anthony -- all right. we will get to that in a moment. you can see there is aa significant problem. they have been trying to talk this woman off the overpass. she has been threatening to jump. it has caused huge, huge traffic problems. >> let's move on to our other big story. business owners in the east bay still recovering from several nights of violent protests. they have been told to close early because another demonstration is going to get under way soon. thanks for joining us. i'm cheryl jennings. >> i'm dan ashley. sky 7 hd has been following this story. we will show you pictures as we can get them, where it's happening in telegraph and bancroft. that's where protests have heated up over the last couple nights. there's a lot of concern about what might happen tonight. >> abc 7 news reporter laura anthony joins us from berkeley with more. >> reporter: there is another demonstration planned for tonight. you can see folks gathering here at telegraph and bancroft and while mayor tom bates told us

this afternoon he is proud of his city's rich history of demonstrations and peaceful protests, what he's seen the past two nights is quote, unacceptable. it was a destructive weekend in berkeley. two nights of demonstrations that left more than a dozen businesses with damage, mostly broken windows. >> it was really disturbing. >> reporter: mayor tom bates has seen enough. >> it turned violent. it turned violent in a way we haven't seen here for a long long time. over the weekend, over 16 various stores were trashed, not just major businesses but small businesses. >> reporter: bates does acknowledge his police force may have overreacted, especially on the first night, when tear gas was deployed into the crowd. he promised a review of those actions. last night, however, police seemed to take a different tack, staying well back, but there was more vandalism in the downtown area. benjamin lynch is with the

protest group b.a.m., which stands for by all means necessary. he was among the demonstrators the past two nights. >> what happened in berkeley was there were a bunch of peaceful protesters and the berkeley police were out of control. they attacked people with batons, they knocked people to the ground. >> reporter: besides another protest this evening, demonstrators plan to try to shut down the council meeting. laura anthony, abc 7 news. now, abc news is exploring the issue of race relations and equality in the aftermath of grand jury decisions in ferguson and staten island. catch a full week of programming on race, justice in america with special reports on good morning america, world news tonight with david muir and nightline as well. we have dried out a little bit now but nothing compared to what's coming later this week. let's take a live look now. you can see some of the clouds above the bay but a beautiful evening. not much rain today. that is going to change.

abc 7 news meteorologist sandhya patel joins us with a look at live doppler 7 hd. >> live doppler 7 hd is going to be tracking a potent storm. today's system weak, fell apart. we did have a few light showers in the north bay. what we are really watching with our radar is this cold front that is developing. it brings with it a risk, a high risk of urban flooding, wind damage and high surf. starting wednesday night, continuing right on through friday, there is even a moderate chance of thunderstorms. we are looking at up to six inches of rain for the bay area mountains, most of that coming in thursday and friday with some very powerful winds as well. with this rain and wind, also comes some big waves. i will talk about the details on all the watches and advisories that are going up plus a look at the sierra. they will get some big snow. in the north bay, storm preparations are already under way in areas that are known to flood. abc 7 news reporter cornell

bernard joins us in mill valley with more. >> reporter: lost folks up here are very concerned about that storm and tonight, lot of them are getting ready. barricades going up at this park and ride lot in mill valley in case of flooding and that's something local officials say tonight is very loikly later this week. arborist aaron is running a race against time and mother nature. all bets are off. >> my phone's ringing off the hook. >> reporter: he is removing two dozen dead or diseased pine trees from the side of this hill which could topple in the storm. >> we had five emergency calls in eight days. if the forecast holds, 70 mile an hour winds and this type of rain, it will be off the charts. >> reporter: mill valley fire battalion chief is watching levels on the creek and will soon issue e-mail warnings to residents in low-lying areas about possible flooding. >> it's also up to the residents

