Three homes in a Del Dios development near Lake Hodges were evacuated after the earth beneath them started moving.

Behind security gates is a newer development called Cielo, which in Spanish means sky, appropriately named for its magnificent views from million-dollar mansions built on steep hilltops.

But the earth beneath at least three of them is starting to shift.

In the 18000 block of Avenida Apice, cracked sidewalks and pavements forced evacuations.

"We are getting an arcuate failure or pull away service where this mass of earth is being pulled by gravity down slope,” geologist Dr. Pat Abbott said.

Abbott told NBC 7 such slides are home destroyers. They are slow-moving, but still dangerous.

"If it cracks a natural gas line, you can asphyxiate and that has happened,” Abbott said.

Rancho Santa Fe fire inspectors examined the damage and homeowners were told to move out.

By most accounts, the cracks showed up just in the last week-and-a-half. These are properties worth millions of dollars, built just in the last 18 months. They are situated on a steep slope high above Lake Hodges.

"Hills are equilibrium situations. Gravity is trying to pull them down all the time that equilibrium can be upset by that development of just by heavy rains like we've had,” Abbott said.

The cause of the sinking has not been identified.

San Diego County Works Department spokesman Mike Workman said the developer is Taylor Morrison.

NBC 7 left message with the company Monday afternoon but did not immediately hear back.

So far, just the three properties are showing signs the earth is moving, but neighbors are also feeling a little on edge.

It was after NBC 7 reached out to officials, the fire department asked the county to inspect the property for the damage.

Workman said crews will be out there first thing Tuesday morning.

A U.S. citizen, born in Los Angeles, according to his birth certificate, was detained by Customs Border and Protection (CBP) officials for nearly 24 hours in San Ysidro.

The man was reunited with his Utah family shortly after NBC 7 questioned the CBP's 12-hour policy, which says CBP typically tries to make a determination on a detainee's status within that time frame.

Luis Torres was crossing the San Ysidro border by vehicle with his daughter, Yesenia, and his two elderly parents, who are both legal permanent residents of the United States.

Yesenia Ibarra told NBC 7 the car was waived to secondary inspection where all the passengers were handcuffed and many of their documents, including Yesenia's passport, were confiscated.

Hours later, Yesenia was told to drive the vehicle across the border into the United States, and that information about her other family members could not be provided. One officer told her they were being held on suspicion of having fraudulent paperwork.

Yesenia said she left enough medication for her dad and grandparents to care for their heart conditions and diabetes before leaving.

She said more than 12 hours went by and she had not heard any updates on where her family was being kept. NBC 7 checked and discovered they had not been released to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody.

About 30 minutes after offering a CBP supervisor further documentation of the family's legal status, they were released from custody.

"I just hoped that they would let him out," Yesenia said about her father's release. "And believe that these were his actual papers and not kept them for over 24 hours."

"I gues overall we're fine. Now that we're all together again," Yesenia added. 

A CBP spokeswoman released a statement that said, in part, that they cannot comment specifically on this case, but it is the responnsiblity of any person seeking entrance into the U.S. to have all the documentation needed to prove their citizenship status.

The full statement is below. 

"CBP Officers review all available evidence at the time of application for admission to make a determination of admissibility. In all cases, the burden of proof rests with the applicant to demonstrate his or her admissibility.

"It’s important that CBP officers confirm the identity of each and every person who enters the United States. We routinely stop people who not only are not able to enter the U.S. legally, but also might have previous criminal histories or even active warrants for their arrest. Stopping these people who are trying to illegally enter the U.S. keeps our communities safer.

"Inadmissible aliens at U.S. ports of entry, include persons who arrive at the border crossing and weren’t legally admitted to the U.S. When someone arrives at a legal border crossing and is determined to be inadmissible, they may arrive in a number of ways – they may simply present themselves with no documents/legal status; they may try to use a counterfeit or altered document; they may attempt to hide from officers and enter without inspection (or run or drive past officers to enter without inspection); or they may be an imposter, attempting to use a real document that does not belong to them, for example.

"Individuals may be referred for enhanced screening for a variety of reasons, such as: prior convictions, criminal records for crimes of moral turpitude, inclusion on a national registry for sex offenders, prior immigration or customs violations, or may even be randomly selected.

"The Privacy Act prohibits CBP from commenting on individual travelers, however, each visitor to the U.S. is considered for admission on a case-by-case basis and may in some cases, be refused entry if a determination is made that the visitor is attempting to enter the country in violation of terms of their visa or other applicable U.S. laws. Any international traveler who seeks resolutions regarding difficulties they experience can use DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program."

Developers proposing a 30,000 seat soccer stadium in Mission Valley released an image of the concept Tuesday as they prepare to begin collecting signatures to put the concept on the ballot.

The group, FS Investors, is hoping the City of San Diego will approve its plan to bring soccer to the site occupied by Qualcomm Stadium. The land is up for grabs after Dean Spanos moved his professional football team to Los Angeles.

The so-called "Soccer City SD" project would include nearly 5,000 residential units, two hotels, office space, and a 55-acre river park along with the soccer stadium.

