Felicia Fonseca / AP

Cattle graze along a highway near Prescott, Ariz., on Tuesday while the so-called Doce fire burns in the background.

Hundreds of people were evacuated in Arizona on Tuesday after a wind-whipped wildfire spread across 5,000 acres in just seven hours.

More than 300 firefighters, along with multiple helicopters and aircraft, moved in to tackle the “extreme” blaze which started in “remote, rugged terrain” on the east side of Granite Mountain near Prescott, Arizona, officials said.

It is unclear what started the fire, but authorities said that they hadn't ruled out human cause.

This story was originally published on Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:41 AM EDT

NEW ORLEANS — A 13-year-old boy from a New Orleans suburb was charged with second-degree murder in the death of his 5-year-old half-sister after investigators said he told them he repeatedly struck her with wrestling moves imitated from TV.

"The 13-year-old reported he started to wrestle with the victim and practiced 'WWE' style wrestling moves on the 5-year-old," Col. John Fortunato of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said in a news release Tuesday.

Those moves allegedly included repeatedly slamming the girl on a bed, punching her in the stomach, jumping on her and striking her with his elbow. A coroner's investigation found the girl died of multiple injuries, including broken ribs, lacerations of the liver and internal bleeding.

In a statement released Tuesday, WWE offered condolences to the victim's family but cautioned against attributing the death to its industry.

"As in similar cases, criminal intent to harm and a lack of parental supervision have been the factors resulting in a tragic death."

The boy had been left to babysit the girl by his stepmother when the alleged beating occurred, authorities said. After the beating, the girl later complained of a stomach ache. When she stopped breathing, the boy called 911. Emergency responders could not revive her and she was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The boy was taken to a juvenile facility and booked on a second-degree murder arrest warrant after he was interviewed by homicide Detective Matt Vasquez.

Authorities released the name of the suspect but The Associated Press generally doesn't identify juveniles charged with crimes.

The detective said the boy told him that he knew the wrestling moves on TV were fake, but he was smiling and appeared to enjoy talking about them.

"The 13-year-old continued by saying the victim complained that she was hurting, but he continued to slam, punch and elbow her for an additional two or three minutes, stopping when his mother called him on the phone to check on he and the victim," sheriff's officials said in the news release

The Associated Press

Getty Images for The Guardian

Michael Hastings

Michael Hastings, the journalist best known for the 2010 Rolling Stone story that led to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, died Tuesday in a car crash in Los Angeles, his employers at BuzzFeed and Rolling Stone announced.

He was 33.

"We are shocked and devastated by the news that Michael Hastings is gone," BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith said in a statement Tuesday evening. "Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story, and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he covered from wars to politicians."

Fellow reporters and others Hastings came across throughout his career took to Twitter to pay respects and remember the man known for his confident and fearless style.

Three years ago, Hasting's work became the focal point of Washington when Rolling Stone published his piece "Runaway General," which featured McChrystal, then head of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, critiquing how President Obama and his administration were conducting the war.

Days after the article was published McChrystal went to the White House to hand the president his resignation.

Hastings also wrote two books, "The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan," which was based on his time with McChrystal and military leaders in Afghanistan, and "I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story," the story of how his then-fiance was killed by a car bombing while serving as an aide worker in Iraq.

He is survived by his wife, Elise.

John T. Greilick / AP

Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley stands in Judge Cynthia Hathaway's courtroom at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit, Michigan on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 as the judge instructs jurors to continue to work toward a verdict after they sent her a note saying they are "stuck". The judge declared a mistrial Tuesday after jurors failed to reach a verdict in the trial.

The jury hearing the case of a Detroit police officer accused of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a 7-year-old girl failed to reach a verdict on Tuesday, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial.

The jury sent a note to Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway saying little progress had been made during the three days of deliberations over the fate of Officer Joseph Weekley, who faced charges of felony involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm causing death.

Hathaway asked the 12 jurors if any of them thought there was a chance they could reach a verdict, and only one juror responded yes.

"One out of twelve probably won't be enough," she said before declaring a mistrial and setting a new pretrial hearing date of July 25, 2013.

Anonymous / AP

Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot in 2010 during a police raid.

Weekley had admitted to accidentally firing his gun during a raid on May 16, 2010, killing Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

He testified that Aiyana's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, hit his weapon, causing it to fire. Jones denied Weekley's claims.

Jones said outside the courthouse, "She's going to get justice because I believe in the next jury."

Throughout the case, advocates for Aiyana's family criticized the makeup of the jury, which consisted of 11 whites and only one African-American.

"From the start, the Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee (JAJC) had no confidence in this jury that had only one African-American juror from a county that is over 42 percent African-American," the JAJC said in a statement following the hung jury.

The possibilities when it comes to marketing meat made from marijuana-fed animals are close to endless, but the man who came up with the idea has decided to simply call them “Pot Pigs.”

William von Scheneidau, owner and founder of BB Ranch in Seattle, didn’t come up with the idea to feed pigs and other animals weed while sitting around a bong in the basement with his buddies.

In fact, he doesn’t even smoke, he said.

Von Scheneidau said the notion came to him when he met the owners of a weed dispensary who told him that, ever since marijuana was legalized in Washington via popular vote last year, they've had extra stems, stalks, and leaves to get rid of.

He simply asked them if he could take what they were planning to throw out, as he once did with a farmer's rotting cantaloupes.

Von Scheneidau said he has always experimented with what he fed his animals and is even currently adding beer and vodka to their troughs.

The marijuana remnants are mostly fed to pigs, but because the farms von Scheneidau works with are free-range, other animals have access to the weed feed as well, giving a new meaning to the phrase “party animals.”

Whenever von Scheneidau introduces a new substance to animals’ diets, he makes sure to have a control group of animals that eat normally from the same family.

He said that the pigs that are fed the marijuana just lie around and barely lift their heads.

“I name all my pigs,” said von Scheneidau “and Ted told Tim they shouldn’t tell me,” whether or not they’re high.

The pigs’ laziness might contribute to the fact that those who eat the weed gain weight 20 percent faster than those who don’t, as one would expect, even though von Scheneidau said the pot pigs don’t actually consume any extra food.

The weight gain contributes to the marbled, fattier texture of the pork that is eventually processed and made into bacon, prosciutto, sausage, pork chops and pulled pork.

Von Scheneidau says that beyond a difference in consistency, people have described the weed-infused meat as “more savory” in “blind bacon tests.”

"The flavor of the fat is extraordinary, [customers] love the marbling of the fat," said von Scheneidau.

And while customers haven’t reported getting high while eating or cooking the pork, von Scheneidau said BB Ranch sells out of the pot pig meat before batches are even processed.

He said the laws are a little complicated right now, but once the dispensaries are able to sell more marijuana, he’ll have more access to what the customers — and the pigs — want.

