they are looking for a mother, a father, their four-year-old son and his young cousin. they vanished 12 hours ago before 4:30 yesterday afternoon. the kiss -- call came that the 29' sailboat was sinking in rough water and the electronics were failing. the call was broken with a bad radio signal making it hear the name of the location and the name of the boat and they did not have an emergency beacon so it was impossible for the coast guard to find its location. the group reported they were forced to abandon the vessel and we spoke with the coast guard over the phone 30 minutes ago. >> 29 for the for the sailing vessel took on so much water they abandoned ship and the crew may have possibly made a made shift liferaft because there was

no life saving equipment on board. the coast guard believes the group was trying to make that life-saving float out of a cooler and a life preserver ring. searchers from california air national guard are joining the search and have been searching overnight with no sign of the family with two young children on board. reporting live for abc7 news. >> it is 4:33. congress returns from recess today to face a budget showdown that could result in wide-spread spending cuts if a deal isn't reached. president obama is meeting with the governors today as they push lawmakers to avoid the automatic cuts taking affect on friday. the president spoke to many of them at a white house dinner. the administration officials released a report showing how the cuts could affect various states. california could loss 225,000 jobs, $670 million in federal grants, and more than $3 billion

in defense and military revenue. >> breaking news from the vatican. the pope has accepted the resignation of the senior cardinal of britain who is stepping down. he is accused of inappropriate acts in relations with several former priests. he is the latest catholic leader to be tainted by allegations connected to the sex abuse scandal. he will not take part in next month's conclave toll elect the new pope. pope benedict has changed the rules of the conclave allowing the cardinals to start early if they will all arrive before the usual 15-day waiting period between his resignation and the start of the conclave. the former ambassador bishop of san francisco will be answering questions this morning about his upcoming trip to rome appointed by pope benedict xvi in 2005. pardon of his responsibilities at the van can now include

reviewing sex abuse claims. pope benedict's resignation is effective on thursday. >> pope benedict gave the final sunday pleasing in vatican city yesterday as rumors swirled over the reason behind his sudden resignation. he gave thanks to an estimated 100,000 in st. peter's square. on thursday he is the first pope to resign in 600 years. italian newspapers speculate he is resigning because of sex and blackmail scandal that will be made public. >> affleck's argo won best picture and two other categories. >> everyone in the movie, did anything with the movie gets thanks. >> he looked excited, don't you think? the film of the 1979 daring rescue of american hostages in iran won for adapted screenplay.

>> the biggest night was filled with surprises. now we show you what it is like to be at the oscars. >> the oscar goes to..."argo." the first lady announced it from the white house in an oscar season that saw the favorite change weekly. >> like trying to analyze waves. >> hope the wave goes your way. >> it was a show that had memorable moments including this one that will go viral but jennifer lawrence just won best actor. >> what happened? look at my dress? what do you mean? i tried to walk up the stairs in this dress. >> and another won second supporting actor working with tarantino. >> when i read the first script

this time i knew there was something special. >> before the award it is the glamour of the red carpet where greens and optimism live. all of the faces. the designer dresses will be reviewed in magazines for the next 10 days. we said hello to lieutenant governor and his wife who was a nominee. george clooney and hugh jackman were hanging out before clooney won best. >> it is more than we imagined. i cannot imagine the press from all over the world. >> film is an international medium. thousands of journalists covering the event. my red carpet neighbors are seen in 44 lat tin countries. the super bowl chef showed what they made: 15,000 plates and a treat. >> this is filled

with...chocolate. >> chocolate. yes, chocolate. >> that was our arts and entertainment reporter who came out of retime to cover the oscars. in the bay area, former president jimmy carter talked about the bid for best picture during a san francisco speaking engagement. he was president during the iran hostage crisis and he says it exaggerated the c.i.a.'s role in the rescue. >> my judgment is 90 percent of the credit for that heroic and brilliant move should have been with the canadians and the movie ignores practically any contribution by the canadians. aside from that it is a vivid, wonderful film. >> jimmy carter spoke before the commonwealth club. movie in exaggerating?

never? >> he is speaking that the diplomats were put up in the canadian compound in tehran while waiting for rescue. congratulations to everyone. we don't have to single anyone out. >> and the canadians did a good job and affleck, congratulations, i could go on and on like he did but i won't. >> the oscars, then to the forecast. >> good morning, everyone. temperatures are from the same in oakland as 24 hours ago to ten degrees cooler in fairfield and livermore and nine in papa and novato and six in sfo and two in oakland and six in hayward and 15 in san car less. well build in the mid-to-upper 30's for the better part of the morning and low-to-mid 40's at the bay. by noon, you will see high clouds rolling in and dry cold front kicking up the high clouds and making it breezy and

