Mark O’Donnell usually books his family’s summer vacation in January. For the last dozen years, that meant reserving an oceanfront house for a week in Long Beach Island, a quiet cluster of beach towns on the New Jersey shore. But this January, he didn’t book the trip. He had Sandy on his mind.

The storm ripped through LBI in late October, but for months he watched the scenes of destruction replay on TV—the whitecaps lapping storefronts on the boulevard, the houses shifted and battered. So he put off vacation planning, too wary to book a trip to a place that might be nursing gaping wounds.

Each summer, families, couples, and carloads of friends migrate to one of the 40 shore towns that dot the coast of New Jersey for brief escapes to the ocean or bay. But this year, many people who have devotedly returned to the Jersey Shore each summer are grappling with the same question that conflicted the O'Donnells: Will it be the same as it used to be?

With Memorial Day around the corner, it's a question that has taken on more urgency for prospective visitors finalizing their summer plans, and for those on the shore who depend on the seasonal influx of vacationers.

On Long Beach Island, one of the shore's marquee summer destinations, the problem is playing out in the realm of summer real estate, a key industry for much of the Shore. Realtors and homeowners on the island say they’re seeing more rental vacancies than usual for this time of year and worry that the damage from Sandy got more attention than the cleanup.

“People think we’re Seaside Heights and we’re not,” says Joe Mancini, the mayor of Long Beach, the island’s largest township. Like others on LBI, he believes that images of lingering damage in Seaside and Mantoloking, LBI’s neighbors to the north, have sowed the flawed notion that the entire Jersey shore is still damaged.

“This was a horrific storm,” Mancini adds, “but we were aggressive in cleaning it up.”

Certainly, much of the island appears to be in good shape. Fresh signs and flags adorn shops and restaurants along the island’s main drag, letting passersby know they’ve re-opened. A hilltop of debris that was parked outside the Acme supermaket, a symbol of the island's devestation, has been hauled away. The island’s main attractions, the pale sandy beaches, have been restored and will be open for the summer.

But some property owners are having trouble relaying that message to seasonal renters, still clinging to the images of flooding and mayhem. 

Todd Cohan, a 46-year-old entrepreneur who has rented out properties on LBI since 1997, cannot remember a slower summer. Neither of his two luxury oceanfront homes suffered any flooding or damage and still, with just two weeks until Memorial Day, Cohan had vacancies for 40 percent of the season.

To attract prospective guests, he’s posted current images of his properties to real estate websites Homeaway.com and Beachrentals.net. He's added a “pay by credit card” option to his listings, which is something he has never done before, and he estimates that he has emailed about 2,000 people—anyone who has ever inquired about either of his 5-bedroom properties—to see if they’d like to book a few nights.

So far, he’s gotten few positive responses. “They write back to say, ‘due to the devastation and destruction from Sandy’—What destruction? I want them to come down here and show me what they think the destruction is,” Cohan says.

Since the rentals are not his only source of income, he doesn’t expect the vacancies to cripple him, though he says he’ll certainly feel the impact. Each home goes for about $9,000 a week—money he puts toward his mortgages.

Weekly rates for rentals on LBI range in price from the high triple digits for inland cottages to more than $12,000 for exclusive oceanfront properties. While realtors say that the dip in demand has been seen across all price levels, luxury homes have taken it particularly hard.

"Normally, they go first," said Matt Kulinski from the G. Anderson real estate agency. "The way the market works, in January and February, the high-end properties go." But this year, he says, "it's been the other way around."

Vacancies are a concern for both homeowners and local businesses, which depend on a surge of summer income to last them through the slower season. LBI, an island with less than 12,000 residents, has more than 17,000 rental homes, which fill up each summer with visitors. In 2011, summertime tourists generated more than $1.2 billion in spending at restaurants, retail shops and other businesses in southern Ocean County, according to a report commissioned by the LBI Chamber of Commerce.

John Franzoni a realtor at Oceanside Realty who has been in the real estate business for the last 30 years, acknowledges that the storm was worse than any that has hit the island in generations, but doesn’t attribute the dip in rental demand to any real storm damage.

“It’s really because of the perception out there,” he said, noting that just 5 percent of his properties had to be delisted after the storm. “We’re in really good shape, we’re ready to go.”

Still, his rentals are down 20 percent from this time last year—a figure repeated at many agencies along the island—and he says the internet is partially to blame.

“Twenty years ago, on a Saturday or Sunday anytime after the Super Bowl, you’d have people lined up outside to look at rental properties,” he said, referring to the early February weekends when the wave of summer rental bookings begin. “Now, we do 80 or 90 percent of the rentals right over the internet. So that’s been a big change. If people were coming down, they would see the condition, but they only know what they’ve heard. And they’ve gotten a lot of bad reports.”

The island surely wasn’t spared. More than 3,300 applications for residential federal disaster assistance were submitted from Long Beach township alone—a township with just over 8,000 homes. And while the clean-up was aggressive, LBI still bears distinct Sandy scars. Oceanfront homes at the southern end of the island jut out of sand dunes on skinny trunks of exposed pilings. Dumpsters and construction signs still dot the island, particularly in the community of Holgate, which buzzes with the sounds of construction.

But for the most part, the sort of damage that might matter most to tourists has largely been repaired: The beaches have been cleaned and restored and Mayor Mancini says that 95 percent of LBI’s stores and restaurants will be open for business by Memorial Day.

To combat whatever negative impressions would-be visitors may be harboring, a group of LBI devotees organized a commercial aimed at New Jersey residents who may not have seen the island post-recovery. It began airing in early May on about a dozen networks, including Bravo, CNBC, Fox News and Nat Geo, after local businesses and the mayor’s office raised $50,000 for airtime.



While there’s no way to predict the impact the commercial and other publicity may have on wary visitors, rental prices point to optimism. Real estate agents say that homeowners have not lowered their prices just yet. (Cohan hasn't either.)

Kulinski from the G. Anderson Agency predicts that warmer weather will bring more business to the rental market. "When it's cold and windy and not really beach-like weather, [beach vacations] are put on the back burner." He also thinks that prospective renters are waiting to see how much progress the island makes and will eventually commit.

O'Donnell did. After four months of vacillating, he took a daytrip to LBI to assess the storm damage for himself.  He found his usual summer home in Holgate badly beaten, as he had expected. But he found plenty of other homes to choose from and settled on a 4-bedroom in Beach Haven, which he booked for a week in July.

“I was pleasantly pleased. The rest of the island seemed to be in decent shape," he said, adding that he was happy to contribute to the island's summer economy. "They’re working like demons to get it ready.”

A 25-year-old Kenyan woman has come forward with allegations that she was kept as a domestic slave for three months by Saudi Arabian diplomats living in Northern Virginia.

The allegations come to light two weeks after News4 first reported an investigation into possible human trafficking at a Saudi-owned compound in McLean, Va.

• READ MORE: Possible Human Trafficking Investigated

The Kenyan woman -- who goes by the name Sheila -- said she was brought to the U.S. from Kenya by way of Saudi Arabia last summer, by people who forced her to work long hours each day, seven days a week, as a domestic worker.

