morning, august 6, a helicopter crashing in afghanistan has killed 31 u.s. special operations troops and 7 soldiers. and the u.s. triple-a rating is lowered to double-a plus. >> good morning. this view shows the generous marine layer all the way into the east bay. but we will see some afternoon sun. >> good morning, i'm terry mcsweeney. tragic news out of afghanistan. a nato helicopter crashed

overnight reportedly killing 31 u.s. special operations troop and 7 soldiers. the taliban is claiming to have brought down the helicopter. it was a shaw nook, like this one. and it was a rocket attack. n.a.t.o. confirmed the crash and said there was enemy activity in the area but said it's still investigating the exact cause. president hamid karzai has confirmed the casualties. he has sent his condolences to president obama. this is the highest number of casualties in one incident during the decade-long war. for the first time the u.s. has lost its top credit rating. the u.s. rating has been downgraded from triple a to double-a plus by standard and poors. >> the s&p downgrade men's for the first time in u.s. history the u.s. has a credit score hats less than perfect. it's a unprecedented black mark on a global scale. >> it's a sad day in the united states to see something like this happen.

>> ann runs a consulting business for small businesses called econ no systems. she said the concern was that congress will be unpredictable and ineffective in making the spending cuts they promised. >> i think it's a wake-up call and hopefully they will get their act together and work to enact the spending reductions that they agreed to. >> the immediate impact of the credit downgrade will be to increase the interest the government pays on its $14 trillion debt which could ripple to higher interest rates to consumers. the question is will one down grade make a difference? many say the three major rating companies lost credibility when they continued to give a triple-a rate to go sub prime mortgage-backed security. >> the same standard and poors is really what caused the recession to begin with. >> the white house and treasury department are blasting the s&p

analysis as fundamentally flawed, and that sentiment extends to main street. >> all of the people of that been watching the market have anticipated this to begin with. it's not going to mean anything to you or me. >> the volatility on wall street, though, is getting harder to predict. the past two weeks have been brutal, erasing more than $1 trillion in wealth. >> while i think the markets might have a short term reaction to the news of a downgrade, over the long-term i think the reaction would be very limited. >> corina rusk, abc7 news. >> germany, france and i think land all have triple-a credit ratings. the u.s. rating is slightly better than that of china's double-a minus and russia's triple b. >> and a phillies fan remains in critical condition following an accident on thursday night's game. ryan white was struck in the crosswalk by a driver who was later arrested.

baseball fans are sending their good wishes to the little boy. >> baseball fans stood as the announcer asked for a moment of silence and a quick recovery for 9-year-old ryan white. >> joanne from philadelphia hopes the city treats him well. >> take care of him. please take care of him. all right. we want him back. >> white was struck by a hit-and-run driver. his family, here from pennsylvania for the phillies and giants game, were just returning to their hotel after the game. police say 21-year-old andrew vargas was driving this toyota pickup and hit the boy as he crossed mission and montgomery streets. they say vargas sideswiped and hit other cars as he fled the scene. phillies fans say it hits home. >> sad to hear, especially from our hometown, being in that unfortunate accident. >> this man was seconds away when the incident happened. >> a young patrol officer walked up, put out license plate and the next thing you knew we knew

they were in oakland and the next thing we knew they were asking for witnesses to come and make statements. >> about a dozen people gave statements. 45 minutes after the hit-and-run, police had 21-year-old vargas in custody. they arrested him at his hayward apartment. hayward police spotted his badly damaged car that match the description. he was arrested after he failed a field sobriety test. phillies fan nate norris hopes for justice. >> hopefully it's the right guy and i think the law is pretty strong in this case and he will be punished pretty well for what he did. >> the chief went to the san francisco general hospital to deliver toys for ryan. >> we thought we would drop it on the little guy so its there when he woke up. >> vargas said he panicked after he hit white and three other people after he fled the scene. he will be charged with felony hit-and-run and the dui will be an enhancement to the charge. abc7 news.

>> the coast guard is asking for help in searching for a missing bay area sail lore who might be lost at sea. the man was sailing from alameda to san diego with his 27-foot vessel. he left on july 25th but never arrived. his son tried unsuccessfully to reach him by phone. the coast guard issued an alert but so far there are not any sightings of the boat. >> santa clara police hope a parking surveillance tape will help them track down a man leaving a bingo charity event. this man is approached by two men who grabbed the bag he's carrying. he suffers a minor stab wound when he fights back. >> we have pictures of them going out the driveway. the type of car is identifiable and the plates very obvious. >> wow. >> so i suspect that some of that will help the police.

