers.

The blaze caused up to $30 million in damage to the DaVinci Apartments. Total damage estimates to nearby businesses and Caltrans property remain undetermined.

Local and federal Investigators sifted through 75,000 square feet of debris, took photographs, recovered potential evidence from the scene for analysis by the ATF's National Laboratory and conducted many interviews throughout the community.

The team finished combing through the debris on Wednesday, and will continue to follow up on the case to identify the culprit or culprits.

"The work at the crime scene is finished, however our investigation is not over," said ATF Special Agent in Charge Carlos A. Canino. "ATF will continue to work together with our state and local partners to investigate this crime and bring those responsible to justice."

Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Robert Nelson, who heads the agency's arson/counter-terrorism section, said the department will continue to work with the ATF, the LAPD and other law enforcement agencies to "vigorously pursue this investigation.

"Arson is a serious crime," he said in a news release. "We will use all of our available resources to arrest and prosecute any individuals involved in any arson fire in Los Angeles."

Investigators continue to seek information on two potential witnesses seen in video footage taken the morning of Dec. 8.

They are not considered suspects nor persons of interest. Investigators have identified them as being in the area of the fire, and want to interview them.

The pilot of a small plane was killed Thursday night when his single-engine aircraft crashed in Seagoville while descending to land at Mesquite Metro Airport.

The plane went down just after 6 p.m. Thursday in the 1600 block of Bent Tree Road near West Malloy Bridge Road, officials said.

The pilot, who was the only person aboard the plane, has not been identified. There are no other known injuries.

The plane, a 1967 Beechcraft Bonanza, was trying to land in Mesquite when air traffic control operators lost contact with its pilot, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said.

"It's broken to pieces. There's a lot of debris around," Capt. Ray Calverley, of the Seagoville Police Department, said Thursday night.

Despite initial reports that the plane had hit at least one house before it hit the ground, investigators on the scene have not been able to confirm that, Calverley told NBC DFW. Officers went door to door asking neighbors if their homes were damaged in the crash, and no one has reported that they did, Calverley said.

"We heard a real loud engine," neighborhood resident Fred Baugh said. "It wasn't like a normal approach, it was just all of a sudden a real loud engine."

The FAA confirms the plane departed from South Arkansas Regional Airport Wednesday at 3:35 p.m.

The up-and-coming Brooklyn rapper who performs under the name Bobby Shmurda was part of a gang that allegedly sold drugs, dealt guns and committed violent crimes, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a news conference Thursday detailing the investigation that led to his arrest.

Ackquille Pollard, 20, was taken into custody with seven others shortly after he left a recording studio near Radio City Music Hall in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday. Police recovered crack cocaine and three guns from a stairwell inside Quad Studio, Bratton said.

The Brooklyn-born Pollard is best known for the hit song "Hot Boy." He also put out a music video that popularized a dance craze called the "Shmoney dance," and reportedly signed a lucrative record deal with Epic Records. 

Pollard was stopped in a vehicle with another defendant, Nicolas McCoy, soon after leaving the studio Wednesday, prosecutors said, and there were two guns and a small amount of crack cocaine inside the car. There were other passengers in the car who are not named in the indictment but face separate criminal charges. 

Five other defendants named in the indictment were arrested at the same time elsewhere in the city, and two others are in custody outside the state, authorities said.

Pollard was arraigned on conspiracy, reckless endangerment, and weapons and drug charges Thursday. Twelve other defendants are named in the 69-count indictment, including Chad Marshall, another aspiring hip-hop artist known as Rowdy Rebel. 

Pollard pleaded not guilty in court Thursday. His attorney, Howard Greenberg, failed to convince a judge that his client should be released without bail because he was framed and had no reason to run.

"He is a legitimate entertainer,'' Greenberg said. "He is rich. He is busy. He is always on tour.''

Greenberg claimed Epic had agreed to help Pollard make his $2 million bail. A spokesman for the label declined to comment.

Bratton said Pollard was tweeting about a secret concert days before his arrest.

"I don't think he was aware that location is going to be state Supreme Court," Bratton said. 

Pollard did not comment to reporters as he was led from a Manhattan police station in handcuffs Wednesday night. 

G Stone Crips, or GS9, the gang Pollard was allegedly part of, is tied to the murder of a 19-year-old rival gang member on Feb. 8, 2013, and to gunshots fired outside New York and Miami nightclubs in recent months, according to Bratton. The investigation began after 24 shootings were traced to the gang since 2013.