"I used to work from 6 in the morning to 8, 10 in the evening," Sheila said by cell phone to News4's Jackie Bensen. "From Monday to Monday."

Did you ever have a day off? Bensen asked. "No," Shelia replied.

Shelia said she was rescued with the help of a Fairfax County man, Marikio, whom she met on a Facebook community for Kenyans living in the D.C. area.

He and Sheila had corresponded online for a couple of days when he grew puzzled by her reluctance to answer basic questions about where she lived and worked.

"It's very simple: 'Where you living? You should tell me where you're living.' She was hiding," he said.

She told him she lived in a high-rise in a place she knew as Falls Church, but she was not sure of the address because she was never allowed outside. He told her to look at a piece of her boss' mail to see what the address was.

Marikio arranged to help her. The rescue ended up being a harrowing one -- particularly, Marikio said, because he knew if he called 911, he risked a chance that Sheila's boss could convince police to arrest him instead, because he was in the country illegally.

Still, Sheila -- wearing a head scarf and a veil -- ran from of the lobby of Skyline Towers on Seminary Road and jumped into his car. It was the first time the two had met.

Marikio said Sheila was gaunt and in obvious pain. She told him she was hemorraghing from an untreated medical condition. He told her to go back inside and get her passport, and he'd take her to a hospital.

"She was sick, and she was shaking, and the police asked her, 'Do you want an ambulance?'" Marikio recalled. "She said yes and the ambulance came."

But, Marikio said, when she went back for her passport, she was held by the family she worked for.

"She went back, the guy was holding her. He was still holding hostage. She was screaming with her cell phone. ... I say, 'Go out!'"

Said Shelia, "I was afraid, because maybe they could have killed me. Because they have taken all my documents. They have taken my passport."

Police officers ordered the boss to return the passport, and he did. Shelia then received medical treatment.

Shelia now has an attorney, immigration attorney Regina Njogu. An investigation revealed the Saudi diplomat who brought her to the U.S. used an domestic worker visa known as an A3 visa.

"I called the embassy, and I spoke with him," Njogu said. "At first he didn't know what I was calling about. When I told him what I was calling about, he said he doesn't care, because he's a diplomat nothing will happen to him."

The Saudi Arabian embassy did not return News4's calls for comment.

Njogu said her efforts to get authorities to investigate further have been frustrating. "Basically it was a game of ping-pong. I was being referred from one place to another. I could tell from those I was speaking to that there was a great reluctance to get involved."

Now, Shelia remains in the U.S., relying on the assistance of fellow Kenyans. Her visa has expired, so she has no way to work. 

But, she said, she is grateful she can sleep in a bed instead of the floor, where she slept in the Falls Church home.

The house that Tracy Johnson and Paul Merker share in Sandy-ravaged Highlands, N.J., isn’t so much a home as a campsite: insides gutted to the studs, kitchen sink propped up by two-by-fours, a bathroom with no walls.

They endured winter with a propane heater. They cook meals with a portable stove and hot plate. They take baths warmed by boiled water.

“There are days when I say, ‘I can’t take it anymore, I gotta get out,’” Johnson said.

But when she goes for a walk, she is overwhelmed by the sight: home after home that has been abandoned or ripped apart, months from habitability.

“You see people working on them, but they’re not nearly as far as they’d like to be. It’s depressing,” Johnson said. “It’s everywhere, and that’s the point. You try to get away from your own home, but even when you do that, you’re still not seeing anything different.”

It’s hard to relax in Highlands, a small but proud middle-class town at the northern tip of the Jersey Shore. The borough of 5,000, where the Shrewsbury River meets Sandy Hook Bay, is undergoing a profound transformation that won’t end with the physical rebuilding. The carnage wrought by Sandy—up to eight feet of water inundated downtown—has prompted what might best be described as an existential crisis, with residents, business owners and public officials confronting daunting questions about the kind of place Highlands will be for those who remain, and how it will survive.

Highlands, a modest fishing and commuter community known mostly for its seafood restaurants, doesn’t get as much attention as other communities along coastal New York and New Jersey that were battered by Sandy. It doesn’t boast a boardwalk or amusement park or golden sand. It is, however, emblematic of the region’s post-Sandy struggle. The borough is in a fight for its life, and the solution just might be a colossal engineering project that has been tried just once before, more than a century ago.

Waves of destruction

Before they can tackle such big thoughts, however, the people of Highlands are trying figure out a more pressing question: how to get safely back in their homes before the next big storm arrives.

A significant proportion of property owners have thrown themselves into the task, raiding their savings to start repairs while negotiating a dizzying tangle of red tape required by banks, insurance companies and the government.

At the same time, an unsettling number—exactly how many is not clear—are trying to sell their homes, or have simply walked away.

In the middle are homeowners and business owners who, for various reasons, are waiting. Some have received insurance payouts but can’t afford to supplement rebuilding costs with their own money. Others have decided to see what additional aid they can get from the state or Federal Emergency Management Agency. The local government has requested about $140 million in grants to divide among property owners, a process that could take several months or longer.

The lucky ones have friends or family to stay with, or can afford to rent a second home. The unlucky ones feel so overwhelmed that they simply cannot decide what to do. The Bay Avenue business district remains pockmarked with vacant restaurants.

“Sandy has really struck a blow and shaken people to their core,” said Steve Szulecki, a scientist who heads the local environmental commission and whose home, on a hill, was spared.

Szulecki described two phases of destruction in Highlands. First, he said, was the physical, which displaced people and damaged their homes. “The second wave,” he said, “is the bureaucracy and economics that people are starting to confront.”

Click on interactive map icons to hear stories and see images of the damage:

Even the local government is in a jam.

Three municipal buildings, including Borough Hall, did not have flood insurance and were evacuated after the storm, Borough Administrator Tim Hill said. The government’s deductible on each building is $500,000, leaving the town, which operates on an $8 million annual budget and is already facing a painful drop in tax revenues, unable to foot the bill. One of the three buildings has been put into partial use; most government offices, including the police department, are still working out of trailers.

In the end, the town may have to permanently abandon the buildings and move to higher ground.

Lifting a community

Public officials, meanwhile, are scrambling to help residents navigate the rebuilding process. They’re taking steps to adopt new construction and zoning rules that will make it easier for people to rebuild.

“We’re hoping folks want to remain in town and we’re trying to enable them to do that,” Hill said.

Ultimately, Highlands’ future hinges on a single concept: lifting.

Most of Highlands, including the entire downtown, sits in a major flood zone shaped more or less like a bathtub; parts of it regularly flood at high tide. The only sure way to prevent Sandy-like destruction is to prop everything on stilts or pilings. Depending how badly a building was damaged by Sandy, and its current height in relation to the sea, a home might eventually have to be lifted as much as 14 feet.

About 800 of the downtown’s 1,200 homes and businesses were deemed damaged enough to require that they be lifted. That number could fall as property owners appeal those assessments.

Lifting is an expensive undertaking. Many property owners have found that their $30,000 insurance allotment won’t cover it. The town's $140 million grant proposal would go entirely toward helping residents meet those costs. Some have gone ahead and started the lifting process anyway.

