$180 Million Earmarked To Widen Route 1 at Fort Belvoir

Relief is on the way for thousands of people who get stuck in traffic while commuting to and from Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia.

The U.S. Department of Defense is giving Virginia $180 million in grants to widen a 3.5-mile stretch of Route 1 near the military base.

Route 1 will be expanded to six lanes between Telegraph Road and Mount Vernon Highway. New pedestrian and bicycle lanes also will be added.

The widened road is expected to improve access to Fort Belvoir and accommodate the increased traffic generated by the Base Realignment and Closure project.

“Widening Route 1 is critical to ensuring a viable transportation network in the Fort Belvoir area,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a written press release. “Our nation’s wounded warriors, veterans and their families deserve to have reliable and safe access to Fort Belvoir’s new Community Hospital. Moreover, every day, commuters are stuck in long traffic queues on Route 1… this widening will improve the quality of life for thousands of commuters and visitors.”

Construction could begin in 2013 and take up to three years to complete.

LA Sets Standards for Barking Dog Violations

An amendment to LA's barking dog ordinance should clear up what happens when a one person's best friend becomes another's nuisance.

The amendment, approved at Tuesday's city council meeting, is designed to provide more definitive guidelines regarding barking dogs.

"Before, it was pretty subjective," said LA Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette. "Whatever bothered somebody was considered."

Under the ordinance amendment, a violation is defined as a dog barking continuously for 10 minutes or intermittently for 30 minutes in a three hour period.

"Dogs bark, that's what they do," Barnette said. "They're our family members, but there are people who are sensitive to the sound and don't want to be interrupted by barking dogs."

In an effort to speed the process once a complaint is received, hearings would be moved to the department's administration building. That should reduce some of the clerical work involved in conducting a hearing.

The ordinance also allows for flexibility when it comes to whether the dog stays at the residence.

If the allegations are valid, a hearing officer can remove the dog from the home. The dog might be turned over to a shelter or placed in a home outside the city of Los Angeles, but not all cases warrant such a drastic change for the dog.

"So, sometimes, hearing officers will renew (the permit) with terms and conditions," said Barnette. "Something like, the dog can't be outside after dark. We make every attempt to work with the dog owner to keep the dog in the home."

The amendment also ties a loose end in the law that basically meant owners of unlicensed dogs were treated more leniently that owners of licensed dogs. Under current law, the department is unable to conduct hearings in response to complaints involving unlicensed dogs.

The amended ordinance allows the department to conduct hearings, even if the dog does not have a valid license. 

During the council's brief discussion of the ordinance amendment Tuesday, Councilman Richard Alarcon submitted to a motion to make sure there is a marketing plan in place so that dog owners know about the amended law.

The plan now goes before Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Good Samaritan Remembered by Family

Close friends of a Good Samaritan say he died as he lived. They identified the shooting victim as Alejandro Sanchez Torres. 

Torres, 30, was fatally shot while trying to break up a robbery using a baseball bat near a shopping center in Santa Clarita on Monday afternoon.

Friends add that Torres and his 6-year-old son, Anthony, were going trick-or-treating when they allegedly came across a group of young men attacking another man. Torres stepped in with a baseball bat.

"I gave him the bat 'cause Anthony wanted to look scary. He wanted to get a knife and I told him he couldn't take the knife and I gave him the bat," Roxana Gonzalez said. 

 

Flowers with a note "My Dad" mark the area where a young boy watched his father perish.

 

"He was a great guy, very responsible, loving to his son," Gonzalez added.

 

"It hurts me you know to lose one of your loved ones," Marcelino Ortiz, another friend of the victim, said. 

 

Friends add that Torres was trying to turn his life around. Ortiz says he and Alex were in Alcoholics Anonymous together.

 

"He was a nice man; he is Christian. He likes to read the bible," Ortiz added.

 

Gonzalez told NBC4 News that Torres worked on a ranch in Vallermo and has no family in the United States. Torres' mother lives in Puebla, Mexico. 

 

"He always said, "Don't let anyone boss around or bully you, protect yourself if you need to fight, fight back or just call the police,'" Gonzalez said.

 

Gonzalez also told NBC 4 News that Torres was robbed a couple of weeks ago and was able to fight off his assailants in that case and call 911. 

 

It is believed that the young boy, Anthony, is with his mother who lives in Lancaster. Torres and the mother were not married, according to friends. 

 

All four suspects ages 13-16 in the shooting are in LA Sheriff's custody.

 

The incident began when a 29-year-old man set up a meeting to sell a Nintendo game system.

 

Authorities say that's when the attempted robbery and shooting occurred leaving Torres dead and the man trying to sell the system shot in the right thigh. The latter was treated and released from a local hospital. 

