zoo keepers say banana sam seems okay but they doubt the recovery story. >> he looks pretty good. thirsty, hungry, trembling a little bit but we did an exam and he did pretty good. >> is it easy to coax a monkey into a backpack? >> i would say not. a monkey would be place into a backpack forcefully. >> the investigation remains open. so far the man hasn't tried to claim the $5,000 reward. banana sam won't be on display for a while. keepers want to make sure he's okay and repair the damage to his habitat. there is throwing concerns about violence in oakland after the death of a child on friday night. five-year-old gabriel martinez junior was killed in his father's food truck just blocks from where another was killed earlier this year. >> he was just five years old and helping his dad load sodas in the food truck friday night.

witnesses say someone in line outside fired shots into the vehicle, hitting him in the chest. he saw his boy's father react to the shooting. >> he had blood on his hands and started screaming my skid got shot, my kid got shot. he has a gun, he has a gun. someone call the cops. the gun man is a light complected blackman in his 20s, with a female companion wearing a red jacket. the boy died of his wounds. third child to die of gunfire since august. three-year-old carlos was killed blocks away on august 8th. this gang shootout captured on a camera resulted in the death of this person on july 9th. a small gathered at 55th and international, the site of the shooting, leaving toys, teddy bears and cameras. his family formed the candles into a cross.

evelyn lives nearby with her children. >> it hurts because i work for this guy one day only in his restaurant. really good guy. it's sad to know these things are happening in oakland. >> the police chief said his talk with the family today was a sad and difficult one. >> i couldn't imagine what they are going through because i have a kid myself. and you are not supposed to outlive your kids. >> the yearly memorial at the st. columbus catholic church commemorates those lost in violence in oakland each year. this year the count is 110. oakland police have issued a $25,000 reward. if you have information you can log on to abc7news.com for their anonymous tip line. abc7 news. >> a san jose woman is in custody this morning hours after police thought she was the victim of a physical attack. 40-year-old woman is under arrest on suspicion of murder. she's one of two women police found when they arrived at johnston avenue. both women were wounded. the victim died at the scene.

officials believe she used a machete-like weapon. the motive is under investigation. two suspects are behind bars after leading police on a wild chase. it ended yesterday afternoon in the excelsior district from the suspects crashed into a parked car. officers chased them at high speeds. and finally into excelsior. the suspects also sideswiped a car, injuring two people. if you didn't make it to san francisco to ring in the new year, you missed quite a show. luckily we can show it to you now. thousands of people crowded on to san francisco's embarcadero to watch a fireworks spectacular, and thanks to the whether conditions, there was no fog to spoil the view. earlier in the evening abc7's john alston caught up with some bay area residents that were getting ready to say good-bye to 2011. >> although it ended with a little bump, it was still a good

year for this family of san francisco who were celebrating with ice skating and fireworks. >> family time. our oldest son is in college in texas and he's home for the holidays and we wanted family time this new year's. >> we felt we wanted a special year this year. we thought everything went pretty if for us so we wanted to do something different. >> by 9:30 the embarcadero started filling up, waiting for the midnight fireworks show over the bay. police are there in force with a new tool, called sobering tents. one is set up near sf general. partyers can spend the night here sobering up instead of getting arrested and going to jail. >> if there are no impending criminal charges or no medical issues, they will be monitored by the department of public health workers and once they sober up they are allowed to go home. >> all afternoon they put the finishing touches on the fireworks display. knew this year, the display at water level. >> it will look like a ducky race out in the water.

depending on the current tonight. there are little strobe devices that pulsate out on the water so a lot of little specks out in the water. >> the ringing in the new year started with a quiet dinner. >> we are going to go to the palace hotel for their evening ball, and after that we will walk down market street and hopefully catch the tail end of the fireworks. >> john alston, ab c c7 years. >> across the country new york city marked the year in a new way. the famous ball had a makeover this year. it's decorated with 3,000 waterford crystal triangles. the huge street party has been a new york tradition since 1907. >> in san jose this morning, firefighters are cleaning up after an early morning fire that destroyed a victorian style home.

the house on 4900 block of north fifth street burned for an hour and a half and was a total loss. luckily the four people who lived there were not hurt. no word on what caused the fire. at least four more cars have burned in los angeles as authorities conduct an all-out hunt for an arsonist. at least 48 arson case necessary -- cases in three days are being investigated. abby has the story from l.a. >> we want to get these s. o. b.s before they hurt somebody. >> the last 48 hours this scene unfolded dozens of time. nearly all starting at car fires which spread to homes and apartment buildings. firefighters scrambling to contain the damage. >> a fire like this causes terror. it's intentionally meant to make people afraid. >> we were in bed, my wife heard some popping noises, looked around because we heard about the fires and so she ran outside and said, hey, our neighbor's house is on fire. >> friday's fires were concentrated in and around hollywood. but the ones today were more widespread, making it seem less likely that it's the work of just one person. so far known has been injured.

