>> carolyn: good morning, thanks for joining us. i'm carolyn tyler. work continues to reshape the westbound approach to the bay bridge. as you can see from the live shot behind me, except for the work crews, the upper deck is silent. it is shut down this weekend for this around the clock project.

as caltrans prepares to give us an official update a spokesperson tells "abc 7 news" this morning that everybody continues to be on track for reopening westbound lanes tuesday morning, perhaps sooner. crews have dug up the old roadway and shifted the lines a little to the south. striping the lanes begin overnight. dem licks crews are removing the section of old bridge right where the new span will be connected when it opens in 2013. >> despite the smooth scenario by caltrans, we saw the first traffic snarls begin around 4:00 yesterday afternoon along some of the other routes into an san francisco. in east bay there was huge back-up on westbound 580 approaching the richmond-san rafael bridge. in marin county, southbound 101 was crawl from san rafael through the waldo tunnel.

>> it's really bad. a lot of people of honking. >> took us a long time. >> reporter: about how long? >> i would say about an hour and a half from san rafael. >> carolyn: traffic was backed up on san francisco on lombard street on doyle drive, but remember the eastbound direction of the bay bridge is open. so you can take the lower deck out of san francisco to get to the east bay. our exclusive waze traffic tracker is helping people. this is live gps data sent by traffic spotters. you can download the waze app for your smart phone, go to abc7news.com/waze. it's free and it can help you get around all that congestion. now, if you still want to get into an san francisco this presidents' day weekend you do

have options. two major alternatives are bart and are the ferry. bart is running nonstop while the ferries are shifting their schedules. >> i would have been home by now. >> if you had driven? >> yes. >> sometimes driving is more convenient because you can do it your on time. >> its faster way to go. >> a ferry was a lot more fun through bart, all of that. >> carolyn: all transit buses are driving passengers to bart stations. for a complete coverage of the bay bridge closure, stay with "abc 7 news." you can also go to abc7news.com or check "abc 7 news" bay area on twitter to get the very latest. >> it's not just traffic that might be keeping some people off the road this weekend. gas prices are skyrocketing. the cost of filling up is the

highest itself it's ever been this time of year, well over $4 in the bay area. you can blame the pain at the pump at rising oil prices and temporarily closed refineries. don't expect relief anytime soon they spike could hit $5 a gallon by memorial day. sports network, espn is apologizing for a headline containing a racial slur about n.b.a. player jeremy lin. it referred to history night's performance in which the knicks lost. he has gained worldwide attention for his sensational rise in the n.b.a. tomas ramon has the story. >> jeremy lin rise in the n.b.a. has led to terms like lin-sanity. he nine turnovers in the game.

espn read the headline was called chin k in the new orleans. they say they are conducting a complete review of the ed for yal procedures and determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. we regret and apologize for the mistake. >> apology is clearly not enough. they put on line, they apologizing for what they describe as the use of an inappropriate word. the word isn't really inappropriate. it's a racist word. >> it has sparked resentment and outcry from the asian-american community. >> chinese-americans through the asian-american community that they have to finally learn a lesson and it will never, ever happen again. the apologies when you continue

to do this time and time again. >> they say the espn owes it to the asian-american community to outreach and make sure that employees that asians are large part of the american experience and deserve better. by the way, espn is owed by disney the parent company of abc news. jeremy lin is going to be back on the court when the knicks play the mavericks right here this morning at 9:30. >> coming up next, music icon whitney houston laid to rest this morning after a moving think beauty by family and friends. also, honoring a person that entertained thousands of people in the bay area with flee 6ñ6p

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>> janelle: this morning, whitney houston is being laid to rest at cemetery in new jersey. family and friends gathered at newark church to celebrate and mourn and say farewell to houston whose voice defined an area. ♪ >> carolyn: it was really more of a celebration of houston's life and sadness at her death. kevin costner, alicia keys and stevie wonder were among the attendees. >> they will honor warren helman

founder of hardly strictly bluegrass festival. his band will perform along with festival favorites including bo asking as, two stages will be set up along the great highway between j.f.k. drive and parking is limited so the smart thing, take public transit to the free event. weather shuck great. >> just like that. sun and clouds, we're looking at more and high-level clouds increasing today. the rain, it's offshore. we'll talk about if it's going to move onshore in a bit. >> carolyn: thank you, it was a wild day and mike shumann (announcer) dry cracked skin? new gold bond anti-itch lotion

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>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >> carolyn: back, time right now 9:14, thanks for joining us on this sunday morning, would you like to see what they are doing there on the bay bridge that is preventing you from heading westbound on the upper deck?

we just talked with caltrans listening to them. they say they are halfway done but everything is on schedule, but they are not committing themselves to getting done early. they were saying yesterday they thought they might finish before their deadline which is 5:00 a.m. on tuesday. lisa we hope the few sprinkles that you have in your forecast isn't going to cause them issues? >> i'm sure they are trying to work around the sprinkles but still some are slated to come our way into an presidents' day. as we head outside. plenty of sunshine with a few clouds, heavenly at 26 degrees at tahoe valley airport. so pretty chilly with temperatures in the 40s and looking for not only a busy day but a busy week ahead. they call it ski week around the

bay area. here are clouds from the sutro camera, temperatures will keep in check due to the cloud cover. 44 in oakland. good morning, san francisco, 47 there with low 40s to the north. clouds begin to increase at about 4:00 this morning. for a while, we did bottom out in the mid to upper 30s in some parts of the cooler valleys around the bay. right now, trying to edge up a little bit. mostly cloudy to start out. partly cloudy throughout the rest of the afternoon. today's precip is going to stay offshore and then we're going to see moisture perhaps moving overnight from another weather system that is further off to the north and best. that could get us wet for tomorrow. here is live doppler 7-hd. we do have returns offshore. this will not move into an the bay. in fact it runs parallel to the coast for much of the day. it's no the weather system that will provide the energy.

