A father dressed as Santa Claus arrived to his family's Christmas party with two guns, executed his entire family and then killed himself -- and planned the entire thing, police said Tuesday.

Police believe the Christmas Day massacre in Grapevine, Texas, which left seven people dead still surrounded by Christmas presents and wrapping paper, was premeditated, Grapevine Police Sgt. Robert Eberling said.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Grapevine police officially released the name of the gunman and his victims.

Police confirm what family friends said Monday, that Azizolah "Bob" Yazdanpanah, 56, fired the fatal shots in the murder-suicide.

Grapevine police identified the victims as his wife, Fatemah "Nasrin" Rahmati, 55; their daughter, Nargis "Nona" Yazdanpanah, 19; and their son, Ali Yazdanpanah, 14. Nasrin's sister, Zohreh Rahmati, 58; her husband, Mohamad Hossein Zarei, 59; and their daughter, Sahra Fatemah Zarei, 22; were also killed, police confirmed.

See video, read the original story at NBCDFW.com

Police received a 911 call from an apartment in the 2500 block of Hall Johnson Road on Christmas morning. When officers arrived, they found the door locked from the inside, and the worst crime in Grapevine history.

Police recovered two weapons on the scene -- a Smith and Wesson 915 model 9 mm pistol with a 15-round magazine, and a Glock 23 .40-caliber pistol with a 10-round clip, according to Eberling.

Both guns were used in the murder-suicide, but Eberling would not say how many shots were fired; only saying that there were still bullets in both guns.

Last year, a bank foreclosed on Bob Yazdanpanah's house, and he separated from his wife in the March.

Police had previously said a text message prior to the shooting indicated Bob Yazdanpanah was probably invited to the party, but police on Tuesday afternoon changed their story.

Police now say Bob Yazdanpanah apparently was not invited.

At 11:16 a.m., one of the victims sent a text message to a friend indicating who was at the gathering at the apartment. The text message mentioned the gunman's name and that he was dressed as Santa. Police said there was no indication of fear or concern in the text.

Eighteen minutes later, someone placed a call to 911 from a landline inside the apartment.  Investigators could make out a muffled cry for help in the background, Eberling said.

All of the victims were found in the same room with no sign of a struggle, according to Eberling, but he said some of the victims had defensive wounds that indicate they tried to shield themselves from the bullets.

Police will wait for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner to release the identities of the victims,  Eberling said.

The gunman had some prior dealings with at least two other police departments but not Grapevine Police, according to Eberling. He did not say what kind of dealings, or when or how many incidents there were.

Investigators are still piecing together information, but Eberling said they aren't sure of a motive and may never know what led to the worst crime in Grapevine history.

Friends paint picture of loving family in turmoil
Yazdanpanah married Fatemah "Nasrin" Rahmati in 1987, according to court records. They had a daughter, Nargis "Nona," 19, who graduated from Colleyville Heritage High School in May and a son, Ali, 15, a high school freshman. All four are believed to be among the dead.

Neighbors say the family seemed tight-knit, and Aziz Yazdanpanah seemed protective of his children.

"He was pretty outgoing," said neighbor Fred Ditmars. "If you saw him, he'd say 'hi' to you and everything."

"It seemed like their whole existence was about family, so it's utterly shocking to me," said another neighbor, Terri Baum, whose daughter attended school with his daughter.

A close friend of the Yazdanpanah family said Fatemah "Nasrin" Rahmati's sister Zohreh, her husband Hossein Zarei and their 22-year-old daughter Sahra were also killed.

Sahra (pictured left in blue) was a pre-med student at the University of Texas at Arlington, and according to family friends she was a part of the Tri Delta sorority at UTA.

"Bob loved his kids. And I can't even fathom that that's what happened," Baum said.

The mother, Fatemah "Nasrin" Rahmati, worked the past four years doing manicures at a salon on Southlake's town square. The manager said she often talked about her family, but never in a bad way.

Police cautioned the investigation is far from over.

NBC 5's Scott Gordon, Ray Villeda and Ben Russell contributed to this report

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KARE 11 TV

This image taken from a YouTube video and aired on KARE 11 TV shows someone throwing a chair at people inside the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on Monday.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- More security officers were patrolling the nation's largest mall on Tuesday after a series of fights among dozens of young adults and juveniles broke out Monday afternoon, the day after Christmas and one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Police arrested at least nine individuals for disorderly conduct after a fight that started in the Mall of America's food court spread throughout the mall, said Cmdr. Mark Stehlik with the Bloomington police department.

Mall officials briefly ordered a lockdown as shoppers fled into stores that shut their doors as those fighting rushed by.

Some witnesses said the melee had the feel of a "smash and grab" flash mob that knocked down shoppers and grabbed items from them as well as kiosks, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

"I was on the third-floor railing and saw a massive group of people" on the first floor, said Makenzie Shofner, 15, of Maple Plain, Minn. "It looked like they were trying to pull people's stuff out of their bags."