The National Security Agency surveillance programs made public this month have helped foil more than 50 terrorist plots since Sept. 11, including one to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, top intelligence officials told Congress on Tuesday.

The officials appeared before the House Intelligence Committee and answered mostly friendly questions to defend the programs, which collect phone records inside the United States and monitor Internet communications overseas.

“I would much rather be here today debating this point than trying to explain how we failed to prevent another 9/11,” said Gen. Keith Alexander, the NSA director.

At least 10 of the foiled plots were “homeland-based threats,” he said.

Details of the surveillance programs became public after Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, provided documents about them to The Guardian and The Washington Post. Public officials have since called for his prosecution.

Alexander said he would provide details of all the foiled plots to the committee in secret Wednesday. Attempting to make a case that the surveillance programs are critical to protect Americans, however, the officials described several in public Tuesday.

In the stock exchange plot, the NSA used Internet surveillance to find an extremist in Yemen who was in contact with an operative in the United States, said Sean Joyce, deputy director of the FBI.

He said that intelligence agents were able to detect “nascent plotting” to bomb the exchange.

Joyce also said that NSA phone surveillance had led intelligence agents to someone in San Diego who was providing financial support to a terrorist group in Somalia. Joyce appeared reluctant to provide further details of that case.

The FBI official said that NSA surveillance helped stop a plot to bomb the New York subway system, a justification that public officials have previously used to defend the surveillance programs.

In that plot, Joyce said, the NSA intercepted an email from a terrorist in Pakistan in 2009 who was talking with someone in the United States about perfecting a recipe for explosives.

Joyce said that person turned out to be Najibullah Zazi, who later pleaded guilty in the plot and is in federal prison.

The programs also linked an American citizen in Chicago to the 2008 terror attacks on hotels in India and to a plot to bomb the offices of a Danish newspaper that published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, Joyce said.

The American citizen in Chicago was David Headley, who earlier this year was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Headley had cooperated with U.S. investigators and foreign intelligence agencies.

Joyce said, however, that he could not pinpoint how important the surveillance programs were to stopping the plots.

“I think you ask an almost impossible question, to say how important each dot was,” he told one congressman.

Both officials insisted that the programs are critical to protecting the country, are limited and subject to rigorous oversight, and carefully protect the civil liberties of Americans. They stressed that intelligence agents do not listen to Americans’ phone calls or read Americans’ email unless they have a warrant, and said the secret court that monitors surveillance operations was not a rubber stamp.

President Barack Obama defended the programs in an interview with Charlie Rose of PBS on Monday. He stressed that it was important to him to set up checks on the system.

“On this telephone program, you’ve got a federal court with independent federal judges overseeing the entire program,” he said, adding that “all of Congress had available to it before the last reauthorization exactly how this program works.”

Asked how Americans can be sure that the NSA can’t simply “flip a switch” and listen to a phone call, as opposed to gathering information about the length and phone numbers involved, Alexander said it was the NSA’s intention to “do this exactly right.”

“We have not seen one of our analysts willfully do something wrong,” he said.

In introducing Alexander, the committee chairman, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said that Americans’ trust in government to protect the country has been damaged by “inaccuracies, half-truths and outright lies” about intelligence programs.

“It is at times like these when our enemies within become almost as damaging as our enemies on the outside,” Rogers said.

Alexander said that Snowden’s disclosures would have a “long and irreversible impact” on the security of the United States and its allies.

“This is significant,” he said.

Snowden, who left the country for Hong Kong before he revealed himself as the source of the leaks, said Monday in an Internet chat that the U.S. government could not cover up its actions by “jailing or murdering him.”

“Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped,” he said.

Joyce, the FBI official, was asked by Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., what was next for Snowden. After a pause, he said: “Justice.”

This story was originally published on Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:11 PM EDT

Bell County Sheriff's Office / Reuters

Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 people and wounding 31 in a November 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, is pictured in an undated Bell County Sheriff's Office photograph.

An Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 and wounding nearly three dozen others at a Fort Hood, Texas, military post in 2009 has been denied a trial delay by a judge.

Major Nidal Hasan, 42, who has been allowed to represent himself, had requested a three-month postponement to his trial so he could prepare more. Military Judge Col. Tara Osborn refused the request Tuesday, and said jury selection was set for July 9 and was expected to last for four weeks; testimony will start Aug. 6 at the earliest. 

Hasan's court martial has been sidetracked numerous times by questions over his legal representation and the beard he has, which violates military dress code. Opening statements had been scheduled to begin on July 1.

Most of those killed in the shooting four years ago at Fort Hood, a staging base for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, were military personnel. Hasan was shot four times by civilian police after the attack.

Hasan, who was born in the U.S. and is Muslim, could face the death penalty in the trial. He has been charged with 13 counts of first-degree murder; 32 others were wounded.

Osborn ruled last week that Hasan could not use as a defense that he carried out the base shooting in an attempt to protect Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.

According to witnesses, a gunman in an army combat uniform opened fire in a packed medical building on Nov. 5, 2009, stopping only to reload his weapon. 

None of the victims posed an “immediate imminent threat” to Taliban personnel in Afghanistan, the judge said.

Although Hasan is representing himself, Osborn ordered his three former defense attorneys to remain on the case and to offer assistance to him if he requests help.

Hasan's trial was initially slated for March 2012, but was delayed twice because defense attorneys said they needed more time to prepare. It was delayed a third time last fall when Hasan appealed an order from then-judge Col. Gregory Gross that his beard be forcibly shaved if he didn't remove it before his trial. 

Gross was ousted from the case and his order was thrown out, and court proceedings resumed in December with the current judge.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

• Fort Hood suspect, defense attorneys at odds
• Judge bans Fort Hood suspect's defense strategy
• Judge rules Fort Hood suspect can represent himself

Dan Joling / AP

Lupine grows along Bird Ridge Trail on Thursday, June 13, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska.

In Alaska, houses are built to keep warm air in and cold air out, not the other way around. So with a record-setting heat wave scorching the state, residents are sweltering amid temperatures soaring past 90 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Southcentral Alaska hit four all-time highs yesterday (June 17), ranging between 88 F in Seward to 94 F in Talkeetna, according to the National Weather Service's Alaska forecast office. In the southeastern portion of the state, Skagway, a popular cruise ship port-of-call, reached 83 F, almost as warm as St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Just about every part of the state was warmer than average yesterday, the NWS said. 

The blazing hot temperatures are just the latest records to fall this year in Alaska. Residents also endured history-making cold temperatures throughout spring and flooding and evacuations caused by the never-ending winter. A mass of Arctic air stuck over the state for weeks this spring was responsible for the chilly weather. It finally fell prey to the warming effects of 18 hours of sunlight at the end of May. 

"Eventually, the sun is going to win out, and once it did, boy, did things change in a hurry," said Michael Lawson, a meteorologist with the NWS Alaska forecast office in Anchorage. 