Most of violence stemmed from an ongoing dispute between GS9 and members of rival street gangs, including the gang known as Folk Nation and the gang known as Brooklyn's Most Wanted, or BMW, according to prosecutors. 

The deadly February 2013 shooting inside a Brooklyn bodega capped a series of violent confrontations between GS9 and BMW, according to prosecutors. Pollard was at the scene of the shooting, they said. 

Pollard is also accused of firing a gun towards a crowd of people outside a Clarkson Avenue barber shop on June 2, shattering a glass storefront. Prosecutors said a recorded phone conversation between other GS9 members revealed that Pollard had fired the gun during an argument with his brother Javese Pollard, also an alleged GS9 member. 

Prosecutors said in another July 2014 incident, just before he performed at Barclays Center, Marshall and another defendant allegedly fired shots at rival gang members while driving on a street in Boerum Hill.

According to prosecutors, a distinctive system of code words and phrases allowed GS9 members to communicate with one another while hiding the nature of their communication from others. Among the code words for firearms were “tone” and “socks." “Crills” referred to narcotics, and “suntan” or “scoom” referred to shootings.

The gang is mainly based at 95th Street and Clarkson Avenue in East Flatbush, Bratton said. The bust was made by the Brooklyn South Violence Reduction Task Force, which was formed this year. 

The case carries some "deeply disturbing themes: The gang members' enthrallment with guns, and a cavalier disregard for human life,'' Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said at a news conference.

The hip-hop artist's songs and videos were "almost like a real-life document of what they were doing on the street,'' added James Essig, head of the NYPD task force that made the arrests.

Greenberg told reporters he believes Pollard and the other defendants were targeted because "the government hates rap and hates rappers and hates lyrics." 

Pollack's video for "Hot Boy" was posted on YouTube in August has been viewed tens of millions of times, and Pollard performed the song for a national television audience in October on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." 

"My music is straight facts," Pollard recently told New York Magazine. "There are a lot of gangsters in my 'hood.'"

Pollard's criminal history included two arrests for gun and drug possession, authorities said.

The term “cyber warfare” has been thrown around for years, with security experts wondering what the effects of a damaging cyber attack might look like. Now we know: a Hollywood studio left paralyzed, and the center of the tech world is wondering what's next.

As the billboards advertising Sony Pictures' "The Interview" were pulled down in Hollywood on Thursday, concerns about cyber terrorism shot up in Silicon Valley.

"World War III looks like this,” said Michelle Dennedy, Intel Security's chief privacy officer. She said technology is the new battlefield, and our gadgets are all potential targets.

"This is the wave of the future,” Dennedy said. “Bank robbers robbed banks because that's where the money was. Data is currency. Hackers are going for it because it's valuable."

What happened at Sony should, according to cyber security experts, be a warning to us all.

"This is the first time we've seen it at this scale,” said Truman National Security Project’s Mike McNerney.

The goal of hackers is not just disruption, it's fear, McNerney said. "This is different. The way they were able to combine this online attack that got them the attention they wanted, and then mix this with threat of physical violence, it's something we really haven't seen before."

But it’s likely something we'll see again, as hackers try to invade banks, retailers, anything with an easy to open virtual door.

"I think everyone needs to be worried about this," McNerney said, “whether it's an organization, government entity, or an individual.”

A Southern California woman was arrested for a burglary committed just two days after she was released from jail for the same offense.

Detectives from the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Martha Lampley of Spring Valley on multiple felony warrants Thursday in connection with the theft of packages and at least one other burglary.

Lampley was arrested on Nov. 29 for a parole violation, burglary and possession of a controlled substance. According to the sheriff's department, she stole deliveries right off people's porches in the Lemon Grove, Spring Valley and El Cajon areas.

Home surveillance video shows her driving a Uhaul truck to one house, going to the front and taking a package away, deputies say.

She posted bail on Dec. 4, and just two days later was at it again, sheriff's officials say. A victim whose iPad Air was stolen while she was at home identified Lampley as the suspect. She was also identified by other victims through a series of photos.

The investigation is ongoing, but if Lampley is convicted of her current charges, she faces 44 years in prison.

The man found badly beaten in the Gaslamp District early Sunday morning has died.

