San Diego

A 30-year-old Mexican national was arrested while trying to smuggle 24 pounds of marijuana ashore on a surfboard, the U.S. Border Patrol said. The suspect was spotted Sunday morning paddling north about 200 yards off Imperial Beach, near the Mexican border. When agents ordered the surfer to come ashore, he threw a blue duffel bag into the water, the Border Patrol said. Agents went into the water to make the arrest.

The message has reached the San Diego Padres' clubhouse loud and clear: Win. Or else. "We're the Cleveland Indians in the movie 'Major League,' " closer Heath Bell said. Second base David Eckstein nodded and laughed when asked about comparisons with the fictionalized version of the Indians, who had to win a division title to avoid a move to Miami. "That has been going around, yes," Eckstein said. "We know we need to win if we want to keep these guys here."

Send in the clowns Joe Torre talks about the circus atmosphere that will surround Manny Ramirez in New York next week, but no one threw a syringe at Barry Bonds in New York. That happened in San Diego, where Ramirez makes his eagerly awaited return on Friday. "You may have a few knuckleheads that throw some disparaging comments his way," said Scott Linebrink, who pitched for the Padres when the syringe was pitched at Bonds.

Nature can be a temperamental subject to capture in still photography. But every now and then, amid changing weather and lighting conditions, it seems to pause and pose for a shot of simple yet breathtaking beauty -- whether it's an elk silhouetted in the morning mist or pencil-thin lightning strikes set against a sky fading from midnight blue to vibrant orange hues.

It is far from the "million solar roofs" that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger touted, but the number of rooftop solar installations in California has grown from an estimated 500 a decade ago to nearly 50,000 today. And in the last three years, the Golden State's solar market has more than doubled.

Police in San Diego County were searching Sunday for a suspect who shot an on-duty security officer twice on a light-rail train platform and then stole the officer's gun and ammunition before fleeing. The officer from San Diego Metropolitan Transit System was patrolling the Grossmont Trolley Station on Fletcher Parkway about 10:15 p.m. Saturday when he was approached by the suspect, who was carrying a semiautomatic pistol, according to a statement released by the La Mesa Police Department.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was fatally shot while pursuing a group of people in a remote valley about 60 miles east of San Diego, triggering a manhunt by federal, state and Mexican authorities, Homeland Security officials said Friday. Robert Rosas, a three-year agency veteran, was responding to an incursion Thursday night just inside the steel border fence when one or more assailants opened fire, authorities said. He died at the scene.

San Diego police shot and killed a knife-wielding man Monday afternoon moments after he tried to rob a downtown restaurant, officials said. The shooting occurred in the street near the Horton Plaza shopping center. Initial reports say three officers sought to persuade the man to drop the knife, but he refused. The man's identity was not released. Police said they responded to a call at 4:23 p.m.

Two years ago, Osi Umenyiora stood alone. He was the only member of the 2007 New York Giants voted into the Pro Bowl, even though the team went on to shock New England in the Super Bowl. Today, Umenyiora is standing strong -- and that's news too. His 2008 season ended abruptly last August when he suffered a knee injury in an exhibition against the New York Jets, meaning the Giants were without a major weapon in their defensive arsenal. After all, it was Umenyiora, a defensive end, who collected 13 sacks two years ago, a club-record six of them in a game against Philadelphia.

Authorities announced charges Thursday against a Mexican gang that took Tijuana-style violence to the upscale suburbs of San Diego County, kidnapping, torturing and killing well-to-do residents, even after some families paid large ransoms. The gang, a rogue cell of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel, moved across the border in 2002 and posed as U.S. law enforcement, donning FBI and police uniforms and caps while snatching victims outside homes and public places, said San Diego County prosecutors.