White House officials would not tell NBC News Friday whether President Obama will raise the issue of 70 fugitives from U.S. justice who are hiding in Cuba when he meets with Cuban officials.

An official said the "United States continued to seek the return from Cuba of fugitives from U.S. justice and has repeatedly raised those cases with the Cuban government."

Among them is convicted cop-killer JoAnne Chesimard, who fled to Cuba in 1984 after escaping from a New Jersey prison in 1979. She was convicted of the 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster.

The Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her whereabouts. Chesimard's long-time lawyer, Lennox Hinds, also did not respond to requests for comment.  

A San Diego father-to-be is among the cancer survivors recently photographed underwater by an artist who calls herself the "Underwater Healer."

At one point, doctors told Scott Martinez that his battles with testicular cancer meant he had just a one percent chance of becoming a father. But now his wife Mandy is due this spring.

The underwater photographs help capture this amazing time in Scott and Mandy's life, which they call a "ray of light."

The photography project is the brainchild of Erena Shimoda. The San Francisco-based photographer donates her time and talent to help cancer survivors in their recovery. She hopes the photography sessions help cancer survivors rediscover their beauty, feel freedom and give them courage to try new things.

"It's like giving a therapy session and helping them discover their beauty, more than just a photo session," Shimoda said.

"The freedom and lightness of being in water is so liberating and unlike any feeling you have just walking down the street," Mandy Martinez told NBC7.

Shimonda says the Martinez couple made a great underwater team.

"Scott was supporting Mandy and helping her out to balance," Shimoda said, "You can see from the images how sweet they are to each other."

Mandy and Scott's story began in 2006, when they met at a sports bar in Northern California.

"You never think you are actually going to meet your wife or husband in a bar," Mandy said. "But I just knew right from when I met Scott that I'd marry him."

And she did, three years later. Something else the couple knew from the beginning? They would need undergo In Vitro Fertilization if they had any hopes of having a child. And even then, the chances of having a baby would be very low.

"And that's something I had to face," Mandy said. "What if it was just me and him until the end? We really had little to no chance of having children."

The odds were so low because of Scott's health history. He was shocked to be diagnosed with stage 4 testicular cancer just weeks after his 23rd birthday. He'd put off going to to doctor for months, despite the fact he could barely walk, sit or lay down because the pain.

"I was an athlete, fit as you could possibly be and young, so what did I have to worry about, right? I had the whole world in front of me," Scott said.

Scott was in surgery the next day. He underwent rigorous chemotherapy and endured more than a year long recovery process. His urologist talked him into depositing sperm for later use.

"I was young and angry and didn't care to even take that step," Scott said, "I'm glad I did. I was diagnosed a second time with testicular cancer."

Doctors told him there was only a two percent chance of that second diagnosis. After another surgery, he's been in remission ever since.

"Knock on wood, I seriously still think about it pretty much every day," Scott said.

But now the couple has something else to think about: their baby, expected in May. With only two vials of sperm to work with, they beat the odds and Mandy is now pregnant.

"I just know he's going to be the best father, especially because he is absolutely not taking this opportunity of being a father for granted," Mandy said.

They say they're waiting to find out whether they're having a boy or girl, but have names ready for either.

"We have been dreaming of this baby for years, so names were picked awhile ago, but we aren't sharing! Don't you hate when you say the name and somebody offers their opinion?" Mandy said.

Shimoda also recently photographed two time breast cancer survivor Juanita Williams in San Diego.

"I felt so free, happy and relaxed to be under water," Williams told NBC7, "My soul was at peace. Underwater, I was able to find joy." 

Two days after the Full Gospel Church of God in Christ was destroyed in a fire churchgoers celebrated Palm Sunday at St. Stephen’s Church of God in Christ.

Friday night the Spring Valley church burned down after an RV parked behind the building went up in flames.

"I was really devastated when I came down and saw the fire in the building," Pastor Jesse Waters said. "Really shocked."

Elder Glenn McKinney is a youth pastor at St. Stephens, a sister church now opening its doors to Waters’ congregation so, despite the loss of their building, the Full Gospel congregation can continue their worship one week before Easter.

“It’s a time of reflection of what he did on the cross for us today,” McKinney told NBC 7. “When something like this happens it can put a damper on your spirit and they’re not going to let anything like this stifle their praise to God.”

Pastor Waters’ daughter agreed they would not let the fire destroy their spirit during this holy time.

“It’s highly disappointing, but this is not the end of Full Gospel. And so we will be having church on Sunday,” Sheila Mosley said. “Of course it won’t be here, but we will be having church services this coming Sunday.”

