>> in the news this morning saturday, june 4th. san francisco firefighter tony valerio continues to hang on after being badly burned in a house fire in diamond heights that killed another firefighter. and the 9-year-old daughter of the man accused of beating brian stowe addresses the media. she says she was with her father on march 31st and they were not at dodgers stadium. good morning. we begin with some very, very strange weather for june. rain pouring in many parts of the bay area right now. it's been coming down for hours. weekend plans in jeopardy. meteorologist jeff martinez joins us with the details. >> that's right. good morning to you. very active weather day ahead. heavy rain going on in most areas. our live doppler 7 in high definition showing you what's happening out there. the darker green areas, moderate rain coming down right now. here in the city up to santa

rosa and especially down towards the south, monterey bay, you are getting ready for heavy rain. look at this. the oranges and reds, extreme rainfall rates between an inch an hour at least. we could see maybe 2 to 3 inches of rain in the santa cruz mountains by tomorrow. slow moving storm and you can see monterey right here, moderate to heavy rain up through santa cruz, all of it slowly pushing off to the east. very wet saturday most areas. we may get a break in the action by this afternoon but more rain with some thunderstorms through tonight and tomorrow. accuweather seven day forecast, tell you when the rain will end in a few minutes. >> all right, jeff, thanks very much. a san francisco firefighter clings to life after being badly burned in a house fire that killed his colleague on thursday. flags are flying at half staff around the state this morning to honor lieutenant vincent perez who succumbed to fire and smoke inside a diamond heights home. firefighter tony valerio barely escaped alive.

lisa amin gulezian reports. >> the outpouring of support is everywhere. it's a steady flow of sadness and kindness and all for tony valerio. he remains in critical condition after being injured in diamond heights. >> trying to do as best we can to save his life. >> they're keeping him medically paralyzed in order to help his breathing. if he moves a little bit, it will hurt his breathing. they put him in a bed that's facing the floor. to help relieve the pressure of his chest on his lungs. >> he is in a coma. the 53-year-old inhaled hot, poisonous smoke which damaged his lungs. he also has burns across 12% of his body. mostly on his arms, legs and face. >> we still have no idea whether or not it's going to go one way or another. >> he has been unconscious since firefighters found him and lieutenant vincent perez in the hallway of the burning home.

>> we're devastated, you know, it's just a tough time. never had a line of duty death and to have one in lieutenant perez and have tony fighting for his life, it's hard to talk about. >> of course, it's not easy. everybody is doing it with a heavy heart. everybody has a black band on. we lost a brother. we have one in the hospital. it's pretty difficult for us. >> those in public service know, they still have a job to do and so during shifts, if they can't come to the hospital, they visit station houses. >> police officers are serving food to other firehouses so neighbors are offering coffee and things. it's really touching how san francisco has reached out to us. >> his family is here from all over including southern california, bakersfield. meantime, funeral arrangements are still being finalized for lieutenant perez. they may take place later next week, possibly on friday at st. mary's cathedral. in san francisco, lisa amin gulezian, abc 7 news. >> we are hearing the audio from

fire department radio transmissions moments after vincent perez and anthony valerio arrived on scene and went inside that burning home. >> reporting a working fire, low grade. >> give me an update, how much fire you got? what's the location? >> we're still looking for it. >> that turned out to be the last radio transmission sent by lieutenant perez. a few minutes later, a small electronic alarm worn by the firefighters set off an alert and warned the rescuers the men were in trouble. in the chaos that followed, the dispatcher called engine 26 engine 20. >> engine 20 activated their emergency alarm and they haven't confirmed their response for five minutes. you copy that? >> you copy that, got a man down. >> it appears the veteran firefighters followed their procedures properly.

