• Santa Ana winds expected to blow into San Diego; fire danger high

    By Monica Garske, Tony Shin and Steven Luke , NBCSanDiego.com

    With hot, dry, Santa Ana winds expected to blow into San Diego through Saturday, fire officials are warning locals to be on high alert for the next few days.

    A high-wind warning was to take effect Thursday night, followed by a red flag warning, which means fire danger is high. As a result of the dangerous weather conditions, more local firefighters will be on duty through Saturday.

    “We’re getting our first traditional offshore Santa Ana wind event,” California Fire Capt. Mike Mohler said. “(That means) humidity in the single digits, a temperature increase and then an offshore flow.

    "The warm temperatures, low humidity and strong winds are an East County formula for disaster. One only needs to look at the calendar to know we’re in the heart of fire season."

    View complete coverage from NBCSanDiego.com

    Thursday marks the nine-year anniversary of the destructive 2003 Cedar Fire, which ripped through neighborhoods from Scripps Ranch to Harbison Canyon.

    Officials say some of the strongest winds are expected along Interstate 8 and will peak Saturday morning, causing potential problems.

    Experienced local residents are not taking the red flag fire warning lightly.

    “We’ve just come from Palm Desert and the wind is really blowing there and it’s hot. It’s coming,” Alpine resident Charles Caldwell told NBC 7.

    Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com 

    At sunset Thursday, the wind could be heard rustling through the trees in Santa Ysabel. That gusting wind is supposed to grow stronger and stronger throughout the night.

    “We know all about the danger,” said Dean Thornbury, a Ramona resident.

    Thornbury has lived in the Ramona area for 30 years and said he doesn’t like the winds associated with San Diego fire season.

    Back in 2007, Santa Ana winds fanned the flames that leveled his ranch home. He watched it burn to the ground, as he fought to rescue his horses.

    “Some of them had their eyelids burned off. The trailer door knocked me down. The winds were like 90 miles per hour,” Thornbury recalled.

    The fear of a wind-fueled fire happening again has Cal Fire officials ready to react fast.

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    Officials said an additional air tanker, flown in from Northern California, is now waiting in the wings with two others at Ramona Airport, also ready to spring into use at the first sign of smoke.

    Officials have also increased staffing levels around the county to accommodate more fire engines and ground crews -- just in case.

    In addition, some residents in fire danger zones are getting an emergency voice message from San Diego Gas & Electric alerting locals to be ready for the worst.

    The message warns, in part: “This is SDG&E with an important message. High wind associated with red flag warnings could cause outages or require SDG&E to turn off power for public safety.”

    Officials said safety should always be the first priority and that means having plenty of defensible space around your home.

    “There are a lot of people that don’t pay attention to that and they ought to because it’s amazing to everything burnt to the ground,” Thornbury said.

    Officials also said residents should not barbecue through Saturday, just in case, and be extremely careful with cigarette butts.

     

  • 'Crucified' Santa skeleton is decapitated

    NBCWashington.com

    This vandalized display is one of 10 allowed to stand in front of the county courthouse in Leesburg, Va.

    By NBCWashington.com

    After being resurrected Friday night, a crucified skeleton Santa was decapitated on Saturday in Leesburg.

    The red-robed skeleton had been vandalized once before and taken down, but the owners, a Christian teenager and his atheist mother, replaced it Friday evening.

    The display was one of 10 citizen-made holiday displays approved to stand outside the Loudoun County courthouse. Applications to place one of the displays are made on a first-come, first-serve basis.

    Last week, the skeleton Santa touched off a debate on free expression in Leesburg, Va. Some said it was offensive, while others argued that it was an important statement on the holiday season. It was put up on Monday, and shortly after, was torn down.

    "Clearly some people from the Christian community do not respect the free speech rights of others," Rick Wingrove, the Virginia director of the group American Atheists, said about the most recent vandalism. On Saturday, several other atheist-made displays were outside of the courthouse, but none of the others featured a crucified Santa Claus.

    Some say that the skeleton Santa is an inflammatory image, and county officials met to decide whether the policy of allowing holiday displays in front of the courthouse should be changed.

    Read the original NBC Washington report

    "I just think that these folks are trying to ruin the holiday spirit in the name of the first amendment," Leesburg councilmember Ken Reid told News4. "They are just very disrespectful of the community."

    The skeleton Santa was not knocked down this time, but its red-hatted skull was removed in the lastest incident. After a discussion last Tuesday, county officials decided to let the holiday displays stay, atheist or otherwise.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

  • Teacher who said Santa not real apologizes

    By NBC New York

     The Rockland County elementary school teacher who drew outrage when she reportedly told a classroom of second-graders that Santa didn't exist is apologizing.

    The New York Post reports Leatrice Ann Eng, 58, has been calling each of the students' parents to apologize for telling their children Santa Claus wasn't real.

