where they continued drinking. the last thing she says she remembers is falling by his pool and hitting her head on the ground. the next morning, she says she woke up naked in his bed. the woman told police mcdonald said he just let her sleep in his bed because she was tired. later that day, she says 49er linebacker aldon smith showed up at the house and the three of them began drinking. that's when she says mcdonald told her they did have sex. the next day, the woman went to the hospital, where police interviewed her. an investigator got her permission to send a text message to mcdonald from her phone as if she were texting him. legal analyst steve clark says it's a common investigative tool. >> they try to get a suspect to start talking about the allegation even if they don't admit it, are they lying about little things. >> reporter: the in the text conversation, mcdonald says s just happened. we were just enjoying the moment. police sergeant, i don't even remember anything. i don't know how i could have

been enjoying anything. mcdonald, i don't understand why you're bothered. you chose to stay with me for another day. sergeant, yeah, but you shouldn't have had sex with me after i was knocked out. mcdonald, i didn't do anything wrong like you told me before you started coming on to me. police searched mcdonald's home and confiscated his iphone and home security cameras. those surveillance tapes could be key. do they show people that appear to be consensually getting together or was he aggressive, was she stumbling, do they show she was impaired. >> reporter: when police finish their investigation, they will turn the case over to the d.a., who will decide whether to charge mcdonald. vic lee, abc 7 news. >> if you would like to read the entire 32-page document released today, it's posted on our website, abc7news.com. today the family of a window washer who fell 11 stories and survived said he's doing much better. 58-year-old pedro perez was

working in san francisco's financial district on november 21st when he suddenly fell from the top of the building and crashed on top of a car. amazingly, he survived. abc 7 news reporter lyanne melendez talked with his family about his incredible recovery. >> reporter: the san leandro family knows how lucky they are to still have a dad following a horrendous accident. on november 21st, pedro perez fell from an 11 story building in san francisco's financial district. he landed on this moving toyota camry. it helped break his fall. his wife says his days as a window washer are over. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> reporter: he survived but was badly injured. just as surprising is that perez is now talking and ready to start physical therapy. the family talked to us from the feiu headquarters in oakland. his family says perez doesn't remember the accident.

his medical bills and physical therapy will be covered but today, the 58-year-old san leandro resident worries more about how he will be able to provide for his family. >> it's not easy for me to stand here and ask for help, and i wouldn't be doing it unless my dad and my family really needed it. >> reporter: his oldest daughter monica dropped out of college to take on more hours as a caregiver. his wife is also working overtime. >> workers' comp will pay but not 100%. >> reporter: the family will celebrate christmas and have dinner at the rehab center with their dad, who is eating again. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> he can't eat but he asks for food from outside the hospital. hospital food isn't very good. >> reporter: they are fine with postponing christmas. because of the lost wages, the family is asking for the generosity of people here in the bay area. if you want to help visit our

website, abc7news.com. lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. >> it's a miracle story. a trio of armed robbers in oakland held up a newlywed couple and their wedding photographers. this happened saturday during a photo shoot outside oakland high school after the ceremony. our media partner the oakland tribune reports three men robbed the couple, the flower girls and five others hired to take pictures and video of the couple. the robbers got away with nearly $14,000 of equipment. flooding occurred in northern california and it didn't take a drop of rain. >> this is what happens when we get the unusual high tides, called king tides. they usually affect low-lying areas like this area in eureka. >> in the bay area, the tide flooded a section of shoreline highway in mill valley near highway 101 about 11:00 this morning. that's when the tide reached its peak at about 6 1/2 feet. you can see drivers were able to drive through the water without too much trouble. >> the water also rose along the embarcadero in san francisco. no serious flooding there but it

