we have wet roadways. this mass of showers and down pours is now pushing over the high terrain, hill country east of san jose and beyond. so it's moving away from populated areas. and an area of rather steady rainfall moving into santa cruz mountains now. so we'll continue to see precipitation. it's still snowing in the sierra. chains are now required on highways 50 and 4. and our forecast animation indicates more rain tonight nearly three inches up in kentfield. larry? >> thank you, spencer. >> the rain may have diminished but damage continues to pop up.

this pine tree came crashing down on a house this the arborist says business is booming. >> it's been raining almost two weeks now. and we're seeing more trees every day. >> most removal businesses throughout the north bay say they have been working only expect business to pick up in days still to come. >> there wasn't a huge slide but caltrans had to be called in to clear the valley ford road is closed until

the flooding subsides. >> flooding closed the closure of the expressway today. officials say drivers attempted to go around and drive through the water was likely get stuck. >> and a large ficus tree crashed blocking will be lanes of lmbard street. >> this is highland park in the southeastern part of town. here is the second tree that fell. there are no injuries. >> business owners say they're just tired of all of this rain, especially inside of the tiburon shopping center. including the ups store and a

physical therapy office. >> in the front area it had about 20 inches inside. >> tenants say they've learned their lessons and sandbags are now a permanent fixture. >> san mateo county is under a state of emergency. the board officially approved december nation this afternoon, which clears the way to pay for repairs, shelters and other services the 11 families of a flood-damaged mobile home park received ht gift bags, including gift cards to buy clothing, food, or presents. money came from a go fund me donations page.

>> the drought is far from over, and nowhere near where it should be, the daily down pour changed things dramatically. wayne? >> if you can see the water over the area and many people are just sick of the rain now. they're probably not a cattle rancher. why is isn't he complaining? >> you've got to have water. you know? >> continuing with the cheese for which he is famous, reinforced by memories of too much sun and dry dirt on his

thousand acres. >> last winter we got to know don a little too well. >> when you have to start digging, what does it say? >> you're in trouble. >> by the end of the winter, the drought imported teams from out of state to wonder if, after 37 years if he can continue this way of life. his reservoir fed by rain waters were dry. >> this means for all ranchers, down the road, and this morning he found another inch of rain water in his gauge. >> we're done with that. water tanks running over our and

reservoirs are running over and it's not even winter yet. >> from sonoma, marin county line, wayne freedman, abc7 news >> san jose's new mayor found himself at the center of controversy. facing accusations he's trying to stack the council by appointing an ally to a vacant city. >> they're hearing from applicants and they say the public should have a right to weigh in. >> they're trying to pick my replacement without a proper, a

process. >> the assemblyman and members of the community blasting the process used to fill his former seat. they're calling on newly elected mayor locarto to keep it open but he is pushing to appoint someone to take this spot, immediately. >> disappointed with the process. it's dishonest. >> this person would hold the spot until winter of this year. locarto has thrown his support behind marte matthews >> the people of district four deserve to have a representative to advocate in their interests. to leave that seat vacant would be a great disservice >> the new mayor is taking meet from the police union.

and matthews sup ported locarto's run for mayor. >> this is a sign of weakness. >> locarto says the public will have a chance to vote in april, but he wants that seat filled. in san jose, abc7 news. >> it looked like big flames, but not everybody is buying that, or settling for how long it took to notify residents about what is going on. laura? >> chevron says they're still investigating but the health department released a report on this three-hour flarin

dent. they say it was caused by a blocked pipe. >> like a roman candle. >> those who live near richmond say the flame looked like something serious. >> fergs i went on top and saw the blow out. >> it's part of the natural safety systems we have in place. >> the spokesman says it wasn't planned. >> it's important to know what they saw was a safety system at work. what is burning off was excess fuel in the unit. we're depressurizing and making sure it would drop down safely. >> and it was extremely large

