this morning. abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield is at castro valley. >> good morning, kristen. it is coming down. finally. the rain is here. there will be a wet commute this morning. we shot video of what it looks like as you drive and here is what you could face: this was shot on interstate 680. the morning when the c.h.p. is full of advisories, a two hands on the wheel morning. they are worried about spinouts with the oilen the road 79 they hope everyone will slow down and give more space between you and the car in front of you so you have time to stop if necessary. the rain is welcome. we are on pace to have the driest winter on record. it is wonderful but it is not enough. water officials across the bay

area want you to keep in mind we need to conserve water and be careful with our resources. the plants are happy but we have a long way to go to get to normal levels. you said the important word "careful." speed and wed weather are factors in this spin intermediate in san francisco southbound 101. a porsche traveling with the top down was involved in a solo crash after going off the road. the driver and passenger suffered minor injuries. >> a nasty wreck in hayward snarled track southbound 880 mission the curve on the connection between 880 and highway 92 and went off the road. the ramp was closed for a couple of hours. the driver was not seriously hurt but was arrested for driving under the influence. the connection is reopened. tow truck drivers are staged to respond quickly if there is an accident dug -- during the

storm. the tow company receives two or three times more calls when the rains. >> directly we call c.h.p. and they escort us to the scene of the accident so we can clear the freeway. then the traffic can move. heavier rain is expected this welcome. drivers are staffed if it is bad on the roads. more snow for the ski resorts in sierra. skiers and snowboarders have enjoyed night runs at a resort off interstate 80 and lake tahoe is hoping for a healthy know pack and full operations by the time the holiday weekend rolls around when schools take a week long break. can you track using our weather app which makes it easy to share photos of what you are seeing.

this is at abc7news.com/apps. >> a man was found stabbed in downtown san jose park after midnight. officers were called to the pa on -- to the park on south market street. he died at the hospital. his identity is not released. this is the fifth homicide in san jose. >> hayward police are investigating a hit-and-run accident that injured a woman seriously crossing the street. this happened after 6:00 last night. investigators say a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed hit the victim and knock her 100'. she is appearing to be in her 30's. authorities are looking for surveillance video or witnesses but do not have a description of the vehicle. >> a pastor faces sex charges this morning involving a 17-year-old run away. investigators say the pastor on

goes by the name of john hay he is charged with having an unlawful sexual relationship with a teen. police say he met one of the girls at the salvation army korean core -- corps in san francisco. more on the top of the hour on the case. >> the san jose man suspected of setting a dozen arson fires will be in court for a hearing. the 48-year-old was arrested last month and charged with setting 13 fires in san jose between january 8 and john -- january 13th causing more than $6 million in damage. he will appear in superior court at 1:30 this the afternoon. >> a task force looking into racial problems at san jose state university begins public hearings tonight on the heels of

a fact finding report released on monday of alleged bullying last fall of a black freshman by his white roommates. the report says the university was slow in keeping the school president informed. after the incident was reported they failed to follow their policies. the 18 member task force will hold six hearings to work on ways to prevent this from happening again. they will release recommendations in april. vallejo high school has a new mascot. starting today it is the redhawks. in november the board voted unanimously to drop the apache mascot because it is offensive to native americans. this follows months of meeting with staff, students and native american representatives and will keep the red and white colors. >> heartbreaking story from marin county. when things appear to be looking up if a little boy fighting a rare form of cancer, his father unexpectedly passed away. now the community is pulling

together to help this young family. here is that story. the initial crisis was traumatic enough: last month four-year-old boy was diagnosed with a rare cancer that attacked his muscles and was stage four. he began chemotherapy which rocked the family, his sister, mother and father who was an evening near retrieving data from hard drives at this company. he came back to work for a couple of days when zeke was coming back and he had a smile on his face and you knew it would be okay. >> on sunday morning, days after his son returned home from the first round of chemo, he died in his sleep of a heart attack at only 43. >> not describable. >> his role was to keep everything stable and calm and

loving. >> the entire west marin community is stunned. >> he seemed to be fine, to handle it fine but obviously it was devastating and terrifying. >> this restaurant held a fundraising dinner and where he works they are signing a book. >> i will miss you, ron. >> a memorial service is saturday. a fund has been set up to benefit the family. if you would like to help we have a link on our website at abc7news.com. a warning this morning for stanford students after two burglaries at student residents on campus. the thieves got in through unlocked kitchen windows. the crimes happened on tuesday at the large of the housing unit for graduate students. burglars took laptops and cameras and money. all students should lock doors and windows. stanford students get around on bicycles and it will be wet and slippery ride. >> hope they are prepared.