"A lot of parents (were) on their cell phones trying to find their kids," added Jennifer Reiland of Burnsville, Minn. "This was a harrowing experience for myself, my mother and my 5-year-old daughter."

Dan Jasper, a mall spokesman, said no significant injuries were reported but called the incident "disturbing."

"As a preventive measure we will ramp up security even more this week to make sure it doesn't happen again," Jasper said.

New Air Jordan causes stampedes, fights at stores

At one point at least 30 police officers were on the scene to respond, restoring order inside the mall after an hour.

Fights continued outside the grounds for a brief time.

Reuters contributed to this report.

They play. They giggle. But, then, say some angry consumers, the You and Me Play and Giggle Triplet dolls say "OK, crazy b****."

The adorable-looking dolls, clad in their pajamas with matching nightcaps, make babbling sounds and move their heads and are made exclusively for the Toys "R" Us brand, reported NBCPhiladelphia.com on Monday. The store defended the product and said what customers claim they are hearing is a misunderstanding.

"Obviously we would not sell a doll that uses profanity. What you’re hearing is just baby babble...There are no plans to pull it off the shelves," Toys “R” Us spokeswoman Jennifer Albano told the NBC Philadelphia's Lu Ann Cahn.

Read the full story on NBCPhiladelphia.com

But others disagreed. An Oaklyn, N.J., grandmother, Pauline Davis, had bought the Giggle Triplets as a last-minute gift on Christmas Eve and was appalled when she got home to test out the dolls before giving them to her grandchildren, the website reported.

“I'm stunned ... There’s no mistake about it. The baby does use the B-word that ends in H,” Davis said.

Davis called up the Cherry Hill, N.J. store where she bought the dolls. The store apologized to her, Davis told NBC Philadelphia.

"They were appalled," Davis said. "But it still doesn't change things. Who released this doll?"

NBC Philadelphia went to the Cherry Hill Toys "R" Us to test out the dolls and found them on sale, all saying the same thing. Toys "R" maintained the toy wasn't using profanity, and said they had no plans to take it off shelves.

For the past few weeks, a meteorological question has been bubbling up: When will some measure of "snow sanity" return to the East?

Part of the problem generating snow this season in the Midwest and East has been the lack of sufficient cold air to keep the falling ice crystals in the form of snow at the ground.

The map below is our "Cold Air Tracker". Typically by the end of December, you'll see at least some subzero cold either lurking across the border in Canada or dipping into the northern tier of states.

However, according to the map below, there are parts of the Northern Plains and Canadian prairies that aren't even colder than 30 degrees! The subzero cold (pink shading) is wayyyyyy in northern Canada, bottled up for now.

Keep this relative lack of cold air in mind as we march through our forecast.

A wet storm system will spread moisture from the South into the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, and East on Tuesday. With marginal cold air in place, rain is changing to snow over the middle-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. This transition from rain to snow will continue into the eastern Great Lakes and interior Northeast through the day on Tuesday into Tuesday night.

You can see the changeover to snow in the white shadings on the radar map below. As of early Tuesday morning, rain had changed to snow in St. Louis, Mo. and Indianapolis, Ind.

How much snow are we expecting? Check out our forecast map below. The heaviest snow should target the Adirondacks of New York and hills of southwest New York and far northwest Pennsylvania (6"+ in pink shadings). A little good news for both snow-lovers and ski resorts suffering due to lack of natural snow!

Elsewhere, locations in the light gray shadings can expect 1 to 3 inches while areas colored in white could see 3 to 6 inches.

Bookmark alert: weather.com ski conditions

Unfortunately, for snow fans along the I-95 Boston-Washington corridor, the path of the surface low means warm air will be drawn ahead of this storm, so more rain, not snow, can be expected there.

5-day forecasts: Detroit | Buffalo | Boston | New York | Philadelphia | Your location

This may lead to airport delays Tuesday, and possibly lingering into Wednesday, due to lingering winds.

Holiday travel: Forecast trouble spots | Current issues/delays

By the way, this precipitation will only add to what is, for some, a record wet 2011. As you can see below, it is likely Burlington, Vt., will join the list of cities that have set their record wettest year in 2011 thanks to this upcoming storm.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- The man wanted in connection with the shooting of a soldier who was attending his own welcome home party Friday in San Bernardino turned himself in Monday afternoon.

The suspect, identified as Ruben Ray Jurado, surrendered to authorities at the Chino Hills Sheriff’s Station.

AP

Ruben Ray Jurado is accused in the shooting of soldier Christopher Sullivan.

Jurado was to be brought to San Bernardino City Police station for questioning and then booked, according to police.

Earlier Monday, authorities released a mug shot of Jurado, who allegedly shot Army Spec. Christopher Sullivan. The 22-year-old soldier, who was on leave, remained hospitalized Monday in critical condition.