San Diego resident Eric Galen Hatcher, 29, was discovered lying on the road at G Street and Fourth Avenue with serious head trauma.

San Diego police say he had been involved in a fight that broke up as officers approached.

Hatcher was taken to the hospital but has since died.

Now, investigators are searching for a person of interest in this case, described as a white man between 25 and 30 years old, standing about 5-foot-9 and weighing 165 pounds. He was wearing a grey suit jacket and grey dress pants at the time.

The SDPD is expected to release video of the incident at a later time.

If you know anything about the fight, call the homicide unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

California State Sen. Ben Hueso will serve three years of probation and undergo a six-week alcohol program after he was arrested in August and charged with DUI.

Hueso, a Democrat from San Diego, pleaded no contest Thursday to a lesser “wet reckless” charge, which means he will not face any jail time. Instead, his plea deal requires the probation, alcohol program and a $240 fine.

On Aug. 22, the 44-year-old state senator was reportedly caught driving the wrong way on a one-way street in Sacramento, according to KCRA.

A California Highway Patrol officer pulled Hueso over at a gas station, where surveillance video showed him doing sobriety tests. He was arrested shortly after, and CHP says he had a blood alcohol content of 0.08.

Hueso was offered the wet reckless charge because prosecutors have a difficult time proving DUI when defendants only register a 0.08. There is the possibility of a “scientific error factor” in the tests used to prove people are legally drunk, prosecutors say.

The day after he was released on bond, Hueso released a statement which read, in part, “I am truly and profoundly sorry for the unacceptably poor personal judgment which I demonstrated last night.”

Hueso's 40th District covers southern San Diego County, parts of Riverside County and Imperial County.

A Chula Vista couple was hospitalized Thursday after breathing in a lethal level of carbon monoxide.

The woman called 911, saying her husband was unconscious in the 400 block of Del Mar Court. While on the phone, the woman became disoriented. Chula Vista firefighters say they were saved just in time.

The couple had turned on their wall-mounted here for the first time this season, costing them a terrible price.

Robin Price watched as her next door neighbors were rushed to the hospital at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, suffering carbon monoxide poisoning.

“Kinda freaked me out actually,” Price said. “We have one of those wall heaters as well. I don't use it, but you never know. They could just -- like a leak could come through and you never know,” Price said.

Firefighters say that’s exactly what happened. Carbon monoxide at 15 parts per million is enough to set off a home detector. The Chula Vista home had 50 times that level.

The CVFD responds to between 20 and 30 such calls each year, but this was their first, said Deputy Chief Justin Gipson.

“If you are starting to get a dull headache , if you are nauseated if you start to vomit , if you feel overall weak throughout your body if you lose consciousness -- those are classic examples of getting carbon monoxide poisoning,” Gipson said.

If you experience any of those symptoms, he recommends you get outside and call for help.

The best prevention is to install a carbon monoxide detector and have your gas appliances and fire place inspected. SDG&E will do it for free.

Fire officials and Chevron said the large dramatic flames seen over the Richmond Chevron refinery in Northern California Thursday were a result of "normal flaring." But that didn't do much to comfort people living near the troubled refinery, who called the flares anything but "normal" on social media.

Both Contra Costa fire department officials and Chevron said there was no need for alarm, calling the flaring normal procedure to vent gas. They added that fire crews had not been called to the scene. The official Twitter account for @ChevronRichmond tweeted Thursday evening that "there was some visible flaring" to allow for equipment de-pressuring.

Chevron said that the refinery had resumed normal operations Friday morning after the unit that needed to be depressurized Thursday night was successfully shut down. Chevron said community air monitoring stations reported levels below state and federal health limits.

"We understand that the community has been concerned about the flaring activity," a Chevron spokesperson said after the flares alarmed a number of Bay Area residents Thursday. "We had a process unit that needed to be depressurized, creating a visible flare. The flare is part of our safety system which enables us to safely shut down a unit. We are in the process of shutting down this unit now."

Some Bay Area residents tweeted about the flares, with one of them asking: "Gigantic fire balls are now normal flares?"

Another said: "If it's 'normal,' then why don't we see this regularly?"

Jamal Vaughn, who lives near the Richmond refinery, expressed concern about the flames coming out of the stacks.

"No alarm went off ... It's Kind of strange, there should have been a warning," he said. It's an alarming sight for the Vaughns, who remember the 2012 Chevron refinery fire.