it will be wet. you can see live doppler 7 hd is showing light-to-moderate rain to the south and most of the ground reports are light rain and from camden avenue through west campbell avenue, in campbell, prune ridge avenue and up to cupertino and from sunnyvale to mountain view and up the peninsula, headed toward stanford, campus drive, we have light-to-moderate rain moving toward your neighborhood. most of this is sliding to the east and san jose and milpitas and alum rock all are going to see an uptick in the rain over the next 15 minutes to half an hour. here is the day planner: be prepared. it will be wet. through the morning. steady rain tapers after the only commute into scattered showers and that will continue to taper to mainly dry conditions by 4:00 and there could be a random shower here or there but most of us are dry. we get a break around 7:00 but

more rain in the not bay overnight. the rest of us will get more rain temperature. temperatures are going to be cool again we are mostly in the mid-to-upper 40's and hanging out in the low-to-mid 50's during the afternoon hours. >> here is the commute with leyla gulen the. >> it is wet. it is cold. we have problems. at livermore, this signature alater is canceled an accident that was caused by the wet roads and you can can the slowing is building. there is lots of traffic at livermore and in the peninsula to san bruno eastbound 580 we have a solo vehicle spin intermediate. as i advised earlier, stay in the center lanes because that is where the ponding occurs on either side of the freeway. you want to avoid the solo vehicle spinouts and high tremendous planes which is a problem. now, we will see how the san mateo bridge is handling things

and everyone is moving along fine as you maybe the westbound push away from hayward to foster city it will take you only ten minutes. a a terror warning on the east of the olympics from an every day product on the way to sochi. a change at subway. we are tracking the storm that is giving much needed rain in the bay area right now with a look at live doppler 7 hd with more from meteorologist, mike nicco, coming hales corners, wisconsin. nice pass by alyson dudek. can she hang on to that spot? and she does! [ male announcer ] with the u-verse wireless receiver,

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perfect for a school night. pillsbury grands biscuits. make dinner pop. so i should probably get the last roll... yeah but i practiced my bassoon. [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ] everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop. covering novato, oakland, sunnyvale and all the bay area this is abc7 news. good morning at 4:42. a look at the rain coming down and this is everywhere in the bay area right now with the rain

moving around. with the drought situation, this is exactly what we wanted to see. we want to also see your storm photos so, today, we have videos and pictures from facebook or share them with us on twitter or instagram at abc7 news bay area. >> the presidio trust in san francisco is offering george lucas a new site for the museum next to the digital arts center after rejecting a land to build the museum across from crissy field. on monday they voted down all three proposals to develop the waterfront property including the lucas museum that now is used by a sports basement floor. he said he might consider offers from other cities if the plan is not approved. the san francisco chronicle reports that a spokesman says lucas will look at the new location but called it a "hail

mary" on the part of trust. >> the opening ceremony for the olympics is tomorrow but a terror threat has officials warning airline passery about toothpaste. a day before opening ceremony in sochi a new warning for united states and international airlines flying into russia: the department of homeland security says they have specific and credible information terrorists could try to use toothpaste tubes filled with explosives to create a bomb. >> to construct it on an airplane or to smuggle it into the olympics. >> a serious enough threat for united states intelligence officials to alert a small number of united states aircraft traveling to russia lot warning is aimed at alerting foreign airlines. the warning follows the arrest of two women after a possible bomb plot was thwarted.

the women had direct ties to the toothpaste tube intelligence that triggered the warning. russia has been trying to reassure the world that games are place and president putin created a ring of steele around the venue with 100,000 futures and the other concern, the so-called soft targets outside the site and intelligence officials say that the threat of toothpaste is the latest. >> there are a number of specific threats of vary degrees of credibility we are tracking. >> officials have banned liquid goals from the flights to russia and back at home, federals say the t.s.a. could will step up security measures at airs around the country. on the east coast hundreds of thousands could be in the dark and in the cold. utility crews are working to restore power following the second snow and ice storm this week. the latest winter storm dumped a

foot of snow in some cases knocking out electricity to more than a million residents. you can see ice weighted down the fire lines causing them to snap in maryland. the vast majority of out aims are in pennsylvania and the dam was compared to what you see from a hung. hundreds of flights are canceled in the united states according to www. www.flightaware.com, 300 have been canceled with the most at new york and la guardia and o'hare. others have been delayed. >> opening of the pebble beach brother-- pro am starts today. broncos quarterback peyton manning played with belichick while he tried to forget the lopsided loss in the super bowl. not a from day for the

golfers. it is going to be raining. then there are the weekend rounds. >> it will be raining this today and more likely the week. they will get dry spots in there because they are on the southern edge of the rain shield. here is a look at live doppler 7 hd and you can see the visibility on there with an idea of how heavy the rain is falling with a lost organizes and reds in the south bay and the visibility is around ten at san jose and mountain view and light to moderate rain and we have rain all around the bay this morning as we widen the picture you can see it is going to be a wet commute with steady rain for the most part through 9:00. we will talk about what will happen as we look from our camera at the embarcadero and you can see the trees are dripping wet and the polls are wet with pond on the embarcadero and that is waiting this morning. the rain is going to taper to scattered shower as we head through the afternoon and it will be a wetter weekend so have the alternate plans if you plan