Family members say the Purple Heart recipient suffered two gunshot wounds, which shattered his spine and left him paralyzed. 

Sullivan was at his own welcome home party Friday night in the 2800 block of North Garner Avenue.

At the party, Sullivan's brother got into an argument over football teams with Jurado, who was an acquaintance of Sullivan and had played football with him in high school, police Sgt. Gary Robertson said.

Jurado punched Sullivan's brother and Sullivan intervened. Jurado then pulled a gun and fired multiple shots, hitting Sullivan in the neck, Robertson said.

• Read local coverage from NBC Los Angeles

Sullivan was wounded in a suicide bombing attack last year in Kandahar while serving with the 101st Infantry Division. He suffered a cracked collar bone and brain damage in the attack and had been recovering in Kentucky, where he is stationed. He was home on leave when the shooting occurred.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Sullivan joined the military in 2009.

Fabian Salazar, a soldier who served with Sullivan in Afghanistan, said Sullivan rushed back to try to rescue other soldiers after the bomb blast propelled him several feet, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

"I know he would take a bullet for his brother," Salazar told the newspaper. "And if you asked him again after all this... if he would take a bullet for him again, he would say yes. That's the type of person he is."

Information from The Associated Press and NBC Los Angeles.

DETROIT -- The deaths of two women found inside a burning vehicle on Christmas morning are connected to the deaths a week earlier of two other women, Detroit's police chief said Monday.

All four deaths were ruled homicides and three of the four women were involved in an escort website, Police Chief Ralph Godbee told reporters.

The latest victims were found after firefighters responded to a car fire inside a home's garage at 1 a.m. on Christmas, clickondetroit.com reported. Their bodies were found inside the trunk.

The women's names were not released but police said they were 28 and 29 years old and had worked for an escort service listed on backpage.com.

On Dec. 19, the bodies of Renesha Landers, 23, and her 24-year-old cousin, Denesha Hunt, were found dead in the truck of Landers' car.

"Three of the four females have a connection" to backpage.com, Godbee said.

NEW YORK -- An elderly couple and their cat were rescued Christmas night by an off-duty firefighter who just happened to be driving past their home as it was engulfed in flames, the New York City Fire Department said Monday.

"I saw the flames from a block away," firefighter Steven Carl was quoted as saying after the rescue on Staten Island.

Carl was returning home with his family from his parents' house just before midnight. He said he was met outside the burning home by a woman with burns on her face and screaming that her "babies" were still inside.

Unable to get in the front door due to the fire, Carl ran to the back where he saw an elderly couple on a tiny second-floor balcony, the department stated.

Grabbing a ladder in the backyard, Carl aided the couple, and their cat, to safety. The woman had burns and the man had cuts. Both were taken to a local hospital.

"Those people were in a bad spot and I’m just was glad I was able to help," he added.

Carl said he'd asked the couple about the babies the other woman referred to, and that those were two dogs, one of which was later rescued by responding firefighters. The other dog was unaccounted for.

As for the cause of the fire, officials said it was due to lights igniting the family's Christmas tree.

The department did not release the names of the victims or the condition of the home.

A San Francisco man who allegedly posed as a doctor and performed liposuction on an unsuspecting woman then flushed the fat down her toilet was arrested Thursday and is facing several felony charges, prosecutors said.

Carlos Guzmangarza, 49, also known as Carlos Guzman, allegedly operated a dermatology clinic in the 2500 block of San Francisco's Mission Street called the Derma Clinic and assumed the identity of a physician's assistant with a similar name to his, according to the district attorney's office.

Guzmangarza, who has no medical license, claimed the clinic was operated by himself and a doctor, but neither the doctor or the real physician's assistant is affiliated with the clinic, prosecutors said.

Read the story on NBCBayArea.com

In early 2010, a victim seeking to have liposuction done on her stomach, as well as an eye lift procedure, was referred to Guzmangarza who agreed to perform the procedures for $3,000, an amount much lower than other quotes she received.

On the day of the procedure, Guzmangarza picked up the woman at her house, drove her to the office, and had her hold her IV bag for him during the procedure, during which he smoked a cigar, prosecutors said.

A few days after the surgery, Guzmangarza showed up at the woman's house with what he said was six pounds of fat that was removed during the liposuction, and dumped it down her toilet.

The victim's abdomen later became infected and she was forced to see another doctor, at which point she learned that Guzmangarza was not a real doctor. She has since undergone corrective surgery, according to the district attorney's office.

Guzmangarza also treated the victim's daughter for acne with a series of injections of an unknown substance in her face, prosecutors said.

He was arrested Thursday and is set to be arraigned this afternoon on four felony counts of practicing medicine without a license, along with three counts of assault with force likely to cause great bodily harm and one count of battery for the procedures he performed on the two victims.

Guzmangarza is also charged with felony counts of false impersonation and grand theft.