Marine layer loses 
While Interior Alaska and towns near the Alaska Range regularly see high temperatures in the summer, extreme heat rarely flares up in Alaska's coastal communities, which are cooled by marine breezes. But a high-pressure ridge parked over Southcentral Alaska is pushing refreshing afternoon sea breezes offshore. 

A similar predicament often develops in Southern California, when a high-pressure system keeps the Catalina Eddy offshore, firing up heat waves in beach towns that depend on fog and ocean air for natural air-conditioning. 

"It's really much rarer for places in Southcentral Alaska to get as hot as they've been getting," Lawson told LiveScience. "This ridge has been so strong the sea breeze hasn't been getting a chance to cool us down." 

The heat wave will continue for the rest of the week, the NWS forecasts. The unusually strong, high-pressure system is intensifying over mainland Alaska, continuing the heat wave. Interior and Southwest Alaska will reach upwards of 90 F, and Southeast and Southcentral Alaska will see highs in the upper 70s and 80s F. 

A year without a spring 
Yet just a month ago, Alaska was in the grips of a never-ending winter, with late-season snowstorms and record-low temperatures in mid-May. The wild weather swing has wreaked havoc on the annual ice melt along rivers, causing ice jams and flooding. The town of Galena was evacuated late last month due to flooding from an ice dam on the mighty Yukon River. The Nenana Ice Classic, a betting contest on the Nenana River's ice breakup, set a record for the latest-ever crack and cave in of the ice. 

"It was an incredibly rapid transition," Lawson told LiveScience. "Literally, our spring was about five days before we jumped into summer-type weather." 

A persistent low-pressure trough that remained stuck over the state brought wave after wave of cold Arctic air into Alaska, Lawson said, keeping temperatures lower than normal for most of the winter. 

This week's warm weather could bring more flooding from melting snow and ice at higher elevations, the NWS has warned. A red flag fire warning, which signals dangerously dry air and possible strong winds, was also issued over the weekend for much of the state because of drier conditions caused by the hot air mass. A forest fire broke out east of Fairbanks on Monday evening (June 17), prompting temporary road closures. A 30,000-acre fire is also burning in Southwest Alaska. 

The highest temperature ever recorded in Alaska was 100 F in Ft. Yukon on June 27, 1915. 

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Patrick Semansky / AP

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, center, is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., on Monday.

FORT MEADE, Md. - The court-martial of the U.S. soldier accused of providing reams of classified documents to WikiLeaks in a case illustrating the challenge of keeping secrets in the digital age must decide whether tweets and Web pages can be admitted as evidence.

Lawyers for Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, who is accused of providing more than 700,000 files to the anti-secrecy website in the biggest breach of classified U.S. data in the nation's history, argued on Tuesday that Twitter postings offered by prosecutors do not meet the court's standards.

"Anyone can create a Web page...that looks like WikiLeaks or that looks like Twitter," argued defense attorney Captain Joshua Tooman when the government sought to admit a May 7, 2010 tweet from WikiLeaks seeking military Internet addresses, and the Web page of the Internet archive site archive.org that showed a 2009 WikiLeaks "Most Wanted" list of items it was seeking from the public.

Tooman said a government investigator had accessed the tweets indirectly, through Google, rather than directly through Twitter or WikiLeaks. He said the evidence failed to meet the test of authenticity since there was no way of knowing what the website looked like when the tweet or page was published.

Prosecutors argued those tweets, as well as one on January 8, 2010 from WikiLeaks saying it had an encrypted video of a U.S. air attack, were evidence of a leak and should be admissible.

Judge Colonel Denise Lind did not rule on the evidence. She ordered the trial into recess until a status hearing next Tuesday. The trial is scheduled to resume on June 26.

Manning was an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2010 when WikiLeaks published the classified information. He faces 21 charges, the most serious being aiding the enemy, and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

A man was arraigned on indictment for murder on Monday by a California grand jury for throwing his ex-wife over the side of a cruise ship, according to the Orange County District Attorney.

The indictment against Lonnie Loren Kocontes, 55, includes one felony count of murder for financial gain.

Prosecutors said that that Kocontes and his ex-wife, Micki Kanesaki, divorced in 2001 but lived together on and off for the next several years. They were also comfortable with traveling together and in 2006 went on a cruise that left from Spain.

That's when Kocontes is accused of strangling Kanesaki, throwing her body over the side of the ship into Italian waters — and then reporting her missing.

He later moved over $1 million from their joint bank accounts and the proceeds from the sale of their shared home into his own accounts and his new wife’s accounts, according to the DA.

According to the press release, the money transfer drew suspicions from the FBI and the Orange County Sheriff’s department later found additional evidence against Kocontes. He was arrested in February of this year.

Although a judge already ruled on May 29 that the state of California has the right to try the case since Kanesaki was a California resident, Kocontes will fight to have the case thrown out during a June 26 hearing, claiming that local authorities do not have jurisdiction to prosecute him, The Associated Press reported.

He did not enter a plea after his charges were read Monday.

If he is convicted, Kocontes faces a life sentence but would also be eligible for the death penalty, officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Department of Justice via AP

Jessica L. Hunt, Jordie L. Callahan and Daniel Brown were arrested on charges of enslaving a mentally disabled young mother and her daughter over a two-year period. Federal agents and Ashland police said on June 18, the trio forced the woman to do housework, threatened her and the girl with violence and fed their pets better than the victims.

A cognitively disabled woman and her young daughter were held against their will in an Ohio home for more than two years, forced to perform manual labor, threatened by poisonous snakes, and beaten to scare them from ever escaping, authorities announced on Tuesday.

Jessica L. Hunt, 31, and Daniel J. Brown, 33, and Jordie L. Callahan, 26, were arrested in Ashland, Ohio, and charged with forced labor for holding the woman and her child starting in May 2011, the United States Attorney for Northern Ohio said in a statement.

Callahan was also charged with tampering with a witness after allegedly forcing the mother to hit her child and videotaping the incident to use against her if she ever went to the police.

"We are yet again reminded that modern-day slavery exists all around us," said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. "One of our nation's core values is freedom, yet this woman and her child were denied freedom for two years. The victims in this case endured violence, threats, sub-human living conditions and other horrific acts."

News of the horrific case comes just over a month after the high-profile rescue of three Cleveland women who had been held captive for nearly ten years in the home of Ariel Castro, who faces charges of rape, kidnap and murder.

The Ashland victims were forced to live in inhuman conditions, tasked with shopping, cleaning, and caring for their captors pit bulls and reptiles.

They were beaten, intimidated by firearms, denied food and threatened by the dogs and reptiles which included a poisonous coral snake, a ball python and a Burmese python that weighed 130 pounds, according an affidavit filed by the FBI.

"The actions of the individuals arrested this morning defy comprehension and, quite frankly, are disgusting," said Eric Smith, a lead FBI investigator in  the case, told reporters.

Police say the woman, identified only as "S.E.," suffered a head trauma at 16-years-old and had the functioning mental capacity of a 13-year-old.