Those who elect not to lift are taking a gamble: they may find it difficult to find insurance, or see their property values drop.

Then there are the quality of life issues. In a town of stilts and small yards, how do the elderly or disabled or parents of young children get in and out of their homes without hurting themselves?

“There are many folks who are in a situation where they’re not sure if they want to go through all of this,” Hill said. “But in the long term…the common sense approach for long-term marketability is going to come into play. If you don’t raise your house, its value isn’t going to be as high.”

But no matter how high people raise their homes, the streets of Highlands will still flood. And property owners and developers will question whether it’s worth the investment.

The Army Corps of Engineers has proposed building a levee system, but the downtown often floods from the inside, through storm drains, and takes additional runoff from nearby hills.

A century-old solution

Szulecki, the head of the environmental commission, believes there is one way to ensure the long-term viability of Highlands: raise the town itself.

His model is Galveston, Texas, the Gulf Coast city that was virtually destroyed by a storm in 1900 and then, over the next decade, was backfilled and raised by as much as 16 feet.

If Galveston succeeded with century-old engineering techniques, Szulecki figured, then a modern, smaller Highlands could pull it off.

He originally suggested it to town leaders before Sandy, but since then the plan has been taken a lot more seriously. Many local officials, including Mayor Frank Nolan, now endorse it. Nolan has estimated that the project—which would be performed in phases, requiring temporary displacement for many homeowners and the demolition of dozens of buildings that could not withstand being lifted—would cost about $25 million, a combination of insurance payouts, public funding and private money.

But the plan has fueled old fears among longtime residents that downtown Highlands, dominated by modest bungalows and vinyl-clapboard homes, will be turned into cookie-cutter rental units and tourist-trap restaurants.

Resistance to change

“This town always had a plan: they wanted to buy houses, knock them down and build condos,” Paul Merker said.

Merker is Tracey Johnson’s fiancé, an unemployed construction worker and Highlands native who says he suffers from insomnia and vomiting from the stress of living in their gutted home. At the stoop is the kayak he paddled around town during Sandy, when he watched what seemed like a tsunami swallow the nearby peninsula of Sandy Hook. His glassy blue eyes and pallid complexion show the toll.

“I think this town is done,” Merker said. “Anyone who has left this town ain’t coming back. I think it will be a new wave of people who are going to have to make it what it’s going to be.”

Merker is among many people born and raised in Highlands who see developers repopulating the town with tenants who don’t have much connection to its history, or stake in its future.

But others think developers could turn out to be the town’s saviors, because there are few options for the growing number of dormant properties—the leveled trailer park, the shuttered restaurants, the abandoned homes.

Those who want to push forward with new development point out that there’s no going back to the pre-Sandy Highlands. What old-timers love about the town—the ability to live modestly near the water and resist interference from the forces of commercialization—seems less viable now. Along the shore there are ramshackle buildings that bring to mind the shotgun shacks of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. It’s hard to imagine those structures remaining.

Determination and hope

And yet, with all the doubts and suspicion and anxiety, there is a fighting spirit that pervades the place. It’s visible on any casual drive around town: constructions crews laying drywall, the sounds of forklifts moving fishing boats out of dry dock, clam shack owners furiously scrubbing floors and tables in hopes of opening in time for summer.

“This is terrible. It’s horrible. It sucks. But guess what? It’s not the end of the world,” said Leo Cervantes, a owner of Chilangos, a popular Mexican restaurant on Bay Avenue that was ruined by six feet of water. A native of an impoverished neighborhood of Mexico City, Cervantes calls himself a survivor, and has called in all sorts of favors and loans to get his kitchen running by Memorial Day.

“This is a new opportunity,” he said. “A new start. To me, this is the only way: you get up and you do it again.”

Douglas Lentz, co-owner of the Inlet Café, a seafood joint, was more blunt. “I got no choice in the matter but to rebuild,” he said as he pushed a wheelbarrow full of building materials into his restaurant.

Tracey Johnson is more optimistic than Merker, her fiancé. She sees hope in that she's managed to hire a small team of local contractors who are, in piecemeal fashion, slowly putting her house back together.

“I look at it this way: I’m not going anywhere,” she said one warm, breezy Friday in early May. “I’ve lived in this town my whole life. I’m not leaving it to be a resort town.”

A few blocks away, on Shrewsbury Avenue, Regina Yahara-Splain stepped out onto the deck of her ravaged two-story home, across the street from a marina. To her right she could see the place where she nearly drowned while fleeing Sandy, clinging to a fence as the storm surge heaved to her chest. As she recalled the experience, tears streaked mascara across her cheeks.

A disabled widow, Yahara-Splain has borrowed from her retirement accounts to raise enough money to rebuild and raise her house. After months of phone calls, reams of paperwork and thousands of dollars in fees, work was finally underway. Talking about that revived her mood, and she began to daydream about returning home for good.

She closed her eyes and let the sun warm her face. She listened to the gulls, a flag snapping in the wind. She took a gulp of salty air. She imagined pulling an air mattress out there and sleeping under the stars, like she used to.

For the first time in a long while, she could see it happening: something very good coming out of something very bad.

“I wouldn’t live in another town," she said. "The people here have come together so strong. People say, ‘How could you stay?’ I tell them, ‘How could I not?”

She smiled. “What greater place could you ever imagine?”

One of the last leaders of one of the world’s most notorious drug cartels pleaded guilty in federal court in San Diego on Friday to money laundering and conspiracy charges.

Eduardo Arellano-Felix, 56, is one of four brothers linked to Tijuana’s powerful Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO). He was arrested by Mexican authorities in Tijuana, Mexico in Oct. 2008 after a gun battle with a Mexican Special Tactical Team and extradited to the U.S. on Aug. 31, 2012.

The AFO is known as one of the most notorious multi-national drug trafficking organizations, controlling the flow of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs through the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali into the United States. Its operations also extended into southern Mexico and Colombia.

With Arellano-Felix’s guilty plea deal on Friday, the leader could spend the next 15 years in a U.S. prison. His sentencing has been scheduled for Aug. 19, when a judge is expected to formally approve the plea bargain.

According to prosecutors, Arellano-Felix – a medical doctor nicknamed “El Doctor” -- laundered money from drug deals and then used those illegal proceeds to invest into and benefit his family’s notorious drug cartel for more than a decade, from 1986 to 2002.

Arellano-Felix admitted to he was a “senior member” of the AFO.

According to the office of U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy, Friday’s plea marks the conclusion of the U.S. government’s 20-year battle to dismantle the AFO and its wide scope of violent criminal activity that plagued the Southwest border and beyond.

“I’m proud to say this is the end of an era,” Duffy said in a media statement. “When this ruthless cartel was thriving in the 1990s, we made what some considered an audacious and impossible commitment to wipe out the organization. Today, we can say we have done just that.”

DEA San Diego Special Agent in Charge William R. Sherman also said Arellano-Felix’s guilty plea is a win for law enforcement.

