aim cheryl jennings. welcome to assignment 7. today on our program. >> it was a light show but it was really and and chandelier exploding. >> a deadly plane crash in the sun valley mall. one of the survivors retell her story. and a california man that would like to start a whole new country on the high seas and. michael finney lets usw if sales really work. >> a small plane crashed in sun valley mall and dozens of people were hurt and 7 people killed. one of survivors retold the

story about to lawyer laura anthony. >> on december 23, wendy was a san diego college student visiting family in the bay area. she and her cousin went to concord sun valley mall crowded with thousands of last minute shoppers. >> my cousin and i went over to get her engagement ring and have it for christmas eve. >> while they waited for the ring, the roof exploded. >> i thought it was a light show but it was really the bulb in the chandelier exploding. i didn't see the flames start. it was more dark cloud and things were hitting me and trapping us where we were. >> the burning debris was from an airplane that had crashed into the mall. >> there were a lot of children for santa claus. >> a fire chief at the time.

>> they didn't know what was going on. they didn't know if it was an explosion or an aircraft. >> they had severed one of the major mains in the disciplining her system. so you had water rushing out but you didn't have the spray that you want from a sprinkler system. >> kadani was among 79 people injured on the ground. she had third-degree burns. pamela stanford was burned over 80% of her body. she died the next day. >> loss of life was really hard. >> three others in the mall also died including a 14-month-old boy. >> the plane that plunged into the mall was very much like this one. the pilot was 67-year-old man. graham and two passengers were returning to concord to buchanan field from a trip.

it was 8:30 and very foggy. >> at 8:33, jim graham, the pilot, radioed the tower saying he was on his final approach. two minutes he called again saying he missed the approach. the only transmission after that was garbled. >> this pilot, knowing the weather was very questionable. in fact buchanan field was closed because of reduced visibility just before this pilot made his approach. >> an investigati t the national transportation safety board found no mechanical problems with the plane and concluded the cause of the crash was pilot error and disorientation spatial. >> it's unaware where you are in space and relative to the ground. >> graham and his two passengers died in the fiery wreckage.

>> when the accidents occur you reflect on what kind of person he was and whether he was a risk taking guy and he was real careful guy. >> after the crash, wendy spent three months at the alta bates burn center. over the years she has had 38 surgeries. today wechbd did i schmidt lives in pleasanton. sherned to returned to sun valley mall but despite all the pain and the scars she carries to this day. she believes it's important to remember what happened that day 25 years ago. >> things are going to happen. things and weird things will happen to you and you have to get through them. now we turn to abc7 report. send us your videos of something

that needs fixed in your neighborhood that needs fixed. now a report on a graffiti problem. >> these photos from a viewer showed the extent of the graffiti in the two public stairwells that connect harrison and field streets. it covers am every inch of the wall from top to bottom. it's on pipe and all over the stairs. they left behind spray cans, empty bottles of alcohol and piles of trash. they are visiting from atlanta. he says this kind of graffiti leaves tourists with a bad impression for san francisco. >> it's vandalism. >> there is a graffiti aby the. crew. he sent workers to paint over the graffiti but the vandals

struck back just fuse days later. >> it was clean and look at it now. >> they are littering the city with these cans, some of these cans contain toxins and this is why it must stop. >> the public should call the 311 phone line to report graffiti in their neighborhood. they take photographs to document every instance of graffiti in the city. will usede vandals. >> we are going to catch there guy and recoup costs. >> this job costs about $1,000 and these stairwells are just one more front in the city's mog battle against graffiti. >> we're going to clean it until these guys leave it alone. >> if you see a problem that needs fixing or a government service that isn't work can, go