>> one fire out of control can cost dozens of lives. you are trying to say something, this is not the way to say it. >> this woman showed us her husband's car completely charred. it was his christmas gift. >> we can always get a new one. both of us are safe. that's the most important. >> investigators are still trying to determine if the rash of fires is connected. searching through surveillance footage for clues. >> i don't have any suspect that's being detained at this time as part of our investigation. abc news, los angeles. >> you are waking up to some new laws and regulations this morning. up next we will highlight changes to driving laws. one aims at keeping drunk drivers off the road for a very long time. and byob, bring your own bag or your bill at the checkout could go higher.

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with two children and no way to support them. people told me i wasn't going to do anything. and i just decided i have more to offer than that. i put myself through nursing school, and then i decided to go get a doctorate degree. university of phoenix gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people's lives. my name is dr. kimberly horton. i manage a network of over a thousand nurses, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu.

>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >> nationwide some 4500 state laws take effect today. in california several involve driving and parking. starting today drivers convicted of three or more duis can have their driver's license suspended for ten years. a change to california's child passenger safety seat law requires children to ride in a

car seat or booster seat until the age of 8. and e.v. electric vehicles must be plugged in for refueling when occupying an e.v. designated parking space. another new law in san francisco, a ban on plastic bags and a restriction on paper. paper bags with recycled content will only be handed out only by restaurants, nonprofits and social organizations. retailers will now sell paper bags to customers for ten cents each. similar laws take effect in unincorporated marin county. a north carolina man tried to leave a wal-mart store with a lot of change, but instead he landed in jail. the man tried to use a fake $1 million bill. that was to pay for $476 worth of goods. he was arrested. there's no such thing as a million dollars bill. the largest bill of made was a $100,000 bill.

the largest still in circulation is the $100 bill. don't fall for that. i just want to so it. >> i know. >> the weather is nice, though. it's not what we need burks it's nice. >> no. it's like groundhog day, deja vu. i mean, it just keeps coming. in fact, every little hint of rain gets knocked out. we are under another spare the air today. breezy winds this morning keeping numbers in the 50s, even 60s at the coast of the a look at the seven-day and whether or not there are raindrops. that's coming up. >> and we will show you how the little ones counted down to the new year without staying up too late.

some people didn't wait until the stroke of midnight to celebrate 2012. they couldn't, it was past their bedtime. so just for the little ones the space and science center held it's 12th annual new year's eve paw loan drop. the balloons dropped when it became midnight in other time zones. that's nice. it's nice you can conveniently celebrate the new year when it

is a good time for you. >> yeah we did that all the time and then they caught on, hey, 9:00? >> then you get older and you just want to sleep. >> overrated perhaps. >> ah-ha. >> we are talking abouten credibly dry, warm weather with us throughout the day today. if you like that, today temperatures are going to be ten degrees above the norm in some spots. in fact, we could hit 70 degrees up in the north bay. so we are less than 10% of normal for our rainfall. here's a look at the cam. you can see the wind that's brought the lower 60ths. the roof camera, the sun up officially in an hour or more. 7:25 and setting at 5:01. we are talking about only 27% of normal. you're reeka, los angeles 43% of normal and san diego 56% of normal for january 1st. so that definitely puts the

entire state at risk now because the next seven days we are looking at dry weather. we can push that out to about ten days. 51 san francisco. 41 redwood city with 40 degrees in santa rosa. 48 at the delta but overall we are pretty mild this morning. san jose pretty cool as well as loss got toes. it depends on where you are. and the fog is dense in fairfield. the delta, the low-lying areas will be a problem the next several hours. look at santa rosa, down to a mile and a half. compared to 24 hours ago, most areas are warmer but take a look at hayward. you are five degrees cooler as well as san jose. so not everyone enjoying the mild start to the new year. for the most part the breezy winds will be confined to the upper elevations. right now at half moon bay we have numbers on the mild side. spare the air. but then by tomorrow the ridge of high pressure gets knocked down a little bit. we will see cooler weather and a