"I worry about our health — last time we were at the hospital for four hours because I have asthma and needed breathing treatment," Vaughn's wife Michelle said, adding that the family will be shutting all their windows tonight.

Chevron's statement said that in flaring conditions, it is normal practice to release quantities of water vapor to assist with the flare quality, which can sometimes take on the appearance of smoke, but it is not smoke.

Both Chevron and Contra Costa Health Services said that there may be intermittent flaring Thursday evening. According to health officials, hazardous materials staff were monitoring the situation and there was no shelter-in-place.

NBC Bay Area viewers said they could see the fire from as far away as the El Cerrito Hills, San Rafael, San Francisco and the Bay Bridge. A photo taken by Twitter user @bluerabbit77 from the Oakland Hills shows the flares creating an orange haze over the night sky.

NBC Bay Area's Jean Elle contributed to this report.

 

Huge fire at the Chevron Refinery?? #fire #chevronrefinery #richmond

A photo posted by Blue Rabbit (@bluerabbit77) on Dec 12, 2014 at 7:15pm PST

@nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/FbQCO596dE

— Sayra Larie (@sayra_larie) December 19, 2014

The large flames at the Chevron Refinery are the result of normal flaring. No emergencies currently reported.

— PIO (@ContraCostaFire) December 19, 2014

There was some visible flaring tonight to allow for equipment de-pressuring. Flaring is a part of refinery operations.

— Chevron Richmond (@ChevronRichmond) December 19, 2014

@nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/VpoQBBzfxr

— Elana Joy (@CrusoeComplex) December 19, 2014

@nbcbayarea we can see it from San Rafael pic.twitter.com/3HBFfXDc5k

— dexternatasha (@dexternatasha) December 19, 2014

@nbcbayarea I also took this photo. pic.twitter.com/33gDy0ZpOc

— Blue Rabbit (@bluerabbit77) December 19, 2014

 

#apocalypse #endoftheworld

A photo posted by Pardeezy Dhillon (@kingsnake172) on Dec 12, 2014 at 7:25pm PST

Mayor Michael Nutter and Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer condemned a Philadelphia Fire Department paramedic for a photograph shared on Instagram that depicted two black men pointing guns at a white police officer.

"I thought it was disgusting," said Sawyer, who added the image violates the fire department's social media policy. "We are a professional organization and I expect my members to act in a professional manner."

"In the strongest possible terms, I condemn the behavior of a paramedic ... who used social media to post a reprehensible message and image that targeted police officers particularly at a time of emotional volatility," Mayor Nutter said.

The message posted with the photo read: "Our real enemy ... Need 2 stop pointing guns at each other and at the ones that's legally killing us and innocents."

The next image posted to the same account said, "There are numerous crooked and corrupted cops (mostly white) & mostly they harass, beat or kill innocents (mostly blacks)."

The posts caused alarm among Philly firefighters, who do not want a fissure to form between themselves and police.

"In this difficult time, I want to assure the members of the Philadelphia Police Department that we are here to support and assist you whenever you may need," said Joe Schulle, president of Local 22, the firefighters and paramedics union. "[We] proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers in blue. ... We are brothers and sisters in public safety."

Hours after the initial post caught the ire of Philly leaders, the paramedic, who is based out of Medic 23 in southwest Philly, shared an apology on social media.

"That post was out of anger of what is going on around the world (Mike Brown, Eric Garner & Etc.) &  past experiences that I've had with police," the post said. "My intention was not to slander or hurt anyone or my brothers in blue. Again I am sorry."

An investigation is underway, and Sawyer said the charged images are unlikely to damage the bond between the Philly's Fire Department and police force.

"We have a pretty strong relationship with the police department," he said. "So one member's mistake is not going to severe those ties."

A friend of the woman accused of killing three people in a crash outside a church in Redondo Beach, California, has said she is not someone who would drink and drive.

Margo Bronstein, 56, has been booked on suspicion of felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter, but Timothy Eakin believes medication she takes due to being disabled or a mechanical failure may have caused the accident, which also left 10 others injured, including children.

Police say toxicology reports on Bronstein are pending, and she is being held at a Redondo Beach Police Department jail on a $300,000 bond. Investigators confirmed prescription drug use by the driver is part of their investigation.

