Three-story high tower of trash remains in Sandy's wake

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com. By Brian Thompson, NBCNewYork.com A pile of household debris from Sandy's ruins in Long Branch, N.J., is drawing complaints from residents of an apartment complex next door. The tower of trash is roughly three stories high and sits on an empty lot next to the upscale Pier Village shopping and apartment development on the city's beachfront. Full Sandy coverage from NBC News "You pay to live in a nice community, and this should not be your view," said Liz Angrisani, who has lived in Pier Village for two years. Families are still living in hotels paid for by FEMA vouchers, and on Wednesday FEMA said there are an estimated 10,000 people who require alternate housing yet there are only 6,000 rental properties available. NBC's Katy Tur reports. Now Angrisani worries about rats and other rodents in her neighborhood. Mary McDonnell, who owns The Stone Hut, a gift boutique, said the pile on Ocean Boulevard makes passing motorists think the shops are closed, when in reality they suffered no damage from Sandy. Read more news on NBCNewYork.com Mayor Adam Scheider told NBC 4 New York that the city has had no other choice than to store the debris, which includes mattresses, sofas, toys and countless other items, on the vacant lot. "We just weren't going to get the streets cleared," said Schneider, explaining that sending dump trucks to a landfill would take two hours total. But he said the City Council will meet Friday to award a contract to start hauling it away, and he expects activity to begin a day or two later. Rock legends perform at Sandy benefit show That can't come too soon for the merchants of Pier Village. In the meantime, residents like Angrisani say the trash tower reminds her of the work ahead. "It keeps you motivated to help the community and rebuild," she said.

Radioactive contamination found at ex-rocket test site

By The Associated Press SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Lingering radioactive contamination exists at a former rocket test lab outside of Los Angeles that was the site of a partial nuclear meltdown, federal environmental regulators said Wednesday. The Environmental Protection Agency launched a $42 million study to investigate radioactive pollution at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, 25 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Technicians collected 3,735 soil samples from a corner of the 2,850-acre hilltop lab where most of the testing was done. Of those, they found about 10 percent contained radioactive concentrations exceeding background levels. Most of the contaminated soil was found in places like the materials handling facility that were previously cleaned, but it looked like "isolated spots were missed," said Mary Aycock, an EPA Superfund remedial project manager. More environment coverage from NBC News The pollution occurred in restricted areas of the lab and environmental officials said there was no immediate threat to the community because the site is secure. The EPA presented its findings at a public meeting in Simi Valley, home of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. It expects to issue a final report by the end of the month. The Energy Department conducted nuclear research at the site from the 1950s through 1998. It was the site of 10 reactors, one of which had a partial meltdown, and an open-air pit where workers burned radioactive and chemical waste. The EPA deals with Superfund sites around the United States and many former Energy Department facilities in the West are more contaminated than Santa Susana, said Michael Montgomery, assistant director of EPA's Superfund division. The Energy Department, NASA and Boeing Co. are responsible for a cleanup that is being overseen by the state. The deadline for ridding the site of chemical and radioactive pollution is 2017. More content from NBCNews.com: Oregon shopping mall gunman identified; motive unclear Rock legends perform at Sandy benefit show Cops: Dad carves pentagram into son's back on 12-12-12 Girl, 15, shot in Oregon mall cheats death twice 'Unique' smuggling attempt: $42,500-worth of marijuana shot into Ariz. by cannon Much-criticized 'drum major' quote on Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to be removed Video: Driver ticketed for truck covered in Christmas lights Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Cops: Dad carves pentagram into son's back