chance of showers or sonoma county not even as far south as marijuana county. we are looking at a series of weak systems that will bring us a wind shift. in fact, today we've got the offshore winds, the high builds on in and the flow around the high bringing in the offshore winds and the mild temperatures. some of them gusty this morning. the winds will die back and that's why we have the spare the air. tomorrow the next system will bring the on show flow and that will bring the cooler weather and more moisture to the air. we will see more widespread fog tomorrow. today 57 yosemite. today and tomorrow we are going to see 80s for los angeles and back home numbers a couple degrees warmer from san jose to sunyvale. low to mid-60s. los gatos, 66. redwood city coming in at 65. san francisco today above average, low 60s. here is where we could see numbers hit the upper 60ths to

near 70. 66 in oakland today for january. wow! over the#â11ñ danville 64 and monterey, another beach day. they just keep coming with the air quality taking a big hit today. and the look ahead. we will fix things out tomorrow. maybe a few sprinkles, sonoma county. then after that some cooler weather, but same old, same old. >> dry. only in california do we say another beach day. thank you, lisa. >> that's true. >>@park officials say they have replace add barricade that collapsed during a high school football game earlier this month. this weekend's kraft hunger bowl was the first to be held at the park since a portion of the railing came down. this is video shot seconds after the collapse. the railing gave way under the weight of the crowd. some students went over the edge and fell on players below, but there were no serious injuries. a tv camera became an on-field camera during the

inside goal in tempe, arizona. the camera that provides overhead shots for espn fell when the wire it was attached to appeared to snap with just a few minutes left in the game, which was between oklahoma and iowa. the camera bounced off the field around the 20-yard line and narrowly missed receiver marvin mcnut jr, who got tangled in the wires. the camera had to be dragged off the field, causing a delay of about five minutes. you don't see stuff like that coming. the late start to the nba season is taking its follow on the warriors. as collin resch tells us, they looked flat last night. here's sports. >> good morning. minus monta ellis, who is attending his grandmother's funeral in mississippi, the warriors looked like fish out of water last night. steph country back from a one-game absence. new shoes for his troubled ankle. he looked good. shifty handles. scoop off the grass, curry with 21. second quarter, game tied at 31. dominic inside for the jam. all downhill from then on. curry misses the three.

philly boards, ahead to jrue holiday. the left-handed flush. off the mark on the three. holiday ahead to williams. lays it in. warriors blown out. they fall to 2-2. both cal and stanford going for a sweep, a home sweep of the l.a. schools yesterday. mike montgomery's bears hosting ucla. going baseline. cal a one-point lead at halftime. they dominated the final 20 minutes. cobb, sweet reverse, 57-45. allen crab, he had 20. 4 of 7 beyond the arc. 85-699 final. first sweep of the south cal school there in eight years. they are now 12-3. and bright of stanford, they had usc, trojans grabbed the early lead. alexis moore, the wing triple. 9-0 run to start the second half for the cardinals. bright among the trees. 36-25. then they hang around literally.

5'7" hanging, hitting, 4-point game. but here's the bright side. 7 of his 16 down the stretch, 51-43 stanford. they sweep both l.a. schools as well and improve to 12-2. stanford women, they are now 2-0 in pac-12 play. they beat ucla 77-50. cal starts 0-2, beaten by usc 74-54. and the lions rolling here in the first half. alex osbourne inside. 37-20, lmu gone. 50 points second half. michael williams driving for two. anthony ireland, three-pointer here. he would end up making the game-winning lay-up in overtime. lmu in the thriller, 77-76. saint mary's men hammered pepperdine, and the women used an 8-0 run to end the game and beat byu. saturday's kraft fight hunger

bowl. ucla and illinois at&t park. jerry rice, a pat on the butt. i like this. illinois kicker from the bullpen to mcuffey cove. he likes it. terry hawthorne likes this. stepping in front of the pass. read it perfectly. 39 yards, 10-7, illini. five minutes to go. here's the big play of the game. nathan, a hole in the ucla defense. aj jenkins, 60 yards. illinois lost six straight and end on a high note. 20 hitch 14, the final. the pac-12, 1-4 in the season. -- in the goal season. >> we knew we were coming into this game. our defense is good and their defense is good. we knew we had to score some points to try to keep them off us. fortunately, i mean, that's what we did. >> lone conference win for the pac-12? thanks to utah and the sun goal.

