>> oprah's jaw-dropping family secret. >> oprah's jaw-dropping family secret. the miracle reunion. >> look to assignment 7. today on our program.... >> you stick it right into the .... >> airport security issue, just how easy it is to pick a luggage lock and thieves already know how. >> a bombing left an iraqi board deaf. now, he is reunited with his family in the bay area and he can hear it all. >> we'll take you inside the bay area animation studio that is the birthplace of shrek. >> we begin with the state's court system. judiciary policy body recently approved spending hundred

million dollars on a computer system with a history of glitches. it comes at a time when the courts are laying off workers and cutting hours. >> most of on the million will go to building for ccsn. it will link all counties into one computerized system but it's been controversial because of the many glitches, delays and rising costs, now estimated at more than $1 billion when completed. most of the judicial council members that spoke defend had the project. >> i hear judges say it's broken or ineffective i don't understand where it comes from. >> this the plan we've been committed for ten years. we need to see it through. >> but some judges wondered if the money is being spent appropriately. >> it's also a pry yort to keep the courts open. my view it is should be top

priority. >> they have been enduring furloughs and other cuts. they believe it's going to get tougher. >> this is direest budget cycle we've ever seen and there is going to be big cuts than the past year. >> they seem to spend the taxpayer's money as if it were there own. >> they are the members of the alliance of california judges working for reforms in the judiciary. >> if there is any money it should be moved to the trial courts, not away. >> and the chief executive the courts which is $1.2 million in the hole. >> every friday we'll have 25% less than we normally would have. >> san francisco is one of four county courts said they will have to cut operations because of the lack of money. starting in january, in addition to the rolling furloughs, the clerk's office will close early

at noon er friday. >> these limited service hours will mean fewer available service time for clerks at our windows to receive filings. >> vic lee, "abc 7 news." there could be an easier way to screen airline passengers without radiation or pat-downs. as david louie reports, it's technology being developed that focuses on the eyes. >> how fast passengers could clear security. at a turnstile they are recognized as trusted travelers by checking their iris. it takes only two or three seconds. a-optics is one of the company working on the technology. >> the iris is an internal organ that is externally visible. the amount of data is encoded in a subtle way but has 200 points

of data information. >> they are in partnership with the u.s. and foreign security agencies. it goes by the name insight, testing is underway at overseas airports and border crossings. >> governments, private agencies are very concerned with who is coming and going from their country and therefore we've seen a lot of interest. we're very busy worldwide with our products. >> unlike pat-downs and full body scans, it's not invasive. the device uses near infrared light. a passenger would have their eyes photographed and undergo a background check. >> the company has been worked on it for the past decade. it was developed in silicon valley and the devices are american made. it was defined to work easily whether a passenger is tall, short or in a wheelchair. deployment at airports across the country could be one to two years off.

>> as with most companies in the valley, technologies tend to grow jobs and as this takes off, they could double in size from the current 90 employees. david louie, abc7 money scope. >> and aggressive security checks at airports, there is no guarantee that your luggage will be safe. >> stolen luggage has become a big business. a couple was caught with more than one thousand stolen bags. cases like this make the headlines but thieves are much more stealth. >> get a good sturdy case. >> he notion a thing about luggage and loss. what he is about to show us is nothing short of astounding? >> here i have got tsa lock and other locks.

i'm going to protect myself. >> nice theory but then there is in this. >> you take any pin and you stick it right into the key, it's already open. you don't have to look. take out pass book or medicines that you usually have with you, gold watch and throws closes it before anybody sees it's happening. >> the near perfect crime but is it really that easy, could a rank amateur pull it off? >> i'm at the san francisco goodwill school. i break into bag after bag, it is that easy. is it really an issue. the luggage must have a zipper so we go to the san francisco airport to have a look around to see if the vulnerable built is that present and, yes, nearly every bag has a zipper.