>> these are all very competent firefighters, great engine companies all around and truck companies and still, you know, it went horribly wrong even knowing what they knew going in, that this was a dangerous fire and they were being very cautious. >> there are two separate investigations now under way into that fatal fire. one will review safety procedures and because the cause of the fire is not obvious, an arson task force has been set up including atf agents and the district attorney and we have the suspect in the beating of giants fan brian stowe at dodgers stadium will remain jailed on a parole violation but a hearing official yesterday found no immediate evidence linking the convicted felon to that beating. his 9-year-old daughter tells >> the 9-year-old daughter of jivonni ramirez says her father did not beat giants fan brian stowe. she says she was with her dad and her aunt on march 31st. they were not at dodgers stadium and her father did not have a shaved head. like the suspect seen in the composite sketch. >> i knew that it wasn't my dad because he did have hair and he'd play around with me and i'd tell him to shave it and stuff

but he didn't want to listen. so he had cut the hair and that was all and then, yeah, and then a couple of days later, he had shaved it. >> the fourth grader and her mother do not want to be identified on camera but ramirez's daughter has wanted to defend her father since she first saw news of his arrest nearly two weeks appearing. the 9-year-old met with lapd detectives on thursday. >> it kind of felt good because it felt like i was helping my dad out. >> the girl's mother says her daughter has not been coached on what to say except to tell police and reporters the truth. >> she needs her dad and, you know, it does affect her so, therefore, it affects me as well because i am her mother and, you know, i need to look out for her well being. >> ramirez remains jailed for allegedly violating his parole. a parole commissioner has found no probable cause to hold ramirez in connection with the stowe attack but the lapd says in time, more evidence will be presented.

>> the goal today was to find him over for a full parole hearing. that goal was met, you know, if anybody thinks i'm going to present a full criminal case in a probable cause parole hearing, they haven't been doing this very long. >> that was melissa mcbride reporting from los angeles. police have at least until june 20th to build a case against ramirez. that's when he has a full parole hearing on the unrelated gun charge. family and friends of missing nursing student michelle lee held a vigil in hayward for her last night. it's been more than a week since she disappeared. reward for her safe return has increased to $40,000. here's more from hayward. >> a plea went up from the more than 100 family, friends and supporters of michelle lee gathered at a candlelight vigil. >> so whoever has her, please, please have some compassion because there are people who are missing her and who want her back and who need her back. >> more than 100 people gathered

here on ponderosa court to give their support to the search for michelle lee of san mateo. t-shirts with her photo on them were distributed to the crowd. a $40,000 reward was announced for information to her whereabouts. her cousin kristina dinn says they've done everything they can think of to help find her. >> we're passing out flyers, there are billboards up in all the freeways. we have mobilized these facebook groups with a band of complete strangers helping us out going door to door. we talked to the media. we've -- we're exhausted. >> showing his exhaustion and emotional state, her son lee talked about her desire being a nurse like her mother. >> she wants to follow her mom's footsteps and become a nurse, to -- partly to pay back to the society that's given her a chance to become somebody. >> it was at a nurse mentoring

program here at kaiser hospital where she was last seen a week ago. police found her abandoned car here where a candlelight vigil was held on ponderosa court. police traced her cell phone without results. her brother michael says his sister is not just a person to disappear. they have no suspects in lee's disappearance but say a former best friend of lee is a person of interest. in hayward, i'm tomas ramon, abc 7 news. >> the u.s. attorney's office and f.b.i. are taking over the investigation of three former police officers and a private investigator facing drug and corruption charges in contra costa county. the district attorney says the growing law enforcement scandal has become too much of a burden on his office and he wants to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. two of the officers worked for the county narcotics enforcement team or cnet. the chairman says he's 100% behind the federal investigation. >> there's a difference between a cop and a criminal, ok? when you cross that line, you're no longer a cop. we're going to investigate you.

as we would investigate anyone else who chooses to commit crimes. >> three of the four men have pled not guilty. the fourth has yet to enter a plea. coming up next, the john edwards indictment and the money he spent to cover up an affair. was it an illegal use of campaign funds? and why president obama is now praising the auto industry after being bailed out by the federal government during the financial crisis.

>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >> two time presidential candidate john edwards has pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally using campaign contributions to cover up an affair and the child he had with his mistress. edwards was indicted yesterday morning on six felony counts including conspiracy and receiving illegal campaign contributions. prosecutors claim the former senator solicited and spent