“This plea agreement pounds the final nail in the coffin of what used to be the Arellano-Felix Organization,” Sherman said. “The AFO, once a brutally violent cartel, now becomes a footnote in history books, while DEA and our partners focus on dismantling the drug trafficking organizations that have moved in since the AFO’s demise. We will be just as relentless in our pursuit of these new trafficking organizations and they will be brought to justice in the same manner as the AFO.”

In addition to serving time in prison, Arellano-Felix will be required to forfeit $50 million derived from illegal activity. He will waive any claim to money or property that the U.S. government has seized or can seize, that he acquired from his illegal acts.

Prosecutors and investigators say the resolution of this case was a long time coming.

Arellano-Felix and his brothers were first indicted in 1998 on drug conspiracy charges. Additional charges of racketeering, money laundering and conspiracy to distribute and import marijuana and cocaine soon followed.

Brothers and former co-leaders of the AFO, Benjamin Arellano-Felix and Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix, were captured in 2002 and 2006. They are both currently serving sentences in the U.S.

Ramon Arellano-Felix, the cartel’s enforcer, was killed in a shootout with police in 2002. In addition to the brothers, multiple top AFO lieutenants have been convicted over the years.

The operation to bring down the infamous cartel was a multi-agency project led by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, IRS and an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force created to consolidate and coordinate all law enforcement resources in the battle against major drug trafficking rings, drug kingpins and money launderers.

A contracting company in charge of renovating a garage that was the site of a deadly accident Thursday will conduct an investigation into the incident.

A 50,000-pound section of the Westfield Montgomery Mall's garage collapsed about 1:45 p.m., killing one construction worker with Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. Police identified the deceased as 57-year-old Carroll Dexter Wills of Prince Frederick.

Wills' daughter, Caroleann, told News4's Shomari Stone Friday that the family was in a "state of shock" at the death of her father, whom she described as "a character."

"He was always laughing, he always had encouraging words," Caroleann Wills said. "I really don't think my father would have wanted to go any other way. He died doing what he loved."

The mall's garage, near Macy's and the food court, was under renovation. Only construction workers were inside during the accident.

The second worker was trapped for more than four hours before being hospitalized with serious injuries. He gave News4's David Culver a thumbs-up as he was being transported.

Several other construction workers suffered minor injuries.

Emergency medical personnel from the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore responded to the scene, as did as many as 100 other emergency responders.

• PHOTOS: From the Scene of the Parking Garage Collapse

Maryland's Go-Team, an advanced resuscitation team from Shock Trauma that can respond to seriously injured patients and those that face extrication that may last an hour or more, was called to the scene as well.

One woman who had parked close to the parking garage told News4's Tom Sherwood that she had gotten into her car and was driving away when she heard a "loud crash."

There was no structural damage to the mall. But one section of the mall was closed, and entrances near the parking garage were taped off. 

Westlake Drive and Democracy Boulevard is closed to traffic at this time.

The collapse happened on the first level of the multi-story garage, Segraves reported. There was no immediate information as to the cause of the crash.

The Westfield Montgomery Mall opened its doors in March 1968. It originally featured a Hecht’s, Garfinckel’s, Sears and 58 smaller shops. The mall, located on Democracy Boulevard near  I-270 and I-495, is the largest in the Bethesda area.

In 2007, The Montgomery County Planning Board approved plans to add 360,000 feet of retail space to the 1.2 million-square-foot mall.

There are plans underway to construct a 16-screen, 60,000 square foot ArcLight Cinema above the parking garage on the west side of the mall that was projected to open in spring 2014. Redevelopment plans also include a new and expanded dining terrace.

This renovation project closed the food court parking garage, which is expected to reopen in fall 2013.

Representatives with the Westfield Mall released the following statement Thursday evening:

"As has been reported, earlier today a construction-related accident occurred at Westfield Montgomery. The accident occurred in a parking deck that was closed for redevelopment. Unfortunately, the accident resulted in serious injuries to what is believed to be two victims, including one fatality. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies go out to the victims and their families.

Emergency responders continue to operate on site, Westfield is working closely with these authorities and is grateful for their rapid and comprehensive response. Responders and investigators are working in and around the closed and quarantined parking structure."

Mila Mimica, Mark Segraves, Tom Sherwood, David Culver, Shomari Stone and Joshua Axelrod contributed to this report.

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The Chicago School Board voted Wednesday to shutter 49 elementary schools and one high school in the nation's third-largest school system despite demonstrations and community outrage over the closings. 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools officials said the move is necessary to improve education and get the school district on better financial footing.

"The only consideration for us today is to do exactly what is right for the children,'' schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said before the board's vote.

But Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis called the closings a "cowboy mentality" and said education "has been hijacked." She said Wednesday was a "day of mourning" for many schoolchildren who will be forced to cross gang boundaries in order to get to their new classrooms.

"Mayoral control is out of control," Lewis told reporters. She pledged a voter registration drive in an attempt to register 200,000 new voters before the 2015 municipal elections -- when Emanuel will be up for re-election -- and to raise funds to support candidates for mayor, city council and statewide office.

"We know that we may not win every seat we intend to target but with research, polling, money and people power we can win some of them,'' she said.

Emanuel noted there may be political consequences for the closures but paid them no mind, saying that taking no action would mean far greater consequences for students.

"I know this is incredibly difficult, but I firmly believe the most important thing we can do as a city is provide the next generation with a brighter future," he said in a written statement after the board's action. "More hard work lies ahead, but I am confident that together with teachers and principals, engaged parents and community support, our children will succeed."

Four schools escaped the closure list that was released in March. Chicago Board of Education vice president Jesse Ruiz confirmed to NBC Chicago hours before the vote that Byrd-Bennett had  withdrawn her recommendation to close George Manierre Elementary School, Marcus Garvey Elementary School, Mahalia Jackson Elementary School and Leif Ericson Elementary Scholastic Academy.

• Four Chicago Schools Spared from Closure List

The Chicago Teachers Union has said a single school closure is one too many and 50 or more would be catastrophic for the district, but teachers admitted the late move was a step in the right direction.

"It's a great start. We have 50 more to go," Chicago Teachers Union member Kristine Mayle said earlier Wednesday. 

"There's an old expression," CTU Vice President Jesse Shakey said. "Don't put a knife in my back six inches, pull it out a couple and say you're doing a favor."

• CPS to Shutter 54 Schools in Closure Plan
• Teachers, Supporters Rally in Opposition of School Closures
• Schools CEO: Delaying Closures Would be "Criminal"
• Lewis: School Closures Plan Racist, Classist and Unnecessary
• Commission Chief Defends Recommendation to Close Schools
• Mayor Not Concerned About Political Fallout from CPS Closures

Other union members left for Springfield Wednesday morning to press lawmakers to pass legislation that would put a moratorium on school closings, and in Chicago, there was optimism that more schools could be saved.

"We saw at the last board meeting that there actually was some dissension for the first time," Mayle said. "We'd never seen that before in all these years we've been doing this. Hopefully when they actually got out to these schools they saw what was actually happening in these neighborhoods."

Chicago is among several major U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, Washington and Detroit to use mass school closures to reduce costs and offset declining enrollment. Detroit has closed more than 130 schools since 2005, including more than 40 in 2010 alone.

