It took investigators two years to build a case against a former USC professor who was arrested in Mexico Tuesday, a day after he was named to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted fugitives list for alleged child-sex crimes.

Walter Lee Williams, 64, had been indicted in April on charges of sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with children.

Williams is accused of traveling from Los Angeles to the Philippines in January 2011 to engage in sex acts with two 14-year-old boys and taking sexually explicit pictures of one of them. He allegedly met the two boys online in 2010 and had Internet webcam sessions with them

He was arrested in the resort city of Playa del Carmen in Mexico, where he offered no resistance, FBI and Los Angeles Police Department officials said at a news conference Wednesday.

Prosecutor Gaspar Armando Garcia Torres told the Associated Press that Williams was captured late Tuesday while drinking coffee near a park in the Caribbean beach town.

Bill Lewis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said at the Wednesday news conference that it was Williams' addition to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list Monday -- and resulting media attention -- that led to Williams' capture.

Lewis said a Mexican citizen recognized Williams as a wanted fugitive from a photograph in a newspaper.

"It was just a short 48 hours ago that we stood in front of the media and talked about this heinous individual and the need for his capture," LAPD Assistant Chief Michel Moore said during the news conference.

"This is a good day in Los Angeles because two years ago, an investigation started from a citizen who was concerned about this man’s intentions of attacking and molesting young men, young children, young boys. ... We look forward to him being held accountable for his acts."

Authorities believe the case assembled by an LAPD detective and an FBI agent against Williams prompted the suspect to flee the country, Moore said.

"He fled and we have been hunting for him since," Moore said. 

Moore said the investigation began after an "adult student" contacted a crime hotline with suspicions about Williams.

"He began having conversations over the Internet with Mr. Williams, and he believes through the course of those interactions that Mr. Williams was grooming or interested in having sex with young boys -- those suspicions were brought to the department," Moore said.

A break in the case came when an FBI agent found child pornography on a computer that Williams had with him when returning to the United States at Los Angeles International Airport, Moore said.

"It has been a two-year investigation because it's been a matter of putting a puzzle together, all of which has not been offered by Mr. Williams," Moore said.

Walter Lee Williams was the 500th person added to the the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugutives list since its creation in 1950, the agency had announced.

Williams, pictured below at right, was a tenured professor of anthropology, history and gender studies at the University of Southern California. According to a profile that has since been removed from the USC website, Williams was a founding editor of the International Gay & Lesbian Review and also taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the 1980s.

The FBI said Williams preyed upon boys between ages 14 and 17, many of whom live in economically underdeveloped countries.

Moore said investigators believe there are additional victims, and he asked them to come forward. Lewis said there were no known victims in the Los Angeles area.

Lewis said investigators would attempt to build a timeline of Williams' whereabouts so that they could find victims.

“Because of his status, he has the means and access to children, and that’s what makes him dangerous,” said FBI Special Agent Jeff Yesensky in a video released by the agency before Williams' capture. “He preys on the most vulnerable children.”

Williams was charged in Los Angeles on April 30 with one count of producing child pornography, one count of traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.

The FBI had offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to Williams’ arrest.

He is a former Palm Springs resident with an extensive history of travel through Southeast Asia -- specifically the Philippines -- and may haved traveled to Mexico and Peru, the FBI said. Williams is also affiliated with the Buddhist Universal Association in Los Angeles.

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In a surprise move, the Men's Wearhouse board of directors on Wednesday ousted George Zimmer - a national icon known for personally guaranteeing the inexpensive suits and prom tuxedos his company has sold for decades - from his position as executive chairman without stating why.

The board said it “expects to discuss with Mr. Zimmer the extent, if any, and terms of his ongoing relationship with the Company.”

The Men's Wearhouse was founded in 1973 and is one of North America's largest specialty retailers of men's apparel, with 1,143 stores.

When Zimmer wasn't selling suits, he was a political activist. Campaign expenditure reports show Zimmer donating more than $150,000 to Prop. 19, an unsuccessful California measure to legalize marijuana in 2010, and $260,000 to a similar failed measure in 1996. He donated to anti-tobacco measures and early childhood programs.

He also was a major philanthropist to charities he believed in. One was the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, which honored him with an honorary doctor of philosophy in humane letters at a ceremony in San Francisco.

Under his leadership, the Men's Wearhouse has been long listted on Fortune's "The 100 Best Companies to Work For" since 1999.

The abrupt departure comes a week after Men's Wearhouse reported that its fiscal first-quarter profit increased 23 percent, helped by stronger margins and an earlier prom season.

In 1971, fresh out of college, Zimmer made his first foray into the clothing industry, working in Hong Kong for six months as a salesman for his father's coat manufacturing business, according to the company website. He was CEO from 1991 to 2011, when he became executive chairman.