Her father, the pastor, said he always tries to see the good in every situation.

“I know that blessings even come out of tragedies and so we’ll trust in the Lord to do just that for us.”

Bomb and arson investigators are still looking into what caused the fire.
 

President Barack Obama spoke on Sunday with U.S. Embassy staff in rainy Havana. He hoped that the sight of a U.S. president in Cuba would quickly become something Cubans are used to seeing.

"¡Muchas gracias!" the president said. He was there on what he called a mission to "forge new agreements and commercial deals and build new ties, and for me to lay out vision for a future brighter than our past."

U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis introduced the president by reminding staffers that Obama had promised "Yes, we can," and he said that with the opening of Cuba, "Yes, we did."

Obama interrupted to declare, "Yes, we did!" to applause.

A Navy Lieutenant is under investigation for an incident on a flight from San Diego to Japan officials from the Navy told NBC 7 Sunday.

According to Japanese news reports the Navy officer groped and punched a 19-year-old woman sitting next to him on a plane. Those allegations led to the officer being taken into custody in Japan for simple assault. He was arrested at an airport about 40 miles from central Tokyo.

This is the second U.S. serviceman arrested in Japan in less than a week. The Navy officer was handed over to U.S. Authorities under the terms of the Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Japan.

The Japanese government determined the case should be investigated by the U.S. Navy as the officer was on duty at the time of the alleged incident.

The lieutenant, whose name is not yet being released, was assigned to Helicopter Strike Squadron Five One based in Japan.

NCIS is investigating if there were any violations of the uniform code of military justice. In the meantime, the Navy lieutenant is in formal custody on base in Japan.

NBC 7 was able to get a statement from the Public Affairs Officer stationed at that base in Japan.

It says in part: ‘The purpose of the investigation is to determine if there were any violations of the uniform code of military justice and then if it is determined that there were any violations then of course the Navy would take appropriate disciplinary action in the matter.’

No charges have been filed yet. If charges are filed, they will be handled in military court.

The U.S. Navy is still investigating to find out exactly what happened.
 

Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders will visit San Diego for a rally at the Convention Center on Tuesday ahead of California’s Democratic primary vote on June 7.

The ‘A Future to Believe In’ rally will be in Exhibition Halls D and E.

His stances on income inequality, universal health care and free college for everyone have resonated across the country notably with millennials. 

The event is free but people are encouraged to RSVP. The Vermont senator’s rallies are often attended by thousands of people.

Sanders currently trails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the delegate count.

The senator held a rally in Seattle on Sunday.
 

The head of a major professional tennis tournament came under fire Sunday for disparaging comments about women in the sport, which he later admitted were "in extremely poor taste" and "erroneous."

BNP Paribas Open tournament director Raymond Moore said during a morning news conference with reporters Sunday that players in the Women's Tennis Association were "lucky" and that they "ride the coattails of the men." The comments were made during a discussion about the distribution of money between the men's and women's tennis.

"If I was a lady player, I would go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they've carried this sport," Moore said.

The comments came on the final day of the tournament in Indian Wells, California — one of the premier tennis events outside of the four grand slam tournaments — in which top-ranked Serena Williams fell to Victoria Azarenka. This year was Williams' return to the tournament for the first time since 2001, when she and sister Venus Williams were jeered by the crowd.

Bernice “Bee” Haydu is not as young as she used to be. Although she may be in her golden years, Bee’s had a very interesting past.

She served as a pilot during World War II. Bee was a WASP, an elite group of women who served their country during the ‘greatest generation’. While they fought valiantly for America’s freedom so many decades ago the women came together again at Palomar Airport on Sunday to fight for another reason.

“I think it should be granted,” Bee said. “There are so few of us left. It’s ridiculous they’re even bringing the subject up.”

The Army revoked the burial rights for WASPs at Arlington National Cemetery last year. The cemetery, which is run by the Army, approved active duty designees in 2002, including WASP pilots, for military honors and inurnments. However, in March 2015, then-Secretary of the Army John McHugh reversed the decision.

“First they said we could, then they said we couldn’t, then they said we could, and now they’re saying we couldn’t, so who knows,” Bee explained visibly frustrated.

This is where Representative Susan Davis of San Diego came into the picture. She co-authored a bill, the WASP Arlington Inurnment Restoration (AIR) Act, that would overturn the Army's 2015 decision.

“I’m really honored to be here especially with these incredible women who have done so much for our country, not only the job that they did as WASPs, but also the inspiration they provided to so many women pilots today who serve in the military,” Davis told NBC 7.