$925,000 to hide his affair with rielle hunter during his 2008 bid for the white house. >> there's no question that i've done wrong. and i take full responsibility. for having done wrong. and i will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that i caused others. but i did not break the law and i never, ever thought i was breaking the law. >> edwards' lawyer says the money was not a campaign contribution because it was never intended for the campaign. but to hide the affair. >> in the history of the federal election campaign law, no one has ever been charged, either civilly or criminally with the claims that have been brought against senator edwards today. >> if convicted, edwards could face a five year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine for each of the six counts. president obama is thanking

american auto workers for helping their industry make a u-turn on the recession and pay back u.s. taxpayers for emergency bailout loans. layoffs and concessions by auto workers have now helped the big three automakers turn a profit for the first time since 2004. in his weekly address, the president personally thanks the workers at a toledo chrysler plant. >> chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes american taxpayers for their support during my presidency and repaid that money six years ahead of schedule and this week, we reached a deal to sell our remaining stake and that means soon, chrysler will be 100% in private hands. >> american automakers are now adding shifts and creating jobs at the strongest rate since the 1990's. general motors plans to rehire all of the workers the company laid off just before the president took office, chrysler and g.m. were on the brink of collapse. the industry had to slash more than 400,000 jobs.

the big local story, obviously if you have a window, you know what it is and it's the rain. >> it's amazing, terry. still coming down out there. many areas have picked up 1/2 inch to more than an inch of rain in some cases up in the north bay and also down towards the south, monterey bay really getting a heavy shower right now but looking at our emoryville cam, very wet. take your time this morning. lots of traffic, going slow. accuweather forecast and track the storms for you and tell you what to expect today and the rest of the weekend coming up. >> also next, the kid makes his debut at at&t against the rockies. brandon crawford gives his family some thrills. larry beil has the highlights coming up. these sweehoney clustery things have fiber?

fiber one. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. uh forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one!

i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet honey cereal, you'll love it. are you guys alright? yeah. [ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyo recognition. fibeone. i use the power of nature. [ male announcer ] introducing icy hot naturals with natural menthol. that gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away fast. new icy hot naturals. >> meteorologist jeff martinez joins us now and i was admiring the lights reflecting so nicely on the bay bridge behind us and it is -- >> it was coming into work this morning. pouring rain. hydroplaned a couple of times there. got into the toll plaza. >> that's how badly he wanted to come to work this morning. >> i got to be careful to slow down definitely. we've already had more than 1/2 inch of rain here in the city

and if you're heading to lake tahoe, this storm is heading in our direction. good news is most of it will stay in the form of rain. snow levels will stay very high. if you're going to make it over the passes, i'm not expecting any chain controls for now but definitely wet saturday morning saturday morning most areas. roof cam and high definition, nice pan showing the bay bridge. rain drops on the lens there and we've had already 1/2 inch of rain in the city. many areas picking up close to an inch of rain. i think we'll set some records for this date because we typically don't see any rain in june. this is our dry season so this is definitely an unusual storm more like january than june for sure. here's the live doppler 7 in high definition. very active. you can see lots of rain all the way from cloverdale down through san francisco. mill valley, had an inch of rain here. big band of storms right here in monterey bay, south of san jose,

west of salinas. you're about ready to get hit with this. monterey, very heavy rain coming down right now. could see about 2 to maybe 3 inches of rain as we head up into the santa cruz mountains here by tomorrow. closer look shows just that, the santa cruz, heavy rain going on right now. all this slowly pushing to the east. this is a very slow moving storm system so it's going to be with us through this evening and through much of tomorrow and part of monday. but after that, it will finally get out of here by next week. so temperatures right now in the 50's. not incredibly cold but definitely going to be a wet saturday. for whatever you planned outdoors today. keep the rain gear handy. definitely will need it. heavy rain mainly in the morning hours. by the afternoon, should get a little bit of a break in the action before the rain redevelops by tonight through tomorrow. so that's pretty much the forecast. 50's by the noon hour. and lower 60's by this afternoon with scattered showers pretty much all day long. again, heaviest of rain will

happen right about now through about 12:00 to 1:00. here's the reason why. look at this storm system. very impressive. again, typically we see this around january or february. but very strong system and very slow moving. it doesn't move much the next 24 to 48 hours. as you can see, a time line right here. by about 10:00, heavy rain continues right through about 5:00. we'll get a little bit of a break in the action and then by tomorrow, we'll start to see the rain redevelop. more scattered in nature showerwise by sunday morning and maybe even some thunderstorms thrown in the mix as well as this thing really doesn't move. slowly moves out of here by monday. how much rain are we looking at? most areas will pick up an inch to 2 1/2 inches in the north bay. up to about 3 inches down in the south bay in santa cruz. santa cruz mountains. temperatures in the low to mid 60's.

