live this is abc 7 news. >> we begin with a storm watch coverage. the first major storm to soak the bay area since february is on the way. this is a live look outside. it's dry right now. spencer christian is here with us weather. >> at the moment things are calm here in the bay area. as you will notice up to our north, we have lots of active weather up around eureka right now, heavy rains strong gusty winds, cold, unstable air mass all the elements to produce a

winter-like storm. we have a winter storm warming in the mountains north of clear lake this evening between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. and tomorrow morning at 3:00 a.m. tomorrow until midnight tomorrow night. here we go. we'll start at 7:00 this evening by midnight or 11:00 p.m. we'll see the storm approaching the coastal areas of sonoma county. by about 1:00 a.m., we'll see rain steady rain at times heavy, hitting about all parts of the bay area. by 3:00 a.m. it will be stronger. by 5:00 a.m. it will be on its way out of the area but there still will have been enough rain to have caused delays.

dan and ama. >> as spencer mentioned, while the upcoming storm is projected to bring significant rain and win, they're not expecting anything as severe as the december storms that caused more than $13 million in marin county. the sierra got a late dusting yesterday. with four years of drought, the snow pack is just low, low low. still, the weekend storm brought home to some key resorts, like borio. they say they'll keep making snow all week to make sure skiers have fresh powder even after the storm. keep in mind, you can track the storm yourself. we'll have more information at abc 7 news.com/apps. >> now unfortunately clearly this storm will not be enough to relieve our serious drought. >> literally a drop in the

bucket. in the north bay farmers in particular are having a tough time finding water from their wells. they are drying up and being tainted. >> tainted and in some cases when they turn the spigot nothing comes out at all. we're at a dairy farm. one of these dairy cow uses 30 gallons of water per day. where we're standing right now, oddly enough, is on top of an aquifer. the man who runs this ranch doesn't use the water from below because he doesn't want to dry out his neighbors. it is the water supply you may not have heard about water from aquifers beneath the ground. once we took it for granted. for dairy farmers like ray, not anymore. >> we can get up to 1,500 to 3,000 a minute if we wanted to but we'll never do that. >> why not? >> we're afraid of what it will do to our neighbors. >> ray's dairy uses recyclesiek lcycled

water, even though it sits atop one of three stressed aquifers. the state has mandated reports and specifically who will manage what and who will pay for it. up for discussion just today. >> there will be wells registered and quantification of how much people are pumping. >> it has become necessary because the water bele ground has diminished significantly from some wells in sonoma county, it's coming out salty if it's coming out at all. like the rest of the state these aquifers store more water than the reservoirs above. lose them and california could be in deeper trouble than it finds itself now. >> all the county have increased in population and we haven't done anything to increase our storage. you know the years were flush with water wp we never did a

damn thing. >> reporter: so now california is beginning to take action but in the midst of this state's drought, they're still talking years. from sonoma county, wayne friedman abc 7 news. >> this crash ended a 20-minute police chase. the chase started when they tried to pull the driver over around 10:30 this morning. that started a chase across the bay bridge and into san francisco, ending with this crash at a mini market. police caught them. no one was hurt in that crash. >> a cable car driver went to the hospital today after a crash in san francisco's knob hill. it happened on the powell street line between washington and jackson street. investigators say a vehicle hit the cable car. witnesses saw the operator crawling out from under the car after the collision. police shut down the 1100 block

in order to investigate. the cable car line is now back up and running. >> oakland police are looking at surveillance video find the gunman who killed a band member early sunday morning. it happened outside the golden bull club just a block from city hall. investigators say two men got into an argument, one fearedired several shots. they shot the base player who was packing up his equipment. >> a band member who had just been playing at a night club, he was moving his equipment and transporting it back to his equipment. >> navaras died. another band member was injured by a bullet but is doing fine. >> neighbors are reacting to a disturbing find in their neighborhood. an elderly woman's mummified body. >> police are calling it the