The Women Air Force Service Pilots or WASPs served during World War II when the US was experiencing a pilot shortage. WASPs were civilian women trained to fly military aircraft so male pilots could deploy overseas for combat.

Bee told NBC 7 her WASP uniform was at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. “One of our WASPs was dying so she sent me her uniform to wear so I could testify before Congress,” Bee explained.

She said she’s already made other arrangements to be buried with her husband but she sympathizes with the women who want that honor. She said for many of the WASPs it was their ‘living wish.’

“If they were here they would be devastated to know it wasn’t going to be honored," she said.

Davis said the bill is now in committee, and she thinks it will pass through Congress.

During the war, more than 25,000 women applied to be WASPs, but less than 1,100 were accepted into the program.

The issue of the WASPs' rejection from Arlington National Cemetery was brought to light by the family of Elaine Harmon, a former WASP, who passed away in April 2015. When the family sought military honors for Elaine at Arlington, they were denied by the Army.

Congresswoman Davis represents the 53rd Congressional District, which includes La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Spring Valley and parts of San Diego, El Cajon, and Chula Vista.

She is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, serving as the Ranking Member of the Military Personnel Subcommittee. She also serves on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Corleone, Sicily has new muscle working the land. 

Migrants, who are among some 400,000 to have washed up on Sicily's shores over the past two years, were hired from refugee camps after enduring long and dangerous journeys. And now they work on land that for decades was the Mafia's capital and killing ground

The men, in their 20s and 30s, may have fled violence and poverty, but are now working on an island that has plenty of both.

"Sometimes I feel afraid," said a man from Gambia. "I'm looking over my shoulder."

All the men, who asked not to be identified for fear it would imperil their asylum applications, got nervous when they realized whose former land they were working.

A woman who died after losing control of her car in National City Saturday night has been identified as 26-year-old Britney Munoz her family confirmed. 

A Navy Corpsman who rushed to her aid later walked up to her grieving mother, recounting his final moments with her daughter.

"She didn't suffer, there was no suffering," U.S. Navy Corpsman Bryan Velasquez said to the weeping mother. 

Munoz lost control of her SUV at approximately 6:50 p.m. Saturday evening at the intersection of Calmoor Street and Sweetwater Road in National City, Chula Vista Police and Fire officials said.

When Velasquez saw the car flying through the air, he rushed to the scene of the wreckage, hoping to save whoever was in the car. 

"My first reaction was to check her pulse to see if she was breathing. But there was no pulse. There was nothing. There were other people there that were trying to get in there, trying to get her out, especially once the paramedics came through to get out, get her onto a board," he said. "It’s sad, the whole thing."

Though he had the skills to save her, he was too late, he said. Officials said she was pronounced dead at the scene. 

When the family arrived, Velasquez tried to go up to her and explain the last moments he had with her daughter. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for your loss," he told her. 

The mother, overcome with grief, fell to the ground, unable to comprehend the loss. She kept saying she just wanted to see her daughter and hold her daughter. Saturday night the family gathered at the scene of the crash, hugging each other and sobbing as they mourned the loss of their daughter and loved one. 

Sweetwater Road was blocked off for a portion of the night as officials investigated.

No further information was available. The investigation is ongoing. 

The United States will send more Marines to Iraq after an ISIS rocket killed a U.S. Marine and injured several others, NBC News reported.

The U.S.-led coalition, which made the announcement in a brief statement, said a detachment from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was being sent after "consultation with the government of Iraq."

The number of Marines being sent wasn’t disclosed.  

The announcement comes after officials confirmed Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, 27, of Temecula, California, died Saturday. His unit was attacked by an ISIS rocket at a small outpost near Mahmour, south of Mosul.

A vandalism investigation is underway at the Whaley House, a museum in San Diego's historic Old Town district ,after employees found broken windows Sunday morning, San Diego fire and police officials said. 

When employees arrived to open up the museum Sunday morning, they found cracked windows and a white powder spread across their approximately 40-foot long front porch. 

"When they closed up yesterday, there was no damage, the facility was just fine," San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) Capt. Jeff Gantz said. "So sometime during the night and approximately 8:45 this morning they noticed broken windows and white powder on the porch."

Gantz said fire officials were called in to help identify a white powder found on the front porch. The Hazmat team identified the white powder as dry chemical extinguisher sprayed on the front entrance. 

However, the facility was not missing a fire extinguisher and nearby stores were not missing one either, Gantz said. He said police are looking for nearby surveillance footage to help determine what happened. 

There have been no signs anything was taken, Gantz said. 

This is not the first time the historical home has been vandalized. Police said employees told them the museum has had problems with disgruntled employees and homeless in the area in the past. 