He is currently in custody on $750,000 bail and could face up to 12 years in state prison if convicted of all charges.

"The defendant put lives at risk by performing medical procedures he was not licensed or qualified to perform," District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement. "My office will hold people accountable for endangering the lives of innocent people."

Dan Wood, spokesman for the Medical Board of California, said, "This is a very serious matter and we take it very seriously. We're very glad to be able to shut this person down."

Anyone else who may have been treated by Guzmangarza at his clinic is encouraged to call investigator Douglas Becker of the state Medical Board at (408) 437-3680 or Lt. Carlos Sanchez with the district attorney's office at (415) 551-9500.

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• Judge bounces executors from Huguette Clark estate
• Starbucks' cup of woe: $7.5 million civil award
• Holiday travel: not so hellish after all?
• Music to her ears: Lost violin worth $172K found
• Harshest charges in GI's death may not stick, experts say

A San Diego jury awarded a man and his wife nearly $7.5 million Friday in their civil suit against Starbucks after the man fell inside a North County business in 2008.

The case, which was filed in 2009, centered on Anthony Zaccaglin, who reportedly sustained a concussion after falling inside a Starbucks located on Melrose in Vista. Zaccaglin slipped and hit his head on a cash register as he was walking from the cashier to the pickup counter, according to Zaccaglin's attorneys, who added that witnesses at the scene said a manager had just mopped the area where Zaccaglin slipped and also said that that employee later apologized for not "dry mopping."

Read the original story on NBCSanDiego.com

Zaccaglin alleged that he suffered complications stemming from the fall and was unable to return to work as a chiropractor.

Starbucks initially offered a $100,000 settlement to Zaccaglin; he declined to accept that proposal, however, said Zaccaglin's attorney John Gomez.

After two and a half weeks in court, a jury returned a verdict against Starbucks on Friday, awarding $6,456,230.50 to Zaccaglin. His wife was awarded $1 million for loss of consortium, or the loss of her husband’s love, companionship, comfort and care.

The total amount could grow to as much as $8.5 million, including added costs, Gomez said.

Starbucks spokesman Jim Oslo said the company was disappointed with the size of verdict:

Providing a safe environment for our customers is always a top priority for us at Starbucks. We are sorry that Mr. Zaccaglin was injured at our Vista, Calif., store. However, we are disappointed with the size of the verdict as we made every effort to reach a mutually agreeable and reasonable settlement with Mr. Zaccaglin. We are reviewing the decision to determine what, if any, steps we may take in response.

If Starbucks appeals, it could take up to two more years for the case to be settled, according to Gomez.

"For a national chain, Starbuck's safety policies were shockingly inadequate and inconsistently applied," Gomez said. "The family hopes that today's verdict will cause Starbucks to take safety as seriously as it does sales."

Gomez added that he and Zaccaglin were hoping to work it out with Starbucks to avoid an appeal.

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• Judge bounces executors from Huguette Clark estate
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• Music to her ears: Lost violin worth $172K found
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• Nuclear renaissance? US OKs new reactors

AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus photographed a Marine medevacked from Afghanistan with severe injuries in June. After months of searching for him to find out what happened, they were finally reunited in December. She showed him her photos from that day and brought with her a piece of wheat she'd plucked from his uniform and saved.

From Anja's story:

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Cpl. Burness Britt reacts after seeing pictures of his evacuation laid out on his bed in the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, Va., Dec. 13. Britt is facing a long recovery after a large piece of shrapnel from an IED in Afghanistan in June 2011 cut a major artery on his neck. During his first operation in Afghanistan he suffered a stroke and became partially paralyzed.

Sitting on his bed, he looked at me and asked: "Did you bring some pictures with you?" He wanted to see those moments in the helicopter.

He studied each photo. When he looked up, he had tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much," he said.

I pointed to one of the pictures with the piece of wheat. I told him I had brought it with me. He couldn't believe it.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

United States Marine Cpl. Burness Britt reacts after being lifted onto a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off," Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment, June 4, 2011. Britt was wounded in an IED strike near Sangin, in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan.

He was leading a group of 10 Marines through a wheat field when there was an explosion. He doesn't know how far away, maybe a few yards. He was thrown into the air, and landed with a thump in the field, a searing hot pain raging in his neck. He had been hit by a huge piece of shrapnel from a bomb and a major artery was cut.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Cpl. Burness Britt points to the scar on his head in his room in the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, Va., Dec. 13.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Cpl. Burness Britt walks on the grounds of the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, Va., Dec. 13, wearing a helmet protecting his head after part of his skull had been removed.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Cpl. Burness Britt tries to lift a ball with his right hand during a therapy session at the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, Va., Dec. 13,

His speech comes with a great deal of difficulty these days, and sometimes he is hard to understand. During the many surgeries that followed his injury, he had a major stroke and is partially paralyzed on his right side.

