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tv   ABC 7 News  ABC  December 25, 2010 8:00am-9:00am PST

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good morning, rer ri christmas. thanks for joining it's this morning. 12 smeel somali men are being held in rotterdam. dutch authorities detained them after word they were planning a terror attack in the netteder lands. no intended target has been determined yet. heightened alert in embassys this week. here in the u.s. the weather is hampering travels in the southeast. delta cancelled 500 flights nationwide because of snowfalls,
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that includes 300 of the 800 departures from the atlanta hub. they say all its passengers have been advised of the cancellations. they are go among several carriers that need to reschedule flights over the weekend. so far so good on the west coast. let's get a check on the forecast with kristine hanson. >> we don't have any rainfall quite yet but a line of showers will produce some rain. it will produce some wind. national weather service has issued a wind advisory that will be 7:00 this morning to 4:00, even stronger gusts along the coast. all of this will produce rain for us and snow in the sierra. we'll have the accu-weather forecast coming up. rain here means more snow in the sierra with some 260 inches,
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that disclose to a record. -- that is close to a record. >> the ski areas are expecting the busiest week of the year. >> i started boarding a long time ago but i have a lot of fun. >> shops are benefiting from a trickle down effect of tourists including this one from monday reyal. >> it's so cute. >> road in the mountains are clear right now but a winter storm advisory kicks in later today. residents of one of the southern california towns hardest hit by this week's storms have gotten a small break. dozens of people returned to their homes in a community of high land yesterday. they were given only two hours to salvage what they could, from christmas presents to important
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documents. >> certificates for my family. >> get most of the christmas presents? >> most of them. >> damage estimates in highland are at $17 million. state of emergency has been declared in nine counties including los angeles, orange and santa barbara. unfortunately more rain is in the forecast for today. >> homes for the holidays have a different meaning for people in san bruno. for 37 families there is no home to come back to not since the explosion. wayne freedman reports on what has been a surreal christmas for survivors of the blast. >> her soften and grandson lived. >> on the homecoming some will be better than others. in the san bruno fire zone,
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carolyn gray say it's a mixed bag at best. >> we want to see where the old house wasn't, i guess you would say. >> in a place that were charred by flames there are still where the numbers just remain. >> going back of life and here is comes the detour. >> they feel the burden. try living across the street from the burning scape as bob does. >> sometimes i leave my blinds shut during the day. >> locals say they have seen enough of the hole in the ground that killed eight of their neighbors. for all the damage and for all the loss of life it really could have been worse. the saving grace, that on the night of the explosion, kids and parents came down to a back to school night. otherwise they would have been here. >> the last time we saw bob
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mcnichols he was counting his blessings, his house survived the fire but only by inches. >> i have a pretty good appreciation for things i didn't before. life is precious and every day is a good one. >> and every day he sees progress. in san bruno most people do. this would be the season of moving on. >> it's coming back over and over again, it helps to realize it's really gone. >> at least for now. in other news, work another sewer line that ruptured in marin county is wrapping up but it turns out much much more spilled than anybody imagined. general manager blames the spill on a 30-year-old sewer pipe that failed but another 840,000 gallon spill is being blamed on construction debris that clogged the line.
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>> rags were in there. we have large piece of dry, black asphalt. big chunks. >> they said the firm cleaned and video inspected the lines prior to be serviced in august. some blame the district for turning off the pumping station. they will distribute toys about an hour from now that were collected in a successful toy drive. the goal was to collect 10,000 toys and they collected 15,000, thanks to they say to the goodwill of many people. >> the toys have been coming, some dropped them off by foot and others took advantage of the curbside drop-off. >> i thought it would be nice to
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give to see little smiles. >> o'doul's restaurant and firefighters union have been working together to provide toys for needy children. their goal is 10,000 toys. they appear to be on track since people like rachel from san francisco. we've been incredibly lucky. >> the big surprise, lefty o'doul's presented the firefighters union for a check of a&m,000. the restaurant has been charging for photos with santa. now all that money will go to the toy program. >> i was definitely surprised by the amount for gifts, that amount only came from this alone. people are still donating money and gifts. >> the season is still in gear.