SDPD Sgt. Sullivan said the repair cost for the building is unknown. 

Officials were on scene investigating, though the museum is expected to reopen later Sunday. 

Similar vandalism was found at the historic Marston House in Balboa Park. 

Someone fired paint balls at the home on Saturday, and an employee with the museum believes the two attacks are related. 

The same company oversees both museums. 

They have yet to find any surveillance video of the incidents. 

An American Marine from Temecula in Southern California was killed in Iraq by indirect fire, defense officials announced Sunday.

Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin died Saturday in northern Iraq from wounds suffered when his unit was attacked with rocket fire, according to a news release by the Department of Defense. He was serving in Operation Inherent Resolve, which is the military's campaign against the Islamic State.

ISIS fired a rocket at a small outpost near Mahmour, south of Mosul, where U.S. military service members are advising Iraqi security forces, U.S. military officials told NBC News. Three others were also injured in the attack.

Cardin was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Cardin enlisted in 2006, just two days after his high school graduation, his mother told NBC4. He comes from a military family; both of his grandfathers served and one of his brothers was in the Army.

He was awarded several medals and citations during his 10 years of service. This was his fourth deployment.

The last U.S. service member killed in Iraq was in October 2015.

The incident was under investigation.

A man dressed as the Easter Bunny got into a fight with a father after the dad's 1-year-old child slipped from the costumed man's chair following a photo, authorities said.

Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said the fight at the Newport Centre Mall broke out at about 5 p.m. Sunday when authorities said the father harassed, then attacked the costumed character after his child fell from the man's lap.

Video posted to Twitter by user @kevinp461 (apparently changed later to @2jrb123) shows a man partially dressed in a bunny costume brawling with mall shoppers in a chaotic scene at Newport Centre in Jersey City.

The footage shows several people throwing punches as mall security officers try to intervene. A large crowd looks on as the fight continues. 

The man in the costume, 22,  disappears behind a holiday display, but comes back moments later, rips off his white bunny paws and starts "throwin' hands," someone says in the video.

"He curb-stomped him," the narrator says. "The Easter Bunny got in a fight."

Mall security and bystanders then appear to take the costumed man into custody.

After the fight, the man dressed as the bunny and the father were both taken to Jersey City Medical Center for minor injuries.

The man in the costume, Kassim Charles, and the father, 44-year-old Juan Jimenez-Guerro, were both arrested after the fight on aggravated assault and disorderly conduct charges. Charles was also arrested on an open warrant for fare hopping, Morrill said. 

"The safety of guests and cast members is of utmost importance to the Noerr Programs, which operates and manages the Easter Bunny photo program," the company said in a statement, adding that it is cooperating with authorities. 

We "have assigned other employees to fill the role of Bunny," the statement said.

Easter Sunday is on March 27. 

A big rig slammed into a hydrant Monday near the La Jolla Country Club, sending water shooting up into the air.

The collision occurred on Country Club Drive just before 6:30 a.m.

A geyser resulted from the crash but caused no damage to nearby homes.

San Diego city water crews quickly turned off the water and will fix the hydrant.

Devastation and sadness in Cohasset, Mass, Monday after 20 year old Will Golden, a 2014 Cohasset High School grad, died Saturday when he fell from a 3rd story rooftop near the University of Delaware campus.

"He was a real good guy, good to all of the people around him and good to anyone that he played with," said Cohasset High Hockey Coach Phil Mahoney.

Golden was a freshman hockey player at Skidmore College in New York

Mahoney says he played club hockey in high school and lacrosse for the high school.

"After he graduated, he can back and started coaching the youth teams when he was playing a year of junior hockey before he went to college, and I think Cohasset got to know him that much better," said Mahoney.

Newark Police in Delaware say Golden was a guest at the house and went out onto the roof by himself.

They say at the time, a light rain just happened, and the roof surface was wet, and that he appears to have slipped and fallen off.

It's unclear if alcohol was a factor but police say no foul play is suspected.

The University of Delaware confirms the house where Golden fell is a house where fraternity members live.

Meantime Skidmore College in New York says in part, "Will had been a member of the Skidmore community for less than a year but had already made many connections with students, faculty, staff, and teammates who will grieve his loss very deeply."

Mahoney says the kids who Golden coached loved him, and that his loss has stunned the community.

"Anything with a 20 year old, a young man like that that had so much in front of him, who was a very talented young man, is just tragedy."

Mahoney says Golden leaves behind his parents and two siblings.

No word on when his funeral will be.

Additional video courtesy to Delaware Online. 