mid-50's at 4:00 and the rest of us are in the low-to-mid 60's and clear this morning and the temperatures at the coast are upper 40's and bay and inland are low-to-mid 50's. moving forward we have a slow warming trend with no rain in the next three days. if you washed your car, good job. we will stay around 60, tuesday and wednesday and mid-60's by thursday with mid-to-upper 60's tuesday and wednesday around the bay and thursday, upper 60's to around 70 degrees. sue? >> happy monday. we have a live shot moving through berkeley and to the macarthur maze. we have reports of an accident westbound at powell but i don't see it here. it was reported on the shoulder. perhaps c.h.p. was unable to locate that. we are with our live shot. if our traffic is moving nicely toward the macarthur maze, coming from antioch, traffic is at the limit with no delays. we have a ramp closing eastbound

at summerville for 20 minutes or so and an accident on the shoulder, north 680 at contra costa boulevard. kristen and eric? >> thank you. a young bay area couple on the trip of a lifetime suddenly vanish. their familys' move they hope will bring answers. >> mother nature has a one-two bunch in the central part of the nation. >> but, first, we have tech bytes. >> h.p. is using the mobile world congress in spain to show the new droid-powered tablet. h.p. wants to start selling it here in april. samsung taking aim at the new ipad mini with the new galaxy tablet. it comes with a pan or stylist for writing on the screen something that apple does not do. at the wireless conference, mozilla is, working on a new

mobile operating system. it will be first available only overseas. google says the most searched nominee last night were actors, jennifer lawns, and& anne hathaway and

>> daily, dublin, los gatos and all bay area this is abc7 news in. >> good morning. palo alto police are looking for an armed man would tried to problem someone in a downtown parking garage. this is a sketch of the man wanted for the robbery attempt. the victim fought back and escaped. the police are investigating whether the suspect is involved in three other recent robberies in pale appeal area. >> reward is set up to help find

an east bay couple who disappeared while visiting peru. >> it has been a month since anyone has heard from the couple. now, co-workers at the bicycle shot are taking action. they set up a reward fund that has grown to $3,000 for information leading to the couple's whereabouts. flyers have been posted in peru where they disappeared without a trace. >> we are funding as a businesslike normal but there is a cloud. >> the couple left for the six month cycling adventure to south america in late november. the embassy in peru is helping with the search. the state department warned of potential kidnappings targeting members in mid-february. >> i don't think they are just lost. i think manage is wrong. >> friends and family of the couple are hoping the reward will grow. they set up an account here at bank where anyone can walk in to

any branch and make a contribution. >> trial begins today in one of the worst oil spills in history. b.p. is on trial if the oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers and sank millions of barrels of oil in the gulf of mexico. if gross negligence is found, they could be fined town $17 billion. the company has paid out billions to the u.s. government as well as to people and businesses hurt by the spill. b.p. has pleaded guilty to criminal charges. >> the national weather service issued blizzard warnings and watches through tonight as a second major storm moves in on the central plains. the winter weather condition across the plains to the east and from new mexico to colorado over the weekend. that area could get another 12" of snow on top of what they got last week. some parts along the gulf coast and the south are warned of possible tornadoes. in utah, driving conditions have

been so bad 16 people have crashed into police cruisers so far. >> the picture could not be more opposite here, so calm and sneezing, already, from early spring in. >> the trees are popping with the warm weather. look what we are missing to the east and we are dealing with allergies. >> so sorry! >> bummer! >> good morning, everyone. allergies or driving through snow...what a tradeoff. live doppler 7 hd showing how dry it is this morning. it will remain this way for a while. that is a big story in the forecast. another seven-day forecast and another seven days without rain. we have a system to the north. the radar returning are moving from west to east. we will get the tail end of the storm but it does nut have moisture. can you see barely any radar returns in the northwest corner of the state. it will take our temperatures down a little bit today and bring us a few more clouds.

downtown san francisco is clear. and 46. oakland is 50. san jose is 40. walnut creek is 41. palo alto is 36. mill valley is 37 degrees. here is what i am thinking for this forecast cycle. today will be a few more clouds than yesterday, but not so warm. it will be clear tonight. cooler than this morning. you can see the air will be dry and the warmth will be highest on saturday up to 70's away from the beaches. the cold front is right there, a nice shape of the mature system as it moves through. for us, it means a drop in temperatures and high clouds. we will build in the low-to-mid 60's in the santa clara valley with san jose at 63, and same thing headed toward santa cruz. up the peninsula we will start menlo park is 64 but drop down to 59 by millbrae. upper 50's in downtown and south san francisco and daly city.