worst case of hoarding they've ever seen. >> reporter: as you can imagine, the neighbors are horrified by what was going on in this house. we hear the city was tipped off by a tax accountant who had been contacted by a resident in the house after she received a foreclosure notice. someone was cleaning and sweeping around the house today. city crews have already tossed what they could but the heavy did the cleaning by a private contractor has not yet begun. >> i saw the trash all the way up to the ceiling. >> she lives just a few doors from the house where the mummified body of what's believed to have been the former owner was removed this weekend. >> i'm opening that they'll clean up the mess quickly and so that the black widow spiders doesn't come around the neighborhood. >> reporter: these pictures show

firefighters wearing oxygen masks. authorities say the victim believed to be about 90 years old may have died five years ago. foul play is not suspected. her daughter apparently still lived in the home hoarding the trash and hanging on to her mother. >> this is a very close-knit street. people would have reached out and helped her if they would have understood the living conditions. >> reporter: an expert says hoarding is a mental disorder where people who suffered trauma hold on to things as security. >> imagine somebody is physically trying to rip your child from you and you say, no, this is my child. that's the feelings and emotions that can be associated with it. it's that strong. >> his group, the mental health association of san francisco offers support and in fact as a meeting tonight. meantime the nabbed iseighborhood is worried about the woman who lived here and is now hospitalized and what will happen to the house. in san francisco, carolyn tyler,

abc 7 news. >> police took 33-year-old kwan harris into custody on 14 street and vanness avenue about 7:30 last night. when police tried to detain harris last night, he apparently tried to bite the officer, but the officer is all right. >> a's fans lined up as early as 7:00 this morning. if you're in the crowd tonight you'll in the some new hd video boards. >> and you'll have to get to know a drastically different lineup. first pitch is at 7:05. >> the giants open up on the road in arizona.

ace madison bumgarner will take to the mound tonight. sky 7 hd was over the stadium as ground crew were hard at opener which is next week. >> the team will start on a somber note for the giant and athletics. >> broadcasting legend ron simmons passed away over the weekend. >> the a's will hold a home of silence before the game tonight to honor simmons. >> the giants updated their profile picture. he was the giants' radio announcer for nearly 30 years and also called a's and 49ers games. >> if you ride bart, you may have to give yourself exinteresttra

time to get to work. they explain why they are slowing the trains down. >> and the next step for a silicon valley tech executive after losing her discrimination case. >> and 7 on your side's michael finney is taking your questions. >> and it's back to work. here's a look at the san francisco skyway. cars coming at you are inching their way on to the bay bridge. not too bad but it is slow. moving nicely the

th . this is abc 7 news. this morning bart is asking passengers to bear with them during slowdowns. the transit agency is admitting some cars are running slower because of deteriorating tracks. >> reporter: bart trains in concord are taking the turn a little bit slower. it's because of dough railerailments like this one. it's not just in concord. they've identified about three dozen other locations where they

need to slow down. >> any interlocking that size we're going to slow trains down. >> reporter: they're also slowing down because of old rails. >> there's three locations on the bart system now that we're running trains slower because the ties and rail components need to be replaced. >> reporter: passengers tell us they can deal with going slower. >> i'd rather not go off the track. if they have to slow down, that's fine. >> reporter: worn out rails, rotting ties, bart says it can't ignore its old deteriorating system any longer. >> what riders need to know is bear with us this year. >> reporter: some of that work got under way between fruitvale and coliseum station. >> we're always going to plan it on the weekends and low ridership days. >> reporter: passengers we spoke with said they are willing to be patient while the 42-year-old

system is repaired. >> the system needs to be upgraded, track, station, cars. >> when they turn, like the little turn down here, it goes around and you can feel it as you ride. it like a roller coaster ride. >> reporter: but will people pay to improve bart? bart needs about $4.8 billion for a total makeover and plans to go to the ballot to ask taxpayers to help. amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. >> ellen's gender discrimination won't go away. she sat down recently with katie couric. a jury ruled a firm did not discriminate against powell. the 45-year-old, who is now the ceo of red-it was a difficult time for her but she's happy she kept fighting.

