WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — A 4-year-old Alaska boy was shot in the leg Saturday when his mother’s handgun fell out of its holster and fired.

Alaska State Troopers say they took a call on the incident near WaNN wsilla just before 11:30 a.m.

Medics were treating the boy when they arrived.

Troopers say the family was leaving a pickup when the woman’s .357-caliber handgun fell out of its holster, struck the pavement on its hammer and fired.

The shot hit the 4-year-old just above the knee.

The bullet went through the boy’s leg and lodged in a building.

The boy was transported by helicopter to Anchorage for treatment.

No one has been charged.

HARRISON, N.Y. (AP) — Police believe a retired police officer shot his two teenage daughters to death and then killed himself in the family’s suburban New York home.

Harrison Police Chief Anthony Marraccini says the deaths Saturday of 52-year-old Glen Hochman and his daughters Alissa and Deanna appear to be a double murder-suicide. He did not discuss a possible motive.

Marraccini said Sunday that a gun was found at the home in the Westchester County village of Harrison.

Hochman had worked at the White Plains police department for 22 years before retiring recently. A statement from the police commissioner there called the deaths “an unfathomable tragedy.”

Hochman last year won his department’s life-saving award for keeping an unresponsive man alive until paramedics arrived.

Marraccini says three dogs were shot to death as well.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 48-year-old Philadelphia woman who authorities say split her 10-year-old stepdaughter’s head open has been sentenced to life in prison in the girl’s death.

The district attorney’s office says Margarita Garabito began abusing her stepdaughter, Charlenni Ferreira, in 2006. They say Garabito beat “every inch of her body.”

Ferreira died in 2009 from a buildup of fluid inside her chest as a result of broken ribs.

Prosecutors say Garabito tried to cover up a head wound Ferreira received with cotton gauze and hair extensions. Hair clips were used to affix the extensions and were embedded into her scalp like staples.

Authorities say the girl was also raped by Garabito’s son. Ferreira’s father was also arrested but hanged himself in prison.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. has asked federal regulators to reconsider a $1 million penalty imposed against the oil giant over a 63,000-gallon crude spill into Montana’s Yellowstone River.

The Texas-based company asked the Department of Transportation to withdraw three of its four findings of pipeline safety violations. It also asked for the penalty amount to be reduced.

Safety regulators said Exxon Mobil failed to adequately heed warnings that its 20-year-old Silvertip Pipeline was at risk from flooding.

An Exxon attorney said in the petition for reconsideration filed Feb. 12 that the company was justified in determining flooding was not a great danger following a 2010 risk assessment.

That conclusion proved wrong. The spill left oil along an 85-mile stretch of the Yellowstone, killing fish and wildlife and prompting a cleanup that took months.

NEW YORK (AP) — Activists, actors, and politicians are remembering civil rights leader Malcolm X with a ceremony at the New York site in Harlem where he was killed 50 years ago.

About 300 people are expected to hear remarks from one of Malcolm X’s daughters, Ilyasah Shabazz, as well as U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel and other officials.

The ceremony Saturday is being held at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, previously known as the Audubon Ballroom. Malcolm X was shot to death there Feb. 21, 1965, as he was preparing to address his followers. By then, the Muslim leader had moderated his militant message of black separatism but remained a passionate advocate of self-respect and self-reliance.

Veteran social and political activist Ron Daniels will give the keynote address.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s biggest tobacco companies are heading to federal court Monday trying to stave off the humiliation of underwriting an ad campaign that would have them brand themselves as liars.

A judge ordered them in 2006 to publicly admit they had lied for decades about smoking’s dangers.

The ruling came after testimony from 162 witnesses, a nine-month bench trial and thousands of findings by the judge that the companies engaged in what public health organizations have called a massive campaign of fraud.

The ads would appear in newspapers, on TV, websites and cigarette pack inserts.

The companies want an appeals court to set aside the corrective statements and craft new ones.

They say the ads are designed to ensure the public “does not believe anything the companies say on any topic.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new technique for treating varicose veins by sealing them with a clear liquid that turns into a solid adhesive.

The VenaSeal system is approved for patients with varicose veins of the legs that cause pain, blood clots or other symptoms. The system includes syringes, guide wire and a catheter which is used to inject the liquid that seals the diseased veins. Doctors monitor the procedure using ultrasound imaging.

Previous techniques used to treat varicose veins involved drugs, lasers, radio waves or incisions. An FDA official said in a statement the new technique “can allow patients to quickly return to their normal activities, with less bruising.”

The VenaSeal system was developed by Covidien, which was recently acquired by Minnesota-based Medtronic Inc.

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) — Police say a 55-year-old southwestern Michigan woman who died after accidentally shooting herself in the head in January was adjusting a handgun in her bra holster at the time.

The St. Joseph Public Safety Department is awaiting a full autopsy report in the death of Christina Bond, but Director Mark Clapp on Wednesday released details about the circumstances surrounding the Jan. 1 shooting.

Clapp says Bond was “having trouble adjusting her bra holster, couldn’t get it to fit the way she wanted it to. She was looking down at it and accidentally discharged the weapon.”

Bond was taken to a hospital, where she died.

CINCINNATI (AP) — E-cigarettes keep popping up for sale at county jails around the country even as some government officials, schools and health experts urge tighter control over the devices, especially in public buildings.

The increasingly popular electronic cigarettes are showing up at jails where officials say they have seen benefits from selling the devices. They say e-cigarettes calm agitated inmates, who aren’t allowed in most jails and prisons to use tobacco-burning cigarettes.

Jail officials say e-cigarettes also reduce instances of smuggled-in traditional cigarettes and loose tobacco. And the additional revenue from the sales can be used to buy uniforms, food and other inmate supplies at a savings to taxpayers.

Still some law enforcement officials and others raise ethical questions and worry about potential health risks.

SPARTA, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey police say a man poured water on a freezing road to try to fool officers into thinking the cause of his drunken car crash was black ice.

Twenty-year-old Bryan Byers, of Sparta, was arrested Saturday and charged with drunken driving and other offenses.

Authorities say he hit a guardrail after running a stop sign early that morning. Police say Byers and a friend then decided to dump water onto the road, causing it to ice over.

The friend, 20-year-old Alexander Zambenedetti, was also charged with drunken driving. Police say he wasn’t wearing a shirt despite a wind chill of 15 below zero.

Byers could not be reached for comment. Zambenedetti didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday from The Associated Press.

Both men are due in court Thursday.