to be aware of the weather, understand that during certain circumstances, high tides coupled with heavy rain, there is a significant chance for flooding. >> i think i got 12 sandbags. >> reporter: that going to be enough? >> i hope so. >> reporter: candice is preparing for the storm by shoring up her restaurant, mama's royal cafe in mill valley, with sandbags and a lot of hope. >> if we have like three inches of water, it won't do it. we'll just have to get rid of the mud. >> reporter: this was the view from sky 7 hd last week. rains flooded highway 101, bringing traffic to a stand-still. barricades are up at this park and ride lot on shoreline highway, where more flooding is likely this week. >> i will be prepared. >> reporter: josh wineberg has little protection from the weather. all of his outdoor furniture inventory is outdoors. >> the issue is cars can't get here if it's too flooded. that's really all it is. so there was one day last week

we couldn't actually open. that hurt our business. >> reporter: the next winter storm on the way. cornell bernard, abc 7 news. new details tonight. san jose state university has reopened now after someone reported seeing a person with a gun on campus. sky 7 hd was over the scene while the search was in progress. police evacuated the school's business tower and did a floor by floor search of the building. no gunman has been found but again, that building open now again. a massive fire painted the skyline orange and red today in los angeles, as it destroyed a large residential development project. authorities say it may have been set intentionally. our sister station in los angeles joins us with the latest. >> reporter: what's happening, work crews are busy trying to tear down what's left of the scaffolding on the surrounding corner that survived this morning's blaze of the building. investigators will go in once that scaffolding and framework comes down. right now they don't know what caused this morning's fire but

they are looking into the possibility that it was deliberately set. >> we are getting multiple calls. this is a building under construction. >> reporter: the calls started coming in at about 1:30 this morning. a massive construction site in the heart of downtown l.a. is engulfed in flames. what was supposed to be a luxury apartment complex is reduced to rubble. >> this fire will be talked about for a long time. >> reporter: the flames this morning towered over the downtown skyline. eyewitnesses captured dramatic images like these on their phones. >> i actually felt the heat from where i was and possibly i was 100 to 200 yards away from the fire. >> reporter: meanwhile, flames shot across the 110 freeway. stunned drivers stopped cold as scaffolding collapsed on to the northbound lanes. >> the sign is going to have to come down. the sign was basically melted. >> reporter: the fire at the construction site took several hours to bring under control.

the fact that the fire spread so quickly has fire investigators looking into the possibility that an arsonist could be to blame. >> the information when we come out and see a fire this well developed in an area where a lot of people are passing by and maybe prudence would dictate somebody would have called is perhaps it was set. >> reporter: the heat today, so intense that two neighboring buildings were heavily damaged. >> the fire was so large that the radiant heat caused windows on two adjacent buildings to explode. >> reporter: well into the afternoon, fire crews were still dousing hot spots but arson investigators won't enter what's left of the construction site until the rest is torn down. it could take several days before investigators know what caused the massive fire. >> there are just a myriad of possibilities and it's really unfair to speculate until we really get our arson investigators in there. >> reporter: crews are tearing down the scaffolding and framework around that surviving corner. then investigators will be able to make entry and find out what

caused this. right now, officials place the estimate of damage at $10 million and that figure is only for the construction site. that does not include the two buildings that were damaged alongside this fire. >> robert, thank you. still ahead on abc 7 news at 5:00, before you work on that holiday gift list you may want to check out california's most t toxic toys. do you see anything wrong with this wrapping paper? a california grandmother does and had the removed from shelves across the country. later, "world news tonight with david muir." i talked to david about what's coming up a little earlier this afternoon. >> great to see you on a monday night. coming up, the jet smashing into a house in the suburbs. no one survives and now the search for the missing. two storms we are watching, the one in the west and powerful

nor'easter in the east. also why u.s. embassies are on alert all over the world. >> we need to lighten things up. how about christmas lights? >> the great christmas light fight as they call it. the neighbors and the christmas lights playing out all over america. what happened to holiday spirit? are we in your neighborhood tonight? we want all the viewers to weigh in and send us images coming up. >> "world news tonight with david muir" is coming up right after this newscast at 5:30 on abc 7. for over 60,000 california foster children, the holidays can be an especially difficult time. everything's different now. sometimes i feel all alone. christmas used to be my favorite. i just don't expect anything. what if santa can't find me? to help, sleep train is holding a secret santa toy drive. bring your gift to any sleep train, and help keep the spirit of the holidays alive. not everyone can be a foster parent. but anyone can help a foster child.