His smile, though, is unchanged. The nurses at the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, where we met for the first time since the helicopter ride, call him "Sunshine" because their youngest patient is always joking and in a good mood.

Read the full story.

A man who was injured by Manhattan subway gunman Bernhard Goetz has been found dead in what appears to be a drug overdose 27 years to the day after the shooting, NBCNewYork.com reported Friday.

James Ramseur, one of four then-teenagers wounded in the notorious 1984 incident, was discovered dead in a Bronx motel room on Thursday, with two empty prescription pill bottles next to the bed. The labels were scratched off of the bottles, The New York Daily News reported.

His death is being investigated as an apparent overdose and as a possible suicide, sources told The Daily News. They said Ramseur, 45, checked into the motel Tuesday and was scheduled to check out Thursday morning. 

His body was found by the motel manager who went into his room after he didn't return the keys Thursday, The Daily News said. No note was left.

Ramseur was freed from prison last year after serving 25 years for a rape, according to NBCNewYork.com. He was one of four black teens shot by Goetz on a train on Dec. 22, 1984, in a shooting that earned Goetz the nickname of "subway vigilante" by city newspapers.

Goetz claimed he opened fire because the teenagers were trying to rob him; they said they had simply asked him for five dollars. What is indisputable was that after shooting and wounding all four teens, Goetz ran off of the subway car, fled the city and didn't turn himself in until eight days after the shooting.

Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images, file

Bernhard Goetz, seen in April 2011

Ramseur suffered a severe wound and was in a coma briefly afterward.

The shooting divided New York, with some hailing Goetz as a hero who had stood up against petty subway crime and others calling him a racist.

At his trial, a mostly white jury acquitted Goetz of all charges except illegal weapons possession. He served 250 days on Rikers Island.

According to Biography.com, Goetz still lives in New York City and has opened a store called Vigilante Electronics.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Judge bounces executors from Huguette Clark estate
• Holiday travel: not so hellish after all?
• Music to her ears: Lost violin worth $172K found
• Harshest charges in GI's death may not stick, experts say
• Nuclear renaissance? US OKs new reactors

A wolf-dog roaming the streets of Brooklyn was picked up by animal control workers this week.

The three-year-old female was wearing a chain and collar and was found Wednesday near Elton Street and Vandalia Avenue in Ozone Park.

The wolf-dog isn't a wild animal, authorities say, but she was picked up because it's against the law to have a wolf hybrid as a pet in New York City.

More from NBCNewYork.com

Animal care officials say she has been acting timid and nervous because of the unfamiliar surroundings, but otherwise appears to be healthy.

Authorities did not release any information about her owners.

A rare violin worth $172,000 left onboard a Boston-to-Philadelphia bus Tuesday night has been found, much to the relief of the music student who forgot it in the overhead compartment.

Muchen Hsieh, who was borrowing the violin while she studied at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, noticed she didn't have it after getting picked up by the family hosting her visit to the Philadelphia area. 

She called Megabus, the low-cost bus company that had transported her, but was told the instrument - made in Naples in 1835 by Vincenzo Jorio - hadn't been found.

She told CBS Philadelphia the violin was insured, but irreplaceable.

“I’m a violin major so I really hope that the person that took it can give it back to me so I can continue my studies because right now, I can’t do anything,” she told the station, which described her as "fatigued." 

The violin had last been seen on a Megabus on Tuesday at 29th and Market Street in Philadelphia. Philadelphia police started a search and told the public it could be returned to one of their stations with no questions asked.

Hsieh told investigators that she left the instrument in an overhead bin. The violin was loaned to her by the Chi Mei Culture Foundation in her native Taiwan while she studies in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Megabus was desperately searching for the valuable piece of lost luggage, which hadn't actually been stolen, but had just been moved off of the bus to a holding area in one of Megabus's facilities.

"She contacted us about a half hour after she got off, but by then, [the bus] had moved on. We couldn't trace down the luggage immediately," Megabus USA director Bryony Chamberlain told msnbc.com on Friday. "It was found by our cleaners yesterday. I'm very relieved. We're very lucky." 

It was a particularly fortunate find during the holidays when travel is up, Chamberlain said.

"We carried about 22,000 people [nationwide] yesterday. People will leave luggage behind while going to see their loved ones, so we do whatever can - it shows our procedures worked correctly."

As of Friday morning, the violin had been picked up from Megabus by the police and was on its way to Hsieh, who could not immediately be reached by msnbc.com for comment.

While Chamberlain said Megabus is "very pleased" with the find, she said the tale serves as a lesson for travelers.

"It's an awfully high value to put into the luggage compartment," she said. "We do recommend if you have expensive items, take them with you to your seat."

The instrument bears the original label of its maker, Vincenco Jorio 1835 Vi CM Post #9901.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

With a forecast of winds up to 70 mph on Thursday and Friday, drivers and residents across Southern California were on their guard.