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st. anthony's, here it's not toys but scarves that have been coming in. >> they come in every day. it's like a stack. did you see this one. >> all are hand knit made especially for the scarf give away. they started working on the craft and st. anthony's has 7,000 scarves which they plan to hand out christmas day. coming up, a real life case of grinch that stole christmas. also an east bay dog owner is reunited with both of his lost pets. one came home with a gunshot wound. this morning, we show
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pope benedict xvi attended the midnight mass. had he led a procession up and down the aisle without incident. there was is concern because? recent days of incidents at two roman embassies. this year nothing disrupted the
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services. he recalled the better of jesus and called on people to become more like him. in downtown san jose christmas was celebrated with a special midnight mass. that is not the video. that is another story we are going to tell you about, but there was a christmas eve that hundreds took part in the cathedral of st. joseph's. it became aish irish as early as 1803. we'll show you that picture, ain't oakland man, he is celebrating a christmas because his dog was reunited with him. they ran away last week when a contractor left the door open. one dog was found earlier this week with a broken leg but he is home pending another visit to the vet on monday. a woman recognized the other dog
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on a lost dog notice. she gave him a bath and called brad. >> you heard of the grinch that stole christmas. one family is looking for the person who stole the grinch. these pictures were sent to us by mary hollis. someone made off with the eight-foot grinch. the homeowners were home when the robbery took place and it would have taken two people or two grinches to carry it off. >> if you are planning to take bay area transit, bart and muni are running on a sunday schedule this morning. author foes driving, meters will not be enforced but there is one big exception. parking meters in fishermen's wharf and embarcadero are always in effect even on christmas, 365 days a year. i know.
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>> there is going to be some rainfall, right? >> looking at the camera you would say let's go outside and enjoy the weather. but this from emeryville, we have some rays of sunshine and some clouds off shore. we have a little bit of everything. christmas day forecast looks like what is it's going to look like. >> and christmas shopping went right up to closing and continuing tomorrow with christmas sales. ♪
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welcome back. merry christmas. you are looking at a live shot from the roof cam on top of our building. as you can see, a little bit of cloud cover, palm trees swaying a little bit. we're going to have rain coming in later on today. kristine hanson will have our christmas day forecast in just a bit. >> shoppers, last night, lots of last minute shopping going on all around the bay area. toys 'r' us in san jose stayed o'very late to give procrastinators one last chance. sales will top $451 billion.
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that is up 3% from last year. >> things are looking up for retailers this holiday season and the rush of last minute shoppers could turn good sales figures in great ones. at concord, sun valley mall, high-priced jewelry, a big change from last year was high-priced seller. >> it's been a strong season, some of the strongest numbers in years. in fact it may be the strongest season we've ever had. it's really great. >> last minute shoppers were clearly going for items that wouldn't be considered bench. >> we have been selling the hover craft right there. >> but the last minute rush are driven by men who make up 60% of the crowd, twice the normal number. >> why you come out the last day
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>> people are starting to get into it. >> and then there are those looking for bargains? >> i found lots of deals. i bought a nice sweater for a friend. >> because of the economy and helping them through. >> reporter: shopping isn't the only last minute task at sun valley. it was always the final day to get your picture taken with a certain someone. >> you are now coming to see santa? >> yes. shopping got done but not santa. >> reporter: the santa visiting area is big big and eild iem told by management that sales of the photo packages are up this year. did you get all your christmas shopping done? >> i did. i was out late last night. >> it's mostly men.
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>> i had to do one thing thing. >> let's go outside. san jose, first of all, getting light showers being reported out at the airport. you can see thick clouds moving in but you can also see a little ray of sunshine. we have a mixture of weather and fog in the north bay this morning. winds are out of the east in san jose. 53 degrees. this is from mount tam but also the picture of the city. earlier today we had all the lights on in the city. merry christmas to you. at least the early part of our christmas day will be dry. midday we'll start to see some of this rain begin to move in as we are already seeing a few light showers. heavier rain is still a ways down. this is an interesting storm because it's really going to
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wind up and move through with a lot of wind throughout the afternoon hours and then be gone. we should see the showers end overnight tonight and rain by next week but we'll get a couple dry days, sunday and monday. our temperatures are in the 40s. 45 in santa rosa. we have reduced visibility in north bay valleys and also in central valley but cloud cover so it limited some of that fog effect this morning. 55 in san francisco. 53 in oakland. 55 in redwood city. san jose, 53 degrees. here is the storm system, stretches down to california, pacific northwest. then it just comes out and puts this cold air one after another. this storm system is going to move on through, bring the rain and gusty winds. winds will pick up at the airport, now about 20-30 miles an hour in the last few hours. we do have a winter storm advisory, into the watch, in
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effect and we have one to two feet of snow with snow levels starting out high, 6500 feet but it will come back below that below 5,000 feet. a wind voices that started at 7:00 a a.m. this morning until 4:00 this afternoon. stronger southeast winds coastside and in the hills. increasing cloudiness with mostly cloudy day and day time temperatures in the upper 50s in the mid and upper 50s. san jose farther south, mid to upper 50s and some moderate rain monterey bay, central coast and southern california getting some rainfall. here is the forecast quick moving storm moving through today and snow in the sierra, one to two feet more.
