they broke down a door. you can see two of the car thieves in the dealership hallway going into offices looking for car keys. they hurry out after finding two keyboards, dropping a key or two in their rush to leave. michael zahari owns the business. >> after they got the keys, they left, they came back maybe ten minutes, 15 minutes later, make sure there was no police, nothing else going on. >> reporter: either the alarm wasn't turned on or wasn't working. the thieves came back, clicking the remotes to see where the most expensive cars were parked. >> there is eight of them running the whole parking lot. each of them jumping in one of the cars and trying to drive off with it. one of the cars, the x-6, it took them literally ten minutes because they didn't know how to drive it. after somebody else came and told them this is how you start this car. >> reporter: it was a brazen well-planned heist. mpl >> it's not somebody that just walks no into a place and goes. they knew what they were doing.

>> reporter: within 48 hours, two other dealerships were broken into. just down the road, mercedes-benz of stevens creek. police say eight cars were stolen there. and autobahn motors, where thieves drove eight cars off the lot. the m.o.s were similar. belmont police tell us the thieves took the keys from an outbuilding on the lot and stole customers' cars that were being serviced. police were busy today. by late afternoon, most of autobamn's cars were recovered. >> of the eight vehicles stolen from the lot, six have been recovered in oakland and two are still outstanding. >> reporter: formula one motors also tells us police have recovered two of its cars, both abandoned in oakland. vic lee, abc 7 news. in walnut creek, police are searching for a gunman who kidnapped a woman right from her front yard on muller road. she was forced into a car and driven to an atm on main street and robbed. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony is live with more. laura?

>> reporter: this is an extremely busy part of walnut creek almost any time of day but still, this robber managed to pull this off at least for now. police say it started sometime before noon today when a woman who lives on muller road was in her front yard and a man confronted her. he had a hand gun. it is a quiet neighborhood about two miles from downtown here. the two drove down to the bank of america here on north main street in her car. inside, she withdrew an undisclosed amount of money with the suspect waiting outside. here's how lieutenant gorski describes it. >> she reported that a male subject approached her in her front yard, produced a hand gun and ordered her to go to her local bank. he went with her. the two of them drove down in her vehicle. she withdrew some funds from the bank and the two of them drove back to her neighborhood where she was released unharmed.

and the subject disappeared on foot. >> reporter: police say that suspect actually waited outside near the atm but the woman was inside withdrawing that money after the visit to the bank. police say the two of them drove back to the woman's neighborhood in her car where she was released unharmed and then the suspect disappeared on foot. now, there's not a good description of the suspect, only that he was wearing a straw hat, sunglasses and something covering his face. police again are investigating, they are asking anyone in this neighborhood or in the residential neighborhood that might have video or who has seen anything to give them a call. laura anthony, abc 7 news. >> that is scary. thanks very much. an east bay judge has refused to lower bail for a former concord elementary school teacher accused of molesting more than a dozen boys. last month a jury acquitted 46-year-old joseph martin of molestation charges involving

three former students and deadlocked on counts involving 11 others. martin is still in custody as he awaits the judge's decision on a possible retrial. according to our media partner at the contra costa times, the judge refused martin's request today to lower his bail from $10 million. san francisco's fire chief is responding tonight to calls for her resignation. firefighters say it's an issue of public safety. abc 7 news reporter carolyn tyler is live at fire department headquarters. carolyn? >> reporter: well, this is where fire chief joanne hayes-white has been all day dealing with a discipline case while the controversy over her leadership is mounting. >> it is unprecedented. it's not a great day for me. >> reporter: san francisco's fire chief joanne hayes-white is under attack from some within her own department. this draft letter we obtained says the heads of every firefighters union unanimously agree the current state of the fire department has become

untenable and immediate action is necessary. they plan to present mayor ed lee with a formal letter tomorrow calling on him to oust the chief. he says at this point her job is not in jeopardy. >> if the unions are registering some discontent, we will work with her on that to make sure that there's confidence within the department as well as there is outside. >> reporter: recent headlines have focused on long waits for ambulances and a shortage of equipment. but the union's letter also points to controversial promotional exams and a slew of lawsuits. hayes-white believes something else is also at play. >> there are discipline cases that frankly i think there are people that are not happy with doing things differently than maybe my predecessors would have done but it's the right thing to do in this day and age. >> reporter: she was a firefighter herself before becoming the first female chief in department history. now with some in the 1500 member department calling a grave

crisis of confidence, we have in the direction and leadership of the current administration, threatens to derail her ten years at the top. in san francisco, carolyn tyler, abc 7 news. san francisco leaders today agreed to give $2 million in legal support to help children caught in the border crisis. san francisco supervisors unanimously approved the measure today. it will help fund legal services for children who fled violence in central america and now face deportation. that bill still needs final approval from mayor ed lee. eight meatballs found near a park in santa rosa will be tested for poison. they were found in the dog park area of a place to play on west third street saturday. a suspicious dog owner called police after spotting them. the meatballs are now being tested at a uc davis lab. animal services officials say they are being cautious because one dog did die after similar incidents in san francisco last year. tonight, there is a jump in containment figures for that big king fire as it's called.