last night's protesters smashed in the windows of businesses and stole things in berkeley. >> that includes a radio shack on shaddock avenue, where there was a fight between protesters who tried to stop the looting. five people were arrested throughout the night.

here's a look at the area covered by protesters as they march all over berkeley and they split into two groups. police today told shop owners to prepare for another night of damage tonight. >> abc 7 news reporter sergio quintana is in berkeley. >> reporter: the buzz of power saws added to the din of activity on shaddock avenue. this crew was boarding up the at & t store. from sky 7 hd sunday night we watched protesters smash windows and run through the store. on telegraph, more vandalism. an attempt by some protesters to stop the vandals. this was the scene outside cream. a manager watched from a closed circuit tv system from home and was on the phone with employees who were still inside the shop. >> they were a little freaked out. i'm just glad everybody was safe inside. we are honestly very thankful for the protesters who stood outside the store and tried to protect the shop. >> reporter: the student store was also hit. vandals smashed out two picture

windows. the store director says they will likely be covering the rest of the windows in anticipation of more protests. is it disappointing to have to take so many precautions? >> it is, yeah. we think of berkeley as a safe place. we interact with people and don't normally feel unsafe or threatened but unfortunately, that's what we have to do right now. >> reporter: street vendors on telegraph say they have been warned. >> the cops will come and this may happen, so protect yourself. we can't look after you as well as us. >> reporter: everyone we talked with today said they are conflicted about what happened this weekend. >> it's unfortunate there are some people who took it too far and took it in a direction that really doesn't reflect the values of the majority of berkeley, nonviolence and positiveity. >> reporter: in perklberkeley, o quintana, abc 7 news. if your shopping list includes toys, you will probably want to check out this year's

dangerous toy list. among the toys on the naughty list are police badges which contain too much lead tambuorine. among the biggest hazards, small toys that can cause a child to choke. >> we recommend that folks bring a little toilet paper roll with them. anything that fits in there is too small for kids under the age of 3. >> parents should watch out for small parts that can break off. other toys were cited for being too loud. if you want to look at the trouble in toyland list, check out a link at abc7news.com. a southern california woman was shocked to find what appeared to be swastikas on hanukkah wrapping paper. she was shopping in the hanukkah section of a walgreens when she spotted the symbol on that holiday paper. take a look. you can see blue and silver patterns connecting in the shape of a nazi symbol.

the woman says she cannot believe how this pattern was able to make it through production and into stores unnoticed. >> i saw it immediately. i think i have a good eye. i panicked. i couldn't believe what i was seeing. that wasn't going to fly for me, for anyone. >> the rolls were removed from the store after she complained to managers. walgreens says it is pulling the wrapping paper from store shelves all across the country and it's not clear exactly how many rolls are being pulled. buying a new home just got a lot easier. mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie mac say americans will soon be able to buy a home with a down payment as low as 3%. the new lending guidelines are designed to help more low income and first time buyers afford houses. the standard down payment for mortgage insured through fannie and freddie has been 20%. a critical three digit number can determine whether you can get a loan or a job. we are talking of course about your credit score.

what should you do if there is an error on your credit report? consumer reports has partnered exclusively with 7 on your side to find out. here is michael finney. >> a consumer report survey finds close to half of all americans never check their credit report. this even though errors can wreak havoc with your finances and take a long time to untangle. nathaniel louis is hoping to move out of this apartment and purchase a home but recently when he went looking for help to apply for a mortgage, he discovered his credit report showed he had bad debt totally more than $180,000. >> when i saw what was on my credit report i was flabbergasted. 80% of it wasn't mine. >> reporter: the problem? another man with the same name whose records had gotten mixed up with his. a new consumer reports survey of 3,000 americans found that credit errors are surprisingly common. of those who checked their reports, about 20% found mistakes that could lower their credit score.