start at 59 in sausalito but headed up 101 we are in the low-to-mid 60's and same in sonoma and napa, and 59 today in san ramon and everyone else in the low-to-mid 60's. tonight, this will be pockets of low 30's but mostly mid-to-upper 30's and low-to-mid 40's for bay and inland. the seven-day outlook shows foam about the same and maybe a degree warmer and a couple more on wednesday and by thursday we are hitting 70 around the bay and the inland neighbors join on friday and cooler but still dry for the weekend. have a good day. sue? >> we will take a first look at the bay bridge tom plaza this monday morning as you can see traffic is light. no problems here. no issues on the upper deck and obviously no metering lights and it is looking good in to san francisco and the san mateo bridge, the tail lights headed to foster city and san mateo is at the limit on the bridge, at 14-minute drive from the east bay to the peninsula and we have this accident north 680 at

contra costa boulevard partly blocking the off ramp in pleasant hill and road work still out there, eastbound 580 from greenville, three lanes until 11:00, the reverse commute. >> secretary of state john kerry has kickoff the first official overseas trip by meeting today with british leaders in london. it is the first leg of a hectic nine-day dash through europe and the middle east and the maiden diplomatic meeting with cameron will focus on the crisis in syria and iran's nuclear program. he will be headed to germany next for meetings in berlin, the administration has launched an effort to try to salvage a syrian opposition conference he will attend in rome. some members of the opposition council are threatening to boycott the meeting. >> cuban president will step down in 2018 and named a successor announcing the top democrat tick, 52-year-old who

will take over the presidency ending 53 years of castro rule. any democrat aisled the post in 1959 followed the cuban rest and raul took over when the health failed for file tell. he said it is time to transfer power to a younger generation. >> the light at the end of the tunnel for commuteers who faced decades of a dangerous highway along the coast. >> 49ers decide the smith

>> welcome back at 4:53. there are multiple sources reporting the 49ers have a deal to trade quaterback smith. the speculation is that the kansas city chiefs are the other team, and the chiefs need a quaterback and nineers are not likely to pay smith $8 why 5 million to be the backup to kaepernick and cannot be traded until march 12 but a zeal --

deal is complete with a team. >> and america's cup has the size of a venue, a 9,000 seat theater at pier 27 and 29, originally it was supposed to have 4,000 seats but the ambassador theater will host the opening and closing series for the racing series and nearby residents worry about impact of 40 concerts in their backyard. >> i feel helpless that there is nothing to do. the decisions have been made. they don't care how the residents feel about it. >> the "san francisco chronicle" reports that the amphi theater escaped scrutiny because they had a series of changes that did not require public approval. >> we were talking how different our weather is than the midwest

and industrial plains. >> early spring, blossoms. sneezing. it is all here. mike? >> absolutely. notice the plum trees were blossoming. some of the pair trees were, too. very interesting. here is what is going on in the rest of the country, in the south or through dallas today, you will have delays as another storm system is headed that way. back at home, look how quiet it is other than a few sprinkle sprinkles to the north we don't have were going on. now, at look at what is going to happen today, eureka, 50, that is where the cold of the air is, and you can see the system comes down and loses the moisture, and it will put a few clouds through the central valley and mid-to-upper 60's. and 49 at tahoe and 54 in yosemite. headed down to san diego and loss administration, hid to upper 60's and 73 in palm springs. sue? >> a good looking drive from novato into northern san rafael

area, by the marin ymca with the headlights headed southbound on 101 to the golden gate bridge everything is the at limit. road work eastbound four at summerville the ramp is blocked for another five minutes and an accident which really is a stall according to c.h.p. at contra costa boulevard. >> people on the san mateo county coast can see the least at end of the tunnel so to speak now that the two funnels are almost ready for traffic. safety inspectors will make the final checks on highway one before they officially open. they will replace a narrow crooked section of road that often is blocked by rock slides. landing for a bypass began 50 years ago. the tunnel project cost $439 million.

>> mozilla is known for fire fox but now they getting into the mobile market. they have announced plans to team up with four phone manufacturers. this is a developer's preview phones running on the new mobile operating system called firefox os and here is another one that runs that operating system, similar to the company's computer web browser so there will be a large number of apps available. the phones go on sale overseas in july. no word on the u.s. release. >> study could have you putting down the milk and butter. researchers in spain assign people to three different diets. after five years, they noticed 30 percent decrease in heart attack and stroke risk in those who ate a mediterranean diet based on olive oil, filibuster, nuts, fruits and vegetables but includes very little dairy or meat. they were obese or diabetic

coming into the trial. >> what would the oscars be without a surprise? controversy and eyebrow racing moments and we go live to los angeles for the moments of

>> live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> our time is 5:00. thanks positive joining us. >> i am eric thomas. we have developing news. >> a search is underway for four missing people who had to abandon the sinking sailboat happening 60 miles off half moon bay and the coast guard says the group including two young children called for help yesterday afternoon.

they said the 29' sailboat was taking on water and they were abandoning ship and the coast guard lost radio contact. they may have transferred to a makeshift liferaft. crews have not found signs of the group but they are looking. >> an emergency beacon could have helped. we will keep track of the sources. >> how is the weather today for the search? or for you? we will check with mike nicco. >> it will be breezy with 15 to 25-mile-per-hour winds from the northwest but the good thing is the seas are not so choppy around 2' to 6' for those folks trying to survive. good morning to you at 5:00, it is dry. we are off to a dry start this morning. now, the temperatures are 32 in petaluma for the cool spot, richmond is 45 and the financial district is 48 and all the 30's from 34 at santa clara and 36