The school closings are the second major issue pitting Emanuel against the Chicago Teachers Union. The group's 26,000 members went on strike early in the school year, partly over the school district's demand for longer school days, idling students for a week.

More than 300 of the district's 681 schools were initially eyed for closure. That number was dwindled to 129 schools in February when Byrd-Bennett announced more specific criteria as to which schools might be affected to deal with what she called a "utilization crisis."

She's maintained the district has about 100,000 more seats than students at a time the district is facing a $1 billion deficit. Each closed school, she's said, would ultimately save the district between $500,000 and $800,000, saving the district $560 million over 10 years in capital costs and an additional $43 million per year in operating costs.

CTU officials have openly questioned those figures.

 
The Associated Press' Sara Burnett contributed to this report.

Los Angeles Councilman Eric Garcetti defeated City Controller Wendy Greuel in a mayoral election that set spending records and saw both candidates rack up high-profile endorsements on the way to Tuesday's runoff.

With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Garcetti garnered 54 percent of the vote and Greuel 46 percent.

"Thank you Los Angeles--the hard work begins but I am honored to lead this city for the next four years. Let's make this a great city again," Garcetti, 42, wrote on Twitter early Wednesday.

Decision 2013: Election Results | Full Coverage

Garcetti becomes the first Jewish candidate to be elected to the mayor's office. In 1878, Bernard Cohn was a member of the city's council when he was appointed acting mayor to fill a vacancy. He served for less than one month.

Garcetti will inherit a city still struggling to pull itself from an extended fiscal slump.

"We're going to have to give a little something to get a lot," Garcetti said Tuesday night. "Independent leadership and doing what's right for the city is what I'm going to continue to do."

The contest to succeed outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who leaves office at the end of June with high marks from his constituents, broke spending records as outside contributions topped $33 million.

"We're talking a whole lot of money and very few votes," said NBC4 political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe. "It's not only the money, but how that money was used.

"It shows the increasing dominance of independent expenditure groups. Those groups can't be controlled by the candidate. Garcetti had greated control over the message. Even though he had far less in contributions from the independent groups, he came out ahead."

Greuel would have become the city's first female mayor, if elected. She called Garcetti early Wednesday to concede, The Los Angeles Times reported, citing a Greuel campaign source.

In their sprint to the finish line after two years of campaigning, both Democratic contenders with similar voting records tried to differentiate themselves from each other in down-to-the-wire pitches to undecided voters.

Greuel had racked up endorsements from the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, the Daily News and high profile figures including former President Bill Clinton, Magic Johnson, and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.

"He cares deeply about Los Angeles," Greuel said of Garcetti as she addressed supporters Wednesday in Van Nuys. "He will work tirelessly and be a strong leader at a critical point in the city's history."

Garcetti had the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the L.A. Times and Newark Mayor Cory Booker in his corner. The fluent Spanish-speaker had talked during the campaign about his paternal grandparents' emigration from Mexico.

Villaraigosa issued a statement Wednesday morning on his Facebook page, thanking Greuel and congratulating Garcetti: "Eric is a true leader who I trust to guide our city into its bright future. I know I am leaving Los Angeles in good hands. I look forward to working with Eric and his team over the next month for a seamless transition so that we can keep Los Angeles moving in the right direction.

"I also want to thank Wendy Greuel for her commitment to the people of Los Angeles and admire her for being willing to put her name on the ballot."

Anthony Weiner has announced his candidacy for New York City mayor with a campaign video posted to YouTube, days after NBC 4 New York exclusively spotted the former congressman shooting part of the video on the stoop of his childhood home in Brooklyn.

"Look, I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down. But I've also learned some tough lessons," Weiner says in the two-minute, 16-second video posted late Tuesday night, acknowledging the sexting scandal that forced him to resign his congressional seat two years ago.

"I'm running for mayor because I've been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life," he continues. "And I hope I get a second chance to work for you." 

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found that if Weiner jumped into the race, he would get 15 percent of Democratic votes, putting him in second place behind City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, with 25 percent. Neither comes close to the 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. The survey of 701 Democrats was taken May 14 through Monday and has a plus or minus 3.7 percentage point margin of error.

Weiner did not make any public appearances on Wednesday. His rivals, when asked about the new candidate joining the field, had mixed reactions.

"Why should I talk about anybody but myself? I'm the one running for mayor here," said Quinn.

Former Comptroller Bill Thompson said simply: "welcome aboard," while his successor, John Liu, said: "Honestly, I won't be voting for him."

The campaign video, which opens with a shot of Weiner, his wife, Huma Abedin, and their toddler son in their home, highlights Weiner's upbringing in Brooklyn and his parents' backgrounds as a public school teacher and lawyer.

Timeline: Anthony Weiner Sexting Scandal

Weiner lists rent, job security, education, public safety and business regulations as citywide problems he wants to tackle. He ticks off congressional victories like securing money to put more police on the streets, getting sick 9/11 responders financial help, and leading the campaign for health reform. 

In the closing shots of the video, captured by NBC 4 New York in Park Slope last Thursday, Weiner, sitting alongside Abedin, says "New York City should be the middle class capital of the world."

Abedin, who was pregnant with their son when the sexting scandal broke in May 2011, adds, "We love this city, and no one will work harder to make it better than Anthony." 

Photos: Anthony Weiner Twitter Scandal

The Park Slope home is where Weiner launched his bid for mayor in 2005, and where he later announced that fall he was stepping aside in order to avoid a divisive primary runoff.

Weiner first revealed he was weighing a 2013 run for mayor last month in a New York Times Magazine story that detailed his efforts to repair his marriage. He has also hired a campaign manager, according to Politico, and has released a policy booklet. 

Weiner ran for mayor in 2005, and nearly forced a runoff against Fernando Ferrer, but conceded in the name of party solidarity. He planned to run again in 2009, and was considered a leading contender, but dropped out after Mayor Bloomberg chose to run for a third term.

Prior to his unraveling, Weiner had begun to plan for a 2013 campaign. He still has more than $4 million in his campaign account.

Full Coverage: Anthony Weiner Sexting Scandal

A wandering bear was on the move for about an hour Wednesday morning north of Los Angeles with squad cars and a helicopter on its tail as it scaled fences and surprised several horses in their corrals.

The bear was first seen in the Shadow Hills area, about 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

"He was probably just trying to find a spot where he feels comfortable, safe and can find a food source," said California Fish and Wildlife Department warden J.C. Healy. "This is the time of year -- there are bigger males looking for food, and in the animal world, they're going to compete and push the little guy out."

The black bear surprised two horses as it emerged from a backyard, then walked through another corral that contained three horses a few blocks away. The bear scaled a fence around the second corral and walked along the top of it until leaping back to the ground and trotting under a tree.

Police in squad cars and an airship followed the bear, which was first spotted along Clybourn Avenue at about 6:30 a.m. 

"We deploy officers like we look for suspects," said LAPD Sgt. Rudy Lopez. 

Officers and at least one California Department of Fish and Wildlife agent -- armed with a tranquilizer dart gun -- cornered the bear under trees along Wentworth Street. Aerial video showed agents loading the tranquilized bear into the bed of a pickup.