for you, already you've seen about 3/4 of an inch. and we'll see temperatures in monterey bay 62 degrees. 63 in santa cruz and your accuweather seven day forecast, pretty wet weekend here and start to dry things off by monday afternoon, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, finally start to dry out and warm back up. >> outdoor plans today, bring the umbrella you'll need it. dan harris to joining us to tell us what's coming up at 7:00 on "good morning america." good morning. >> good morning. here's the question, how strong is the government's case against john edwards? this is a guy who was once considered a serious contender for president of the united states. he's now gearing up to fight federal criminal charges, prosecutors say edwards used nearly a million dollars in campaign funds to hide his mistress and their baby during his presidential campaign. also coming up, are we headed for a double dip recession? double dip recession. that's the word right now.

latest numbers not encouraging, stock market also down. we've got some expert advice for you coming up. latest in the ongoing casey anthony trial, mother accuse of murdering her own daughter. she was caught on tape laughing in jailhouse conversations. we'll take a look at casey's rather perplexing reactions to news that her daughter had died. that's coming up as well and on a much, much, much lighter note, we're calling them the spiritual dog whisperers, the monks who do double duty as obedience trainers. my co-pilot on the weekend spent some time up at this monastery where they train unruly pups and they are truly transformed. it's all coming up on "good morning america." terry, i got to tell you, i was listening very closely to your weather forecast because i'm coming out your way this week to shoot a story in berkeley. as i say every weekend when we talk, it's one of my favorite cities on the planet. >> what day are you coming out? >> i will be there, i think, wednesday, thursday. >> in time for the warmup. congratulations. good tip. >> i just heard that. i'm looking forward to that warmup. >> all right, dan.

thanks a lot. >> thanks. >> in sports this afternoon, madison bumgartener is scheduled to start against the giants and jeff says it will probably play. last night, they returned from a 7 game road trip trying to maintain their 1/2 game lead in the division. here's larry beil with this morning's sports. >> good morning. giants back in the bay area with two goals, beat the rockies and beat the rain. both missions were accomplished. on orange friday, intense orange friday, light drizzle to worry about throughout this contest. bottom of four, cody ross doubles to the gap. freddie sanchez, come on down. giants lead 2-1. brandon crawford making his home debut with his mom in the crowd. doubles off the bottom of the foul pole. matt cane doing what he does best, went seven innings and strikes out chris heinetta and he comes gets him, too. gets 7 k's in the game and brian

wilson with two men on gets set. smith swinging and that's your ballgame. the giants organization essentially apologized for the inflammatory comments by the g.m. regarding that buster posy injury. sabian went on thursday suggesting that scott cousins had malicious intent. >> i don't blame the kids. why not be hard nosed? if i never hear from cousins again, we'll all be happy. >> i mean, he chose to be a hero in my mind. if that's his flash of fame, that's as good as it's going to get. >> posy is out for the season. cousins is getting death threats as a result of all this. nobody is happy about what happened including cousins. it wasn't premeditated, one of the things that happens in sports sometimes. sabian was just frustrated. >> as we all know, brian was very emotional as well as i

know, sometimes he needs time to let his emotions settle down and he's not out to demonize any player. >> beginning his rehab assignment in san jose took three at-bats and grounded out to second a couple of times and in his last at-bat got caught swinging. san jose giants won this game 13-1. the a's started a 10-game east coast road trip in boston instantly finding their lost offense. a's fans represented fenway park. just gets by the diving jed lowry. did not have it. could not make it out of the third. big poppy, david ortiz, poppy, doubles up the green. ties it up at four. derek bart on singles to right. his second r.b.i. of this game. they can't close it out. in the eighth, here it comes. there it goes.

takes michael wertz deep and gone and the a's lose. how about college baseball? stanford facing kansas state in the fullerton regional. bottom of the second, doubles to center. dekroger two r.b.i.s in this game. never looked back. pitcher mark apel complete game, gave up three runs on seven hits. struck out eight. stanford wins their opener 10-3. elsewhere in the ncaa regionals, cal loses to baylor. usf knocks off ucla. kyle zimmer struck out 11. mike shumann will be here with all your weekend sports at 5:00 p.m., 6:00 and 11:00. >> next at 6:30 a new marijuana club opens in san francisco's mission district not far from the neighborhood school and another pot club. >> i'm nanette miranda in

sacramento. the late state budget from here this year will hurt lawmakers.

