Sought by Republicans to testify, the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine spoke up instead for Democrat Joe Biden in Tuesday's impeachment hearings, rejecting "conspiracy theories" embraced by President Donald Trump and some of his allies. Kurt Volker said he has known Biden as an honorable man for more than two decades, rebuffing debunked corruption allegations that Trump is said to have wanted the Ukrainians to investigate in exchange for military aid to hold off Russian aggression. Get More

A career Army officer testified Tuesday that President Donald Trump's call with Ukraine was "improper," as Republicans in the impeachment inquiry tried to undercut the national security official with remarkable exchanges questioning his loyalty to the U.S. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman said that it was his "duty" to report his concerns about the phone call, but deflected repeated Republican efforts to divulge everyone he told about it — an attempt by GOP lawmakers to identify the anonymous whistleblower who spurred the impeachment probe. Get More

PG&E said it will begin shutting off power Wednesday to about 375,000 people in 18 Northern and Central California counties, including three in the Bay Area, because of the wildfire threat from another round of dry, windy weather. The state's largest utility decreased the number of people who could be affected from an original estimate of about 660,000 based on updated forecasts and said it will closely monitor the weather and could further reduce that number if it improves. At the same time, PG&E officials said it wasn't taking any chances when, in the middle of November, the usual rain hasn't fallen in some areas, brush remains bone-dry and winds that could gust to 55 mph might knock tree branches or other debris into power lines, causing sparks that could set catastrophic fires. Get More

The U.S. forces in Afghanistan in a statement says that two U.S. service members have been killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. The statement says Wednesday that the cause of the crash is under investigation, however preliminary reports do not indicate it was caused by enemy fire. It added further that in accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy, the names of the service members killed in action are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete. Get More

Over a jampacked, nearly 12-hour stretch on Tuesday, four key figures at the center of the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry testified publicly before the House Intelligence Committee. First, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, and Jennifer Williams, a special adviser on Europe and Russia to Vice President Mike Pence — who both listened in on the July 25 call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy — said that call gave them cause for concern, while Vindman faced repeated personal attacks by Republicans on the committee. Next, Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine who resigned after his name appeared in the whistleblower complaint about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, made a significant revision to his testimony, and Tim Morrison, a former National Security Council staffer, expressed worry about ties between military aid to Ukraine and the opening of investigations that would be politically advantageous to Trump. Get More at NBC News

The American Medical Association on Tuesday called for an immediate ban on all electronic cigarettes and vaping devices. The group adopted the sweeping stance at a policy-making meeting in San Diego. It aims to lobby for state and federal laws, regulations or legal action to achieve a ban, but the industry is sure to fight back. Get More

A Chicago police officer and two others, including a 15-year-old boy, are in critical condition after a gun battle in the city's Old Irving Park neighborhood Tuesday night, authorities say. According to police, the officer engaged in a "gun battle" with an armed bank robbery suspect and was shot just after 7 p.m. near the intersection of Lowell Street and Irving Park Road. Get More

Police in Oklahoma say the deaths of three people fatally shot in a Walmart parking lot Monday were the result of a double-murder suicide. Investigators on Tuesday said a man waited for his wife and her boyfriend before gunning them down in her car and then taking his own life. Get More

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a partial ban on asylum does not apply to anyone who appeared at an official U.S. border crossing before the policy was announced in July, a decision that may affect thousands of people. The Trump administration announced July 16 that it would deny asylum to anyone who traveled through another country without applying there first. Advocates for immigrants went to court on behalf of the many migrants who heeded the recommendations of the U.S. government and showed up at official crossings earlier this year to request asylum, rather than cross the border illegally. The advocates said the administration engaged in an “immoral bait-and-switch” against those immigrants by imposing the ban. Get More

Wails filled a church in Haiti’s capital on Tuesday during funeral services for five people killed in anti-government protests that began more than two months ago. Among those killed was 15-year-old Jasmine Pierre, whose father told The Associated Press that she was hit inside their home by a stray bullet when police began firing at protesters. Get More

Police say a New Jersey woman left her 4-year-old daughter alone in a hotel room while she gambled at a Pennsylvania casino. Police went to the Wind Creek Casino in Bethlehem around 4 a.m. Saturday after the girl was found wandering alone in the casino's hotel lobby, Bethlehem police said. Get More

President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused witnesses at the House impeachment hearings of spreading word-of-mouth information about matters they have no knowledge of themselves. But the testimony of Lt. Col Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams did not come from a rumor mill. Both listened directly to Trump's phone conversation with Ukraine's president in July and had their own concerns about his request for a politically beneficial "favor." Get More

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an Army officer at the National Security Council, kicked off the third public hearing in House Democrats' impeachment inquiry by testifying about his "duty" to report concerns over what he called an improper "demand" by President Donald Trump during a July phone call with Ukraine's new president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. Appearing alongside Jennifer Williams, his counterpart in Vice President Mike Pence's office, Vindman also championed fellow civil servants now enmeshed in the inquiry and called out "vile character attacks" against them. Yet Vindman spoke of America as a place where those who speak their mind can still live free from fear of threats to their safety, using his family story as an example. Get More