A mother has been arrested for felony DUI and other charges days after causing a crash that injured three of her children, including an infant who was unrestrained.

Police say Mayra Alejandra Gonzalez, 29, was driving her Chevy Suburban under the influence of alcohol Monday morning when she drove into oncoming traffic on Camino Del Norte and hit a Jeep Liberty head-on.

Gonzalez' 9-month-old baby, who was being held by her 8-year-old sister at the time of the crash, suffered life-threatening injuries. CHP investigators said the force from the crash threw the infant into the windshield.

When San Diego Fire-Rescue crews responded to the crash at about 4:30 a.m. witnesses had already pulled the baby from the crash but the child was not responsive. 

The 8-year-old and Gonzalez' 2-year-old daughter suffered minor injuries, and all three children were transported to area hospitals. Their current condition is not available. 

Gonzalez was transported to Palomar Hospital where she was placed under arrest Thursday for felony DUI, felony child endangerment and driving on the wrong side of the road. She is still receiving treatment at the hospital, SDPD said.

The driver of the Jeep, a 57-year-old man, also suffered serious injuries. His current condition is unavailable.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

The Defense Department has failed an audit almost three decades in the making, the Pentagon's No. 2 official said Thursday. But the results were expected and showed what the agency already knew — that "more work lies ahead of us."

Congress first required the Defense Department to undertake a comprehensive audit in 1990, but the agency didn't manage to get around to it until late last year, NBC News reported.

"Everyone was betting against us that we would even do the audit," Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters, adding: "It was an audit on a $2.7 trillion organization. The fact we did the audit is substantial."

The holiday season is upon us and so too is the season for holiday work parties and other formal functions. For so many, that means it’s time to shop for little black dresses. Goodwill Industries of San Diego County has you covered.

It is time for Goodwill’s 12th annual Little Black Dress sale. Goodwill stores throughout San Diego have collected and gathered up all the black dresses and will put them up for sale at 9 a.m. on Nov. 16.

“I think every woman needs a little black dress in their wardrobe,” said Darlene Cossio who works for Goodwill in San Diego County. “You don’t want to wear a dress again, so here’s the opportunity to pick up three, four, five dresses and wear them for every occasion.”

Consumer Bob has teamed up with Goodwill San Diego to launch the annual Little Black Dress sale.

Many of the dresses have never been worn and still have the tags to prove it.

“They come in all shapes and sizes, from size zero to size 22,” said Cossio.

Prices for the dresses range from $14 to $75, she said.

Be sure to head over to the Goodwill Store located at 706 Broadway in Chula Vista to get the little black dress you need.

Monica Rittel was mentally ill and a heavy drug user. She’d been in and out of San Diego County's jail and mental health system, along with private rehab programs for more than a decade. And she died a gruesome death just hours after her most recent release from the County Psychiatric Hospital.

Monica’s mother, Sylvia Castelluzzo, remembers her eldest child as healthy and smart as a whip. “A great baby,” Sylvia recalled. “Fun, happy, and gifted in everything. Her teachers were grooming her for great things.”

But Monica’s parents said all that changed, seemingly overnight. “We lost her right about the time she turned 16,” Sylvia said. “She became like a stranger.”

Monica’s parents said she started using methamphetamine and other drugs, got involved with a much older man, shaved her head, and acted erratically.

One day, she shattered every mirror in the family home.

From then on, Monica was in and out of jail and treatment programs for mental illness and drug addiction. "We just lost her to this illness,” Sylvia said. “The hospitals didn't help, the rehabs didn't help, the jails didn't help. Nothing helped."

Last November, just days before Thanksgiving, sheriff's deputies told Sylvia they found Monica naked, on a busy street in Santee.

"She was running into traffic, trying to kill herself," her mother said.

The deputies took Monica to the County Psychiatric Hospital, where doctors placed her on a 72-hour involuntary hold. According to her mother, Monica had been in and out of that public hospital several times that year. Sylvia told NBC 7 Investigates she believes hospital staff should have known how unstable she was.

“She was a danger to herself,” Sylvia said. “She wasn't in her right mind. She couldn't make rational decisions."

Monica’s parents saved a voice-mail message they got from Monica just hours before she was released from the psychiatric hospital. In a flat, monotone, speaking of herself at times in the third person, she told Sylvia, “Mom, you tell dad, you tell yourself, you tell whoever, it's Monica at CMH. All you gotta do is call the nursing station and tell them, when do you plan on picking her up? She has no shoes on."

Sylvia said she was sure Monica would be held at least 72 hours, as allowed by state law.