that is the one up to the north and wets. so providing the cloud cover today, slightly cooler air, as we widen things out, zoom back in, we are looking at moisture field staying offshore for the afternoon today. as we go through the early evening hours, still cloudy. looks like it's going to get a little bit closer as we head into an presidents' day the next system. latest forecast models breaking a chance of rain not only from sonoma county but marin county and all the way down the coast and east bay through the early morning hours on monday. by the afternoon, high pressure build in and we're on our way to a much drier and sunnier forecast for the workweek beyond monday. as for tomorrow, still looks like we could see spotty light showers especially over night towards the early part of the day. 35 in tahoe. few snow showers possible. there is moisture field staying

offshore for today. 70 in palm springs. it will be a cool afternoon with the cloud cover. mid upper 50s. 55 in half moon bay, 57 in napa. down by monterey bay, looking at sunshine, partly sunny, that will allow a little more sun today. numbers in the upper 50s. more sun in the bay area. we'll be looking at the cloud cover, not only north but much of the bay could see sprinkles. then beyond that, dry, sunny and mild and well above average. let's check out sports. this afternoon, stanford hosts their opponents looking cardinals try to bole start case to make the tournament. warriors played a nail-biter in memphis. >> good morning, warriors are struggling on the word rhode and that continued as they defeated the golden state was defeated

sixth straight time in memphis. the griz come out roaring. it's early. warriors, curry from downtown, how about another. can he do it again. warriors up. fourth quarter. warriors down, munta for the lead. warriors up by 1. rudy a jumper, misses. come on, block out. tony allen, griz is up by 1. last chance for the warriors, david lee and foul. 104-103 the final. don't forget the check out jeremy lin host the mavericks next at 9:30 a.m. >> at college hoops, usf f, have beaten gonzaga, could they make

it three times. >> zags up by 1. dons on the move and going through the layup. he had 16. last chance for the zaks, he gets tied up and they storm the floor at war memorial, dons upset 66-65 is your final. >> trying to gain respect, facing murray state. isaiah from deep. matthews, trying to fight a bum ankle. they are up by four in the first. he keeps on fire firing, he had 23. razors by nine in the and a half. cannon to brandon garret and st. mary's will fall out of the top 25 with a 65-51 loss. >> cal hosting oregon state. jorge fired up.

cal gets a 10-0 lead. beavers by two at the half. and gets it to fall inside and he had 13. 17 points and eight boards from jorge. cal wins it and remains tied for the lead into the pac-12 request washington. >> that is the way the ball bounces, i'm mike shumann. we'll see you tonight at 5:00. >> straight ahead, academy member voters are due within the next 48 hours. with the oscars just is a week away. next, a hollywood insider handicaps the likely winn

>> carolyn: oscar night is exactly one week away and right now a lot of stars are sweating it out because the ballots from academy members are due in just 48 hours. chris connolly gets them to handicap the likely choices. >> one week before oscar night, george and john. some say the best actor race has been tightening up.

flip-flop runner and in deep crisis, perhaps facing a serious challenge from john. very funny and very quiet. in the art. >> french actor, he has been winning a lot of awards. i think that is biggest. >> he is extremely well-liked and that can matter. >> meryle in peril. in the iron lady she may get a streak of on broke en treems. harvey weinstein beats the drum on her behalf. la davis is the choice for "the help." >> and gallantly stepping in after host eddie murphy untimed departure. billy crystal has been keeping

his plans on the download so far. he is working with uggy has been a curse. what billy does unleash is likely to be memorable. >> i'm back. >> silent but deadly, artist a clear favorite. hollywood has moved on to the bigger question. >> blockbuster and mega bang, bang, what does a silent movie victory say. >> at that time when they are being bombarded by technology, this reminds the world. >> carolyn: and so the academy awards is right here on abc7 one week from today. oscar sunday, february 26th, but you can predict the winners and get the latest buzz right at oscar.com. you can download the exclusive app for iphones and ipads. it will give you live video from all important red carpet and

backstage on oscar sunday. lisa and you are busy trying to wade through all the movies. >> may be good day to do that. for the afternoon we got clouds and just a slight chance of showers tonight. the rechance comes in overnight into an presidents' day. temperatures will be in the upper 50s to low 60s. another cool afternoon, then tomorrow we'll have a chance of showers, but beyond that, we're going to dry it out, warm it up and look for a lot of sunshine right on through the week and weekend. a little cool for the rest of the holiday weekend. >> carolyn: not bad. that will do it for us. i'm carolyn tyler along with lisa argen, lin-sanity swings into an texas, they are defending the dallas mavericks. by the way, espn has fired one person and weekend is another for the offensive reference to

jeremy lin. you'll here about that on the next newscast. have a great sunday everyone.