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reminded everyone today it can be done. in oakland, lyanne melendez, "abc 7 news." needy californians are not taking advantage of federal funding to help put food on the table and that is putting a strain on local food banks. what one food bank is doing to get the word out. >> tracy and darren get about $200 a month of federal food program more commonly known as food stamps. >> it goes pretty quick. >> one good grocery trip to the store. >> half the people that canvass for food stamps aren't applying and that is putting an even bigger burden on local food banks. second harvest is serving nearly half a million people a month. >> we're using our food to feed people that could get from other

sources so many people can't benefit from the food that we provide. >> the latest figures show 4.2 million californians qualify for food stamps, only 48% of them sign up and had a leaves estimated $4.9 billion on the table every year. they blame a 13 page application process that requires fingerprinting. >> most states don't do it wait california does. so individuals are need of help but we're losing money. >> they are hoping governor brown will help simplify the requirements but until then, food banks are taking action. >> second harvest recently launched a mobile unit to go out into the communities to make it easier for families to apply for food stamps. >> the pilot project hopes to reach more people using the mobile food connection. >> eventually we'll be able to o they won't have to go down.

>> advocates say they should be getting the food they need and is there for the asking. karina rusk, "abc 7 news." >> with employment high, con artists are targeting job seekers more and more. michael finney with a tale of one woman who was victimized. >> karina has been unemployed and searching for work for nearly a year. >> i'm ready to try anything. >> she got pretty excited when she found this ad in the san francisco chronicle. an opening for a flight attendant offering full training and an excellent salary package. >> i really judged on it. >> she called the number and with that hard left turnless add she took her first step into a big trap. >> everything sounded great. >> she jotted these notes she would be a stewardess on a

chartered jets. she would learn up to 1150 per week and be at home at each night by 6:00. did she want to fly to miami for an interview. >> i said it sounds cool wiochblt very interested. >> with that she took the next step into the trap. the man said she could buy her own plane ticket or he would buy the ticket for her at a reduced price of $372. she found the fares on line were over a thousand dollars. >> you know what, let me call back and ask him, one more time. >> and that is mistake number 3. she agreed to let him buy the plane ticket. he told her to wire half the fare, $186 and she would be reimbursed when she arrived in miami. >> they would meet me at the gate when i got there and have a black suit as soon as i shook

her hand she would reimburse me with the money. >> she wired $186 to a orlando, florida, yes, that was her final mistake. when she checked the flight that was supposedly purchased for her she found there was no such flight. there was no such charter jet company and there was no such job. >> it hurt. >> she went from the elation of believing she had finally landed a job to the depths of realizing she had been conned. >> upset. >> the brother couldn't stand that someone stole money from her and her daughter and grandson. >> they did call us. not hoping to get her money back to warn other job seekers who might be lured into the same trap. >> that $200 hurt.

i wanted to make sure it was a red flag by 7 on your side. >> the best rule, never, never, never wire anybody money. if somebody wants you to wear money assume it's a scam. a check on the want ads this sad no longer running. >> still ahead, bullies at bay area schools. >> it's no longer just the child's lunch money. one mothers actions to protect 6ñ6p

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welcome back. bullying on campus has always been a problem, but these days it's a lot more serious. lisa amin gulezian looks like it's an epidemic here in the bay area. >> newark memorial high school is no different than any other schools.

it's diverse and it's growing but so is this. the school is notorious for fights. the list of fights is a long one. there is a music video of the top fights of 2010. >> some of these fights involve targeting students they have been picked on for months, in other words, they were bullied. this video was shot during tenth grade biology class this fall. we blurred out their faces because of their age. tina is a girl in a blue t-shirt. >> they pull your hair and keep fighting. >> the other girl in black bullied her for a year.

she said i was talking to her boyfriend. >> and then november 29, this happened. >> i found my daughter and her nose was bloody, blood on her jeans and blood on her shoes crying. >> the student in black was suspended for five days. as for criminal charges, tina's mother every department says the information in confidential because the girl in black is minor. we called the d.a.'s office and we got the same answer. the mother is demanding more from the school district. >> i would expect that the student would be expelled from school.

absolutely. >> you would have to use when we do expulsions we just can't expel a child for fight. >> unified school district has specific guidelines. on average, a student is caught fighting is suspended for five days. california's education code allows a student that bullies to be suspended or be recommended for expulsion especially with a history of fights, uses a weapon or is on drugs. the district superintendent insists the situation is under control. >> i don't bel the bullying is a problem in our district. we'll have a incident with two students. we have 7,000 students. so i think it's important to focus on how do we work with the 7,000 students. >> but despite having policies in place to prevent bullying

like this in classrooms and handbooks and three second rule for teachers. >> we have three-second rule, if an adult sees someone being bullied and doesn't do anything within three seconds, that is tantamount to giving approval to it. >> we found in tina's instance, they violated their own standards of conduct. from the time the desk was thrown at tina and during the punches, the teacher finally gets involved, it takes 30 seconds. >> that's all i can say. do something. >> the teacher's response, it's up to them? >> the teacher responded to the best of his ability. what i'm saying is that each one

of these situations are situational. >> reporter: we learned that teacher was giving a warning and the student changed schools. they are refocusing on the bullying phenomenon. according to statistics, nationwide 282,000 students are physically attacked by a bully every month. adults intervene only 4% of the time and 85% of the time, no one helps. >> tina has decided to leave newark memorial high school due in part to bullying. >> when we continue. stanford researchers that are developing an artificial sense of smell. plus an annacond and [ asst mgr ] what are you doing? fixing the name. it'siber none. looks like one. well, i know. i put an "n" there. ah! fiber one honey clusters cereal!