On Wednesday, signature gatherers will begin to asking voters to help put the proposed development on the ballot.

The project is likely to face challenges from other developers and environmental groups.

FS Investors, the group behind the project, is hoping the city will bypass a public vote and fast track the project by the end of summer.

Major League Soccer (MLS) will decide by the fall on whether San Diego will be  awarded a franchise.

A Fallbrook man who drowned along with a 5-year-old boy when their car was swept into a rain-swollen creek in Southern California had methamphetamine in his system at the time of the accident, an autopsy report confirms.

The report, completed by the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s (ME) office and obtained by NBC 7 on Tuesday, states that contributing factors to 73-old-year-old Roland Phillip’s death included “alcohol and methamphetamine use, and hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” including a slightly enlarged heart.

The toxicology portion of the report states that samples of Roland’s blood, urine and gastric contents were tested and yielded positive for a small level of alcohol and 1.8 milligrams of methamphetamine per liter.

Phillip’s cause of death was drowning, due to his vehicle possible overturning into the overflowing creek during heavy rainfall. The report concludes that his manner of death was accidental.

On Jan. 22, Roland and 5-year-old Phillip Campbell -- the child of family friends under Roland's care -- were driving to Riverside County to look at a car that was for sale. It was the weekend that a series of powerful winter storms hit San Diego County, causing flooding and dangerous conditions in many parts of the county.

As Roland's Toyota Camry approached the area of Fifth Street, east of Interstate 15 in Rainbow, California, the car was carried away by rising water from Rainbow Creek -- a normally small creek running across San Diego's North County to the Pacific Ocean.

The boy and Roland disappeared into the water.

Cal Fire and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO) launched an extensive search for them that lasted five days. Winter storm conditions and water levels in the creek made the first few days of the search extremely difficult and dangerous.

The following day, Jan. 23, Roland’s body was pulled from the creek. However, Phillip was nowhere to be found.

One Rainbow resident told NBC 7 that she saw the boy clinging to a tree limb before disappearing downstream on Jan. 22. The ME's preliminary report said other witnesses called 911 to report the child floating in the creek.

Roland’s autopsy states that a witness who lives in an apartment on Fifth Street called 911 to report she had seen the little boy floating in the creek. A second witness reported seeing the boy further south in the creek screaming for help. That witness, according to the autopsy, tried to help Phillip by extending a broom handle out into the water for the boy to grab, but the child was swept away by the rushing waters.

The searched pressed on – by ground and air – over the next five days. On Jan. 24, SDSO officials searched by helicopter from the point where Roland’s vehicle was believed to have entered the creek to the ocean. A crew flew low enough for searchers to try and spot any sign of the child.

Again, nothing.

Deputies said their mission was a recovery effort, not a rescue, as Phillip was presumed dead. As the rain stopped and water levels dropped, the search resumed on Jan. 25 and again on Jan. 26.

Four swift water teams moved up and down the creek. SDSO search and rescue teams canvassed the area.

Finally, on Jan. 26, just after 11 a.m., Phillip's body was found in the water, buried under 6 to 8 feet of debris.

Cal Fire Division Chief Nick Schuler said the boy was found in very thick brush and trees, in an area referred to by officials as a “strainer.”

Schuler said strainers are areas where large trees have fallen across the creek and where debris and brush has gotten hung up as the water rushes through.

He said Cal Fire’s inmate hand crews were removing debris and brush in a heavily-wooded strainer area when they noticed a small shoe lying in the brush. As they removed more debris, they uncovered the body of a little boy.

The area where Phillip's body was found is near Moon Valley Nurseries on the west side of Interstate 15. Schuler said the area was difficult to access, making for a “very technical search – very complicated and dangerous.”

“[The creek] probably flowed in excess of 15 to 18 feet deep and 80 feet wide,” he explained. “He was buried in approximately 6 to 8 feet of debris.”

“It literally was like a needle in a haystack to try and find this little boy,” he added.

In early February, family and friends gathered in Fallbrook to lay Roland and Phillip to rest. In an emotional "Celebration of Life" ceremony, relatives remembered how much Roland and the boy loved one another.

Phillip endearingly called Roland by the nickname "Pappy."

Although Phillip and Roland weren't related by blood, the pair were best friends. Roland and his girlfriend, Tracy, helped care for Phillip.

Phillip's family told NBC 7 the boy and his "Pappy" were inseparable and did everything together.

"He followed him everywhere, everywhere," Phillip's grandmother said of the boy's friendship with Roland.

Phillip's uncle, Anthony Campbell, said Roland was "a very good man" who dedicated a lot of time, along with Tracy, to helping raise Phillip. Roland was kind and generous, and those traits rubbed off on Phillip.

He called the connection between Phillip and Roland unique and their bond unbreakable.

"It was an awesome relationship. They went everywhere together," he added. "They were two great people."

The sudden unveiling of two pages of President Donald Trump's 2005 federal income tax return Tuesday night was a moment of vindication for his supporters, NBC News reported.

