Category: San Diego

The massive internet outage affecting Microsoft around the world also hit systems in San Diego County, delaying flights and court operations, and forcing law enforcement to turn to workarounds. Problems continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services. When the outage hit the Sheriff’s Department late Thursday, “the screens just went blue,” Sheriff’s Lt. Gavin Lanning said. During the outage — they were back to normal around 4 a.m. — dispatchers were able to take 911 calls, but were not able to perform actions like typing in addresses to give deputies directions. However, deputies and dispatchers were able to use cellphones to pull up maps and such, he said. “It becomes a different way of communicating.” “We just go back to people writing it down,” he said. “It wasn’t as easy as normal. You just go back to old school.” A San Diego police watch commander said their operations were affected as well, but did not provide details. “Some of our systems are back up, some are not,” the officer said. At

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The first official video of two giant pandas who now call the San Diego Zoo home has been released by zoo officials, just ahead of their public debut. The panda pair arrived in America’s Finest City from China earlier this summer, making them the first pandas to enter the U.S. in 21 years. Since arriving in late June, four-year-old Yun Chuan and three-year-old Xin Bao have been acclimating to their home in the newly reimagined Panda Ridge. On July 9, zoo officials released first-look photos of the pandas. Yun Chuan and Xin Bao pictured. (Graphic by FOX 5/KUSI; Photo credit: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance) The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance reported at that time that care teams were closely watching the bears as they settled in. Veterinary teams locally and from China have since been monitoring the pair to ensure they thrive in their new environment. On Friday, the Wildlife Alliance released the first official video of the giant pandas in San Diego. They could be seen roaming and exploring their new home, which is four times larger than

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A massive technology outage Friday morning impacted several services and companies worldwide, including here in San Diego. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack, and was instead a problem that occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows. Specifically affected were several airlines and flights throughout the country as well as globally. Locally, some delays and cancelations have been reported at the San Diego International Airport (SAN). RELATED: Several airlines face global ground stop and services disrupted worldwide in wake of major Microsoft Outage American, Delta and United Airlines were among those who grounded flights less than an hour after Microsoft announced this issue. The outage has reportedly since been fixed, however, there is a ripple effect following the disruption as computer systems get back to normal. One local traveler at SAN recounted her experience with FOX 5/KUSI Friday morning, explaining that her flight was abruptly cancelled overnight. “They boarded us onto the plane I think at like 11:30 (p.m.) and we sat

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A global technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off air on Friday after a faulty software update disrupted companies and services around the world and highlighted their dependence on just a handful of providers. The trouble with the update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and affecting computers running Microsoft Windows was not a security incident or cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which said a fix was on the way. Passengers crowd the International flights departure terminal of Rome’s Fiumicino airport, Friday, July 19, 2024, as many flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the worldwide internet outage. Microsoft says users worldwide may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services in a widespread outage. The cause, exact nature and scale of the outage was unclear. Microsoft appeared to suggest in its X posts that the situation was improving, but hours later, widespread outages were being reported by airlines around the world. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) But hours later, the disruptions continued — and escalated. Long lines formed at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — At least four people were killed in a multi-vehicle crash Friday morning on southbound State Route 163 in the Kearny Mesa area, said California Highway Patrol. The incident was first reported around 1:30 a.m. Roughly 30 minutes later, Caltrans announced all lanes were blocked in the impacted area, which is located slightly north of Interstate 805. The crash site is near the overpass. Wobbly stairs cause concern on Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge CHP at the scene of a crash on southbound State Route 163 in the Kearny Mesa area Friday morning. (KSWB) CHP said traffic is being diverted to southbound I-805 at this time, and the closure is expected to last for several hours for a major investigation as the accident is fatal. Four people are confirmed dead as a result of the collision. Man shot in head six times while driving in San Diego Traffic being diverted on southbound State Route 163 in the Kearny Mesa area Friday morning. (KSWB) CHP said one person was arrested at the scene, though no further details were immediately released. This is a