and this created concerns about air quality. >> according to has hat director, the line around refinery did elevate, but not enough to exchange state or federal limits. >> i'm disappointed that chevron down played what happened. >> this is not normal flaring. this is well above the level you'd see. >> could it lead to penalties? >> both chevron and air quality management district will investigate the incident. >> more still to come tonight, up next, a look at the jobs picture in the bay area. best unemployment numbers in

several years. >> did sony pictures make a mistake by caving into hackers? >> a woman loses nearly all of her savings if a scam that hits the bay area. >> and we continue to monitor

breaking news in san francisco. sheriff deputies are in the

process of arresting one of their own. they're saying the criminal investigation unit found evidence of a deputy committing a criminal act >> the president said sony pictures made a mistake by cancelling the release of the move eye "the interview" but the north korean hackers that threatened revenge called it a wise move. >> the white house is convinced the attack came from north korea but said today we heard the president say we will respond in the place and time we choose, also today we heard sony talk about the hacking issue. president obama told reporters

he wished sony would have come to him first. >> i would have told them do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these criminal attacks >> i would be fibing to say i wasn't did disappointed. that is is the sony picture's ceo reacting to the comment. >> movie theaters came to us over a short period of time, and announced they would not carry the >> the movie

all trailers be removed. >> we'd like the public to see this movie. absolutely. >> steve mauer says why not do what "wall street journal" is proposing. >> is that american government buy the film or get a copy of it from sony. >> sony hired a silicon valley company to deal with the hacking issue. mr. obama says he has a long list of movies he plans to watch. when asked if he can see that movie, "the interview" he says he never releases his movie

list. i bet on the list is, of course, "it's a wonderful life". >> california unemloiment is at its lowest level since early month of the depression the number of new jobs created is the second largest. marin county continues to be the lowest in the state, 12,000, but they continued to have the highest unemployment rate. >> governor brown's administration announced a series of revisions to its plan to build a pair of tunnel that's would distribute water throughout the central valley. they think a simple plan,

considering the plan would threaten farms and doom salmon population. >> state congressional delegation is trying to get the president to protect a large swath of land in northern california. for years, they been trying to get congress to declare it a natural conservation area. now they're asking the president to name it a national monument. >> it looks like christmas is going to be okay. >> next week is a mild week. >> right. >> it's going to cool down until christmas day. >> good, that is good news >> here is a look at live doppler 7 hd.

cloudy skies now and pockets of rain. some getting ready to move and others moving throughout the south bay and east bay. and most areas have seen rain pass through now. there is our storm watch covering high surf advisory in effect until 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. wave heights are building up to 15 feet right now. and there is possibilities of dangerous rip currents. readings 58 here in san francisco. and cooler inland.

on we go looking towards embarcadero center, clear skies, and misty conditions as well. these forecast features, showers widening down overnight. areas of light rain this weekend, but not very wide spread. winter begins sunday afternoon at and look at the trail of moisture. that is why there may be rain in the northern most part of the viewing area. spotty showers, and later in the day, a chance of rain increasing over the north bay. there is a chance of showers and

light rainfall. and leading into a dry beginning to winter. in the sierra, likely. overnight look for lows into low 50s. and here is the accu-weather forecast. so cooler on thursday, showers, light rain wednesday. christmas eve. but thursday look looks like a dry day, highs into upper 50s. >> good idea. >> what happens when your tablet

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>> one of the floats in this year's rose parade will help keep a chp officer alive. kenyon youngstorm's family helped put final touches on a

floral portrait his widow says her husband had a great sense of humor and wonders if his outlook could have been transplanted along with his organs. >> if someone has a desire to put sugar on tomatoes, or should want to run around the park, they should know that is kenyon living on, in them. >> very sweet. >> can which tablets can take the most abuse? square trade put ten tab loets through what they call drop torture test. a low budget model split in half

and this is the first time we saw something split in half. >> sounds so excited about it. another big conclusion, bigger they are, harder they fall, easier to break them. samsung survived the drops and it is durable and budget friendly. >> still ahead, abc7 news i team looks into images contained on this thumb drive and why a local police chief is being accused of retaliation. >> a bay area war veteran preparing to go sky-diving