let's show you live pictures now. it is still spreading but it is 35% contained, up from 18% yesterday. the fire grew by another 2,000 acres to nearly 90,000 now and has crossed into tahoe national forest. of course, the weather conditions are critical. >> the next approximately 24 to 36 hours are going to be extremely critical with the red flag warning, high wind and low humidity. they are really keeping an eye on it. >> fire officials today reopened the white meadows area. evacuations are still in effect for other areas. cal fire says the fire is still threatening 21,000 structures. a writer from southern california has been released by somali pirates who held him hostage for two years. michael scott moore grew up in manhattan beach and was researching somali pirates in africa in january of 2012 when he was kidnapped. a pirate gang held him for 977

days and released at least two videos demanding ransom. it's not clear if the ransom was paid but a magazine that moore wrote for says he has finally been released. strong words from california lawmakers tonight about the u.s. air strikes against isis. last night, a coalition of the u.s. and five middle eastern nations attacked the islamic militant group in syria. 47 missiles were fired from two navy ships and about 200 bombs and missiles were dropped from aircraft. the isis targets included headquarters, supply depots and command centers. >> the strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not america's fight alone. >> when it comes to the air strikes, california lawmakers are deeply divided on this. congresswoman barbara lee issued a statement condemning military action and calling for a vote in congress. she says there is no military solution to the crisis in iraq and syria. in fact, continued u.s. military action will result in unintended consequences.

senator dianne feinstein amraudz t mraud /* applauds the obama administration saying we must address this risk now or we risk future attacks on american people and assets both abroad and at home. minority leader nancy pelosi agrees. >> the president has the authority to do what he's doing. i commend him for building the coalition that he has built to free the world to degrade isis. >> last night's air strikes also targeted a little known al qaeda affiliated terror group called khorasan. the pentagon believes the group was about to carry out an attack in either the united states or europe. our reporting on the attack on isis continues right now on the abc 7 news app. we are updating the latest developments on twitter as well. coming up, allegations of dirty hazing. >> in your experience, what happened? an exclusive interview with

the bay area's miss america. what she says really happened in her college sorority. also, a proposal for a new warriors arena. why critics say it looks like a toilet. from trash to cash. 7 on your side's michael finney on coming out on top when it's time to downsize. if chelsea clinton goes into labor, how president obama is ready to lend a hand. stay here.

miss america is defending herself tonight. reacting to allegations that she was kicked out of her sorority for severe hazing. she sat down exclusively with "good morning america." >> miss new york! >> reporter: just one week after being crowned miss america, a

role model meant to represent intelligence, beauty and grace, kira now finds herself responding to allegations of abusive hazing. >> unfortunately, the allegations are not true. >> reporter: in an exclusive interview, she admits she was forced out of the sorority at hofstra university last year. the website jezibel reporting it came after an investigation that under her supervision, pledges in the incoming class were called names and made to perform physical tasks to the point of bruising and exhaustion. miss america, whose platform is combatting domestic violence, describes those events differently. >> under the broad definition of hazing, yes, i was involved. you would stand in line and basically recite information. things that were like menial tasks. >> reporter: she says she was ultimately kicked out of the sorority over an e-mail she sent for a party.

>> in the e-mail, i basically mid a joke and that was taken out of context and forwarded to the national office that we would make the evening scary for the pledges. >> reporter: the miss america organization is standing by their winner, saying she has been fully transparent with the miss america organization about her termination from the sorority. miss america says she is taking this controversy seriously and would tell children who look up to her that it's okay to make mistakes. abc news, los angeles. hillary and chelsea clinton made a convention a mother-daughter moment. they were in new york for a panel discussion at the clinton global initiative's annual meeting. it was also a rare glimpse of chelsea as she nears the end of her pregnancy. president obama even mentioned it during his speech at the event. >> i was just discussing with president clinton that if chelsea begins delivery while i'm speaking, she has my

