WEATHER
*Cloudy early then sunshine high 56
LOCAL
*Welcome Home to the Fort Leonard Wood troops, many of them are at Lambert this morning taking flights heading home!
*Nice Job Police they caught a car jacking suspect yesterday after he took them on a high speed chase
NATIONAL
CA Governor Asks President For Disaster Declaration-
California Governor Jerry Brown is asking President Trump for a major disaster declaration for Southern California's devastating wildfires.
Brown said in his request yesterday that state and local governments don't have the resources to effectively fight the fires. The fires have scorched hundreds of thousands of acres from San Diego County north to the outskirts of Santa Barbara. They've destroyed more than a thousand homes and forced more than 200-thousand people to evacuate.
The most destructive is the 272-thousand acre Thomas fire, burning in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. It was 60-percent contained last night. Since January, there have been 87-hundred fires started in California.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Former Gymnast Sues USA Gymnastics-
Former Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney is suing USA Gymnastics in California court.
She claims the gymnastics federation tried to silence her nearly a year before she came forward publicly with allegations of repeated molestation by the team's doctor, Larry Nassar. Maroney's attorney says USA Gymnastics made her sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of a financial settlement to pay for psychological treatment.
He called the agreement "an immoral and illegal attempt to silence a victim of child sexual abuse." Nassar has since pleaded guilty to molesting ten girls and possessing child pornography and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Maroney said yesterday that "A simple fact is this: If Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee had paid attention to any of the red flags in Larry Nassar's behavior, I never would have met him, I never would have been 'treated' by him and I never would have been abused by him."
Source: NPR
For the second time in two months, a North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea. In the latest incident, which occurred Thursday, a "low ranking" soldier who was stationed in a guard post on the DMZ took off through heavy fog, according to the South Korean military.
The defection led to gun fire from both sides of the border.
Last month another North Korean solider escaped through the DMZ, though he was wounded.
This time the escaped soldier wasn't shot at. The gunfire occurred when South Korean soldiers let off 20 warning shots at North Korean border guards who were hunting the defector. About 40 minutes later, the North fired some gunshots of their own.
SPORTS
The Flames beat the Blues 2-1, they take on the Oilers tonight, it's an away game