    Read the original story on NBC New York

    Eng, a teacher at Nanuet's George W. Miller Elementary School, was holding a geography lesson last Tuesday when the 7-year-old students said they knew about the North Pole because that's where Santa resided, LoHud.com reported.

    She responded by telling them that Santa did not exist and that Christmas presents were bought by their parents.

    School officials didn't immediately respond to questions about the matter, but the incident made national headlines and sparked heated discussion over the teacher's place in breaking a popular childhood fantasy.

    "It's sad; she was wrong," Irene Hoffman, a mother of three students at the school, told the New York Post. "The whole thing is being blown out of proportion. I think we should focus on our children's education, and just move on." 

  • More than 100,000 homes still in the dark in Southern California

    By NBC Los Angeles and msnbc.com staff

    More than 100,000 homes remained in the dark Saturday after this week's powerful windstorms raked Southern California, utility official says.

    In Los Angeles, about 24,00 residents were without power, while in the San Gabriel Valley, about 96,000 customers were affected, utility officials say. 

    A small army of 100 workers planned to work around the clock this weekend to restore power, Maychelle Yee, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power told City News Service.

    "At this time, the current estimated duration of power outages is 24 to 48 hours from the start of an outage," Yee said. "However, a very small percentage of our customers may experience outages lasting more than 48 hours. For these customers, we ask for your patience as crews continue to work to restore your power."

    Also, many parks and buildings remain closed amid concerns of what the red flag warning would bring. A red flag warning for much of the area will take effect at 6 a.m. and last until 2 p.m. Sunday.

    Gene Blevins / Reuters

    A man looks at uprooted trees which have fallen on cars after a heavy wind storm in the morning at Highland Park in Los Angeles on Thursday.

    "The potential exists for another round of gusty northeast winds this afternoon into Sunday over Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with very low humidities,'' according to a National Weather Service advisory.

    Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby ordered 290 additional personnel and other resources pre-deployed in preparation for Saturday's predicted high winds and increased fire danger.

    The National Weather Service forecast Santa Ana winds blowing through Sunday afternoon and increasing the fire risks for L.A. County.

    Thursday's winds -- the worst seen in the region in decades -- uprooted trees, sheared off thousands of tree limbs and caused high-power lines to topple, wreaking havoc with power supplies throughout the area.

    Red Cross and shelters
    The South Pasadena Senior Center at 1102 Oxley St. was turned into a shelter by the city Friday to help residents without power, according to South Pasadena police.

    "The shelter will remain open for residents without power or heat and no other options for off-site shelter for the duration of the outage,'' according to the police.

    Red Cross resources were also being brought in to help make those seeking shelter as comfortable as possible, police said, adding that animals could be boarded through the Pasadena Humane Society. No animals were permitted in the shelter, police said.

    Pasadena, one of several cities to declare a local emergency Thursday, reported that all its major streets had reopened, as were most of its secondary streets. About 99 percent of Pasadena Water and Power customers had service restored Friday, City Manager Michael Beck said.

    Four people were injured in the storm, and 37 people were taken to a temporary shelter at the Robinson Park Recreation Center. All but one was relocated late Friday.

    "Despite some continued challenges, Pasadena is returning to normal,'' Beck said, adding that cleanup in the hard-hit city could take several weeks. "City resources will remain devoted to restoring services, parks and parkways to the high standards our community expects and deserves."

    More than 600 trees fell, and the number of damaged street trees was unknown. There were 67 trees that fell at Brookside Golf Course and 120 more were severely damaged. The number of trees that fell or were severely damaged in city parks is unknown.

    More news and feature stories from msnbc.com:

  • Ariz. gun club offers Santa shoot

    By Sylvia Wood, msnbc.com

    scottsdalegunclub.com

    Want to improve the caliber of your family’s Christmas card this year? How about having your picture taken with Santa Claus and your choice of machine guns?

    For a fee of $5 for members and $10 for non-members, the Scottsdale Gun Club in Arizona will arrange a Yuletide photo op with Santa and a selection of automatic weapons valued at $170,000.

    "It's been really fun," said Brooke Rodda, a spokesperson for the club. "We've had a tremendous response from the community."

    The "unique" opportunity, Rodda said, permits families to handle weapons in a "safe, controlled environment." About 500 people turned out for the club’s first shoot on Nov. 26, and Rodda expects more crowds for the second "Santa and Machine Guns" event on Dec. 10.

    Among the firearms to choose from are M60s, M249s, M240s and a modified Ar15, as well as more traditional holiday props such as reindeer antlers.

    The event isn't attracting just gun enthusiasts:  "It has a broader appeal from families to older people," Rodda said.

    But if firearms don’t exactly convey your holiday message, Rodda says don't worry: Santa can be just as disarming for the camera without the weapons.

    More news and other features:
    Case of the drowned million-dollar car to go to trial 

    How to make an honest profit in politics

    Give me all your money or my penguin will explode