In 1973, he and his college roommate opened the first Men's Wearhouse store, which sold $10 slacks and $25 polyester sport coats, in Houston. His personal car was a van with the company logo on the side and clothing racks in the back.

The Men's Wearhouse kept expanding, focusing on large markets where business was sluggish to take advantage of lower real estate costs. It also expanded beyond sports coats and trousers to casual sportswear in the 1980s and then went into the tuxedo rental business in 2000.

Zimmer owned 1.8 million shares of Men's Wearhouse as of the company's May 9 proxy filing, a 3.5 percent stake in the company.

Shares of Men's Wearhouse fell more than 2 percent, or 80 cents, to $36.67 in morning trading. The stock has traded between $25.97 and $38.59 in the past 52 weeks, and ended Tuesday up about 20 percent since the start of the year.

In light of Zimmer's termination, the Men's Wearhouse also announced that it is postponing its annual meeting of shareholders, which had originally been scheduled for Thursday. The purpose of the delay, the board said, is to re-nominate the existing slate of directors without him.

The Associated Press' Anne D'Innocenzio contributed to this report.

FBI agents in Southern California served search and arrest warrants Wednesday morning as part of an ongoing investigation involving an international sports gambling ring, according to officials.

Eighteen members of a group working mainly in California and Peru were arrested and charged with operating "Macho Sports" — an illegal Internet and telephone gambling business, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Four people were arrested abroad and 14 were arrested in Southern California. One arrest was made at a La Jolla home at 5848 Soledad Rd. owned by Amir Mokayef, confirmed FBI spokesperson Darrell Foxworth.

The investigation has been going on since 2011 and employed wiretaps and undercover agents.

Officials called the gambling ring "violent," because the group allegedly used intimidation and threats when it interacted with delinquent customers. The investigation also found that participants took millions of dollars in illegal sports wagers throughout the last decade in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas.

According to the indictment, brothers Jan and Erik Potocarrero ran Macho Sports from Lima, Peru, using the Internet and toll-free telephone lines to accept bets from customers in California. They then utilized bookies in Southern California to assist with operations.

Officials claim Mokayef was a bookie responsible for recruiting customers and collecting on bets. They also believe the La Jolla home was purchased with illegal funding.

Other locals arrested today were Michael Iaco, 30; Howard Blum, 51; Michael Massey, 44; and Salvatore Groppo, 37. Mokayef allegedly served as the booking manager for the men and worked with them to pay and collect bets.

Check back for updates on this story.

One Southern California city is looking for volunteers -- to monitor a new surveillance camera system.

With Banning, Calif., becoming the latest city in Inland Empire to add a surveillance system, Police Chief Leonard Purvis is hoping members of the senior community will apply at the department to join the watch.

The 12 cameras are located at the intersection of Ramsey Street and San Gorgonio Avenue, as well as Repplier and Roosevelt Williams Parks.

The cameras record 24 hours a day and keep up to 30 days of video. Some of the cameras can pan and zoom into areas hundreds of yards away with high-quality resolution.

There are speakers above the cameras so the person monitoring the system can warn the public.

Neighboring Redlands has been using a similar system.

"The chief calls it effective policing," said Liza Kester, a technician with the Banning Police Department.

The idea of installing the cameras came up about two years ago when a 13-year-old girl was raped during daylight hours on a playground set at Roosevelt Williams Park.

Severe budget cuts also played a role, with the department downsizing from 41 officers to 27.

"Burglaries on the rise, thefts on the rise, we wanted to do our part and think outside the box," Purvis said.

Still, some critics don't like the idea of police recording the public 24 hours a day.

"I don't appreciate someone looking over me all the time. I think it goes against what this country stands for," said Matt Buckmaster, who works in Banning.

Sometimes the most effective comfort comes from man's best friend.

Rush University Medical Center took that to heart, adopting a formal policy that allows pets to visit certain patients in their rooms. The hospital became the first facility in the area to officially set such rules in December.

Rush began researching requests for animal visitors in 2010, and in the end, officials decided the reward was worth the risk.

The hospital issued a 21-point list of rules outlining animal visits. Dogs and cats are the only pets allowed, for example, and any messes must be cleaned and sanitized by the handler. Before pets are allowed through the door, the doctor and of course patient must consent to the visit.

Pets must have proof of rabies vaccination and must be groomed and bathed before visiting. They aren't allowed to visit any rooms other than that of the pre-approved patient.

Bernadette Slesinski-Evans and her dachshund Sadie became the first patient to take advantage of the rules.

A hole opens up in the street and a fluorescent green fluid appears inside.

What is that stuff?

It sounds like a scene from an episode of "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," a Nickelodeon slime show or a toxic waste dump.

But this isn’t science fiction, this sinkhole filled with fluorescent green goo is reality and it’s located on a Philadelphia street. Steven Reitz can prove it. The Northern Liberties resident shot a photo of the "radioactive-looking" sinkhole along Randolph Street near Girard Avenue last week.

