Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Bicyclists ride by an automated real-time bike counter on Market Street on May 9 in San Francisco, California. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has installed an automated real-time bike counter, also known as a bicycle barometer, on Market Street that will display daily and annual counts. According to the SFMTA, the number of cyclists on the streets of San Francisco has surged 71 percent between 2006 and 2011.
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Lucha libre wrestler Cholitito leaps onto Mini Matt Classic during their fight at the Lucha VaVOOM show as part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Mayan theatre in Los Angeles.
Joe Klamar / AFP - Getty Images
Performers prepare backstage during the Lucha VaVoom's Cinco de Mayan show at the Mayan Theatre Los Angeles.
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Lucha libre wrestler Dr Maldad waits backstage before the Lucha VaVOOM show.
Joe Klamar / AFP - Getty Images
Performers wait backstage during the Lucha Va Voom's Cinco de Mayan show at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles.
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Lucha libre wrestler Matt Classic arrives for his fight during the Lucha VaVOOM show.
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
A Lucha libre wrestler leaps into the crowd during the Lucha VaVOOM.
Lucha VaVoom is the mixture of lucha libre (masked Mexican professional wrestling), comedy and striptease. During the annual Cinco de Mayo show, the company adds more “traditional” elements like Folklorico and Aztec dancers, mariachis, tequila, and something called “tamales from outer space.”
Cinco de Mayo, Spanish for the fifth of May, commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla.
-- AFP – Getty Images and Reuters
Editor's note: Images shot on May 5, but made available to NBC News today.
Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images
A rabbit runs from a wildfire burning along the Pacific Coast Highway near Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County, California, on May 3. Some 4,000 homes were threatened by a growing wildfire northwest of Los Angeles that has forced the closure of California's scenic coastal highway, firefighters said Friday.
Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters
A fire engine is parked on Pacific Coast Highway as the Springs Fire burns in the hills at Point Mugu State Park on May 3.
John Newland and Matthew DeLuca of NBC News report:
At least six fires of various sizes flared up as high temperatures, low humidity and brittle brush left the state a veritable tinderbox over the last two days, although conditions were improving by the afternoon.
The so-called Springs Fire, made worse by howling Santa Ana winds and unusually dry vegetation, crept within "seven or eight miles" of Malibu around 2 a.m. local time [5 a.m. ET], Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash said.
"We've got hot, dirty, unglamorous firefighting work going on right now, guys with shovels trying to scratch out lines on the ground," Nash said in the early hours of Friday. "We've got those guys on these steep hillsides in the dark with nothing but the light of the fire and a flashlight."
Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters
Firefighters continued to battle the growing Springs Fire as it reached the beaches of Ventura County in California on Friday and pushed its way toward the upscale city of Malibu.
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Gene Blevins / Reuters
A firefighter douses burned recreational vehicles after the Springs Fire burned through in the Camarillo Springs area of Ventura County, California. The wind-driven brush fire erupted beside a freeway northwest of Los Angeles on Thursday, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of hundreds of homes threatened as flames advanced on nearby subdivisions, a Ventura County fire official said.
Nick Ut / AP
Smoke and fire billows over a hill near Thousand Oaks, Calif. on Thursday. Authorities have ordered evacuations of a neighborhood and a university about 50 miles west of Los Angeles where a wildfire is raging close to subdivisions. The blaze on the fringes of Camarillo and Thousand Oaks broke out Thursday morning and was quickly spread by gusty Santa Ana winds. Evacuation orders include California State University, Channel Islands.
Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
A resident watches as a wildfire approaches homes on May 2 in Newbury Park, California. Winds have made fighting the blaze, called the Springs Fire, more difficult and authorities have ordered some mandatory evacuations in the area.
Nick Ut / AP
Smoke billows over U.S. 101 near Thousand Oaks, Calif. on Thursday.
Matthew DeLuca of NBC News reports:
Hundreds of firefighters battled a wind-lashed 3,000-acre wildfire in California on Thursday that has already consumed one home and forced evacuations in mostly undeveloped sections of Riverside County.
A second, smaller brush-fueled fire (pictured here) sparked to life Thursday in Ventura County and grew to more than 100 acres, according to a post on the county fire department’s website. The fire was burning completely uncontained, the post said. More than 200 firefighters were called to the blaze, NBC Los Angeles reported, and the Ventura Freeway was shut down as firefighters streamed into the area.
Stephen Lam / Reuters
Toll collector Jacquie Dean waits for a vehicle at the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza in San Francisco on March 26, 2013. The Golden Gate Bridge will change from manned tollbooths to a full electronic tolling system starting on Wednesday.
Eric Risberg / AP
An old Chevrolet makes its way past the toll booths on Tuesday.
By Joe Rosato Jr., NBCBayArea.com
She stepped out of her booth at lane three and made the walk back to the office for the last time. After 18 years collecting tolls at the bridge, her job was done.
"I always say I know customers from the [baby’s] car seat to the driver's seat," Reed said of her regular customers. Read the full story.
Stephen Lam / Reuters
Toll collector Marilyn Alvarado receives the last toll from Jim Eddie, who is driving a vintage 1937 Packard, at her tollbooth early on Wednesday.
Stephen Lam / Reuters
Marilyn Alvarado waves as she leaves her tollbooth, as the last human toll collector, early on Wednesday.
Related:
Golden Gate Bridge celebrates 75th birthday in style
Exploring the offbeat of the Golden Gate Bridge
AFP / Getty Images
San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge turns 75. Look back at the history of the bridge in our slideshow.
