Multiple arrests were made and cars were impounded after police responded to calls about "many" street racers in North Hollywood late Wednesday.

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic and  North Hollywood Divisions swarmed the Home Depot Parking lot on Sherman Way at around 11 p.m, officials confirmed

Cops cited a number of drivers, made numerous arrests and impounded several vehicles. Police were unable to confirm claims up to 200 vehicles were involved in the meeting.

Police said the  street racing problem in the San Fernando Valley has been growing increasingly dangerous recently, and was putting both law enforcement officers and the public at risk.

A new report from the California Department of Public Health is calling e-cigarettes a significant public health concern and encouraging all Californians to avoid using the devices.

E-cigarettes are battery powered devices that turn flavored liquid into vapor. They often contain nicotine.

While there popularity is soaring, public health officials worry about the long-term consequences.

The 21-page report focused on the impact of e-cigarettes on young people.

State officials say e-cigarette use has tripled among high school students and more teens are now using e-cigarettes as opposed to traditional tobacco products.

CDPH Director and State Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman points to a 1,200 percent increase in the amount of money spent on e-cigarette advertising as one of the reasons.

"E-cigarettes contain nicotine and other harmful chemicals, and the nicotine in them is as addictive as the nicotine in cigarettes," Chapman wrote in an news release announcing the report. "I am advising Californians to avoid the use of e-cigarettes and keep them away from children of all ages."

But not everyone agrees with the state's assessment of e-cigarettes.

Jason Talley, manager of The Vapor Spot in Hollywood said e-cigarettes are not dangerous.

"E-cigarettes are helpful," he said. "E-cigarettes got me off cigarettes. They got many of my friends off cigarettes."

Talley said that he believes the devices are a healthier alternative to traditional cigarette smoking and that the industry is not targeting young people.

On the door of his store, a note indicates that only those over 18 are allowed inside.

He said he discourages young people from using the product.

The Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association, a trade organization for the vapor product industry, also disagrees with the CDPH report.

"We are extremely disappointed that the California Department of Health has taken this step with regards to its position on vapor products," said Phil Daman, president of the organization, in a statement to NBC4. "We remain concerned that the department confuses these technology products with tobacco, and in its advisory has ignored years of well established research that shows the safety of the products and the public health benefit they may offer the millions of Californians who use them as an alternative to tobacco."

Dr. Bruce Hensel said, "Many people report that the E-cigarettes helped them to stop smoking. As a stopgap device they may be helpful. But that doesn't mean that they are harmless and people have to weigh the risks against the benefits."

The report identified a variety of potential health risks from using the devices.

Chapman said nicotine is a highly addictive neurotoxin that can potentially harm brain development.

While many people think the aerosol that comes out of the e-cigarette is water vapor, the report found that it contained at least 10 chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm.

The report also found that the number of calls to poison control centers involving children drinking the e-cigarette fluid tripled in one year.

CDPH officials said that because most of the e-cigarette liquid is fruit or candy flavored, it may entice small children to accidentally ingest it.

The launch of a satellite that will help scientists study the moisture in Earth's soil, which could help policymakers make decisions about water resources, was postponed Thursday at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite launch was scheduled for a 6:20 a.m. PT with a three-minute window, but mission control scrubbed the launch due to upper level winds just minutes ahead of planned lift-off. The launch was re-scheduled for Friday morning.

The satellite is expected to provide the most useful soil moisture maps ever created, providing more accurate and timely information for weather forecasters, flood monitoring, climate change research and drought management, especially significant in California where a three-year dry spell has left the state's water reservoirs at critically low levels.

The satellite arrived at Vandenberg AFB, just northwest of Santa Barbara, from Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena in October.

"Water is vital for all life on Earth, and the water present in soil is a small but critically important part of Earth's water cycle," said Kent Kellogg, SMAP project manager at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The delivery of NASA's SMAP spacecraft to Vandenberg Air Force Base marks a final step to bring these unique and valuable measurements to the global science community."

After rocketing into space, the satellite will fly at an altitude of 426 miles and provide a global map of soil moisture every two to three days for the next three years. The topsoil observations are more frequent and accurate than anything previously provided to researchers.

"This mission could not be more timely in my view," said Kellogg.

