Here at 7 News Detroit, we want to make sure you start your day off on the right foot, informed about weather, traffic, the latest news and more. That's why we have the 7 Morning Digest, where we'll get you out the door informed and ready to go.
What's the weather for today?
A very cold start ahead with temps in the single digits with sub-zero wind chills. Sunshine returns today at least but snow is closing in for Friday.
Today: Mostly sunny after a very cold start with single digit lows and wind chills below zero in the morning. Highs in the mid 20s. Winds: WSW 5-10 mph.
Tonight: Clouds clear out. Wind chills bottom out below zero. Winds: WNW 5 mph.
Any traffic issues?
So far, no major traffic issues to know about this morning. We'll update if there are any issues, and check our live traffic map here.
The top stories to know about
Prominent music producer from metro Detroit describes devastation of LA wildfires
Prominent music producer and composer from metro Detroit Hilton Wright says the wildfires that have been raging across the Los Angeles area have devastated communities, completely burning down his son's elementary school and over 1,000 other structures.
The Pacific Palisades fire is now described as the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history.
Tens of thousands have been forced from their homes. In just days, multiple fired have formed from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena. Thousands of firefighters are working around the clock.
“Right now as far as containment, we’re not making very much progress. We’re still making sure that we get everyone’s lives, the people out of the way," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brent Pascua said.
Wright is a Southfield and Farmington Hills native. He's lived in Los Angeles for 12 years now, working as a music producer on shows like "black-ish" and with artists like Big Sean.
Wright lives in the Mid-City neighborhood, about a half hour drive from Palisades. However, his 5-year-old son Trey attends Palisades Charter Elementary School. On Tuesday, his son was in class, but when Wright turned on the news, he saw what was happening and heard the evacuation warnings. He drove as fast as he could to pick his son up.
"And as I'm driving, as I approached to turn to get to high school, those planes that drop the water out of the sky were hovering above and I saw them drop the water out," he said. "To see it happen right above my head was just like something else."
Scary realistic 'jury duty' phone scams on the rise in Oakland County, here's what they sound like
Birmingham resident Kelsey Hogan said that she always thought of phone scams as something people less up to date with technology fall for, that is, until she got a voicemail Monday from a caller claiming to be an Oakland County Sheriff Deputy.
"They got me scared to the point of losing the ability to really think clearly about what was happening," said Hogan.
The voicemail was from a 248 number and said they were calling from the Oakland County Civil Citations Unit and to call them back immediately.
When Hogan did, she said they had prompts that mimicked the Sheriff's Departments, and a man claiming to be a deputy answered.
"He said, 'Okay, this is regarding a missed jury duty situation,'" shared Hogan.
The caller knew her name, address, and personal information.
He said that because she missed jury duty, she needed to come to the sheriff's department immediately.
Hogan recounted, "He's like ‘ma’am, ma’am, ma’am, let me tell you something.’ And this is where it got scary. He’s like, ‘I’m calling because I want to keep this matter in the civil courts. If we move over to the criminal courts, what’s going to happen is officers will come to your house today, and they will detain you for no less than 72 hours.'"
To keep that from happening, the caller said Hogan needed to get out $9,000 cash to pay a fine that would be refunded once she got to the sheriff's department to straighten things out.
However, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told 7 News Detroit that, recently, there has been a big uptick in this scam, and many people have fallen victim.
Bouchard said, "We’ve been trying to tell the public about this."
Ex-boyfriend arrested in missing Warren woman's case; family says she was murdered
The ex-boyfriend of a Warren woman who went missing last week has been arrested in connection to her case, police said. Investigators said he is the primary suspect.
Ashley Elkins, 30, hasn't been seen or heard from since Jan. 2, family said. They've been pleading for her safe return and for the public's help in getting answers. Family said police told them they believe she was murdered by her ex-boyfrend.
Wednesday night, authorities said her ex-boyfriend was arrested in Genessee County by Roseville and Warren police departments. He has been charged with lying to a peace officer, online records show. 7 News Detroit is not naming him at this time because he has not yet been formally charged. He's expected to be arraigned Thursday morning.
"The family is obviously very devastated. We're happy to hear about an arrest. But tonight, we met with Roseville and Warren police departments and they indicated to us that based on the evidence that Ashley had been murdered and by the ex-boyfriend at his home, that this likely occurred late (last) Thursday, early Friday," Elkins' uncle Maurice Morton told us Wednesday night. "Hearing that is devastating."
"We were hopeful that she would be found, but getting the news tonight is just devastating," Morton said.
Elkins’ last known location was in Roseville, according to police and her family. Multiple police agencies spent hours on Tuesday investigating at the ex-boyfriend’s Roseville home at the Hampton Court Apartments.
Also on Wednesday, officials said there is a “strong possibility” of foul play in the case, “likely occurring” at the apartment complex.