>> hearing so much support from so many people is really rewarding. i think they realize this is something a lot of women face. you don't see that many women or african-american or hispanic ceos in silicon valley. >> she's still deciding whether she'll appeal the verdict. >> some presidential politics. possible presidential contender jeb bushed laughed off controversy this afternoon. the former new york governor marked himself as hispanic on his 2009 voter registration. bush is not hispanic. the former governor today tweeted "my mistake i don't think i've fooled anyone." >> hillary clinton's early campaign may focus on interacting with voters in small settings rather than massive

speeches. she's expected to launch her campaign for president sometime in the next two weeks. people close to clinton say the goal is to make the campaign more about voters and less about clinton herself. the former secretary of state's team leased a location for her headquarters in new york. >> and detecting disease can be just a click away. >> organic food output has failed to keep pace to demand due in part to the cost of going from conventional to organic products. organic food sales have a more than tripled in the last decade to $23 billion. a group of m.i.t. researchers believe people with early signs

of motor problems have different typing patterns. this could be an early indication of parkinson's disease. to heat or not to heat is the question that raw milk enthusiasts are encouraging regulators to rethink. proponents say the pasturization could be destroying nutrients that the body needs. and american medical schools need to do more to teach exercise. a new study the oregon state university found less than half of physicians trained in 2013 had any instruction on exercise and fitness and their role in health. >> it's time for a check on our weather. >> and we have some rain to talk about finally. >> looks like we're going to get more rain than we've seen in quite a few months in one single

storm that is. here's live doppler 7 hd. we'll see clouds increasing as we get into the evening hours. of course rain is on the way. and snow may be on the way to mountains south of monterey where a winter advisory is in effect from 5:00 tomorrow morning until 3:00 wednesday more. the mountains in this range are higher, between 4,000 and 6,000 feet. back to the bay area. we have current temperature readings of 59, 65 in oakland, lower to mid 60s in inland areas as well. these are the forecast features. rainy and windy overnight. isolated thunder and small hail are possible. and snow to the sierras. here's our satellite composite

image. you see pretty steady rainfall in the northwest corner of the state already. a strong air mass will accompany the storm, which increases the chance of isolated thunderstorms or hail storms. by 11:00 tonight, we'll see gusts of wind up to 70 miles an hour and they'll be getting stronger inland and around the bay as well. by 2:00 this morning morning, look to gusts 30 to 35 miles per hour in many locations from san francisco to santa rosa and over 40 miles an hour at some coastal locations. tomorrow morning by:00 once the front has passed through the bay area, we'll see winds tapering off sharply. rainfall totals we project by about 2:00 wednesday afternoon, could be local lively heavy up to 1 1/4 inches under 0.2 expected

in san francisco. on to the sierra where snow levels will be down at 4,500 feet at the beginning of the storm and by 2:00 wednesday look for totals up to 18 inches in the areas most heavily affected. here in the bay area overnight heavy rain, heavy wind possibly a couple of thunderstorms, temperatures in the 40s, we'll see the rain tapering after showers in the afternoon and here's the accuweather seven-day forecast. >> spencer, bring on all we can get. let's take a look now at our traffic. you're looking at a live picture. this is 880 heading south. we're just coming from hayward and on to san leandro. moving on not too badly for this

time of day. these are live pictures. not too bad heading northbound on 880 as the evening commute just begins to get under way. >> up next find out what happens when you combine a drab office space and thousands of colorful post-it notes. and we want to see how you're celebrating the return of baseball where you live. you can share your fan photos

. this afternoon one movie is leading the competition in the dust. furious 7 earned a record setting $143 million at the box office, the biggest opening of a

movie this year. after walker was killed in an accident, his brother took over. >> he's looking down on us right now. >> the director reportedly used computer-generated imagery to superimpose walker's face on to his brother's body to finish some of those scenes. >> one office worker got so bored with his sterile office space he went all post-it. >> with the help of his co-workers and the okay of his boss, the 41-year-old designer tran formed the wall of the shop into a super hero-themed picturesque mural. >> apparently the mural is