certainly did bring out the curious. >> for more about the king tide let's head to spencer christian live outside the abc 7 broadcast center. spencer? >> right now, we are approaching low tide at the golden gate which is good news. the water will be receding a bit although the waters may rise again tomorrow as we approach high tide in the morning hours. here's a look at live doppler 7 hd. weather conditions are nice and calm and quiet. let's get down to business and talk about high tides. we have a coastal flood watch, not warning, but watch in effect until 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. minor tidal overflow near high tide time is possible. we will have low tide at the golden gate this afternoon. approaching evening at 5:40 p.m. tomorrow, high tide will occur at 11:44. as the tide rises, there is a chance of coastal minor tidal overflow. we don't expect any significant flooding. waters will recede. i will be back with a look at our glorious weather. >> thanks. luckily for residents at

several mobile home parks hit by floods on the peninsula, the tide did not reach them today. coming up at 6:00, abc 7 news reporter sergio quintana will tell you why those residents are still not out of danger just yet. north bay commuters heading home right now will not have to deal with the mud slide that caused at least two-hour delays during the morning drive. all lanes southbound 101 are open this afternoon after the slide closed two lanes this morning. sky 7 hd captured that scene earlier this afternoon. a water saturated hill dumped mud and rocks on to the highway about 2:30 this morning. it took hours for cal trans crew to s to clear that just before 11:30 this morning. a downed tree caused big problems this afternoon. the tree also damaged power lines near sky high road about noon. that did not knock out power in the area. but it was a problem for drivers. police closed the road for about three hours while crews removed the tree.

a blanket of fog making it tough for some commuters to get to san francisco this morning. this was the scene along the embarcadero in san francisco this morning. it did not stop the ferries completely. boats did have to run a little slower. there were some cancellations and up to a 20-minute delay on some routes. >> the proverbial pea soup. more than 140 million americans are expected to travel in the next few days. the most in more than a decade. nearly a third will fly. bay area airports expect big crowds of travelers. airlines suggest you arrive 90 minutes before domestic flights and two hours before flights to hawaii and international destinations. >> more people are traveling with more bags. they are traveling with cold weather gear and they are traveling with holiday food and gifts. certainly they are checking more bags and that leads to longer lines at airline check-in counters as well as at security checkpoints. drivers in colorado face snow and slippery roads.

forecasters believe millions on the east coast will encounter similar conditions by midweek and that could lead to flight delays and cancellations. here's a live look at sfo. airlines have canceled 59 flights at sfo today in part because of the weather. right now, west coast flights are running about 15 minutes late. many more americans will take to the roads, about 99 million in all. here's a live look at the walnut creek camera, where you can see traffic is heavy at least in one direction. but moving along. and much slower in san francisco. take a look at that skyway. skyway cam shows traffic bumper to bumper as the commute and holiday travel cross paths. gas prices are likely responsible for the packed roadways plus the holiday, of course. aaa says the average price a gallon has fallen 88 days straight. in some regions such as kansas city, the price is now below $2 a gallon. those prices are extreme. the national average is $2.39 a gallon. california, $2.73. the bay area is always more

expensive than the rest of the nation. oakland, san jose averaging $2.76 a gallon. san francisco is at $2.90 a gallon. >> never thought we would see it go that low. still ahead -- >> i'm wayne freedman in concord. behind me, a house that will light up in a little while, 50,000 lights. but this will be the last year. when we come back, we will tell you why mr. christmas is pulling the plug. plus, researchers may have uncovered a reason for some heart patients to consider smoking pot. it's a bad time to be unemployed but a good time to look for work. just ahead, 7 on your side's michael finney will explain why.

it is that time of year.