several employees are accusing their chief of retaliation after complaints about being exposed to child

pornography. >> it's raising questions about how the department handles evidence. >> it's unusual for employees to complain about the chief but they tell me they had to, that stress is expecting their health and careers. january 9, 2013. santa rosa junior college. police arrested matthew whitaker for viewing child porn on a public computer, open and shut case he told me don't judge me, it's not my fault, i'm a pedophile. >> fast forward 15 months community service officer spotted this thumb drive and took it to find out who owned

it. >> i plugged it in, and clicked on a file, graphic, disturbing images popped up on the screen. as i went huh! they all looked. >> two dispatchers say saw the pictures of girls, 8-12 years of age, engaged in sex acts with adult men. seeing the child porn shook her. >> it made me feel like i had done something wrong in viewing that. it's illegal. >> so among the most-sensitive evidence you can imagine. >> jim hammer served as a prosecutor. >> child pornography, that child is victimized again and again. >> the three police employees took what happened up the chain of command, finally to the

chief. >> he didn't want to have anything to do with it. sweep it under the rug. you didn't see anything. go on with the job. >> he found the thumb drive belonged to a couple working for the department a dispatcher and her husband, an officer. in addition to the child porn, it contained a family photo, finance documents and utility bills. the dispatcher and officer would not approach me. >> i want to ask you the child porn on your thumb drive. why is that there? >> this could be a mistake the wife told internal affairs she copied it to the thumb drive but neglected to delete the images and thought she'd lost it several months ago. internal affairs investigator tells me he wanted to interview the husband but the chief told

him not to. he shut down the investigation. the chief did not return e mails for interview, so i caught up to him. >> why stop the investigation into the thumb drive. >> do you have an interview scheduled this afternoon? >> he referred me to the school administration. the former prosecutor tells me this deserves a full investigation. >> is this a crime? intentionally possessed? if someone is law enforcement is doing this, it's more serious. >> this college president told me he had no idea it the investigation was shut down. and chong has taken steps to

help his police officer do a better job in the we've made changes to ensure this doesn't happen again. >> the employees say they have filed complaints of a hostile work environment and retaliation, and preparing to sue the department. >> a charity is desperate for toy donations. sacred heart says it's short by 5,000 toys. the need is great this year in silicon valley. tomorrow, volunteers will sort

the toys. >> toys for tots says they received less toys this year, saying they have 10,000 orders to fill. many will only get you can still help. >> last time he put on a pair of chutes his b 24 had been shot down, that was 70 years ago. tomorrow this 89-year-old world war ii vet is going to do it again. he was barely 18 when he joined the air force. about a year into service he was inside of a b 24 hit by fire. it was his 19th birthday. >> we talked in and got to a

english mission we stayed in the mission and they contacted italy. italy sent an airplane over to pick us up. >> he is not going to be alone. his daughter, cindy will jump with him. >> nice. >> america's new friendship with cuba and a film maker in cuba when this announcement came. >> the

a bay area film maker returned to berkeley after getting a rare chance to screen his film in cuba. >> his timing was more fortunate than he could have imagined. >> it began in a community service project part of his bar mitzvah studies his grandfather survived the

holocaust by fleeing to cuba. >> he told he he received them. >> he vowed to donate baseball equipment to cuban kids. and realized easier said than done. >> it has sanction was the uchlts >> if you want to do a risk, i can't advice you. >> we're invited to attend the havana international film festival. >> and what timing he had. >> i was having lunch with a cuban friend we saw the announcement broadcast by the president he screened the film just hours

later. >> my opening remarks is everything changed right? and they erupted in applause. when credits rolled there were tears the question is how did you possibly arrange it? and of course, it was sheer luck. as for micah, his hope is to spread the love of the game. >> maybe we'll help someone get to the big leagues you never know. >> timing is everybodying. >> coming up next a bay area woman threatened with arrest. >> i was stunned and i believed him. i trust policemen. >> you can trust michael finney. when he says don't