"I didn't know they were going to let her out the next day, and that she was going to use meth that was laced with fentanyl."

An autopsy report obtained by NBC 7 Investigates confirms that's what happened.

Just hours after she was discharged from the hospital, paramedics found Monica unconscious, in a homeless camp not far from the hospital.

She died two days later, of a fentanyl and methamphetamine overdose. She was 34 years old.

Just weeks before the one-year anniversary of her death, Monica’s parents filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit against the county and its Psychiatric Hospital.

That lawsuit alleges county employees were negligent in their care and treatment of Monica, and “... improperly discharged (her) while (she) was still a danger to herself.”

"This was not a reasonable judgment by the county,” said Elliott Kanter, the family’s attorney. “They knew she had a drug history. They knew she was a danger to herself.”

A county spokesperson would not respond to those criticisms or the family's lawsuit.

But one mental health expert told NBC 7 Investigates it could be a difficult task to convince a jury that county employees were negligent and responsible for Monica’s death.

"It’s a judgment call,” said Dr. Clark Smith, a psychiatrist and expert witness in civil and criminal lawsuits. “If (a patient) appears reasonable and rational and they convince a doctor that they're no longer a danger (to themselves or others), they can be released.”

But Dr. Smith also said Monica's troubled life and untimely death highlight very serious shortcomings with the treatment and rehabilitation of San Diego’s mentally ill and drug addicted.

"It is a horrible problem,” Smith said. “The system is broken, because so many of these patients end up in a revolving door, in and out of jail without ever getting definitive treatment."

Dr. Smith argues that the cost of effective long-term care is less than taxpayers spend to transport, treat, hospitalize and incarcerate the chronically mentally ill and drug addicted.

"But even if we wouldn't save money, it's the right thing to do," Smith said.

Monica’s parents agree. "I would like to see a little more empathy for the mentally ill and drug addicted,” Sylvia said. “A lot more structure, and a lot more follow-up."

In October, the county promised to devote more money and resources for treatment of the mentally ill. Those expanded programs could include better crisis care and a significant increase in the number of beds at the County Psychiatric Hospital.

Days after a fire consumed their home and left them with only the clothes on their backs, A Ramona family is starting to see hope thanks to their caring friend and generous community.

Patrice and Patrick Doona had their lives flipped upside down Monday when their home went up in flames. Patrice’s mother and the couple’s 1-year-old child were the only ones home.

Patrice told NBC 7 her mother tried to put the fire out with a garden hose, but before she knew it flames had engulfed the structure.

Just minutes after getting back to her home and seeing that everything her family had worked for was gone, Patrice was brave enough to speak with NBC 7 on camera.

“We lost everything. We only have these clothes, that’s all we have. We don’t have anything for our baby, but I’m still so thankful because even though we’ve lost everything, we’re people of faith and I know God is good. He’s never failed me and I know he won’t fail me this time either.”

She went on to express how thankful she was that her family wasn’t hurt, and for the hard work of the firefighters who kept the fire from turning into an inferno in nearby open brush.

The Doona’s tragic story aired multiple times on NBC 7’s evening newscasts and prompted multiple phone calls and emails to the station from generous people wondering how they could help.

Meanwhile, Patrice’s friend Aimee Sandoval had a GoFundMe page up and running to try and help the family survive the tragedy.

“You know, I wanted them to be able to visually see that there was support, that there were people there for them,” Sandoval said.

She was hoping to raise $1,000 and thought anything upwards of that would be a bonus. Well, it climbed well past that mark, and as of Thursday evening it sits just under $13,000.

Patrice said the community’s response has been completely overwhelming and amazing.

“Just seeing the love that’s still out there, the goodness that’s still in people, it’s just unbelievable,” she said.

Message after message from donors on the fundraising site wished the Doona family good luck in their recovery and let them know they were with them in prayer. Some donors even said they’d never met the family and just wanted to help them bounce back any way they could.

“It’s hard to put into words the feeling you get when you see the messages on there and the things that people say,” Sandoval said. “It definitely helps to restore my faith in humanity. You know, there is still good in people.”

So though the Doona family lost everything they had inside their home, they still have each other, friends and the kindness of strangers to help them see it through.

Eastbound lanes of Interstate 8 in the East County were blocked due to a five-car crash that involved a military Humvee.

The California Highway Patrol said the Humvee rolled and hit at least one other car in a chain-reaction crash near Dunbar Lane in Alpine.

The crash happened just before 5:30 p.m., CHP said. A Sig Alert was issued and all eastbound lanes were closed. All lanes were reopened by 7:30 p.m., CHP said.