The White House confirmed that Trump was assessd $38 million in federal income tax in 2005 after MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" said it would release the details. Trump's backers said that proved Trump was right when he said he pays taxes to the tune of millions of dollars.

Donald Trump Jr. thanked Maddow on Twitter for proving that his father did pay his taxes as required, while Fox News host Sean Hannity derided the "scandal" of the public's learning that Trump "took legal deductions!"

Other commentators and political observers were underwhelmed by what they learned in the documents, which did not reveal the source of Trump's income.

President Donald Trump's explosive allegation that Barack Obama wiretapped his New York skyscraper during the presidential campaign has left him increasingly isolated, with allies on Capitol Hill and within his own administration offering no evidence to back him up.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he had not given Trump any reason to believe he was wiretapped by President Obama. Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee, said he had seen no information to support the claim and then went further. He suggested the U.S. president's assertion, made in a series of March 4 tweets, should not be taken at face value.

"Are you going to take the tweets literally?" Nunes said. "If so, clearly the president was wrong."

But Trump, in an interview Wednesday with Fox News, predicted there would be "some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks."

Trump's allegations have put him in a potentially perilous position as congressional investigations into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election — and possible Russian contacts with Trump associates — ramp up. The FBI is also investigating.

If no evidence of wiretapping at Trump Tower emerges, his credibility would be newly damaged. If there is proof that the Obama administration approved monitoring of Trump or his associates, that would suggest the government had reason to be suspicious of their contacts with Russia and a judge had approved the surveillance.

The president, who appears to have made his allegation in a burst of anger, has asked lawmakers to investigate the claim. Lawmakers have since turned the question back toward the administration, asking the Justice Department to provide evidence of wiretapping activity.

The Justice Department missed a Monday deadline for providing the information to the House and was given a one-week extension.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who heads the Judiciary Committee's crime and terrorism subcommittee, said the FBI will provide a classified briefing on the matter "at some time in the future." Graham has previously said he would use subpoena power to get information from the FBI about whether a warrant was issued allowing the Obama administration to tap Trump's phones during the campaign.

Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone told The Associated Press Wednesday that he believes his own online exchanges with a Russian-linked hacker were obtained through a special warrant that allows the government to collect the communications of people suspected of being agents of a foreign nation. Stone communicated through Twitter direct messages with Guccifer 2.0, a hacker who has claimed responsibility for breaching the Democratic National Committee.

Stone said he was unaware at the time that U.S. officials believed the hacker had ties to Russia. He said he is willing to testify before any congressional committee that holds its hearings "in public and not behind closed doors."

The House intelligence committee will begin holding public hearings on Monday. Nunes said FBI Director James Comey and Adm. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, will testify.

Ahead of the hearing, the committee sent a letter to the FBI, CIA and the National Security Agency requesting details by Friday about Americans who surfaced in intelligence collections last year.

Identities of Americans who show up in U.S. surveillance against foreign targets are generally concealed, but can be unmasked by intelligence agencies in certain circumstances. Those include situations when the communications contain information that a crime has or is about to be committed, when the Americans' identity is necessary to understand the importance of the foreign intelligence collected or when the communication provides information that an American may be an agent of a foreign power.

Asked whether Trump's communications may have been swept up in surveillance, Nunes said it was "very possible."

Sessions, a staunch supporter of Trump during the campaign, recused himself earlier this month from the Russia investigations after it was revealed that he did not disclose his own contacts with Russia's ambassador to the United States. Asked Wednesday if he had ever briefed Trump on the investigation or given the president any reason to believe he had been wiretapped by the Obama administration, Sessions said, "The answer is no."

Trump has said little about his allegations against Obama, largely leaving it to White House aides to explain his inflammatory statements.

The White House appeared to be backing away from Trump's claims on Monday, with spokesman Sean Spicer saying the president was referring to general surveillance that may have been approved by the Obama administration. On Tuesday, Spicer said the president was "extremely confident" the Justice Department would provide evidence vindicating him.

Graham and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley have both said they will hold up hearings for Rod Rosenstein, Trump's nominee to serve as deputy attorney general, unless they get more information from the FBI. Given Sessions' recusal, Rosenstein would take over responsibility for any probes touching the Trump campaign and Russia's election meddling if he's confirmed.

"It's just too bad that we have to go to this length," Grassley said.

A driver crashed his car into the staircase outside of a home in Barrio Logan, after running out of gas.

It happened around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday near the intersection of National Avenue and S Evans Street. 

The California Highway Patrol said the driver ran out of gas as he was headed east on the Coronado bridge.

Officers said he rolled down an off-ramp and drove through a gate before crashing into a staircase.

The house is separated into several duplexes. 

Some of the people inside the home were evacuated.

No one inside was injured. 

CHP officers arrested the driver for DUI.  

No other information was available.

Check back for updates on this breaking news.

April the giraffe was seen looking out the window as Tuesday's ferocious nor’easter drifted out of the region, while the zoo live-streaming her now world-famous pregnancy said keepers reported the baby calf was very active.

"April is doing what she does best, and waiting, and we are thankful!" the Animal Adventure Park, in Harpursville, posted in its Facebook update Wednesday morning.