a south bay charity began handing out toys to thousands of deserving children this morning but they still need thousands of additional toys. abc 7 news reporter matt keller has the story. >> reporter: this is the toy store where nothing is for sale. sacred heart community service in san jose is giving everything away to the parents of 5800 kids in need. each child gets two toys and one book for christmas. >> the kids when i open the present it's oh, mom, i love this, you don't have to buy, i appreciate it. i love it. >> i love it. >> reporter: they do a lot for you? >> yes. >> reporter: 17,400 toys and books will be given away during the appointments today and tomorrow. the most ever by the charity. this morning they were about 4200 toys short of their goal. the call went out for help and people responded. >> just giving back to our community. taking care of people that are

hard on their luck right now. and basically give them a start for the new year. >> reporter: close to 700 volunteers helped make this giveaway happen from setting up the displays to fixing up and preparing the bikes for the kids. >> it's inspiring to us. we feel like we're not alone in the struggle to build a community free from poverty. >> reporter: here is some good news. sacred heart community service says more than 1200 toys were donated this morning. another $8,000 in cash. that means they can use that money to help buy some of the more popular toys and replace them on the shelves because this event goes through tomorrow. matt keller, abc 7 news. this holiday season we invite you to join us and give where you live. abc 7's parent company disney recently donated $10,000 to toys for tots to help deserving bay area children have a brighter holiday. you can find out how to help toys for tots through a link on abc7news.com. bay area holiday tradition for more than three decades is

coming to an end this year but not before a little celebration to honor the man known as mr. christmas. abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman joins us from concord with the story. >> reporter: behind me it looks like a fairly ordinary house. when we come back at 6:00, you will see how ordinary it is. ordinary as in 50,000 christmas lights, as you said. it is a long, long tradition. the man who lives in that house goes by the name mr. christmas and we are about to show you why. >> i used to do a lot of work. >> reporter: he's a little like the wizard of oz in concord. goes by a different name. mr. christmas. also known as bruce mertz, age 85. a man who likes to tinker, clearly. and after 36 years, his tinkering has turned into this extravaganza, christmas on steroids. a tradition. >> since i was 17. >> reporter: jackie, now all grown up and a mother of two, says it wouldn't be christmas without mr. christmas and his christmas house. >> he changes it a little bit every year. he adds something new.

>> reporter: the wrinkle this year, not one on which anyone had planned. this is the last christmas house. mr. christmas not feeling as spry as he used to. >> so i can't do any -- i can't climb any ladders and that kind of thing. >> reporter: can't tend to the 50,000 lights. can't even take them down, frankly. tonight, mr. christmas is in for a surprise. >> it would be kind of sad if he ended this year just unplugging his lights and having -- not having, you know, the recognition from the community. >> reporter: so tonight, they are coming. lots of them. the kids who had kids who also had kids, generations worth of kids. here to make mr. christmas smile after 36 years of him doing the same for them. are you sure you want to stop, mr. christmas? this is it? >> yeah. >> reporter: nothing will change your mind? >> no, nothing will change my mind. if you are selling your phone, watch out for shady companies offering big bucks.

>> it's also a great time to look for a job. 7 on your side's michael finney is here with a look at those stories and more. >> lot of interesting news today. the holidays are a horrible time to be without a paycheck. everyone else is enjoying the season shopping, going to parties and there you sit. folks at the staffing firm robert happ say it may be a bad time to be unemployed but a great time to be looking for work. >> there are a lot of holiday parties going on right now. that's usually a good time to go and mingle with certain decision makers, higher-ups that maybe you won't even get a chance to talk to in a regular setting. >> the key here, talk with friends and get them to bring you to their work parties. upgrading your smart phone? plan to sell your old device? you need to be really careful. fraud.org is reporting complaints about sites that say they will send you $100 or even more but then send you 11 bucks if you're lucky.

they may send nothing at all. make sure you know who you're doing business with and not just assume a company is legit just because they offer you the highest resale price. there is actually no guarantee they will come through. this is a busy day for ups. it is expected to deliver 34 million packages today alone. a big test after last year's debacle which left millions of packages undelivered for christmas. to avoid a repeat, ups has spent half a billion dollars on a new automated system set up in three hubs across the country. here's how the new technology works. it scans packages, then flashes instructions to workers allowing them to process 15% more packages a day. like they weren't working hard enough. >> that system is stunning. >> it is stunning. >> let's see if we can get all our gifts. >> we love ups in our neighborhood. thank you. spencer christian has been outside taking his temperature of the weather.