"She had had a whole bunch of surgeries on her legs and on her hips, and that’s why she’s barely 4 feet tall. She was always in a wheelchair, but she was able to drive with hand controls," Eakin said. "Maybe the hand controls might have failed, and that might have caused it. But she also did take a lot of prescription medications, and the medications she took were like, muscle relaxers, and for pain."

He also does not believe his friend, who he met at Disneyland, is the sort of person who would get behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol.

"She's not somebody who just went into a bar and got wasted and plowed through an intersection at a concert. This is something that was probably a complete accident, never something she would have done on purpose," Eakin said.

Prayers have been said all day at St James Catholic Church, where victims had just attended a Christmas concert. Eiken believes his friend may have been a visitor to the event herself.

Witness Michael Tovar said he screamed at Bronstein after the crash, demanding to know if she had been drinking. He said he had to be pulled away by his wife.

"(I said) what is wrong with you? What did you do? Are you drunk? I yelled that about five times, 'Are you drunk?' And she looked up at me, made eye contact."

Children had just finished singing Christmas songs for their parents and other members of the church.

Mary Wilson, 81, Saeko Matsumura, 87, and Martha Gaza, 36, all from Torrance, died, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. One of Gaza's three children, a 5-year-old boy, was hospitalized in critical condition.

One other adult also was in critical condition Thursday.

A fourth victim, identified as a 6-year-old boy, has died after a DUI suspect struck a group of people in a crowded crosswalk as they left a children's Christmas show Wednesday night at a Southern California church.

Samuel Gaza was among a dozen people who were in a crosswalk outside St. James Catholic Church in Redondo Beach when they were struck by a driver who, according to witnesses, ran a red light and swerved around vehicles stopped at a red light. Gaza was hospitalized Thursday in critical condition and died late Thursday night, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's office.

Gaza's mother, 36-year-old Martha Gaza, also was killed in the crash. Mary Wilson, 81, and Saeko Matsumura, 87, all from Torrance, also died Wednesday night.

Police confirmed at a Thursday morning news conference that prescription drug use by the driver is part of their investigation. Police also confirmed a witness account that the driver went around other vehicles stopped at about 8 p.m. at the intersection of Vincent Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

Two adults and a child were in stable condition Friday morning. Six other victims were treated for minor cuts and bruises before they were released from the hospital.

Witness accounts provided to police indicated the driver, headed northbound on Pacific Coast Highway, went around vehicles stopped at the intersection and entered the left turn lane. The driver then continued north on PCH, striking another vehicle and pedestrians, according to police.

Parishioners returned to the church Thursday morning and at noon for services to remember the victims. Michael Tovar, a St. James parishioner, said he will never recover from what he saw.

"I was standing by the front of his car and looked down, me and another gentleman, and there was the little boy underneath his left front tire," he said. "I thought it was a jacket his car was on. It was underneath the left front tire. I could not believe that."

Police identified the suspect as 56-year-old Margo Bronstein. She was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony DUI. Bronstein was treated at a hospital for injuries before she was taken to the Redondo Beach Police Department jail, where she is being held on $300,000 bond.

She is scheduled to make her first court appearance Friday.

DMV records indicated the Bronstein does not have prior criminal offenses. Her vehicle was equipped with modifications for drivers with disabilities, including an additional passenger-side mirror and hand controls, according to California Department of Motor Vehicle records.

Police are awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

A dog is recovering after he was discovered with a horrific injury: a hiking carabiner hooked straight through his hind leg.

Ziggs, a one-year-old pitbull, was discovered roaming through Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, dragging a severed leash behind him. That leash was attached to the carabiner, which Dr. Al Meilan at South Federal Animal Hospital said was forcibly and intentionally inserted into the dog's leg.

"The carabiner is a dull thing, so in order to get it, they had to use a drill or something sharp to make the hole first, and then stick the carabiner through his leg," Meilan said.

Members of the Forgotten Dog Rescue believe the dog's owners used the carabiner to restrain the dog.

"Someone actually went out of their way to do this to this dog," said Amy Blitz with the rescue group. "It ranks on the mutilation type of torture."

Meilan said it appears the ring had been lodged in Ziggs' leg for several months, with evidence of similar injuries in the past.

Forgotten Dog Rescue said they are offering a cash reward for any information that leads to the arrest of Ziggs' owner. The rescuers said they won't stop until there is justice for the injured dog.

