Cal Fire officials confirmed late Tuesday investigators are looking into a shed fire in the town of Cobb as one possible source for the massive Valley Fire.

Investigators spent Tuesday looking at a shed on Higher Valley Road in Cobb, a town of about 18,000 people. The shed is across the road from where the first call came in to report the fire.

Officially, Cal Fire said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Crews on Tuesday were able to get 30 percent containment on the devastating fire, which sped through Middletown and other parts of California's rural Lake County, killing one person.

The Valley Fire had charred 70,000 acres by Wednesday morning and has been burning since Saturday.

A Portland, Oregon, artist is defending the use of her menstrual blood to draw a portrait of GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

Sarah Levy posted her depiction of Trump to her Facebook page on Sept. 12, calling the work "Whatever" and saying it was created with "Menses on matte board." She collected blood for it with a Diva Cup.

The painting's title is a reference to Trump's comments about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly following the first GOP presidential debate in August.

Trump said that Kelly, while questioning his past comments denigrating women, was bleeding from her eyes and "wherever."

The remark was widely interpreted to have been a reference to menstrual blood. Trump later said he meant Kelly's nose.

"I heard his comment to Megyn Kelly and was outraged," Levy told NBC affiliate KGW of the inspiration for her painting.

"He had the gall to insult Kelly's intelligence through just saying she was on her period," she said.

KGW said it received more than 2,700 comments in two hours after the station posted a story about the drawing. Most were disgusted by the work, KGW said.

But Levy said what disgusted her besides the Kelly insult were Trump's comments about the Mexican and immigrant communities.

Levy began drawing two years ago to cope with her mother's sudden death and has since created lavish portraits — in charcoal — of political and historical figures, KGW reported.

Levy is auctioning the Trump portrait and will donate the proceeds to an immigrant rights group based in the U.S., she said. She is also selling posters on Etsy. 

Trump leads the GOP field with 30.5 percent support from Republican voters, according to an average of national polls by RealClearPolitics.

The Trump campaign has not yet responded to a request for comment on the painting.

Authorities have arrested the man wanted by Florida International University authorities for allegedly smelling women's feet on campus.

Eddy Juan, 52, was taken into custody on Tuesday afternoon in the area of Southwest 59th Street and Southwest 97th Court in Miami-Dade.

Juan appeared in court Wednesday where his bond was set at $18,500 and he was ordered to stay away from FIU. He was also appointed a public defender.

FIU Police sent out an alert on Monday, asking for the public's help identifying the man with an apparent foot fetish.

Police said he had been crawling underneath tables at the FIU Library to smell women's feet. He had been caught in the act in photos.

Records show Juan is a registered sex offender. He has a rap sheet dating back to 1992. His previous run-ins with the law includes charges of lewd and lascivious behavior on a child and indecent exposure.

On Tuesday, investigators said a subject matching Juan's description was spotted riding a scooter in the area of 51st Street and Southwest 104th Avenue.

Officers attempted a traffic stop, but Juan attempted to flee and subsequently crashed.

He was taken into custody without further incident and is being charged with violation of sexual offender registration, fleeing and eluding, reckless driving, aggravated assault and resisting without violence.

FIU Police released a statement after the arrest, saying in part:

"On Tuesday afternoon, a member of the public saw the person and called  Miami-Dade Police Department. Police officers saturated the area and located the individual riding a scooter. The individual attempted to flee and was apprehended and arrested. FIUPD appreciates the involvement of the concerned citizens of Miami-Dade County, who provided the information that led to this arrest."

A good soaking of rain and powerful winds across San Diego County has caused some downed trees.

A large tree branch from a 50-foot eucalyptus tree fell on top of a parked Dodge Charger near the corner of Arey Drive and Piccard Avenue in Otay Mesa overnight.

Jose Gutierrez said the sound woke him around 2:30 a.m.

“Like a bomb,” he said. “I feel like an earthquake or something, like something happened outside.”

This car – a surprise gift for Gutierrez’ son – was covered by a tarp when the tree fell. It’s not known yet how much damage was done.