>> the state controller is threatening to hit lawmakers where it hurts if they don't get a budget deal done on time. it's basically this. you want your money? make sure california gets its money. abc 7's capital correspondent annette miranda is in sacramento with the details. >> the state's printers that churn out lawmakers' paychecks could come to a grinding halt in less than two weeks. with a constitutional deadline of june 15th for california's budget around the corner, controller john chung is threatening to permanently dock lawmakers' pay for every day the spending plan is late. he says he's just following proposition 25 which voters passed last november. >> the voters made the law clear, if you don't finish your budget, you're not going to get paid.

>> last year, with the latest budget ever, 100 days late. at a typical salary of $95,000 a year and $142 a day per diem while in session, they each lost almost $50,000. while they eventually got the money back last year when they passed a budget, the new law forbids it. no retroactive pay. >> ought to be an incentive to legislators to do their job, to pass the budget and get it done. you know, when folks that work regular jobs out there don't do their job, they don't get paid. >> lawmakers with young families understand the new law but no paycheck is worrisome. >> any time you face losing your paycheck, it's difficult for people who are trying to get by. my wife and i are certainly on this category. >> will it be tough on the family? of course it will. of course it will.c but not having a budget will be tougher on a lot more people throughout the state than me not receiving my paycheck. >> critics of proposition 25 say lawmakers should not be put in a

position to vote for a bad budget just so they can pay their mortgage. privately, some politicians told me a lawsuit is possible because technically, a budget was passed and signed by governor brown in march though it did not solve the entire deficit. the law does not literally say the budget has to be balanced but the controller believes it does. >> the legislature is going to have to come to agreement on a budget and forward it to the governor if they want to be paid. >> proposition 25 also makes it easier to pass a budget needing just a majority vote but because governor brown's budget relies on keeping the temporary tax hikes going for five more years, it will take a much harder 2/3 vote. in sacramento, nanette miranda, abc 7 news. >> chuck reid has unveiled his final budget plan to close the city's $115 million deficit. his proposal would eliminate 600 city jobs. the cuts are across the boards and will affect all departments, even police, that department will lose more than 100 positions despite union leaders agreeing yesterday to a 10% pay

cut. and according to the mayor, it doesn't get any better next year. he's projecting an $80 million deficit in 2012. >> that's what i want everybody to focus on, how can we avoid cutting services to our public in 2012? that's a big task but i think we have opportunities to do some things that will allow us to achieve that. >> the proposal still needs to be approved by the city council. san carlos council members meet monday to interview 11 applicants for interim mayor. the san carlos mayor died may 10th of a heart attack. on may 25th, the council decided to appoint someone to finish his term through the end of the year. the 11 candidates have a wide range of business and legal expertise including two former san carlos mayors and the current vice mayor. the council's appointee would first join as a council member and participate in the selection of a new mayor. on monday, the palo alto city council is expected to approve a package of permits and ordinances for stanford university's massive medical expansion. our media partner "the mercury

news" says the $3.5 million project is the biggest development in palo alto history. it will modernize stanford hospital and add more than a million square feet of office and clinic space over 20 years. this thing was first proposed four years ago. nearly 100 public meetings have been held to review every detail. critics, though, worry about an increase in traffic and noise and the need for more local housing. once approved, work could begin this summer and finish up in early 2018. supporters call it a medical canibas dispensery. there's a new one slated to open in san francisco's mission district by a daycare center. as abc 7's jonathan bloom reports, neighbors and parents are fired up. >> i'm in the business of, you know, helping people. >> that's why dmitri, a chiropractor wants to turn this vacant doctor's office on mission street into an alternative health clinic that's also a dispensery for medical marijuana.