The zoo said the night before that keepers saw signs April is nearing the end of her pregnancy, including "swelling and pulsing." The checkered, long-necked beauty has remained in marvelous condition as she awaits the arrival of her fourth calf, vets have said.

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“Procedures are in place to get the necessary individuals to the site should April begin birth,” The Animal Adventure Park wrote in the post, which included a black-and-white photo of April using her long neck to peek out of her window as heavy winds lingered in the area following the storm.

In the meantime, “We remain in a holding pattern," the zoo wrote. 

April the giraffe was seen on the live stream Wednesday morning around 8 a.m. standing in a corner with her backside to the camera, patiently awaiting the next steps in her pregnancy. She even gave an occasional tail wag. She took time to put food into her belly as more than 70,000 people tuned in. Later, she stared right at the camera, flicking her tongue as she munched on yet another snack. 

Watch the live stream below (NOTE: weather conditions are causing intermittent disruptions).

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The stream has had intermittent weather-related outages, but with calmer forecasts ahead, it's expected to stay up -- perfect timing as April nears the birth of her fourth calf.

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April has had periods of edginess in recent weeks brought on by stretches of cold weather and her active calf. Nevertheless, April is in “great physical and mental condition,” and the vets who have been monitoring her say they’re pleased with her progress.

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April's pregnancy was catapulted into global headlines late last month after YouTube briefly yanked the zoo's stream following complaints by animal activists that it violated the site's policies concerning "nudity and sexual content." Thousands upon thousands of commenters voiced their frustration on Facebook and YouTube, and the stream was restored within an hour or so.

Jordan Patch, owner of the Animal Adventure Park, says the natural curiosity surrounding giraffes and their birthing process has been a huge factor in drawing crowds.

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"I think the fact that she's a giraffe and she's a neat species that people are interested in, that's fostered a lot of the attention," he said. "The fact that you're gonna get to witness the miracle of birth from an animal that you really don't get to see give birth — that's neat."

He added that April's pregnancy is not just live entertainment, but a teachable moment and source for education.

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Giraffe pregnancies last up to 15 months. Labor lasts anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The calf, which will be the first born at Animal Adventure Park, will be about 150 pounds and 6 feet tall at birth and up and walking in about an hour.

The zoo said it will hold an online competition to name the baby giraffe once it's born.

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A former defense contractor from Camp Pendleton pleaded guilty to stealing and selling medical equipment intended to be shipped overseas to treat injured Marines.

On Tuesday, John Montano, 44, admitted to conspiring to steal over $250,000 worth of medical equipment from warehouses aboard USMC Camp Pendleton.

Montano used his position as a civil defense contractor to access expensive medical equipment from the 1st Medical Logistics Company (1st MEDLOG).

According to his plea agreement, he stole ultrasound machines, ventilators, autoclaves, defilbrillators, laryngoscopes and anesthesia machines.

All of the equipment was then sold in an open-market by Montano's co-conspirators.

As part of his plea agreement, Montano was ordered to pay a restitution of $250,000 to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Border Patrol agents have tracked and seized an ultralight aircraft seen flying into the U.S. over the international border Monday night. 

Agents from the El Centro Sector first saw the object fly over the border from Mexico into U.S. airspace at approximately 10:45 p.m. 

Authorities tracked the aircraft, flying without lights at the time, to its landing spot: an agricultural field road near Holtville, California. 

When agents arrived, they could not find the pilot, who abandoned the aircraft. 

No drugs or other contraband were found. 

“The ultralight aircraft was not outfitted to transport narcotics,” said Assistant Chief Patrol Agent, David S. Kim, in a statement. “Our agents were able to detect, track, and ultimately seize this ultralight by being vigilant in their duty to keep the people of this country safe.”

In the past, similar aircrafts have been used to smuggle narcotics across the border. However, the aircrafts pose a "grave danger" to legitimate aircraft flying in the area. Kim said. 

The incident is under investigation. 

The price of prescription drugs could go down while the amount of investment in San Diego’s biotech industry could increase. Just a few things that may change now that President Trump said he intends to nominate Scott Gottlieb as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Biocom’s Jimmy Jackson said he is pleased with President Trump’s choice because Dr. Gottlieb has a long history of being knowledgeable about the agency.

“We have someone who will strike a balance between what the industry needs to survive, what doctors need to get drugs to the patients, and what the FDA staff needs as far as support,” Jackson said.

Jackson is the Senior Vice President and Chief Policy Officer at Biocom, a trade association located in La Jolla that advocates for San Diego’s life sciences industry. Founded in San Diego, Biocom now has over 850 members throughout California.

He said he considers Dr. Gottlieb a good choice for several reasons: Gottlieb has experience with the agency, having served as deputy commissioner of the FDA under President George W. Bush.

Jackson added that President Trump's pick also has experience dealing with patients and knows how patients feel, since he is a doctor and cancer survivor and he has the ability to affect change within the agency.

Dr. Gottlieb has been a prolific writer since leaving the FDA, which gives Jackson and other industry leaders a good sense of what he will do as commissioner.