inspiring others to work their own office space art projects as well. >> that's pretty creative. >> up next a cooling controversy. how air conditioning is now at the center of a discrimination debate at an east bay school. >> and problems in paradise. a family is left fighting for their lives after a trip to a tropical destination goes terribly wrong. >> and growing concernsin

it's 4:30. here's newsmaking headlines. a storm system is just hours away. spence spencer christian is tracking it and will join us in a few minutes to let you know when the rain will arrive and how much to expect. meantime, storm preparations are well under way. cornell barnard is in north wood. and he's tweeted us a picture of people getting ahead of the storm. >> and play ball! it's opening day for major league baseball. twitter sent a prediction of

winners based on the number of teams of each team. fans are feeling good about the giants clinching the nl west but seattle was picked over the a's in the a.l. west. that is not deferring fans heading to the opener. we'll have a live report on 0.o coliseum at 5:00. >> a scandal involving a lab superviseor dates as far back as 2010. vick lee is in the newsroom with the story. >> the crime lab supervisor under investigation is currently on personal leave from the lab. boland and a criminalist under her supervision are the subject the police and d.a.'s investigation. the attorney who brought the crime lab to attention spoke

about his last record. >> there were complaints that the supervisor failed to catch inconsistencies inconsistencies. five years ago boland mislead the court during a double homicide trial by not telling anyone there was a dna profile of the killer. >> she didn't tell anyone about it. she didn't tell the police officers investigating it and didn't tell the prosecutor or the grand jury. >> the attorney who represented one of the suspects who was

acquitted wrote the judge a letter saying it was unethical. the d.a. spoke directly to the judge about boland's conduct. he told the judge "i don't think it was professional." in the latest case the district attorney has launched an investigation independent of police chief greg sers. he's chief during boland's first misconduct and the crime lab scandal in 2010 when criminalist deborah madden stole cocaine evidence. >> it's kind of inappropriate for a d.a.'s office who participate in the process who is part and parcel of the problem, frankly, to do an internal investigation. >> reporter: gasgone said he began an investigation. >> though i was chief of police for a very short period of time and others involved had been hired before me.

frankly the conduct with the drug lab predated me but this is not about pointing fingers. this is about fixing a problem. >> reporter: now, the district attorney says he's reached out to a respected team of crime lab experts at the university of pennsylvania to facilitate his investigation into the current problems at the lab. he says he wants it to be objective and beyond reproach. we tried unsuccessfully to contact boland for an interview. vick lee. >> vick thank you. >> the san francisco deputy sheriff's association today announced it voted to endorse former deputy sheriff vicky hennessey. hennessey served as interim sheriff. she's the first woman candidate for san francisco sheriff. >> the fate of boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev is now

in the hands of a jury. closing arguments wrapped up in boston this afternoon. prosecutors said today the bombing was a cold, calculated terrorist attack. the defense admits tsarnaev was the bomber during the attacks two years ago but claim he was acting under his brother's influence. if convicted, jurors must decide whether he will receive the death penalty. >> "rolling stone" magazine issued a full retraction after a scathing report about rape at a university. >> the investigation's conclusion was blunt. >> there was directive failures. >> reporter: they found rolling stone failed to engage in basic, even routine, journalistic

practice before publishing story about a brutal gang rape a student claimed she was subjected to at a university fraternity. the reporter and editor failed to check even the most basic details of. story, failed to give the accused a chance to respond. a five-month investigation by the charlottesville, virginia police led to this conclusion in late march. >> there is no substantive basis to conclude what is described in that article happened that night. >> uva's president said in a statement irresponsible journalism unjustly damaged the reputation of many innocent individual and the university of virginia. students there say the article will have a lasting impact. >> to have this one story

represent all sexual assaults across campuses is detrimental to our efforts. >> the fraternity announced it will pursue all available legal action against "rolling stone." >> members of a delaware family are fighting for their lives this afternoon after a nightmare start to their caribbean spring break. the family became seriously ill within hours of arriving in st. john last month. a dangerous chemical was used in the kondo below them. >> it can cause long-term and short-term neurological problems. it can cause brain damage. >> the epa says the pesticide used was banned for indoors residential use in the united states. three of the four family members were put on haven't lateors. the father and two sons remain