For a time, S.E. and her child were forced to sleep on a cement floor with no mattress, and were later moved upstairs to a padlocked room with a freely roaming large iguana and no bed, according to the affidavit.

On multiple occasions they also injured the S.E. so that she needed pain medication which they would then take from her.

The disabled victim also received monthly public assistance payments which were frequently stolen by her captors, according to the affidavit.

Police initiated the investigation in October 2012, after S.E. was caught shoplifting a candy bar. She asked to be taken to jail, telling police the people she lived with "were mean to her," according to the statement. 

Police visited Callahan and Hunt's apartment, informing them that the woman would not be returning. Authorities said Callahan then showed police the video he had taken on his mobile phone in October 2011 when the woman hit her child, investigator said.

The mother later told police that Callahan and Hunt made her strike the child, saying a much worse beating would come if she failed to do so, according to the affidavit. The two told her that if she told anyone about her living conditions, they would show the video to police and her daughter would be taken away, according to police.  

"The streets are a lot safer with these folks locked up," said Ashland Police Chief David Marcelli said.

Officials said S.E. and her daughter are doing relatively well and are getting assistance from both the FBI and non-profits around the area.      

"The individuals in this case preyed upon a human being's disability and her desire to protect her child," said Dettelbach.

AP

The official signature of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on a $5 bill, top, and Lew's signature on a 2011 memo.

Penmanship purists can relax: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has straightened out his signature.

When he was nominated for the post earlier this year, Lew was mocked for his John Hancock — an aimless series of loops that was compared to the white icing atop a Hostess cupcake.

The top finance official in the federal government was given the humiliating nickname Loopty Lew. Worse still, the treasury chief is one of two people whose signatures grace United States currency. President Barack Obama joked that he might devalue the dollar.

But the Treasury Department on Tuesday released Lew’s signature as it will appear on bills this fall, starting with the $5 note, and it’s a little more grown-up. In fact, it’s borderline legible.

The first name arguably looks more like “Paul” than Lew’s real first name, Jacob. But the middle initial is an unmistakably accurate “J,” and the last name is at least a close approximation of the real thing — an L, an E and the faintest beginnings of a W.

Asked to explain the dramatic change, a Treasury Department spokeswoman would say only that it’s common for secretaries’ signatures to evolve once they get the job and start practicing for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Reaction on the Internet, meanwhile, was mixed. Some people said the country had dodged an embarrassment. But others were nostalgic, having hoped that the zany original would lend some whimsy to the greenback.

Kevin Roose of New York magazine mourned on Twitter: “boOoOoOo.”

Following a public spat between Chrysler and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the maker of the Jeep Cherokee on Tuesday finally agreed to recall millions of vehicles. But it's not the biggest recall ever, and it's really just one more in a string of high-profile companies that have been forced to admit their products were faulty. Here's a look at some of the more notable recalls in recent history.

Tylenol – 1982

In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died suddenly after taking cyanide-laced Extra Strength Tylenol. The company took immediate action and quickly recalled 31 million units of the product. The individual(s) responsible for the poisoning, however, were never caught. The incident prompted the food and drug industries to develop tamper-resistant packaging and product tampering was made a federal crime.

Tylenol – 2010

Nearly three decades later, McNeil Healthcare – Tylenol’s manufacturer – took much longer to respond to complaints of nausea and other side effects from consumers taking Tylenol products. After 20 months of receiving these complaints, the company took action and recalled about 60 million bottles of various Tylenol products.

Spinach - 2006

In 2006, at least three deaths and nearly 200 illnesses resulted from infections tied to E. coli-contaminated spinach linked back to a farm in central California. The outbreak cost the industry more that $350 million and greatly affected the sales of spinach for the years to follow.

Volkswagen – 1972

In 1972, Volkswagen recalled all of their beloved Beetles, made 1949-1969, for problems regarding their windshield wipers. At the time, VW’s wipers were notorious for loosening and falling off. After years of complaints, the company agreed to replace the windshield wipers on 3.7 million Beetles with an improved design.

Ford Pinto – 1978

In 1978, Ford recalled 1.5 million Pintos after an investigation by the NHTSAn proved that the Pinto’s gas tank was susceptible to explosion and fire after minor collisions. Three people died before the recall and six died in Pinto fires during the time following the recall but before the parts to repair the vehicle were made available.

Ford – 1980

During the 1970s, Ford battled with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding alleged defects in Ford’s transmissions, which caused some vehicles to reverse rather than park. But the NHTSA was unable to successfully recall the 23 million Ford vehicles believed to have this transmission fault. In 1980, the Department of Transportation agreed to close its investigation in exchange for Ford’s pledge to send notification and warning labels to the owners of the 23 million Fords.

Firestone Tires – 2000

Firestone voluntarily recalled 6.5 million tires in 2000 after the NHTSA began an investigation linking the tire company to nearly 300 tire failures. The government investigation linked Firestone tires to at least 46 deaths between the years 1997-2000.

Easy-Bake Ovens – 2007

Hasbro and the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled almost 1 million Easy-Bake Ovens after finding that children could get their fingers caught and burned in the oven’s opening. At the time of the recall, the CPSC reported five cases of burns, including one 5-year-old girl who was burned severely enough to need to have one of her fingers partially amputated.

Toyota cars – 2009-2010

Toyota made headlines in 2010 when the company recalled 5.6 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles for problems linked to sudden unstoppable acceleration. It’s estimated that the recall cost Toyota $2 billion, which includes the costs incurred by Toyota’s decision to halt both production and US sales during the investigation. The recall was the largest ever for Toyota and among the largest in automobile history.

Drop-Side Cribs – 2009

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 2.1 million Generation 2 Worldwide and “ChilDesigns” drop-side cribs after the cribs were linked to the deaths of four infants and toddlers by suffocation. In December 2010, the government made the decision to outlaw drop-side cribs after 30 children died during the years 2001-2010from problems with the cribs.

Peanut Corporation of America – 2009

In January 2009, the Peanut Corporation of America issued one of the largest food recalls in history. The Peanut Corporation recalled more than 3000 products from 200 companies after their peanuts were linked to salmonella. Ultimately the outbreak caused a total of nine deaths and over 700 infections.

Ford Motor Company – 2009

In 2009, Ford completed a series of recalls totaling 14 million cars. According to the National highway Traffic Safety Administration, the cars recalled had a faulty cruise control deactivation switch that lead the cars to leak hydraulic fluid, overheat, and eventually smoke and burn. It remains the largest recall in US automaker history.

A stray kitten is recuperating after spending two days stuck in the engine of car that made a 1,000-mile drive from Oregon to Southern California.

Julia Di Sieno, who has been rescuing animals for 30 years, answered the driver’s call to rescue the kitten in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Di Sieno said that the driver heard the stray's cries when she left Oregon, but she continued with her journey, unsure of what to do. The kitten, according to Di Sieno, “was probably orphaned or lost. He was cold in Oregon and crawled into an engine compartment just seeking a warm spot.”