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dry weather on monday and tuesday but another strong storm system for mid-week and then we dry out for the new year's holiday. >> some people already have their destinations ready but will be driving home tomorrow. >> thanks so much, christine. >> in sports, raiders face a big challenge if they hope to make it to the playoffs. two college basketball players apologize for getting into a brawl in the stands. >> merry christmas everybody. if the raiders are going to keep their playoff hopes alive they have to figure out how to stop peyton manning. it will be blacked out locally. the colts, they are fighting to make the playoffs themselves. they got one of best quarterbacks everybody. manning is constantly changing plays and the raiders know very
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well what they are up against. >> playing against one of the greatest quarterbacks, peyton manning he is going to be on top of his game. with the quick counts and no huddle. everybody stayed calm out there. >> i think it's going to be a great physical challenge. any time you play in the n.f.l. it's a challenge. this is a physical group. >> the 5-9 niners, must win for san francisco. forget about the record, the rams are way ahead of schedule. >> i think before the season, if you were to ask whether they had a shot of playoffs, the only people would have told you differently are the guys in this building. the fact that we're still in it right now, it's just pays
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tribute for all the hard work that we've put in. >> college football, the hawaii bowl against tulsa in a shootout. let's all do it everybody, the hocka. >> here is he hits him. john new englanders and nobody seems to be interesting in tackling him. 46 yards. next possession, brian fires a strike but to sulta linebacker and that is not hurricane touchdown. they get within 6. 34-28, tulsa wins it. aloha, 67 yards, tulsa crushes hawaii in this game. wow!
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26-35. >> warriors have to have jeff curry back from that sprained ankle but lost one of their sister coaches. steven silas leaving for charlotte. he had a great relationship with the players especially with curry, but when his dad paul silas was hired at interim coach of the bobcats, they offered his son a spot. so it will be silas and silas on the bench. we've got a christmas day n.b.a. doubleheader coming up for you, celtics and magic, followed by the heat and lakers. the team is not buying into the hype. >> it's for the fans, very excited about it and pretty much like a final. >> its christmas day game.
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get out there and play and play hard, enjoy the day after its it's over. >> fight night for two members of the mississippi basketball team. they ended up brawling in the stands. they were in the crowd and right in the middle of everybody, bailey 6'8", 265, what saturday it? apparently he wouldn't move his legs out of aisle when he wanted to get up. the mother trying to get the child out of harm's way. both players have apologized but they have been sent home and suspended indefinitely. >> that is wrap on morning sports. have a merry christmas everybody. i'm larry beil. >> programming reminder for this christmas day, we're carrying an n.b.a. special, a doubleheader, first at 11:00 this morning,
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boston celtics and then the miami heat take on the lakers. spend your christmas day with us. we would appreciate it. we'll show you how troops in afghanistan and iraq are celebrating christmas. but first, a holiday greeting from a northern california service member. today, we gather to recognize the selfless decision of one of the most influential women of our time. the woman who, after having one too many drinks, chose not to drive home buzzed. here today to honor rachel is the family whose lives she spared.
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good morning, i'm janelle wang, it's about 8:30. first, the forecast. >> good morning. merry christmas to you. wind is starting to pick up. clouds are rolling and the rain is just off shore as you can see
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from live doppler. rain will sneak in today and continue to see some of the cold air follow. that means snow nor for the sierra. we'll have the complete forecast coming up in a few minutes. a storm is expected to bring rare snowfall to parts of the southeast. delta is cancelling 500 flights nationwide that includes 300 of the scheduled 800 flights from atlanta hub. it's recommending passengers not travel today if they can help it. the other carriers are waving penalties for travelers that have to cancel their trips this weekend. >> they are still digging out in southern california as another storm is headed their way. they have issued a storm warning expected to hit today. here a report.