>> mistakes can lead to losing out on a job, on an apartment rental or a good interest rate on a loan. that is if you're not turned down all together. credit report mistakes can really hurt. >> reporter: for instance, on a $300,0 $300,000 30 year fixed mortgage, if your credit drops from 780 to 680 you will pay almost $25,000 more over the life of the loan. >> it's not so easy fixing a credit report error. more than half of the people in our survey who tried were either rejected, ignored or faced some roadblock. >> reporter: to dispute a credit report, avoid companies promising to fix your credit for a price. instead, put your request in writing to one or more of the three major credit reporting agencies. experian, trans-union and equifax. be sure to include proof of your identity and your full social security number. for serious errors, consumer reports says you may have to

actually hire an attorney. remember, you need to check your credit report regularly and you can do it for free once a year with each of the three major credit bureaus. michael finney, 7 on your side. a new study says you cannot blame man-made global warming for california's drought. the report issued today by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration says natural variations are the primary drivers behind the drought, saying heat-trapping gases should slightly increase winter rain in parts of the street. scientists have criticized that report saying it didn't take into account how record warmth has worsened the drought. it won't feel like a drought on wednesday. >> meteorologist sandhya patel is watching the storms. >> this storm will really pound the bay area and possibly cause some problems. let me show you live doppler 7 hd. before we get to the storm, i have to tell you oakland museum today had a record high temperature of 74 degrees breaking its previous record of 68 set back in 1988.

many parts of the bay area in the 60s and 70s today. as we take a look at live doppler 7 hd, very light rain has been falling below the radar beam in ukiah but that is with a weak system that is pretty much falling apart. here's the view with the cloud cover over san francisco. temperatures are in the mid 60s, very comfortable. getting a little bit of clearly there. low 60s for santa rosa, concord, napa. 63 in livermore. one last live picture looking towards financial district. major storm hits maryland weidw wind and rain along with big waves. take a look at the satellite picture. it is going to be dry and mild tomorrow with high pressure in control. part of your wednesday. powerful storm is developing, it is tapping into some cold air and so this storm will dump some snow in the sierra nevada, not just a couple of inches. it is certainly going to bring us some heavy rain. let's start the computer

animation 7:00 p.m. wednesday night. very light showers could develop around cloverdale but really, we have to wait until late wednesday night going into thursday morning's commute before the heaviest of the rain starts to move in. unfortunately, the timing with this one is pretty bad. 5:00 a.m., it's pretty heavy rain, wind. the wind continues to kick up. could see thunderstorms around 8:00 a.m. thursday. the thunderstorm continues 10:00 a.m. with the strong winds and heavy rain. now i will take you beyond 10:00 a.m. thursday. this is a different computer model. i will show you what's going to happen with the same storm, still very heavy rain 5:00 p.m. evening rush on thursday, potentially some thunderstorms and then we continue into 5:00 a.m. friday, rain switches over to showers for that morning commute and lets up friday night at 11:00 p.m., we start to get a break. this storm between wednesday night and friday night is going to dump on the higher elevations here in the bay area four to six inches of rain. lower elevations, one to three inches.

keep in mind we have had a lot of rain recently and even though it doesn't get rid of the drought, the ground is saturated so now with more rain on top of that, we could see trees and power lines get knocked down, especially with the wind coming in. so a flash flood watch up wednesday night through thursday night. significant rain, risk of flooding. it covers the entire bay area. same thing for this high wind watch. wednesday evening to thursday afternoon, gusts 40 to 60 miles an hour, could take down the trees and power lines. the coastal and north bay is going under a high surf advisory, 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night until 4:00 a.m. friday. waves of 15 to 20 feet, possibly higher in this area, could bring risk of rip currents. watch out. in the sierra nevada, winter storm watch wednesday evening through friday afternoon. it is going to be whiteout conditions with the strong wind gusts of 60 miles an hour. 10 to 20 inches above 6,000 foot elevation, two to three feet at the crest. the only problem is trying to get up there. you might want to wait until saturday because it is going to be nasty driving up to the high country, or take your chains if you are going.