Gottlieb has written about getting generic drugs approved faster.

“We may see faster, innovative products, we may see the backlog of generics, solved,” Jackson said.

Jackson is optimistic that San Diego’s life sciences industry will see the same level, if not an increased level of investment “now that there is a level of comfort with the knowledge base the commissioner is bringing into the office.”

As the lawmaking process over repealing and replacing Obamacare runs into more problems, it’s not boosting the hopes of people most in need of manageable premiums and competitive coverage.

For them, as they hear more news out of the nation’s capital, their future in terms of their money and their medical needs is getting scarier for many.

Among them, Santee resident Kelly Paradise, who has a pacemaker, chronic pancreatitis, a broken hip and another one that's pained her for years.

“I’m on assisted living; that’s going to be cut,” she told NBC 7 in an interview Tuesday. “So I’m going to be paying more.”

Paradise’s financial life, on a fixed income at age 72, is a long way from her youthful background in the 1960s as a professional model, actress in a lot of beach-and-surf films, and then as a property manager.

She’s a registered independent who voted for Trump, in part because she thought highly of replacing Obamacare.

“And the Democrats kept saying, ‘Let’s see it’,” she recalled. “If you’ve been working two years, there’s got to be at least a framework. And like his taxes, it was never seen.”

Now Paradise has angry second thoughts, because what's she's heard about the new health coverage proposals isn't squaring with her harsh budget realities.

She says they favor the rich over the low-income, who stand to face scary sacrifices.

"You get your Medicare. And then what you can't afford, MediCal steps in and pays for it,” she explained. “Well, what he wants to do is 'ixnay' MediCal, and have us pay for it. Well, could you live on $900 a month?"

If worse comes to worst, Paradise shared this thought: "I'll use the emergency room like a doctor's office. If I can't find a doctor's help, I'll use an emergency room. Which is terrible, because we need the emergency room for emergencies."

Meantime, the House Budget Committee meets Thursday to merge separate bills in one to go the floor of the House for a final vote.

Key members are being guarded about how they're lining up.

Twenty-three years after a psychologist first diagnosed Ben Rzucidlo with severe infantile autism, his mother Susan still remembers the heart-breaking prognosis as if she heard it yesterday.

“I was told he would never learn to use a spoon, or tie his shoes, be toilet trained or speak. I was told he would never even know I'm his mother,” the Chester County, Pennsylvania, woman said. “Well, he can tie his own shoes. He can speak. And he damn well knows I’m his mother.”

Rzucidlo credits Medicaid with her son's improbable achievements.

Now, she and thousands of other parents of children with special needs who receive wide-ranging treatment and therapies through the federal program face a worrisome future as the Republican-controlled Congress pushes forth major health care reforms.

A proposal passed by two House committees last week includes an overhaul of Medicaid both in funding and in formula. It would trim $880 billion over the next decade by ending Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, and converting the federal program’s payments to the states from reimbursement-based to a capped annual amount based on current average individual expenses.

Health advocates and Democratic lawmakers say that all Medicaid recipients, including children with the most severe physical and mental disabilities, are at risk of losing often costly and extensive services.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), in an exclusive interview with NBC10, said the Republican proposal to cap state Medicaid funding through pre-determined lump sums, often called block grants, mask “a basic hostility to these programs.”

“They give it all this benign terminology: ‘Flexibility.’ Block grant.’ Doesn’t block grant sound nice? You’re giving this big grant. It all sounds so benign,” Casey said at his Center City office. “But it’ll decimate the program.”

Medicaid, which last year was roughly $575 billion, has long been a target for Republican downsizing, Casey said.

“There is a basic far-right philosophy that is no longer on the ascendancy -- it is driving the bus -- which is the federal government should be basically about the business of national defense and a few other things,” he said. “I think a lot of people don’t know how dependent and how important Medicaid is to people’s lives, even a lot of people who voted for the president by the way.”

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, a part-time writer and director of a non-profit said her family’s middle-class life relies on Medicaid. Her son, George, is a 14-year-old with autism and intellectual disabilities who is able to attend a special needs school in Lansdale thanks to the federal program. The cost of the school as well as his busing each day to and from their Elkins Park home is paid for through the Cheltenham School District, which is reimbursed by Medicaid.

“Even though we’re a middle-class family, we require Medicaid to help pay for all of his services, and we know that we will need it when he is an adult to help pay for housing and therapeutic supports,” Kaplan-Mayer said.

Like so many parents with dependent children, she now worries his son’s future is in jeopardy.

“Our country has made wonderful progress in how we care for people with disabilities in the last 30 years,” she said. “The Medicaid block grants could turn that progress backwards.”

Many advocates in the medical and educational fields agree. The PolicyLab of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute wrote in an analysis last week that “current proposals to simultaneously repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and reform the federal Medicaid program would be devastating to children and young adults with disabilities and complex medical needs.”

The PolicyLab estimates that caps based on the average annual cost for a child eligible for Medicaid “may leave insufficient funding for medically complex children whose health care costs are significantly higher than those of other children.”