to "abc 7 news" and click the ureport link. >> how about this? if you are not happy with the direction of the country, think about starting your own? part of the idea idea being touy a bay area nonprofit. >> there is no land left unclaimed on the planet, every island and every coast is claimed, with each piece of land comes an established government. >> progress comes from experimenting and to find better ways of doing things you have to try new things. >> he wants to build a political laboratory, but sense there is no land to proclaim she on he is hoping to build it on the open sea. >> we want to build cities on the ocean. >> he calls it sea insteading. he the is a former google gentlemen are engineer and

grandson of milton friedman. he founded the nonprofit institute to further explore this idea. since then he is explored engineering options looking for businesses that may be interested and looking for future residents. >> it could be a place to get away from it all. >> michael lives in southern california but he likes prospect of making the ocean home. >> i know a lot of people in in movement. to hang out people i know and like -- it would be an adventure. >> the first floating cities probably won't look like this but will be built aboard old cruise zblips we're experimenting with business models in the median term, they would look like oil platforms. >> they wrof to be more than 200

miles off coast but it will require millions of dollars to be built. friedman will need money and a lot of it. fortunately he is getting help from a bay area innovater. >> seniors make up 70% of the world's surface. >> pay pal cofounder has offered $8950,000. >> we have a great number of people focused on clean technology, green technology and alternate energy. it's an important problem and i think there are a lot of people working on it. we need to be working on some of the problems they have not been exploring. >> they are currently exploring locations for the first sea instead including off the coast of california and caribbean. >> but having this innovation.

>> coming up next, 7 on your side. it can [ male announcer ] myron needed an mba to turn his technology into a business. so he chose a university where the faculty average over 14 years of experience in their fields... to help him turn a thesis into a business plan and accelerate the path between ideas...and actions. my name is myron sullivan, i'm developing a robotic system to clean up oil spills, and i am a phoenix.

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you probably know this already. you don't pack carefully you could pay a bundle at the airport them raked in $3 billion in package and ticking fees last year. michael finney says you can avoid those extra fee is. >> when she flew to the united states for a visit they purple brought this. now, they are heading home, those bags are bulging. >> those shopping sprees may cost them even more more by payg for overweight baggage fees. the airlines charge more if it weighs more than 50 pounds.

here they are trying to guess the weight of the bag before checking. so 7 on your side figures this is the perfect time to try out these portable luggage scales. >> really good. >> you are weighing stuff. >> across the terminal, they have the same dilemma. her aunt's bulging suitcase is dangerously close to the weight limit. >> so hazel tries out the scale, too, starlgt outing with a digital model. you strap it on and lift. it's a strain to hold up the heavy bag but to read gets to rd it. >> 46.3 pounds. >> just barely under the limit. now she tries the digital scale. it gives an identical reading but except you have to lift and weigh until it beeps.

sometimes a physical challenge. now here is an old-fashioned analog scale. it says the bag is a little overweight let's get to really matters. what does american airlines say? >> it was right on. it was very accurate. >> 49 pounds. not far from the portable scale reading and no extra fee. now back to our australian tourists, they had trouble getting accurate reading. margaret tries the one. she is strange to get the beep. eventually, it says 35.8 pounds, a few shoes to many inside. for karen the travel light scale flashes a red light warning her bag is overweight at 15.6 pounds. and marine airlines -- 51.6

pounds this was bottom the them. >> we have excess it'sggage but it's nothing i can give up. >> all three says they are pretty good indicators, get ready. >> it's the only problem unless you are really strong. it hurts your back a little bit. >> it's definitely worth it. >> i'm michael finney, 7 on your side. >> changing and saving lives, still ahead, a new generation of heart implants that combine two technologies, plus.... >> science is so much fun. >> a bay area man who invented the laser 50 years ago talks about his achievements and why

he is still working today.