he says he wants to be a good neighbor. >> the dispensery is going to be located at the north side of the building. it's going to be a single entrance. right here. there's going to be an unarmed security guard and the cafe will be located on the store front in front of the building, you know, with outdoor seating. >> the cafe in front, the marijuana in back. the neighbors up in arms. >> we don't feel it's an appropriate business for this location. >> christopher scorfina pass the out 500 flyers to his neighbors. there's already a medical marijuana club three blocks away and others up and down mission street. >> there's so many pot clubs in one corridor. you don't see a pot club in pacific heights. you don't see pot clubs over in other neighborhoods. they have zero and they're all here. >> but san francisco's planning commission approved the new club unanimously. commissioner ron miguel said there were no grounds to deny it. >> it's an alternative medical treatment that's allowed by law. >> this location is on the right side of the law but just barely, marijuana dispenseries are required to be at least 1,000 feet away from the nearest

school. this one happens to be 1,087 feet away from st. anthony's elementary. if it was located right here, it would be illegal. more troubling, neighbors say, it's over 100 feet from a daycare. but under the law, a daycare doesn't count as a school so the commissioner says the board's hands were tied. neighbors say they plan to appeal the commissioner's decisions. in san francisco, jonathan bloom, abc 7 news. >> meteorologist jeff martinez joins us now with the big story and the big story is going on behind us as we speak. rain and we're talking about records. >> we already have the records. >> i believe so. here in the city, more than 1/2 inch of rain has already fallen. that breaks a record that has stood for more than 77 years back in 1934, so -- and it's still coming down. so as we take a look at our shot from mount hamm, elevation 2,574 feet to be exact and you can see

it's coming down and wait until you see our live doppler 7 radar, it's really lit up. lots of rain to come. i'll have the complete accuweather forecast in a few minutes. >> all right, also ahead, the 30th anniversary of the aids epidemic. a look at the strategy now for fighting it.

>> a cement plant is taking steps to drastically reduce mercury emissions, it comes in advance of rules by the environmental protection agency that will require action at all plants nationwide. karina rusk reports. >> lehigh cement plant in coopertino has been testing new technology to reduce the amount of mercury emissions coming from its facility. the plant has been turning limestone to cement for decades and in recent years, people living in the area have grown more concerned about the toxic byproducts. >> we are implementing a very innovative technology, we are the first plant applying this emission reduction technology.

>> the company says it deployed an activated carbon injection system last month. this chart illustrates early test results which show mercury going into the air is reduced by 90%. one neighborhood group critical of lehigh operations is applauding the company's efforts. >> they have been one of the highest mercury emitters in the cement industry. they are the first now to use this. we're looking forward to see the results. >> lehigh says it will be installing an e.p.a. approved monitoring system at the plant in october and that system should reassure everyone that there are significant mercury reductions. the entire cement industry is under orders from the federal government to comply with new mercury standards by september 2013. county leaders praised lehigh for leading the pack in making changes. >> they actually didn't have to comply until 2013. so i think it shows true good faith with the community.

a real commitment to our air quality that they have met this more than two years early. >> lehigh says its efforts to reduce mercury emissions are so ahead of the curve, this system will likely be adopted by other plants across the country. >> in coopertino karina rusk, abc 7 news. >> jeff is here with the fo cast. about 42,000 people around the bay area hope it's going to be dry enough around 1:00 for that baseball game. >> i know. we might get lucky. i think we'll break up the clouds a little bit. the rain showers, that is. by game time. but bring that rain gear just in case. definitely. yeah, it is pouring out there right now. records are already falling across the bay area. precipitation wise, we normally don't see this much rain at all this time of year. it's our dry season so very unusual to get a storm like this. but it's been a crazy spring, hasn't it? it seems like every week or so, we get these storms that kind of roll on in. good shot there.

you can see very wet. conditions all around our area, our live doppler 7 in high definition showing all of the rainfall. it continues, the darker green areas, more moderate rain. again, month places have already seen about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch and we're still expecting more. heaviest amounts down towards the monterey bay area. salinas, just west of you out here in the bay, look at this. heavy rain coming down. we've already seen more than an inch of rainfall in the santa cruz mountains and out towards, say, monterey and santa cruz there, you can see it coming down. all this is slowly pushing off to the east so you're going to be under the gun here for the next couple of hours as it continues to push in your direction. look to the north again, rain continues as we head further to the north. if you're heading out on the roadways, again, very slow going, most areas. keep that in mind. take extra time. we have plenty of 50's to go around and we'll warm up in the mid 50's to lower 60's most