The federal funding, according to Dr. Sophia Jan of CHOP, provides for smarter spending on special needs, including in-home and in-school treatment.

“Having the nurses in the home not only allows children to interact with community settings and socialize instead of being institutionalized but also allows parents to work,” Jan said. “(And) the cost for providing services in community-based settings instead of institutional settings is much cheaper.”

If Medicaid shrinks to levels that do not sufficiently cover costs for those often defined as traditional recipients -- children and adults with special needs, the elderly and the poor -- states would be left to pick up the difference.

Most, however, don't see a scenario in which states could afford to fill a hole in Medicaid funding.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, a Republican from West Chester, Pennsylvania, was on one of the two House committees that last week approved sending the Medicaid overhaul to the full House for debate.

Discussion on Medicaid, as well of Republicans’ overall health care reform bill called the American Health Care Act, is expected to take the next two or three weeks before a version is sent to the Senate.

Costello said he does not favor any cuts in funding or services to traditional Medicaid. The target for cuts, instead, is the program’s expansion through Obamacare, which he said would explode to $1 trillion by 2026.

“When states face budget crunches in coming years, I don’t want special needs children, the aged, the blind, to be waiting in long lines competing for aid,” Costello said.

The Republican proposal, he argued, would halt the expansion, which through the Affordable Care Act now covers health care costs for American households making up to 138 percent of the poverty line.

“The GOP plan takes the expansion population and instead gives them a tax credit,” Costello said.

In that scenario, a Medicaid-reimbursed program like Pennsylvania's ACCESS that school districts use for special needs services “not only persists, but from a funding perspective, doesn’t have to compete” with expansion costs, Costello said.

It remains unclear how -- or why -- funding for those covered by Medicaid expansion will be interwoven with traditional recipients in any legislation that gets sent to the Senate for consideration.

Casey, who voted for the ACA in his first term, believes that Republicans are still grappling with the challenge of “co-mingling good health care policy, right-wing policy, and promises they’ve made.”

"It’s like running after a car and they never thought they’d catch it,” he said of the years that GOP congressional leaders have pushed to repeal the ACA. “But in this case the dog, figuratively speaking, I’m not saying Republicans are dogs, but the dog caught the car. And they’ve had to throw it together pretty quickly.”

Inside her Avondale, Chester County, home, Lisa Lightner effortlessly pivots from a conversation about Medicaid to opening the door for a milkman to feeding her son, Kevin, 10. In a moment she looks away, Kevin pushes a small bowl of macaroni off the tray of his specialized wheelchair. Now, Mom is cleaning up his mostly uneaten dinner from the floor. 

Three friends who live with the same struggle -- running a household and caring for a disabled child -- sit nearby and each testify to Lightner's unique ability to juggle tasks.

"She's unbelievable," one friend, Lynn Thomas Guidetti, says. "I don't know how she does it."

Guidetti is referring to how Lightner also writes an advocacy blog about special needs children and volunteers as a Democratic committeewoman in Chester County.

Lightner then puts into words what she and her friends, Guidetti, Susan Rzucidlo and Laura Boyer, now confront more than ever.

"What will happen to him after I'm gone? This is something I ask myself all the time."

Her son lives with severe forms of epilepsy and intellectual disability. He will depend on his mother and father for the rest of his life.

"Why is all this being done on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens?" Lightner asked.

She and the other women have vowed to fight any legislation that would decrease Medicaid's ability to those most vulnerable Americans. All see the federal program as greatly improving their children's lives.

"All budgets reflect values and if you’re cutting Medicaid, what do you really value?” Rzucidlo said.

A retired Navy admiral is among nine military officers indicted in the U.S. Navy bribery scandal.

Bruce F. Loveless was expected to appear in front of a federal judge Tuesday in downtown San Diego to face criminal charges in connection with a widespread bribery scheme that has resulted in more than a dozen convictions involving senior U.S. Navy officials.

Then-Rear Admiral Loveless was under investigation as early as November 2013 when he was Director of Intelligence Operations. Prior to that he served as the N2 for CTF70, aboard USS Kitty Hawk.

Loveless is accused of accepting extravagant gifts from "Fat" Leonard Francis, a Singapore-based businessman who bribed senior naval officials with travel, food, wine, cigars and prostitutes in exchange for specific Navy warship movements so his company could overbill the Pentagon by millions of dollars.

When interviewed as part of the federal investigation, Loveless used the word “never” when asked if he had received anything of value from Francis.

In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, federal prosecutors state Loveless attended several "guys' trips" or "boys' nights out" with other naval officials paid for by Francis's company GDMA.

Court documents allege Loveless was a guest at a dinner paid for by GDMA in Hong Kong in January 2008. The bill for the dinner was allegedly $18,000. Four months later, prosecutors allege Loveless and other officers stayed at a Bangkok hotel, “during which they were entertained by numerous prostitutes paid for by Francis.”

Other defendants named in the indictment include Donald “Bubbles” Hornbeck, Enrico “Rick” DeGuzman, David “Newly” Newland, James “JD” Dolan, David “Too Tall” Lausman, Stephen Shedd, Mario “Choke” Herrera and Robert Gorsuch.