to be outside especially saturday and the storm track will stay close to us next week and it will retreat to the not but close enough that at least the north bay has a couple of chances of rain as we head to next week. today, you can see most of us in the mid-to-upper 50's again and we will have low 50's along the coast in places like vallejo and antioch and the livermore and you can see the green is the scattered nature of the showers in the afternoon. tonight is the best chance of wet weather mostly in the not by with drizzle possible and our higher elevations and mild again with a lost low-to-mid 40's until richmond and san francisco in the upper 40's. you can see the rain is holding steady through 7:00 and that is when we see the clearing, rather, drying taking place and by 1:00 o'clock it will be scattered showers. in the afternoon, you can see how it starts to stay dry. overnight watch the north bay where the green is and the future radar runs are showing up

for tomorrow's morning commute and by noon we will start to see the scattered showers from the north bay and headed south for the evening plans on friday and it will rain during the evening commute and get heavier as we head through friday and you can see the moderate rain in the bet part of saturday which will be the wetter of the two difficulties this week end. a lost green and yellow in the north and orange at 2 to 5" in 9 not bay and the peninsula and east bay shore and east bay valley and is or 2" in the south bay. it will be warmer with the moisture saturday and sunday. some 60-degree temperatures and monday and tuesday and wednesday is the best chance of rain at that time is to the north. on the map, there is lots of red and orange and that is an indication we are on the peninsula with more impact of harder rainfall. as we take you into the east bay headed along in the westbound

direction on 580 we had an early sig-alert at livermore avenue and that crash is cleared but what happens when another care came behind it the solo vehicle spinout dropping we have an accident with lots of solo vehicle spinouts and causing no delays but it is blocking a lane but southbound traffic is loading up. outside, walnut creek southbound 680 shows how wet it is approaching 24, and reduce the speeds and avoid the far left and right lanes. thanks, the subway sandwich chain says they will remove a plastic chemical from the bread following an on-line protest. the chemical is used in yoga mats and shoes and banned in europe and australia but the f.d.a. considers it "safe."

it is used in bread at fast food restaurants and buns at grocery stores because it makes it softer. subway says the move had nothing to do with the protest and the company was already in the process of phasing out the chemical. still ahead, back to the future, the major change that could come to one of san francisco's most traveled streets. a treat in store for fans at thing do -- fans at >> we are tracking storm right now: green has never looked better.

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if you were one of the millions who treated last couple

of days hoping to win $1.5 million from e-shurane you did not win. the winners with announced on jimmy kimmel live and was joined by the oscar star who joined and his aunt who delivered the piles of cash to a northern california resident. >> you just won $1.5 million, john. no word where the lucky winner and his wife live. it is being kept quiet over security concerns. the contest kicked off after the have been as twitter users were asked for a hashtag.

forecast. >> we will look at california and you can see the wet weather with the heart of it in our neighbor and stretching into the sierra with scattered showers around los angeles headed to palm springs and san diego. a lot wet weather across the state today and a lot of the sierra snow so make sure before you head up there what the conditions are going to be and make sure you get there before tomorrow evening if you can. that is when the heaviest of the snow will roll in. leyla gulen? >> okay, we are reporting many solo vehicle spinouts all over the place. you can see why. we have rain falling in the bay area. we forget how to drive in the rain. be careful. we have a brand new accident in the eastbound direction. westbound 580 at livermore, this is causing more and more delays.

if you make it out of tracy give your sell extra time. eastbound traffic, we have a brand new crash block a lane. we starting to he eastbound traffic. >> this is the commute through 280 northbound side away in 17 and ahead we have flooding in the road which is a common problem this morning. eric? >> leyla, thank you. san francisco city officials are giving serious consideration to filling in,000 geary boulevard underpass with the chronicle reports that the $50 million plan brings geary and fillmore back to how it was before 1961 filling in the unpass would reconnect japan town and make it more pedestrian friendly. >> good news in the of the to safe a historic san francisco

landmark. the doggie diner at risk of falling apart will be restored after supporters raised $48,000 on kick starter. this video was provided from the website, with the giant figures became fixtures at the former doggie diner restaurant chain. several were saved from destruction in the 1980's. the artist who now owns the figures says with the new funds he can restore them and get a trailer to store them. he and the city hope to display them at city events. next up at 5:00 a.m., track, the storm with rains hitting the bay area we have the challenge drivers are facing and the problem the big storm is causing. >> police are asking for other possible victims to come forward now after a pastor is arrested and charged with hiding a run away and having sex with a teen.

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live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> good morning on thursday. can you see the glistening? that means... >> it is raining! i drove over that glistening a little while ago. so did mike. what was it like, sir? >> like ice skating. hopefully you will slow down, too. it is slick. it got better traction on the asphalt than on the concrete. live doppler 7 hd shows yellow and oranges and i am not getting reports on the groun