>> the thieves didn't get away with any cash. the bag he was carrying carried only paperwork. >> a 4-year-old boy abducted from a homeless shelter was found safe. jeremy guthrie was reported missing early yesterday morning. the mother said she thought the 52-year-old annette took the boy. the police issued an amber alert saying they believed hale was not known to drive and may have walked away with the boy. at five last night police located the boy and took hale into custody. chevron is taking up for not reporting releases from the richmond refinery. the company agreed to pay a $170,000 fine for air quality violations. the richmond refinery underreported pollution 27 times between 2005 and 2009. that's according to the pay area air quality management district. it involves sulfur dioxide gases

sent to the plant's flares. they said they fixed the problem. coming up next, fake ids. they are so good it's hard to spot the real one. the danger to your kids and yourself. also the iconic burning manifest value now has a place to call home in san francisco.

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>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. [bell tolling] >> the japanese city of hiroshima marked the anniversary of the atomic bomb attack. that bombing destroyed most of the city and killed about 140,000 people. the anniversary was especially

painful for many japanese who were still struggling after the earthquake and tsunami that caused a nuclear meltdown in march. and counterfeiting is so good it's nearly impossible to spot a fake id card. why they could put the lives of your children in peril. >> i'm 18 years old. >> i'm 19 years old. >> it's easy. information, pay $100. >> i didn't have any trouble. >> it's easy and fast. fake ids from over the internet coming from overseas. >> i got it from china. >> high quality driver's licenses, counterfeited, flooding america's borders. secretly shifts in everything from playing cards. >> right behind the playing cards you find the phony ids. >> and to what else, inside a game of chinese checkers.

>> there are multiple ids. frequently underestimated as a rite of passage, underage drinking takes lives. lydia and michael lost their son, alex, to a driver drinking with a fake id in berkeley, california. >> it's the most brutal word that a parent can hear. >> more access to false i.d.s ultimately means more death on the road. >> the sheriff, working with customs in chicago, has confiscated more than 1700 in the past six months. >> they have watermarks and holograms, they have it all. >> parents have to wake up. >> the website selling them originates in china, calling them novelty items. but the under 21 crowd knows exactly what they are for. the new rage because side by side impossible to tell the real from the fake. this philadelphia student, whose identity we agreed to disguise. >> they just mail you a toy from china and once you break it apart there's ids in there.

>> jim avilla reporting. comedians are rallying around jerry lewis. they are protesting his abrupt dismissal from the muscular dystrophy telethon. he's been hosting it for 45 years. funny men gathered, demanding that jerry get his gig back. in may jerry issued a statement saying he expected to host the telethon this year for the last time. he hasn't commented since he was told he won't be hosting >> the world famous burning man festival is coming to fran, or at least a part of it is. the minds behind the annual desert gathering are teaming i am with the city of san francisco for the burning man's project. yesterday they announced a protect. >> to build an urban cultural center inside the market district and he this said the project is a perfect fit with the city's goal to improve that neighborhood. >> in this year alone we are bringing twitter, an incredible technology company to this area, we are bringing artists and theaters, we are bringing small businesses and new hamburger joints, and we are bringing

burning man. [applause] >> the project includes classrooms, gallaries and space for gatherings and ceremonies. >> lisa is here now to talk about when all that fog you see behind us is going to be getting out of here. >> we've seen very similar conditions day-to-day. we've had that marine layer about 2,000 feet deep, and this morning as we view this from mount tam, yeah, it looks pretty stable. a stable atmosphere. we will look for some sunshine today. changes are coming, but the weekend, we will come back and talk about that next. >> interesting sound to that weekend. also next, benches clear as the giants and phillies rivalry escalates in a big way. larry beil has the highlights and coast game reaction coming up in sports. if you've got pain?