The mission required JPL to build the largest rotating antenna that could be stowed in the satellite’s 1-by-4-foot compartment — about the size of a kitchen trash can. The antenna dish and unfurls to a diameter of nearly 20 feet after spinning out of the compartment like a lasso on an extending support arm.

"We call it the spinning lasso," said Wendy Edelstein, the SMAP instrument manager. "The antenna caused us a lot of angst, no doubt about it.

"We test, and we test, and we test some more. We have a very stable and robust system now."

Once fully deployed, the satellite will orbit Earth every 98.5 minutes, allowing it to map the globe every two to three days.

The satellite's radar system transmits signal to Earth that penetrate its soil and bounce back. Any changes in the electrical properties of the signals indicate changes in soil moisture. It is one of "the most sophisticated signal-processing" systems every developed, according to NASA.

The deployment process has been pre-tested from start to finish 18 times, Kellogg said.

The satellite is capable of telling scientists a lot about the condition of Earth's soil, including its freeze-thaw state. Determining whether soil if frozen or thawed helps researchers better plan for natural hazards.

Soil moisture is already closely tracked in developed agricultural regions, but in vast areas remains unknown.

The launch marks a milestone for NASA’s Earth science missions, which essentially monitor the planet’s vital signs. The satellite is the last of five program mission launches during a 12-month period.

The NASA mission will cost $916 million, according to the space agency. The observatory was assembled at NASA's Southern California Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The next launch at Vandenberg AFB, a Jason 3 satellite aboard a Falcon 9 vehicle, is scheduled for March 31. A launch scheduled for April 13 will blast a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
 

Two men who requested a ride using Uber were arrested Wednesday after they were found in the back seat of the vehicle with hallucinogenic drugs they planned to sell, according to authorities.

A vehicle code violation led to the midday traffic stop involving an Uber driver in Thousand Oaks, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. Details regarding the violation were not immediately available, but deputies soon turned the focus of the stop to the vehicle's two back-seat passengers.

The men had a quarter-pound of "butane honey oil," a concentrated form of cannabis. Deputies determined that the passengers were on the way to sell the chemical, which can contain up to 80 percent of Delta 9 THC -- the active ingredient in marijuana.

The suspects were identified as Cody Jens, 24, of Agoura Hills, and Luke Karasiuk, 22, of Thousand Oaks. Jens' first court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 11, and Karasiuk is due in court Jan. 30, according to jail records.

It was not immediately clear whether the men obtained attorneys.

They had "well over a thousand dosage units" of the drug, also known as honey oil, wax and shatter, according to a statement from the sheriff's department. A typical dose of the hallucinogenic is about 1/10th of a gram.

Honey oil has been connected to several drug lab explosions in Southern California due to a chemical reaction during the production process that involves butane.

Both men were arrested on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance and booked into Ventura County Jail. The driver, who was not part of the narcotics offense, was not arrested.

A magic shop owner has claimed a huge chunk of his profits will vanish due to a forthcoming car-free party event being held outside his store.

Magic Apple proprietor Brent Geris was feeling less than wand-erful when he discovered street closures due to CicLAvia will prevent customers parking outside his premises for a lecture he is hosting on March 22.

Scottish gambling expert Paul Wilson was supposed to be appearing at the store for a special $40-per-ticket event teaching people how to create "miracles" with cards, however this may no longer go ahead due to the closures, which affect Lankershim and Ventura Boulevards.

"We charge a door fee, and they get a deck of cards and it's a couple of hours of learning," Geris said.

However he said the prospect of walking a few blocks is enough to dissuade his customers from making the trip to the event.

"They're not going to do it, they're not going come to this event," Geris said.

He claims the first time he learned about the event was when someone came into his shop and handed him a promotional flyer.

Geris is not the only one who feels like sawing the event organizers in half however.

For Nick Tsaturyan of Reno's Pizzeria claims the event will cost him cash, as Sunday is his busiest day of the week for delivering orders.

CicLAvia officials sent NBC 4 a statement, citing studies that say businesses along its routes receive more than a 50 per cent sales increase on the day of the event.

A mother and her 3-year-old daughter were killed Thursday morning in a fire that spread to two floors at an Inglewood apartment.

