Michael Scott Moore recently had lived in Berlin. With dual citizenship, he had reportedly traveled to the east to do a book about Somali pirates. But on Saturday, as many as fifteen local pirates kidnapped the journalist on route to a local airport.

Mohamed Ahmed Alim, president of the autonomous Galmudug region, confirms that the pirates are demanding a ransom to be paid by his family or the State Department.

Moore graduated from Mira Costa High School in 1987.

The U.S. State Department issued the following statement to news today.”We are aware of news reports that a U.S. citizen has been kidnapped in northern Somalia and we are concerned about the individual’s safety and well-being,” officials tells news.

“We have been in contact with the individual’s family and we are working with contacts in Kenya and Somalia to ascertain further information.”

NWS reports to news that wind gusts could be as strong as fifty-five mph along the coast and valley. The winds could produce gusts as strong as seventy mph in the mountains, NWS tells news. With stronger winds, residents should also be prepared for low humidity. Tonight, humidity levels could drop to the single digits.

On January 13, officials issued a fire alert for Southern California. But the one announced today to news and residents is far more expansive for the Southland.

NWS tells news that they have two different alerts for today. First, a red flag warning has been issued for Los Angeles County, San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and Ventura County. Second a fire weather watch has been issued for Orange County, Riverside County, San Diego County, and San Bernardino County.

The situation erupted after a targeted shooting sent two citizens to the hospital. The suspects are both armed, Long Beach Police Lt. Paul LeBaron tells news. Long Beach police and SWAT have shut down as many as five city blocks in the neighboring areas.

Officials have yet to indicate to news if any nearby schools will be impacted by this morning’s gunfire.

Police have yet to indicate if this morning’s shooting was gang related or not. The shooting victims are hospitalized. Their condition is currently unknown.

But at the time of Grover’s report, nothing had been done about the parking officers. “In my mind, it is misconduct” Price told Grover. But Price said “we were not able to positively identify the persons.”

Grover pursued the officials to act on the matter. “They didn’t call me back, and I called them two times!” Grover exclaimed in last year’s report. Eventually, John K. Dancler was put on
paid administrative leave, and then fired.

This week, John K. Dancler’s attorney appeared before the Los Angeles Civil Service Commission asking for Dancler’s job back. The second officer was disciplined, but kept on staff. Dancler thinks his client was wrongfully terminated and should be back on Los Angeles streets giving out parking tickets promptly.

The scandal video (edited) is located on NBC here.

At 9 am, SCE was reporting sporadic outages in Los Angeles County. First, it reported news of an “outage in Beverly Hills. approx. Seven hundred customers w/out power. Crews responding to quickly and safely restore power.” Moments later it reported that “one hundred customers out in Santa Monica. Crews working safely to quickly restore power.”

CHP is also reporting traffic problems due to flooding and the winter storm today as well. Sections of the 10 West at 210 Interchange were closed this morning. By breakfast time, the 405 Freeway north at Santa Monica Boulevard was creating difficulty after flooding struck the number one lane.