When she reached the car, Di Sieno could not find the kitten but could hear his cries, so she called Chuck Love of Santa Barbara’s Love Towing for assistance.

The liberators ran into trouble when the kitten – only weeks old and reasonably spooked – evaded their attempts to rescue him from the Honda Fit.

Di Sieno then managed to sedate the kitten, which she said, “made it easier to wiggle him through the engine’s small compartments.”

After an hour and a half of trying, Di Sieno was finally able to pull the feline from the car and into her arms.

 She decided to name the cat "Love" after the tow-truck driver who assisted her.

"He didn’t even charge us – just did it as a good Samaritan," she said.

Di Sieno is taking care of Love, who is healthy and now weighs over one pound, as he awaits adoption.

The Guardian via Getty Images

Edward Snowden speaks during an interview in Hong Kong.

Ever since Edward Snowden revealed himself as the leaker of classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs, he has sometimes been called a whistle-blower. But is he?

Those who believe he has shed light on improper government actions say he deserves to be called one. But there seems little doubt that he cannot claim legal whistle-blower protection.

For starters, the general whistle-blower laws apply to government employees who expose wrongdoing, by protecting them from such retaliatory actions as firing, demotion, salary cuts, or blocked promotions. But those laws do not apply to employees or contractors who work for the intelligence agencies.

Instead, a separate law, the Intelligence Community Whistle-blower Protection Act, applies to people who held positions such as the one Snowden did as a contractor for the National Security Agency. Legal experts say, however, that it provides no protection to him for two reasons.

First, they say, he did not expose the kinds of actions covered by whistle-blower protections — illegal conduct, fraud, waste or abuse. Some people have argued that the programs revealed by Snowden are illegal or unconstitutional. For now, they are presumptively legal, given the assent of members of Congress and the special court known as FISA that oversees intelligence operations.

But suppose Snowden’s supporters are right, and what he exposed was illegal conduct after all.

Then he would face a second problem: The Federal Whistle-blower Protection Act protects the public disclosure of “a violation of any law, rule, or regulation” only “if such disclosure is not specifically prohibited by law.” In other words, Snowden could claim whistle-blower protection only if he took his concerns to the NSA’s inspector general or to a member of one of the congressional intelligence committees with the proper security clearances.

Asked on Tuesday what chances Snowden would have to qualify for whistle-blower protection, Steve Vladeck, a professor at the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington — an expert on the issue — said, “none.”

This story was originally published on Tue Jun 18, 2013 3:16 PM EDT

Marice Cohn Band / AP file

In this Sept. 17, 2008 file photo, John Martorano is questioned about his plea agreement in exchange for testifying against former FBI agent John Connolly, in the Miami Courthouse.

Retired Boston hitman John "The Executioner" Martorano testified on Tuesday that he and James “Whitey” Bulger were “up to our necks in murder” by the time he committed what he described as his last killing at Bulger’s behest, more than three decades ago.

The former underworld killer also described his one-time boss as having a direct hand in a murder, saying Tuesday that Bulger gunned down a Boston bar owner for bragging about his ties to Bulger's "Winter Hill Gang."

"They took him out in the phone booth," Martorano said of the 1975 murder of Edward Connors, Reuters reported.

"I heard the shots. They came back and said, 'He's gone.'"

Martorano, 72, spent a second day on the witness stand in the famed mobster's racketeering trial. A one-time altar boy who notched 20 murders on his belt working as an enforcer for Bulger, he’s now a star prosecution witness intent on sending his former boss to prison.

Short-spoken and with a prickly sense of honor, Martorano said he was best friends and confidantes with accused Winter Hill Gang leader Bulger and his partner Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi.

Martorano has been free since 2007, having served just 12 years in prison after striking a plea deal that centered on his testimony.

Monday, Martorano tied the 83-year-old Bulger to a murder for the first time in the trial, saying that Bulger watched from a car as the hitman rubbed out another victim, Alfred Notarangeli, on his orders in 1974.

In a matter-of-fact monotone, Martorano has told his bloody tales many times – how he disguised himself in a butcher’s coat, construction hard hat, and false beard before shooting one victim at a Medford, Mass., restaurant in 1973, for example.

Or a triple-murder Martorano carried out five years earlier, when two teenagers caught bullets intended for a man who had slighted Flemmi.

Martorano himself committed perhaps his most sensational murder when he gunned down Roger Wheeler, the chairman of Telex Corp., in 1981 at a Tulsa, Okla., golf club. Bulger was at the center of that murder, too, Martorano has said.

Then Martorano says he killed his friend John Callahan to cover up Wheeler’s murder, again at the prompting of Bulger and Flemmi, he said Tuesday, according to the Boston Herald.

“They were my partners, and we were up to our necks in murder already,” Martorano said of what he’s described as his last slaying.

He liked guns to carry out his handiwork, telling CBS in a 2008 interview: “It’s the easiest way, I think.”

“I think I stabbed one guy,” he said.

Whatever his body count, Martorano says he’s not a hitman because he didn’t get paid to end lives. His services came free for friends, he said, out of a sense of loyalty.

“A hitman is a, that sounds to me like somebody’s getting paid, a paid contract. You could never pay me to kill anybody,” Martorano said. “I might be a vigilante but not a serial killer.”

If there’s one trespass the confessed murderer says he will not forgive, it’s the way Bulger double-crossed him. Prosecutors contend Bulger and Flemmi were informants for the FBI.

“After I heard that they were informants, it sort of broke my heart,” Martorano said. “They broke all trust that we had, all loyalties, and I was just beside myself with it.

“I’ll go along with a lot of things, but not no Judas, not no informant. I never informed or ratted on nobody, and if I could have killed him I would have killed him, but I wasn’t there, and that’s what I think he deserves,” Martorano told CBS.

He’ll exact his vengeance on Bulger on the witness stand, he’s said, but that doesn’t make him a snitch.

“One’s got the courage to stand on the stand, the other one’s doing it behind your back and dropping dimes,” Martorano said in the interview. “How can I be ratting on a guy who’s been the rat for 30 years? I’m trying to stop him from ratting anymore.”

Martorano got $20,000 in walking money from the Drug Enforcement Administration when he was released from prison, the Boston Globe reported, and more in royalties from a book about his life.

“In some ways he did get away with murder,” U.S. Attorney Donald Stern told CBS in 2008. “The only thing worse than this deal was not doing this deal. Because if we didn’t do this deal no one would have received any punishment for these murders. Corrupt law enforcement arrangements would not have been uncovered and prosecuted, and the cancer in law enforcement that existed in Boston for a number of years would have remained there.”

Stephen Davis, brother of an alleged Bulger victim, told NBC News affiliate WHDH on Monday after Martorano's testimony, “I’m glad to see them cutting each others’ throats, you know what I mean.