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>> number one priority is all of your safety and all of the personnel that will be assisting you. >> after a quick briefing residents were allowed to go back home but only for a short two hours to retrieve critical documents they will need in order to apply for aid. >> this certificate from my family. >> reporter: her documents survived burr her home did not. it was filled with five feet of mud. the only way in which were her children and grandchildren collected her belongings. >> those are important to me. >> reporter: three houses down, diane torres and her husband were helping their son-in-law. they collected clothes in plastic trash bags. the items were stacked up around
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their home that has been in the family for three generations. >> we have to get it back wait it was before. >> reporter: meanwhile, residents have been angry. the flood control district and drainage channel bit through the neighborhood. >> it was a total mistake. it's just horrible that all the drainage from that destroyed houses. >> reporter: the governor has declared the area a disaster. it's awaiting the president's signature so disaster relief funds can be moved into the area. >> in other news this morning, 12 somali men are being held on suspicious of terrorism. dutch authorities detained them on friday after getting word they were planning a terror attack in the netherlands. there is no immediate information on the intended target. european officials or high alert because of the attack on two
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embassies in rome earlier this week. the men were taken into custody after a tip came in from intelligence services. in afghanistan, a brief respite for u.s. troops. they may not be home for the holidays. there is a christmas tree there and a chance to kickback. in iraq, some troops had more solemn moments attending services attending a church. 68 people were killed at the church back in october. >> a beaming president and smiling first lady extended their holiday greetings to the nation. >> merry christmas everybody. mir shell and i just wanted to take a moment to send greetings from our family to yours. >> this is one of our favorite times of the year and we are able to celebrate together in this wonderful room. obamas opened up the white
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house to more than 100,000 visitors who got to see what the home of the first family looked like when it's all decked out for christmas. the troops should especially be remembered this christmas day. >> passengers aboard a plane did make it to los angeles after their flight from sfo made an emergency landing. a cockpit indicator light showed a possible mechanical problem on board. it landed safely in oakland and passengers were put aboard another flight to l.a. after a short delay. southwest officials say the indicator light was faulty and there were no problems with the plane. >> a northern california pilot who blew the whistle on security at other airports is subject to investigation. tsa is looking into whether the videos he uploaded to youtube revealed sensitive information. his attorney doesn't want the
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pilot to be on camera because he is employed by a major airline. george warren has more with our sacramento afelt yacht. >> i saw the whole system. >> the airline pilot who posted a cell phone video is ready to talk about why he did it. even though he is not quite ready for us to reveal his identity. >> i just tried to address my concerns and voice it on youtube >> in the video the pilot points what he considers a bizarre security arrangement where flight crews must pass through a checkpoint while ground crews swipe a card to get access. >> how effective is the security when everybody is board is screened and everybody on the ground isn't? >> within days of the video appearing on youtube a team of
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four federal agents and two sheriff's deputies arrived to confiscate his federally issued handgun and badge. >> i was surprised by the response. it was a little bit of overkill. i could have dropped it in a bag and sent it fed ex. so they sent six people to pick up a handgun and a bag. >> the test pilot and commercial airline pilot says the government's response was an obvious attempt to intimidate him. in the video he never lost his cool. >> why am i on suspension? >> i really don't get intimidated. i fly helicopters, jets, we're trained to handle emergencies without panicking. >> this little video project has cost the pilot of his position as a federal deck officer, but he says it was worth it.