"The California black bear is very docile, very timid, very afraid of people -- so they're going to do what they can to get away from people," said Healy. "But the general rule of thumb with wild animals is don't take their food source and don't get in front of mom and her cubs.

"Right now, he's just looking to get away from people."

The bear had a tracking tag attached to its right ear, indicating that wildlife officials were in contact before with the bear. The bear was tagged just a few weeks ago in a Santa Clarita neighborhood, about 20 miles northwest of Shadow Hills, Healy said.

The warden planned to transport the bear to a wildlife area, likely the nearby Angeles National Forest. The bear was sedated about four minutes after he was struck with the tranquilizer dart.

"I'm going to sit with him for a while until he wakes up and watch him walk off," Healy said after hoisting the bear into the pickup.

Healy estimated the 2- to 3-year-old male bear weighs about 150 pounds
 

A gay couple was attacked early Tuesday in SoHo and a man was beaten in the East Village, hours after thousands marched to protest the killing of a gay man and several other bias attacks that have shaken the community, officials said.

Mayor Bloomberg said at a news conference Tuesday that "New York City has zero tolerance for intolerance."

"We are a place that celebrates diversity ... hate crimes like these are an offense against all we stand for as a city, and we will do everything possible to stop them," Bloomberg added.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the two men in the SoHo attack were walking on Broadway between Prince and Houston streets at about 5 a.m. when two men started yelling anti-gay remarks in English and Spanish. The victims, 41 and 42, are Hispanic.

The men were both punched, and one suffered an eye injury, sources said.

Police said two suspects, 32 and 33, were arrested and face a charge of assault as a hate crime.

In the East Village beating, Kelly said two men who had known each other for about a month were out together in Manhattan on Monday. At some point they began fighting about the victim being gay.

The other man then became "enraged," Kelly said, and hurled anti-gay slurs before he beat him unconscious. In that case, the 39-year-old suspect, who is homeless, was arrested and charged with felony assault and aggravated harassment as hate crimes, among other offenses.

Dan Contarino, the victim, told NBC 4 New York he thought the recent spate of attacks have to do with "society changing quickly" as gay marriage becomes legal in more states, causing people with "repressed anger" to lash out. 

"I'm very lucky," said Contarino. "I could be 6 feet under right now."

The Empire State Pride Agenda said in a statement Tuesday that "enough is enough."

"No more violence. We won't stand for it as a community or as a city," said Nathan Schaefer, executive director.

On Monday evening, gay activists and supporters marched to condemn the death of 32-year-old Mark Carson in Greenwich Village, and several other attacks on gays in recent weeks.

Carson was killed Saturday as he walked with a companion through the Village. Police say a man charged with murder as a hate crime shot Carson in the head.

Officials said Monday that police would increase their presence there and in nearby neighborhoods through the end of June, Gay Pride Month.

Police say there has been a rise in anti-gay crimes overall so far this year, to 24 from 14 during the same period last year. 

Kelly said police believe bias crimes are actually underreported, but said there is one theory that the NYPD gets more reports of them after a high-profile case is in the news.

One of the most expensive homes to hit the market in the United States is now on sale—in Connecticut.

The $190 million Greenwich estate includes two islands in the Long Island Sound, nearly a mile of shore front property, and a rich history dating back to the late 19th Century.

The 12-bedroom home was built in 1898 and purchased just after the turn of the century by the daughter of George Lauder, a partner in Carnegie Steel. It was then purchased in the early 1980s by timber tycoon John Rudey, who has decided to sell the property, the Wall Street Journal reported.

An 1,800-foot driveway with cobblestone gutters leads up to the so-called Copper Beech Farm, which boasts a pool, a spa, a grass tennis court, a greenhouse, a stone carriage house and cottage on more than 50 acres of land.

Inside, the home has all the marks of old world luxury: a library with a fireplace, balconies, a staff wing, staff kitchen, dumb waiter, wine cellar, skylights and marble bathrooms.

It's unclear whether the home will actually sell for its asking price. The Journal points out that in 2009 Candy Spelling made headlines when she listed her Los Angeles mansion at $150 million—the home sold for $85 million.

The property is by far the most expensive currently listed on the site of David Ogilvy & Associates, an affiliate of Christie's International Real Estate. The next priciest available is another Greenwich estate selling for just $32 million.

Christie's shows several properties hovering around the $100 million-mark, but none that touch the Copper Beech Farm's $190 price tag. A Beverly Hills home that appeared in "The Godfather" and "The Bodyguard" is on sale for $115 million, as is a $95 million Fifth Avenue residence overlooking Central Park.

After two years of campaigning bolstered by record contributions, the mayoral race between City Councilman Eric Garcetti and Controller Wendy Greuel comes to a close Tuesday as voters take to the polls.

The winner of the run-off election to replace outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will give the city of Los Angeles either its first female or first Jewish mayor—a leader who will inherit a city still struggling to pull itself from an extended fiscal slump.

In their sprint to the finish line, both Democratic contenders with similar voting records tried to differentiate themselves from each other in down-to-the-wire pitches to undecided voters.

“If you want an independent mayor with proven results, somebody who’s delivered neighborhood turnaround, who’s balanced budgets, I’m your guy," said Garcetti, who was leading by 7 percentage points in the most recent USC Price/Los Angeles Time poll released Friday.

Greuel, who has racked up endorsements from high profile figures, including former President Bill Clinton and Magic Johnson, emphasized her experience as the city government's top critic for the last three years.

“My history has been one of stepping up to the plate and being that tough fiscal watchdog,” she said. “My history has been for standing up for the taxpayers of L.A. and that’s what I’m going to do as mayor.”

The contest to succeed Villaraigosa, who leaves office at the end of June with high marks from his constituents, broke spending records Saturday as outside contributions topped $33 million.

The candidates have received rival endorsements—Greuel from the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, the Daily News and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer; Garcetti from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the L.A. Times and Newark Mayor Cory Booker—but the money and attention the race has garnered is not expected to be matched by voter turnout.

When the two faced off in March for a primary contest, which failed to give either the majority needed for an outright victory, only 21 percent of the city’s registered voters cast a ballot in the race.

Leading up to Tuesday's runoff election, both candidates have made more aggressive attempts to woo Latinos, which represent nearly half of the city's population and roughly a third of eligible voters.

Garcetti, a Spanish-speaker who leads among the coveted demographic, according to recent polls, has talked about his paternal grandparents' emigration from Mexico. Greuel, who has endorsements from prominent Latino leaders, has stumped before Spanish-speaking crowds.

"The candidates are reaching out to the Latino community because they know, with ... a few hundred votes, they can change the entire makeup of the city," Elisa Sequeira, the head of civic engagement for California's National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials told NBC 4 LA.

Just 400,000 of the city's 1.8 million registered voters are expected to cast ballots in the election Tuesday. A smaller voter pool, however, does give some advantages to those who do participate.

“These smaller elections, when you vote for city council, mayor, you have more say. Your vote counts more and as an individual, it affects us more,” web designer Mary Jane Zorick told NBC 4 LA.

Voters will also select  a new city controller and city attorney Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. and results can be monitored here.