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com. By Frank Heinz, NBCDFW.com A father has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault after telling a 911 operator he carved a pentagram into his 6-year-old son's back. Just after midnight Wednesday, officers were dispatched to a home in Richland Hills, Texas, after the boy's father, identified by police as Brent Troy Bartel, called 911 and said: "I shed some innocent blood." When the dispatcher asked what the man meant by that, the man replied: "I inscribed a pentagram on my son." The dispatcher asked why, and the man said: "It's a holy day." At the same time, the child's mother called 911 from a neighbor's home and said her husband was hurting their child. More stories from NBCDFW.com Officers arrived at the home and found the child cold, standing in only pajama pants with a large pentagram carved into his back. The carving covered most of the boy's back, police said. Officers wrapped the boy in a jacket and turned him over to paramedics.  The child was transported to Cooks Children's Hospital for treatment.  Child Protective Services and a crime victim liaison were working with the boy and his mother. Police said Wednesday afternoon that the carving wasn't deep enough to require stitches and that the child is expected to physically recover. At the scene, officers also recovered a box cutter they believe Bartel used to make the carving. Bartel was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon-family member. He was being held early Thursday on $500,000 bond. The father's call to 911 was placed at 12:10 a.m., just minutes after the day 12-12-12 began. It is not clear what Bartel meant by calling Wednesday "a holy day." However, Catholics celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12. The Dec. 12, 2012, date, along with Dec. 21, 2012, have drawn attention from numerologists and those concerned with doomsday prophecy. On Wednesday, it's reported more than 9,000 couples will tie the knot and hospitals have seen a surge in scheduled Cesarean sections. NBC's Andrea Canning reports. NBC 5's Lindsay Wilcox contributed to this report.

Woman hides cocaine in breast implants

A woman was arrested in the El Prat airport in Spain for carrying cocaine in her breast implants. The suspect landed on a "hot flight" to Barcelona from Bogota, Colombia Her story just didn't sound right to border agents A pat-down revealed blood-stained bandage material A hospital removed breast implants full of cocaine (CNN) -- She arrived on a suspicious flight. Her story didn't sound right. And then there was the blood ... under her breasts. An airport security check in Spain led to an operating table for a passenger -- where, authorities said, they found she had tucked packs of cocaine in her breast implants. The Panamanian citizen landed at Barcelona's Prat airport on a so-called "hot flight," one that came from a destination known for drug trafficking -- in this case Bogota, Colombia. Ninety percent of cocaine trafficked into the United States, for example, comes from Colombia, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The passenger came under the scrutiny of security agents, who weren't satisfied with the vague answers she kept giving about why she was in town, Spain's interior ministry said. Her behavior aroused the suspicion of officers that she might be carrying drugs either in her luggage or on her. When a female officer patted down the woman, she found bloodied bandage material under the passenger's breasts. The gauze, the officer found, was covering incisions. And the breasts were hiding "a white foreign material." Fresh breast implants, the suspect mustered an explanation. Must not have healed up right. The story didn't convince police, who hauled her off to a hospital. "There, a medical team extracted a bag-shaped prosthesis from each breast containing a white pasty substance," the ministry said. Cocaine. Nearly 1.4 kilograms (3 lbs) of it. Pure cocaine goes for about $35,000 a pound, according to the DEA. The expensive implants landed her in jail. CNN's Helena DeMoura contributed to this report.

Japan scrambles fighters over islands

This disputed islands in the East China Sea are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. A Japanese Coast Guard vessel spots the Chinese plane near the islands Japan says it sent four F-15 jets and another aircraft to the area This is the first time the island dispute has involved aircraft Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese plane was seen Thursday near small islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both countries. This is the first time the dispute over the islands, which Japan calls Senkaku and China refers to as Diaoyu, has involved aircraft. Chinese government ships have repeatedly entered the waters around the remote, rocky islands since the Japanese government announced in September it was buying several of the islands from private owners. Japanese Coast Guard vessels have engaged in games of cat and mouse with the Chinese ships, with both sides broadcasting messages to one another insisting they have territorial sovereignty over the area. Why is Japan feuding over islands? Anti-Japanese protests erupt in China On Thursday morning, a Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessel spotted the Chinese government plane in airspace around the islands, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said. Japanese Self Defense Force sent four F-15 jets and another aircraft to the area, Fujimura said, describing the Chinese plane's entry into the area as "extremely regrettable." Japan has lodged a protest with the Chinese government through diplomatic channels, he said. The Japanese government's acquisition of the islands in September also set off several days of violent anti-Japanese protests across China and soured economic ties between the two Asian nations. There was no immediate reaction from China about the incident.

McAfee in Miami: 'I'm here. I'm hungry. I plan to eat.'