The two alarm blaze broke out on the 630 block of West Queen Street at around 2:30 a.m, Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

Family members identified the deceased victims as a 22-year-old mother, Angel Reed, and her 3-year-old daughter, Angelina. The coroner's officer confirmed early Thursday that two people died in the fire, but did not identify the victims.

The fire started in one unit on the first floor and spread to the second in the two-story building.

Neighbors said the mother and child were unaccounted for after the fire. Cheryl Kesse, who lived across the street, tried to help by bringing a water hose from her home. She said a man was in a state of shock as his wife and child were still in the building.

"He said his wife and his child were in there, and he just kept crying," Kessee said.

She also said he fell to the floor in grief when told the fire had turned fatal.

"Oh God, words can't describe (how sad the moment was). It just brought tears to my eyes," Kessee added.

Approximately 15 people have been displaced due to the fire, and the Red Cross is on the scene to provide aid. They have been allowed to return to their homes.

A cause was not immediately determined.

NBC4's Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report.

San Francisco police say a suitcase found in the South of Market neighborhood Wednesday afternoon contained dismembered body parts.

The suitcase was found after a caller reported a suspicious package near 11th and Mission streets at 4:14 p.m., according to police.

A medical examiner confirmed the remains are human, but police said it was unclear late Wednesday if all the remains belong to one victim.

Police said the incident brings San Francisco's homicide rate to 10 for the year.

Bay City New contributed to this report.

Back in January of 1971, the Baltimore Colts pulled off a miracle.

In a game later dubbed by some as the “Blunder Bowl,” the Colts beat the Cowboys 16-13 in Super Bowl V while also committing seven turnovers, the third-highest total in Super Bowl history.

In fact, the game was a monument to mistakes, with both teams combining for 11 turnovers.

But not one of those Colts turnovers was an interception returned for a touchdown. If it had been, Baltimore would have been doomed. In fact, if it happens to either the Seahawks or Patriots Sunday in Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz., history says that team also has no chance of winning.

As ESPN.com’s Gregg Easterbrook pointed out this week, teams that have returned interceptions for touchdowns in the 48 previous Super Bowls are 12-0. It all started when Green Bay's Herb Adderley returned an interception 60 yards in the Packers' victory over the Raiders in Super Bowl II.

“Get a pick-six, win the Super Bowl,” he wrote. “It’s pretty much that simple.”

If that’s the case, give the Seahawks the edge going into the 49^th Super Bowl.

The Seahawks – who had the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL this season -- have returned three interceptions for touchdowns this season. The Pats have zero. And in their careers, Tom Brady (2) has thrown more pick-sixes than Russell Wilson (1) – though Brady has played 15 seasons and Wilson is in only his third.

Both teams have been very careful with the football this season, however. In the 16 games of the regular season, the Patriots threw nine interceptions; the Seahawks threw just seven. On defense, New England picked off 16 passes, three more than Seattle.

Both head coaches, Pete Carroll of Seattle and Bill Belichick of New England, are defensive-minded coaches who preach the value of takeaways – but also drum it into their offensive units to take care of the football.

So, seemingly, a pick-six in Sunday’s Super Bowl might appear an unlikely prospect. Brady hasn’t won three Super Bowls by making careless mistakes in big games. Wilson, too, has developed a reputation for strong decision-making and winning close games.

Then again, Carroll’s ball-hawking ‘Hawks in practice and games are always out not only to make stops but “Get the Ball!” – one of the coach’s favorite phrases.

Said Carroll of his defensive philosophy with the Seahawks: “The defense can balance out a mistake or two by an offense by taking the football away. So it’s the No. 1 emphasis in the program.”

If the Seahawks do that Sunday, taking a Brady pass all the way back for six points, figure Carroll's bunch will be in line for their second Super Bowl rings.

A patient being treated at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento is suspected of having Ebola.

Hospital staff could be seen outside the facility Thursday morning wearing protective medical suits.

“A patient with symptoms consistent with Ebola infection was transferred to UC Davis Medical Center Thursday morning from Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento,” UC Davis said in a statement. “UC Davis, identified by the California Department of Public Health as a priority hospital to treat confirmed Ebola patients, is fully prepared to safely assess and treat the patient if necessary in accordance with guidelines established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The public can still access other parts of the medical center.

