Number one in Southern California, Channel 7, KABC-TV, Los Angeles.
Now, the Southland's leading news, Eyewitness News at 11.
The high winds are wreaking havoc right now in the Southland, plus causing a great deal of problems for the Goodyear Blimp.
Good evening, here's the latest at 11.20 on this Sunday night, and gusty winds roared into Southern California tonight, causing power outages and keeping that Goodyear Blimp from landing at its Carson base.
Nearby residents told Eyewitness News the airship dove dangerously close to the ground, then rose into the sky several times as wind gusts tossed it around like a cork.
Several residents said the blimp came within a couple of hundred feet of their route.
It made numerous attempts at landing, its engines at full throttle, but each time it was blown away.
That airship will make one more effort to land out there, and if it can't, it will have to head down to San Diego and try to land there.
We will have updates on this story later in Eyewitness News.
Earlier tonight, the winds caused a power outage in the Hollywood area.
A tree branch fell onto a power line, and 400 homes and apartments were suddenly plunged into darkness.
The power was restored by 9-15, and no problems were reported by police as a result of the outage there.
The winds also brought cold weather and a lot of discomfort for the homeless on Skid Row tonight.
Rich Rodriguez has that story.
Before 9 tonight, the fires were going strong on L.A. Skid Row.
Many people were getting prepared for a cool but hopefully dry night.
Others weren't taking any chances, as they sought refuge at a city-owned shelter.
The Salvation Army operates a 225-bed shelter, which used to be a print shop.
It also serves meals.
We've been open here a little over three weeks, and we take people in.
We take in about 225 people, and we feed them a good meal and give them a nice warm place to stay at night.
Every night, three people are turned away at the shelter.
Grace Mullin says the key to getting a warm night's rest is standing in line early.
They open the door at 6, so I would say 4.30 is a good time to be here,
and then you assure yourself of being here early enough to be one of the ones that can get in.
David Doyle has been spending his nights on the street, but he decided tonight to seek shelter to escape the cold weather.
Basically, I'm trying to put everything back together, because I have a pretty good work record.
Due to things that happen, you run into these problems every now and then.
Until I can get everything straight now, I guess that's where you have to stay.
Tonight's low is expected to be near 50, but when you add the wind chill factor, that computes to another chilly night for L.A.'s homeless.
In downtown Los Angeles, Rich Rodriguez, Channel 7, I with us news.
There was a happy reunion tonight at the Rampart Division police station in Los Angeles.
Nearly 20 hours after he was reported missing, 4-year-old Danny Ayala was back in the arms of his mother and his step-father.
All day, police had been searching the neighborhood surrounding the home of Danny's aunt and uncle.
They were babysitting the youngster when he simply walked out of the house, something he has been known to do in the past.
A police officer actually found him around 2 a.m. on a nearby street corner, but it wasn't until late today that detectives realized that this was the same boy,
because Danny had given Lopez as his last name. That's the name of his step-father.
While he was in good hands during his absence, he was at a foster care home under the care of the County Department of Children's Services.
In Lebanon today, fierce fighting continued around the Palestinian refugee camps as Christian and Muslim militia battled with artillery, mortar, and machine guns.
The fighting there prevented United Nations relief workers from getting supplies into the camps,
but an Amal militia spokesman now says that three trucks will be allowed in there tomorrow.
In Garden Grove today here in the Southland, former Lebanon hostage, Father Lawrence Genco, was a guest at services at the Crystal Cathedral.
I don't think it's a question of religion. I think it's a question of power.
It's also a question of trying to resolve some of the great injustices that are going on in that part of the world.
I think we as Americans have to be aware of what's happening in that part of the world.
First of all, we don't know too much about Islam. We might study something about Islam.
At least see some concepts we have in common. We believe in one God.
They reverence the Lord Jesus. They reverence medium. The Father of faith is Abraham.
At least we can build on those concepts. We don't want to separate people off. That's not love.
And Father Genco says Americans can help gain the release of the remaining hostages by praying for their freedom.
Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in Los Angeles today to protest proletarian regimes on opposite sides of the world.
Iran, Iran, Iran!
This week marks the 8th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
And hundreds of anti-Homani exiles march the occasion by marching in front of the West L.A. Federal Building.
They demanded an end to arms sales and negotiations between the Reagan administration and the Iranian government.
Meanwhile, a group of anti-Santinista demonstrators showed up at Wilshire and Alvarado today.
They were asking for continued aid to the contra-rebels in Nicaragua, saying it's the
only way to stop Russian and Cuban influence from spreading throughout the hemisphere.
Joanne.
Harold, a top Soviet official announced on a U.S. network TV show today that Soviet dissident
Joseph Beggin is being released from captivity after four years in prison.
This past week, Soviet plainclothes police officers kicked and beat demonstrators on
the streets of Moscow who were demanding Beggin's release.
But so far, there has been no other official Soviet confirmation of Beggin's release.
Well, the invasion is underway here on ABC of what many people are calling the television
event of the year.
It's a $35 million, 14-hour mini-series that has stirred up quite a bit of controversy
across the nation.
Tonight, Lonnie Larson begins a special series of reports called The Storm Over America.
The Russians are coming!
The Russians are coming!
Soviet troops on U.S. soil.
It's not a plot new to Hollywood, but in the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, The Russians
Are Coming, it was strictly for laughs as a Soviet sub blundered onto the New England
coast.
As commander of the civilian forces in this emergency, I'm charging you with treason.
Get out!
Get out!
Get out!
Get out!
Get out!
Get out!
Get out!
But it was no laughing matter in the more recent drama Red Dawn as U.S. teenagers became
guerrilla fighters to battle the invading communist forces.
But in 1987, the Cold War is heating up over America, which depicts the futuristic occupation
of the United States by the Soviets following a bloodless takeover.
Where was all that patriotism when it counted?
Where was that willingness to sacrifice?
Nobody wanted to join the damn army to defend the country unless it got paid well.
The Soviet Union was not amused by its fictional conquest, and at one time it threatened to
close the ABC News Bureau in Moscow.
In the framework of the Soviet policy, it's absolutely absurd, absurd, absurd, absurd,
absurd conception.
But now even the Soviets want to air the series to show its public an example of what they
call American anti-Soviet hysteria.
One, two, three, four, ABC is promoting war.
America has its critics in this country as well, with liberals attacking it as a red-bashing
film and conservatives scoffing at the idea of the U.S. giving up without a fight.
It promotes a lot of lies.
The Soviet Union wants to invade the United States.
The United States is so weak that any nation could invade if they wanted to.
One cable station, WTBS, has launched its own anti-American campaign with programs promoting
U.S.-Soviet relations.
Owner Ted Turner describes America as a hate film.
We should not be using the medium to foster hatred or prejudice or bigotry or misunderstanding,
and this program does all four of those things in my opinion.
Senator Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca, the company with the slogan, Born in America.
He has pulled $5 million in ads from the miniseries, calling it too intense and emotional.
When a small, very vocal group, however well-meaning they may think they are in their own terms,
can make a major sponsor pull out of a project because it is controversial, that is a very
frightening prospect.
Tomorrow night at 11 on Eyewitness News, the storm over America continues with reactions
from the left and the right, even the United Nations.
In Hollywood, Lonnie Lardner, Channel 7, Eyewitness News.