Gutierrez said the gift from his son’s grandparents was already insured.

He said it’s also the second time a large branch has fallen from the same tree in just two years.

In Jamul, a 30-foot tree fell on Jefferson Road and Olive Vista Drive just before midnight. The size of the tree shut down traffic for nearly two hours.

California Highway Patrol officers called in crews to help clear the tree so they could reopen the road.
 

Authorities are investigating after a New Jersey high school football player was caught on video ripping the helmet off an opponent and hitting him with it, wounding the player so that he needed 10 stitches. 

It was during the second quarter of Friday night's game between Linden and Immaculata high schools when a Linden defensive lineman grabbed the helmet off his opponent and smacked him in the head with it before chucking the helmet aside, video shows.

The injured player went to Morristown Hospital and received 10 stitches for his wound, Immaculata High School officials said.

Immaculata High School's athletic director, Thomas Gambino, said the incident may have been overlooked during the game, but the injured player "handled himself with restraint and maturity at the time, upholding Immaculata's expectations for sportsmanship."

He continued, "Once we reviewed the videotape, we felt it necessary to contact Linden officials, who in turn have been very cooperative and apologetic."

The school said it contacted Linden school officials, the Linden police department, and the NJSIAA. Linden police said the department was looking into the unsportsmanlike conduct. 

Neither school released the names of the players involved because they're both minors.

Linden's superintendent, Danny Robertozzi, said in a statement the public school district is "extremely disheartened" by what happened and the Board of Education is "appalled" by the student's conduct. As such, the student has been removed from the football team and the Board of Education is "pursuing the severest disciplinary measures permitted under law," Robertozzi said.

"The brutal action taken by this young man is simply unacceptable and will not be condoned," the statement continued.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady stopped short of endorsing Donald Trump for President on Wednesday, but he did say he hoped the Republican candidate can win election. 

"That would be great," he told reporters. 

The comments came after a Trump "Make America Great Again" hat was spotted in Brady's locker a week ago. Brady said during an interview on WEEI-AM that the hat actually came to him through owner Robert Kraft.

The All-Pro quarterback has known the reality TV star turned presidential frontrunner since 2002, when Brady served as a judge for one of Trump's beauty pageants.

Trump was very supportive of Brady during the entire "Deflategate," ordeal, tweeting messages of support on numerous occasions.

A man accused of assaulting a San Diego State University (SDSU) police officer was arrested by United States Marshals in Colorado Monday, officials confirmed.

The U.S. Marshals Service said fugitive Kyle McCormick, 28, was taken into custody by the Violent Offenders Task Force in the 2300 block of Blake Street in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood.

Officials said McCormick was wanted by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department on a $100,000 bail warrant issued on Aug. 3 after the suspect allegedly attacked an SDSU police officer.

McCormick faces charges of assault and battery on a police officer. He was booked into Denver County Jail and officials said he is now awaiting an extradition hearing to get him back to San Diego.

Officials said the extradition timeline is unknown and depends on whether or not there are any additional charges filed against him in Colorado.
 

 The U.S. military is conducting a broad review of the training program in Syria when a commander for operations in the Middle East acknowledged that there are only four or five fighters left from the first group of Syrian fighters. 

The first group of 54 Syrian fighters that had been trained by the U.S. was part of a $500 million program and there are only 100-120 fighters in three more classes currently being trained, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. 

Earlier this year, Secretary Ashton Carter called these efforts "a critical and a complex part" of U.S. efforts to fight ISIS. 

President Obama has vowed there would be no U.S. "boots on the ground" from the beginning of U.S. operations against ISIS.

General Lloyd Austin, lead of the U.S. military's Central Command, said he would take "appropriate action" if an investigation finds officials altered intelligence reports on the Islamic State and other militant groups in Syria to exaggerate progress being made against terrorist groups. 

A man allegedly responsible for at least six recent armed robberies targeting small businesses in the North County was arrested Tuesday in an undercover sting, police said.

The Escondido Police Department (EPD) said San Marcos resident Alonzo Mora, 37, was arrested in the 1500 block of East Valley Parkway while plain-clothes officers conducted surveillance on his vehicle.