“That’s what kind of guys they were.” 

Related:

• Former Boston hitman says Whitey Bulger's FBI dealings 'broke my heart'
• Getting Whitey Bulger to the big screen -- who should play the mobster?
• As trial opens, Bulger's adopted neighborhood moves on

This story was originally published on Tue Jun 18, 2013 11:52 AM EDT

In what is feared to be the worst wildfire season in a century, a central California blaze is gathering strength from dry air and wind gusts to threaten hundreds of homes.

The Carstens Fire, which began Sunday afternoon, continues to burn through brush and timber in the Sierra Nevada foothills southwest of Yosemite National Park, according to Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).

“This fire is continuing to grow and as it threatens more homes, it’s required us to call in additional resources and firefighters in,” he said.

The National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning over the weekend for parts of California. In response, CAL FIRE added additional firefighters and equipment to their team.

“While we are hoping we can make it through the next couple of days with minimal fire activity, we are prepared to respond if Mother Nature doesn’t agree,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE director, in a news release.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 2,200 firefighters were battling the blaze along with 143 engines, several helicopters and various other crews.

Little progress has been made in containing the fire, as crews have been unable to contain more than 15 percent of it since Sunday. More than 1,600 acres have burned.

A firefighter was injured Monday, but the extent of his injuries is still unknown. Berlant said sprained ankles and heat exhaustion are common when fighting fires like this one.

More than 800 homes in counties near Midpines are threatened by the blaze and hundreds have been evacuated, Berlant said. While the fire is near Yosemite National Park, Berlant said he thinks the main threat is to homes.

Currently, Highway 140, right near Yosemite, is open, but that could change.

Officials say this could be the worst year for fires. Typically, there are about 1,100 wildfires with 8,000 acres burned by June. This year, CAL FIRE has responded to more than 2,100 wildfires with more than 50,000 acres burned.

When asked about a timetable for the Carstens Fire, Berlant said he was unsure because of the dry weather and gusty winds.

“That’s what’s fanning the fire,” he said. “At this point, it’s too early to tell when it will be over.”

Individual charitable giving in the United States grew almost 4 percent last year according to a new report that shows donations by Americans to nonprofit groups mirror the slow recovery of the larger economy. 

Overall, U.S. donations to bolster the arts, health, religion and other activities totaled $316.2 billion in 2012, a 3.5 percent increase from the $305.5 billion donated in 2011, according to the report, "Giving USA." That was just a 1.5 percent increase when adjusted for inflation. 

Donations are still down about 8 percent from their 2007 peak of $344.5 billion. Giving levels fell sharply during the subsequent recession. 

The annual report is published by the Giving USA Foundation and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. 

"In 2012, Americans were feeling better - but not great," Gregg Carlson, chair of the foundation, wrote in the study. But he said even the small increase in giving showed the "healing continues, with the prognosis being good." Giving, as a general rule, follows the economy and consumer confidence, he said. 

Individuals in the United States donated $228.9 billion last year, a 3.9 percent increase from $220.3 billion in 2011, the widely followed study found. Individual giving typically makes up almost three-quarters of all giving, and it may still be constrained by widespread unemployment, underemployment and worries about the economy, said Patrick Rooney, an associate dean at Indiana University who worked on the report. 

In contrast, companies and their foundations increased their giving by 12.2 percent to nearly $18.2 billion in 2012, compared with $16.2 billion the year before. 

Giving by charitable foundations, up 4.4 percent, added another $45.7 billion in 2012, and bequeathed gifts, which can vary year-to-year based on estate closings, fell 7 percent to $23.4 billion last year. 

The study analyzed U.S. tax data from the Internal Revenue Service, government economic indicators, and other research. 

If charitable giving continues to grow at recent rates, it will take about another six or seven years to return to pre-recession levels, he said. 

Other findings from the 2012 report include: 

• Giving to groups for the arts, culture and humanities grew significantly after earlier declines, rising 7.8 percent; 
• Giving to organizations that focus on the environment and animals rose 6.8 percent; 
• Gifts to international causes tapered off in 2012 with a modest increase of 2.5 percent after high growth rates in recent years;
• Donations to religious organizations, which still take in the largest share of all U.S. giving, were nearly unchanged, and
• Donations to foundations, which vary based on the size of gifts from wealthy U.S. donors, fell 4.6 percent to $30.58 billion. 

Washoe County Sheriff via AP

Joseph Naso, seen in an undated booking photo, insists he is "not the monster" who responsible for the so-called "alphabet murders."

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- An elderly California photographer charged with the slayings of four prostitutes dating back to the 1970s opened his own defense at his serial-murder trial on Monday, declaring to jurors, "I'm not the monster that killed these women."

Joseph Naso, 79, who has admitted a penchant for taking erotic pictures of women and displayed dozens of such photos in court on Monday, stood stoop-shouldered in a blue suit and tie, his hands crossed behind his back, as he politely greeted the 12 men and women who will decide his fate.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the jury. You're a welcome sight. I've been waiting two years and two months for this day to tell my side," Naso said.

He went on to discount the government's case as little more than "theories and opinions," saying, "They don't even have circumstantial evidence."

Naso is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of four northern California women, all of them prostitutes, whose slayings were dubbed the "alphabet murders" because the first and last name of each victim starts with the same letter in the alphabet.

Two victims, Roxene Roggasch, 18, and Carmen Colon, 22, were killed in the 1970s. Two others, Pamela Parson, 38, and Tracy Tafoya, 31, were slain in the 1990s.

Prosecutors contend that Naso drugged his victims before raping or trying to rape them, then killed the women and discarded their naked or scantily clad bodies in remote locations.

During prosecutors' opening statement on Monday morning, jurors were shown graphic photos of the victims as they appeared when their remains were found.

"The defendant is a serial rapist and murderer," said Marin County Deputy District Attorney Rosemary Slote told the jury.

Although he has no legal training, the defendant has insisted upon representing himself in the proceedings against him, for which he could face the death penalty if convicted of more than one more murder.

'I dated, I dance, I took pictures'
"I'm not the monster that killed these women. I don't do that," he said at one point during a rambling, two-hour, 10-minute opening statement. "I dated, I danced, I took pictures, but I don't kill people, and there's no evidence of that."

He acknowledged knowing one of his alleged victims, Parson, who by his account he picked up as a hitchhiker and brought to his house. There, he said, she offered to have sex with him. But he said he declined and took photos of her instead.

Naso was arrested in 2010 after authorities searching his home in Nevada found what prosecutors have described as diaries of sexual assaults and a list of victim dumping grounds, along with hundreds of photographs of naked women, many of whom appeared to be dead or unconscious.

It was only then that investigators began to put a serial murder case together against Naso, who was at the time on probation for shoplifting.

