President Donald Trump said Monday that the vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court may take longer than expected following a woman's claim that the judge sexually assaulted her at a party when they were both in high school.

Vijay Iyer and Friends: Activations: To hear gorgeous music, played live, in the vicinity of famous artworks? It's a treat, for sure, but what's happening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Thursday, Sept. 20 is a super-spin on the topic. MacArthur Fellow Vijay Iyer will deliver his amazing chamber jazz compositions to not one but four spots around LACMA's Ahmanson Building, connecting, through beautiful notes, with various galleries and the treasures within. Look for the music to "reflect each space" during this one-of-a-kind concert.

Mickey's Halloween Party begins: You certainly know about the spooky doings at Disneyland in September and October, but the atmospheric fun goes beyond the daily Halloween Time sights and flavors. There is, in fact, Mickey's Halloween Party, on select evenings, a celebration that is all about tots dressing up in costumes, a special parade, and other party-only happenings. Also? The Headless Horseman makes a cameo, eek. This is a separately ticketed event, do note, and note that it doesn't happen every night. But it does begin, for 2018, on Sept. 19.

National Cheeseburger Day: Patties are plentiful pretty much any day of the year, and finding one with a melty slice of cheddar, on a perfect sesame-seeded bun, can be done at any time. But if Sept. 18 feels a little savory and a bit special to you, that's because it is the holiday for ever-popular sizzly meat-and-bread meal. So stop by your favorite eatery on Sept. 18 to see what cheeseburgery haps they have in store. Umami Burger is donating $2 to St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, and No Senior Goes Hungry, when you mention the give-back campaign, on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Japanese Craft Beer Event: Spend a fantastical foamy evening at The Holding Co. on Thursday, Sept. 20, all while getting to know nine different brewers specializing in delicious Japanese beer. The suds you're sipping could involve "... yuzu, sansho (Japanese pepper), and matcha," so prepare to dip into a realm of truly exceptional, hard-to-forget libations. DJ Miss Bliss'll provide the tunes, a special guest'll be in the house, valet parking is gratis, and there shall be nibbles to nibble upon, too. The time? Six o'clock to 9 p.m., meaning you'll enjoy all of this as the sun says goodnight.

Moët & Chandon vending machine: Vending machines vend, well, just about everything nowadays, but finding an elegant bubbly is probably not happening. Of course, if you're hobnobbing at the stylish Mama Lion, in Koreatown, you will see such a machine, one that holds 320 mini bottles of the iconic, bubble-laden beverage. Will you need to be ID'd by the bartender? Of course. Will you snap a few photos? That's likely. Is this a permanent addition to the supper club? Indeed, the "(f)irst-ever bar and lounge in CA to have this, says a representative. As the celebratory holiday season draws closer, consider, if you're 21+, stopping by for an offbeat sip.

A cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run collision in Torrance Monday, and Torrance Police said that clues recovered from a debris strewn intersection may help lead to the identification of the hit-and-run vehicle.

The collision occurred around 5 a.m. on Hawthorne Boulevard, northbound near 227th Street. Emergency responders attempted CPR, but the cyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.

"The vehicle did continue," said Sgt. Ronald Harris. "We are looking at this as a hit-and-run."

The rear wheel of the bicycle was pretzeled by the impact.  It ended up more than one hundred feet away.

Among the debris in the intersection, police found a chunk of front bumper and other pieces that enabled them identify the vehicle as a Toyota 4Runner, 2006-2009, gold or light tan in color. This was corroborated by security camera video police located but are not releasing.

The deceased, a man in his forties, was yet to be identified by the coroner's office. Other cyclists who came upon the scene said at that early hour, the man may have been on his way to or from work.

On the stretch where the impact occurred, the speed limit is 45 mph.  There are four lanes for motor vehicles, but no bike lane or parking shoulder.

Hours after the road had been re-opened, a father carrying his younger son in a bicycle seat avoided the busy street and rode on the sidewalk. Torrance resident Larry Carroll said he knows that is discouraged, but he feels this stretch of Hawthorne Boulevard is too dangerous to ride on the street.

The driver in the collision failing to stop is another concern.

"It's terrifying," Carroll said. "Hit-and-runs are just horrible. Even if you do the most horrific thing, just get out and check on the health of your fellow man."

Most foods? They get one national holiday named in their honor, if that, to be honest.

But some savory superstars are so stratospheric, so widely enjoyed, and so foodily famous — yes, foodily — that multiple days, and even weeks, are built around the edible's sheer power to please a whole bunch of eaters.