Sky Ranger 7 spotted several uniformed military personnel at the scene of the crash. The Humvee and three other cars involved had to be towed away from the scene.

NBC 7's traffic map showed eastbound traffic was backed up past Lake Jennings Park Boulevard to the west in the moments after the crash.

There are no details regarding injuries at this time, according to Heartland Fire.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

A video surfaced Thursday of Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi saying it might be a "great idea" to make it harder for some people to vote, and her campaign quickly responded that she was "obviously" joking, NBC News reported.

Hyde-Smith, who is in a runoff against Democrat Mike Espy on Nov. 27, made the remark at a campaign stop in Starkville, Mississippi, on Nov. 3. It was posted to Twitter on Thursday by Lamar White Jr., publisher of The Bayou Brief. Smith earlier this week posted video of Hyde-Smith making a comment on Nov. 2 about a "public hanging" that started a controversy.

"And then they remind me that there's a lot of liberal folks in those other schools who ... maybe we don't want to vote," Hyde-Smith is heard saying. "Maybe we want to make it just a little more difficult. And I think that's a great idea."

The San Diego County Office of Education said Thursday that Spencer Valley School District would reopen campuses Friday following a multi-day closure as San Diego Gas & Electric shut off power service to customers living in fire-prone areas.

Spencer Valley was the only district closed Thursday due to the shutdown.

SDG&E decided earlier in the week to shut off power to some communities as a precaution due to dangerous fire weather brought on by low humidity and high winds.

Though a red flag warning expired Wednesday evening and a high wind warning expired Tuesday evening, NBC 7 meteorologist Dagmar Midcap said conditions will remain at borderline critical fire weather status through Friday afternoon.

Humidity was expected to stay between 5 and 15 percent in the mountains and deserts Thursday and would return to seasonal levels on Friday, Midcap said.

A professional modeling photographer working out of Carlsbad was arrested Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor client during a photoshoot, police confirmed.

The Carlsbad Police Department said the 16-year-old victim met up with Robert Koester, 52, who was sub-contracted by the modeling agency Frank, on Monday.

The victim said she left after she was allegedly sexually assaulted and told her father. They reported the incident to Carlsbad police the next day.

Investigators responded to the location of the alleged assault, a residence on the 3600 block of Carlsbad Boulevard, and found that it was temporarily rented by Koester.

Koester was arrested at the home where they also found evidence of the crime, police said.

He was booked into the Vista Detention Facility for battery with great bodily injury, sexual battery, possession of child pornography, and providing harmful material to a minor.

He posted bail and was released until his next court date.

Koester is from Carlton, Oregon, according to police.

CPD said investigators have been working closely with Frank to identify other potential victims or witnesses, but CPD Lt. Greg Koran said the potential for more victims stops with Koester's arrest.

"We really proud of her bravery to come forward at a time like this and let us know so that we can take action," he said.

According to police, Koester has used the aliases "Rhake Winter" and "Bert Kay" when working with clients. The department is asking anyone with information to call them at (760) 931-3819 or email them at tipline@carlsbadca.gov.

Meanwhile, women in the Carlsbad area with modeling experience said arrangements are often scheduled one-on-one, leaving those hoping for a future in front of the lens in a vulnerable position.

"It is not usually like bringing a parent or a friend. They want you to sign the contract and meet them at a coffee shop or a local beach spot," surfer Meredith Covington said of her experiences. 

"It's disgusting and I can't believe that people think they can get away with that," she said.

An East County bar is doing what it can to lend support to victims of both natural disasters and senseless violence in Southern California

Renegade Country in El Cajon held an event Thursday to fundraise for victims of the fires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and the victims of the Borderline Bar and Grill Shooting in Thousand Oaks.

Jackie Krebs, a friend of shooting victim Justin Meek, said the event was a way to continue sending love to her longtime friends that are hurting.

"While they're up there, they're trying to deal with this tragedy and emotionally deal with that. Meanwhile, they have to pack up their house and be protected from the fires and they've lost a lot in the fires. So, it's a double tragedy for a lot of these families,” Krebs said.

Meek was a Coronado High School graduate who was working as a bouncer at the bar when the deadly shooting took place. His sister was also at the bar for a college night event but was not hurt. Krebs is close with both siblings.

The owner of Renegade Country told NBC 7 a portion of the proceeds raised Thursday will go to fire victims. The bar also accepted monetary donations for the shooting victims, which it vowed to match.

She said she plans to drive the donations up north herself and drop them off to organizations already helping victims of the tragedies.

One week after making what was considered a record fentanyl bust at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers set a new seizure record.