Naso insisted on Monday that "not one picture of a deceased person" was found at his home. Naso showed the jury a collection of roughly 50 photographs he had taken over the years, mostly of female subjects, many of them topless or in various stages of undress, interspersed with photos from weddings, a college sorority gathering, a nursing school graduation and a church group.

Of prosecutors' assertions that Naso's DNA was found on nylons from his ex-wife that he allegedly used to strangle one of his victims, he said such evidence was inconclusive.

As to journal notations attributed to him by prosecutors that refer to him having "raped" a woman, he told jurors, "That's the way I talk. It's just loose talk that I used. 'I pick up a nice broad and I raped her.' It's got nothing to do with forcible rape in the way we usually think."

He concluded by saying, "When this trial is over, I'd like you to find me not guilty so I can go home and see my children."

Related:

• Eerie similarites noted in NY, Calif. cold cases
• Serial killing suspect kept photos, list of women

Linda Davidson / The Washington Post via Getty Images, file

Tuesday's report highlights successful teacher training programs at a handful of universities, including Ohio State, which recently launched an undergraduate degree program that gives students hands-on experience in a classroom each year.

The teacher training system is badly broken, turning out rookie educators who have little hands-on experience running classrooms and are quickly overwhelmed by the job, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

The review found "an industry of mediocrity," with the vast majority of programs earning fewer than three stars on a four-star rating scale - and many earning no stars at all.

The council, a bipartisan research and advocacy group, spent eight years developing the methodology, fighting in court to gain access to data and analyzing the information before issuing the report. It contains detailed analysis of 608 colleges and universities with teacher training programs and partial data on 522 others.

Those 1,130 institutions collectively turn out more than 170,000 novice teachers annually, about 80 percent of the new teachers entering classrooms each year. Most of the rest come from non-traditional training programs that are not necessarily affiliated with colleges, such as Teach for America.

Freshly minted teachers "don't know how to teach reading, don't know how to master a classroom, don't know how to use data," said Kate Walsh, the council's president. "The results were dismal."

Attempts to improve teacher training have been under way.

The two big teachers unions have both called for aspiring educators to get better mentoring and more practical experience before they graduate. They have also urged tougher certification standards that would require candidates to prove their skills in a classroom - not just pass a paper-and-pencil test - before earning a license.

Yet the study is the first to attempt a comprehensive rating of teacher preparation programs.

The methodology drew immediate fire from some professors of education.

The council ratings lean heavily on a few factors: Whether a program is selective in its admissions; whether its students must take extensive courses in the subject areas they will be teaching; and how much hands-on experience students get in classroom management. Researchers also looked at syllabi, textbooks and the type of training offered in key fields, such as teaching reading.

But the study did not typically evaluate the quality of teaching within the training program or the success graduates may have had in the classroom.

"These rankings do not have a great deal to do with program quality," said Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor at the Stanford University School of Education, which received only mediocre ratings.

Several universities tried to block researchers from getting data about their programs; in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri, the disputes escalated into court battles won by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

"Our members feel like they've been strong-armed," said Stephanie Giesecke, a director at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. "These are not valid ways of rating our programs."

For all its grim warnings, the new report does point to a few bright spots.

It highlights successful teacher training programs at a handful of universities, including Ohio State, which recently launched an undergraduate degree program that gives students hands-on experience in a classroom each year.

Furman University in Greenville, S.C., also won high marks for its academic rigor and intensive mentoring of aspiring teachers.

"When they leave our program, we're putting a stamp on them that says, 'This person can work with other peoples' children,'" said Scott Henderson, director of program development for the teacher education program. "That's a huge responsibility."

The National Council on Teacher Quality was founded in 2000 and often advocates for education reform policies opposed by teacher unions. It is funded by private foundations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

Tech. Sgt. JoAnn Makinano

Former Air Force videographer Adrienne Brammer in Mosul, Iraq, in 2008 where she was attached to U.S. Army infantry units and found herself in "sticky" situations.

The Pentagon has moved beyond merely talking about placing women into combat and is actively mapping how, when and where servicewomen eventually will be assigned to far more dangerous duties — including, perhaps, special forces operations, senior U.S. defense officials tell NBC News. 

While the blueprint for dual-gender U.S. combat units continues to be sketched — and remains subject to change  — military brass are contemplating a stunning first: allowing women to begin training as Army Rangers and Navy SEALS by 2016, Pentagon officials said on Monday. 

The branches have been studying how best to deploy women in combat roles since Jan. 24, when then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta cleared the way for women to serve in some of the military's 237,000 combat-related positions, ending a 20-year prohibition. Initially, branch commanders were given until May 15 to tell Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel how they will integrate women into combat by 2016. 

The latest strategy discussions signal that servicewomen soon may be handed vocational roadmaps to complete full combat careers. But Pentagon officials are quick to add that as their internal study proceeds, the services can, at any time, request "exceptions" to admitting women into specific combat categories. Further, the strenuous physical standards required for entry into special-forces jobs and combat-infantry assignments will not be lowered for anyone, they say. 

In fact, the immediate focus among military leaders involves opening certain positions for women in combat-support roles — as soon as possible, U.S. defense sources tell NBC News. That could include jobs like communications, intelligence and mechanics in forward combat deployments. Women already are deployed as combat pilots and flight crews for the Army, Navy and Air Force. Women now comprise about 14 percent of the armed forces. 

From Capitol Hill to the female-veteran community, some observers lauded the branches' work to zero in on female-combat jobs as a move toward a more robust American force — with one frequent Pentagon critic, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, calling it "another step in the right direction." 

"Women are already fighting and dying for our country, shoulder-to-shoulder with their brothers in uniform on the front lines, but without the formal recognition that is essential for them to advance and obtain the benefits they have earned," said Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who led and lost a recent fight to reform the military justice system as a way to stem a rape epidemic in the ranks.

"By officially opening combat roles, more women will be able to advance their careers to the senior ranks and increase the diversity of our military leadership," Gillibrand said. "I have no doubt there are qualified women who can serve in any role in our military. And when all of our best and brightest serve in combat our country is stronger for it."

Courtesy of Adrienne Brammer.

Adrienne Brammer in Afghanistan in 2011. She supports the idea of opening up roles for women in combat — after she experienced combat situations.

In more than 10 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan — where there have been no defined “front lines” — women were often drawn into combat and suffered casualties as medics, truck drivers, convoy security and female-engagement teams that serve as liaisons with local women and children. In all, 150 women have been killed in the two wars.

Former Air Force videographer Adrienne Brammer acknowledges "I was scared" when, in 2008, she was attached to Army infantry units in Mosul, Iraq. In 2011, she headed again to combat operations, then attached to a multinational unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan, to help fulfill Army missions. 

Tech Sgt. JoAnn Makinano

Adrienne Brammer in Mosul Iraq, 2008.

"I'm excited that the Department of Defense will finally have us ladies down in the books, on paper, under contract, as doing the combat jobs that we've been doing for decades," said Brammer, adding that she occasionally got into some "sticky situations that could have gone worse," but never had to discharge her weapon.  