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>> really, the only way this news story got attraction because of the government's response. >> in sacramento, george warren, "abc 7 news." >> since his exclusive report first aired a sfo spokesmen says the crews must pass vigorous security checks and identification procedures before access to any aircraft. >> an oakland city leader is in trouble with the law after being arrested in the annual drunk driving crackdown. the chp arrested ignacio de la fuente, they efficiently stopped him for speeding. they describe him as being impaired. councilmember failed a field sobriety test. he was release today his wife's custody. he has not comment publicly about his arrest. let's take a look at
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christmas day forecast. so far so good but rain is on the way. >> we're starting to see a few returns show up on hd live doppler. let's take a look from vollmer peak, looking at mounts diablo, a finger of fog but we have a lot of clouds and rain and wind, all that stuff moving in our direction. we'll have the complete accu-weather forecast coming up. >> and snowy sierra is offering some of the bebebebebebebebebebe
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you are looking at a live picture from hd camera in emeryville. this is the calm before the storms. i hope you are enjoying your christmas. we're going to have some rain. kristine hanson will be here with the forecast. >> we have an amazing home to
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show you that is all decked out for the holidays. they sent this to us through ureport. it's located on capri way in rohnert park. it takes him 30 days to make the display of lights. kids love it. upload your pictures to us. please be sure to tell us your name and the location of the display so if we air it we can tell people where it is. >> what they are asking you not to do is light that wood burning fire playing. officials are asking residents to voluntarily refrain from making a fire this weekend to prevent the need for spare the air alert. many people use their fireplaces this time of the year. wood smoke is the largest source of pollution in the bay area. a know a lot of people will be trying to stay warm and a little
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breezy. >> it's going to be very windy. it's just one of those things. >> by the way, it was 50 at south shore lake tahoe. right now, with the wind blowing but very strong winds over the ridge tops as the storm system moves. in plenty of snow, beautiful weather you can see the sunshine in the shadows. we're going see more snow added to already abundant snow pack over the next 24 hours. this is our live doppler 7 showing some rain offshore. a few light showers popping up here and there. you can see the transamerica pyramid, we're watching clouds move overhead and we'll see this rain moving through quickly. there is going to be rather
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windy. we're starting off quiet right now but things will pick up a little later. the storms have been very contained. our showers should end tonight. lingering showers in the mountains and then a brief break on monday before we see more rain develop on tuesday and wednesday. chilly in the north bay, fog, 45 degrees. fairfield, 48 degrees. outlying areas in the 40s around the bay. readings in the mid 50s. 55 redwood city. 54 in mountain view. 53 degrees, fremont. >> here how it looks. dry conditions. a little bit of fog rolling in. heavier rain still offshore and then that band moves onshore and we'll see about half an inch of rain for san francisco.
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areas of south of us in the santa cruz mountains will get heavier amounts of rain. storm system has a lot of intensity on the southern portion of it into central and southern california. everything clearing out later tonight but it could trigger a few showers late today tomorrow. here is the time frame. here is front itself. that is meeting up with the colder air and that moves on through. once it moves into the sierra, snow levels will start high as we talk about record temperatures in some of the valley spots yesterday. we'll see that snow level lower overnight tonight. truckee, 12 degrees and wide variety of temperatures in the sierra. here is rainfall totals, predictable. we'll see how the storm lingers. winter storm advisory in effect. it has been downgraded, one to two feet of snow. wind gusts up to 60 and we saw the live picture.
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wind advisories remain and winds out of southeast. anywhere from 20-30 with gusts higher around the coast. mid 50s. heavier rain, monterey, mid to upper 50s in the south bay and accu-weather seven-day forecast, drier weather tomorrow and monday. stronger storm system, tuesday and wednesday. vacation week for most people even if it's not, we operate under that mode. dry weather for new year's day. >> thanks so much. >> she was talking about the snow and skiers are getting the ultimate christmas present. john alston gives us a look at christmas conditions at north star in tahoe. >> this is a christmas to remember in lake tahoe where the monster storms are drawing
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skiers and snowboarders center the barrier. >> i have a lot of fun. >> northstar had already reached most of the average annual snowfall and it's only been about a month. >> we've had more snow sings 1997. 70% has already amplify. >> north shore casinos like the chris cal bay is coming off a bad time of the year because of economy but they are expecting to make it up in the next few weeks. >> what has it done for your business? >> we were in the midst of it it slowed down, but obviously it's cleared down and the roads are open. we anticipate, like i said, record setting business. >> reporter: the shops and cafes of truckees are bringing go in the clouds including a first timer from montreal, canada. >> we landed we thought we
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landed in at farm. it's so cute. >> it's the time of year that business owners live for and it's only getting better with this perfect storm. >> it started out quiet, the rain and snow, now, it's been very good because it clears, the roads are clear. there is still lots of snow and it's beautiful. >> reporter: business is up, they say since the beginning of the week. more snow on the way. so far they've gotten 260 inches around here. that is very close to a record. on the way up here, the roads were virtually bone dry. as we know, more snow is on the way. next a story, two adults taking them on an airplane ride. come aboard a b-17 bomber that brings back memories.