in critical condition today. the mother was released from the hospital. >> a group of parents whose children disappeared following a protest in mexico continue to seek support in the bay area. four of the parents met with community members this morning at city college of san francisco. they showed pictures of the 4 missing teaching students. the young men disappeared while protesting against the government funding program. reports in mexico accuse local politicians of conspiring with police and drug cartels to silence the drug protesters. >> it would give them relief to know what happened to them so they can bring justice for their children. >> breast milk on the black market. coming up a new warning doctors are sending to parent and

children. >> but first, first lady michelle obama shakes it off just in time for a white house holiday tradition. >> i'm michael finney. i'm still taking your questions on twitter and facebook. i'll answer your questions here live a little later. >> we're looking at clouds in the western sky in advance of an approaching storm that may bring wind, rain thunderstorm

president obama and the first lady got things rolling this morning. 35,000 people attended the annual easter egg roll. kids got to take part in cooking demonstrations, and listen to president obama read a story. you can see michelle obama showing off her dance moves. the theme was "give me 5" in honor of the first lady's dance initiative. now let's take a look at traffic with our 360 cam. >> boy, the first lady is good. imagine 35,000 people at the white house, what the secret service is dealing with today? taking a look we are northbound, 880 in fremont, it's a little sticky there. next stop is hayward down the road a little bit. a couple of minutes ago we were zipping right along. it clearly it's clearly bag backing up at

this exit in fremont. at least they have nice weather and nice views to look out and enjoy but rain is coming. spencer, support the first time in a while, a decent sized storm. >> that's true. this may be the biggest single-storm rainfall we've had. as you can see, there are pockets of moisture moving in all directions from the southwest, though the storm is up to the northwest. circulation is pushing up these pockets of moisture. starting at 7:00 this evening we'll see the cold front spring through the bay area around 2:00 a.m. bringing heavy wind and rain. behind the front, we might get isolated thunderstorms and small hail. 5:00 tomorrow morning it will still be wet out there. the storm could slow down the morning traffic. even into the mid to late

morning hours, we have a chance of thunder and small hail. as that energy starts to leave us, we can still have trailing isolated showers into wednesday. so this will be a nice little period of stormy weather for us. highs tomorrow statewide mainly in the 50s, it's going to be cool all across the state as cold air and unstable air will accompany the storm. highs will be from mid 50s to just above 60 degrees. showers will trail the frontal system through the day tomorrow and into wednesday. >> this is great news. thanks very much. >> up ahead buyer beware. what moms purchasing breast milk on line may be getting instead. >> and facebook, who is liking this approach to ending marriages? >> my advice with what to do

mmmm, they made french toast out of banana bread, then topped it with candied pecans and bananas? it's like a match made in heaven. like bacon & eggs... ...oh look, bacon & eggs. the new banana bread french toast slam. denny's. welcome to america's diner. this is abc 7 news.

>> this afternoon warehouse stores owned by walmart are pulling one kind of ice cream from its shelves because of contamination concerns. sam's club warehouses will not sell blue bell ice cream for the time being. blue bell issued a recall after a contamination of listeria. >> new moms may want to think twice before ordering breast milk online. a report said 10% of online breast milk was topped off with cow's milk which could be harmful to children who have allergies. >> now time to "ask finney." first up i bought a new iphone for $279.

the store said i had to pay the tax on what i would have paid for the phone without the contract. >> it's absolutely legal and demanded. you're getting the phone for $279 but it would cost $529. the state says you're not getting a deal you're paying for it overtime. so you have to pay the tax on the full price. >> every company has different rules. if you have an old enough iphone verizon will send you a phone to use while you're in europe. find out what the rules are.