Reitz’s photo was then shared around the world after he posted it to the social discussion site, Reddit. Since then, hundreds of Reddit users weighed in on what exactly was the green liquid in the sinkhole. More than a few mentioned the Ninja Turtles as a possibility.

There would be no “Splinter” in this story however, even if there was still a mystery.

It seems the mystery of what caused the bright green water and who was responsible might be answered by Philadelphia Gas Works -- since their name "PGW" is stamped on the traffic barricade -- or the Streets Department -- since this is a hole in the street – but a few phone calls revealed that the radioactive-looking water came from the Philadelphia Water Department.

Philadelphia Water Department spokeswoman Laura Copeland tells NBC10.com that the green-looking fluid is actually a “harmless, food dye” used as a tracer. It helps workers identify the cause of sinkholes, cave-ins and other holes in the ground.

“Since most of our infrastructure is outside, we mainly use the green dye as it is the most visible and can be seen at the greatest distance in our infrastructure,” Copeland said. “

Green is not the only hue on the palette of problem-solving colors. They also use blue and red dyes to differentiate other sources of a break, especially when working inside a home, Copeland said.

The colored water doesn't pose a threat to the general public, according to officials. 

And that gaping hole in the street?

Soon after posting the photo, Reitz reported back that the hole was already boarded over.

Do you Yahoo? The government does.

Yahoo says that U.S. law enforcement agencies filed "between 12,000 and 13,000" requests for data from Jan. 1, 2013 to May 31 of this year, according to Reuters.

Yahoo made the announcement in a blog on its Tumblr page. Police most-often request information pertaining not to national security, but in cases concerning "fraud, homicides, kidnappings" and similar cases, according to the news wire.

Some data requests, however, were made under the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, the bit of American security policy brought into mainstream focus by the recent NSA leak.

The NSA, according to documents provided by former employee Edward Snowden, has been "acquiring customer data from" major US tech firms like Yahoo "for years," Reuters reported.
 

The campus at the University of Texas at Arlington was closed and classes were canceled Wednesday morning due to reports of an armed man headed toward the school.

Dallas police said the incident began when a former UTA student threatened to harm himself with a semi-automatic gun. UTA spokeswoman Kristin Sullivan says the student was last enrolled in 2008 with an undeclared major.

DPD officials said the man barricaded himself in an apartment. While officers searched for the man, police notified UTA officials about the search. Based on that report, UTA took security actions.

"UT Arlington takes these kind of threats very seriously which is why we closed the campus this morning and canceled classes until further notification," Sullivan said.

A UTA emergency alert shortly before 4:30 a.m. Wednesday indicated the campus was closed. Classes and other events were canceled as well.

"There is no imminent threat, however, as a precaution, we're going to make sure the campus is absolutely secure and safe. That's the most important thing," Sullivan said.

At 7:30 a.m., a message posted to the MavAlert Emergency Notifications page on the UTA web site stated the following:

"The UT Arlington campus is closed, and classes, events and summer camps are canceled until further notice as police continue to investigate a report of a man traveling to campus with a gun. Anyone on campus should remain inside. No one should travel to campus."

An alert sent on the MavAlert Emergency Notifications page on the UTA web site stated the campus was reopened around 9:29 a.m. and scheduled events, including classes, would resume at noon.

MAVALERT UPDATE: @utarlington police report threat has passed. Campus reopen; normal class schedules resume at noon. http://t.co/Vjq1jGmdWh

— UT Arlington (@utarlington) June 19, 2013

Additionally, the school has asked for all employees to report to campus as soon as possible.

Sullivan said several thousand people typically would be on campus for summer classes, camps and other activities. UTA's spring enrollment was nearly 34,000 students.

Early Confusion on Threat Details

The alert began as text posted to the school's web site at 4:28 a.m., which stated the following:

"Unconfirmed report Dallas PD informed UTA PD subj. w/ gun may be en-route to UTA campus. If on campus stay indoors/ off campus stay away until further notice."

UTA police said that Dallas police located the individual they believed was possibly headed to the campus. UTA police said that individual was inside an apartment in Dallas but was refusing to come out.

NBC 5 contacted the Dallas Police Department to confirm this information, but dispatch officers said they were unaware of any barricaded subject. The police department later confirmed the information about a man barricaded inside an apartment during a press conference around 11 a.m.

Previously, the university told NBC 5 they planned to release an "all clear" alert. However, an update at 6:17 a.m. stated the following:

"Police continue to investigate unconfirmed reports of a man suspected of traveling to campus with a gun. Stay away from campus or remain indoors until further notified."

NBC 5 's Keaton Fox and Jeff Smith contributed to this report.

Coffee drinkers might soon reconsider splurging on 460-calorie Java Chip Frappuccino at Starbucks.

Beginning next week, the coffee giant will post calorie counts on their menu boards, getting ahead of the federal menu-labeling requirements that will go into effect later this year.