The emergency room at Mercy General was closed for cleaning, a hospital spokesperson said, KCRA-TV reporter Sharokina Shams wrote on Twitter. The spokesperson said the ER was expected to reopen sometime Thursday afternoon, Shams reported.

The patient, who recently traveled abroad, is considered "low risk" and had no known contact with infected people, according to a Sacramento County Health Department spokesperson.

UC Davis has not released information on who the patient is or how he or she possibly contracted the deadly virus, but county health officials in Sacramento also confirmed the possible Ebola case.

"Whenever there is a person displaying symptoms that may be Ebola, who has recently traveled to Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea, certain precautions are taken," said Dr. Gil Chavez, state epidemiologist for California.

The possible Ebola case came to light on Thursday, the same day the World Health Organization reported Ebola cases in three of the worst-hit West African countries are at the lowest level in seven months.

A former D.C.-area cab driver has been added to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.

Liban Haji Mohamed, 28, lived in Alexandria before leaving the United States in 2012. The FBI said he's a known supporter of Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda. He is wanted in connection with providing material support to those terrorist groups.

Mohamed is believed to have left the United States on July 5, 2012, with the intent to join Al-Shabaab in East Africa, according to the FBI. He should be considered armed and dangerous, the FBI said.

According to the FBI, Mohamed was a close associate of Zachary Chesser of Bristow, Virginia. Chesser was sentenced in 2011 to 25 years in prison for attempted material support to Al-Shabaab and for posting online threats against the creators of "South Park" over a 2010 episode he found insulting to the prophet Muhammad.

A federal warrant for Liban Haji Mohamed's arrest was unsealed Thursday in Virginia.

Mohamed, who was born in Somalia, speaks English, Somali and Arabic. He is six feet tall and weighs 194 pounds. He could be using aliases of Abu Ayrow, Shirwa or Shirwac, Qatiluhum and Qatil. The FBI said he is traveling with a U.S. passport that expires in May 2018.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

A convicted drug dealer has been charged with murder in the death of Fox executive Gavin Smith, whose remains were found more than a year ago in the desert north of Los Angeles.

John Creech, a 42-year-old convicted drug dealer, has been charged in the case, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office confirmed Thursday. Arraignment is scheduled for Monday.

Investigators determined that Smith, 57, had "a relationship" with Creech's wife, who he met during drug rehab, but have not provided details. Creech had been identified as a "person of interest" in the case and has been in custody on a drug charge.

Smith was last seen leaving a friend's house May 1, 2012, in the Oak Park area in a black 2000 Mercedes-Benz. His family sensed something was wrong when he did not pick up his teenage son from school.

Authorities have said they believe Smith was killed on the night of his disappearance. His remains were found by hikers in October 2013 in a remote area of Palmdale near Acton.

The investigation led to a search of Creech's West Hills home in July 2013 and a major break in the case occurred in February 2014 when authorities discovered Smith's black Mercedes-Benz at a storage building in Simi Valley. Investigators said Creech was linked to the storage unit.

Creech is serving an eight-year jail sentence after pleading no contest to a count of sale or transportation for sale of a controlled substance in September 2012, according to the district attorney's office.

Smith played basketball at UCLA and was part of the 1975 Bruins' championship team. He became an actor and later a film executive at 20th Century Fox.

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California appears to be facing a fourth consecutive dry year, with water reservoirs already at critically low levels, the results of the state's second snowpack survey suggest.

Snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where spring water runoff produces a vital source of water for more than 25 million Californians, are "dismally meager," according to the Department of Water Resources. The agency conducted its second manual snowpack survey of the season Thursday, confirming the below-normal levels reported by electronic sensors.

At Echo Summit, about 90 miles east of Sacramento, snowpack was at 12 percent of normal for this time of year. Statewide, levels are 25 percent of historical average, according to the water agency.

The numbers are even lower than the previous manual survey conducted in late December. January is typically one of California's wettest months of the year, but precipitation has been well below normal after a few storms brought rain and snow to the state in December.

"Unfortunately, today’s manual snow survey makes it likely that California’s drought will run through a fourth consecutive year," DWR officials said in a statement.