"But I was given a great partner to work with, another woman, who was on her third combat deployment and I had a great time," said Brammer, 33, who today lives in New York City. "She was such a bad-ass — someone I thought I could either trust to save my life, or get me into real trouble. I thought, if she's scared, I'll be scared. I never saw her scared. 

"We trusted the men we were out with every day. They looked out for us, we made them look good on camera and everybody went home with all their bullets," Brammer said. "We know they weren't thrilled to see us — women, photographer/videographer, and Air Force, to boot. But we proved ourselves daily and to a different unit every time we were outside the wire."

Bill Briggs is an NBC News contributor; Jim Miklaszewski is NBC News' chief Pentagon correspondent; Courtney Kube is an NBC News producer at the Pentagon.

Related stories:

• Defense Chief Panetta to clear women for combat roles 

• Female vets cheer new era for women in combat: 'It's about time!'

• How the US military can become a 'band of brothers and sisters'

A shark attacked a teenage boy on Monday as he was standing in shallow water off the coast of Texas, police said.

The 15-year-old was at Surfside Beach on the Gulf of Mexico with friends when he felt the shark bite his left leg and tried to fight it off by reaching into the water and hitting it. The shark then went for his left hand and he suffered lacerations to limbs, according to Assistant Chief of Police Gregg Bisso.

When the shark gave up, the boy’s friends helped him out of the water and a police officer and medic who was on the scene began administering first aid, said Bisso.

The victim was then air-lifted 60 miles to Memorial Herman–Texas Medical Center in Houston.

Bisso said the Surfside Beach Police Department is most used to responding to jelly fish stings — not shark bites — since the last shark attack at Surfside happened 25-30 years ago.

He said an influx of sharks could be the result of weather conditions or bait fish, but the police department will not call for extra precautions on the beach until they are able to figure it out.

The boy, whose name has not been released because he is a minor, is being treated, but his injuries are not life threatening, Bisso said.

Southern California fire officials warned Monday that the state should take caution during a brutal fire season that projections suggest could be the worst to hit the region in a century.

“We’re going to have a very volatile fire season,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said at a Monday afternoon news conference, who noted it could be the worst in 100 years.

The warning comes nearly a week after a monstrous wildfire began to cut a deadly path through Colorado Springs, killing two people and destroying nearly 500 homes. The Black Forest Fire – the most destructive blaze in Colorado history – was 75 percent contained Monday.

California officials advised that projected weather conditions – a menacing mix of warm, dry Santa Ana winds and scant rainfall – may make the looming fire season similarly devastating

“Fire conditions in southern California are at levels we have not seen in many, many years,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said Monday. “That is the case across all of California.”

The blazes on the forecast are expected to wreak extensive havoc across wide swaths of the state, endangering lives and natural resources, Pimlott said.

“These aren’t fires that just burn out in the forest and in the brush lands,” Pimlott said. “These are fires that directly impact the state’s natural resources and the very water that we drink and the air that we breathe.”

Officials are bracing for roughly 2,600 fires across 51,000 acres – a 75 percent increase from the annual average over the last five years, according to Pimlott.

A 30,000-acre drought-fueled powerhouse blaze ripped through the region in early June, forcing thousands of evacuations and threatening thousands of buildings. The fire destroyed at least six homes.

The devastation wrought by the massive Colorado wildfire should serve as a “wake up call” for Californians, Pimlott said.

“All we need to do right now is look on the news and see what’s occurring in Colorado and Colorado Springs,” Pimlott said. “The exact same conditions exist in California.”

“We all need to be prepared,” he added.

Three Naval Academy midshipmen will face charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a female midshipman last year, a U.S. military official told NBC News Monday.

The female midshipman told investigators that she was sexually assaulted by the three men — all Academy football players at the time — at an off-campus party in April 2012. 

The Naval Academy Superintendent, Vice Admiral Michael Miller, is the convening authority for the case. A spokesperson for the Naval Academy confirmed that Miller "has decided to send this case to Article 32 proceedings," the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing. 

It is unclear if all three men will face charges, which could come as soon as Tuesday.

"The initial [Naval Criminal Investigative Service] investigation has been completed and reviewed," Naval Academy spokesman Cmdr. John Schofield said, but he could not comment on what the specific charges are yet.

The woman initially reported the incident in 2012 and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service immediately launched an investigation, sources told NBC News. But the woman essentially withdrew her complaint when she stopped cooperating with investigators, and the investigation was halted. 

But in February of 2013 she renewed her complaint and the investigation continued.

Sources said the woman knew the men and considered them friends, but during a night of heavy drinking the three allegedly had non-consensual sex with her at different times.

The woman's lawyer, Susan Burke, has told NBC News that her client was "ostracized" for the accusations, and that the incident was "widely known at the Naval Academy." 

Burke has been critical of the Academy in how they have handled the investigation. She said her client was disciplined for drinking while her alleged attackers went unpunished for more than one year. 

One of the accused, however, had his graduation put on hold this year pending while the investigation was ongoing. 

The other two are juniors at the Annapolis, Md., school.

FBI

Walter Lee Williams, a former university professor, is wanted for the alleged sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual acts with children.

A list that has included notorious names such as James Earl Ray, Ted Bundy, Whitey Bulger and Osama bin Laden reached a milestone Monday.

With the addition of an alleged child rapist and an alleged killer, The FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list has now included 500 fugitives.

The latest additions fill vacancies created this spring with the capture and surrender of two fugitives.

FBI

Jose Manuel Garcia Guevara allegedly murdered a 26-year-old woman in the presence of her four-year-old stepson in Lake Charles, La., in 2008.

“These individuals are a dangerous menace to society,” said Ron Hosko of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division in a news release. “That’s what got criminals on the Top 10 list 63 years ago, and that’s why we put them on the list today.”

Jose Manuel Garcia Guevara, the 499th fugitive on the Top 10 list, allegedly raped and stabbed a 26-year-old woman in Louisiana in front of her 4-year-old stepson, according to an FBI news release. He is wanted for fleeing the crime to avoid being prosecuted. Authorities think he may have fled to Mexico.

Walter Lee Williams, the 500th person on the list, allegedly engaged in sexual acts with children both domestically and abroad. He is a former university professor with ties to Southeast Asia.

Launched in 1950, the FBI's most-wanted program has a 94 percent success rate. Only eight of the 500 fugitives on the list have been women, according to the FBI.

One man, Billy Austin Bryant, spent only two hours on the list before he was caught in 1969.

Others have spent years on the list avoiding capture. Bulger, the reputed Boston mob boss currently on trial, was on the list for 12 years before his apprehension in 2011.

Robert William Fisher, wanted for allegedly killing his wife and two young children and then blowing up the house in Arizona, has been on the FBI's most-wanted list since 2002.