Winds knocked over a big rig early Thursday in San Bernardino County below the Cajon Pass, NBCLosAngeles.com reported. No injuries were reported.

While this week's winds could be a serious hazard, they weren't forecast to approach the magnitude of a storm on Nov. 30 that spawned gusts approaching 100 mph. In that storm, trees were toppled, power poles snapped, homes were damaged and electricity was cut to nearly 650,000 homes and businesses.

This time around, northeast winds could reach 65 mph in many mountain areas and 40 mph in the valleys, the National Weather Service warned.

Coverage by NBCLosAngeles.com

High-wind warnings were in effect from 1 a.m. PT Thursday to 1 p.m. PT Friday in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, it said.

Isolated gusts greater than 70 mph were possible below the Cajon and Banning passes in the Santa Ana Mountains, the weather service added.

"The winds will make driving difficult, especially for motorists with high profile vehicles. ... Watch for broken tree limbs and downed power lines," it said.

Southern California Edison on Wednesday night alerted customers to take precautions because of powerful winds that are expected to blow across Southern California, the LA Times reported.

In the Pasadena area, one of the hardest hit by the November storm, crews are still clearing debris. "Work crews are working in 12-hour shifts," said city spokeswoman Ann Erdman. "They continue, night and day, to get the debris picked up. ... We have a ways to go."

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Southwest Airlines is apologizing to a Clarksville, Tenn., family and investigating how a 9-year-old girl flying as an unaccompanied minor from Nashville to New York on Tuesday ended up re-routed and delayed for five hours without the airline notifying the family.

Chloe Boyce is fine and will be getting a special patch from her junior Girl Scout troop to mark her adventure, but her mom, Elena Kerr, is upset.

“The flight arrived and my daughter didn’t get off,” Kerr told msnbc.com. “Someone went on the plane to see if she was there and my sister called me and said, ‘Where’s Chloe?’ The Southwest guys told her there were no unaccompanied minors on that flight.”

Kerr had put Chloe on a flight in Nashville headed for New York’s LaGuardia Airport with scheduled stops in Columbus and Baltimore.

Southwest's policy only allows unaccompanied children to be booked on itineraries that don’t include plane changes. Chloe's flight, however, made an extra stop in Cleveland due to weather, and upon arriving in Baltimore she was rebooked on another flight to New York.

Unfortunately, no one from the airline called Kerr to inform her of the delay. The airline also did not contact Chloe’s aunt, who was waiting at the gate in New York.

Kerr said she started frantically calling Southwest and that it took more than an hour for the airline to locate Chloe and even longer to explain what happened.

“At BWI, the flight attendant took her off the plane, walked her to Hudson News to get her a drink and some snacks and the pilot bought her dinner,” Kerr told msnbc.com. “But while she was there no could tell us where she was.”

Kerr said she understands delays. “We just don’t understand why we weren’t called, especially because the Southwest policy states that someone must be available to answer phone calls during the flight time in the event of a flight irregularity.”

Southwest Airlines has apologized to Kerr and refunded the cost of Chloe’s ticket.

“Our unaccompanied minor policy aims to minimize these kinds of situations ... by only ticketing them on itineraries that don't require an aircraft change,” said Southwest spokesperson Brad Hawkins in an email to msnbc.com. “In this case, the unscheduled change of planes resulted in the connection, a delay and distress for the family which we certainly regret and have apologized for in our conversation with the family of our customer.”

Kerr is not convinced she should let Chloe fly alone again.

“I’m going to be driving the 17 hours to New York to get her,” she said.

Related stories:

• When your child flies alone
• Holiday travel: not so hellish after all?
• Great gear for kids on the go

Find more by Harriet Baskas on StuckatTheAirport.com and follow her on Twitter.

This site in Sanmen, China, will house a Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor and is set to go online in 2013. China is building four AP1000s, and U.S. regulators on Thursday gave the green light for use here.

Opening the door to a new generation of nuclear reactors, federal regulators on Thursday approved a design that a nuclear watchdog group acknowledged is an improvement but still not ideal.

The AP1000 reactor, designed by Westinghouse Electric Co., is safer than the current generation of U.S. reactors, which date back 30 years or more, members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in voting for approval.

"The design provides enhanced safety margins through use of simplified, inherent, passive, or other innovative safety and security functions, and also has been assessed to ensure it could withstand damage from an aircraft impact without significant release of radioactive materials," NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said in a statement.

Fears of an aircraft impact were heightened after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Nuclear Energy Institute praised the approval. NEI's chief nuclear officer, Tony Pietrangelo, called it "an important step closer to the construction and operation of advanced-design reactors that can strengthen America’s energy security while producing large amounts of affordable electricity to help drive economic growth."

westinghousenuclear.com

Westinghouse uses this chart to showcase the AP1000's simpler design compared to traditional reactors.