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law enforcement agencies are

warning about a new version to an old scam. >> this is a criminal took almost all of this woman's savings. and she came to me. the call came out of the blue. >> i was awakened out of a sound sleep. >> the man on the phone said she was in deep trouble with the law. >> i'm a policeman. my name is zach miller. and you're under arrest. there is warrant out for your arrest. >> the man said he she failed to show up for jury duty had to pay $500 or would go to jail. >> i believed him. >> the man ordered her to go to

the bank, withdraw $400 and load it on to a money card. so she headed out >> i walked with my cell phone and him talking to me. and over to the bank. >> every so often, said say how are you doing? are you about there now? told me don't tell people why you're going to cvs, or they'll have you arrested. >> she returned home the man still talking in the ear. he said scrape off the lining on the back. >> she read him the number, that is when the crook used the number to steal $500 on the card and told carolyn she had to appear in courtroom d tuesday,

to clear her name. >> and i did. >> a friend told her there is no such judge or policeman, she had been scammed the money, gone. >> i had within saving it up. i live on ssi. >> carolyn contacted 7 on your side. >> i'd like to tell other people to be aware of it. it's a new scam. and new way of doing it. and is a rotten scam >> never may someone you don't know. police and government agencies would never demand you pay money any certain way, not with a particular card also would never call you and threaten to arrest you unless

you pay money. it's not how it is done in america. if you get a call like that, hang up, call me. the possibility of getting her money back is nil. >> so dirty and ruthless. >> some showers around, but it is wet near mondayed ray bay. but do have more showers. in san francisco, four of the 19 days so far have seen rainfall here. and so scattered showers

overnight, perhaps areas of rain in the north bay tomorrow. and here is the accu-weather forecast. winter arriving on sunday dry, mild and maybe showers christmas eve. >> thank you. >> and panda, if they can

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it's not yet official, but giants appear ready to try to replace pablo sandoval the reigning national league playoff come back player of the year. he has just four home runs last season, grounded to a major

league high 31 and after coming from boston in july, he had a 6-4 record and went 1-2 in the post season. where will jim harbaugh end up? according to family and friends, they want him to head to michigan, harbaugh reportedly wants to stay in the nfl. he hurt his ankle. and despite being out, the miners want to finish strong >> you play more than just to

win. so you never want to go out there unprepared you know? and so i think we all feel that way. >> now, raiders have a chance to play spoiler. >> we have an opportunity to have something to be proud of, you know? so didn't wait to get it going. >> after four bowl appearances stanford will have to settle for

taking on maryland. kevin hogan did rebound in the last two games. we're going to continue to push consistency. he's got his eye on things he needs to do well. and has to may fast and we can only get better and move forward from here. central led with two touchdown

passes and intercepted passes. st. mary's blue a 15 point half time lead. that has to be the shot of the day. and calls to 6 and that is something i think you made a shot like that. >> i made several but they didn't go in. >> by the way, talking college football tomorrow. colorado state and utah in

las vegas bowl. >> environmental regulators decided not to classify household waste. and thousands head home for the holidays what you can expect at local airports. >> that is it for this edition of abc7 news. >> from

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this is "jeopardy!" introducing today's contestants -- a project analyst from ventura, california... a stay-at-home mom from alexandria, virginia... and our returning champion, a history teacher from jacksonville, florida... [ applause ] and now, here is the host of "jeopardy!" -- alex trebek! [ cheers and applause ] alex: thank you, all. johnny. big win for kevin on yesterday's program. he led throughout and didn't want to risk too much money in the final, but that's okay. $27,000 is a nice-sounding total. allison and chris, welcome aboard.

pick up your signaling devices. hope you get to use 'em often in this first round of play, the "jeopardy!" round. here are the categories for you. we start you off with... good subject. notice the c-i-t-y in quotation marks. now, a brief word of explanation about those 7 deadly sin-onyms. we want you to i.d. a -- i.d. the corresponding sin according to the catholic education resource center, all right? kevin, you start us. we'll go "city" cities for $200, please. alex: kevin. what is atlantic city? that's it. "city" cities for $400. chris.