The race to become LA’s next mayor was tight Tuesday night with City Councilman Eric Garcetti leading by a slim but swelling margin.

With 44 percent of the precincts reporting as of 12:55 a.m., Garcetti had garnered 54 percent of the vote. His opponent City Controller Wendy Greuel had netted 46 percent of the vote.

The winner of the run-off election to replace outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will give the city of Los Angeles either its first female or first Jewish mayor—a leader who will inherit a city still struggling to pull itself from an extended fiscal slump.

The contest to succeed Villaraigosa, who leaves office at the end of June with high marks from his constituents, broke spending records Saturday as outside contributions topped $33 million.

Although the race was too close to call, Garcetti was optimistic as he addressed his supporters Tuesday night.

"If this (lead) holds, and it looks like it will, on July 1, we will assume the responsibility of creating jobs, of balancing the budget, of keeping the streets safe, and of improving the quality of life for all Angelenos," he said.

Refresh this page for updates and watch Today in LA for the very latest on the election results.

Nearly a year after his face was horribly maimed in a vicious attack on the MacArthur Causeway, Ronald Poppo spoke publicly for the first time in a video released by Jackson Memorial Hospital Tuesday.

Wearing a Miami Heat hat and sitting on a hospital bed, Poppo is seen strumming a guitar before giving thanks to his doctors and the community.

"Thanks for considering, helping out, people in my predicament need to be helped out and I'm sure there's other people also that have the same type of predicament," Poppo said in the brief video. "I thank the outpouring of people in the community, I will always be grateful for them."

Miami Face-Mauling Victim Recalls Attack

The video was released during a news conference at Jackson Medical Center, where the 66-year-old continues to recover from the injuries he suffered in the May 26, 2012 attack.

New photos from Poppo's birthday celebration at the hospital were also released.

Poppo remains completely blind following the attack and has undergone four surgeries since the attack but remains in good spirits, his doctors said.

Face Mauler Allegedly Met Victim Before Attack: Report

"He's had a long year but he's managed to cope quite well with what's happened to him," Dr. Wrood Kassira said. "I would say he's content with where he is right now."

Kassira, one of Jackson's plastic surgeons, said Poppo had skin grafting surgery and all his wounds have closed.

"He had extensive trauma to his face, it was bad," Kassira said.

Poppo has been told of his options for more surgeries or prosthetics for his eyes and nose, but he hasn't been interested in them. He has undergone four surgeries and is unwilling to have further reconstruction.

"There's still work that can be done, but he's more than happy with how he is now, he's quite grateful," Kassira said.

Poppo has gained more than 50 pounds since he was brought to Ryder Trauma Center, and continues to work with an occupational therapist who has taught him how to dress himself, feed himself, shower and shave.

Doctors gave Poppo a guitar to help with his therapy, and he practices with it every day. He played guitar 40 years ago when he was in a band and is trying to pick up chords but not being able to see makes it tough, they said.

The incident unfolded when a naked, 31-year-old Rudy Eugene attacked Poppo and stripped him of his clothes on the causeway last May, police said.

Only Marijuana Found in Face Chewer's System: Medical Examiner

An officer eventually shot and killed Eugene after he refused to stop the attack, police said. By that point Eugene had gnawed away more than half of Poppo's face, gauged out his left eye, and severely damaged his right one.

Authorities had initially speculated that bath salts may have been the cause of the attack, but the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner said tests showed only marijuana in Eugene's system.

Doctors, meanwhile, say Poppo is adjusting to his new life.

"I think he wants the world to know he's not traumatized by this," Dr. Urmen Desai said. "He's a simple guy and he's happy and grateful for being alive after such an incident."

Click Here to Watch the YouTube Video

Two agents with the FBI's elite hostage rescue team apparently fell to their deaths while on a counterterorrism training exercise off Virginia Beach Friday.

An FBI spokeswoman said Tuesday that the two were rappelling down a rope from a helicopter to a ship that was about 12 miles off the coast when the helicopter ran into some kind of trouble.

Agent Christopher Lorek, 41, and Special Agent Stephen Shaw, 40, fell a "significant distance," Special Agent Ann Todd said.

Both men were a part of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group and were on a weeklong training trip in Hampton Roads when they fell Friday. The agents were airlifted to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

More investigation into the incident continues. An official cause of death is not yet known, pending toxicology tests.

The accident happened on a Military Sealift Command ship the FBI leased from the Navy, reported WAVY-TV, citing a Navy spokesperson.

Navy personnel were not involved in the training, which the FBI spokeswoman described as a "maritime counterterrorism exercise."

Lorek and Shaw were based with the rest of the CIRG team in Quantico, Va.

"We mourn the loss of two brave and courageous men," FBI Director Robert Mueller said in the statement. "Like all who serve on the Hostage Rescue Team, they accept the highest risk each and every day, when training and on operational missions, to keep our nation safe. Our hearts are with their wives, children, and other loved ones who feel their loss most deeply. And they will always be part of the FBI family."

Lorek joined the FBI in 1996 and is survived by his wife and two daughters, ages 11 and 8. Shaw worked for the FBI for eight years. He is survived by his wife, 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.

Lorek and family joined Three Chopt Church of Christ in suburban Richmond about six years ago, minister Bob Odle said. "They are as solid as they come,'' Odle said. "They were here every time the doors were open."

Church members knew he had a high-risk job and was often out of town, but they didn't know exactly what he did.

The FBI will be holding a private memorial service for the agents Tuesday.

The Hostage Rescue Team is part of the Critical Incident Response Group based at Quantico. The team is trained in military tactics and outfitted with combat-style gear and weapons.

The group was formed 30 years ago in preparation for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. The team is deployed quickly to trouble spots and provides assistance to local FBI offices during hostage situations. It has participated in hostage situations more than 800 times in the U.S. and elsewhere since 1983.

Some of their preparation consists of scuba diving, dropping quickly out of helicopters and battling in close quarters.

"They're really the best of the best as far as civilians. Their only counterpart would be something like Navy SEAL Team 6 or U.S. Army Delta," said Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI hostage negotiator who deployed with the rescue team. "There is no other police or FBI SWAT team that's their equal, because that's their full-time job. That's all they do is train for highly critical terrorist, hostage and criminal situations.''

The hostage rescue team is organized into tactical units made up of assaulters and snipers who are supported by helicopter and intelligence and communication teams, among others. Unlike FBI SWAT teams that train several days a month, the hostage team preps full time.

The team made headlines earlier this year when they successfully rescued a 5-year-old boy who was being held hostage in an underground bunker in Alabama. Agents killed the boy's captor, Jimmy Lee Dykes, who took the boy from a school bus.

• READ MORE: CIRG Helps Rescue Kidnapped Alabama Boy

In 2011, two team members helped apprehend a Somali man who prosecutors say is the highest-ranking pirate whom federal officials have ever captured. Mohammad Saaili Shibin was the chief negotiator for a group of pirates who took four Americans hostage aboard their yacht and later killed them. Unlike the other pirates in the case, Shibin was arrested in Somalia. In August, a federal judge sentenced Shibin to a dozen life sentences.