View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com. By Edward B. Colby, Juan Ortega and Gilma Avalos, NBC Miami Internet entrepreneur John McAfee – wanted for questioning by Belizean officials in the slaying of an American expatriate – told reporters in South Beach Wednesday night that he will speak with police in Belize if they come to the U.S. "If they want to come here and talk to me, I'd be more than happy to talk to them, yes," he said at the Beacon Hotel, where he is staying. Miami International Airport spokesman Greg Chin said the American Airlines commercial jet carrying McAfee landed shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday. McAfee confirmed that he was taken off the plane before everyone else. Read the original story at NBCMiami.com "They stopped the airplane before it reached the gate. They had everybody sit down and then they said 'Is John McAfee on the plane, please come forward,'" said the 67-year-old creator of the McAfee antivirus program. "And there were a whole bunch of officers. I thought, gee, this is continuing. And they said, 'We're here to help you sir, please come with us.' And they whisked me away from you people." McAfee was released from detention in Guatemala earlier in the day, the Department of Immigration in Guatemala told NBC News. He said he had no choice about coming to Miami. "They put me on an airplane. I am here," he said. As McAfee was escorted by Guatemalan immigration officials to the Guatemala City airport, he said, "I'm free. I'm going to America." Chin said that McAfee would not exit from Immigration and Customs to the public area of the airport. "His exit will be handled post-security by federal authorities," Chin said. Nestor Yglesias, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations in Miami, said he did not know about any special procedures in place for McAfee's arrival. McAfee went on the run last month after Belizean officials tried to question him about his neighbor, Gregory Viant Faull, who was shot to death in early November. McAfee acknowledges that his dogs were bothersome and that Faull had complained about them, but he denies killing Faull. Faull's home was a couple of houses down from McAfee's compound in Ambergris Caye, off Belize's Caribbean coast. McAfee said in South Beacon that he's "not worried at all" about being extradited to Belize. "If I'm in front of a court, there's nothing in the world they will do to send me back. They have no evidence, I have tons of evidence about the corruption, the harassment, beginning with the attack on my property in April," he said. "I mean, of course I'm not worried. I'd be happy to go in front of a judge – just not one in Belize." McAfee had been detained last week for immigration violations after he sneaked into Guatemala from neighboring Belize. But Guatemalan immigration service spokesman Fernando Lucero said Wednesday that McAfee was being expelled from the country. "McAfee entered the country illegally," Lucero said. "Guatemala is expelling him. Since his country of origin is the United States, Guatemala is expelling him to the United States." As McAfee was expelled from the country, he told Bloomberg Television in a phone exchange that he was "perfectly happy with the decision." Belizean authorities had been urging McAfee to show up for questioning in the killing, but have not lodged any formal charges against him. McAfee said he feared he would be killed if he turned himself in to Belizean authorities. In the interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, McAfee said he has offered to talk to the police "numerous times on the phone." But "it's not an issue of talking about a murder," he said. "It's an issue of putting their hands on my person." McAfee's escort to the Guatemala City airport marked the latest chapter for McAfee's strange, month-long odyssey to avoid police questioning about the killing. Throughout, he blogged and spoke with reporters about his life on the lam. Bystanders in Guatemala City stopped to stare at the passing police convoy, and people at the airport massed around the immigration truck carrying McAfee, straining to take pictures of him with their cell phones. McAfee suggested his weeklong detention in Guatemala for entering the country clandestinely had taken its toll on him. "All I can tell you is I'm 10 years older, and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just going to Miami," he said. His 20-year-old Belizean girlfriend who has accompanied him since he went on the run was not with him on the ride to the airport. She was last seen early Wednesday leaving the detention facility crying after bringing McAfee breakfast. The British-born McAfee has led an eccentric life since he sold his stake in the software company named after him in the early 1990s and moved to Belize about three years ago to lower his taxes. He told The New York Times in 2009 that he had lost all but $4 million of his $100 million fortune in the U.S. financial crisis. However, a story on the Gizmodo website quoted him as describing that claim as "not very accurate at all." McAfee is an acknowledged practical joker who has dabbled in yoga, ultra-light aircraft and the production of herbal medications. On Sunday he said he yearned to be in the United States and "settle down to whatever normal life" he can. "I simply would like to live comfortably day by day, fish, swim, enjoy my declining years," he said. But on Wednesday night, he said he doesn't have a plan for what's next. "I'm here, I'm hungry. I plan to eat. That's basically it," McAfee said, adding a moment later, "If you've ever tasted Guatemalan jail food, it's not very nice, and I'd like some sushi."

