California state lawmaker Joaquin Arambula was arrested Monday on suspicion of misdemeanor child cruelty, Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said. The arrest came after officials at Dailey Elementary Charter School discovered an injury on a child who came into an office Monday afternoon, Dyer said. He did not describe the injury or Arambula's relationship to the child. He was cited for willful cruelty to a child, Arambula, a Democratic state assemblyman, is married with three young daughters. Get More

The U.S. military has identified five Marines who were declared dead after their refueling plane collided with a fighter jet last week off Japan's southern coast. Search and recovery operations have ended after finding only one survivor, who was aboard the fighter jet. The five crew members identified Wednesday were on a KC-130 Hercules refueling aircraft that collided with an F/A-18 Hornet during regular training. The warplanes crashed into the sea south of Japan's Shikoku island. Get More

In August, Cindy McCain was with her husband of 38 years, Sen. John McCain, when the former Navy pilot, Vietnam POW, Senate maverick and presidential contender died at their home in Arizona after a yearlong struggle with brain cancer. In an exclusive essay for TODAY's Voices series, Cindy McCain recalls the tenderness of their final moments together — when, facing his favorite creek, John “(leapt) into the hereafter, like the daring aviator he’d once been” — and reflects on the resolve she feels for the work that remains to be done. “He left us our instructions, and every day I can still hear him,” she says. Get More

A Catholic priest in Washington, D.C., charged with sexually abusing a child has been arrested on new abuse allegations. Urbano Vazquez, 46, surrendered to authorities Tuesday on charges including sexual assault of a minor. A police report and city U.S. Attorney's Office release say Vazquez is accused of sexually touching a 9-year-old and a woman. Vazquez was charged last month with child sexual abuse. Three people accused him of abusing them as teenagers, but prosecutors say the statute of limitations expired on two of the reported assaults. Get More

A Manhattan nanny has been convicted of stuffing a baby wipe down the throat of a 2-month-old boy in her care, nearly killing the child. Marianne Benjamin-Williams was found guilty Tuesday of attempted murder, assault and strangulation after just one day of deliberations. She's to be sentenced Jan. 7. Little Maxwell Blutreich was gasping for breath when he was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in May of last year. During emergency surgery, doctors discovered a balled-up baby wipe lodged deep in the child's airway. Prosecutors argued the nanny was frustrated with the baby's incessant crying and unhappy with her pay. Get More

A Kentucky man accused of fatally cutting the throat of his 3-year-old niece faced a judge for the first time Tuesday. Emanuel Fluter, 33, is accused of slashing Josephine Bulubenchi's throat over the weekend while she was sleeping. She died in a Kentucky hospital more than a day after the attack. Fluter is charged with murder, assault and four counts of wanton endangerment. Get More

A 78-year-old New York man who was evicted from federally subsidized housing because he uses medical marijuana for pain said Tuesday that the conflicting state and federal pot laws that left him homeless are now threatening his medical care. "The federal government has stepped in again and squashed it," said John Flickner, who uses a wheelchair and has a doctor's prescription for the drug. After news reports detailed his eviction last week, Flickner, who is now staying at a homeless shelter, said the Niagara Falls program that coordinates his care suddenly dropped him, leaving him without access to doctors and transportation. Get More

New York Attorney General-elect Letitia James plans to launch sweeping investigations into President Donald Trump, his family and "anyone" in his circle who may have violated the law once she settles into her new job next month, NBC News reported. "We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well," James, a Democrat, told NBC News in her first extensive interview since she was elected last month. She outlined some of the probes she intends to pursue with regard to the president, his businesses and his family members. They include the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian official, any illegalities involving Trump's real estate holdings in New York and continuing to probe the Trump Foundation. Get More at NBC News

Democrats are trying to turn their most painful losses this year into a rallying cry they hope will electrify the 2020 presidential campaign: Every vote matters. Multiple potential contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination are elevating the issue of voting rights as they prepare to launch campaigns. They're vowing to oppose Republican-backed efforts to require identification to vote, reinstate protections eliminated by a 2013 Supreme Court ruling and frequently highlight the necessity of counting every vote. The aim is to tap into the anger and frustration among Democrats who argue that Republicans win some elections by making it harder for their constituents, particularly minorities, to vote. Get More

In a contentious Oval Office meeting, President Donald Trump and the Democratic congressional leaders — Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer — disagreed over funding for a border wall, mangling some facts in the process. Get More

Scientists are seeing surprising melting in Earth's polar regions at times they don't expect, like winter, and in places they don't expect, like eastern Antarctica. New studies and reports issued this week at a major Earth sciences conference paint one of the bleakest pictures yet of dramatic and dangerous warming in the Arctic and Antarctica. Alaskan scientists described to The Associated Press Tuesday never-before-seen melting and odd winter problems, including permafrost in 25 spots that never refroze this past winter and wildlife die-offs. Get More

At an Oval Office gathering earlier this year, President Donald Trump began touting his administration's new real estate investment program, which offers massive tax breaks to developers who invest in downtrodden American communities. He then turned to one of the plan's strongest supporters. "Ivanka, would you like to say something?" Trump asked his daughter. "You've been pushing this very hard." Get More

Officials say 32 cold-stunned Kemp's ridley sea turtles rescued off New England's coast have arrived in the Florida Keys to warm up at the Turtle Hospital. A volunteer group of general aviation pilots, under the banner of "Turtles Fly Too," transported the reptiles on Tuesday. Hospital officials say several of the turtles suffer from compromised immune systems and pneumonia as a result of "cold stunning," a hypothermic reaction that occurs when turtles are exposed to cold water for prolonged periods. Get More

Kimberly-Clark has issued a recall for U by Kotex Sleek Tampons, regular absorbency, for a quality-related defect, the company said Tuesday. Consumers have reported tampons unraveling and/or coming apart upon removal, leading some users to seek medical attention to remove tampon pieces left in the body. Additionally, some consumers have reported infections, vaginal irritation, localized vaginal injury and other symptoms, the company said. The affected products were manufactured between Oct. 7, 2016 and Oct. 16, 2018. A list of lot numbers of the affected products can be found on the Kimberly-Clark website. Get More

Jurors in the trial of a man convicted of murder for driving his car into counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally have recommended that he spend the rest of his life behind bars. After two days of deliberation, the jury decided that James Alex Fields Jr. should serve life in prison for the death of Heather Heyer and an additional 419 years for the other nine charges he was convicted of last week. Fields rammed his car into a crowd in Charlottesville during a "Unite the Right" rally on Aug. 12, 2017. Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal, was killed and dozens more were injured. Get More