when you're traveling anywhere you've got to go into the sections area and turn off roaming. that's going to kill you. back in the day roaming only kicked in when you started talking on the phone. but now it's always kicking in because there's data going back and forth. we just helped a woman who had a $500 bill because of this. you really got to be careful and know what it is you're doing. >> carlton h. e-mailed is this american community survey even legal? >> i'm laughing with you. this is the census that asks you everything possible, how much you make, where do you work what insurance do you buy, what route do you take to work? it is really, really intrusive. and by law you have to answer every single question. and if you don't when they mail it to you, they'll show up on your doorstep maybe more than once. they can fine you for this. i've never heard of that actually happening. here's why you want to

cooperate. this decides often how much money your local schools are going to get whether there will be a new bus route. really, really impacts your government services. >> so it's valuable but it is uncomfortable. >> it is uncomfortable. >> imagine finding out your spouse wants to divorce you on facebook. >> and a reality tv show dad is getting ready to speak to abc's diane sawyer. >> olympic gold medalist bruce jenner is opening up to diane sawyer. abc news confirmed the exclusive interview will air friday as part of a special edition of "20/20." >> it will be jenner's first time speaking candidly about speculation he's transformitioning to a woman. >> all is fair in love and war including serving divorce papers

on facebook. >> that's what a judge ruled last week. a woman said she and her husband will only talk by telephone or facebook. with this ruling, she can serve the divorce papers using a private facebook message. so far no word from the husband. >> up next the east bay school official says he's taking heat over air conditioning. there's now a discrimination debate. >> and new at 5:00, food fight. how wages are going up and battle lines are going down. plus -- >> who is out here barbecuing?

. parents are demanding an explanation from a long-time member of their school board for making comments they say are insensitive. >> we are live outside the

district headquarters with more on the piece of audio that has the board member under fire. alyisa. >> a board chimed in last week on why one elementary school needs air conditioning more than another but she said her words were manipulated, possibly by a former school board member. >> gary's son is a kindergartener in martinez. she's appalled by what school board member denise elkin said during a discussion about installing air conditioning at a mostly latino school or a predominantly white school. >> whether that means the students are more acclimated and

are less used to air conditioning. >> many parents are calling her assumptions prejudice. >> what she said was very discriminating. >> in a statement, she did apologize for portraying the district in a bad light. part of it reads "i was simply trying to make a point that in light of the fact that it already has cool roofs and some temperature control, that i believed there were other more important needs that would better serve its students." she calls itself an advocate for the school's families. her two kids went there she lived in the district and she served on the board for 16 years. elissa harrington abc 7 news.

>> abc 7 news at 5 starts right now. hours away from a big storm and tree trimmers are digging in. how the dry conditions may be creating a potential disaster. >> plus under arrest. the former 49er and raider who was picked up not once but twice. >> and extreme hoarding. after a mummified body is found concern grows about the clean-up. >> the city has been here a lot in the last week. >> i'm meteorologist sandy patel. i'll let you know what more might be companying the storm. >> this is "abc 7 news." >> the skies are gray. >> the weather is making things a little uncomfortable for a's fans who are at o.0 coliseum

for today's opener. >> meanwhile crews are trimming trees. >> good afternoon. >> at least we have some rain coming up here. sandhya? >> it's going to be a strong storm and a cold one, reminds you more of winter than spring as you see it spinning just off the coastline. we're tracking light showers to our north around sea ranch and heavier steph is up to the north around eureka. that's what we're waiting for. here's the timeline. 7:00 tonight, not a whole lot happening, a few light showers up to the north. 11:00 p.m. it starts to move into the north bay and it just shifts inland as we head towards 1:00 al.m., 3:00 a.m., thunderstorm possibility with small hail it will be a gusty one as well overnight tonight

and we are looking at snow in the sierra nevada. i'll be back with a detailed look at how much rain you can expect coming up. dan? >> you can see what's happening and what's showing up with live doppler with the abc 7 news weather app. download that now before the storm hits. >> work is under way in an effort to a void power outages during the storm. abc news caught up with the crews working in oakland trying to prevent weak tree limbs from falling and dragging down power lines. >> we have arborists who survey all our lines and they let us know exactly which lines need a little clearing and which ones are okay. >> pg&e says it also has its on meteorologist on staff to keep ahead of the storms. >> tree trimmers are also out and about in the north bay doing their jobs. let's g