Jeff Chiu / AP
Golden Gate Knights instructor Alain Block and Gary Ripper, dressed as Darth Vader, demonstrate light saber moves during class in San Francisco.
Jeff Chiu / AP
Golden Gate Knights instructor Alain Block, right, teaches during class in San Francisco.
Jeff Chiu / AP
Jim Collum and other students work on their light saber skills during a Golden Gate Knights class in San Francisco.
Jeff Chiu / AP
Aaron Cheng jumps over a light saber swung by fellow student Starshine Medeiros during a Golden Gate Knights class.
Jeff Chiu / AP
Sophianna Ardinger meditates after a Golden Gate Knights class.
The Golden Gate Knights, a group of San Francisco Star Wars fans who want to travel to a galaxy not that far away have created a combat choreography class for Jedis-in-training with their weapon of choice: the light saber.
Continue reading Associated Press article.
Editor's note: The images were photographed on Feb. 10, but made available to NBC News today.
Photo Courtesy of Antonio Ramirez
Antonio Ramirez, who was aboard a Hornblower Cruise on Thursday, snapped this photo of the dolphins swimming in a "super mega-pod."
Thousands of dolphins spanning across seven miles of ocean were sighted off the coast of San Diego on Thursday, a boat captain told NBC 7 San Diego.
Capt. Joe Dutra of Hornblower Cruises said he saw a “super mega-pod” of common dolphins Thursday around noon while he was on his daily tour. He said the pod was more than seven miles long and five miles wide.
It's likely the mega-pod of dolphins were following food, such as sardines or herring. But whatever the reason they congregated off the coast of California, scientists say there's no doubt they were communicating with one another. NBC's Diana Alvear reports.
Dutra said the boat tour followed the pod for more than an hour and said he’s never seen anything like it.
“When you see something that is honestly truly beyond belief,” the captain said.
Guests aboard the boat started screaming and pointing when they first saw the school of adult and juvenile common dolphins. Dutra estimated there were about 100,000 dolphins swimming in the area.
For more, visit NBCSanDiego.com
“They were coming from all directions, you could see them from as far as the eye can see,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff out here… but this is the biggest I’ve ever seen, ever.”
Whale and dolphin watching tours have done particularly well this year, with dozens of animal sightings reported.
Marine mammal expert Sarah Wilkin said the reason the large pod might be there is because there’s plenty of food in the area, including sardines, herring and squid.
“They’re attracted to kind of the same thing, they might wind up in the same place,” she said.
Though dolphins typically travel in groups of 200 or less, Wilkin said “super-pods” are not unheard of.
“They’re definitely social animals, they stick together in small groups,” she said. “But sometimes, the schools come together.”
Dutra, who’s been boating for decades, said he felt lucky to enjoy such a rare phenomenon.
“You had to be there to experience it,” he said. “It was truly spectacular.”
Michael Nelson / EPA
Police officers stand at attention during the funeral of Michael Crain, a Riverside, Calif., police officer and former Marine, at the Riverside National Cemetery on Feb.13, 2013. Ex-LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner is suspected in the killing of a police captain's daughter, her fiancé, Crain and Jeremiah MacKay, a San Bernardino sheriff's deputy. Dorner is believed to have been killed in a shootout at a cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Jonathan Alcorn / Getty Images
A boy salutes the procession of police vehicles leaving the funeral service for Riverside police Officer Michael Crain on Wednesday.
The Orange County Register reported on Wednesday:
Officer Michael Crain loved being a policeman and was proud to serve his country -- but nothing in his life was more important than his family.
That was the message Wednesday as law enforcement officials from San Francisco to Indio joined family and friends in mourning the death of the 34-year-old Riverside Police Department officer who authorities believe was killed in an ambush by ex-Los Angeles Officer Christopher Dorner.
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Damian Dovarganes / AP
Riverside police Chief Sergio Diaz presents the flag to Regina Crain during a committal for her husband, Officer Michael Crain, at the Riverside National Cemetery.
Jeff Chiu / AP
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. cleans out his locker at the team's NFL football training facility in Santa Clara, Calif., Tuesday. The 49ers lost to the Baltimore Ravens 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday.
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Sam Hodgson / Reuters
The South Bay Power Plant implodes in Chula Vista, California on February 2.
You can see a video of this demolition at NBC Los Angeles.
Jae C. Hong / AP
Santa Ana school police Sgt. Kevin Philips locks his rifle in a gun rack mounted in a police vehicle in Santa Ana, Calif., Jan. 24, 2013. The semiautomatic rifles look like they belong in a war zone instead of a suburban public school, but officials in this Los Angeles-area city say the high-powered weapons now in the hands of school police could prevent a massacre.
By Gillian Flaccus, The Associated Press
The semiautomatic rifles look like they belong in a war zone instead of a suburban public school, but officials in this Los Angeles-area city say the high-powered weapons now in the hands of school police could prevent a massacre.
"They're not walking around telling kids, 'Hurry up and get to class' with a gun around their neck," Fontana school police Chief Billy Green said. "Parents need to know that if there was a shooter on their child's campus that was equipped with body armor or a rifle, we would be limited in our ability to stop that threat to their children."
"If the wrong person gets ahold of the gun, then we have another shooter going around with a gun. What happens then?" said James Henriquez, a 16-year-old sophomore who just enrolled at Fontana High School this week after moving from Texas. Full story
Jae C. Hong / AP
Santa Ana school police Sgt. Kevin Philips checks out a rifle from the police armory in Santa Ana, Calif., Jan. 24. The officers split their time between 44 schools in the district and keep the rifles in a safe at their assigned school or secured in their patrol car each day before checking the weapon back in to the school police headquarters each night.
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