The naval officers referred to their group as "the Cool Kids," "the Band of Brothers," "the Brotherhood," "the Wolfpack," or the "familia," federal prosecutors state in court documents.

All defendants face conspiracy to commit honest service fraud. Newland, DeGuzman, Hornbeck, Dolan, Loveless, Lausman, Shedd, Herrera and Gorsuch face bribery charges.

Lausman faces additional charges of making false statements and obstruction of justice.

The indictment states Lausman and his wife received travel and other expensive gifts from Francis when Lausman was Commanding Officer of USS Blue Ridge and USS George Washington.

He's accused of writing to Francis and describing himself, the commanding officer of U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, as the businessman's "obedient and humble servant."

In a 2013 interview with NCIS, Lausman denied GDMA had ever paid for a hotel room for him. The following year, Lausman told federal prosecutors the same.

Court documents allege Lausman had been receiving hotel stays and other perks from Francis as early as 2006. In exchange, he allegedly wrote letters endorsing Francis' ship husbanding business to top Navy brass.

He’s also accused of destroying computer files linking him to GDMA.

Federal Magistrate Mitchell Dembin entered not guilty pleas for both Loveless and DeGuzman, who are scheduled to appear in court again later this month.

Prosecutor Patrick Hovakimian asked Dembin to require both defendants post a $50,000 personal appearance bond. Hovakimian argued that DeGuzman had committed “extensive, serious and prolonged” illegal acts. The prosecutor noted that Loveless was in a position of immense authority, acting as the 7th Fleet’s intelligence officer, when he allegedly took part in ”wild sex parties” and accepted other illegal favors from Francis. “He abrogated his official duties over and over again,” Hovakimian said. “He showed callous disregard for his duties.” The prosecutor said Loveless, who was in custody and wore prison scrubs and shackles during his court appearance, currently lives in a rented luxury penthouse in Coronado, with panoramic ocean views.

Magistrate Dembin did not impose the requested $50,000 bond, and allowed both defendants to remain free on their own recognizance at this point in the case. But the magistrate did impose travel restrictions and other conditions of release on DeGuzman and Loveless.

The defendants all held "secret" or “top secret” clearances in order to perform their duties, according to the indictment.

They are accused of sharing confidential ship schedules for aircraft carriers, ships and submarines through personal email servers cooltoad, Hotmail and msn, among others.

After receiving one emailed schedule, Francis replied, “Thanks for the updates. Outstanding. 'Choke' has secured 3 hrs 10 of Lap Dancing in [Tokyo]" according to court documents.

Lap dances were just a few of the perks Francis used to court the naval officers. From February 2006 to at least February 2014, the defendants received everything from cash and gifts to lavish meals and services of prostitutes, according to court documents.

Among the gifts to the naval officers and/or their wives were boxes of steak, cases of wine, Ulysse Nardin watches, a John Paul Jones fountain pen and a Versace handbag, federal prosecutors allege.

The indictment alleges the naval officers would then overlook inflated invoices or quashed bids from competitors.

The indictment alleges a party in the MacArthur Suite of the Manila Hotel took place in February 2007 during which “Historical memorabilia” related to the infamous General Douglas MacArthur was used in sex acts.

In April 2007, Francis paid at least $13,000 for one of Hornbeck’s relatives to receive a culinary internship at a restaurant within the Equatorial Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, according to court documents.

At a June 2007 dinner (with a tab of approximately $11,000), federal prosecutors allege Gorsuch handed Francis two disks containing classified port visit information on many U.S. ships.

It was in the summer of 2007 that GDMA employees and Francis began asking the defendants to find other naval officers willing to participate in the bribery scheme.

In April 2008, Francis asked two of the defendants – Hornbeck and Dolan – to pressure other U.S. navy officials to pay bills suspected of fraudulent charges.

Newland served as Chief of Staff to the Commander of the Seventh Fleet.

DeGuzman was a Fleet Marine Officer who served as the civilian Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations for U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific after he retired from active duty.

As Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Hornbeck was responsible for directing operations of all combatant chips in the Seventh Fleet AOR.

Dolan served as Assistant Chief of Staff for Logistics for the Seventh Fleet.

Stephen Shedd served as the Commanding Officer of USS Milius.

Herrera reported to Hornbeck and was responsible for scheduling port visits for ships and subs. Gorush served as administrative support for the commander of the Seventh Fleet.

Someone with access to all or parts of President Donald Trump's tax returns wants them made public. But who?

Tuesday's disclosure of two pages from Trump's 2005 federal returns marked the second time in the last seven months that portions of Trump's tax filings have been leaked to reporters, NBC News reported.

In October, The New York Times published a story based on a leaked portion of Trump's 1995 state tax returns in multiple states, showing that he declared a massive $916 million loss that year that could have enabled him to avoid paying federal income taxes for nearly two decades. And on Tuesday, investigative reporter David Cay Johnston unveiled some details of Trump's 2005 federal income tax return on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show."

NBC News collected what we know about how the leaks happened and what they tell us about who the leaker — or leakers — might be.