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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. the move again. the base dropped 280 feast. look at a time-lapsed video of the volcanic event which began on wednesday. even though it's slowing, it's believed the flow could last for

months. kilauea is one of the world's most active volcanoes and has been erupting since january, 1983. that's some pretty neat stuff, the time lapse. >> very cool. what's going on weather-wise? >> we are looking at a beautiful morning. the low clouds but the mist and the drizzle. this afternoon will be very pleasant just like we've seen the last couple days. things will change in the future. you can see here all the low cloudiness up to 2,000 feet. that's why we are looking at the cloudy skies all the way out toward livermore. concord partly cloudy skies. back home here's the way it looks outside our studios. temperatures in the upper 50s to around 60 in fremont and mountain view. we have the clear sky by vacaville. it will continue to work westward. the sea breeze will pick up, keeping san francisco cool and

comfortable today. we also have the drizzle, measurable drizzle. if you are headed into san francisco, parts of miran county pretty doom . i think the temperatures will come down a couple more degrees but then they will go back up and we will see numbers in and around the 90-degree range in the inland valleys. this morningpy 10:00 the fog peels back but you see it's not going very far. we have the on-shore flow that will keep the fog right here along the shoreline. the westerly winds, and the fog comes in and moves back, it's pretty breezy if you are around the bay. elsewhere we will see numbers warm into the mid-80s. yesterday we saw a few upper 60s around concord and the delta. but today a couple degrees cooler. we will look for upper 70s in the south bay. so here's the situation. we have had very consistent weather pattern from the late spring to early summer. in fact, one area of low

pressure heading out and another one moving in. the big bubble of high pressure that's kept the heat on the nation's midsection in the northeast will finish to retro grade backward toward california. that will warm us up a little pit. between now and then no change. the marine player is in place and the westerly winds are keeping it cool but comfortable around the bay. inland, though, we are warming up. san joaquin, sacramento valley here and a lot of sunshine. 91 yosemite. upper 70s to low 80s. we should be about 82 this time of year. san jose 79 today, 77 and the low clouds and fog hanging on throughout most of the day. partly cloudy this afternoon downtown, 65. look at this. 58 at the bay. 75 by the water in vallejo. 68 berkeley.

hayward 72. a few degrees warmer castro valley and fremont, mid-70s. 85 morgan hills and afternoon sun. today a couple degrees cooler than yesterday. we will follow that trend for sunday. then mid-and upper 8 0s. >> lessa, thanks very much. dan hairston joins us now from new york to tell us what is coming up at 7:00 on "good morning america." good morning to you, dan. >> terry, good morning. breaking news this morning. a nature toe helicopter shot down in afghanistan, more than 30 people killed. most of them, sad to say, u.s. navy seals. we will have the late nest a live report from martha raditz. america, as you know, has now been downgraded. to the first time in our history

the u.s. lost their triple-a credit rating. that means the u.s. government is no longer a risk free borrower. what does it mean for you and your student loans, all of that this morning. and a violent storm ripped through charlotte, north carolina. people trapped, homes evacuated. and incredible pictures of some daring rescues. on a much lighter note, take a look what happened in the back of this live shot. see that guy getting down on bended knee? that's a proposal caught on live television. we will tell you whether they planned it, and what the girl said. did she agree to get married? it's all coming up on gma. >> i have a sneaking suspicion that they had it planned. it's a peculiar spot. that's my thought. >> the back story is kind ever interesting and it might reduce your skepticism.

i'm just sayin. >> dan, the tease master. >> all right. thank you. >> matt cain battled. last night the rivalry intinesfied with a bench clearing brawl with the phillies 9-2 win. here's larry beil with the highlights and reaction. >> good morning. the bad blood that was slowly rising between the giants and phillies boiled over last night. a brawl with the benches emptying in game two their series. start with jonathan sanchez. he's back from the disabled list. and he says hello. he would say a lot more later on. the homer tied it up at 1. sanchez goes 4 2/3, gave up 5 runs. stanford man, john mayberry junior, two out, two-run beam. 4-1 phils. giants answering fire with fire. eli whiteside. giants down 5-2. phillies break it open with four

runs and ramon ramirez drills victorino in the back in the sixth. chaos ensues. eli bounces up and down and tackles placido polanco. the benches empty. full-scale scrum. then just as things seem to calm down the flyin' hawaiian, victorino, gets lose and knocks down the giants hitting coach. whiteside, victorino, ramirez, all get ejected. we will see if suspensions follow. the phillies win, 9-2. and afterwards everybody was talking about the fight. >> hey, it's baseball. you know, they happen fast and tempers flare. it just is part of the game. >> you think he threw it intentionally. >> absolutely i think he did. and that's why i took a step forward. again, i had no intentions of going out there and charging mound. i just wanted to know why in that situation he was around the plate all night and throughout that inning and with two outs, i get up to the plate and the first pitch is at my back. i just wanted to go out there