The company’s decision follows its recent smoking ban within 25 feet of stores. These moves demonstrate Starbucks commitment to becoming a health-conscious leader in the food and beverage industry.

It seems as if the change will be a win-win for customers, according to two departments. The Stanford Graduate School of Business found that when calorie information was posted, consumers ordered items with 6 percent fewer calories.

“We are encouraged by the findings highlighted in the Stanford study that show posting calories can have a positive impact on an individual's daily caloric intake,” Starbucks spokeswoman Linda Mills said.

Additionally, market research firm NPD Group found that consumers spent 20 cents less on average per purchase.

So, what does this mean? Restaurants with calorie counts posted on their menu boards may be selling healthier choices to their customers, but may also be losing money in lieu of the change.

Facebook crashed on Tuesday and people took to Twitter to lob complaints, laugh and joke about the outage. Website monitoring site DownRightNow noted that the social network went down at around 9:10 p.m. ET.

Those who tried logging on saw this error message:

As of 11:00 p.m. ET, the site is back up. It is unclear what sparked the outage and how widespread the problem was, NBC News reported.

Were you affected by the outage? Tell us what you did to pass time in the comments section below.

You can't even go on Facebook to complain about how Facebook is down. Tweeting FTW.

— Jenny He (@jenn_he) June 19, 2013

Facebook is down? Good! pic.twitter.com/2ESwBbApyP

— John Yowan (@Yowan) June 19, 2013

OMG Facebook is down! How will I talk to my friends now?!!?!

— Brian Stilson (@brstilson) June 19, 2013

Oh no Facebook is down zomg the sky is falling !!!! #facebookdown #networkerror

— God (@TheGoodGodAbove) June 19, 2013

FACEBOOK IS DOWN!!! HURRY!! BEFORE IT COMES BACK.. RUN!!! WE ARE FREE!!!! #facebookdown

— Rick XX6 (@RickXX6) June 19, 2013

Is Facebook down? Yes, actually the whole world goes down when Facebook goes down.

— ǤƱĪÐØ™ (@furiousguido) June 19, 2013

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. #facebookdown

— Brian Stilson (@brstilson) June 19, 2013

Facebook is down but worldwide productivity has just increased by 90%.

— John Yowan (@Yowan) June 19, 2013

Facebook is down, feel free to panic: http://t.co/GcXKUDo2P7

— SFist (@SFist) June 19, 2013

Facebook is down. How will I know what my friend from high school whom I haven't seen in 15 years ate for dinner?!?! #Facebook

— ThisHeartsOnFire (@JustAnotherRich) June 19, 2013

FACEBOOK IS DOWN REPEAT FACEBOOK IS DOWN QUICK GET TO THE BOMB SHELTER THE APOCALYPSE IS HAPPENING.

— Sam Taunton (@samtaunton) June 19, 2013

The second round of questioning of potential jurors in the George Zimmerman trial began Wednesday morning.

A pool of 40 potential jurors were in the Seminole County courtroom, which was reconfigured to accommodate them. Those potential jurors went through the initial round of questioning, which began last week and was focused solely on pretrial publicity.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the February 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defense.

The parents of both Zimmerman and Martin were inside the courtroom Wednesday, as was Zimmerman's wife and sister. In an emailed statement, Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., said they were there for support.

"Despite safety considerations, the time was right to do what they could to visibly advocate for George's innocence," Robert Zimmerman Jr. said. "Our parents have avoided showing their face on-camera because of numerous death threats directed at our entire family."

He added that the family is caring for his ailing grandmother, which could prevent some family members from attending the court sessions.

"Going forward, security and other concerns are paramount and our periodic absence from court should not be misinterpreted as a withdrawal of support," he wrote. "Our position as a family has been clear & consistent since the night George was attacked: We are all sympathetic to the tragic reality of outliving a son or daughter, however... George acted in self-defense, self-defense should not be criminalized & we stand by George because he told the truth."

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson began by instructing the potential jurors not to talk or communicate with anyone about the case, before she read the formal charge against Zimmerman to them.

"Please understand that this questioning is not for the purpose of prying into your affairs for personal reasons but is only for the purpose of obtaining an impartial jury," Judge Nelson said.

Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda was the first to question potential jurors Wednesday.

"We are here to seek justice," de la Rionda said, before reiterating that the case should be tried inside the courtroom.

"Whatever you read or saw outside this courtroom cannot, I want to stress that again, cannot factor in any way in your decision," de la Rionda said. "What you saw on TV or on the Internet or read by virtue of what the media said is completely irrelevant."

The jury that will eventually be selected to hear the case will be sequestered for the duration of the trial, Judge Nelson said last week.
 

A Tyler snake expert pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to smuggling seven Peruvian snakes into the United States by concealing them underneath his jacket.