>> i can already hear the phone calls. they are going to call me and you just showed the bad guys how to rip us off. the bad guys know how to do this. i'm showing the good guys who are traveling and getting ripped off when they shouldn't be how to travel with preventative care. >> my advice, put a strap around your suitcase. >> of course, nothing is foolproof but the less you bring the less you can be ripped off and keeping your bag west side you at all times helps, too. i'm michael finney, 7 on your side. >> the mother of your iraqi war victim is reunited with her family. >> the sacrifice she made so her son could get the surgery he needed in the bay area. later a new machine for the san

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we have an update on an iraq day boy named usafa. his father brought him here to the bay area for surgery because he lost his hearing. >> take a larger amount. >> he is five years old now learning english and how to play nicely with his little brother who is a year younger. they were separated for almost two years and to soe were the parents because the war in iraq injured mustafa but they are all united in san francisco thanks to a good samaritan. it was during the air strike in

2007. >> the bomb went off the same day.... >> he was barely two years old. they went to get help without secretary success. they lived on their savings and some family support. it was horrible time. >> every day we are closer, no one can see us. because it's very hard to see other kids playing and talking and there, nothing. >> he pleaded help for his son and got the attention for a bay area humanitarian organization. they could only afford to bring him and his father so he could get the surgery he needed. it was difficult to get visas. it met that the mother had to stay behind with a one-year-old

baby but as bombs continued to fall. he was told to take him in for surgery even though he might never see them again. >> it was really hard because were they going to come back. >> he vase eventually able to get visas and the painful separation is over. they lived at ronald mcdonald's house for seven months. they still visit their regularly. it's become their second family. >> are you eating? can i eat this? >> we left him last year when he was four years old at hearing

and speech center in san francisco. it was time to understand sounds with an implant in his right ear as he was learning english. this past summer, he had a coakley either implant in his left ear. education is vitally important to this family. he graduated in iraq with a bachelor's degree in english. now he is working and going to school and get qualified as a special needs teacher in california. he can't find work in his feemd field see she attending english and second language classes, working at a coffee shop. but they are grateful for what they have.

>> and as for the boys, he and his brother now only have to worry about a little sibling rivalry. >> mustafa, aren't you happy that he is here helping you? >> yeah. >> getting rid of wrinkles without surgery. coming up, wrinkle smoothing cream that promises to make the skin years younger and a rare visit to dream works bay area rprp

san jose state university is set to play a roll in the war in afghanistan. not a military one but an education one. >> san jose state university is embarking on a mission to take a modern journalism curriculum to

western afghanistan and iraq. >> they have received a grant of $1.22 million to do media training in afghanistan over the next three years. >> these two professors will train faculty which will inspire a new generation of journalists. the afghan community applauds the effort. >> right now there is a lot of false statements that are being made in government but no one is reporting on it because people are critical and the training is very limited in the country. >> san jose school of journalism won the grant over 29 other applicants. during the next three years, there will be half a dozen trips to the war-torn country. >> we want to make sure that our team is safe and secure. >> one component is for them to establish internet based radio and tv sites so they can share

stories. san jose senior returned from a month in iraq. there are many untold stories. >> when i went there, it was totally different. it's not a war zone. it's really peaceful and really quiet. >> the people involved with the project say this phase of the war on terror in afghanistan is about democracy and education. >> are there people who will resist this effort? very much so, but we think this will have as much of an impact as any military action in the long run. >> there are high hopes promoting a free press in afghanistan can help achieve a free and stable country. karina rusk, "abc 7 news." a newly approved cosmetic filler is promising to plump creases out of people's face. and it could last for years.

carolyn johnson has nor mo. >> from her side of the mirror, art dealer jan says the frustrating signs of aging. >> the lines around here. i would like that to look a little softer. >> she is about to try to a procedure to plump and smooth her skin slowly. >> we have gradual, so people won't say, she has had a facelift. >> the skin is replacing volume. >> the doctor is preparing to fill the lines with collagen, not bovine, but collagen after a product called sculptra. >> they inject small amounts into the folds around the nose and mouth.