areas today. after very heavy rainfall mainly through the morning hours. a little bit of a break by the afternoon and tonight through sunday, more showers and maybe even a thunderstorm or two popping up throughout the day on sunday before we finally dry things out by monday into tuesday. look at the storm system. this is what we usually see, again, around january or so. very impressive storm system, bringing in the moisture and the rainfall and it's going to stay here, it's what's called a cut-off low. it won't move much at all the next 24 hours as we see here as we put this into motion so we get the first heavy rain moving through the area right now in the morning hours and a little bit of a break as the cold front moves through and then the low will finally push out of here by sunday into monday. rainfall rates, again, very impressive. record-setting rain here. more than an inch of most areas. up to three inches of rain in the santa cruz mountains. stay dry out there today.

temperatures in the 60's to mid 60's in fremont, palo alto. heaviest rain occurs down in the monterey bay area. santa cruz, 63 degrees. 65 in hollister and the accuweather seven day forecast, again, it's going to be wet most of the morning into the early afternoon, hopefully a little bit of a break by this afternoon and the showers develop again on sunday and into part of monday but nice rest of the forecast by tuesday into thursday and friday. start to dry out and warm up. very crazy spring for sure. 30 years ago, the world first began to hear of a terrifying new disease. the contract of five gay men contracting a strange disease was published three decades ago. a year later, that disease was given a name people came to fear as a death sentence. it was aids. >> in 1981, people referred to aids as the gay plague. at the time, the survival rate was zero.

san francisco became the epicenter and the virus eventually maids its way to other groups. connie was diagnosed 26 years ago. >> when i told my mother, she started crying and i told her, you better say good-bye to me now. >> fear spread throughout the communities because so little was known about the disease and san francisco general hospital quickly became a model for aids care. in 1982, dion jones worked in the aids ward. >> we were in this mentality of really wanting to prove to the rest of the world that it was the right thing to do and the safe thing to do. >> alan l. aldridge. >> in the late 1980's, the names of those who had died echoed through washington, d.c., the aids quilt reminded everyone of the epidemic's toll. despite years of advances, jones says the stigma is still there. >> what's still happening is if i sit down, you know, like i did recently and tell somebody i'm h.i.v. positive, they're still reacting in the same way that they did 30 years ago.

i'm going to die. i can't tell anybody. >> norman tanner co-founded black brothers esteem helping to push african-americans to get tested. tanner himself was diagnosed in 1990. >> they're scared of the unknown. they're scared of the unknown but they have to realize that we are living longer and stuff. now, it's about h.i.v. and aging. >> the world became familiar with the drug a.z.t. that prolongs lives and then in 1995, protease inhibitors were approved. drugs that brought patients back to life. diane hadler is chief of h.i.v./aids division. >> the disease could have been transformed by therapy. it's gone from uniformally 100% fatal disease with enormous collateral damage to a treatable disease. >> today, a new breed of researchers focuses on treating patients earlier with these drugs to stop the virus from replicating and doing more damage.

>> can we show that shutting down the application and removing that threat to the body at an earlier time point, can we show that that confers the long term benefits for the patient? >> in the meantime, vaccine trials continue but researchers say it may be some time before one is developed. in the newsroom, leeann melendez, abc 7 news. >> don't go away. 7 on your side is next. >> when you way your luggage at the airport, can you trust the scales? i'm michael finney. 7 on your side is straight

stress gone. mind sharp. because unisom gave you deep restful sleep all night. morning early birds. unisom. good night. good morning. >> take a look at the golden gate bridge on this saturday morning. there's a live picture for you. not much traffic and no blue skies. we've had overcast skies. we got rain coming down. jeff is talking about records already being set for this date.

more from him and more on the forecast. it will clear up and it won't be for long. if you got caught at the airport with an overweight bag, that can cost you but can you trust those airport scales? 7 on your side's michael finney has been looking into that. >> most airlines allow checked bags to weigh up to 50 pounds without additional charges. go above that and you'll pay. just one ounce over and you're looking at fees ranging from 25 to $125. the average is about $50 or $60. >> oh, i hope not. hopefully if it's like one or two pounds over, they'll be like all right, it's ok, you know, it depends. i hope they'll let you slide, you know? good luck with that. >> thank you. >> with that much money on the line, should you trust the airport scales? we went to the three bay area airports to test for ourselves. without letting anyone know what we were up to in advance. think of it as a pop quiz.