Inflation and high interest rates are weighing down sales of new cars and trucks in San Diego and across California but some industry analysts and dealers suspect another factor is quickly coming into play — anxiety about the upcoming presidential election. “In my experience, when there’s uncertainty in national or international or state politics, people delay,” said Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association. “They want to see how it all turns out (before making a purchase). And since most people are going to own their cars for many years, waiting six months or so is not a horrible thing to do.” Ivan Drury, director of auto insights at Edmunds.com, agrees — especially since the average price of a new vehicle in the U.S. has climbed to nearly $48,000. “At the price points we’re looking at and the uncertainty that consumers have about what’s going to happen, I think a lot of people are just going to be on hold,” Drury said. Tensions in an already polarized political environment are rising after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and calls from some

Haney Hong looks at the potential November ballot in San Diego County with a sense of awe and considerable concern. The president and CEO of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association said 12 municipal tax measures and 19 school bonds may go before voters across various local jurisdictions, so far. Only one of the proposals will be on the countywide ballot — a half-cent sales tax proposal for transit-oriented transportation projects. So, while the overall scope may seem daunting, that probably won’t be the case for most individual voters, who may face the transit tax and maybe a city and/or school board proposal. The exact number of ballot measures won’t be determined for several weeks, after boards and councils finalize their plans and the county Registrar of Voters determines whether initiatives qualify for the ballot. But it will be a lot, and Hong sees a disconcerting trend. “In my nine years here, we’ve never had this many propositions in one election,” he said in an interview, referring to his time as head of the association. “Something that concerns me is there are a lot of

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A multi-vehicle collision has prompted a full closure of southbound State Route 163 in the Kearny Mesa area, said Caltrans. According to a SigAlert from California Highway Patrol, the incident was first reported around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning. Roughly 30 minutes later, Caltrans announced all lanes were blocked in the impacted area, which is located slightly north of Interstate 805. The crash site is near the overpass. CHP noted that traffic is being diverted to southbound I-805 at this time, and the closure is expected to last for several hours as the accident may be fatal. FOX 5/KUSI is working to confirm more details. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

LEMON GROVE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Just two days after 70 sleeping cabins were approved for a site in Lemon Grove, hundreds of local residents flooded a community forum to air their concerns. The overwhelming majority felt the site was a surprise after county supervisors just recently rescinded a plan for the cabins in Spring Valley. Flyers for the meeting promised information and questions answered in just one hour, instead several hours of a chaotic meeting ensued. Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe attempted to address Lemon Grove residents, one of the communities she represents. Her office organized a “community outreach forum” that so many people wanted to attend, the original venue overflowed. Hundreds made their way across the street to a recreation center where Montgomery-Steppe could hardly get a word in without interruption. The proposed sleeping cabins would be located on a vacant lot near Troy Street and Sweetwater Road and house up to 140 people.  The county says the site would include 24/7 security, maintenance, case management and other resources. Some of the criteria before admission would include not being a registered sex offender, arsonist or anyone

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Authorities are searching for suspects linked to a shooting last year that left seven people wounded, including two children, in Spring Valley. The shooting occurred on Nov. 18, 2023, around 8 p.m. in the 9000 block of Ildica Street, Sgt. Samuel Lizarraga with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release Thursday. Five people suffered gunshot wounds while two children had burn wounds caused by the shooting, according to law enforcement. The victims were taken to hospitals for treatment. Fire burns egg ranch in rural East County A silver colored, 2008-2014 model Mercedes Benz C-Class sedan was caught on surveillance video leaving the area around the time of the shooting. Authorities believe there may have been multiple suspects involved in the shooting. A suspect vehicle connected to a shooting in the La Presa neighborhood on Nov. 18, 2023. (San Diego County Sheriff’s Department) A suspect vehicle connected to a shooting in the La Presa neighborhood on Nov. 18, 2023. (San Diego County Sheriff’s Department) A suspect vehicle connected to a shooting in the La Presa neighborhood on