Take the cheeseburger, which, history has it, was invented in Pasadena nearly a century ago. It gets its own celebratory week, in the Crown City, with multiple cheeseburger-y events on the calendar.

And on the 18th day of September, a holiday devoted to cheeseburgers goes countrywide, in the form of National Cheeseburger Day.

Several spots hold specials, or deals, or the occasional freebie, but here are a few you might take bun-yummy part in, in Southern California, on Tuesday, Sept. 18:

Farmer Boys: The Big Cheese is rightly a big deal at this restaurant, but snagging one for a buck isn't a possibility on most days of the year. Of course, National Cheeseburger Day isn't most days of the year, so swing by your local participating FB and mention the offer. Good on, you got it, Sept. 18.

IHOP: The breakfast-famous chain has become known for its burger selection in recent months, but Sept. 18 will be all about the cheeseburgers... and pancakes. Purchase a cheeseburger and, lo and behold, you'll receive a complimentary side of flapjacks. Could cheeseburgers and pancakes be the next peanut butter and jelly? Discuss.

Umami Burger: Dine at the boutique burger chain on Sept. 18, mention that you'd like to support St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels, and the "No Senior Goes Hungry Campaign," and two dollars from your bill will go to the organization. The company will be raising money for St. Vincent's through September.

Puig your player of the week.

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig was named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending on September 16. The announcement was made on Monday morning on MLB Network.

The award comes on the heels of a career week for Puig after he hit .429 with seven runs scored, a double and five home runs (in a 48-hour span) to go with nine RBI, three walks and a stolen base over seven games.

Most of Puig's stats came within a two-game span over the weekend in St. Louis. On Friday night, Puig hit a pair of solo home runs in a 3-0 victory over the Cardinals.

Less than 24 hours later, during a Saturday day game, Puig hit a career-high three home runs, driving in a career-high seven runs in a 17-4 blowout of the Redbirds.

Puig joined Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter as the only two players in the Majors this season to have three homers and seven RBI in a game.

Puig last won the award on May 18, 2014, and as the winner of the award this past week, will receive a watch courtesy of Rockwell.

The Dodgers are currently tied for the second wild card spot in the National League with St. Louis and 0.5 games behind the Colorado Rockies for first place in the NL West. 

The Boys in Blue open a three-game series with the first place Rockies at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.

A mother claims in a lawsuit that a local school district and administrators failed to protect her then 15-year-old daughter from the abuse of a teacher.

She says they knew the teacher had faced similar allegations years before and was still allowed in the classroom. The abuse began in 2014 and spanned into the following year, the abuse at times happened in the former teacher's own classroom, according to the lawsuit.

"It's been the hardest thing we have ever had to go through," the mother said in an exclusive interview with the NBC4 I-Team. "The teacher had told her that I would not believe her, that I would disown her. "All I could do is hold her and tell her that I believed her."

In 2016, Richard Paul Daniels was sentenced to three years in prison for what happened to her daughter. But the former science teacher had an alleged past. This mother is suing the El Monte Union High School District and administrators at Arroyo High School.

"I felt really angry and I felt really upset," she said.

According to the complaint, Daniels had been charged with molestation and lewd acts against a child more than decade earlier when he was a teacher at another high school in the same district.

Court records show the teacher was found guilty of battery in that case and was ordered to stay away from four girls and that high school.

Attorney Michael Carrillo compares what happened with his clients to how the Catholic Church handled some abuse cases.

"The school district knew that Mr. Daniels was touching little girls," Carrillo said. "They could have easily fired him. They didn't. They transferred him to another school just like the clergy did in all of those cases."

The district declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

"We don't want anyone else to go through what we went through," the mother said.

The teacher in this case must now register as a lifetime sex offender. Since 2016, at least three employees, including a wrestling coach, from the district have been convicted of sexual misconduct with students.

Sabrina Jales St. Pierre has modeled for some of the biggest names in the beauty business, but she says a stay at a Southern California hotel left her unable to work for more than two months due to bug bites.

The Victoria's Secret model is suing the Palm Desert Embassy Suites by Hilton after staying there in 2016. The hotel was among those included in an I-Team investigation exposing problems with sanitation at Southern California hotels.

"I literally wanted to rip my skin off," Jales St. Pierre said. "The first morning, when I woke up, I noticed a couple of bites on my arm, but I didn’t think anything of it. And then, the second morning is when I noticed all the bites, and that’s when it got worse."