when inject into skin tissue the body will dissolve the granules creating collacen. >> it was first used to fill for patients that were suffering from aids and other illnesses but there was approval for general cosmetic use. >> it will typically several months before they see results like these captured in patients before and after pictures. many people need two cycles of the injections to fill in lines but the ultimate results typically last much longer than traditional collagen fillers. >> it builds up and lasts for one or two years at least. >> hoping for the improvement that she is looking for. >> carolyn johnson, "abc 7 news." the bay area is truly one of the world's animation capitals,

pixar and dream works are all here. dream works, home of shrek has been quieting toiling away in a peninsula complex. don sanchez takes us inside the dream factory. >> shrek is part of our culture, that loveable green ogre has grossed $3 billion worldwide and all four films were created here away from corporate offices in southern california. >> i think we have less of a distraction from hollywood. it's really about the story and the work here and we don't have to worry about all the hoopla that is going on. >> the growth in 14 years has nothing short as mega mammoth. it started as a little store in palo alto. then dream works bought it and turned into this mega building, more than 600 employees work here. the scope of the place is not only the only thing that has

changed, so has the technology, much more sophisticated. >> shrek one or two, it's somethin something some of the things, we were limited by the technology and now when i see a movie, you are just immersed in. >> it details are much more realistic now. >> like emersing people into the world. >> franchise like shrek is marketing moneymaker. this is a theme park ride and broadway musical. ♪ >> with shrek, the mantra at dream works should be, yes, you can. >> a bay area photographer who belongs to the night,

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if you give the average person a camera, he or she will use the flash. pictures require light but a lot less than you might imagine. wayne freedman introduces to us a local artist getting worldwide recognition by taking that concept to extreme. >> he is a creature of the night, a man who seeks an ideal in some of the darkest and unlikely conditions. >> you know, late night, early morning, it's all good. >> and when he crawled on to a ledge near the cliff house. he was armed with a small camera. his target, a giant one. >> i always get people coming up to me, what are you doing, it's dark. >> stuff like this. pigeon point light house on the california coast. >> one of the keys to nighttime photography is imagination but not just in any given moment. but imagining how that shot

might look after 20 seconds or 30 seconds or three hours or all night. >> when i take a night photo i don't always know what i can get. i take pictures of, f stars, for example, you have to figure out how the stars are going to move in the sky. as a human you don't see them except where they are. you have to imagine the art. >> and even then they produce an occasional surprise. >> right there. >> in real life, he is a husband a father and computer executive that uses a laptop as a dark room. >> now he is becoming famous for them. this picture of once in a year sunset just one award from the royal observatory but to ask him for a favorite picture, impossible. he likes this one.

here is mission peak above oakland and fremont. those are the the contrails of airplanes in the distance. >> it's dark and the camera sees things you can't. like you can't see colors at night but the camera can. >> his camera can make the universe look like a rainbow. >> it's blue, brown ye yoet yellow. >> but this picture brought its own set of challenges. >> your lens is getting foggy. >> what happens. >> this happens. >> steven had taken this picture a couple years ago, of seal rock but in conditions like this, nothing is easy. hence his unusual tools, a laser beam. >> if you don't have the camera in focus, the shot is going to be fuzzy. >> after a series of trials, steven settled on an exposure of 30 seconds. >> beautiful shot. >> here is the final product,

the ocean and the giant camera at the cliff house as we've never seen them before. >> yeah, i really like the color i like the color of the water. >> it's another night on the prowl for a man that turns darkness into light. wayne freedman, "abc 7 news." >> if you would like more information on the stories, go to our website at www.abc7.com. look under the news links on the left side for assignment 7. that is all for this edition of assignment 7. i'm eric thomas, thanks for joining us. joining us. >> the day after deadly shooting involving oakland school police,

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