U.S. Citizen Fernando Jesus Peraza was arrested at the border Aug. 8 with more than 20,000 fentanyl pills concealed in the rear quarter panel of his vehicle.

The seizure is believed to be the largest single-port seizure of fentanyl pills across the southwest border of the U.S, U.S Attorney Adam Braverman said.

On Thursday, Nov. 15, Peraza pleaded guilty in federal court to importing the pills.

His sentencing is scheduled for February 1, 2019. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in custody.

Cristian Araujo Aguirre was arrested Aug. 1 with just short of 11,500 fentanyl pills hidden in a storage compartment in his vehicle. 

In both cases, the pills were designed to look like oxycodone, complete with the M30 marking on the pills but tested positive for fentanyl.

Mexican traffickers who used to move powdered fentanyl through the ports of entry are now moving the illegal drug as counterfeit oxycontin, according to one federal prosecutor.

“This is the biggest fentanyl pill seizure we’ve seen along the Southwest Border, and it’s likely a national record,” Braverman said. “I’m relieved that these pills are off the streets because of the vigilant work of law enforcement. But that relief is tempered by the fact that people are overdosing every day because they took fentanyl-laced pills just like these, oblivious to the deadly consequences.”

Peraza is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

Aguirre entered a not guilty plea to charges of smuggling illegal drugs and claimed he was asked to drive the car by a friend who walked across the U.S.-Mexico border. Sixty-one pounds of methamphetamine and 14 pounds of heroin were also found in Aguirre’s car.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more powerful and deadly than morphine, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Shots rang out a sidewalk BBQ in Colina Del Sol Thursday night, leaving two people hospitalized.

San Diego police said a group was having a BBQ on the 4300 block of Dawson Avenue when a man started shooting at the crowd from the corner of Dawson and El Cajon Boulevard.

The suspect was described as 6 feet tall and was seen wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt. Another man wearing a sweatshirt was also with the suspect. They were seen running from the intersection eastbound down El Cajon and then southbound on 53rd Street.

A 42-year-old man suffered gunshot wounds to his leg and a 28-year-old man was shot in the abdomen. Their injuries are considered non-life threatening, SDPD said.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

As holiday travel picks up this season, the San Diego International Airport is asking you to sit and wait. 

This "Standby Room" in Terminal 2 allows travellers to sit inside and say their hopes and dreams to a playwright. 

The answers received will be made into a play that will be performed at the airport in December. 

"We want to ask people what it is their really waiting for," said Actor and Comedian Kristina Wong of Los Angeles, who masterminded the art display.

The Standby Room was crafted using sewn fabric, pipes and markers. 

"It's a very hard space to perform in because no one is expecting performance and they're anxious," said Wong. "It's also interesting that we're very close to the border. For some, it's their first time leaving the country or arriving here. I'm interested in knowing who they are." 

The airport has an artist residency program with new displays and performances year round. 

"We want to ask people what it is they're really waiting for," said Wong. "Not just your flight but in life. It becomes an existential question. We've collected all the answers from visitors and they're sewn into the inside of our waiting room." 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos began receiving around-the-clock security from the U.S. Marshals Service days after being confirmed, an armed detail provided to no other cabinet member that could cost U.S. taxpayers $19.8 million through September of 2019, according to new figures provided by the Marshals Service to NBC News.

It remains unclear who specifically made the request, but former Attorney General Jeff Sessions granted the protection on Feb. 13, 2017. It came just a few days after DeVos was heckled and blocked by a handful of protesters from entering the Jefferson Academy, a public middle school in Washington. DeVos was confirmed as education secretary on Feb. 7 of that year.

"The order was issued after the Department of Education contacted administration officials regarding threats received by the Secretary of Education," the Justice Department said in a statement. "The U.S.M.S. was identified to assist in this area based on its expertise and long experience providing executive protection."

In fiscal years 2017 and 2018, the cost of DeVos' security was $5.3 million and $6.8 million, respectively. The estimated cost for fiscal year 2019 is $7.74 million. 

An Education Department spokeswoman said DeVos had not personally requested the protection. 

On the first snowfall of the season, Bei Bei the giant panda at the National Zoo tumbles and plays in the fresh powder. Two inches of snow fell at the zoo, Storm Team4 says. 

A Washington Examiner reporter who posted a photo of newly elected Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that he claimed was proof she was not "struggling" for money deleted the post after backlash from thousands of Twitter users on Thursday, NBC News reported.

Reporter Eddie Scarry's tweet followed Ocasio-Cortez telling The New York Times last week she would have difficulty paying for an apartment in Washington, D.C., until she starts collecting her congressional salary next year. Twitter users proceeded to blast Scarry for the tweet, with many mocking Scarry for focusing on her clothes. One user called the post a "creep shot" and an "insult."