and get an answer. i had no intentions of charging the mound. i did step forward and eli felt like, from looking at his reaction, thought i was going to go and he started jumping around. and polanco came in and he tackled polanco and everything escalated from there. >> not as much drama in tampa. just some cute sting rays swimming around. a's lose another road game. fifth inning longoria doubles in damon. and he gave up four runs. here it comes, there it goes for coco crisp. wow, this might have been picked up on russian radar. a's down 4-2. but the rays come right back. two outs. two-run single off breslow. a's fall 8-4. they have lost 30 of their last 37 on the road. the raiders found their new tight end. kevin boss will fill the void. boss is regard as a better blocker than miller.

goes 6'6", 235. had a hip injury last year. seems to be healthy. boss gets a 4-year, $16 million contract. half is guaranteed. had 35 catches, five for touchdowns last season with new york. the cowboys didn't make the playoffs last year. this could be the difference maker on the left. peewee herman at training camp. why? we have no idea. he posted on twitter, trying out for the dallas cowboys. if he can throw better than tony romo, the cowboys have a lot of problems. mike shumann will be here with all your highlights at 5:00 p.m., six and eleven. see what happens today with the giants and the phillies. have a great weekend, everybody. i'm larry beil. >> next at 6:30, the president signs a bill to put thousands of faa construction crews back on a job. why a local worker says the deal is a mixed blessing. and the social networking site that lets parents keep an eye on what

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never tasted this sweet... i'll go get my bowl. [ female announcer ] ...or this huge. new fiber one 80 calories. yes, you can actually love breakfast. >> president obama is calling on congress to shift focus from the deficit to jobs. in his weekly and radio and internet address today he's asking congress to pass a series of initiatives to spur job growth. they include extending payroll tax cuts for another year and passing free trade agreements and patent reform.

>> we have to do whatever we can to help folks find work, to help recreate the climate you can put up the job listings and where incomes are rising again for people. we have to rebuild the economy in the sense of security that middle class families have felt slipping away for years. while deficit reduction has to be part of it. it's not the only thing we have to do. >> congress won't take up any measures until they return from their recess in september. president obama signed a bill ending the two week partial shut down of the federal aviation administration. that means thousands of construction workers would be going back to work. but it severely cost the government and taxpayers. some members of congress hoped to slash about $16 million from the faa budget but the resulting standoff ended up costing $390 million in lost tax revenue. that's about $30 million per day. abc7s sergio has details on how the shutdown continues to affect one key bay area project. the gate remains padlocked and the construction crews that should be there are not on the

job building a brand new $31 million control tower at oakland international airport. the project, ground to a standstill two weeks ago, thanks to congressional gridlock on the faa's budget. tim leads one of the construction crews at the oakland airport. he said the new faa funding deal is a mixed blessing. >> not real sure if we can start the project as quick as they turned it off a couple weeks ago. >> that's because part of his team is now working on this office tower in santa clara. >> now that there is a congressional deal, getting this crew back to work in oakland won't be easy, and it also won't be cheap. >> well, we've started doing other things as a company. we've laid off manpower. >> he said there will be a slight delay in pulling his team back together again once he gets the call that the oakland airport tower is back on track. they will still need to track down key pieces of equipment, like a multimillion-dollar supercrane which they were just days from using it. >> we were three days away from

that day when we got shut down. now the crane is no longer available and we have to find a crane to replace it, which is at a pretty good cost. >> in washington it ended with a simply legitimate legislative procedures that only took two senators and a few minutes to end. >> hearing no objection, so ordered. >> but back here in the bay area, news of the temporary faa deal is bittersweet. >> it's great to be going back to work but the government didn't do their job and here we are facing a huge deficit and they are just adding to it. >> in san jose, abc7 news. today some of the two dozen police officers that oakland has rehired are going to be back on patrol. the department now has 659 officers, including 27 rehires, who have started retraining and will be back on the street by mid-august. another five officers will be

brought on by december. police chief anthony, said he will put them in high crime areas, especially east oakland, which has 65% of the city's homicides. he was able to rehire some of the 85 officers laid off last year because of budget cuts. and he's hoping to find money to pay for another three dozen officers. >> the san francisco fire department welcomed 35 new members into its ranks with their first graduating class in six years. the badges were pinned on the firefighters during a ceremony yesterday morning at the training academy. there were over 6,000 applicants for the positions. it's the first firefighting class in which everyone was trained as an emergency medical technician. >> over the next few years i would like to beef up the staff a little bit more but it's challenging with the economy and the fiscal constraints we have. certainly today is a step in the right direction to have 35 new members in our department. >> currently the fire department does not have funding for another training class. there was a somber tribute at the graduation. a moment of silence to remember the two firefighters who died