Jales St. Pierre said she had about 90 bites, forcing her to take a two-month break from modeling.

"She absolutely got massacred," said her attorney, Brian Virag.

Her allegations are similar to those of another hotel guest, former Santa Ana Police sergeant Gary Bruce. Bruce, who was in one of the lead cars during the infamous 1994 OJ Simpson pursuit, checked into the same hotel in June and said he noticed red bite marks after his stay.

"There's no doubt in my mind it was definitely bed bugs," he said.

Bruce also is represented by Virag and filing a lawsuit.

In a statement, Embassy Suites said it inspected both rooms in each separate incident and brought in an outside pest control company that said there was not evidence of any pest in the rooms, including bed bugs.

The NBC4 I-Team spoke with experts about what to know when you check into a hotel room.

More than 200 alumnae of the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda are said to have signed a letter supporting a classmate who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were both in high school.

The signatories rallied around Christine Blasey Ford after she went public in The Washington Post with allegations that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed at a house party in the early 1980s in Chevy Chase and wouldn't let her leave.

"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Ford said. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."

Kavanaugh, then a student at Georgetown Preparatory School, denies the allegation. But many of Ford's fellow alumnae have rallied in support.

"Dr. Blasey Ford's experience is all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton," the letter reads in part. "Many of us are survivors ourselves."

Actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who graduated from Holton-Arms in 1979, tweeted that she signed onto the letter.

The letter, obtained by NBC Washington, demands a thorough and independent investigation before the Senate votes on Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination. Republicans have already put off a planned committee vote scheduled for Thursday. Ford and Kavanaugh are now both set to publicly testify before Congress next week, News4 reported.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, a 1971 graduate of Holton-Arms, was among those who called for public testimony under oath from both Ford and Kavanaugh.

Holton-Arms Head of School Susanna A. Jones said the school wasn't involved in organizing the letter but supports Ford speaking out.

"It is imperative that all voices are heard. As a school that empowers women to use their voices, we are proud of this alumna for using hers," Jones said in a statement.

Ford also won support from a group of women who stood outside the Supreme Court on a rainy Monday evening holding signs reading, "I believe her" and "Men who don't listen to women can't lead our nation."

But Kavanaugh has his own vocal supporters: Sixty-five women who knew him in high school signed onto a letter released Friday saying he has "always treated women with decency and respect." 

A mother is grieving after her 20-year-old son died from what she suspects was fraternity hazing.

UC Riverside student Tyler Hilliard had hiking plans on Saturday with his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity line brothers at Mt. Rubidoux Park in Riverside, but according to the fraternity’s pledge master, identified only has DJ, Hilliard complained about shortness of breath prior to the hike and collapsed shortly after.

“I’m very certain it was hazing based on the text correspondence between him and his line brothers,” Hilliard’s aunt Robyn Fountain said. “It’s obvious that’s what was happening.”

Hazing consists of the practices of initiation imposed on students trying to join a fraternity or sorority. It usually includes challenges, harassment, abuse or humiliation.

Fountain believes hazing was the reason of her nephew’s death due to texts and photos of paddles and talk of beatings found on Hilliard’s phone.

The student’s mother, Myeasha Kimble says she holds the pledge master responsible as he is supposed to keep them safe. The pledge master has not responded to NBC4's requests for comment. 

“We have the same questions the family has as well,” Officer Ryan Railsback from the Riverside Police Department said. “What led to him being admitted to the hospital?”

Hilliard was rushed to Riverside Community Hospital where he later died.

“We need an apology. They failed Tyler,” the mother said. “Tyler had a bright future ahead of him.”

Police are investigating if hazing certainly lead to Hilliard’s death. The chapter was suspended at UCR, pending the outcome of an investigation.

There are still blue tarps on homes in Canóvanas, one of the Puerto Rican cities hardest hit by Hurricane Maria, Ramón A. Paez Marte told NBC News.

Rebuilding his home has been a struggle, and getting federal aid for it nearly impossible — FEMA denied his application and tens of thousands more on the island, hit by the devastating storm one year ago.

Families across the island are still reeling from the nearly 3,000 deaths, more than 200,000 people who left and the roughly $90 billion in damages.

Dogged by questions about local and federal response, Puerto Rico's crippling debt and more, the recovery feels like unfinished business, despite opportunities for much-needed innovation in areas like energy and urban planning.