>> it's warm out there on this first official day of winter. >> first full day of winter. it's been a holly jolly start to winter. here's a look at live doppler 7 hd. we have clear skies over the bay area right now, mostly clear. we may see some areas of fog redeveloping during the overnight hours. here's a look at the fog forecast, starting 7:00 this evening. you can see it will be filled in pretty well in the central valley there. we will have coastal fog, areas of coastal fog and fog through the delta but notice what happens overnight into the early morning hours. fog near the coast pulls away, also for most of the inland valleys, except over in the central valley and the delta and strait. tomorrow morning, 9:00, we will have lots of fog over there. here's a live view from the emeryville camera looking at the western sky. it's currently 60 degrees in san francisco. 59 in oakland. redwood city, 64. 59, san jose. morgan hill, 60. 57 at half moon bay. another lovely view from the

mount tam camera looking towards ocean beach. 63 right now in santa rosa. napa 56. 63 at novato. fairfield 60. mid 60s at concord and livermore. here's a nice view from the east bay hills camera. these are the forecast features. we will see pockets of dense fog overnight. record high temperatures for the date are possible tomorrow. there's a chance of showers on wednesday, christmas eve. satellite image shows high pressure controls the weather for at least one more day bringing us unusually warm weather tomorrow. then this system comes in. this is our next chance of showers. probably arriving on wednesday so let's start the forecast animation at 7:00 wednesday morning. we will have partly to mostly cloudy conditions. later in the day, increasing clouds, some showers arrive in the north bay in the midafternoon hours. by about 4:00 wednesday afternoon, we expect to see showers or light rain reaching through the central part of the bay area, through san francisco, over to the east bay, parts of the north bay and peninsula. then later in the evening, early

evening, about 6:00, we will see the rain moving down into the south bay and santa cruz mountains and winding down for the entire bay area late wednesday night. on we go to overnight lows on this night. we will see mainly clear skies in the early morning hours except that fog i told but over in the area of the delta and the strait. low temperatures overnight, mainly mid 40s to low 50s generally across the bay area. tomorrow's highs, check this out. 70 at santa rosa, 67 san rafael. 67 oakland. 67 at san jose. each of those locations with the asterisk will reach a record high temperature for the calendar date if they reach those levels tomorrow. here's the accuweather seven day forecast. after tomorrow's record warmth, afternoon showers on wednesday, drying out, mainly sunny but cool on thursday, christmas day. highs only in the mid to upper 50s. brr. it will feel like winter then. it will be a lovely day and a lovely weekend coming up as well. dan and cheryl? >> spencer, thanks very much. tonight, storms are hitting

the east coast and the investigation continues into the deaths of two new york police officers. earlier this afternoon, i talked to abc news anchor david muir about what's coming up on "world news tonight with david muir." >> always great to see you. coming up, new video of the suspect tonight in the shooting of the two new york city police officers. what it shows. plus police on high alert across america. the christmas storms as millions travel. the new track here in the east and of course, a lot of the rock slides coming out of the west and what slowed down a lot in marin county today. we have that covered as well. if you are shopping tomorrow, how to still get a package there on time. there is a tip. and the christmas light fight. who will win? are we in your neighborhood tonight? that's all coming up. you are remembering a great voice tonight. >> oh, yes. i'm sure you remember from woodstock to the wonder years, we look back tonight coming up. >> "world news tonight with david muir" is coming up right after this newscast at 5:30 here on abc 7. coming up on abc 7 news at 5:00, the new technology stanford researchers have

developed. >> that will make even peter

san francisco based uber wants a u.s. patent for its pricing and let supply and demand dictate how much you pay for a ride. they first applied for a patent in september 2013 and now the on-demand car ride service is appealing a rejection of that application. uber believes recent changes in guidelines might help it get a patent. its surge pricing sometimes results in customers paying extremely high prices for rides, unlike local taxis which charge the same price regardless of demand. new research suggests smoking marijuana could help with heart disease. michigan state university researchers tracked the marijuana use of 9,000 people. they found that those who had smoked in the last month had lower levels of a special protein. it's been connected to inflammation that causes heart disease. researchers say the findings may be misleading because recent pot smokers and former pot smokers

