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.