Smoke and flames could be seen for miles around Sylmar early Tuesday when a fire burned a business with stacked car parts and materials that fueled bright flames.

Los Angeles Fire Battalion Chief Albert Ward said combustible metals were on the spare auto parts property in the 8500 block of North San Fernando Road. The materials, such as titanium, can give fire an intense glow.

"They burn very hot. They emit a lot of light," Ward said. "It burns at a different color. When you add water to that equation, it becomes explosive."

Firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to nearby buildings and also corralled two dogs guarding the property. The fire was knocked down in about 40 minutes.

No injuries were reported. A cause was not immediately determined.

Sabrina Jales St. Pierre has modeled for some of the biggest names in the beauty business, but she says a stay at a Southern California hotel left her unable to work for more than two months due to bug bites.

The Victoria's Secret model is suing the Palm Desert Embassy Suites by Hilton after staying there in 2016. The hotel was among those included in an I-Team investigation exposing problems with sanitation at Southern California hotels.

"I literally wanted to rip my skin off," Jales St. Pierre said. "The first morning, when I woke up, I noticed a couple of bites on my arm, but I didn’t think anything of it. And then, the second morning is when I noticed all the bites, and that’s when it got worse."

Jales St. Pierre said she had about 90 bites, forcing her to take a two-month break from modeling.

"She absolutely got massacred," said her attorney, Brian Virag.

Her allegations are similar to those of another hotel guest, former Santa Ana Police sergeant Gary Bruce. Bruce, who was in one of the lead cars during the infamous 1994 OJ Simpson pursuit, checked into the same hotel in June and said he noticed red bite marks after his stay.

"There's no doubt in my mind it was definitely bed bugs," he said.

Bruce also is represented by Virag and filing a lawsuit.

In a statement, Embassy Suites said it inspected both rooms in each separate incident and brought in an outside pest control company that said there was not evidence of any pest in the rooms, including bed bugs.

The NBC4 I-Team spoke with experts about what to know when you check into a hotel room.

Places to Check for Bed Bugs in Hotels

• Mattress
• Box spring
• Behind picture frames
• Nightstands
• Baseboards

Firefighters protected homes Tuesday from a brush fire that burned uphill in the Tujunga area of the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The small fire was reported on a hillside in the 10200 block of North Mahogany Trail. Thick clouds of smoke drifted over a nearby neighborhood, but no homes were damaged. 

The fire burned uphill in what firefighters described as medium density brush in the Blanchard Canyon area, just south of the San Gabriel Mountain wilderness.

A cause was not immediately determined.

The fire began during a week of mild late-summer temperatures and calm wind conditions. More than 4,860 fires have been reported this year in California, making this summer one of the most destructive on record. About 4,770 fires were reported through mid-September last year. 

This year's wildfires have burned more than 617,200 acres. Last year at this time, about 236,000 acres burned throughout the state.

Questions have a way of piling up around Oktoberfest, like so much savory sauerkraut on a bun, but these questions are mostly of the delightful variety.

How long can I hold a stein full of German beer, if my arm is straight out in front of me, and my elbow isn't bent, and the liquid is in danger of sloshing over the rim?

Can I still waggle my wings well, Chicken Dance-style?

And should I share a brat, or devour my own, plus, probably, another brat beyond that one?

The one question, however, that can often give Oktoberfesters pause, is this: Is there a cover charge to enjoy the sights/sounds/scents/stein-holding competitions, and do I want to pay it?

Wirsthaus German Restaurant & Beer Garden, on La Brea near Hollywood, and Rasselbock German Kitchen & Beer Garden, in Long Beach, only want your Oktoberfest-related queries to be related to Chicken Dances and brat consumption. So when the seasonal celebration starts dancing at both locations, which it will, on Saturday, Sept. 22, the answer is this: There's no cover charge at either spot.

What both spots have in common is a caboodle of activities, starting with the ceremonial tapping of the keg on Sept. 22 at 3 in the afternoon (look for guest of honor, with local cred, to helm the tap).

Look for, or rather listen for, live German music on Friday and Saturday evenings, food specials, beer specials, Family Sundays, and giveaways, too.

And, do note, if you hope to be at either restaurant on opening day in the mid-afternoon: If you're in a seat, and eating an entrée you're purchasing, you'll get to drink from keg #1, the ceremonial keg, in a complimentary, pay-nothing, Oktoberfest's-here fashion.