Key features of the AP1000 are its fewer moving parts than in traditional reactors, especially in an emergency where radioactive fuel needs to be cooled. Current systems rely on pumps to supply water, but the AP1000 uses a massive water tank atop its structure that uses gravity to release the coolant.

Utilities in Georgia and South Carolina are seeking approval to build four AP1000 reactors, which Westinghouse touts with a trademarked campaign: "The Nuclear Renaissance Starts Here." China is among its earliest buyers, with four AP1000s being built there now.

No nuclear reactors have been built in the U.S. since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and talk in recent years of a renaissance was dealt a setback with Japan's Fukushima disaster last March.

The Obama administration, which has offered the project in Georgia $8.3 billion in loan guarantees, is "committed to restarting America’s nuclear industry -- creating thousands of  jobs in the years ahead and powering our nation’s homes and businesses with domestic, low-carbon energy," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday in praising the approval. He said it "marks an important milestone towards constructing the first U.S. nuclear reactors in three decades."

Nuclear energy does have an advantage over fossil fuels in that it does not emit the greenhouse gas carbon, but it faces stiff price competition from natural gas, which is much cleaner than oil and has dropped dramatically in price. Moreover, building a nuclear reactor is much more expensive and takes much longer than a power plant fueled by natural gas. 

The Union of Concerned Scientists, which says it is not against nuclear power in principle, said in an earlier analysis of the AP1000 that its simplified design "is far less vulnerable than existing reactors to a total loss of AC power" during an accident. "As a result, risk assessments by the designers find that the probability that these reactors will experience a severe accident is much lower. For example, these analyses show that the probability of a core meltdown is 100 times lower than that for today’s plants.

But the group added that "little experience with full-scale reactors operating at full power is available to validate computer models of these safety systems, producing significant uncertainties."

It also faulted the AP1000 for "less robust containment systems, less redundancy in safety systems, and fewer safety-grade structures, systems, and components."

Population on rise around US nuclear reactors

Westinghouse, in its statement announcing the approval, touted the safety features and noted that lessons from Fukushima were factored in.

"The innovative passive safety design was recognized by the NRC as providing significant added capability that allows the plant to safely cope with a Fukushima-type event, a significant reason why the NRC Near-term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima-Daiichi Accident recommended" approval, it stated.

More safety features in new nuclear designs

UCS senior scientist Edwin Lyman told msnbc.com that the recommendation does not constitute a formal re-analysis "to identify and correct any vulnerabilities based on lessons learned from the Fukushima accident."  

"It would be more efficient and cost-effective to address problems that could be corrected at the design stage now, before any new plants are constructed," he added. "After plants are built, any new safety requirements would have to be addressed through costly retrofits and additional dependence on operator actions."

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PUL-E-ALAM, Logar Province, Afghanistan – Exactly one year since the ban on gays serving openly in the military was lifted, here’s a different way of gauging how the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is playing out: How good is the media access to gay soldiers? 

The short answer: It’s still a work in progress.

Ultimately, we got our story for NBC’s Nightly News. We spoke with a dozen or more gay or lesbian soldiers and airmen – both on relatively safe rear guard bases, but also on the front lines.

That wouldn’t have happened without the approval of military commanders and the cooperation of our “minders” – the Public Affairs Officers who were our liaisons to a gay community which, only months ago, still had to socialize covertly.

But it was an uphill, two-week battle, full of last minute changes and disappointments. And while in the end the military let us tell the story, we often felt, along the way, that some commanders simply didn’t want us snooping around such a sensitive issue for fear of opening a massive can of worms.

Reconciling ‘two lives’
For instance, the sudden cold feet of a young, gay combat engineer – who did not want to be named, based in eastern Afghanistan. Even though he had told his story to the national media before, he had never been publicly identified, and he canceled our interview just as we were to chopper out to meet him.

It turned out, like many gay soldiers, he had lived two separate lives. In this soldier's case, his private, gay life and his “normal” life with a wife and child back home. He had never “come out” to his wife or family.

But he faced an even bigger problem: By admitting to a gay relationship while married, he would also violate U.S. military laws against adultery, which can result in a dishonorable discharge. It made me realize how complicated the coming-out process can be for gay and lesbian service members.

As a Plan B, I made a quick call to see if we could set up a military embed on a large base in northern Afghanistan. Could we spend a couple of days with U.S. soldiers over Thanksgiving and get their story out to loved ones and our viewers? I asked. 

“That shouldn’t be a problem, Jim,” was the answer from the very can-do Public Affairs Officer I spoke with. 

“Good,” I replied. “And while I’m up there I’d also like to ask some soldiers a few questions about how the lifting of the ban on openly gay service members is going in their units.” 

After a long pause, I heard: “I don’t think I’ll mention that to the boss.”

“Fine,” I said. “It was just a thought.”

A few hours later the same PAO left a text message: “Request not granted – sorry, Jim. The boss thinks it’s too unsafe up here right now.”