William Lamar, 63, was caught with the snakes in August at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He had purchased the snakes at a market in Lima, Peru, and flew with them in his jacket to Miami and then to DFW, where a Transportation Security Administration officer found them while Lamar was trying to board a commuter flight to Tyler.

The snakes were all small, about six inches long, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Lamar transported them in plastic cases in his jacket.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, five of the snakes were venomous. The five Peruvian pit vipers included three Bothrops barnetti and two Bothrops pictus. The other two snakes were an Oxyrhopus fitzingeri and a Pseudalsophis elegans.

Lamar is a partial owner of Colorado-based ecotourism company Green Tracks, according to a representative who answered the phone at the company's listed phone number Tuesday. His biography on the company website states that Lamar also conducts research on reptiles and amphibians for the University of Texas at Tyler.

A university spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Lamar has been an adjunct professor there but was not able to confirm his current status with the school.

Lamar is the author of at least three books on snakes and reptiles and has been a speaker at an event for the Austin Herpetological Society, among other events in that field.

According to several articles posted online, Lamar has spent decades doing research in the Amazon and leading tours in the region.

According to U.S. Attorney John M. Bales, Lamar stated in an Eastern District of Texas courtroom that he knew he was violating the law by transporting the snakes in his jacket without proper authorization.

Lamar was not available for comment Tuesday.

He could face up to five years in prison at sentencing, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

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It looks like the world is going to have to wait a bit longer for Rod Blagojevich's version of why he deserves a new trial.

The former Illinois governor was convicted in 2011 of 17 counts of corruption — including trying to sell President Barack Obama's former Senate seat — and is now serving a 14-year prison sentence.

His appeal was due next Monday, but his legal team has quietly filed a motion asking for nine extra days, "through and including July 3, 2013."

"This motion is necessitated, not by lack of diligence, but because of the length of the trial record," wrote attorney Leonard Goodman, who also cited the complexity of the issues, and the work he is doing on other cases.

Goodman wrote that he and co-counsel Lauren Kaesberg have analyzed more than 10,000 pages of trial transcript and "dozens of tape recorded conversations."

"Additional time is required to finish researching the law and writing the argument sections of the brief," Goodman writes. "Counsel has discussed the need for an extension of time with Mr. Blagojevich, who understands and accepts the need for this request."

Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He is serving his sentence at the federal prison in Englewood, Colo. Even with time off for good behavior, his earliest release date would come in 2024.

Treasury Secretary Jack "Lewpty" Lew has a new and improved signature – and it will soon be appearing on your dollar bills.

Some people, including President Barack Obama, thought Lew needed to improve his penmanship and worried about his illegibly loopy signature being showcased on U.S. currency.

"Jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our currency," Obama joked back in January.

Apparently Lew has done some work on his John Hancock. The Treasury Department tweeted a photo of his new signature Tuesday afternoon that is set to premiere on dollar bills this fall.

The new one is less loopy, but it still isn’t that legible.

It’s not the first time a Treasury Secretary has tried to change his signature before its dollar debut. Lew’s predecessor Timothy Geithner did the same, saying he wanted to make his name legible.

Filmmaker and oceanographic explorer Fabien Cousteau will spend 31 days underwater in Florida exploring the ocean.

Starting Sept. 30, Cousteau will lead Mission 31, where he and his team will live underwater and conduct research experiments, according to his website.

Cousteau's base will be at the underwater lab called Aquarius, which is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and managed by Florida International University.  The laboratory is located about 60 feet under sea level in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

This mission will be the longest that Aquarius ever hosted, his website said. Scientists' missions at Aquarius usually last about 10 days, according to NOAA.

The team will research the underwater effects climate change has on corals, sponges and sea life. They will also do experiments to determine how long humans can live without the sun, the effects of long-term high pressure and long-term saturation diving, according to Cousteau's website.

Mission 31 also coincides with the 50th anniversary of his grandfather's greatest legacy. Cousteau's grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau led the first attempt at living and working underwater on Conshelf Two.

"When my grandfather's Conshelf Two mission was complete he produced an Academy Award-winning documentary film (World Without Sun), but still received criticism rooted in disbelief of how he captured the mind-boggling underwater scenes," Cousteau said in a statement. "Using the latest camera technology, we will be able to show the world every second of Mission 31 in unedited, real-time and I believe it's going to shock people. We have explored less than five percent of our ocean realms; there's so much more to be discovered."

The Weather Channel partnered with Cousteau to show ongoing coverage, including live reports, the website said.

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The FBI and NYPD released new video Tuesday of the suspect in the 2008 bombing of an armed forces recruiting station in Times Square, and announced a reward of up to $65,000 for information leading to the arrest.

The video shows a shadowy figure on a bicycle riding up to the recruiting station, moments before the bomb exploded on March 6, 2008. No one was injured in the attack.

“Someone, somewhere, knows something about a bomber who’s still on the run,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos. “Today we’re asking for the public’s assistance in finding those responsible and encouraging the public to look closely at these photos and video, which could be the key to breaking the case.”