Heavy precipitation and cooler temperatures would be required over the next three months to provide any reason for optimism around California's water supply, according to the agency.

The snowpack measurement is an important factor in the drought forecast because spring runoff from the Sierras flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which then feeds California's major water reservoirs. Without adequate spring runoff, those reservoirs will remain at critically low levels into the dry, hot summer months.

For example, the State Water Project's principal reservoir, Lake Oroville in Butte County, contains just 41 percent of its capacity.

State climatologists estimate the state would need at least 150 percent of normal precipitation by the end of the water year, which is Sept. 30, if California has any chance of significant drought improvement.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in January 2014 and asked Californians to reduce water use by 20 percent. State records show its a figure residents have had difficulty meeting.

Hospital patients in Culver City were evacuated as smoke filled multiple floors at the facility Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

Firefighters were removing smoke from multiple floors of Southern California Hospital in Culver City after arriving shortly before 2 p.m. The Culver City and Los Angeles City fire departments were at the hospital, fire officials said.

Firefighters were checking the area for hazardous conditions, a Culver City fire official said in a statement, while patients evacuated or sheltered in place.

Patients, some on gurneys, packed the hospital's parking lot as seen in aerial footage by NewsChopper4.

Hospital officials did not immediately return requests for comment.

Hospitals conduct disaster drills with clear protocols, so staff should be better at evacuations than at other large buildings, according to NBC4's Dr. Bruce Hensel.

But it can still take hours to completely evacuate, because many patients are hooked up to machines in the wall whose connections need to be switched to portable kits.

Refresh this page for updates on this developing story.

A Wallingford man cleared of rape and murder charges and freed after 21 years behind bars will receive $6 million from the state for the ordeal he endured, officials said Thursday.

Kenneth Ireland was freed in 2009 when DNA evidence exonerated him of the rape and murder of Barbara Pelkey in 1989. Ireland was convicted of the crime more than two decades earlier on circumstantial evidence.

His $6 million award includes $2.5 million for "loss of liberty and enjoyment of life," $1.5 million for lost earnings," $300,000 for lost reputation, $1.5 million for physical and mental injuries and $200,000 for his expenses, according to a memorandum of decision from the Office of the Claims Commissioner.

Ireland was imprisoned from the age of 18 to 39, serving out nearly half a 50-year prison sentence, despite a lack of physical evidence connecting him to the crime.

He spent five years behind bars at Somers Prison, a maximum security facility, where he was exposed to "gang violence and administrative segregation," the memorandum said.

In 2000, Ireland was transferred to Wallens Ridge State Prison in Virginia, another maximum security facility "notorious for its poor treatment of inmates," according to the memorandum.

He was later moved to the Macdougall-Walker correctional facility in Suffield, where Ireland spent 21 hours per day in his cell, the document says. He was considered a "high security risk" and was targeted by other inmates.

"Mr. Ireland was wrongfully convicted and was labeled a murderer and sex offender and was forced to spend a long portion of his life in maximum security prisons, where he experienced twenty one years of violence, sleepless nights and the constant fear and hopelessness that he would die in prison as an innocent man," the state memo explained.

The Connecticut Innocence Project began probing the case in 2007. Ireland was freed two years later, and the real criminal was convicted in March 2012, according to the memorandum.

After his release, Ireland detailed the suffering he endured for more than two decades in prison serving time for a crime he didn't commit.

"Not one moment in my entire 21 years did I not have fear," Ireland explained. "You'd look up and there'd be 30 inmates, and everyone would have a sharpened piece of steel and they would just start stabbing other inmates."

His attorneys had originally asked the state for between $5.4 and $8 million for Ireland's wrongful incarceration. The state claims commissioner announced Thursday that Ireland will receive $6 million from the state.

Gov. Dannel Malloy called Ireland "a man of extraordinary character who endured the unimaginable pain of two decades of wrongful incarceration, and yet is not only without bitterness, but is incredibly thoughtful, insightful and committed to public safety and service."

"Nothing could ever replace the two decades of life as a free man that were wrongfully taken away from him, separated from his family and friends," Malloy said in a statement Thursday.

At least one person was killed in a crash in Wilmington, police said.

The crash happened at 3:16 p.m. in the 300 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Wilmington, officials said.

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