motorcade and will be able to navigate traffic. >> on sunday, bill clinton suggested the baby would probably arrive in the next ten days. it will be the first child for 34-year-old chelsea, who is married to investment banker marc mezvinski. a possible new trend is emerging. a record number of california voters are not affiliated with a political party. are you in that camp? the state released 2014 voter registration numbers. they show just more than 23% of people registered without a political preference. that's up 3% from 2010. the democratic and republican parties saw a combined 3% decline in the number of registered voters. we are getting our first look at what the future golden state warriors arena in san francisco might look like. the design firm has released these sketches showing the arena from street level. the arena in the mission bay district will be 135 feet high and seat 18,000 people. the team wants the $1 billion

project ready for the 2018-19 season. the warriors will present these renderings to the mission bay citizens advisory committee for feedback. reaction on social media so far, critical. the headline says new warriors arena design for mission bay kind of looks like a toilet. and the new warriors arena does look like a toilet but a good toilet, not bidet level but nice. and sports grid says gs warriors arena looks like half george foreman grill, half airplane toilet. not kind words, necessarily. the warriors stress the concept is a rough draft and likely to change. >> the billion dollar potty. in the south bay, the san jose earthquakes ask fans to help install the first seats in their new stadium. season ticket holders debbie and brad freeman not only got to choose their seats today, they helped place them.

defender clarence goodson and the team president joined debbie in her new seats. her seats are in section 101 near the scoreboard at the east end of the stadium. >> i purposely chose this angle because i bring a lot of 11-year-old girls to the game from the soccer club and i wanted them to be able to see the scoreboard for the replays so they can see what happened because they are small. i like to be near the screen so i can see the scoreboard. >> she really thought it out. there will be 18,000 seats in kwa quakes' new stadium. >> you don't want to make that decision lightly. >> big decision. now to consumer news and how to downsize your life while upsizing your wallet. >> consumer reports is partnering exclusively with 7 on your side's michael finney on how to sell your old stuff. we all have a ton of old stuff. >> for many of us, you move into a smaller home and it's overwhelming. consumer reports tells you how to get the most money for the stuff you no longer need. like many americans, john and his family are downsizing from a

large home to one half the size. they have had to ask themselves some tough questions. >> do we need to keep this really anymore? it's not just furniture. it's possessions. it's books, things your kids grew up with. >> consumer reports just determined the best way to get the best price for your furniture and everything else. >> to maximize your profit, you want to match your items to the best places to sell them. whether that's an auction, a consignment shop, online or yard sale. >> valuable furniture and antiques in excellent condition could bring the most profit at an auction or consignment shop. >> it should be very easy to sell. we go to your home, assess your items, pick up your items and sell your items. the only thing you have to do is collect your money. >> furniture in good condition should be sold on the web using craigslist. it makes it easy to list heavy items as peculipickup only. your artwork will get a better audience in an auction or

consignment environment and make you more money. as for clothing, consignment is a good idea. if it's less than two years old and in good condition. if you hold a yard sale, don't tag your items. you will make more money asking buyers for their best offer. there are some things you can't even give away. >> there is zero value to a big screen tube television. >> there is always that final choice. when nothing else works, a ride to the recycling center. for other things you can't sell, charity of course is an excellent option but you need to make sure it is an irs qualified organization. that way you can take the tax deduction for what you give them. >> good stuff. >> thanks, michael. let's turn our attention to the weather forecast as we head back to work. nice outside and mild. >> good stuff coming in the form of rain. >> which we need. meteorologist sandhya patel has that. >> dan and katie, we will be trading the shades for the umbrellas in the not too distant future. clouds are starting to roll in. the low clouds, that is, ahead

of the storm. live doppler 7 hd is tracking it. let me show you live doppler 7 hd. we will take a look at that perspective right now. clouds banked up against the coastline here. temperatures today were a lot like yesterday, mild to warm, upper 60s to upper 80s across the bay area. take a look at the conditions at the king fire. right now, winds are gusting to about 15 miles an hour out of the southwest, and that's pushing the smoke towards the north. there is a dense smoke advisory until 11:00 p.m. tomorrow night, which includes the south lake tahoe, reno area. we also have a red flag warning that covers a good portion of the sierra, parts of northeastern california. so fire danger will remain high right near that king fire and we also have a flash flood watch for the far northern end of california, and that's because they are expecting some very heavy rain with this upcoming storm, the recent burn areas could see some flash flooding. here's our marine layer from the east bay hills camera.