Authorities say the suspect was riding a blue Ross bicycle, and came from the east. He is believed to have ridden west on 37th Street, up Sixth Avenue, west on 47th Street and then down Seventh Avenue to the station, and the video released Tuesday shows that path.

Authorities say he rode away south on Broadway after planting the bomb, and police later found a Ross 10-speed bicycle in a Dumpster on East 38th Street that they believe belonged to the bomber.

Although the suspect appears to be working alone, he or she may have had a lookout or surveillance team of as many as five other individuals in Times Square at the time of the attack.

At the bomb scene, investigators recovered a metal ammunition can filled halfway with black powder and detonated with a fuse.

The device is believed to be similar to two other unsolved bombings by a suspect on a bicycle in Manhattan -- one outside the British consulate on East 42nd Street in 2005 and another outside the Mexican consulate on East 37th Street in 2007.

The FBI tipline is 212-384-1000. 

After months of complaints and debate, the smell at one of San Diego's most popular tourist destinations may be a bit more pleasant.

After an accumulation of bird droppings left an unwanted scent near the La Jolla shoreline, a cleanup process began Monday that will hopefully eliminate the unwanted odor.

The smell reduction involves spraying bacteria to eat away the bird poop. It's a 10-day, $50,000 process being run by a group called Blue Eagle. Crews will work to spread a certain kind of bacteria on the rocks, and biologists say the majority of the smell should be gone in a couple hours.

The long-awaited cleanup of the La Jolla Cove has locals ready for some fresh air. For months, the pervasive stench has been so bad, restaurants near the coast claimed it discouraged diners from eating there.

“The clean-up is an A+ on my list,” said Anton Marek from Goldfish Point Café.

It took many hurdles to get the plan in place. First, people had to wait for the bird’s nesting season to end. Then permits were obtained so that none of the product sprayed on the feces ends up in the water.

Mayor Bob Filner even called the problem a health and safety issue to get an exception from federal authorities.

“We’ve spent the last two weeks testing and we think it’s going to work,” he said.

But the big question ahead is: What happens when the birds come back? Filner said they’d have to look at a more long-term plan.

About a decade ago, the city put up a fence for safety reasons to get people off the rocks. Since then, birds took over, creating the mess.

If the fence stays, Filner said the city will have to look into another solution. He said the city can't keep spending money to clean the rocks every couple months.

“Unless there are people out there the way it has been for decades and decades, we’re going to have this problem,” he said.

Locals are happy to have the smell leave, but at the same time some said it’s only natural.

“I come to see the view. The smell comes with it… I ignore the smell,” said one visitor.

The Oxford English Dictionary is catching up to the high-tech world.

The word "tweet," appearing both as a noun and a verb, was added to the dictionary despite the OED's own rule that "a new word needs to be current for ten years before consideration for inclusion," according to Chief Editor John Simpson, who made the announcement in a blog post.

The OED got on board with other tech lingo. The words "big data," "crowdsourcing," "e-reader," "mouseover," "stream" and "redirect" also made their debut in the century-old dictionary.

"Flash mob," 3D printer" and "live-blogging" made the cut as well.

Check out new additions to the OED here.

A man who admitted to lying to a 911 dispatcher that he was robbed at gunpoint, leading responding police to fatally shoot an unarmed man in Pasadena, Calif., took a plea deal for three months in jail, authorities said.

Oscar Carillo called police after his backpack was snatched from him near a taco truck on the street. He wanted police to respond quickly, so he called 911 and lied that the thief had pulled a gun on him.

Responding officers shot and killed unarmed 19-year-old Kendrec McDade, believing he had a gun.

Carillo, an immigrant from Mexico who faces the possibility of deportation upon his release, said he didn't feel as though it was his fault.

"I don't feel guilty about anything," Carillo said. "Only God knows, I don't do anything. I feel sorry. Nobody deserves to die."

Pasadena City Attorney Michelle Bagneris said Carillo's case should serve as an example for people who report false information to police.

"There are serious, potentially serious consequences when people make false reports," she said. "It's a threat to public safety, a drain to public resources."

The McDade family lawyer said prosecutors should have filed more serious, felony charges and tried to put Carillo away for longer.

"The recent slap on the wrist of Mr. Carrillo serves as yet another disappointment to the McDade family following the failure of the District Attorney's office to charge him with a felony."

Carillo might not be deported immediately, as he is named as a defendant in a lawsuit that McDade's family has filed against the city.

Carillo said the case has weighed on him heavily.

"Sometimes I feel sad," Carillo said. "But then I look at my kids. I feel better."

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A pool of 40 potential jurors has been reached in the George Zimmerman trial, Circuit Judge Debra Nelson announced in court Tuesday.

Those potential jurors went through the initial round of questioning, which was focused solely on pretrial publicity.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the February 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defense.
 
