Port chief under investigation *

The U.S. Attorney has subpoenaed the emails of Port of Los Angeles executive director Larry Keller, as part of the unfolding probe of possible city department corruption, the Times' Noam Levey reports today. Keller and Julia Nagano, the port's director of public affairs, also have been called to testify before a federal grand jury. The subpoena wants Keller's email back to June 2001, the month that Mayor Jim Hahn's administration took office. Levey writes that the feds and local investigators have been collecting documents from the city departments that manage the port, airports and water and power. * Added: Copley's David Zahniser also had the news in this morning's paper, with some more detail, but the erratic Daily Breeze website didn't get it posted until late afternoon.

Speaking of the harbor, Robert Gelfand writes in The American Reporter about watching from his San Pedro living room window as the U.S. trade imbalance accumulates. Container ships come in full and leave mostly empty.

Previously on L.A. Observed: Subpoenas for Fleishman, City probe ratchets up