battling a house fire in june. beginning the school year missouri law is making it illegal for teachers to be friends with students on social networking sites such as face networking sites such as facebook. the idea is to protect students from any sexual misconduct or other inappropriate contact but it's controversial in the bay area where social networking is now a standard tool for many teachers. there is a local solution. >> at this conference on technology in schools silicon valley teachers are learning the latest computer tools that will help them in the classroom. facebook is not one of them. >> there is stuff that i put up there that i want my students to see. but other stuff i wouldn't want them to see, stuff about my children or family that's not for them. >> missouri lawmakers agree, make illegal for teachers there to interact with any student under the age of 18 on facebook or any other social networking site, including twitter. the former ceo of sun

microsystems, scott mc neeley, said that's wrong and he says he hopes it will change. >> i'm comfortable longer term we will understand that online distance shift and time-shifted education will be a very important component of everybody's education process. >> none of these teachers we spoke to interact with students through facebook. still one of them says she she's nothing wrong with students and teachers communicating through facebook. >> i think it's important for us to extend our learning communities and to solidify them as one community. >> many silicon valley school districts already forbid teachers to friend students on facebook. >> i don't use facebook. the students i work with i use what is accessible with the district. >> edmoto is one website school districts do allow, even in missouri. the company is based in san mateo. the wall is remarkably similar to facebook, but this website

is there for students and their teachers to discuss, share and learn only school-related materials. students and teachers cannot have private conversations with each other or share with those outside their classroom network. >> in addition to that, we have parent accounts and school administrator accounts which provide those extra layers of visibility. >> edmoto now has 2 million subscribers. and just last september they had half a million subscribers so you can see how it's growing. it's free and available in spanish and portuguese. abc7 news. >> lisa joins us now. i can tell you it's overcast at the bay bridge. other than that, we leave it to the expert. what's going on in. >> we talked about the mist and drizzle this morning. the marine layer has made its way out to the east bay valleys. concord, scattered clouds. you saw 80s yesterday, more

80s in the forecast and 90s on the way, too. we will talk about it next. >> you look at that chart and see the weather. >> i do. >> spectacular. >> yeah. >> or both. and why some neighbororororororr

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from our new tour of america menu. only at denny's >> lisa is here to look at the forecast. and when it is done there's a warmup, right? >> you just gave it away. >> it's not here now. >> no. in fact, the weekend is going to be following suit of our whether the month's past. it's cool. >> you mean cool cool or cool? >> i mean all kinds ever cool. temperature cool and cool.

it's being felt all the way out toward the delta, other it's clear there. back home it is dense," weepers needed with measurable drizzle. and it clears up nicely. yesterday clearing was earlier. today it may be a little bit later. tomorrow the coolest day of the weekend just by a couple degrees. 57 half moon bay. we are looking at upper 50s in napa and santa rosa. so the fog, mist and drizzle, a little change over the weekend except for a little bit of dip in temperatures inland tomorrow. then the warming begins on monday. we will see a steady increase. a couple degrees each and every day, taking us a couple degrees above the average by the middle of the week. so the fog is out towards 580 and 680 and by 10:00, 11:00 it pulls back but doesn't go very far. it will stay at the beaches. a little cool here, 60s.

but we have 70s out toward oakland and some mid-80s. yesterday we saw the upper 80s. i don't think it will be that warm today. the on-shore flow, a little stronger. that allows for a little more cooling. another reason we have the cooling is the succession of area of low pressure systems of that been to the north, pass to go the east of us. not allowing for a wind shift or the high pressure ridge to build in like it usually does. but we still are enjoying a pretty nice pattern will little change today, tomorrow. minor fluctuations in our afternoon highs and then the marine layer will be more compressed. as for today the warmth is here in the central valley. in sacramento, 92, and los angeles still a cool summer for you, 79 for your high. upper 70s will be around the south bay as well. cupertino 9. san jose a couple degrees below average. 81. the relative humidity has been very high. the fire danger has been low

