Authorities say a prominent California farmer has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the shooting death of his estranged wife. Michael Abatti was arrested Tuesday. He is awaiting extradition to Arizona. Authorities say they believe he drove to Arizona on Nov. 20 and fatally shot his estranged wife before returning home to California. She was found dead in her family’s vacation home in Pinetop, Arizona. Authorities searched Abatti’s home in far Southern California on Dec. 2 as part of the investigation into his wife's death. An attorney for Abatti didn’t immediately respond to an email and text message seeking comment.

California officials are urging holiday travelers to avoid the roads on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as a powerful winter storm moves in. The rain began to move into Los Angeles on Tuesday night and was expected to intensify into Wednesday. Authorities warned of the potential for flooding and debris flows across parts of Los Angeles County burned by wildfires earlier this year. Some 380 particularly vulnerable households have been ordered to leave. The Sacramento Valley and San Francisco Bay Area are under flood and high wind warnings through Friday. The Sierra Nevada will see heavy snow and strong winds, making travel nearly impossible.

Pennsylvania's governor says an explosion at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia killed at least two people. The explosion Tuesday collapsed a part of the building and happened just as a utility crew had been on site at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township looking for a gas leak. The extent of the casualties was unclear several hours later. Bucks County officials say a portion of the building collapsed. Fire officials said they were in “rescue mode” five hours later, with rescuers still digging by hand and using search dogs, earth-moving equipment and sonar to locate potential victims.

Mexico's president says air traffic controllers lost communication for 10 minutes with a small Mexican Navy plane on a medical mission before it crashed off the Texas coast. The crash killed at least five people. Authorities initially believed it had landed safely in Galveston before learning it had gone down Monday afternoon. The U.S. Coast Guard says at least five aboard had died. A search-and-rescue operation pulled two survivors from the wreckage, while one person remained missing. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Heavy foggy blanketed the area at the time of the crash.

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado woman suspected of killing two of her young children during a custody dispute with her ex-husband two years ago has been returned from Britain to the United States to face charges, authorities said Tuesday.

Authorities say a woman has been charged with murder in her 9-year-old daughter's death. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that 40-year-old Ashlee Buzzard was taken into custody. Authorities say the remains of Melodee Buzzard were found in Utah. Police believe she has been dead since October when she first went missing. Detectives have been searching for the child since a school administrator reported her prolonged absence Oct. 14.

Authorities say at least 2 died in a gas explosion at a nursing home outside Philadelphia where residents were trapped.

KAYENTA, Ariz. (AP) — Navajo Nation police said a suspected drunken driver struck bystanders who were waiting for a Christmas parade to start, killing one and injuring three others.

DENVER (AP) — A prominent Colorado immigration and labor activist was released Monday after spending nine months in immigration detention, supporters said.

NEW YORK (AP) — A financier has been extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States to face allegations that he cheated investors who were promised monthly 10% gains in what was actually a Ponzi scheme, authorities said.

A Delaware state trooper has been killed during a shooting at a motor vehicle agency near Wilmington.

Nearly six months after a roaring flood killed 25 girls and two counselors at Camp Mystic in central Texas, the 100-year-old camp will begin enrolling new campers in January. The decision is dividing families who've sent their children there. Fast-rising waters swept away two cabins next to the Guadalupe River over the July Fourth weekend. The campers who are expected to start arriving in May will bunk on higher ground. Some families say their daughters' return to Camp Mystic will be a key step in their healing. But others who lost their daughters in the floods say the decision to reopen is insensitive.

Officials say a small Mexican Navy plane transporting a young medical patient along with seven others has crashed near Galveston. The Monday afternoon crash killed at least five people and has set off a search in the waters off the Texas coast. Mexico’s Navy said in a statement to The Associated Press that four of the people aboard were Navy officers and four were civilians. It was not immediately clear which ones were confirmed to be killed. Two of the people aboard were members from the Michou and Mau Foundation. The nonprofit provides aid to Mexican children with suffered severe burns.

Betty Reid Soskin, who used her fame as the oldest National Park Service ranger to raise awareness about often-overlooked and untold stories, has died. She was 104. Her family and the park service announced her death on social media, saying she was surrounded by loved ones at her home in California when she died Sunday. Soskin was hired as an interpretive ranger at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park when she was 85. She played a key role in ensuring that the park highlighted stories about Black men and women who worked in war-related industries. Her weekly lectures drew large audiences to the park.

DENVER (AP) — A state judge on Monday accepted plea agreements for the owners of a Colorado funeral home for the abuse of 191 corpses, many of which languished in a room-temperature building for years, over the objections of relatives of the victims.

At least 2 dead after Mexican naval plane on medical transport mission crashes off Galveston, Texas, officials say.

Judge accepts guilty pleas from Colorado funeral home owners who acknowledged abusing 191 corpses.

Florida's Catholic bishops have appealed to President Donald Trump to pause immigration enforcement during the Christmas holidays. Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, along with other bishops, expressed concern about the impact on families and communities. They argue that many immigrants caught in enforcement actions are not criminals but are simply working. The White House, however, indicated in its response that it will continue its usual operations. Wenski is known for advocating humane treatment of migrants and highlights their contributions to the economy. He also participates in initiatives to support the spiritual needs of detainees in immigration centers.

DENVER (AP) — A prominent Colorado immigration and labor activist was released Monday after spending nine months in immigration detention, supporters said.

A federal judge says Kilmar Abrego Garcia should remain free for now while she considers the government's arguments for detaining him in immigration custody. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia's release on Dec. 11 after finding that officials had no viable plan to deport him, and he cannot be held indefinitely. Back in 2019, an immigration judge barred his deportation to his home country of El Salvador. His mistaken deportation there in March has become a lightning rod in the immigration debate. Officials now say they will deport him to a third country.

Atmospheric rivers are long and relatively narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and flow through the sky. They carry moisture from the tropics to northern and southern latitudes, and can dump heavy rains or snow over land. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, they occur globally but are especially significant on the West Coast of the United States, where they create 30% to 50% of annual precipitation and are vital to water supplies but also can cause storms that produce flooding and mudslides.