Photo Blog: Two women share first kiss at US Navy ship's return

Slow ripple effect
There were other setbacks, usually a result of that gap “between two lives” – straight and gay, civilian and military. Many gay soldiers still choose NOT to tell their story rather than be caught in the collision. 

It’s only been three months since the repeal took effect in the field, and the ripple from that change still has a long way to travel, despite the real freedom from the fear of being discharged from the military that all gay soldiers we spoke with now enjoy.

One example, the same military policeman who had no problem showing his face on-camera during a gay “coffee hour” at Bagram Air Field, canceled a more personal one-on-one interview the next day near his work station. An articulate soldier with a macho swagger, the MP apologized for the change of heart. But he hadn’t yet come out with some of his colleagues and wasn’t yet ready to do so.

A year ago the U.S. military was almost evenly divided over the lifting of DADT during war time. But we saw huge strides forward in retraining soldiers to deal with a new reality: Gays always served with honor during war and made their country proud, only now they’re able to do so without having to hide or lie.

Still, old habits die hard.

After conversing with gay male and female service members – many of them officers – at one of the “coffee hours,” our PAO was driving us back to our sleeping quarters when an overhead light caught the condensation on our front windshield and one word, written hastily by someone’s finger, appeared for all of us to see.

“Fags.”

“Idiots!” belted out our PAO, excoriating his own comrades.

And I thought to myself, “Now that’s the reality check.” 

Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images

US Marine Corporal Jessica L. Williams (L) and Lance Corporal Shawnee Redbear of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines Golf Company patrol in Basabad, Helmand Province, on March 9, 2011. The US Marines deployed about 40 Female Marines in Helmand province and Nimruz for the Female Engagement Team (FET) programme to interact with Afghan civilians, specifically women and children.

Women in the U.S. military are more likely than ever to see combat, says a study released Thursday.

Though men continue to make up the bulk of the fighting force, the proportion of women in the military is soaring, says the Pew Research study, which also found a greater share of women than men in the military are black and a smaller share of females are married compared to their male counterparts.

Female veterans are also more apt to be critical of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than male veterans, the study found.

Since 1973, when the U.S. ended the draft and established an all-volunteer force, the proportion of women in the military has soared. The ranks of enlisted females have increased from 2 percent to 14 percent, and the share of female officers has quadrupled, from 4 percent to 16 percent, according to the Pew study, "Women in the U.S. Military: Growing Share, Distinctive Profile." 

"The presence of women is felt now more than in any other previous era," said Kim Parker, researcher and co-author of the report. "And what we see is that it’s not just in the enlisted ranks, but there are many more women in leadership role. The military has become a place of opportunity for both racial minorities as well as for women to take on leadership roles."

Women are still less likely than men to go to combat, but their exposure to battle has increased because of long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a policy change in the 1990s that allowed women to serve in a greater variety of combat-related roles, such as flying in combat aircraft and serving on combat ships. Only 7 percent of women service members before 1990 had served in combat zones, according to the study, while after 1990 that proportion rose to 25 percent.

"The nature of the wars, where the battle lines are often uncertain, has exposed more women to combat," Parker said. "Even though they’re not the same roles as men. And women are reporting some of the same emotional effects of combat, like PTS (post-traumatic stress)."

More women may see combat in the future. The Pentagon is considering a recommendation by an advisory panel commissioned by Congress that recommends that the military do away with a policy banning women from serving in combat units. That policy is under department review and when complete will be delivered to Congress, Cynthia O. Smith, Department of Defense spokeswoman, told msnbc.com.

In the meantime, "Women will continue to be assigned to units and positions that may necessitate combat actions within the scope of their restricted positioning -- situations for which they are fully trained and equipped to respond," Smith said.

According to the Washington Post, 138 women have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Despite their expansion of roles, active-duty women are more heavily concentrated in administrative and medical roles than men. The study found 30 percent of active-duty women are administrators, but only 12 percent of active-duty men serve in that capacity.

Female veterans, it turns out, are also more critical than their male counterparts of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Pew study, which found 63 percent say the Iraq war was not worth fighting (men: 47 percent) and 54 percent say Afghanistan has not been worth it (men: 39 percent). Surveys of the general public have shown no significant differences by gender in the share of people who say the post-9/11 wars were not worth fighting.

And women are also equally likey to have had emotionally traumatic or distressing experiences as men -- 47 percent of women, as opposed to 42 percent of men.

Still, women and men overwhelmingly say their military experience was positive, and 78 percent of women (82 percent, men) say they would advise a young person close to them to join the military.

The Pew report draws on two Pentagon studies on overall trends in military participation, as well as demographic and occupational profiles of male and female military personnel. It also draws on data from two surveys of military veterans: a Pew Research Center survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,853 veterans conducted July 28-Sept. 4, 2011, as well as a larger July 2010 Current Population Survey of veterans.