except in the higher elevations things are certainly drying out. 70 in milbrae, but the air quality is good. nice afternoon. 65 downtown today. in the north bay mist and drizzle will start and 77 in navato. sea breeze keeping berkeley in the upper 60s with 85 in pittsburgh and livermore today. corn cord 84 and the sunshine will be with us in santa cruz. 72. a few degrees cooler tomorrow. not much of a change and a steady warmup from monday right on through next week where highs will be a little bit warmer, maybe folks are waiting for that. but i think we've gotten used to this pattern for sure. >> lisa, thanks very much. everyone knows there's a homeless problem in downtown san francisco. but it's also an issue in neighbors near the great highway where it's not as noticeable. people are living on the streets there as well, not outdoors, but in cars, camper and advances.

carolyn has this morning's assignment 7 report. >> it's summertime and the rvs are lined up along this street below the great highway across from san francisco's ocean beach. but these aren't vacation campers. they are people like this man, whose vehicle is his home. >> i've been living in this city all my life. how i live and where i live is none of your business. >> he's arguing with john, who heads up the neighborhood watch. his group has had enough of this encampment. sometimes as many as 20 rvs park on a two-block stretch. >> not everyone in the vehicles are a problem, but we have a fair number in a group this large that do have issues and we have a lot of public drinking, public intoxication, drug use, sales. found used needles outside the rvs. and this is where we walk, this is are our children walk. >> some of them come up and get their sewage and dump it into our sewer system, as well as some of them urinate in the park and defecate, as well. i have pictures to prove that. >> police say the situation has existed for years.

>> why has it been allowed to go on for decades? >> i think because of the lack of the limitation that is we have right now on our enforcement. >> there is a city law against sleeping in vehicles from ten at night until six in the morning. but officers have to actually see a violator to cite him. park and control leaves warnings indicating its illegal to park in one spot for longer than 72 hours. but those who are savvy have figured that out. to comply with this warning campers only need to move one block away and they can park until they receive another notice. so as one officer says, it's a game of cat and mouse. >> i got a right to survive. i'm a human being. that's where i'm coming from. >> homeless advocates say a renewed police crackdown will not work. >> people get pushed from one neighborhood to another, and that's kind of the pattern. we focus on one neighborhood and push them to somewhere else. that's not a sustainable

solution of any kind. >> the district supervisor is examining strategies. though she said the focus should be not just on the campers, but also commercial vehicles that are taking up public space. >> one of the things that we've talked about potentially a permitting idea for oversize vehicles would be one issue. some kind of registration is another potential option. >> the sargent said the solution might be a designated area somewhere in the city for rvs. >> let's make it an appropriate place where there are bathrooms available and showers available. >> good long-term solution in john's opinion. >> short term? they got to go. >> a new enforcement push has moved some vehicles along, but everyone agrees they will be back. in san francisco, carolyn tyler, abc7 news. >> don't go away, 7 on your side is next. >> pg&e smart meters have come under attack but another utility

is quietly installing wireless meters of its own. i'm michael finney. 7 on your side is just ahead. @it -dad, why e you getting that? -that's my cereal.

is there a prize in there? oh, there's prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are the great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh.

a perhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪ you need the patch. (announcer) icy hot patches. targeted no-mess relief. icy to dull pain. hot to relax it away. pain's no match for the icy hot patch. >> 6:48. here's the camera looking at the fog. we see it so many times, it just never gets tiring to some people. speaking for myself. i believe i'm speaking for lisa, too. a beautiful day. a nice day and a warming trend on the way. lisa will tell us all about that in a few minutes. there has been plenty of protests surrounding pg&e's new smart meters. some say it leads to overbilling and other worry about radiation exposure. few realize there's another utility quietly installing their own version of smart meters. 7 on your side michael finney has the story.

>> the owners of this san francisco's duplex may not know it, but they are about to get a new smart water meter installed out front. the water department said the old meters are wearing out so they are installing these electronic meters at all 177,000 homes in the city. >> we are taking advantage of an opportunity to go beyond replacing the meter and also up grading the technology and providing for them to be automatically read. >> the new meters have the wireless transmitters that send water use through the airways four times a day to a central computers. it will help consumers track their consumption and detect leaks. the project has gone on quietly compared to the battles of pg&e's smart meters. >> please don't allow pg&e to put more smoke and mirrors in front of the public. >> i think it's kind of been slipped under the radar. >> stu matthews has protested pg&e's smart meter out of