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Smash-&-Grab Robbers Hit Del. Jewelry Store

Broken glass was practically all that was left in the cases after four men with hammers and a handgun robbed the Stuart Kingston Jewelry Store in Wilmington, Del. Tuesday afternoon.

The robbery happened at the Pennsylvania Avenue store around 1:30.

“Obviously they had cased the place -- either had someone come in and look around, see where all of the valuable things were,” said owner Jim Stein. “They ended up going into the vault.”

The men got into the store by hiding behind one of the alleged thieves and then all four men bursted in after an employee buzzed in the man thinking he was a customer.

 

The robbers demanded Stein’s 38-year-old son show them the valuables in the vault before duct-taping his hands behind his back -- as they did to the other three co-workers, Stein said.

Stein, who was in the back of the store as the robbery happened, managed to escape through another door and ran outside looking for help.

“I knew these guys were still here and I was out there a couple of minutes trying to find somebody – I couldn’t find anybody and I said ‘I’m going back in.’

“When I came back in, that’s when they came at me with raised hammers,” Stein said.

The men smashed the glass counters grabbing jewelry and cash before leaving the store.

 

They took off in a rental van and a Good Samaritan tried to follow, according to Stein.

“He followed them all the way on 95 to the Pennsylvania line and he said, ‘I think they went off on the Blue Route,’” Stein said. 

Luckily none of the employees in the store was hurt.

Police wouldn't say how much jewelry was taken but Stein called it a significant loss.

 

Stein had installed surveillance cameras at his family business after it was hit by robbers 15 years ago. Police were reviewing the tapes for possible leads.

Anyone with information should contact Wilmington Police Det. Shane Sowden at 302-576-3606 or Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333.

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VIDEO: Hawk Rescued, Released in Central Park

It was a hairy situation in Harlem for a hawk that was trapped between two buildings.

The bird got stuck near East 102nd Street and Park Avenue at around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Rescue workers managed to free the hawk from between the walls of the two buildings. The hawk appeared to be in good health, and was taken to Central Park and released.

Pomona Police Sued Over Beating Caught on Tape

The city of Pomona and its chief of police are being sued over a beating captured on cell phone video.

The family of Andres Avila claims he was at a party on July 4, when two officers beat him and arrested him while responding to an unknown domestic disturbance.

“He’s being tasered as he’s on the ground in one clip and in the other clip, you will see that he’s already on the ground and an officer punches him hard in his face,” said Avila family attorney Luis Carillo.

Andres Avila filed a complaint against the officers for using excessive force. Months later, on October 16, Avila was shot and killed by Pomona police officers.

Avila was found asleep in a car with his girlfriend outside of a Pomona motel. Carillo and the Avila family believe the deadly shooting was retaliation for the complaint he filed over the July incident.

“I don’t think it’s a mere coincidence that a young man who filed personnel complaints winds up two months later getting shot dead by the same police department,” said Carillo.

The Avila family wants a federal investigation into the Pomona Police Department. They have also filed a claim for monetary damages. If that is denied, they plan to file a lawsuit with the Pomona Superior Court.

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"Occupy" Protester Arrested in Sexual Assault of a Child

A 24-year-old man is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old at the Occupy Dallas campground near Dallas City Hall, Dallas police said.

Dallas police said Richard Wayne Armstrong, a sex offender, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of having sex with a 14-year-old runaway.

Police said the girl told Armstrong and others at the Occupy Dallas camp that she was 19.

"You know, different people can see it different ways, but once you talked with her, I think it's a little obvious she is much younger than she said," Deputy Chief Sherryl Scott said.

Officers located the girl after receiving information on Oct. 23 that a girl at the camp matched the description of a runaway from Garland.

The girl told detectives she had sex with a 24-year-old man in a tent at the Occupy Dallas encampment.

Police located and questioned Armstrong and discovered he had failed to register as a sex offender after he recently got out of jail in Big Sandy.

Armstrong is charged with failure to register as a sex offender and sexual assault of a child, both felonies. He was taken to Lew Sterrett Jail and was still in custody Tuesday night.

His bond was set at $200,000.

People at the camp said they do not question protesters about their backgrounds.

"We have opened a call to say, 'This is the movement of all people,' so it's hard to say anyone is not part of this movement," Occupy Dallas protester Andrew Louis Davis said.

Dallas police appear to be warning people that there are children at the camp.

Members of Occupy Dallas said teenage runaways and sex offenders are not welcome.

"This situation is not one that we would have wanted to have happen, but it is something that we needed to learn," demonstrator Sarah Peace said. "We're all actually here for beautiful ideas and dreams that we have."

Occupy Dallas has a 60-day permit that allows the camp to remain behind City Hall until mid-December.

NBC 5's Ken Kalthoff and Ellen Goldberg contributed to this report.