By 6 p.m. ET, the tweet had more than 5,000 replies compared to roughly 50 retweets and 200 likes, creating what is known online as a "ratio" of more replies than retweets and likes.

Ocasio-Cortez responded to the tweet hours after it was posted, saying her opponents would criticize her no matter what she chose to wear. Scarry later said he was merely trying to say the Congresswoman "looked well put together" and his original meaning was misconstrued.

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Life is beginning to return to normal for an El Cajon boy struck by a hit-and-run driver.

The 10-year-old boy was riding his bike to school when the driver hit him, leaving him in the road.

Now, just over a month since the crash, and 27 days in the hospital, Hassan Haidar is back at school part-time and on the road to recovery.

The one thing doctors said saved his life was the helmet his mother always reminded him to wear. 

Haidar suffered a vertebrae fracture, a facial fracture, and a head injury when he was struck by a car while riding his BMX to Johnson Elementary in El Cajon on Oct. 4.

A witness who pulled over to help found Haidar bleeding, unconscious and breathing very slowly.

He was rushed to the hospital where he underwent several surgeries in his 27-night stay. 

While in the hospital he ate pancakes for the first time.

Which is why when he returned to school last week, his teacher made him pancakes for his birthday.

A birthday that doctors say was only possible because Haidar wore his helmet.

Surveillance footage captured just seconds before the crash helped identify the vehicle and driver.

Courtney Webber, 27, of Lakeside was arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run. Records show she was driving on a suspended license because of a previous DUI conviction.

"I feel sorry for her, I feel sorry. But also I feel hurt because she hit him and ran away. She didn't stop. She just hit him and ran away," said Haidar's mother Nadia Kadad.

Johnson Elementary Principal Christine Sphar said the message should be clear to other children and parents. 

"For him to wear that helmet, have an accident of the type he had and be back at school a month later working and learning is proof - wear your helmet, it works," Sphar said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley announced Friday that he plans to cede the gavel of the Senate Judiciary Committee next year, serving instead as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, NBC News reported. 

“Looking ahead, at the Finance Committee, I want to continue to work to make sure that as many Americans as possible get to experience this good economy for themselves," Grassley, who’s set to become Senate Pro Tempore in the next Congress, said in a statement. "That means working to provide Americans with additional tax relief and tax fairness so they can spend more of their hard-earned money on what’s important to them.”

The Iowa Republican has served as chairman of the Judiciary panel since January 2015. Senate Republican Conference rules limit service as chairman and ranking member to six years, which means Grassley is eligible to serve as the Finance Committee’s chairman for one full congressional session.

The announcement means that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. — a vocal member on the panel who has been a fierce defender of President Donald Trump and his policies — is likely to be the panel's next chair.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials posted a video on social media Friday showing someone attempting to dismantle concertina wire along a section of the fence separating the U.S. and Mexico. 

Officers say a U.S. Border Patrol thermal imaging camera captured the video on Wednesday at approximately 7 p.m. south of Imperial Beach, California.

What is unknown is who was on the Mexico side of the fence stepping on the wire and pushing it down to the ground.

On Thursday, U.S. Marines were guarding construction workers as they reinforced the fence that extends along the beach into the Pacific Ocean west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the busiest land border crossing. 

Thousands of members of a migrant caravan have arrived into the area near Tijuana, Mexico since Sunday. Thousands more are expected to arrive over the next few days.

With U.S. border inspectors processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at the main border crossing with San Diego, prospects grew that migrants would be stuck waiting in Tijuana for months.

The waiting list for migrants requesting asylum has grown to more than 3,000 names with some individual waiting as many as six weeks to be interviewed.

Sheriff's deputies on Friday are looking for a man suspected of an armed robbery at a Poway Walmart last Saturday.

Deputies said the man walked to the customer service counter at Walmart, 13425 Community Road, around 8 p.m. and demanded money from the cashier.

He reportedly showed the employee a semi-automatic silver and black pistol in his waistband and the employee opened the cash register. The man then took off with an undisclosed amount of money.

The suspect was described as black, between 30 to 40 years old, around 5-foot-10 to 6-foot tall, unshaven with a medium complexion.

He was last seen wearing a blue baseball-style cap with white lettering and a marlin fish on the front. The man also had on a black or dark blue long, sleeve shirt, black pants, black shoes and black Nike gloves.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the man was asked to contact the Poway Sheriff's Station at (858) 513-2800 or Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.

There is a $1,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's arrest.