According to investigators, Mora was involved in multiple armed robberies at smaller retail establishments since late August – five in Escondido and one in San Marcos. He may have also been involved in a seventh robbery in Vista Tuesday, police said, but that incident is still under investigation.

The EPD said all robberies occurred during daytime hours under similar circumstances. The suspect entered the business and displayed a handgun while demanding money from employees. He then fled in a vehicle described by witnesses as a conversion van with several unique features.

Over the past few weeks, detectives compiled information from witnesses and surveillance footage from the robberies, which led officials to Mora and his vehicle.

During Mora’s arrest, police also took a companion into custody, 31-year-old San Marcos resident Kenosha Knott, who was in the car with him.

Investigators determined Knott had no knowledge or involvement in the robberies. She was still arrested, however, for possession of heroin, cited by the EPD and released, officials said.

Mora was booked into the Vista Detention Facility on six counts of armed robbery and one charge of possessing heroin. He’s scheduled to appear in court Friday.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the robbery series should call EPD Det. Greg Gay at (760) 839-4404 or the EPD’s anonymous tip line at (760) 743-8477.
 

Building larger operating rooms and testing veterans’ DNA to enhance treatment options are just some of the things the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is focused on, he told NBC 7 this week.

Robert McDonald, in San Diego for the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic, joined 140 veterans from across the country as they competed in adaptive sports.

A kayaking event at the Mission Bay Yacht Club Tuesday was one of several put together by 300 volunteers including VA employees.

The VA recently announced $8 million in grants for programs that enable injured veterans to learn and compete in everything from flag football to sled hockey.

Some of the local agencies benefiting from the Adaptive Sport Grants to Aid Disabled Veterans are San Diego-based Challenged Athletes Foundation and Camp Pendleton’s Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.

During his visit, McDonald sat down with NBC7 to talk about how the agency is preparing to serve the wave of veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq.

“We are talking about 250,000 service members leaving active-duty every year and we’ve got to get ready for that,” McDonald said.

Building infrastructure is one of the biggest needs. McDonald says 60 percent of the medical buildings within the agency are over 50 years old.

Because of new technology and surgical equipment, an operating room today needs to be 50 percent larger than it did even five years ago.

Also, McDonald said the VA has hired more than 1,200 doctors and hired over 3,000 nurses – training more doctors than any other health organization.

But overall the most important thing the VA can do is improve customer care.

Veterans also have the option of going outside the VA through the Choice Program.

“If all I achieve is to get VA refocused on its customer, the veteran, and improve customer service for me that's a big win. The other big win is making sure the American public understands the value of the VA, not just to veterans, but to American medicine and to the American public,” said McDonald.

The agency faces a serious challenge in handling older vets. There nearly 10 million veterans who served in Vietnam who are turning to the VA for care. Many are aging and have chronic health issues that need more care.

“When I came onto the VA one of the first things I did was to do an analysis of what created the crisis in 2014. Most Americans would think it was fighting a war for over a decade Afghanistan and Iraq the reality is it was the aging of the Vietnam era veteran,” said McDonald.

The VA must also adapt to the changing needs of veterans especially in the area of mental health. Treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder are a priority and the VA is working with some unexpected partners, the NFL and the NHL as well as leading universities.

The VA is also getting away from medications only as a way to treat PTSD, McDonald said. “The VA is using all kinds of treatments in order to avoid the need to give somebody opioids so for example: we're doing acupuncture, yoga, equine therapy all kinds of things to just avoid the need to have that person live life on drugs.”

And finally work in genetics is incredibly important at the VA. The Million Vet Project is a blood-bank from veterans who have given permission for research to map the samples and cross-reference with 40 years of medical records. Researchers will look for biological markers that suggest a person may be better off with a certain drug therapy or with alternative therapy for posttraumatic stress.
“This is all very exciting,” said McDonald.

Exciting and rewarding just like the time Secretary McDonald spent in the water on a surf board with some of the veterans at the sports clinic.