"The person that did this, it's probably somebody that if they could do this to an animal, they could do it to a person or a child," Blitz said.

The animal hospital expects Ziggs to make a full recovery within two to three weeks. He will be made available for adoption once he heals.

Anyone with information about the dog's owners can leave an anonymous tip with the Forgotten Dog Rescue via email at forgottendogrescue@yahoo.com.

A man sitting in his Jeep pulled a knife on the suspect who punched him and stole his SUV in Grant Hill, according to San Diego police.

Thursday evening, the victim was in his Jeep Cherokee in the 2500 block of L Street when a man walked up to him and started hitting him in the face, police say.

As the victim was hit over and over, he reached for a pocket knife and stabbed the suspect at least once.

The punches stopped, but the suspect was able to pull the victim out of his vehicle and escape in it.

Using lojack tracking technology, the SDPD tracked the suspect to Spring Valley, pulled him over and arrested him.

Both men are being taken to the hospital for their injuries.

The incident is under investigation.

San Diego County's civil grand jurors work in secret, investigating complaints and issues involving local government.

But they're now bringing one secret to light: a major problem recruiting new members – for the first time that court officials can recall.

By this time of year, the grand jury usually has more than 100 applicants for the 19 seats on the panel to be sworn in next July 1st.

Right now, with a Jan. 19th deadline looming, that number is down to three dozen.

It's a four-to-five-days a week job -- anything but a money-maker, and not especially glamorous.

For nearly six months now, the current civil grand jurors have been "on the case" of local public agencies -- watchdogging and barking at boondoggles and inefficiencies.

Grand jurors are screened by past grand jurors and judges and appointed by lot, according to a balance of county supervisorial districts.

They’re paid a stipend of $25 a day for six, four-hour days a week, not including Friday tours, plus 56 cents a mile and free courthouse parking.

"We're looking for diversity on both ethnic and thought process-wise -- as for what their experience has been,” said J. Robert O’Connor, a retired civil law attorney who serves as the grand jury’s current foreman.

"Most of our group are retired because they're in a position, financially, to deal with it that way,” O’Connor said in an interview Thursday. “You'd like younger people. But most of them are busy, and don't have the time to do it, and that's understandable."

Civil grand jurors don't issue criminal indictments. Panels convened by prosecutors and judges do that after being chosen from trial jury pools.

That confuses people being recruited for the civil panel.

"They ask the question, 'Well, is the DA controlling what you do?'” O’Connor told NBC 7. “The answer is, the DA is not involved in what we do."

O’Connor said most public agencies criticized in grand jury reports shape up.

Some don't agree to follow the recommendations, or do so only grudgingly after a long passage of time.

Case in point? Criticisms by the 1998-99 and 2007-08 grand juries regarding free seats reserved for the mayor and city council members in the city's skyboxes at Qualcomm Stadium and Petco Park. 

This year, Mayor Kevin Faulconer has proposed leasing the suites to the teams instead.

And, noted O’Connor, there's this result: "Even a grand jury doing an investigation without ever writing a report does a lot of good in that organization. And changes are made behind closed doors, perhaps, but they're made. And the public never learns about it."

To find out how to apply to be a part of the grand jury, click here.

Jason Beckman was sentenced to life behind bars Friday for the 2009 shooting death of his father, South Miami Commissioner Jay Beckman.

Judge Rodney Smith said Beckman will serve a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison before he can ask for parole.

"This is who you are, you're very vengeful, your personality is a ticking time bomb," Smith told Beckman as he handed down the sentence.

Beckman, clad in orange prison clothing, expressed some remorse to Smith over the shooting.

"My father shouldn't be dead, I wish he was here and not because I'm here but because I loved him and I really feel like I could have improved my relationship with him just by doing a few things differently," Beckman said.

Sentencing in the case had been delayed several times in the past year. Beckman was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting in November 2013.

Beckman was originally charged with manslaughter with a firearm after he told police that he had just wanted to show the gun to his father, but he slipped and fell causing the gun to fire. The charges were upgraded to first-degree murder after friends and family came forward saying the then-17-year-old had talked of killing his father.

A search of the son's belongings showed the former South Miami High junior had compiled a hit list of enemies, with his dad's name on the top, authorities said. Defense attorneys had argued that Jason Beckman didn't shoot the gun intentionally.