utah trailing georgia tech by 14 in the fourth. he never looked up. christopher, game goes to overtime after a field goal. third and goal from the 8. john white driving into the end zone. game over. 30-27, utep. jordan rogers, he's the younger brother of aaron, just 4 of some 14 for 26 yards against cincinnati in the liberty goal and then they pulled him. despite his performance vandy took the lead in the fourth quarter. then this happened. ralph abernathy, 90 yards on the kickoff return. cincy the winner. and the northwestern and texas a&m, quarterback about ryan, 329 yards passing, 26 here to jeff fuller, 33-26 aggies. their first bowl win since 2001. northwestern's last win, the 1949 rose bowl. that hurts. and while most were partying last night, robbie maddison and levi were jumping san diego bay roughly 400 feet. madison on the bike, and lavalle on the snowmobile. they stick the landing and live

to tell about it. good stuff. mike shumann will be in tonight. he will wrap week 17 in the nfl for you. niners in st. louis. the raiders hosting san diego with the playoff berth on the line. happy new year, everyone. i'm collin resch. >> next at 6:30. we will show you how the arrival of 2012 was celebrated around the world and the explanation pg&e is giving state regulators for why some gas pipelines went 20 years without the required inspection.

>> good morning, happy new year. here's how people around the world rang in the new year. in london, england, some 250,000 people watched the fireworks set off from the london eye, which is the giant wheel on the south bank. one of the most spectacular fireworks displays came from rio de janeiro in brazil. people headed to the beach to welcome in the new year there, and russia kicked off the new year with fireworks in moscow. pg&e officials admit the utility failed to inspect about 14 miles of gas pipelines in contra costa counties because several maps had been missplaced. according to reports, official recently admitted to state officials they did not conduct the inspections, even though federal laws requires those inspections every five years. as a result, some pg&e lines in

east contra costa county went unchecked for 20 years. a new survey uncovered 22 leaks in those abandoned pipes. with just two days to go to the iowa caucuses, republican presidential candidates are jockeying for position. polls show an upset win for texas congressman ron paul or for former senator rick santorum is not out of the question. mitt romney is pulling ahead, helped by a barrage of tv ads targeting newt gingrich. and romney spent most of the day calling obama a footnote in american history. >> i look forward to doing a few things in a hurry if i'm able to get this job, and i think i will. >> ron paul took time off to celebrate new year's eve back home in texas. despite the negative ads, newt gingrich is hoping to get undecided voters at the last minute. michele bachmann was met by protestors at her headquarters

and rick perry refused to answer questions about his campaign being in disarray. a costly state supreme court decision will affect cities all over california. hundreds of municipalities are losing redevelopment money from sacramento. it will save the state a lot of cash, but it could be devastating for local communities. abc7 has the consequences of the decision. >> cities across the state are marking the end of an era that began in the mid-1940s. in san jose redevelopment money funded everything from the hp pavilion and the tech museum to affordable housing. >> the same is true of north san jose. thousands of jobs were created. that would not be there without the tool of redevelopment. >> in the tough budget times the state wanted the $1.7 billion funneled to redevelopment agencies. the state supreme court made two key rulings that do away with the agencies, even if they were willing to pay into a fund to stay alive.

>> the court says that the legislature can eliminate redevelopment, that's constitutional. on the other hand, they said you can't force a pay to play. so as a result there will be no redevelopment. >> the decisions are considered a key victory in the state's effort to balance the budget. it heads into the new year with a $13 billion shortfall. >> this was a critical step to make sure that schools in this state got more than a billion dollars. not only for this year but this is a funding stream that will be going in future years. >> the court ruling will help shore up funding for public education. but even with the elimination of some 400 redevelopment agencies statewide, many education advocates say it does not solve an ongoing problem. >> there's not a lot of good news in what we are spending per student k through 12 so it's not something i would score a victory. it's maintaining a bad situation. it prevented it from getting worse but it's not something we should be celebrating. >> cities are definitely not celebrating. some say the elimination of redevelopment agencies will be

devastating and all of them say it will change business as usual. >> we've been preparing for it and we recognize we need to move forward with economic development strategies that really develop partnerships with the private sectors instead of large subsidies from the public sector. >> and redevelopment agencies have been before the court for months now. the state supreme court ruling means they will officially take their last breath on may 1st. in san jose, corina rusk, abc7 news. >> i.e.d.s have cost count less brain injuries in american troops. now a national effort is underway to focus attention on head injuries. the son of late ted kennedy talked to cheryl jennings about the new program. >> three years ago i lost my father to brain cancer. >> brain disease is intensely personal to former congressman patrick kennedy. his father was the late senator ted kennedy. patrick has teamed up on a project about brain disease.