No stress if your favorite lederhosen are looking a little worn and your alphorn is in the shop: Come as you are, with a merry heart, to two of the coolest cover-charge-less Oktoberparties in Southern California.

The final day for the 'festing? It's Saturday, Oct. 27, Chicken Dancers and stein seekers of SoCal.

The U.S. Air force is asking for a bump in its budget to combat emerging threats around the world by 2030.

"The Air Force is too small for what the nation is asking us to do,” said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.

The Air Force leadership says they need to be able to address quickly emerging threats from China and Russia.

“Technological advances that take place today almost daily is eye-watering,” says Randy Bogle is the Executive Director of the San Diego Military Advisory Council and a Retired Navy Pilot.

Bogle says the military here has been pushing in this direction for some time pivoting to the Pacific as China has continued to increase its military budget. “This large presence of Navy and Marine personnel we have here already serves well in to address the issues that the Air Force wants to build up their forces to also address.”

And now there is another emerging threat, “We have the Russian threat and the European theater out there so we're starting to watch that very closely as they build their ships and start showing their presence and places that haven't been in a while,” says Bogle.

The U.S. Air Force says they need a 25 percent increase in their budget, which in 2018 was nearly a $150 billion.

There are people who feel the U.S. is spending too much on defense, including groups like Veterans for Peace.

President Trump has also asked America’s allies to contribute more to fight terrorism.

Bogle says this budget increase for the Air Force will be evaluated internally and will need to be presented to Congress.

But says ultimately the Air Force and all the branches need to be ready to fight on both coasts - and that takes foresight. “Our enemies and foes are very smart folks they really have come a long way and they're still trying to get ahead of us in many cases where they think they can.”

Trying to summon the opposite of "eve," as in the final day or days of an event or occasion, can be a bit of a head-scratcher. 

After all, we've long been primed to anticipate the start of things, but rarely commemorate when annual traditions are on their way to wrapping up.

Say, like summertime.

We're in the opposite-of-eve of that sunshiny season right now, which means the moment is very much ripe for doing any of the summerish stuff you wanted to do, again, or for the very first time this year.

Summer's a-waning, people.

But it just so happens that a very summerish pastime is popping up, on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica.

The big, sand-adjacent pool is opening for the midweek day, which is looking to be fairly balmy, with the promise of temperatures in the 80s. If not well into the 80s, then "80s-esque," which can make for enjoyable splashing-around weather.

Cost to do the aforementioned splashing-around is ten bucks if you're a grown-up, $4 for kids, and five dollars for seniors 60+. 

Surely, and you know this, if you've ever spent an autumn in Southern California, there will be more afternoons in the 80s, or even the 90s, still to come. 

But as summer goes, wanes, says "be seein' ya," we should all ponder what pursuits we'd still like to dip our pool noodles into, before fall hangs up its hat near the front door.

A swim at a fabled Santa Monica pool, right near the Pacific? That counts, by any measure. Get information pronto, summer-goodbyers.

Sabrina Jales St. Pierre has modeled for some of the biggest names in the beauty business, but she says a stay at a Southern California hotel left her unable to work for more than two months due to bug bites.

The Victoria's Secret model is suing the Palm Desert Embassy Suites by Hilton after staying there in 2016. The hotel was among those included in an I-Team investigation exposing problems with sanitation at Southern California hotels.

"I literally wanted to rip my skin off," Jales St. Pierre said. "The first morning, when I woke up, I noticed a couple of bites on my arm, but I didn’t think anything of it. And then, the second morning is when I noticed all the bites, and that’s when it got worse."

Jales St. Pierre said she had about 90 bites, forcing her to take a two-month break from modeling.

"She absolutely got massacred," said her attorney, Brian Virag.

Her allegations are similar to those of another hotel guest, former Santa Ana Police sergeant Gary Bruce. Bruce, who was in one of the lead cars during the infamous 1994 OJ Simpson pursuit, checked into the same hotel in June and said he noticed red bite marks after his stay.

"There's no doubt in my mind it was definitely bed bugs," he said.

Bruce also is represented by Virag and filing a lawsuit.

In a statement, Embassy Suites said it inspected both rooms in each separate incident and brought in an outside pest control company that said there was not evidence of any pest in the rooms, including bed bugs.

The NBC4 I-Team spoke with experts about what to know when you check into a hotel room.

Places to Check for Bed Bugs in Hotels

• Mattress
• Box spring
• Behind picture frames
• Nightstands
• Baseboards