we will pull out and just show you, well, it's hard to see san francisco buried somewhere in that marine layer. 66 in san francisco. changes are already under way. 72 in oakland. 76 san jose. 64 half moon bay. sunshine in san jose. the high got up to 78 degrees. here are your temperatures. upper 70s in santa rosa, concord 84. livermore currently a mild 83 degrees. watching the low clouds from the south beach camera, here's a look at the forecast. increasing clouds tonight, chance of rain tomorrow night with wet conditions expected for your thursday morning commute. so plan accordingly. here's the cold front. it looks strong. by september standards. but the problem is most of this energy is going to our north so although we will get some rain out of it, we are not going to get a heavy dose of rain. here's what's going to happen. tomorrow night, 10:00, the rain's getting right into cloverdale, possibly into santa rosa. we'll have to wait until the overnight hours heading into

thursday morning's commute for most of those showers to come in. thursday morning's commute could be slow going, as you can only imagine, so just prepare accordingly. make sure you have your umbrellas ready in time for that commute. rainfall estimates in the north bay mountains, about four tenths of an inch. in santa clara valley, we are expecting 0 to to about .5 inch of rain. good thing is moisture is expected to move in around the king fire. this basically is not going to provide a big help to the crews but humidity will be going up so hopefully they will get some help from mother nature. tomorrow morning, upper 50s to low 60s. pretty cloudy, mild start tomorrow afternoon, you will start to notice some changes. upper 60s to mid 80s. rain line begins to approach the cloverdale area. as you take a look at the accuweather seven-day forecast, rain chance tomorrow night but it's really the thursday morning commute that you will have to watch out for. mid 60s to upper 70s on thursday.

so you know the nice warm fall sweater you might have? it might come in handy for wednesday and thursday. temperatures do recover as we hit the weekend. >> thanks very much, sandhya. the window that was a witness to history and is now being auctioned off for $200,000. that's coming up. then new at 6:00, the bears that roam yosemite national park, why the park service is now doing realtime tracking.

a smooth ride for east bay commuters this morning despite the closure of a major off-ramp from the bay bridge. sky 7 hd up over the folsom street portion of the fremont/folsom street off-ramp which is now closed for construction. many drivers were surprised to find traffic wasn't backed up really at all. for the next six months, drivers on westbound i-80 will have to use the fremont and harrison street off-ramps. a window which protected scientists as they worked to design the world's first nuclear weapons has gone on the auction

block. the window is five feet long, the glass six inches thick. the glass is composed of 70% led oxide so it let light pass through but not radiation. it also means the glass crumbles when cut instead of shattering. it weighs 1500 pounds. the window was used during the manhattan project at a plant in washington state, where scientists produced plutonium for the fat man and little boy atomic bombs dropped to end the war in japan in 1945. the window is expected to fetch $200,000. a curious koala keeps stopping traffic in a busy city in australia. it has been named clarence after the street he's now been spotted on twice. witnesses tried to get him to go up a tree but only managed to scare him enough to climb a metal railing. clarence was taken to a koala hospital. he was microchipped, then released back into the wild.

if you need proof that cats do have nine lives, keep watching the bottom of your screen. a black and white cat managed to scramble to safety after the building he was sitting in collapsed. the building in canada caught fire, then fell down. as you saw, the cat managed to escape, terrified but otherwise okay. >> just used up one of his nine lives. coming up, a job well done. they sure earned that round of applause. the heroic guests behind today's honor for two san jose men.

are. coming up on abc 7 news at 6:00, charges of racism in a south bay council campaign has the candidate done enough to distance himself from the disparaging remarks of an aide? a passport predicament ends a couple's vacation before it started. 7 on your side's michael finney and the little known rule for overseas travel. plus a bay area company that's been working for years to

try 3-d printing in space and what they've got planned now that it's finally happening. those stories and more when katie and i see you coming up at 6:00. so they had just seconds to decide whether or not to run to a burning car to save a man trapped inside. >> today, the santa clara board of supervisors honored cousins carlos ortiz and robert valencia for their heroism the night of august 17th. >> the story is from our alliance with univision 14. supervisor dave cortezi presented the men with commendation plaques. ortiz and valencia witnessed a violent crash on ocala avenue. >> a mercedes hit another car, rolled, hit more cars and caught on fire. >> we were just looking at the guy on fire and he was just sitting there. we were like you know, we can't just leave him there. we just went in and pulled his legs out and my cousin grabbed him by the body and i grabbed him by his feet. >> they had to use sweatshirts to put out the flames.

great work. world news tonight is next. welcome to "world news tonight."lpñr and breaking news.e1 the new bulletin from the fbi and homeland security here at home. after u.s.-led airstrikes on syria. what authorities are saying tonight. also, another major development. was thá works? bombs that could get through airport security and onto planes headed to the u.s. brian ross and martha raddatz with late details. time, we now hear from one of america's most wanted. entire communities on lockdown,o where they think he is tonight. the heist. the american city, 22 cars stolen, right off the lot.jf you will see the surveillance video and watch right there. tearing the car keys right off the wall. and, under fire. she's only been miss america for less than two weeks, and she's already explaining herself.