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today, we gather to recognize the selfless decision of one of the most influential women of our time. the woman who, after having one too many drinks, chose not to drive home buzzed. here today to honor rachel is the family whose lives she spared.
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beautiful christmas morning, merry christmas everyone! we hope you are having a great day. we are going to have breezy and rainy conditions. as we get to the last week of the year, we looked at wayne freedman, any of his favorite stories and this one has to do with a greatest generation. this one made a sentimental journey last spring. >> when a b-17 the sight and sounds had a lot of memories. >> the gunners would use this one. >> his sons have been counting on that. >> there were a lot of heroes came out of '40s and i think my father was one of them. >> the only time he brings up the subject is somebody mention
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it. >> getting tired? >> no. >> reporter: before going to the admissions office at san jose state university, he spent 20 years in the air force, a career documented by photographs and all the stuff on the kitchen table. >> this is one of missions, i don't remember which one it was. >> he flew 24 missions, piloting one of those b-17s over germany. he named ruthless. >> we hoped to be ruthless in a vicious sense but i was ruthless without my wife. her name was ruth. >> actually, three world war ii planes came into moffett a moving museum. >> many of them haven't spoken
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about it and the first time their children or grandchildren what it was that grandpa did. >> or in this case, what dad did. >> i don't know how much longer we'll be having them, to capture this moment with him going into the plane again, with us, it's really important. >> the flight would last 30 minutes but carried roy and his son 65 years into a family's unspoken lore. >> roy could easily have been one of 30,000 americans that died in b-17's. >> we all in knew what we were doing and if it happened, it hatched, that's all. >> but for all the fun they had, there san irony, having flown ruthless 24 times during the war, he did this day in the most literal sense, she passed away
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six years ago. >> i'm sentimental about my marriage. >> he did not linger on that for long, however. >> when the flight ended he posed maybe for his last picture ever with a b-17. a father and son connecting a life in the family history came full circle. >> is anything easier at 91 years old? >> loving my sons is easier. >> roy. thank you so much for all your service. you look wonderful in that plane. what a great story. >> next stop, a trend in baby births. why doctors are evaluatingf!f!f@
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here are the six numbers of the mega millions lottery game. mega number was 16. nobody picked all six so the jackpot goes to $196 million for tuesday's drawing. >> there is another baby newsom on the way. baby montana will have a little brother in june. due date is june 19 is also her birthday. they plan to stay in san francisco while the new lieutenant governor commutes to his new job in sacramento. >> a dramatic increase in the
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number of women giving birth early. that is according to california watch. these findings raise serious concerns for the well-being of both mothers and their children. here is carolyn johnson. >> pregnant woman wnim america are giving birth a week earlier than they were in 1992. that is the finding of california watch reporter nathaniel johnson. >> it's pretty much been the same. >> normal length is 40 weeks, according to researchers and data compiled at cdc, the average is 39 weeks, a full seven days earlier. >> what they just found is undoubtedly true that there is a decrease in the average age of birth in america. >> he is a director of california maternal care collaborative a
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group that evaluates best practices for delivering babies. he says a full term pregnancy is defined as 39 to 41 weeks. he believes the week lost in the last 20 years is probably not having a significant impact on the health of most infants. >> what we are telling all of our mothers, you really ought to wait 39 weeks, if everything is going fine, and not intervene. >> would reason for the increase in early dloovs may be because more women are scheduling childbirth for convenience. one study of nearly 18,000 deliveries showed 9.6% were scheduled c-sections. that may explain some of the early deliveries and others may be better care. >> we're doing a much better job of identifying the true due dates. we no longer have mothers going past their due dates. >> a number of groups are encouraging doctors not to
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deliver babies early. >> the interesting thing that everybody has known about for a long time. now, they are finally saying, okay, we should do something about this. >> you can read more of california watch report this monday in san francisco chronicle or online at california watch.org. >> final check of the forecast. >> let's check it out. we have live doppler action going on. showers are beginning to move into the region. gusty winds expected. accu-weather 78 forecast, windy day and partly sunny skies on sunday. then we have dry weather and dry weather for new year's eve and new year's day. >> we have a doubleheader. n.b.a. a doubleheader, starting at 11:00 this morning.
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