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A fire broke out Thursday at an egg production facility located east of Ramona, causing $2 million in damage, authorities said. The fire occurred in a 25,0000-square-foot building near the 25800 block of state Route 78 in the community of Witch Creek, Cal Fire San Diego posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, at 5:50 p.m. ‘Slamarack’ brings hundreds to surf at once in North County The fire was contained to the building and did not spread onto brush, per Cal Fire San Diego. Firefighters will remain there through the night and into Friday to ensure the fire is completely extinguished. There are multiple buildings in the facility that house around 70,000 chickens per building, fire officials said. The San Diego County Sheriff Department’s Bomb and Arson Unit are currently investigating the fire.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A seemingly unstable staircase in downtown San Diego is causing concern, especially as thousands of people are getting ready to attend Comic Con. “I was in air and caught myself, but I was bailing hard,” Lee Johnston Jr. said. He is visiting San Diego from Colorado for a work conference and said he almost fell down the stairs along the Harbor Street Pedestrian Bridge. It’s a common bridge and staircase that connects people from the south side of Harbor Drive near the Hilton Bayfront Hotel to the north side of Harbor Drive, near Petco Park. “A couple days ago I got here for the conference went for a walk and I was coming down these stairs and I caught myself but I had tripped hard,” Johnston Jr. said. “The next day it happened again.” After further inspection, he noticed several cracks, wobbly stairs and uneven stairs that have seemingly detached. “I actually detected that one of the stairs was wobbly and that it was also off set back, so if you were stepping at a normal cadence then you were

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A fire broke out Thursday at an egg ranch located east of Ramona. The fire occurred near the 25800 block of state Route 78 in the community of Witch Creek, Cal Fire San Diego posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, at 5:50 p.m. ‘Slamarack’ brings hundreds to surf at once in North County “There is a 25,000 square-foot building fully involved with exposures on either side. Firefighters are in defensive mode, trying to keep the fire to the building of origin,” the fire agency said in an updated post at 6:10 p.m. The fire is contained to the building and has not spread onto brush at this time, per Cal Fire San Diego. Firefighters will remain there for several hours to ensure the fire is completely extinguished.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Community members and homeless advocates gathered at Kettner Boulevard and Vine Street Thursday morning, the proposed site for a mega shelter, to oppose the project. “There’s no good case for putting a 1,000 homeless people into a shelter like this, ” said John Brady, a homeless advocate. “This is a disaster waiting to happen.” “They have to stop, they have to figure out a way to start this project first with community input and second with details answer to very questions raised by the expect analysts,” said Paul Krueger, a District 9 resident. ‘Wrong,’ San Diego mayor says of analysis of proposed mega shelter The growing concerns over the shelter come after a report from the city’s Independent Budget Analyst showed criticism of the plan overall. The report said the project could cost the city up to $30 million a year to operate, going beyond the budget, and the report claims that without new funding, the city would need to cut existing programs or services to pay for this shelter. In an interview in Gloria’s office Wednesday afternoon, the mayor

SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The 21 people who were killed in what became known as the “McDonald’s massacre” were remembered by friends, family and members of the San Ysidro community on Thursday morning. The tragedy took place July 18, 1984. A monument erected in their honor six years after the massacre took place was decorated with flowers and pictures of the victims. “It was horrible, an event we could never imagine. How could this happen?” asked Alice De La Torre, a lifelong San Ysidro resident. “The whole town was upset and in disbelief, crying, and asking the Lord why, why San Ysidro?” ‘It’s sad people have forgotten about 21 McDonald’s massacre victims,’ resident says The site where the massacre took place is now a satellite campus for Southwestern College Community College. Alice De La Torre is a lifelong San Ysidro resident who recalled the McDonald’s massacre that took place 40 years ago. (Salvador Rivera/Border Report) A large tent with and rows of chairs was installed on the main parking lot to accommodate those who attended the memorial. McDonald’s massacre survivor, now police captain, recalls

Leaders gathered at what was once a county assessor’s office Thursday to break ground on East County’s first stand-alone crisis stabilization unit designed to provide up to 24 hours of respite for those with urgent mental health care needs. When complete in 2025, the 14,000-square-foot, $28 million facility will be the county’s seventh such location. Existing units are already operating in Vista, Oceanside, Escondido, Chula Vista, Hillcrest and at the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital. Though their particulars vary slightly, all follow the same general model, offering multiple recliners in quiet rooms where people coping with severe symptoms of psychiatric distress can be evaluated by medical professionals for up to 24 hours. The key feature of crisis-stabilization centers is their ability to divert patients, often picked up on “5150” holds, from the region’s busy emergency departments where they would otherwise be taken for evaluation. These holds are often performed by law enforcement officers when a person is thought to possibly be a danger to themselves or others or gravely disabled. Thursday, and in other recent presentations, county officials have said that the two newest crisis