their son brandon recovered from a 1990 diagnosis of an illness called schizophrenia. it makes people unable to tell the difference between fantasy and reality. >> we need to put it on the same footing with cancer and aids research. >> they wanted to learn about their son's disease. so they create the the international mental health research organization 17 years ago. they started holding fundraisers at the winery. the 2011 event raised more than $3 million for research. now they and kennedy are working on a new initiative called one mind for research organization. it has a ten-year goal. >> we call this the race to inner space. >> kennedy said it's a call for an urgent national collaboration on brain disease. he said the effort was called by his late uncle. president john f. kennedy 50 years ago in 1961 to put a man on the moon and bring him home safely within a decade.

>> we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. >> we are saying we need to go to inner space and understand how the galaxy of neurons in our brains work in order to get to the therapies and cures that are going to relieve us from everything from autism, parkinson's, epilepsy. other diseases. we are working with agencies all across the country and we got them to come together and actually write a ten-year plan for neuroscience. >> they believe everyone can benefit, from the thousands of soldiers with brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder to the general public. the founders say it will create a superhighway of information about the brain. >> we owe it to our veterans to do better by researching brain injury and posttraumatic stress so we can better take care of the people who took care of us and kept terrorism off our

shores for the last ten years. >> that was cheryl jennings reportinging. president obama has sent the staglands a thank you because their fundraising and partnership has raised a combined total of $135 million for mental health research. you can find a link on our website, abc7news.com. >> lisa is joining us now for a look at the forecast, which is ho-hum nice. >> yeah. almost same-old, same-old but we are warmer than we have been and that's because we have widespread northeast winds and that's bringing very mild air outside. in fact, san francisco already in the 50s. well, it really never dropped overnight. we have warmer air on the way today. cooler tomorrow, maybe a little warmer in the north bay. i'll put it all together for you next. >> thank you, lisa. plus a close encounter with a the word is swapportunity.

can i have the definition? swapportunity: the opportunity to swap a higher calorie snack for a yoplait light. can you use it in a sentence? mmm. swapping a 300 calorie donut for this 110 calorie strawberry shortcake is a good swapportunity. that's not a real word. oh haha it's real. [ female announcer ] delicious, creamy, yoplait light. over 30 flavors each around 100 calories. do the swap today. -dad, why e you getting that? -thatis 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 are looking live at times square in new york city. definitely other morning-after kind of view. quiet, just a few people wandering around. now compare and contrast quiet also on the embarcadero in san francisco, but it's nice to see the sun come up. we are a few hours into the new year. maybe we will see the ferry

building lit up. but that's a gorgeous view as we welcome in the new year, twelve. well, n.a.s.a. is focusing on the agencies's latest moon mission. >> one, zero, and liftoff of the delta 2 with grail. >> twin space crafts bound for the moon will make back-to-back arrivals over the weekend. one slipped into orbit yesterday and the next will arrive today. the probes, named grail a and grail b will measure the moon's lumpy gravity field to help determine what is inside the core of the moon. wack here on earth, lisa is in with a look at the forecast, which, you know, isn't as exciting as space travel. >> no. and it's really starting out where we left off from last year to this year. things of just staying dry out there. we are looking at numbers warmer today and cooler tomorrow. do we have any hint at all of rain? maybe a little tiny bit.

here's a look at the sutro camera -- or this is tamm. the winds are up and that's allowing the warmer air to mix town to the surface. this is the vulmer peak with the clear sky. and closer to the city the camera, it looks pretty darn dark out there. with but we are looking at sun setting after 5:00 tonight and very mild to warm air out there to enjoy with numbers coming up. another 30 to 35 degrees from santa rosa's overnight low of 30. they could hit 70 today. and really just a handful of numbers on the chilly side this morning. that would be fair field with the fog. 37 in san jose. los gatos 37. we've dropped two degrees in half moon bay. elsewhere the mild air is with us and we are starting out much, much warmer. but with some of that moisture we have a little bit of fog. we will see much more fog tomorrow as our flow switches