had the same protein levels. they still hope their findings will lead to new heart research. another possible case of you are what you eat. a new study suggests eating fast food may cause children to have lower test scores in school. researchers looked at more than 8500 middle school students. they found that eighth graders who ate fast food daily were behind those who did not eat fast food. they were behind in reading, math and science. scientists at ohio state and the university of texas believe lower iron levels in fast food might be to blame. that study appears in the journal "clinical pediatrics". listen to this. barilla using 3-d printers to create new pasta designs. the company hosted a competition to see what chefs would do with the devices. one created a moon-shaped pasta with craters to hold the sauce. the winner made these tiny rosettes so when dropped in water, they blossom into full roses. barilla is considering a commercial release for both designs. stanford scientists are working on technology that has them scaling buildings like

spider-man. our media partner the san jose mercury news says the team has developed gloves and foot holds to help them climb any flat surface. each hand pad has 24 small tiles covered in tiny hair-like pieces of rubber like a gekko, kind of. they claim to smooth surfaces but pull easily to aid in climbing. the team has patents on this technology. they are working with sports companies to develop rock climbing gear. and nasa to create a device to reel in space junk. not to be outdone, penn state scientists are working on cloaking technology right out of "star trek." they call it elusion coating. the material is composed of glass fibers and teflon. it scatters radio waves in a precise manner and could make spy planes undetectable to radio wave searches. scientists say it could also be put on antennas, keeping them from interfering with one another. cloaking device. >> all good stuff. coming up next, harry potter

fans delighted today. >> thanks to a special gift that has them revi mom? dad? big uncle wayne?nut. hot chocolate. green tea. uh, decaf, cuz.

wow. i'm dying for an herbal tea. the all new keurig 2.0.

coming up on abc 7 news at 6:00, we will show you the results of one of the most destructive storms ever to hit northern california. the great christmas flood of 50 years ago. you will see how climate change is changing the habits of bay area wildlife and what some young people are doing to help. and 7 on your side's michael finney opens some doors tonight for a bay area family fighting a mail slot mixup, that's coming up in half an hour on abc 7 news at 6:00. >> fantastic. see you then. thanks, ama. some harry potter fans have been disappointed with the new content they were promised leading up to christmas but that's changed today. >> this morning, j.k. rowling released a short story about potter's nemesis. it's about ten times longer than other stories offered during potter-more christmas. >> it looks at his upbringing and what happened to him after

the book series ended. >> fans have lauded the writing says it's her best since the final harry potter book. find the story on pottermore website. a group of friends in the east bay spread christmas cheer for all to see. sky 7 hd captured the group hiking a christmas tree all the way to the top of mission peak. that's a long walk. >> the tree is outfitted with lights and candy canes. beautiful. last year, hikers snapped numerous photos of the tree in the week leading up to christmas. what a nice tradition they have created. stunning. >> they had a big crowd welcome them. that's great. look at this. a little scary up there. >> you have to take turns carrying it, i guess. >> that was awesome. that's going to do it for us. "world news tonight with david muir" is coming up next. i'm cheryl jennings. >> i'm dan ashley. we appreciate your time. see you at 6:00.

welcome to "world news tonight." and breaking now, the two new videos. the investigation after two new york city police officers are ambushed and killed. now, we see the chaos. an officer wheeled away. the other video showing the suspect before the attack. authorities believe the gun in that bag. the christmas storms. snow, icy roads, just look at this interstate tonight. traffic backed up for miles. and now, the new storm, set to hit in the east, right before christmas eve. the holiday rush is on tonight. this is the busiest shipping day of the year. and if you're still shopping, how to still get it there on time. this got our attention. and from woodstock -- ♪ what would you do ♪ if i sang out of tune >> to "the wonder years." we remember a beloved voice tonight.