Tuesday was the seventh day of jury selection. Five hundred people were summoned overall for the case as defense attorneys and prosecutors worked to build the pool of potential jurors.
 
On Monday, Judge Nelson granted a defense motion to extend the timeline for securing the anonymity of jurors in the trial.
 
Judge Nelson did not say for how long anonymity would be extended to jurors. She previously ruled that jurors’ names would be kept anonymous until after a jury reaches a verdict.
 
Judge Nelson said Monday that she would consider the length of the extension after the verdict is reached. Defense attorney Mark O’Mara has asked for a six-month extension.
 
The jury that will eventually be selected to hear the case will be sequestered for the duration of the trial, Judge Nelson said last week.

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A man on a Newark-bound flight from Hong Kong Monday screamed that passengers had been poisoned and drugged while ranting "your life is in jeopardy," before he was tackled by fellow fliers and crew, officials and witnesses said.

The man was in a middle seat at the rear of the plane when he began pacing the aisle and ranting, witnesses told NBC 4 New York.

In a recording of part of his rant, he can be heard saying "your life is in jeopardy," and talking about the CIA and NSA.

"He started reaching for something in his jacket, and so a few of us jumped on him, basically, put him to the floor, at the same time the crew brought plastic handcuffs and we were able to restrain him," said passenger Jacques Roizen.

Others were relieved that passengers took action.

"They took care of him, big guys," said Freida Najman.

United Airlines spokeswoman Jennifer Dohm said in a statement that "a passenger became disruptive" on the flight, and that the crew followed procedures.

The plane later landed at Newark, where it was met by Port Authority police. The man was led off the plane in handcuffs and taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, according to the official.

It was not clear whether he would face charges.

An FBI spokesman said authorities had cleared the plane and were interviewing witnesses.

--Jay Blackman contributed to this report

Convicted former Illinois congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. would like to serve prison time ahead of his also-convicted spouse, Sandi Jackson, court filings show.

Paperwork also reveals that the former legislator is having difficulty paying the hefty fine levied against him by a federal judge.

Jackson pleaded guilty in February to misusing campaign funds. Jackson acknowledged in court that he spent $750,000 of campaign cash on personal items — like a $4,600 Michael Jackson fedora and a $1,500 black-and-red cashmere cape, according to the charges against him — and pleaded guilty to several charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and false statements.

Sandi Jackson pleaded guilty on the same day to tax fraud.

The San Diego-area woman fired from her teaching job because of her ex-husband's violent behavior has a job offer.

A school official in the Los Angeles area made the offer after seeing NBC 7 San Diego’s coverage on the controversial termination of a teacher at Holy Trinity School in El Cajon.

Carie Charlesworth was emotional after learning that the viewer, who wants to remain anonymous, was so touched by her story she would like to offer her a job.

"It's good to know that people generally care about other people," Charlesworth said.

Charlesworth is the victim of domestic violence and was terminated from her teaching job earlier this year, after school officials said they were concerned about her ex-husband's threatening behavior.

The second grade teacher was put on indefinite leave, and her four children were also asked to no longer attend the school.

A letter sent to Charlesworth said that school officials are concerned about her ex-husband's "threatening and menacing behavior," and as a result they "cannot allow" her to continue teaching at the Holy Trinity School.

Despite an outpouring of parents who voiced their support for the school's decision, this anonymous school official says she's willing to take the risk and give Charlesworth a job.

"For me, I was angry at the thought that she had done nothing wrong, and yet she was being hurt by that herself," the school official said.

The woman runs a private school in the Los Angeles area and said from educator to educator, it's the least she could do.

"If nothing else, I'm more than happy to simply say to her, 'There's somebody out there that cares,'" the official told NBC 7 San Diego.

After taking her situation public, Charlesworth thought her career would be over. Now she says she's beyond thankful to get another chance.

"To take someone they don't even know and to offer a job opportunity,” she said. “It's amazing to me."

Charlesworth and the school official still need to talk things over, but she said she would be willing to relocate to the Los Angeles area for the job.

She's still on paid leave from the school, but that will run out in August. So she said she is exploring other options.

Her ex-husband is scheduled to be released from jail at the end of June.

Meanwhile, both the San Diego Catholic Diocese and the school have declined to comment on this story.
 

A Fort Myers, Fla., teen had a once in a lifetime experience when he swam with a 30-foot whale shark Saturday.

Chris Kreis, 19, was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico when he spotted the whale shark. He jumped in the water, grabbed the shark’s fin and rode it for a few seconds.

"It's massive. It's at least 30 feet long. It's at least the size of the boat," Kreis said.

The shark is estimated to weigh about 50,000 pounds. It is rare to see these sharks, but Kreis was able to swim with it.

"When I started holding on I felt the whale shark it started moving itself, it felt the drag and it didn't really want me on there so I let go and that's it," Kreis said, describing the ride.

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Kreis made the decision to swim with the shark after someone on the boat said that he would probably never get the opportunity to see one again, so he quickly thought about it, and jumped in.

“It went through my mind, yeah. I might not be able to do it again, so I did it,” Kreis said. “It was incredible.”

But not everyone thinks it’s so great. Marine biologist Bruce Neill said it could have hurt both Kreis and the shark.

Kreis could have been hurt if the shark had attacked, Neill said. And the shark could have lost some of the slimy skin that keeps it healthy.

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“It takes away that slime covering and potentially has negative health impacts on the fish,” said Neill.

Kreis said that if he had known about the potential harms, he would have taken precautions.

“If I had known about that, I would have probably just swam with it and not touched it. But since I didn't really know, I kind of feel bad,” Kreis said. “But again, it was a once in a lifetime experience."

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A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot late Sunday by a police officer, marking the third police-involved shooting in Chicago since Friday.

Chicago Police said in a statement that officers were responding to shots in the Englewood neighborhood just before 11 p.m. when they spotted an individual running down the street. Authorities got out and chased him down an alley when the teen allegedly turned and pointed a gun at them on the 6600 block of South Sangamon.

One officer opened fire, police said, and shot the 15-year-old boy identified by family as Michael Westley. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where he died. No officers were injured.

Police said they recovered a .40 caliber handgun from the scene and a revolver on the teen's waistband.

"There's been an ongoing gang feud in this area, and that's what the gang officers were responding to in the first place," Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said.

Westley's family said the teen attended Urban Prep Academies where he was on the basketball team and got good grades. The school said the teen did not attend Urban Prep, but rather TEAM Englewood, a CPS school that's located on the Urban Prep-Englewood campus

The family questions why police were chasing Westley and how and why he was shot.

The incident follows a violent weekend that saw seven people killed and more than 40 injured.

“Pretty violent weekend," Camden said. "As we keep hearing, crime is down. I’m not sure where it’s down, but that’s what we’re being told.”

Police point out that despite the wave of shootings over the last few days, the city saw eight fewer shootings this weekend compared to the same weekend last year and fewer murders to date this year than any year since the mid 1960's.

The Independent Police Review Authority, which examines all officer-involved shootings, and Area South detectives launched investigations into the incident.

After back-to-back, deadly shootings in Santa Monica, community members have taken to the streets to call for peace.

More than 100 people walked through the streets of Santa Monica on Sunday. In the evening, they lit candles and prayed. Many cried as names of victims were read.

On June 7, John Zawahri, a 23-year-old who suffered from mental illness, went on a shooting rampage through Santa Monica with a semiautomatic assault rifle. He killed his father and brother, and three other people apparently at random, before police fatally shot him in the Santa Monica College library.

Just days later, on June 11, two men were shot less than a mile from the college. One died. That incident was believed to be gang-related and was not linked to the earlier rampage.

Two other shootings were also reported in the area.

A town hall meeting to address violence in the community was planned for Thursday.

Police were seeking a Los Angeles elementary school teacher accused of stabbing his wife to death in the street after she obtained a domestic violence restraining order against him.

The suspect, Michael Rodney Kane, 46, a teacher at Nestle Avenue Charter Elementary School in Tarzana, remained at large on Sunday night. His wife, Michelle Kane, 43, died at the scene of the stabbing outside of her friend's home in West Hills on Saturday morning.

Kane was still listed on the elementary school's staff directory. He has had his multiple-subject teaching credential since 1998, according to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

He and Michelle Kane had been married for 10 years and had two young children, who were inside the home where the attack began before it spilled out onto the street.

"We're asking for Mr. Kane to turn himself in and bring this tragedy to closure,"  Los Angeles police Capt. Joel Justice said at a news conference Saturday.

The pair had a history of domestic violence and was in the process of getting a divorce. Michelle Kane filed a police report on Friday reporting that Michael Kane had violated his restraining order, Justice said.

She and her children then went to stay with a friend in West Hills.

The stabbing happened the next morning - about 7:30 a.m. on Saturday in the 7100 block of Deveron Ridge Road. 

Witness Roy Bernard described the violence, saying a neighbor fought with another man.

"They wrestled around for a while. The owner of the house got a nice wound on his wrist," Bernard said. "The woman took off running. The (other man) catches (the woman) and finishes killing her in the middle of the street."

When Bernard went out to the street she appeared to be dead, he said.

"She had very deep wounds in her abdomen and back," Bernard said.

Less than a mile away, at the apartment complex where Michael Kane has lived for the last few months, neighbors reportedly found blood near his apartment door. Police taped off the area as a crime scene.

Tim Liedel, a neighbor of Michael Kane's, said he and other neighbors heard or saw Kane screaming at the top of his lungs recently.

Police believe Michael Kane may be driving a 1999 Chrysler 300M, silver-gray or mint-green in color, with California license plate No. 4HGP487.