A former member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet has been appointed to Sempra Energy’s board of directors.

Maria Contreras-Sweet, 61, served as administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from 2014 until the end of Obama’s term in January. Her appointment to the board of San Diego-based Sempra was announced March 14.

“She has extensive experience working at a senior level in both the public and private sectors, while bringing a strong understanding of financial markets, infrastructure and global innovation,” Debra L. Reed, chairwoman, president and CEO of the Fortune 500 energy services company, said in a news release.

Contreras-Sweet has no direct experience in the utility sector, but she did run the finance committee of the California Independent System Operator – the organization responsible for the state’s power grid – for part of the time she was secretary of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency from 1999 to 2003.

Before running the SBA, Contreras-Sweet helped found Los Angeles-based ProAmerica Bank, and served as its executive chairwoman from 2006 to 2014. Prior to that, she co-founded and was managing partner of New York venture capital firm Fortius Holdings.

Sempra now has 14 board members, more than 16,000 employees and about 32 million customers.

NBC 7's Nicole Gomez reports on Tuesday night's meeting of the San Diego Unified School District.

Mental health groups say the new GOP health care bill would terminate mental health care and efforts to combat the opioid crisis, NBC News reported.

The Congressional Budget Office released a report on the bill on Monday, stating that billions of dollars would be saved in federal health spending, by way of cutting $880 billion from Medicaid. In addition to health groups, parents of children with special needs are also rallying against the proposed plan.

“Medicaid is the single largest payer of mental health and addiction treatment services in the country, paying 25 percent of all mental health and 20 percent of all addiction care,” the National Council for Behavioral Health said in a statement.

Without Medicaid’s subsidies, said Linda Rosenberg, president and CEO of the council, people could wind up “homeless, in jail or dead.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said that the bill does not intend to leave states out in the cold in combating the opioid epidemic.

Some of the famous cherry blossoms around Washington, D.C.'s Tidal Basin suffered "widespread damage" because of bitterly cold weather this week and they are still at risk, the National Park Service says.

Low overnight temperatures damaged many blossoms that had reached the "puffy white" stage of blooming, which is the fifth of six stages in the bloom cycle. About half of the trees around the Tidal Basin were in the puffy white stage when temperatures dropped.

"The number of cherry trees that reach the blossom stage may be reduced as a result of the recent cold temperatures," the park service said in an announcement Wednesday morning. 

This is the first time in the trees' 105-year history that they will not reach peak bloom.

Temperatures below 27 degrees kill about 10 percent of the blossoms, as News4 previously reported. At 24 degrees or lower, about 90 percent of the pink petals die.

The temperature early Wednesday dropped below the critical 24 degree mark, and temperatures are expected to be in the low 20s for the next two nights. 

The cherry blossoms were strikingly encased in ice after snowfall late Monday and early Tuesday.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is still on, but the opening date of the welcome area and ANA Performance Stage has been pushed back from Wednesday to Saturday, organizers announced Tuesday morning. Organizers cited "setup delays caused by the storm."

Peak bloom of the Yoshino variety of the trees still is expected to occur between Sunday and Wednesday. Other types of cherry blossom trees, including the Kwanzans, are expected to be protected from the cold. They are projected to be in peak bloom from April 10 to 13. 

The closer the trees are to being in bloom, the more at risk of damage the blossoms are, said Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst. If the blossoms are still tight in buds, they're "hopefully" still protected. The cold may damage the flowers, but the trees themselves are expected to be fine. 

If you see a cherry blossom tree covered in ice, leave it alone. Shaking the branches to try to clear the snow and ice can cause damage, the National Park Service says.

Officials will leave the trees alone, too. 

"Our policy is just to let nature take it's course," Litterst said. 

No matter what, the Tidal Basin should have some beautiful blossoms, Park Service horticulturist Michael Stachowicz said Wednesday.

"There might be enough of these green buds that are still waiting to come out and enough other backups coming up that it's still going to be a pretty spectacular show," he said.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Brian Fennessy was expected to address concerns about a new dispatch system at a briefing for media early Wednesday.

San Diego lifeguards worry the new 911 dispatch system rolled out in January is confusing dispatchers and adding to response times.

Sgt. Ed Harris, leader of the lifeguards union and former candidate for San Diego mayor, said the change may have caused confusion on Sunday when a toddler needed rescue near Mission Bay Park.

It’s the second time in two weeks the union is calling on Fennessy to address concerns.

Fennessy has said the new system was put in partly to combat the high volume of unanswered 911 calls.

“Our change in dispatch protocol for inland water rescues has resulted in improved service to the community members we serve,” Fennessy said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate that the Teamsters Local 911 president is misleading the public by making uninformed and false statements about this change.”

Mayor Kevin Faulconer's office released a statement Tuesday: 

"The changes Chief Fennessy has made have ensured that 911 water-rescue calls are answered faster and have resulted in better response times. It's ridiculous to suggest otherwise."

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department includes more than 1300 firefighters, lifeguards, paramedics and civilian personnel with a budget just over $237,000,000, according to the city’s website.