“I get inspired every time I come I'm inspired by the veterans who are in the water with me a few minutes ago surfing. Some who have catastrophic wounds from combat, legs, arms are up on the surf board doing the best they can.”

San Diego’s oldest high school shined Wednesday evening when a replica of a historic neon sign was lit more than 40 years after the original sign was put up over the campus.

The San Diego High School Alumni Association held a special lighting ceremony at San Diego High School (SDHS) located at 1405 Park Blvd., at the edge of downtown San Diego.

The association, using grant funding from the County of San Diego, recently restored some original letters that once adorned the entrance of the school’s historic brick building widely known by locals as the “Grey Castle,” referring to the towers that flanked it. The association also built a replica lighted sign for the rooftop at the school’s entrance.

SDHS – the oldest high school in the San Diego Unified School District – was demolished in 1974 and rebuilt to comply with earthquake safety standards. Now, part of the school’s original historical façade returned with the relighting of the original letters and replica neon sign.

"Back in 1937, the old Grey Castle was adorned with the letters SDHS that illuminated the night with blue neon. The letters could be seen among the lights of the then-skyline of San Diego," said SDHS Alumni President Eddie Head II.

The ceremony was attended by County Supervisor Ron Roberts, as well as school district leaders, school officials and SDHS alumni, including San Diego City Councilman David Alvarez.

SDHS is currently home to a diverse population of approximately 3,000 students. Besides being the oldest school in the county, it’s also home to Balboa Stadium, the site where the Chargers played in the early 1960s when the team first moved to San Diego.
 

Lisa Borch, a 16-year-old Danish teen, has been sentenced to prison for nine years for stabbing her mother to death after watching ISIS beheading videos, local media in Denmark reported.

Borch, then 15, killed her mother Tina Römer Holtegaard with the help of her 29-year-old Iraqi boyfriend, Bakhtiar Mohammed Abdullah, in October 2014, according to Danish website The Local.

The court was told that the couple had agreed to kill Holtegaard together the same night they were watching ISIS beheading videos. According to Broch's step-father, the teenager was infatuated with the terrorist group. 

Abdullah was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his role in the killing. 

 A 5 foot by 10 foot sinkhole forming in Lomita, south of Lemon Grove, closed part of a local intersection.

San Diego Police (SDPD) officers said the sinkhole formed as a result of a water main break at the corner of Encinitas Avenue and Sunnyside Avenue in Lomita, south of Lemon Grove.

The 8-inch concrete main break was reported at 11:30 a.m. on the 700 block of Sunnyside Avenue, said Arian Collins with the water department. The intersection was closed for approximately an hour as water began to rise from under the pavement and the sinkhole grew.

Residents in the 700 and 800 blocks of Sunnyside Avenue do not have water. The break is expected to be repaired Wednesday night at 9 p.m. 

The water main was installed in 1953. 

Water officials were called to scene to help fix the break.

Oklahoma death-row inmate Richard Glossip won a two-week reprieve just hours before his scheduled execution on Wednesday.

Glossip, who was slated to die via lethal injection for the 1997 murder of a hotel owner, had filed a last-minute appeal arguing new evidence pointed to his innocence.

Although Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin denied the appeal, she was overruled by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, which issued an emergency stay of execution that runs out on Sept. 30. The judges wanted to give “fair consideration” to all of the materials Glossip’s defense submitted.

Nearly a quarter of a million people signed an online petition opposing the execution, and the Innocence Project released a letter of its own urging a stay. The letter was signed by University of Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer and Sen. Tom Coburn, a capital punishment supporter. 

A man robbed a bank in a busy section of Arlington, Virginia, Wednesday morning, dropping some of the money outside the bank as he left the scene. 

The man walked into the TD Bank in Clarendon and handed the teller a note that implied he had a weapon, Arlington County Police said.

Photos taken from the bank's security camera show the man grabbing money from the teller while holding a blue and black bag. In one picture, he appears to yawn. 

Police say the suspect walked out of the bank, dropping money onto the sidewalk. He then walked into an adjacent neighborhood.