It’s been 40 years since Wendy Flanagan and her coworkers sealed themselves in the basement utility room of a McDonald’s in San Ysidro. On July 18, 1984, a gunman entered the restaurant and opened fire. In hiding, a 16-year-old Flanagan remembers reaching for her friend’s gold chains. Adorning them were a couple of crosses and the Virgen de Guadalupe. She grabbed on and started to pray. Seventy-seven minutes later, and 21 lives lost, it was over. Now, decades later, the sound of fireworks still unsettles her. “To this day, I’m still bothered by the Fourth of July,” said Flanagan, a Chula Vista resident who often chooses to spend her time alone, quietly, with her two chihuahuas. The cacophony is just “constant,” she said, just like the onslaught of bullets fizzing through the air that day. Thursday marks the 40th anniversary of the massacre, when a man carrying an arsenal of weapons walked into a McDonald’s in San Ysidro and shot 40 people, in what’s now widely regarded as one of the country’s first modern-day mass shootings. For Flanagan, it’s also a time when she feels

Federal authorities on Thursday announced sanctions and criminal charges against an alleged Tijuana-based international criminal group suspected of smuggling thousands of undocumented migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East into the United States. An indictment against the group’s alleged leader, 42-year-old Sierra Leone national Abdul Karim Conteh, was unsealed Wednesday in federal court in San Diego. The indictment alleges that over a period of several years, Conteh and his Mexican wife, 25-year-old Veronica Roblero Pivaral, conspired with others to move the migrants from their home countries to South and Central America, and then north through Mexico to the U.S. border. U.S. Department of the TreasuryAbdul Karim Conteh, 42, of Sierra Leone “Defendant Abdul Karim Conteh oversaw and assisted with their surreptitious and unlawful entry into the United States by various means, including the use of ladders and tunnels,” the indictment alleges. “… The migrants paid money, often tens of thousands of dollars, to be transported.” Mexican authorities arrested Conteh on July 11 in Tijuana, and the U.S. is pursuing his extradition, according to the Department of Justice. Roblero, his wife, remains at large. The U.S.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A brush fire scorched several acres of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Thursday afternoon. The fire broke out on the military base, located north of state Route 52 and Kearny Mesa and west of state Route 163, around 3 p.m. As of 4 p.m., firefighters had stopped the spread of the fire at 10 acres, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said on X. No evacuations were ordered and no structures were threatened. California Wildfire Map The fire was impacting traffic in the area as the evening rush hour approached. The right three lanes of westbound SR-52, west of SR-163, were closed, Caltrans San Diego said. The left lane remained open.

Chula Vista has selected a San Diego-based design firm to assess the feasibility of developing the first 20 acres of the 383 acres it has long envisioned turning into a hotspot for education and business. The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a one-year, $195,000 contract with Carrier Johnson. Officials hope the findings will take the city one step closer to attracting at least one full-service university to its University and Innovation District. The firm, selected from a pool of six bidders, has done several site planning and interior design projects for the South County city, such as the police department headquarters, the bayfront master plan and a cardiac catheterization lab for Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center. It has also done planning for university student housing, libraries, science centers and marketplaces across the state. According to the two-party agreement, Carrier Johnson is tasked with producing three plans for developing 20 acres within the university district. The massive piece of real estate east of the Cota Vera development is now vacant. But officials hope that those nearly two dozen acres will offer potential tenants a look at

A driver was hospitalized early Thursday after he got into an argument with a pedestrian in El Cajon who fired what was believed to be a BB gun at him, shattering the vehicle’s window and leaving him with a neck wound, police said. The incident occurred shortly before 1:10 a.m. when the victim, a man in his 50s, was stopped at the intersection of Second Street and East Madison Avenue. Police said he got into an argument with someone on the street who fired at him. “The BB shattered the vehicle’s window and struck the victim in the neck,” police Lt. Nick Sprecco said in a statement. The victim drove himself home and called police about 10 minutes after the incident. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital to be treated. His wound was not thought to be life threatening. The assailant was described as being in his late teens or early 20s. No other description was released. Police said anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police at (619) 579-3311 or Crime Stoppers at crimestoppers.org