concerns about health impact of emissions. >> the flyer we got basically said this is not optional. >> amy isn't going to let it happen at her house. she was arrested trying to block installation after pg&e smart meter also because of concerns over radiation. now she's put a sign over the old water meter still serving her house warning do not install a wireless meter. >> it's my house, it's my front yard. i don't want an rf remitter on my property. >> they use the same technology as pg&e's smart meters, although they emmit lower levels of radio waves. and data is being given directly to a collector unit like the one here. on the other hand, pg&e's smart meter data bounces from house to

house on the way to collectors. the water department's suzanne said water meters are safe. emissions fall below levels allowed, and it's over the sidewalk. >> if you stood over it you would get less than the radio frequency you would get from a baby monitor in your home. >> protestters aren't convinced. >> why would we want to install rf emitters every 25 feet along a sidewalk in san francisco? i walk to bart, for example, i am going to pass 60 or 70 houses. >> dozens of people have asked not to have the meters installed. the city's puc is considering an opt-out program considering to a proposal at pg&e. customers would turn off the transmitter and possibly pay extra for a meter reader. the water agency also wants to ensure the accuracy of the meters and wireless data transmission. as pg&e customers blooded them with complaints that the smart meters caused their bills to

skyrocket. >> if there's a change in your water bill it will relate to the amount of water being counted through your meter. so a new meter may, just by the virtue of it being a new meter, be more accurate. >> the water department is still billing customers based on manual readings until the wireless transmission is tested. new york city is installing the same system and the east bay municipal utility commission is also considering a plan to opt out. if you have a concern let me go about it. i'm michael finney, 7 on your side. coming up next, taking a walk in the wild where you can explore the life of a man at the forefront of california's green revolution. ♪

[ female announcer ] sweet honey taste. 80 calories per serving. 40daily value of fiber. i'm here in the downtown area where the crowd is growing. [ female announcer ] watching calories at breakfast never tasted this sweet... i'll go get my bowl. [ female announcer ] ...or this huge. new fiber one 80 calories. yes, you can actually love breakfast. last neat's mega millions drawing. here they are. someone won, someone got them all but it was not purchased in california. tuesday not's drawing estimated at $12 million. the environmentalist known as the father of the national parks is the the focus of a new

interactive exhibition at the oakland museum of california. the tribute of john muier's work. don sanchez gives us a preview. this exhibit is called walk in the wild, and it's a way of getting a fresh perspective on a man, john muiers, whose mission was to preserve our wilderness. the environment was his passion. >> he was the first, i would say first modern environmentalist because he used his writings, his contacts with celebrities and politicians to get the word out and get the gears in motion to protect the beautiful and endangered places. >> a letter from theodore roosevelt. he founded the sierra club. he was in yosemite where he found nature most abundant. and he explored history, science and art. there is a re-creation of a giant tree where he took refuge during a fire. this showcase lets us follow in john muire's footsteps. >> he knew what nature had in store, he knew how to survive.

>> what an extreme mountaineer he was and what challenges he put himself in to be able to get to the point where he would find what he wanted up there in the mountains. >> this show is a lifetime dream for this woman. it's taken her four years to assemble it from other museum and private collections, giving us a better chance to understand john, the man. >> he was driven by curiosity, emersing himself through experience and trying to understand the natural world. >> it is an indelible experience we experienced today because of what nature can bring to our lives. >> it's a fast-based world. but to enjoy something in solitude, that's what the wilderness is. it's a place for solitude without human interference. >> the exhibit will be here through saturday. >> in oakland, don sanchez. >> here's one last look at weather. >> we are looking at low clouds, surprise, surprise, 65 san francisco, sun there. oakland 70. minor changes. temperatures coming down a few

degrees inland today. 84 concord, 85 live more. 9 in san jose. down a few more degrees tomorrow. but then we are going to warm it up steadily each and every day at our coast, around the bay and inland for highsaround 90 by the middle of next week. minor change but you may need the wipers this morning. >> all right. lisa thanks a lot and thanks for joining us. our next newscast at 8:00 a.m. stay connected at abc7news.com and have a great weekend! can i eat heart healthy without giving up taste?

a man can only try... and try...and try. i heard eating wle grain oats can help lower my cholesterol. it's gonna be tough...so tough. my wife and i want to lowe our cholesterol, but finding healthy food that tastes good is torturous. your father is suffering. [ male announc ] honey nut cheerios tastes great and can help lower cholesterol.