from an offshore to an on shore fog. the fog from santa rosa to fairfield and just a little bit of the visibility taking a hit in our valleys. otherwise we are looking at the chillier numbers around hayward, san jose and los gatos and santa rosa with elsewhere widespread mild air to start out the new year. 14 degrees warmer in novato. that little bit of wind can make a big, big difference in our temperatures and that's exactly what is going to happen today. breezy over the hills with patchy fog this morning. warmer today and with that high pressure building in, yet another spare the air day today. chance of sprinkles far north. napa, sonoma tomorrow. we won't be as warm tomorrow. we have two weak systems headed our way. one tomorrow. but let's start with today where you will notice the clouds continue to flood well to the north. that's because of this ridge right here. once again, that built in from the weak system that slid by

friday and brought us a couple hundredth inch of rain. now we have high pressure once again bringing the widespread 60s. today the wind is blowing from land to sea. tomorrow the on shore component will bring temperatures down about five degrees. look at the numbers today. mid, upper 50s. a lot of folks in tahoe not bothered by the mild air. in fact, feeling like spring skiing. 80ths today, 80s tomorrow in los angeles. the fog is in the san joaquin valley. really that isn't a factor throughout much of california. usually that keeps us very cool in the valleys this time of year. but even though, we are warming up there and here with two to three degrees of warming today. we should be at about upper 50s today. 64 cupertino. saratoga 6 a. look to low to mid-60s on the peninsula today. pacifica, you will be at 59. half moon bay, numbers coming down a little bit throughout the morning hours but you will end

back up at 60 degrees. downtown 63 today. yeah, this is january. starting out once again very mild, incredibly dry for the north bay. dipping to probably 28% of normal before the week is out in sonoma county. santa rosa 66 today. it could even be warmer than that with a little bit of wind. 66 in oakland. fremont 65. let's get the shorts out today and the sun block. 62 in brentwood. down by the monterey bay we are looking at more fair weather with upper 60s, but you will notice that it will be hazy today. a few high clouds. cology off by about four or five degrees tomorrow and then i will notice partly cloudy skies, a little more morning fog tuesday and wednesday and the next system instead of bringing us rain, more clouds and cooler temperatures by then of the week. that's the first full weekend of 2012, nice dry. >> all the clouds, none of the rain. thank you, lisa. if you think it's tough getting

people to cooperate with doctors, imagine working with a 400-pound gorilla. here's abc's dan harris on turning primates into patience. >> geno has a cushy life at the disney animal kingdom in orlando. he spends his daze lazily eating leaves and fruits in front of an adoring crowd with his three females and little baby on hand. but geno has a bad heart. heart disease is a common problem with gorillas, especially males. >> across north america and the world, 40% of our gorillas have heart problems. >> the people at disney turn to human cordologist to help which suggested giving him ultrasound tests but that was not easy. >> you really have to dart animals to do that. >> you are firing a dart gun. >> obviously that's stressful for the animal, stressful for the people. >> to get the best results the doctors said they needed gorillas wide awake and not sedated.

but it's a little tricky to give a gorilla a checkup. you can't march up to a silver back like geno in a white coat with a stethoscope. then somebody had a genius idea. train them to participate, so to speak, in their own checkup. >> basically we are just going -- we do this at the front of each session. >> we got a front row seat. they showed us how its done. >> you are excited. the chest is all the way up. >> take a look at this as geno crouches next to the bars, raises his left arm and strikes a rather odd pose, prompted by fruits and pickles and allows the zookeeper to rub the ultrasound probe right over his chest. >> how is it looking? >> awesome. >> a live window into his beating heart, making it all look so easy. but even though geno is cooperative here, he is still mischievous. look at him trying to grab me. >> oh, you are close. >> thank you, amy.

