Power back in southeast San Diego

Power has been restored to most customers in southeast San Diego after an outage that left thousands in the dark, according to the San Diego Gas & Electric Web site.

The affected area stretched along Imperial Avenue from 61st Street to 47th Street and north to state Route 94 and left more than 3,000 customers without electricity, according to a utility spokeswoman.

The outage was reported just after 9 a.m. and may have been caused by a contractor striking an underground electric cable with a jackhammer, the spokeswoman said. The contractor is not affiliated with SDG&E.

Power outage in southeast San Diego

A power outage has left thousands without power in communities in southeast San Diego, according to San Diego Gas & Electric.

The affected area stretches along Imperial Avenue from 61st Street to 47th Street and north to state Route 94 and has left more than 3,000 customers in the dark, according to a utility spokeswoman.

The outage was reported just after 9 a.m. and may have been caused by a contractor striking an underground electric cable with a jackhammer, the spokeswoman said. The contractor is not affiliated with SDG&E.

Traffic lights are also not working in the area.

Evacuations begin near surrounded house

San Diego police have begun evacuating residents from their homes on Dunwood Way in Bay Terraces, where a man suspected of domestic violence has refused to come out.

SWAT officers have been called in. The man has been talking to negotiators at times through the evening and some of his family members have gathered along police barricade tape. The road has been closed to traffic.

Escondido police search for missing woman

Escondido police are searching for a 71-year-old woman with Alzheimer's who disappeared from her home early Thursday.

Sheila Ann Lopes (pictured at left) was last seen by her husband as he headed for bed about midnight at the home they share on Woodland Heights Glen in the northeast corner of the city, police Lt. David Mankin said.

Mankin said he didn't know when Lopes' husband realized she was gone. Family members looked for her for several hours before calling police at 11:45 a.m. Family members told police Lopes has walked away before and was found in the neighborhood. She does not have access to a car.

Lopes was wearing a gray cotton, long-sleeved, zippered sweat shirt, matching sweat pants and white slippers. She was described as white, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 135 pounds, with blue eyes and shoulder-length gray hair.

Police called in about 40 sheriff's search and rescue volunteers, some with dogs, and have been assisted by the sheriff's helicopter, Mankin said.

Goodbye to a great ship: Kitty Hawk

Sixty-five Kitty Hawk veterans joined a crew of 1,650 Thursday as the ship shoved off from North Island Naval Air Station, its home base for more than three-fourths of its 47-year Navy career.

The Navy's longest-serving aircraft carrier is headed for Bremerton, Wash., where shipyard workers will strip its useful gear in preparation for long-term storage. The ship is scheduled to be decommissioned early next year.

The Kitty Hawk pulled away from its pier shortly after 9 a.m. without fanfare: no brass bands, no cheering, no banners and balloons. Just a few misty-eyed veterans waving goodbye.

"There's a tear running down my cheek," said retired Rear Adm. Denny Wisely, 67, of Scottsdale, Ariz., a former fighter pilot who launched 350 Vietnam War combat missions during seven years aboard the Kitty Hawk. "You see a ship like this going away, and it's sad."

The ship is scheduled to reach Bremerton on Tuesday.

The carrier's long-term future isn't clear. A group in Wilmington, N.C., hopes to bring the ship there as a museum piece, like the Midway in San Diego.

- Steve Liewer

Doctor sues in medical-marijuana cases

A doctor investigated over his medical marijuana recommendations has sued state and local law enforcement officials.

Dr. Alfonso Jimenez, a licensed osteopath, is accusing the San Diego and Laguna Beach police departments, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, and others of conspiring to entrap him in violation of a federal injunction against investigating doctors who recommend medical marijuana "based on a sincere medical judgment."

Jimenez says local authorities posed as patients in his San Diego medical office in May 2006, then worked with Laguna Beach authorities to conduct a similar sting in his Orange County office in January 2007.

