San Diego

Once vaccination rates dip below a certain point, outbreaks of childhood diseases can spread quickly. Last year, Hilary Chambers, a San Diego radio host and mother of a baby girl, saw firsthand how fast measles can be passed among children. A 7-year-old boy brought back a case of the disease from Switzerland and infected his two siblings and nine other children at his public charter school and doctors' office.

Minnesota 38, at St. Louis 10: Turns out the Springsteen line "It's a town full of losers" in "Thunder Road" refers to St. Louis. at N.Y. Giants 44, Oakland 7: A confused Al Davis mistakenly told the coach to prepare defense to face that "crafty Y.A. Tittle." Atlanta 45, at San Francisco 10: It was quite a week for the Bay Area football teams. Maybe they should move to St. Louis too. Cincinnati 17, at Baltimore 14: Pete Carroll calls Carson Palmer after the game and says: "And you shouldn't have gone pro either."

If the future is widespread use of electric cars, it may arrive in San Diego before other places in car-happy Southern California. Renault-Nissan and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. announced a deal Monday to deploy Nissan's new all-electric vehicle on the roads here before it hits the consumer market in 2012. The utility plans to lease 15 to 20 and urge its customers -- private, public and military -- to consider switching to electric vehicles.

Fears of blank TV screens and pixelated shows largely failed to materialize in San Diego on Wednesday as months of public outreach left the vast majority of viewers capable of receiving pictures via the new all-digital broadcasts. Although Congress delayed the digital TV transition until June 12 for most of the country, San Diego's major broadcast stations were among hundreds nationwide that received federal permission to turn off their analog signals early.

The NFL's second season is underway, and eight teams are in the spotlight. In a bizarre twist, the hosting clubs are all underdogs. But it's the playoffs, and these games can easily swing either direction. Times NFL writer Sam Farmer looks at what the first-round participants need -- and don't need -- for the best chance to win this weekend: Indianapolis at San Diego Saturday, 5 p.m., Channel 4 Colts need: Bob Sanders.

With the next round of the NFL playoffs in place, the winners from wild-card weekend -- San Diego, Arizona, Baltimore and Philadelphia -- might want to pop in their game footage from earlier this season and, in essence, follow the instructions on a typical shampoo bottle. Watch. Wince. Repeat. Why wince? Because all four are headed for rematches with teams that narrowly beat them this season. San Diego lost to Pittsburgh, 11-10. Baltimore lost to Tennessee, 13-10.

San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of drunk driving. Jackson failed sobriety tests shortly after 2 a.m. on State Route 52 in San Diego, a California Highway Patrol officer said. Jackson, whose blood-alcohol level was unknown, was on probation for a previous DUI arrest. The player was taken to the San Diego County Jail and released. Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith said he was aware of Jackson's "off-the-field issue."

Throughout the regular season, the AFC West and NFC West were derided as the worst divisions in the NFL, and that was backed by the numbers. There's an outside chance, however, that the Left Coast could wind up being the right place. In an unlikely but conceivable outcome, the San Diego Chargers and Arizona Cardinals could wind up playing host to their conference championship games.

For the skateboarders at Robb Field Skate Park in Ocean Beach, the financial crisis gripping the state's second-largest city has meant freedom. Freedom not to pay $5 to zoom up and down the concrete swells. Freedom not to wear helmets at the risk of cracking their heads. Freedom to smoke while they skate, drink beer, bring dogs, ride minibikes amid the skateboards and scrawl graffiti -- all of which was noted last week by a visitor. Starting Jan.

MEN San Diego 62, at Pepperdine 47: Trumaine Johnson scored 16 points for the Toreros (11-7, 3-0 West Coast Conference), who have won five straight. The Waves (4-14, 1-1) shot 35.2%. UC Davis 85, at Cal State Fullerton 74: Vince Oliver scored 27 points for the Aggies (7-10, 2-2 Big West), who won at Fullerton for the first time in school history. Josh Akognon and Jacques Streeter had 20 points each for the Titans (8-9, 2-3). at UC Irvine 52, Pacific 51: Eric Wise made a free throw with 15.