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new generation of heart implants is changing lives and saving them, as well. carolyn johnson explains the devices are actually a combination of two technologies. >> for congestive heart failure patient, even a short walk around walk his garden would hae been challenge a year ago. >> i city down on the floor and rest. then i would go back to bed again and take a nap. >> that all changed dramatically when they fitted him with a new heart device known as a new fibrillator. >> the procedure takes minimum amount of time. >> it's part pacemaker and part

defibrillator. it can resynchronize to squeeze maximum efficiency from the heartbeat. while these technologies have evolved there is no evidence that the combined device not only improves the quality of life but for some patients can extend it, as well. >> a clinical trial sponsored by medtronics focused on patients with mildly symptomatic heart failure. that recently published found the device reduce deaths by 29% compared to other devices. >> it's like having an something in your chest that watches every heartbeat 24 hours a day. >> there a stream of critical information to a wireless receiver in the home. information that is passed along over the phone lines to doctors and nurses. the device also intervene in an

emergency. >> if the heart goes out of rhythm, you can detect it and started stop the rhythm with a shock. >> there have been no serious issues but he feels an extra sense of security knowing his data is being monitored. >> it's sent to san francisco and if there is a problem, i get a telephone call saying hey, you need to see your doctor. >> the laser that we use almost everyday in so many procedures have turned 50. men that invented turned 95 and one goes to work every day to work with lasers. richard hart reports on the drive to discover one of the greatest inventions of all times. >> i still very pleased how useful it is. it's so common now.

>> charles is a marvel. he already invented the predecessor to the laser, the invisible maser. >> i worked on it, woke up in the morning and sat on the park bench. well, we didn't try that. i think i see a way of using them. i had a sudden realization we could do it. it was a great moment for me. i quickly wrote down some notes. yeah it looks like it will word zblorbg the bench was bronzed an awardedwas awarded the noble prize for physics. still he every works every day n berkeley. this purple haze is from a co2 laser. they take pictures from the telescopes and merges with the laser beams and they can see

stars and other objects at a resolution come program to a space telescope without having go to space. >> you take the light and join them and further we put apart the teleskeos, the more resolution we can get. >> something impossible without lasers that keep the telescopes aligned precisely, something that he worked out half centur a century ago. why isn't he enjoying retirement? >> science is so much fun. i've been working all my life and people pay me for it. >> fantastic. coming up next, how an abc7 salute to a local dentist. the gift of a smile and how it is helping people out of work a better chance of landing a job.

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next story is about a man who has big, big heart for the past six years, a south bay denial activity has been forming lives for people that't have dental insurance. to to give people a better chance of landing a job. karina rusk has our salute. >> he does dental work and lucky enough to earned a referral of the doctor in san jose. >> i jokingly created the gift of dentistry which is spelled g.o.d. and they happen to buy it and now they are taking care of people. >> they come from say sacred heart community services, it's one of the largest food pantries in northern california but it offers more. the gift of dentistry is part o.

it improves job skills and find employment. julie appointment could be a big thing to find a job. she has a broken partial she fixed herself. >> i never stop interviewing. i feel it will help me get me a more positive attitude while talking to people. >> for years he donated money to say yet heart but in 2004 he started donating something much more valuable, time and talent. he and his wife limit the number of job clients to three at any given time. over the years, they have provided free dental services to at least 200 deserving people. it has transformed the smiles of sheila, ben, donna and so many others. >> a lot of times, people continue to see us once they get

a job and they let us know what their successes are. >> sacred heart is especially grateful for the doctor's generosity and after all these years, he only go gets it doing it alone. >> i was hoping there would be more doctors out there that would be doing this. >> he and his wife, the reward is in the giving. the smiles come even before the work is finished. dr. hilton says the best part is the opportunity to inspire others. >> these people into need it. sacred heart needs it. our community needs it and give back a little bit. >> so we saluted dr. a dr. alvin hilton. if you would find more about the gift of dentistry, we have link

for you at www.abc7.com. look under see i look u if you would like more information about any of the stories on our program today, go to our website and look under the news link on the left side for assignment 7. that is all for this edition of assignment 7. i'm cheryl jennings. thanks so much for joining us. thanks so much for joining us. we'll see you next time.

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