Rivera's plane plunged from 28,000 feet

Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera died Sunday, December 9, when the small plane she was traveling in crashed in the mountains of northern Mexico, her brother told CNN. Rivera, 43, was known to fans as "La Diva de la Banda," or the Diva of Banda Music, establishing herself as a musical powerhouse with her Spanish-language performances of regional Mexican corridos, or ballads. Recently, she had been working to crack the English-language U.S. market. Federal police are on hand at a base near the plane crash site Sunday in Iturbide, Mexico. "The aircraft was destroyed, totally fragmented," an aviation official told CNN affiliate Televisa. Six others were killed, including the singer's publicist, attorney and makeup artists, her brother, Gustavo Rivera, told CNN en Espanol. A helicopter flies over the crash site Sunday as investigators search the area. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Civil protection personnel and soldiers inspect the perimeter of the crash site Sunday. The plane took off early Sunday from Monterrey, Mexico, and shortly lost contact with air traffic controllers. Workers search around the accident scene in Mexico's Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. Security members work at the site of the plane wreckage. Forensic technicians arrive at a base set up by federal police near the plane crash site. Singer's plane was flying at 28,000 feet when it began to plummet, official says It could have plunged at more than 600 mph, the transportation secretary says Determining what caused the crash in northern Mexico could take up to a year Some of Rivera's family members believe she could be alive Monterrey, Mexico (CNN) -- Even as Mexico's top transportation official said the plane carrying Jenni Rivera spiraled to the ground in a tailspin that may have surpassed 600 mph, some of the singer's family members were holding out hope on Wednesday. The plane was flying at 28,000 feet when it began to plummet, Gerardo Ruiz, Mexico's transportation secretary, told reporters. It crashed in a mountainous area 9,000 feet above sea level, he said. Determining what caused Sunday's crash could take up to a year, officials said. Authorities were still working Wednesday to identify remains found at the crash site in a remote area of northern Mexico. Rivera and six others were thought to be on board the plane, which lost contact with air traffic controllers soon after takeoff. In California, the Mexican-American singer's mother said her grandchildren still think Rivera is alive. "They continue thinking that their mother is OK, that God could perform a miracle," said Rosa Saavedra, noting she was trying to stay strong to support them. Remembering singer Jenni Rivera The legacy of Jenni Rivera Rivera's plane's linked to ex-con Pedro Rivera Jr., one of the singer's brothers, said the family was waiting to read a document detailing her wishes that she had left with a sister about a month ago. "She cannot read it yet, she can't say anything to us yet, until we are 100% sure that Jenni is no longer with us," he said. Known to fans as "La Diva de la Banda" or The Diva of Banda Music, Rivera was well-established as a musical powerhouse with her Spanish-language performances of regional Mexican corridos, or ballads. For fans, the nickname captured her powerful voice and the personal strength many admired. In recent years, she had been working to crack the English-language U.S. market and was reportedly on the verge of a crossover with a sitcom inspired by the success of "I Love Jenni," a Spanish-language reality TV show on Telemundo's mun2 network. Rivera sold 15 million records, according to Billboard, and recently won two Billboard Music Awards, including favorite Mexican music female artist. In October, People en Español added her to its list of the 25 most powerful women. She performed at a concert in Monterrey on Saturday night before boarding the Learjet, which took off early Sunday and lost contact with air traffic controllers about 60 miles into the trip. Plane's owners tied to troubled businessman Just hours before she died, Rivera opened up to reporters about her divorce and the inner strength she found, thanks to her family. "I'm so happy. So many strong things have happened in my life," she said. "I can't get up in the negative, which destroys you." CNN en Español's Krupskaia Alis and Jaqueline Hurtado contributed to this report.