The International Criminal Court convicted a former Congolese vice president Monday of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a landmark case at the Hague, NBC News reported. 

The charges against Jean-Pierre Bemba — a former rebel leader and vice president in the Democratic Republic of Congo — related to rapes, murders and pillaging allegedly carried out by his fighters between 2002 and 2003 in neighboring Central African Republic's Civil War. 

Bemba, 53, is the highest-ranking person yet convicted by the court. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges; his defense had argued that he didn't have command and control over Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) fighters.

He will be sentenced following a separate hearing. 

Donald Trump is meeting with influential Republicans at a Washington D.C. law firm Monday as the party's establishment continues to grapple with how to manage the unconventional candidate's dominance in the GOP primary race, NBC News reported.

Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee told reporters outside the meeting that the issue of "party unity" would be discussed at the gathering.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, the candidate's most prominent congressional voice on national security and immigration policy, is scheduled to be in attendance, as are Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina and Trump endorsers Rep. Tom Reed of New York and Duncan Hunter of California.

Conservative commentator and leading Trump critic Erick Erickson wrote Monday that the Jones Day meeting constitutes a "capitulation of the Republican Establishment" where "leaders of the party will gather to kneel before Donald Trump and pledge allegiance to him."

Eight adults and 21 students were hospitalized after a bus bringing members of a high school basketball team to a state championship tournament rolled over the highway Saturday afternoon, according to Indiana State Police.

The bus carrying Griffith High School's boys basketball team overturned on I-65 near DeMotte, at the 230.5 mile marker, after it was sideswiped by a driver who had spilled her drink, authorities said.

The team was headed to Lafayette to compete in the Class 3A semistate game against Marion High School. The game was postponed until Wednesday, according to the Indiana High School Athletic Association. 

According to Indiana State Police, the bus rolled over after another driver, identified as a 23-year-old woman, "spilled a drink on herself causing her to sideswipe a Griffith School Corporation bus."

The woman was driving southbound in the left lane "when the lid of her drink came off, spilling the contents on her," police said, adding that she tried to grab the cup and lost control of her car.

The bus was carrying six adults and 21 students, including the driver. All suffered non-life threatening injuries. Officials said most were taken to area hospitals by ambulance or on a Kankakee Valley School Corporation bus, but one of the coaches was transferred by helicopter to the University of Chicago in Illinois.

All but one person on the bus — a freshman basketball coach — had been released from the hospital by 9 p.m. Saturday, according to a press release from the school.

"When I saw pictures of the bus, my heart sank," Superintendent Peter Morikis said in a statement Sunday. "We are grateful tonight that, despite a multitude of bumps, bruises, gashes and scrapes, every person in the crash has survived."

The other driver and her passenger were taken to Franciscan Jasper County Hospital, also with non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.

All lanes were reopened at 4 p.m. Sunday and the investigation is ongoing.  

 Ahead of a San Diego City Council vote, Mayor Kevin Faulconer and other leaders stepped out to press for increased funding for neighborhood upgrades.

Councilmembers Myrtle Cole and Mark Kersey joined Faulconer at Malcolm X library/Valencia Park Monday, stressing the importance of such funding.

"Today is about bringing new learning opportunities to San Diego's youth, and today is about spending tax dollars smarter so our neighborhoods get more benefits," Faulconer said.

Faulconer won City Council approval to redirect a larger portion of funds from the Community Development Block Grant (SDBG) to use toward the City’s infrastructure needs in 2014. The funds come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Previously, the city only spent $750,000 annually on similar improvements; the money would go to non profit organizations which would then make the improvements. If the current CDBG plan is approved by City Council, the $7.6 million grant will be spent on the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library and four rec centers for improvements that benefit the youth.

"I think it's a great plan for the teenagers that live in this neighborhood," said Mari Holbrook, a Malcolm X Library visitor. "They need all the resources that they can get to push them in their lives so they can do better for themselves."

Some of those resources would include new computers and a recording studio for teens. 

Encanto Neighborhood Planning member Ken Malbrough grew up in the area and says an after school program is why he became a firefighter. When several made a special visit to the program, he was inspired.

"And a light went on in my head and I said this is something that I'd like to be. I thought it was pretty cool," Malbrough said.

He was among those there when city leaders spoke to the community. The next generation of kids are the way of the future, Malbrough said, and he hoped improvements would benefit them. 

"My whole point in telling this story is that I'm hoping that a child will walk in that teen tech center and that light bulb will go on," Malbrough said. 

Some of the other improvements include repairs to current buildings, making them energy efficient, and adding solar panels.

Tuesday, councilmembers will vote on the proposal.