"He was in a hurry, obviously, to leave the scene," Dustin Sternbeck of Arlington County Police said.

A witness who didn't know the bank had just been robbed told the he dropped something.

"You can have it," he told the witness.

If you recognize the man in the surveillance photos, you can call the Crime Solvers line at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

As Europe faces border chaos with thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing Syria rush to the borders, Syria's President Bashar Assad said the West is "responsible" for the crisis.

"The West now is crying for the refugees with one eye and aiming at them with a machine gun with the second one," Assad said, repeating his accusation that the West supports Islamist militants against the regime in Syria's bloody, four year old civil war.

Over 428,000 Syrians applied for asylum in Europe between April 2011 and August 2015, the UNHCR said.

A former American ambassador to Syria maintains that regime brutality is the root cause of the refugee crisis, not Western policy. The U.S. is conducting airstrikes in Syria in an effort to defeat ISIS. 

Department store Kohl’s expects to hire more than 69,000 associates nationwide this holiday season – or approximately 50 new employees per store, the company announced Wednesday.

According to the company, seasonal hiring will soon begin at the 1,166 Kohl’s department stores that span 49 states – including the locations in San Diego County. In addition, the company plans to hire about 9,500 season positions at distribution and e-commerce fulfillment centers across the U.S. and approximately 660 seasonal credit operations positions.

The company says hiring began this month and most jobs will be filled by mid-November.

In-store seasonal associates will help in fulfilling orders purchased online but picked up in store, as well as freight processing duties and customer service on the sales floor and cashier counters. New hires working at distribution and e-commerce centers will also help get orders to retail stores and into the hands of Kohls.com customers.

Hiring levels at locations vary depending on the needs of each store and facility. For information about job opportunities, visit this website.

Kohl’s operates nearly a dozen department stores across San Diego, including locations in Chula Vista, Poway, Santee, Encinitas and Oceanside, to name a few.
 

The Justice Department has reached a settlement with General Motors over the issue of faulty ignition switches that led to over 100 deaths, according to officials familiar with the case. 

The settlement, which will include a fine of hundreds of millions of dollars, will be announced Thursday by the Department of Justice.

Last year, GM recalled 2.5 million cars with ignition switches that could shut off the engine which could disable airbags and cut off power steering and brakes. The agreement settles charges that the company did not obey federal laws that require prompt disclosure of safety problems. 

British Airways has announced new first-class service between San Diego and London, as the carrier introduces a larger, four-cabin Boeing 777-300 to its local route. First-class availability takes effect on March 27, 2016.

A company statement said the new aircraft will be able to accommodate 297 passengers – 14 in first class, 56 in its Club World business class section, 44 in its World Traveler Plus premium economy section, and 183 in its economy World Traveler section. The change will mark an increase of 24 seats daily from the current 777-200 airliner operating between the two cities.

Officials said the new first-class section will have 14 suites with individual seats that turn into a 6-foot, 6-inch fully flat bed with the twist of a button. They will also include a personal closet and a writing desk that converts into a dining table.

British Airways began daily services between San Diego International Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport in June 2011.

A confused driver found his vehicle stuck on the railroad tracks and in the path of an oncoming train near downtown San Diego early Wednesday, officials said.

A northbound Amtrak train struck the four-door sedan as it sat on the tracks at the intersection of Palm Avenue and California Street just after 6 a.m. Wednesday, San Diego County Sheriff's Deputies said.

The vehicle suffered major damage. No one was inside it at the time.

The driver called 911 before the collision to report that his vehicle was stuck on the tracks and could not be budged, officials said.

Apparently the man was looking for the entrance to the airport parking lot and turned into an alley thinking it was the entrance, Sgt. Jason King said.

The driver and a few bystanders tried to move the car but were unsuccessful.

Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to alert the Amtrak engineer, officials said. Within five minutes the train was at the crossing.

The engineer slowed down and activated the train's horn. Still, the train was traveling at approximately 30 to 40 mph, deputies said.

Two trains were canceled - one northbound and one southbound. Trolley service was not affected.

As of 8 a.m., the tracks were clear and trains had resumed their schedules.