Jimenez is to go before the Medical Board of California in December, but his attorney, Steven Schectman, said they hope to suspend the hearing while the case works its way through San Diego Superior Court.
- Alexa Capeloto

Police surround house in Bay Terraces

San Diego police have surrounded a home in Bay Terraces, trying to talk a man into surrendering for questioning on domestic violence allegations by his former girlfriend.

Police were notified about 3 p.m. that the suspect in the case might be found at his home, where the assault allegedly occurred, on Dunwood Way off Ledgewood Lane in the southeastern area of San Diego.

The man's former girlfriend reported the incident at the Lemon Grove sheriff's station, San Diego police Sgt. Alan Hayward said. He said the man is believed to own a .45 caliber pistol.

Officers staked out the man's home and determined that he was inside. More officers were sent to surround the house and block the road. Negotiators have been trying to talk him into coming outside, police said.

UPDATE: SWAT team emergency negotiators were called in about 9:40 p.m.

Bank robbed in La Mesa

Three armed men in masks robbed the Torrey Pines Bank branch on Center Drive, near Grossmont Center Drive, in La Mesa Thursday morning, according to police.

At about 10 a.m.., the robbers entered the bank, took money from a teller and forced the manager to take them to the safe, where they stole more cash, according to La Mesa police.

As the robbers fled in a tan sedan eastbound on Center Drive, a dye pack inside a bank bag exploded inside the car, according to police. The men tossed out the bank bag with most of the cash inside, according to police. They were last seen driving westbound on Interstate 8.

No employees or customers were injured during the incident.

Read the Union-Tribune story here.

Walkway collapse in East Village

Remains of the walkway that collapsed in East Village-Photo by Angelica Martinez

San Diego firefighters have been sent to East Village to investigate a report of a walkway that collapsed just after noon today.

The walkway fell in the area of Imperial Avenue and 16th Street and multiple injuries are being reported.

For the latest, read the Union-Tribune story here.

Officer pleads no contest in K-9's death

See the breaking news story here.

A San Diego police officer pleaded no contest this morning to a misdemeanor charge for his role in the death of his canine partner and was ordered to pay the department for the dog.

Officer Paul Hubka, who did not attend the Superior Court hearing, was convicted of one misdemeanor count of animal endangerment and faced a maximum sentence of up to six months in jail.

Hubka was sentenced to three years probation on that charge; must perform 100 hours of community service with any non-profit agency within six months; and pay $4,941 to San Diego police for the dog. The department originally paid $8,301 for Forrest, a 5 year-old Belgian Malinois.

The animal died of heatstroke June 20 at the officer's home in Alpine on a day when temperatures in the area were over 100 degrees, according to court records. Hubka, a 22-year veteran of the department, left the dog in the police cruiser with the windows rolled up, according to court records.

Hubka, who is unlikely to lose his job, could face disciplinary action depending on the findings of an internal investigation, San Diego police Chief William Lansdowne said previously.

The officer's defense attorney said the episode has "absolutely devastated" his client.

-- Dana Littlefield

Kitty Hawk leaves on last voyage

Three weeks after its arrival, the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk pulled away from its North Island Naval Air Station pier shortly after 9 a.m. today, on its final cruise.

The 47-year-old ship is bound for Bremerton, Wash., where it will be stripped of usable equipment and placed in storage. The historic carrier is scheduled to be decommissioned in January.

The Kitty Hawk carried a reduced crew of 1,650 as well as 65 retired sailors, most of whom served on the ship's original crew when it was commissioned in 1961.

Man Tasered in Ocean Beach

San Diego police shot a man with a stun gun and paramedics took him to a hospital after he became combative in Ocean Beach early Thursday morning.

Officers were called to a courtyard on Santa Cruz Avenue, near Bacon Street, about 4:45 a.m. by someone who reported that the man was screaming and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, according to police.

The man became combative with officers when they tried to calm him down. The man was subdued with a Taser stun gun and then put in an ambulance with an officer.

The man's condition was not known this morning.