Team members also responded to the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa and have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Domestically, their resume also includes rescuing nine hostages held at a federal prison in Talladega, Ala. in 1991 by Cuban inmates who were rioting to prevent their return to Cuba.

Stay with News4 and NBCWashington.com for the latest on this developing story.

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Metro-North regular service returned to normal on Wednesday morning, five days after the train crash and derailment involving Metro-North Railroad trains near Bridgeport on Friday, May 17.

Patrick Coughlin, of West Haven, was one of the commuters traveling by train on Wednesday morning.

"I drove to work Friday. Monday, I was about an hour and a half late, so it wasn't too bad," he said.

A track inspection car did a run-through just before 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

"With one of the two damaged tracks rebuilt and returned to service, beginning with the 3:07 p.m. departure from Grand Central Terminal, Metro-North will operate about half of the regular eastbound PM peak service and regular hourly westbound service with the 4:23 PM train from New Haven," Metro-North said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

Amtrak has also  resumed service between New York and New Haven today.

Work has been going on around the clock since Saturday night, when the National Transportation Safety Board completed its initial investigation of the scene and allowed Metro-North to begin removing the two 8-car trains, according to the MTA.

Malloy conceded that traffic on Connecticut's highways was not as congested as had been predicted, but urged people to carpool or work from home on Tuesday to avoid major problems.

"We are confident that the reconstruction work, inspection and testing will be completed in time for a normal rush hour on Wednesday," said Howard Permut, president of Metro-North.  "We are grateful for the tireless work of all departments and employees engaged in this huge task."

About 100 workers have been on the job around the clock since Saturday removing the damaged trains and repairing the track, Permut said.  Crews are rebuilding about 2,000 feet of track, according to Permut.

The National Transportation Safety Board authorized the removal of rail cars from the crash site on Saturday night, allowing the investigation and clean-up process to proceed. All rail cars were removed by Sunday afternoon and taken to the Bridgeport railyard, according to the NTSB.

Investigators are looking into a broken part of the rail that underwent repairs last month, but have not determined whether it was a pre-existing fracture or if it occurred as a result of the accident, according to NTSB spokesperson Earl Weener, who spoke at a news conference on Saturday afternoon. The board said the FBI has ruled out foul play in the investigation.

The trains were traveling at approximately 70 mph at the time of the crash, which is the posted speed limit, according to the NTSB.

Malloy and other officials spoke at a news conference on Saturday morning where they described a grisly scene after a Metro-North commuter train heading east from New York City derailed and was hit by an oncoming train heading west from New Haven.

"The damage is absolutely staggering," Sen. Blumenthal said. "Ribbons on the sides of cars are torn away like ribbons of clothes."

The NTSB's investigation could take seven to 10 days but that does not mean that service shutdown will take that long, board spokesman Earl Weener said..

The eastbound Metro-North train derailed just after 6 p.m. and was hit between the Bridgeport and Fairfield stations, officials said.

According to Metro-North, around 750 people rode the shuttle trains and boarded buses at Bridgeport to Stamford, which is 20 percent of the 4,000 people who ordinarily board trains at New Haven, Milford and Stratford during the morning peak.

However, overall morning peak ridership on the entire New Haven Line was down just 20 percent, indicating that many people drove to other stations to catch a train.

Metro-North has set up a toll-free number for customers on the trains involved in Friday’s crash to provide assistance. Call at 1-800-638-7646 for information on referral/support services, lost & found items and assistance with any paperwork.

Service Plan

The New Haven Line Service plan is posted on the MTA Web site.

Navy dolphins discovered an unusual torpedo off the coast of San Diego and handlers said it was obvious within minutes that the find was significant.

The dolphins were working off the coast of Coronado on mine-hunting training exercises in March when they recovered a 130-year-old Howell torpedo – one of the first self-propelled torpedoes developed and used by the U.S. Navy.

“There were only 50 Howell torpedoes made, and we discovered one of the two ever found,” said Braden Duryee, operations supervisor for the SSC Pacific Biosciences Division.

Within two weeks, two dolphins marked the object on the sea floor doing their regular daily training exercises.

The dolphins, named Ten and Spetz, followed procedure when an object of interest is discovered by surfacing and touching the side of a trailing boat in a certain manner.

Navy divers then went in and recovered it.

“It was puzzling and exciting,” said Chris Harris, Operations Supervisor for Navy Marine Mammals Program.

It’s so old, the divers actually Google'd information to identify it.

The rare torpedo was 11-feet long and propelled by a flywheel spun before launch.

“It’s almost Victorian in its design,” Harris said.

It could move at a speed of 25 knots and had a range of 400 yards SSC Pacific experts said.

The Naval Undersea Museum houses the only other known Howell torpedo in existence today.

The Howell torpedo recovered by SSC Pacific, is stamped “USN No. 24” and is said to be in pristine shape.

Duryee said it’s no surprise the dolphins found the item. What’s surprising to him is the torpedo's age.

As NBC 7 reported in November 2002, the dolphins train almost daily in the shadow of San Diego's skyline. Watch Video: Navy-Trained Dolphins Search for Bombs

In 1959, Navy scientists studied dolphins in an attempt to design a faster torpedo. That program quickly shifted focus to covert training. Several decades later, the program was declassified.

The dolphins are trained to find any types of items that are man-made. in the 50 years MMP has been around, dolphins have discovered and marked a number of unique items in the ocean.

In addition to dolphins, the Navy uses sea lions to recover objects like military hardware off the bottom of the ocean. 

A massive 200 mph tornado ripped through the Oklahoma City area on Monday afternoon and left a 20-mile path of destruction in its wake. At least 24 people were killed, the Oklahoma City medical examiner said, and rescue crews are searching frantically as night falls to find survivors in the wreckage.

“The whole city looks like a debris field,” said Mayor Glenn Lewis of the city of Moore, which appeared to be hardest hit.

Check out the videos, images and tweets from the ground:

For the next week, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy plans to live on the equivalent of a food stamp budget to understand what it means to live on a food budget of $4.80 per day.

Murphy said he is taking the Food Stamp Challenge to better understand how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program works on a personal level, according to a news release.

The challenge started on Monday.

“427,000 people in Connecticut rely on SNAP benefits to feed themselves and their families,” Murphy said in a statement. “Spending some time living on this budget gives policymakers a firsthand look at the realities of maintaining a balanced and nutritious diet on an extremely limited budget. It’s not easy, but it’s important for people in Washington to understand what our constituents who rely on SNAP face every day. Some lawmakers have proposed steep, damaging cuts to SNAP as part of the Farm Bill here in Congress, and we owe it our constituents  to face up to the reality of those cuts.”
 
As of January of 2013, 12 percent of the state’s population participates in the program. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the Food Stamp Program, the average monthly benefit in Connecticut is $143.89 per family member, which is $4.80 per day or $1.60 per meal, according to Murphy’s office.
 
Murphy will keep track of his meals and post observations throughout the week via Twitter and Facebook.

In 2011, U.S. Congressman Joe Courtney took the challenge. He and his wife are on $32 per week and he blogged about the experience. http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Congressman-Lives-on-Food-Stamp-Budget-for-a-Week-132787213.html