we begin at the department of weights and measures in contra costa county. i bought a 50 pound bag of sand, put it in a carry-on, now we're taking away sand until the total weight is exactly 50 pounds. then it is off to the airport. at the san jose international airport, we checked more than a dozen scales. this one reads exactly 50 pounds. and the one next to it, exactly 50 pounds, too. different airlines, different scales, the exact same weight time and again. now, we thought this one was underweighing for a moment but no, 50 pounds. >> awesome! that's good. you would think that they might try to swindle you a little bit. >> it was the same at sfo, every scale we tested weighed in at exactly 50 pounds.

over in oakland, the scales by and large read 50 pounds but this one underweighed by almost 1/2 pound. this one also underweighed by 1/10th of a pound. finally, an overweight but when we moved the luggage around, it settled in at exactly 50 pounds. are you surprised that their scales are all this accurate? >> well, i'm certain they would be. >> what if the scales say your luggage weighs more than allowed? here are two tricks that could save you from paying the fee. one, if the bag is overweight by a few ounces, roll the bag back and forth. you may get a different reading and if that doesn't work, ask to use the next scale over. i'm michael finney, 7 on your side. >> coming up, some are calling it the storms of juneuary. rare june rain putting a damper on brides-to-be. >> it was supposed to be all outside all day long and now we're going to have to go inside.

>> tell you how it's all impacting summer plans including one couple's wedding.

it is the first weekend in june and if your plans include outdoor activities, you're probably trying to change them. that's what organizers of the annual escape from alcatraz triathalon are doing right now. don sanchez has more. >> in an event like this, we work on flexibility. >> on race morning, they may modify the course. >> we have the ability to shorten the swim to whatever distance we choose. >> the bike course could be shortened but the run will stay the same. athletes will be at the place of the giants-colorado game, a giants spokesperson says the team monitors the weather. all games are a go now. the annual union street fair goes rain or shine. the merchants association thinks the crowd will be as big as usual. >> you may not see it directly on the streets but i think for the stores and the restaurants,

i think it's going to be great because it's going to push them inside and not just to the street. >> one event has been canceled, the big alameda point antique fair won't be going on on sunday. it's been rescheduled for next sunday. >> i'm from seattle and in seattle, we make margaritas out of rain. >> restaurants with views and outdoor dining will feel the rain's effect and it's a place that's gone through a renovation. >> it's not easy when the sun isn't shining. that's when you come through with the food and service. >> there's graduation parties and weddings on tap. this week, rental companies are getting calls for heaters and canopies. >> usually this time of year, they're collecting cobwebs in the back but the last couple of days, we're getting calls for them. >> sierra and mark antonio get married outside and earlier this year, they postponed their wedding because of rain. >> it was supposed to be all outside all day long and now we're going to have to go inside and kind of squish everybody into three rooms and there are a lot of our friends that have donated canopies. >> the wedding planner megan weisberg says it's ok, you always need a plan b for your friends.

>> to celebrate, and as long as the couple keeps their guests' comfort paramount throughout everything, they'll be ok. >> we thought it would be safe in june, though. we were wrong. >> junuary. >> that's a new word, i suppose. we wish them the best. the first friday art walk in the north beach and oakland is going on. the last time the giants were rained out was june 29th of 1992 is the last june rainout and also, the rain has dampened "hair spray". the play in marin county has been canceled for that performance. don sanchez, abc 7 news. >> what don sanchez is talking about is we've got record rainfalls to talk about now. >> we just broke a record that's stood since 1934 right here in the city. more than 1/2 inch of rain has already fallen and more is yet to come. let's take a look at our live doppler 7 in high definition. very active weather day. notice all of the rain stretching from the north bay all the way down to the south bay. look at that.

salinas, get ready for some heavy rain headed your direction. also up towards monterey, santa cruz, we've already seen about an inch of rainfall there and boy, we can see up to 3 inches of rain in the higher elevations there. so very active weather day today. and we should dry out by tuesday. but try and stay dry whenever you have plans today. >> thanks very much. thank for joining us on the abc 7 saturday morning news and newscast at 8:00. stay connected 24/7 and have a nice day. bye-bye. ♪it's the way you bring out the sun♪

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