that's really good! it tastes good, so there can't be fiber in it! it's actually got about half a day's worth of fiber. [ asst mgr ] it says so right on the box. [ fiber seeker ] really? try it. [ mr. mehta ] honey, touch of brown sugar, crunchy clusters -- any cardboard? cardboard no, delicious yes. so where's the fiber? maybe it's in the honey clusters. [ male announcer ] fiber one. cardboard no, delicious yes. and this is the warm fresh baked taste... of a strawberry toaster strudel. see the difference? pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. than listening there'to our favorite songs. there's nothing we love more than listening to our favorite songs. but our favorite thing is eating totino's pizza rolls. but our favorite thing is eating totino's pizza rolls. ♪ we're the kids in america ♪ oh, oh, oh

i think it can. one of the challenges for kayla being gluten-free is actually finding choices the whole family will love. five flavors of chex are gluten-free, including the honey nut flavor, and that's amazing to a mom like me. as a parent you dot want to have to tell your kids "no" all the time. it's nice for me to be able to say "yes" to something th they want to eat. [ male announcer ] chex cereal. five flavors. gluten free. welcome back. a research team at stanford is

working technology that mimics the human nose. carolyn johnson has more. >> the average pneumonia nose can distinguish among 200 scents and they are attempting to duplicate it in a machine. >> for example, when we smell things, it's multiple, molecules will interact with multiple receptors. >> reporter: in his lab at stanford, the professor and his team are manufacturing synthetic dna but instead of controlling functions in the body, their dna reacts with compounds in the environment. >> we want to be able to smell contaminants in the air, for example in environmental applications, we would like to be able to taste toxins in the water. >> to accomplish that, they replace certain molecules of the dna with four es enter compounds seven colors. they expose the newly created

dna to vapors. and it turns different colors, depending on the vapor they were reacting to. >> yes. we have black, orange and yellow. >> with thousands of possible combinations, a researcher believes the technology could approach the complexity of human smell. >> this is pretty similar. we give a set of sensors a variety of sensors. >>. >> reporter: they are hoping to use it to power inexpensive microscopes. it was crafted from an iphone by a group at the university of california. >> so the idea is that it could sense hundred different things with ten different sensors by reading a pattern of responses. >> a high-tech nose not meant to

replace the sense of smell but to mimic it. >> there are 33,000 animals in golden park at the te zoo but there is one veterinarian. dan ashley reports. >> these unlikely roommates have been together for more than two years now. this was date they met. as they moved into their new home, an exhibit tank at the california academy of sciences. first, the anaconda made a survey of the new accommodations the iguana did the same and then after quality time, the iguana decided distance would improve the relationship. so far it's working. >> anacondas do eat lizards but it doesn't recognize it as a food item. >> the staff decided the an con

da needed a medical exam. >> the constrictor likes to wrap around things or in some cases, people. >> the examine lasted only a few seconds. the snake was pronounced healthy and strong, so strong she wrapped herself around one of biologists arms. >> that was then, now, two years later. it's time for another checkup. this time the staff is hoping it will be easier. during the last few months, aquatic biologist was getting the an con da used to being touched. so with the grab, she is pretty calm. >> the individual anaconda is strong enough to kill, like

myself, one one, but when you have so many people involved the odds are very slim. >> once the snake is out of exhibit, she's measured it. >> it's gained about a foot. >> it makes it 14 feet long now. >> she is a lot calmer this time around, too, so veterinarian can do a complete exam from head to tail. >> checking scale codes and how good the muscle tone is and then work your way down pushing on the belly to see if there any masses that might be of concern. >> there is no children in here. >> the final step is a blood test, tricky because you can't see the veins but the snake hardly seems to mind. >> we share all this information with institutions as far as blood values to establish what is normal for an anaconda. >> next, it's the iguana's turn. he is so feisty he highway has

to be put under sleep for checkup. >> we are palpating him for masses. he feels great. he is really good. this was a rescue animal that what we got when he was about this big. >> the iguana was about a year old when he came here. he was kept as a pet and suffered from bone disease because of a bad diet. >> his spine was crooked. >> he is now growing normally. >> basically i'm looking for is his legs mobile. does he have full range of motion. are there any erosions or abrasions. >> he gets a clean of bill of health, too, and finally moves to the recovery area, a plastic box to keep him comfortable while he comes to. >> he is a beautiful animal. >> still ahead, an incredible show of spirit.

>> these students at st. mary's behind the video gone viral. ♪

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st. mearls gales had the best college team in the bay area and the best video anywhere. mike shumann checked it out in gales gone wild. ♪ ♪ >> st. mary's is a small catholic college tucked away in the hills of moraga. in 2010. men's basketball team put them on the map and now.... ♪ ♪ >> we made the shirts and did the video. it was the game plan for it. ♪

>> i came up with the chorus at a library in study hall. i went home and popped up in microphone and recorded it and that was it. ♪ ♪ >> the administration and kind every one around was shocked by, how did they do this? i think the school hatched it into the project when the whole team supporting it. it shows how cool of a coach randy bennett is. >> i think the video caught all the local points at st. mary's college, it brings back good memories. >> i didn't expect 35,000 views in a week. ♪ ♪ >> try to get it expand more. we wanted gonzaga fans to.... >> we're going to go to school

here, it's of this fun and free advertising for the school. ♪ ♪ >> and moraga -- i'm mike shumann. abc7 sports. >> he's got a second career there, i swear. i'm kristen sze, thank you so much for watching. we'll see you back here next time. time. >> alan: high winds and rain knock down a powerline. skiers are having trouble getting home after a snowstorm closes highway 80. >> join us at 5:00.