tomorrow morning, fog will be a problem with the cloud cover up above. temperatures in the 50s. allow the extra time for the morning commute. tomorrow afternoon it's dry. temperatures a little bit lower than today with a lot of cloud cover. numbers in the 60s. accuweather seven day forecast, morning fog and clouds tomorrow, rain and wind late wednesday night, stormy for your thursday. rain friday switching over to showers. cooler weather, notice we go down to the 50s and then saturday we will get a break in the weather. that's going to be crucial. sunday night, chance of rain enters the picture. that storm doesn't look as impressive and it does continue with wet weather on monday. really, though, the biggest thing to keep in mind here is clean out your gutters, your storm drains. watch out, if you have trees that are leaning by your house, they are weakened by drought. they could go down. >> sandhya, thank you. coming up on abc 7 news at 5:00, scientists inject human brain cells into mice trying to make them smarter. find out if it worked. we

sky 7 hd above breaking news right now where drivers are stranded on 680 in san jose. a woman climbed on to an overpass and threatened to jump this afternoon. she has been there for quite some time. traffic has been blocked for about two and a half hours now. officials say a substantial amount of mail was damaged yesterday when the u.s. postal truck caught fire on a bay area highway. that big rig was traveling southbound on interstate 280 in hayward when the trailer went up in flames. nobody was hurt but a lot of letters and packages heading to southern california will not make it. of course, the cause of the fire under investigation. tomorrow, the oakland city council takes up the proposal to ban the circus from using the bull hooks on elephants. there is one group that's not so keen on the idea. the oakland alameda county coliseum authority estimates that ban could cost the complex $1.4 million in revenue, because fells entertainment, the company that promotes ringling brothers circus, is threatening to pull

other shows like motocross and disney on ice out of oakland. food service workers at oracle arena worry about the loss of benefits. [ inaudible ] it would cost employees who depend on those events for their livelihoods to lose money. los angeles became the latest city to ban bull hooks which are used to stab and pull at elephants during training and performances. scientists are using brain cell implants to create super-intelligent mice. university of rochester medical center researchers took undeveloped human brain cells and injected them into the brains of baby mice. researchers say the test mice became considerably smarter than other mice, with about four times better memory. they hope to use that information to help treat human brain diseases such as multiple sclerosis. coming up next, a look at

the incredible holiday display created here in the bay area. >> that wi

coming up on abc 7 at 6:00, 7 on your side's michael finney with time on his hands. expensive timepiece that should have been on a bay area man's wrist. if there's science in your blood, you can make your own discovery. a community lab where you can satisfy your bio-curiosity. and we will bring you the latest thing in wearable technology from china to the silicon valley, a new kind of technology on display. that's coming up in half an hour on abc 7 news at 6:00. tonight, a family with an incredible holiday lights display will duke it out for the ch to be named the best in the country. >> the weaver family will be featured on abc's the great christmas light fight. >> the home features 43,000 lights, 173 pieces of custom art, a waterfall and 28 foot

tall castle. >> it premieres tonight at 8:00 p.m. welcome to "world news tonight." and breaking now. the discovery late today inside this home. after a deadly jet crash, right into an american suburb. tonight, you'll hear the pilot when the flight is in trouble. and now word of the family in that home. also, on the move. the powerful nor'easter barrelling up the coast. 50 million americans, freezing rain, ice. while in the west, the massive fire, downtown l.a. traffic backed up for miles. the breaking news. u.s. embassies and military all over the world on high alert tonight. bracing for possible violence. the torture of cia prisoners about to be revealed. and high voltage tonight. the christmas lights from all over the country. how far is too far? just listen to this couple. >> if you can't see it from space, it ain't worth doing.