[laughter] >> if you did an ultrasound on me right now, you would see my heart going very fast. >> dan harris, abc news. >> disney is the parent company of abc and abc7 news. 7 on your side is next. what to do if you cancelled your airline ticket and the refund never showed up? that's what happened to a viewer who called michael finney for

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why not save on car insurance? [ coin drops ] [ high-pitched voice ] thanks. [ normal voice ] you're welcome. get a free quote at progressive.com. >> happy new year. you are looking live at lake tahoe. it's cold, but the sun will come up. you will have sunny skiing on manmade snow today and mid-to upper 50s all week long. lisa will expand on that coming up in weather. airlines charge travelers a premium to get a refundable ticket. so when you buy one you should be able to cancel your flight and get a refund as promised, right? that was not the case for one international traveler until 7 on your side's michael finney got involved. >> okay, here we are. >> she shows us a treasured memento of her courtship with her now husband kent. the indian born woman was introduced to kent during a

business trip to san francisco. it didn't take long for the both of them to realize they were meant for each other. >> three weeks, i thought, ah-ha, this sounds promising. >> she returned to india, but the two kept in touch by way of e-mail, online chats and phone conversations. eventually kent visited her in india. this photo was taken the first time kent met her family. the courtship intensified and mahua purchased a refundable round-trip ticket from lufthansa to visit kent in san francisco. >> the prices were steeper because it was the refundable variety. >> everything went so well on the visit that she cancelled her return flight and received confirmation from the airline airline that she had done so. three weeks later the couple was married in san mateo county. >> there was no need to waste time since we were really sure about what we were doing. >> when things settled down, she inquired with lufthansa about the refund.

>> all i would receive was the automated notification saying your claim has been submitted. i never heard back anything from anyone. >> over the next year she filed several online complaints but there was no response beyond the automated e-mail. al is a nationally-known travel attorney. >> months and months, that isn't reasonable. but there's no consumer rights law that says it must be this long. >> more than a year after her cancelled trip, she contacted 7 on your side and we contacted lufthansa. >> i'm thinking halleluiah, this is -- there was absolutely no communication from the airline. i had completely written it off. >> lufthansa blamed the delay on a computer glitch, but said they responded to her once they became aware of the situation. we do need to mention the refund was only about half as much as she expected. it seems she unknowingly purchased what was a restricted refundable ticket which entitles

her only to a portion of the refund. >> i was happy which i at least got something back. it wouldn't have happened without abc7s help. >> i'm michael finney, on your side. >> now that 2011 is behind us, which movies will win the awards. up next, don sanchez gives us his picks among the best films of the year. h@h@h@h@h@h@h@h@h@h@

>> here are the winning numbers from last night's super one plus draw. no big winner so the jackpot for wednesday will be $10 million. the 2011 movie season produced some remarkable films. average bc7s arts and entertainment reporter don sanchez presents his top ten list. >> it's been a great year for film production and these are what i think are the ten best, starting with number ten. >> today marks the beginning after fight between two sets of ideas. >> "ides of march" with political intrigue and back room deals. george clooney directs a primer for the election. "the way" is personal personal film directing. and the story of a search for a new beginning. hannah is a fast-based grim fairy tale, a story filled with twists. she is a killer kid.

in "the descendents" george clooney tries to reconnect with his daughters. add the hawaii north shore for visuals. it's not a holiday feel-good movie but the girl with the dragon tattoo recreates the book. i call tinker taylor soldier spy brilliant. gary in cold war espionage. a deliberately based adaptation of the book. >> "the help" is a beautiful film. and octaveio spencer steals the film. talking to us? "hugo" looks extraordinary and with the best 3d i've seen. it's about preserving film. >> woody allen gifts us with a look at "paris now." "midnight in paris" is a glorious film. >> the choice for number one is a throwback to the way they made films more than 80 years ago.

the artist is attributed to when they had faces. a black and white silent film, funny, fascinating, and an instant classic. could my picks be a preview of the award season in i'll be voting for the broadcast association critics choice awards. you can see those on january 1 -- january 12th on vh one, followed by the golden globes and then the oscar nominations. look for my picks and more. aim don sanchez and see you on the isle. >> here's lisa with the forecast. >> more dry weather, sunny and mild today. temperatures coming up. a spare the air day today. we have 60s at the coast not only now but later on. the winds will die back. a little haze out there but a filed afternoon. upper 60s around santa cruz and morgan hill.

tonight it will shift to an on shore push. maybe a few sprinkles in sonoma tomorrow but that's it in terms of 2012 for now. >> for now. >> thank you, lisa so much. thanks for joining us. our next newscast starts at 9:00 this morning. in the meantime keep track of the latest break being news on twitter and you can talk about it at facebook.com/abc7news. good morning america is next. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego.

prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ '80s dance music plays ] [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delicious and wholesome. some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. a lot of my instructors were principals in my district. i wouldn't be where i am without that degree. my name is dr. carrie buck. i helped turn an at-risk school into an award winning school, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu.